Sport Racing plane for 3 cylinder Kolm engine.

[Snoopy1]

Decided to see how to finish the bottom first. Nun of it lines up the tail section and the front motor mount are at different angles. So that will be next endeavour. Not sure using old tail section saved that much time, to far down the road it will have to work. Will post pictures as soon as I can.

 

[TonyHallo]

Why is it soft? Lack of of formers or to thin? Think I would use Gorilla glue, possibly a coat of lightweight filler on the inside. After sanding harden the filler with thin CA.

 

[Snoopy1]

Why is it soft? Lack of of formers or to thin? Think I would use Gorilla glue, possibly a coat of lightweight filler on the inside. After sanding harden the filler with thin CA.

Probably both sheeted it with some 2mm balsa and not enough formers. Will change that for the next time. It looks good and the balsa formed well to all the curvatures. One the thing I was surprised how light it is it half the weight of a normal plastic canopy.

 

[Snoopy1]

Made a start cut all but 2 of the existing bottom formers off, will make new ones . Tail section stringers have been cut and tied into the new structure.
Also made the two bottom corners stringers out of 3/8 square Sitka spruce this is something I do when I can. It so difficult to pick up these big planes from the bottom and not break the corner stringers when made from balsa, and then it is difficult to fix.

 

[Snoopy1]

That was a lot more work than I thought but I pressed on I really wanted to get the bottom done today. It used up a lot of wood. All the balsa wood used for the bottom was reduced in size to save weight it did not need to be 3/8 square.
I so glad i built small sander just for this type of work it saved me hours do this job, I turn it on and just let run all the time next to me as fit all the diagonal pieces.

 

[Snoopy1]

Working on some details that a lot easier to do at this time. Checked to see if air tanks for the carburetors fit and will work at this location. They fit just have add some sponge supports and then they will be good. Also added in a wiring tube for the tail servos. Also add in some glue joint bracing.

 

[Snoopy1]

Sorry, did a hole lot of back tracking today. Removed the wiring tube and removed all the sponge supports for the air tanks. Just too difficult to work with. Down the road if the tanks need to be removed it will be a pain. it was difficult already with no covering. So decided to start over. I think what I am going to do is build a balsa tube and support the tube off the structure, this will allow me to just slide the tanks in and out. Will add some weight but if you cannot fix and maintain a plane it is useless.

 

[dhal22]

I like the wiring tube....

 

[TonyHallo]

I used the last stash of servo wire tubes that a bought at the Toledo show many years ago. Just bought 5/8" rocket bodies for the same use, only 18" long though.

 

[Snoopy1]

I used the last stash of servo wire tubes that a bought at the Toledo show many years ago. Just bought 5/8" rocket bodies for the same use, only 18" long though.

I make them out of old drawings from work. They are Mylar. Cut 4 inch wide strips, then roll them as tight as I can on my small finger and then pull the centre out. Creep pulling till I have the length I need then just wrap some tape around the ends. Done.