[Flying fisho]

Dropped into a Penrith fabric shop and they had Bem Silk Lining @ $5.95 per metre, happy to pick it up for you if you tell me how many metres required. White & off white both available.

[Kedumba]

Dropped into a Penrith fabric shop and they had Bem Silk Lining @ $5.95 per metre, happy to pick it up for you if you tell me how many metres required. White & off white both available.

Thanks heaps for that. I think that $5.95 might be a good price. I'm not sure how big a sheet of silkspan is but i'm reasonably sure it aint gonna be a metre!

I think if it's ok with you, I might grab just a metre to start off with just to experiment with and see if it works, then if it's ok, then grab a couple more metres. As for colour, the experimental bit doesn't really matter, maybe the off-white for a more authentioc look

[Flying fisho]

No probs, will pick up an off white metre tomorrow

[Kedumba]

No probs, will pick up an off white metre tomorrow

Great, thanks for that, I'll fix you up next time I'm down at the field.

Meanwhile, not much more to report on the build. I am continuing to put the wing together. Lots of ribs to position, sand to fit properly, glue, check alignment and vertical
       

and still more ribs
           

and still more ribs
       

Almost complete
       

[Flying fisho]

Picked up a metre today but made a mistake with the price, hope you ok with $14.99. Ooops still making mistakes, $4.99. But you can choose which price you want to pay.

[smuzz]

I was up at Hobbies in the Hills today and saw their stock of Silkspan sitting there.
Sure enough $4 a sheet - I didn't actually pick up the tube of sheets and take one out to see how big they were, but they appeared to be about 500m in width (at a guess). I wish I'd got one now, just to do some testing with ...

[Kedumba]

Picked up a metre today but made a mistake with the price, hope you ok with $14.99. Ooops still making mistakes, $4.99. But you can choose which price you want to pay.

Excellent, thank-you and the price seems to keep getting better. Maybe by the time the weekend rolls around, it'll be $2 a metre!!! I'm working saturday afternoon so i'm not sure if I'll go down sat morning (I finish work around 2am sat morning. Not sure how keen I'll be for and early start) or sunday yet.

Sure enough $4 a sheet - I didn't actually pick up the tube of sheets and take one out to see how big they were, but they appeared to be about 500m in width (at a guess). I wish I'd got one now, just to do some testing with ...

I didn't see how big the sheets were either but I guessed they'd be around 1/2 metre square from the size of the pack. You didn't ask by chance if they had any dope? When I was there they were out of stock. Otherwise, does anyone know where I could pick up some Dope and Thinners? Would it be the kind of thing that Bunnings would sell?

[smuzz]

... You didn't ask by chance if they had any dope? When I was there they were out of stock. Otherwise, does anyone know where I could pick up some Dope and Thinners? Would it be the kind of thing that Bunnings would sell?

Sorry, no - I didn't ask.
I doubt it's the sort of thing Bunnings would sell - the last time I saw and used this stuff was when I was about 16 and it was definitely an aeromodelling-specific item. Used to be called Nitrocellulose Dope and was made by the Australian "Aeroflyte" company, which seems to have disappeared since. I'd try a specialty hobby shop which caters to builders like perhaps Kellets, but I doubt Ultimate would have it.

[Too Drunk to Fly]

I used to know were to get Dope....

Seriously I've been (just out of interest) looking for Dope, and can't find it anywere. I remember buying tissue paper and dope when I wa a kid but seems to have all dissapeared. I even done the odd search online.
If anyone can find some, please post on here.

[Kedumba]

The wing half is finished! Now to start the other side.

           

Also, I been doing some looking, is this the Dope from HobbyCo that is required for the silkspan/BEM Silk?

[smuzz]

Nice work on the wing Mick - and yes, that stuff you've linked to from HobbyCo's website is the stuff you're after! Hopefully they'll have some in stock and you'll be set.

[secant0give]

That Wing is Looking EXCELLENT !!
Well Done!

For the Dope
You might get a better deal if you cantact Pasific Balsa direct

http://ozzietraders.com/Pacific_Balsa/Ba...ducts.html

15 McPherson Street
Bacchus Marsh
BACCHUS MARSH VIC
Australia 3340
Phone number 03 5367 1519
Fax number 03 5367 1589
Mobile number 0407 772 871
Email address sales.ozzietraders@gmail.com

[Kedumba]

More building done due to almost constant horrible weather and working really silly hours. First up is the cowling. It is made from a series of rings that are glued on top of each other and sanded into shape
           

Next, I've started on the other half of the wing. Here are some shots of the construction so far. Pretty much just a mirror image of the first half.
           

[paulj]

Nice work Mick.

[Kedumba]

Wing half almost finished. Just a few minor bits to do before it's complete and the wing halves are ready for joining together.
       

I couldn't resist pulling it off the board and placing the wing halves together to see what it's gonna look like.
           

Next thing is to finish the cowling, then I think it's ready for covering... unless there is something I've forgotten....

[secant0give]

This is going to be a realy nice model!!

There's a lot of parcial ribs on the LE isn't there? Should hold the shape of the foil well

Top stuff !!

[Flying fisho]

Heaps of admiration for your work Mick, I still consider myself very much a novice in the RC aircraft hobby, still struggling in it's intricacies. Hope one day to do more than just look on as others prosper in the hobby's more finer aspects (other than just flying). Keep up the good work.

[Skidz]

"Heaps of admiration for your work Jason..."

I think you mean Mick! Too many M&M's there Wayne.

[Flying fisho]

Oops & fixed. Admiration for all builders

[Kedumba]

Heaps of admiration for your work Mick, I still consider myself very much a novice in the RC aircraft hobby, still struggling in it's intricacies. Hope one day to do more than just look on as others prosper in the hobby's more finer aspects (other than just flying). Keep up the good work.

It's great to hear these kinds of comments. For many years, long before I joined PRCAC and flew my first plane, I always wanted to fly planes. I'd go out to places like luddenham to the Model Park and watch the guys fly there, and whenever there was a display of any kind I'd always watch. I'd grab any chance that I could to chat with the people flying and was always blown away when they would point to their plane and say "yeah I built that". I thought I'd never be able to do anything like that, it always looked too complicated and difficult.

After learning to fly with my Trojan, I decided I wanted a new plane, but being me, I didn't want a plane that anyone else had, I wanted to be different, which is why I started looking at scratch building one. What really surprised me was how easy I found it and how much enjoyment I got from doing it once I got started. It was really a case of making the decision to do it, then jumping in. I know that sounds kinda strange when I think about what I was like way back then when those other guys would talk about the planes that they build. It does feel kinda good to be on the other side of the fence now....

I was quite daunted when I started my first build, however, once I got going, it really only consisted of cutting out all the bits of balsa to the correct shape, then glueing them together and making sure that it's straight. What takes the time is that there is usually quite a lot of bits to cut, sand and glue!!!

[Skidz]

Good onya Mick. My first planes were scratch built (nothing like this though). Didn't even know about RC at the time. BNF and PNP have bypassed the art of building one's own plane. I dips my lid to ya!

There ain't no way in hell you will see another plane like the one you built from nothing. That is a special honour limited to a special few.

Dave.

[Kedumba]

The main wing is finally finished and waiting final sanding and smoothing. Must admit, it's slightly larger than I imagined it would be, but I still think it turned out pretty well considering the amount of rib work in it.
           

Just have to finish the coweling now and make a start on the struts. Here is another mock up for several differenty angles

                           

I still need to do some experiments with using the cloth covering so I'll post those up as well when I get the chance to doing them

[Raptorfly]

Very nice, infact its excellent work and I can bet you there is nothing like building and flying your own work of art.

I think I'm catching the build your own bug.

[secant0give]

Yes very nice work Mick !!
That's going to be a lovely plane when it's finished !!

[Kedumba]

I think I'm catching the build your own bug.

Given the amount of rain we are getting lately, there isn't a whole lot else to do unless it's building a flying wing based on a KFM4 airfoil out of coreflute called a SpaFFFnutz of all things... but thats a topic for another thread
                   

[Kedumba]

Experiments in Silk Covering

I'm at the stage of the build where I need to order some items so can't really continue with the assembly, so I thought I'd start to play around with the silk covering.

First step is to give the components several coats of Dope/Acetone mix. Here is a quick and dirty drying rack I made from a couple of wire coat hangers
   
From what I've read it can take a couple of days to cover a piece, including dope drying time.

This is the piece that I'm gonna start with, the vertical stabilizer.
   
It's had about 3 coats of dope/acetone and has been lightly sanded between coats.

Next step is to cut a piece of silk to the rough size and shape needed for the piece.
   

Next, the silk is soaked in water. I dunno why this step is nessecery but everything I've read seem to indicate that this is the way to do it.
   
This pic isn't the best. If you can't make it out, it's a red plastic bowel half filled with water, and the silk in the bottom of it.

Now the wet silk is laid over the piece to be covered and the messy part begins
   
Run a line of dope/acetone alone every part of the silk that touches the wood and with your fingers, massage the dope until it penetrates the silk and "mixes" with the dope in the wood. This is what forms the bond that holds the silk in place.

What you end up with is very very messy fingers and a piece that looks something like this:
   

Wait for it to dry, flip it over and repeat the process on the other side
   
and you finally end up with something that looks like the following image
   

Once it is dry, it's time to shrink the silk. This is done by painting the silk with the dope/actone mixture. Initially, the articules I read said to use a 50/50 mixture, but I found through experimentation that this actually dissolves the silk. Not quite the result I want, so I've cut back the acetone and it's now probbably closer to 70% dope/ 30% actone and seems to work ok.

After shrinking it looks something like this
   
Now I give it a coat of pure dope. I think this stops the shrinking process. Once it's dry it's ready for some final light sanding and trimming to clean it up.

This process is pretty tedious and seems to be a bit unforgiving and it's not hard to understand why most people prefer monocoat shrink for covering, but it gives a fantastic fabric texture and I think it will look stunning once it gets a couple of coats of spray paint

[Flying fisho]

Sounds like you are having fun Mick, waiting for things to dry out from a sloppy mess. Same as the rest of us, but you sand after drying instead of mowing.
Presume you are using the silk I got for you. Let me know when/if you need more. Will happily oblige.

[Kedumba]

Sounds like you are having fun Mick, waiting for things to dry out from a sloppy mess. Same as the rest of us, but you sand after drying instead of mowing.
Presume you are using the silk I got for you. Let me know when/if you need more. Will happily oblige.

Hmmm, very good analogy! Yup I'm using the silk that you got. Seems to be doing the trick but I think I'd better put in an order for another couple of metres. I'm not sure how much I will need but i've probbably already used about a third of what you got for me just in experiments and trying to get the dope/acetone mix right. I think another 2 metres should be plenty to completly cover the model, thanks heaps.

[Flying fisho]

No probs, will pick up tomorrow at lunch. Seven Hills is on the way home for me, can drop it at your house. Email me your address .

[Kedumba]

Hi All,
I'm trying to figure out what motor to use in this plane. The magazine article uses a Tower Pro 2409-18 Bell type motor however, HobbyKing does not have them in stock and don't look like getting them back in so I'm trying to find an equivilent type of motor.

Just had another browse of the article, and I can't find any mention of all up flying weight or wing loading or other details, so all I can assume is that it needs about 200w on a 3S pack.

The motor mount on the plans is designed for this bell type motor as well, so any other style of motor will prob need to have an engine mount redesign I think.

Also, The rudder has been covered now with silk. Here is what it looks like: