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Post by sean on Jul 23, 2007 15:17:42 GMT 10
Here's a pic of the fuse bolt mount. The front hole is drilled into the raw pine and tapped to accept the 10-32 bolt, with CA for thread reinforcement. I spent a while searching places here for a 10-32 tap with no success, but a little googling uncovered that 10-32 and M5 (5mm) are basically interchangable! So I picked up an M5 tap from the local hardware store and it indeed cut a perfect thread for the 10-32 bolt! Who would have thought eh? Unfortunately the rear bolt hole is not ideal. Installing the wing with bolts was a bit of a last minute decision, I didn't design the pine fuse to accept bolts so what I've had to do is rout out the pine and epoxy a 1/8" plate into it, which is all the thickness available in this section of the fuse. I then drilled a hole straight through the ply and carbon tail boom. I'm not happy at the thought of drilling through the tail boom as it will weaken it at a crucial location. But, it looks like I'll get away with it, the 4.2mm hole doesn't seem to have weakened the approx 16mm diameter boom too much, and it's also supported at this point by the fuse glue joint. I've tapped the ply and carbon bolt hole and it looks to be quite tough, with a bit of CA applied to strengthen the thread. The fuse doesn't weigh much so I think this arrangement should work well (fingers crossed ). Here's a pic of the fuse bolt holes:
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Post by sean on Jul 23, 2007 15:18:58 GMT 10
Here are some pics of the completed airframe so far, with the wings bolted to the fuse: It's starting to look a bit more like my 3D mockup now... After seeing Ezza's Reaper fly on the weekend I can't wait to get this thing in the air right now! Despite some major battle scars Ezza's Reaper tracked beautifully while DSing and just looked really sweet in the air.
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Post by ezza on Jul 23, 2007 15:33:30 GMT 10
Wow Sean, this thing looks fast just sitting there naked! Can't wait to see her in the sky. Might inspire me to be more patient when I'm building. Eric
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Post by sean on Jul 23, 2007 15:42:06 GMT 10
Thanks Ezza! It would certainly be nice to have both our birds in air together at once, maybe some more DS racing ;D. I'm leaning in the opposite direction, I need to start building a little more quickly so I can have a few more planes in the air!
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Post by ezza on Jul 23, 2007 18:30:17 GMT 10
Hey Sean, That would be great! It would be interesting to see the difference between the perfect new model and the old girl. I can see myself going back for a rebuild soon afterwards. I might have to hurry up and finish my JW so we have a third comparison. I will probably try your trick with the sharp tips, as it seems to make a big difference with your Bat.
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Post by sean on Jul 23, 2007 20:44:19 GMT 10
Hey Ezza, Building a JW eh? Should be pretty quick from all reports. I'm not too sure how much the tips on my Bat help its speed, I suspect they don't make much of a difference although I do think they look better that way, also I wonder if they have something to do with the noise it makes?
You could make tips like this survive cartwheels better by rounding the very end of the tip a little, but I don't think it would look quite as good.
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Post by thevon on Jul 23, 2007 21:20:17 GMT 10
Sean, that's a really good detailed description, thanks. It looks great. i agree with Ezza - it looks amazing already. Do you guys feel that rounded tips help with speed/drag? Ezza's Reaper is so fast and obviously flies very efficiently. I'm looking for shortcuts everywhere to cut the fuss with building! Also for me crashing so much I worry a bit that pointed tips would scrunch more. Anyway I have to shut myself down from having thoughts about getting a Reaper too. Not yet!
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Post by ezza on Jul 23, 2007 21:56:35 GMT 10
Hey Sean, I wasn't looking for another foamie but, I basically stumbled across a half price 60inch JW kit and simply could not resist. I have seen Swoopdown ds his and it was very quick. Very tough as well, so it should suit my style of flying. Andrew, I used to be worried about the pointy nose thing but they are tougher than they look. I find they only really get stress with a straight in nose 'doink', which is pretty rare. Too many of those and you can end up with the dreaded accordian nose. Recovering/repairing the fuse is the biggest pain. I think Sean's timber fuse could be a solution.
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Post by jase on Jul 23, 2007 22:01:31 GMT 10
i know i'm a beginner but i'm looking for a jet figher looking epp slope soarer. hunting around on google, they are few and far between and need strong wind, but i reckon it would be fun.
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Post by ezza on Jul 23, 2007 22:36:48 GMT 10
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Post by jase on Jul 23, 2007 22:54:32 GMT 10
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Post by sean on Jul 23, 2007 23:03:27 GMT 10
Hehe! That vid's hilarious Ezza, it takes guts and just a touch of craziness to build a sloper like that! So much work, so easy to destroy!
Jase with the way you're going you'll be able to fly a jet style model pretty soon I reckon. I have read that the Canterbury Sailplanes F20 flies well, it has pretty stretched wings though, it doesn't have the pure flighter look. Might be a good compromise for now.
Andrew, like I said earlier I suspect the pointy tips wouldn't aid much in speed, but there are theoretical reasons as to why they should which is why mouldies almost always have pointy tips. I reckon it would depend a lot on how well you shaped them. Ultimately though even if there was a benefit I reckon it might only add a few percent to your speed and quite possibly degrade handling. I mainly do tips like this because I think it looks good. The extremely pointy tips on this machine are probably going to be a bit fragile, but the slightly less extreme tips on my Bat are quite durable, having a round front edge to the wingtips means there's no square corner to dent, so if you rounded off the tip extremeties a bit instead of making them pointy I think it would actually increase crash tolerance.
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Post by thevon on Jul 24, 2007 8:36:07 GMT 10
Man, that jet fighter is a hoot! Huge! Wow! How would you do test trim flights on a thing like that??!
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Post by ding on Jul 24, 2007 12:22:42 GMT 10
Man, that jet fighter is a hoot! Huge! Wow! How would you do test trim flights on a thing like that??! I noticed they didn't show a shot from after the landing which looked pretty rough.
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Post by jase on Jul 24, 2007 18:58:33 GMT 10
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