Added Balsa "fuel" tank cover that fits with a small peg and braced with the original setup of screws and a rubber band. The ESC will be mounted on under side of the cover:
All the parts combined for a complete view:
Next step on the fuselage will be setting up motor, ESC, routing power wires, transmitter location, and placing the battery for initial balance and weight measurement.
The last step before final sanding and covering was to fit the wing with ailerons. The ailerons run the entire length of the wing, and have a width of approximately 12% (1/8) of the wing cord. The ailerons are fitted with two nylon hinges, and are actuated by a steel rod. Next step is a thorough sanding of all surfaces, then covering the wing with Monokote. The ailerons will remain in natural balsa, sealed with Dope or Sanding Sealer.
Before setting out to build this plane I decided to make some changes and adapt it to the 4-channel plane I want. It is going to be equipped with an electric motor rather than a glow-plug 0.049 engine, and I have some modifications planned for the fuselage. The wings will be equipped with ailerons to make it a true 4-channel model. The original kit had an optional add-on aerobatic aileron-wing with a semi-symmetric profile and no dihedral. The wing I decided to build will have a ~3 degree dihedral and wing-length ailerons. To accommodate the ailerons I made some minor changes to the trailing edge seen in the picture, and printed a rib template from PLA on my 3D printer. The trailing edge spar I used is actually 1/4"x3/8" and not a 1/4"x 3/4" as in the picture. I cut each rib using the template, which was my first mistake. It takes too long, and if you're not careful to check each one they may not match. A better method would be to "sandwich" rough-cut
After eight weeks the Electric Banana is complete and ready for a maiden flight. AUW: 620 gr / 22 oz and powered by a 1300 Kv motor, 30A ESC, and a 3S LiPo/2,200 mAh battery. Wing span of 38 inches and a wing cubic-loading of 10.6. Power measurements with an 8x6 propeller showed a maximum full-throttle input power of approximately 140W. Assuming an efficiency of 80%, would yield about 110W maximum. According to my calculations this is more than sufficient for a basic 4 channel training and some aerobatics. Some pictures after an outdoor taxing test.
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