Fuselage, part 3

-

Completed the fuselage:



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.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wing, part 1

-
Image
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 ...
Read more
-
This is my very first public blog post so it is going to be a rather short first post. I've (finally) decided to use this medium and share the construction process of a 4-channel RC plane, which I built and flew many years ago. Even though I recycled the old plane I still have the blueprints, and if anyone is interested copies can be downloaded from OUTERZONE ( here ). The original design is a simple 3-channel plane that has an optional aerobatic wing for a 4-channel model. My plan is to create a hybrid of the two: build a wing with a smaller  dihedral  angle and add ailerons. I'll describe the design and build changes as I progress through the project. The Balsa wood is on order so stay tuned as there will be more to follow in the coming weeks.
Read more

Wing, part 2

-
Image
After dry-fitting the wing ribs, leading and trailing edges, and bottom spar I glue them together. Following this step, and after the glue had dried, I glued the top spar, wing tips, and center-wing 1/16" balsa covering. The wing tips are a simple 1"x1" balsa block formed and sanded into shape. Next came the tricky part of sanding the center edges of the wing to fit the dihedral angle, and then accurately cut a slot through the spars for the dihedral brace. The rib on both center-facing edges are of 5/32" balsa so that there is enough material to sand down at an angle. I raised the wing tip to half the dihedral angle and used a wide sanding block to sand the edges perpendicular to work bench edge. The slot for the dihedral brace was created by cutting through the spars' length with a mini hacksaw, and then carefully widening the slot to fit the 1/16" plywood brace. Both wing halves glued with epoxy. Next, I made room for installing the aileron servo. This i...
Read more