[allmetalplane]

Originally Posted by RAMJET

Pal you have to shoot us some pictures ,I just have to see this ,sorry for the hijack.

Here are some of them..

[Caygeon Flyer]

A reasonable concern as litho plate is quite brittle. I used it over open areas on my Super Cub Ailerons, but the spacing between supports is in the range of 1 to 1 1/2 ". I would be concerned over larger areas, and suggest some sort of baking, both to carry the load and for vibration resistance.

Balsa backing would only need to be thin as the aluminum stiffens it up quite a bit.

Originally Posted by RAMJET

I got the litho from a old friend greame mears,lived beside him at one time .I was always a little worried about having litho over open bays as it tends to fracture with vibration,or would you use it only over balsa sheet. I was thinking of sheeting over a open frame fuse & wings ,laminating over bulsa only in stress areas(wing roots,leading & trailing edges& firewall) ???would be easily damaged though (hanger rash wise)

[flytwice]

Hello Cageon Flyer: I have looked for the dimensions for scale size 2 and 3 blade props for a Radial Beaver.
Ramjet is converting his Unionville 8 footer to a real 5 cyl radial. He asked what the scale would be. I have not found the answer.
Can you tell us? Thanks in advance flytwice

[Aerobatic_Tom]

Great start to the morning finding this thread and having a nice cup of java on the table! Keep up the great work!!

[RAMJET]

Originally Posted by Caygeon Flyer

A reasonable concern as litho plate is quite brittle. I used it over open areas on my Super Cub Ailerons, but the spacing between supports is in the range of 1 to 1 1/2 ". I would be concerned over larger areas, and suggest some sort of baking, both to carry the load and for vibration resistance.

Balsa backing would only need to be thin as the aluminum stiffens it up quite a bit.

You have given me a idea ,I could build the plane covered with wide but thin bulsa stringers with no more than a 1/2" between stringers,with 1/2" wide stringers ,this would give the needed support and glueing could be done from the inside when assembled.wings could also be done in two halves top&bottom then joined .thanks again Roger

[Caygeon Flyer]

Sounds like an idea - but a lot of work. Consider a more conventional structure, but with 1/16 balsa or 1/32 ply sheeting.

Also think about building a sample wing section to test your idea before going all the way!

Peter

Originally Posted by RAMJET

You have given me a idea ,I could build the plane covered with wide but thin balsa stringers with no more than a 1/2" between stringers,with 1/2" wide stringers ,this would give the needed support and glueing could be done from the inside when assembled.wings could also be done in two halves top&bottom then joined .thanks again Roger

[Caygeon Flyer]

Lighting
Working lights add a lot to a scale model. It has always been a challenge to get them bright enough to show up in daylight. The new high brightness LED technology is now making it possible to have very bright lights, with low power consumption.

I built my own LED lighting system. It is not hard. The main technical task is sizing a resistor for the LED circuit so that they do not burn out.

A basis description on how to do these calculations can be found on the Kawartha Flyers website www.kawarthaflyers.com under the “Articles” section, or at http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pi...ZjhhYTk3MzQxZg

These high brightness LED’s are available at many electronic component sources. A couple of sources on-line are www.superbrightled.com and http://www.lightingforaeromodellers.co.uk/ .

The more difficult challenge is making a light fixture that is scale like.
In my Beaver, I am installing a three light Navigation Light system, and a landing light.

The lens for the wingtip Navigation lights is made using a simple heat forming jig. A hole of the correct size is drilled in a block of wood, a pieces of 0.030” clear plastic is clamped in place, heated with a heat gun until soft, then driven into the hole with a piece of dowel. The lenses were then coloured with transparent paint, and trimmed to size. An LED is glued into the lens.

The housing is made in three parts. The lens as described above, a flat base plate made form aluminum or styrene, and a cover piece. The cover was carved to shape, and then I made a mould and cast several covers. The finished assembly I shown painted blue at the top of the photo.

The tail Navigation light uses a two part design. The LED diameter is very close to the required scale size, so an LED will be glues into the aluminum holder shown at the bottom of the photo and screwed to the tail cone.

[Caygeon Flyer]

Lighting - Part B
The landing light was a very high power LED taken from a hikers head lamp I found at Mountain Equipment Coop. It took a bit of experimenting to get the correct current draw, etc. This photo shows it mounted in the wing before sheeting the bottom.

I often use a switch operated by a cam on the flap servo to operate the landing lights, but in this case I am planning to use an electronic switch – such as the RAM 35.

Attached is a wiring diagram. I estimate that the current draw, with the landing lights on will be 567 mA. With the landing lights off – 267 mA. A battery of 600 mAh capacity should give well over an hour’s operation.

[Caygeon Flyer]

Seats

Into the interior now…
The front seats used several techniques. The seat frame was vacuum formed using 0.040 sheet styrene. This was my first time attempting vacuum forming. It was not as difficult as I expected. I built a small forming box and connected it to my shop vac. The tricky part waiting long enough for the styrene to soften in the oven.
The seat cushions are carved from balsa blocks. The pedestal is a block of balsa sheeted with aluminum glued to the balsa. The seat belts are a piece of shoelace. The control column is fabricated in brass, with details discovered in the “Illustrated Parts Manual”.

[flytwice]

Hello Cageon Flyer: Amazing detail here.
Have you ever thought of doing How To Videos for the unlearned!!

Back in Nov, when I was putting my Turbo Beaver together, I struggled for weeks to try to find the pieces for lighting.
It never occurred to me to make my own. Eventually came up with covers that look OK, but nothing like your detailed work.

This method of yours looks really good, nice work, CF!! I'm going to try this.

A club member is coming over today to show me how to make a fiberglass cowl. Another first for me. I made the plug from styrofoam, we'll see how this old dog learns this new trick!
I've been a welder for over forty years, have a good size lathe with a miniature milling attachment that I learn on every time I use it.
NOT very much metal on a balsa plane, but I enjoy learning new techniques.
My next job will be to mill out the front nylon suspension blocks for the 6 ft Turbo Beaver in progress.
No where near as detailed as your build, but your building expertise has definitely got me thinking about the next steps into scale!!.
Looking forward to seeing your builds progress, CF. Please continue!!!