[Dutkoski]

Well, I started carving the electric Avro Arrow today. Have the nose section and the fuselage all cut in profile so far. The turtle deck and canopy is also cut and sanded to shape.
Going to be for twin Mini 480 fans, brushless or AP-29L brushed motors. Most likely will use a single battery pack of 10 - 3000 NmH. Bungee launching will be the way to get it in the air. Just too small for retracts in those wings.
Mostly fibreglass with standard foam core wings.
If anyone is interested in following along, join me for a chat or two.
Pic's to follow.

[aubej]

Keep us posted John. The Arrow is always on interesting topic.

Jason

[Dutkoski]

Ok guys, here's the first progress report. I didn't mention it at first but here are the dimensions, 38" wingspan, 56" length from tail cone to nose cone ( not incuding the data boom ), gives me a fuse width of 7.5", plenty of room for the two Mini-480 fans. And the intakes can be "adjusted" so they are scale size by reducing the thickness of the splitter plates and the interior of the intake will be fattened up. This way, fromt he outside, it looks right.
The main parts have been sized and matched up. Now for the fun of carving....... Should have it roughed out, sanded and ready to resin up by Wednesday.

[Mark DiMonte]

John, It looks great. Put me in line for a fuse. I do not have the equiptment to pull one off and If you could pull a seccond fuse , I will make it worth your while. I purchassed the wood and retracts for a seccond Arrow but would love to have a fiberglass fuse version. Let me know if is a possibility. Mad out.

[Dutkoski]

Thats not a problem, once I get the mould work done. This is for a EDF version, so I use fairly light wieght moulding methods. The ducting is sort of part of the structure, like a unibody theory. If you want to use a fuse for a wet motor, I'll mould one up with a 6oz cloth instead of a 4 oz. Same as for the wet ducted fan jets. I'll also stiffen up the back with some carbon for where the motor mount bulkhead gets bonded, if thats the route you're taking.
The fuse will consist of a main body, two intakes, a front section, the cockpit/turtledeck section and tail cone. For a outwardly simple looking fuse, It has to be moulded in this many section to get all the scale shapes and to make it esay to join the parts. Oh, and the clear portion of the canopy will be two flat pieces of canopy material. I take it you won't require any of the ducting......
As far as payment, I'm quite reasonable. But we'll discuss that when I get the mould work done.

[Guest]

John, Bruce Dealhy here...

Not sure if you've been reading RC Groups threads, but there's one on an Arrow project, plus my attempt at doing a Wemotec 480MF single engine version (basic box fuselage with nothing fancy.) May give you some ideas or qeustions that you haven't considered.

Haven't worked on it for a while -- floggin items at swap meets and eBay to pay for the current and future projects (brushless motors, ESC's and NiMh high-amp batteries are NOT cheap!)

URL is http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...ght=avro+arrow

Not sure if you've got this planset, but it does have a lot of information, especially on the CofG and key dimensions. I've got one or two left over (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=2164497231) Don't worry, not asking the final price on the auction. A few sales like this one, and I'll ahve the price on the Arrow kit covered when you start selling it.

Do keep us informated as you make progress.

[Dutkoski]

Just checked out that thread on the RC Group. Tried to log in but it wouldn't accept my e-mail for some reason. However, it looks like a nice project, coming along well. Hope that paper intake keeps it's shape. He may have equal FSA but the length of the intake tube may be the problem with collapsing onto itself because of the suction. Should have at least wrapped it in carbon fibre thread. Other than that, looks darn nice. Wish him all the best with his test flight.
As far as the drawings that are being offered, I have them all. The one that has a lot of the stations and CG info, I was lucky enough to get copies from an original Avro copy. Don't ask how.....
I also have been working on a 1/8th scale version, presently occupying a large section of my garage. Drawing were done with the help of drawings from Mr. Floyd. So, scale drawings, I got more than most.
Tonight I spent a good three hours carving and sanding the main body to shape. Tomorrow, will do the nose section, canopy section and the tail cone. The only liberty I've taken so far away from scale is in thinning down the intake splitter plate, just to get more intake area. You won't notice it.
I'll post updated pic's tomorrow night. ( might even have the foam cores cut.....)

[Guest]

JOhn wrote: "Drawing were done with the help of drawings from Mr. Floyd. So, scale drawings, I got more than most. "

Well, if Jim Floyd is helping you, then, no matter what, you're working from the horse's mouth and your model will be as scale as humanly possible.

Last time that I met him was about ten years ago, and he was getting a bit frail and his wife was definitely limiting his AVRO-related activities (he tended to get too worked up about things if she wasn't around.)

Re: the paper intakes and ducting. certainly CF threads will work, but the consensus seems to be that gluing the ducting to the formers and using a glossy but heavy paper (30 pound bond or photographic paper) gives enough strength to keep collapsing at a minimum.

Oh well, better get my butt in gear and finish the two current projects (Fun Scale Fighter P-51B and the ElectroStrea) before I start getting too far gone on the Arrow.

The 106 and F4 models have almost as long intakes and no one was talking in the threads about using CF threads for anything below the MF480.

[Dutkoski]

Well, the fuse plug, less the tail cone is pretty much roughed out. Next is the tail cone which should be just a joy to do since there isn't a straight or flat surface on it. The next time I post a pic, the plug should have all the parts attached and hopefully a coat or two of white coloured polyester resin.
Have the template made for the foam cores, so will get cracking on that also.
Now it's opinion time, give me your input fellows. I can either go with a 1/4" slab verticla fin, solid balsa, or, a hollow built up balsa fin that has the scale airfoil. As a customer building the plane, which style would you prefer, fast build sort of scale, or a little more effort and scale. The cost to the kit is not worth mentioning as it would be the same amount of balsa cost either one.

[JimMoss]

How thick is the scale tail?

Jim Moss