[samste]

Hi Kev
I think the wheel position looks good.
You have a lot of give with the spring suspension to front wheel so i don't think there should be too much stress on frame where the wheel is attached when landing the plane.
And a 40 amp motor with a 12x 8 blade coming towards me, well i think i be diving in any direction i could, thats some serious power and torque, where as gliders tend to be attracted to electrical towers.

Steve

[kizza42]

Problem is that all the spring suspension setups I've seen don't give anywhere near as much as they should, Just have to look at Chris misfortune with a landing he made last weekend with his .46 trainer, it was a hard landing but not a over the top one but the spring basically did nothing and passed all the shock straight into the balsa and promptly ripped the whole assembly out. If at all possible get the wire bent so you have a trailing link style suspension, it'll do a much better job. I'd rather have to bend metal after every flight than glue balsa.

[samste]

Kieran is right if the spring suspension does not have much give and you have a hard landing it won't look good.
I have seen spring suspensions at Hobby shops that are made of softer thinner metal that had a lot of bend in them at the spring , not sure if it was at Hobby in Hills Castle Hill or RC hobbies Leichardt.
Pretty good idea with the trailing link style suspension Kieran, that may be a better way.

Steve

[~KevJ~]

im all for changing... as long as i dont have to move the position...

i work at a company that sells semi trailer suspension and brakes and we have a huge amount of different spring for the brakes and what not , i plan on changing the one in there to something swept back that also has some give..
i will have to do something else you guys are right i will lose the whole firewall... i didnt know chris had problems last week ..damn that sux.
nose gear status = ongoing. :geek:

[~KevJ~]

hey fellas, a couple more progress pics..

i finished the main parts of fueselage now, all the exterior... including cutting out the recessed area that holds the wing, ive done the wing bolt assembly , and test fitted the wing, ive also fitted the torque rods for the aeilerons. time to start servo trays next .. also renamed her the "the spruce goose mk 2" as she feels like shes hit the 5kg mark..

it was good to get the cutout done to see what she will look like..

[autoimg]http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp103/fuzzymmyf/P8080004.jpg[/autoimg]
[autoimg]http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp103/fuzzymmyf/P8080006.jpg[/autoimg]
[autoimg]http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp103/fuzzymmyf/P8080009.jpg[/autoimg]
[autoimg]http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp103/fuzzymmyf/P8080010.jpg[/autoimg]
[autoimg]http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp103/fuzzymmyf/P8080013.jpg[/autoimg]
[autoimg]http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp103/fuzzymmyf/P8080012.jpg[/autoimg]

my work area is growing... 8-)
[autoimg]http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp103/fuzzymmyf/P8080001.jpg[/autoimg]

[samste]

"the spruce goose mk 2" is looking really good, coming together well
Great workshop area,mines the office/work shop area/homework area/kids trash area.

[~KevJ~]

coming along now..

flying tomorrow , fit undercarriage during the week, servo trays blah blah , cant believe ive come this far..

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAeHI6QDD_g[/youtube]

[samste]

Looks good very impressed
Steve

[~KevJ~]

I thought i'd post up a few updated pics..

A very proud co-pilot
[autoimg]http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp103/fuzzymmyf/P8220018.jpg[/autoimg]
I have a 12 X 8 MAS on there and and there is plenty of clearance perhaps i might even get away with a 13" prop so im considering jumping up to the 42 series turnigy motors..
[autoimg]http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp103/fuzzymmyf/P8220022.jpg[/autoimg]

[autoimg]http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp103/fuzzymmyf/P8220024.jpg[/autoimg]
Control Horns are all attached..
[autoimg]http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp103/fuzzymmyf/P8290030.jpg[/autoimg]
servo tray is in and servos fitted , holding off on the pushrod connection at this end until i get a chance to tidy up the pushrod exit at the other end.. some noisy dremmel work needed but keep getting to things when kids in bed :roll:
[autoimg]http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp103/fuzzymmyf/P8290029.jpg[/autoimg]
servo fitted to wing, actually wing is 100% ready for covering..
[autoimg]http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp103/fuzzymmyf/P8290028.jpg[/autoimg]
lol here is a little mock up , i just thought it was funny that the trojan canopy was exact same size, i actually think the bigger canopy looks better than the standard one that comes with the kit, i need to look at finding a bigger canopy for it.. i also want some sort of cowling to tidy the crap nitro look of the nose..
[autoimg]http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp103/fuzzymmyf/P8290027.jpg[/autoimg]

[kizza42]

Its looking good mate, why don't you get the nosewheel servo connected at least and do some ground thrust tests down at the field, if the current motor can sufficiently accelerate the airframe on the ground to a decent speed then why bother upgrading? We could use the other .46 trainers as a guide to the speeds you are looking for and see if you can easily get there

[paulj]

That sounds like real good advice Kieran.
Kev bring her down Saturday and we'll she how she goes.
Also give you an idea of how it's gonna fit in the car

Paul

[paulj]

How well does that T28 cowling fit?
It looks good in the photo.

Paul

[~KevJ~]

Its looking good mate, why don't you get the nosewheel servo connected at least and do some ground thrust tests down at the field, if the current motor can sufficiently accelerate the airframe on the ground to a decent speed then why bother upgrading? We could use the other .46 trainers as a guide to the speeds you are looking for and see if you can easily get there

main problem there is that i had to drill out the two rear wheels cause the wire was too thick for centres and it took too much meat out and they have cracked so i need to get two new wheels to suit 5mm wire and some of those grub screw collars..

How well does that T28 cowling fit?
It looks good in the photo.

Paul

hey you know the cowling fits pretty good and i have a spare, i need to check with motor back in again, also the big canopy suits so much better than standard..

[~KevJ~]

paul helped me get the esc and servos hooked up today and i fired up the motor just on 3s with a 12x8 MAS.. hard to say on the bench test i guess but she had some serious thrust! things are looking good for this current setup ..

[~KevJ~]

now that the trojan is airworthy i put some power to the spruce goose, good to see some movement in the skeleton

i hooked up the nosewheel so i might bring her down the field to test the power on the ground to gauge if the motor is big enough

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsCLfQRDLvU[/youtube]

[~KevJ~]

the story so far....

I plan to make the top of wing a copy of the top of horizontal tail, also need to add a stripe on vert fin. is moving along ok but when you look up close its not the best covering job.. at 2+ metres it doesnt matter tho

[paulj]

Looking great kev.
You didn't miss anything this morning .
Only people to fly were Steve with his tigerjet and Ingo got his cub up in the air and had a devil of
a job getting it back down again. At one time it looked like the wind was going to
blow it away and even at full throttle the cub was going backwards.
In the end he did a great job of getting it down but that was enough evidence for the rest of us to
decide to pack up and go home. We were all gone by 10:30am

paul

[dingy]

Really lookin good Kev,

Keen to see it fly.

[~KevJ~]

about 12 years ago a man walked into a hobby shop in norfolk island and bought an rc plane..

today that mans son all but finished the plane. 8-)

looks like a maiden on saturday!

[autoimg]http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp103/fuzzymmyf/16122009192.jpg[/autoimg]

[autoimg]http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp103/fuzzymmyf/16122009193.jpg[/autoimg]

[paulj]

Is it 12 years.......?
Seems like only yesterday
You have done a great job on your first attempt. Well done.
Looking forward to seeing it fly on Saturday.
Hopefully I too will have a new model ready.
Tucano is going well and may make her maiden on the weekend too.

Paul

[kizza42]

Well she flew beautifully after we tied some house bricks to the nose! Congrats on an extremely successful build and maiden!

[~KevJ~]

yeah thanks kieren , there was certainly alot i could have done better in hindsight but thats only due to what i have learned in the 6 months since ive joined the club..

i do think she flew well and im looking forward to getting her in the air again next week, i shall pretty her up abit and add the canopy and perhaps try to hide the house bricks.
then ill post up a completion pic and perhaps a vid and then close the thread
thanks to all who put in some guidance and input especially in the early stages of the build. a big thanks to chris who kindly lent me his covering iron and house bricks