I'll provide here a bunch of pictures to supplement the plans, instructions, and build class... for reference. Feel free to ask questions.
I have yet to take pictures of the whole build process, but I'll post what I have. I'll try to get the rest taken and posted before I head off on a business trip on Wednesday.
1. The ply motor tube wrapped around the motor
2. The tube and the firewall
3. The firewall glued into the tube
4. The motor tube assembly with the motor in
5. All the parts for the fuselage and tail
6. The 1/32 ply doublers added
7. The 1/4" square corners added
8. The 1/4" square F4 and F5 added with the front wing mount plate
1. Adding the other fuselage side to F4 and F5, and checking alignment at the front
2. Checking alignment at the stab mounting surfaces
3. Bringing the tail together with the 1/4" stringers in the way
4. Sanding the taper into the stringers
5. The result
6. Checking fit before gluing
7. Checking wing saddle to stab saddle alignment before gluing
8. The motor tube glued into F2
1. The motor tube in the nose of the Morphine with the 1/4" stringers in the way
2. The stringers cleared out
3. The motor tube assembly glued in
4. Overall view so far
5. The rear wing mounting plate and saddle doublers
6. The wing front mounting plate
7. The fuselage bottom cross sheeting
8. Bottom cross sheeting trimmed to square edge
1. The top of the fuselage with the forward cross sheeting in place
2. The BOTTOM wing skin showing the cut line inside the LE and TE reinforcement
3. The BOTTOM sheet at the tip
4. The TOP wing skin showing a little extra length at the TE
5. The 1" extra sheeting added to the end (both ends top and bottom) to take the 36" sheet to 38"
6. Two wings, in their core beds, after the sheeting has been glued on, and under a board and weight overnight
Crap, this is more instruction and pics than I got in both of my big complicated builds combined! I should be able to knock this out in a week! lol! Thanks for this!
Colin
That's the point. I want it to be a quick and easy build for everyone so we can do more racing!
I've had lots of great discussion with Ken C. about the Morphine build and design, and he's expressed concern about the tube wrapped around the motor and heat build up. I'm not concerned as I feel the motors are running cool and there's no direct cooling for them anyway. But, he did have me thinking...
Really the ply tube idea was suggested to offer a larger gluing area between the sides, top, and bottom, and the 1/16" ply motor mount. I then felt that using F2 would offer a nice way of aligning the motor. The extra gluing surfaces does certainly help, but is only really needed at the front, say, 3/8" of the tube. I suggested that trimming the tube to about that 3/8" to 1/2" length would solve the cooling concerns and still satisfy the gluing requirements. I figured I'd try it in my most recent fuselage construction, and it seems to work fine. Also, since F2 wasn't needed anymore, I added a couple of 1/4" cross braces at the optional F3 location to help maintain a gentle curvature of the fuselage sides. I used 1" long pieces between the 1/4" square fuselage stringers.
I like the way it turned out and I'd suggest that approach for everyone else. See pictures below.
BTW, don't worry too much about a nice clean fit of the fuselage sides around the motor tube. Just get it stable and as close as possible, fill the gaps, then sand the sides, top and bottom, down to the tube. THs should give a nice, round fit behind the spinner.
1. Drilling the Nyrod exit hole in the fuselage. I put mine through the 1/4", left side stringer. I used a small diameter, brass tube with the end sharpened. Chucked into a brill made creating the hole easy
2. A closer look at the tube that cut the hole
3. The hole relative the the stab location
4. The Nyron in place
5. The hole in the bottom of the fuselage for pushrod hookup
6. Looking through the bottom of the fuselage with a couple of Nyrod stabilizing points glued in and to the Nyrod
7. The three inches from the tail end of the fuselage where the Nyrod exits
8. The wing with the LE, TE, and tips installed prior to sanding
1. The wing tip at TE
2. The wing tip at LE
3. Root at LE
4. Root at TE
5. Wing TE prior to sanding
6. The fuselage and wing sanded to shape
7. The sanded wing tip LE
8. The sanded wing tip TE
1. Wing TE
2. Fuselage tail showing sheeting the stab and Nyrod exit
3. Rough sanded nose shape
4. Wing saddle showing doubler and wing bolt down plate (not drilled and tapped yet)
5. Wing saddle showing the wing LE hold down
Is this one for sale? ;)
Gorgeous
Quote from: sihinch on November 19, 2014, 03:36:44 PM
Is this one for sale? ;)
Well I do have two others just like it, plus my already flying one. For you?????
NO!
Man you should have drawn the plans for the Solent, with this kind of detailed instructions this build should be a no brainer!
C
I got my wing sheeting cut and the fuse sides cut with the ply reinforcement added.
Slightly odd photo, but here is the finished fuse and wing mounted on my first morphine. Tail is already cut and covered.
The fuse can now be covered but I still need to cut the ailerons in the wing and mount servos before the wing can be done.
Aiming to have it done by the end of Feb.
Nearly done......
Ooooooooooo Nice! :o
Looks great!
I'm about to start covering mine....YAY!
I'm about to start building my next one! A slightly improved version - there are a few things I'm gonna change on the fuselage. It will be like a Morphine II. ;D
Hey Robert, or others, question for you.....
Not for Piker class racing, but how much power do you think a well built morphine fuse could take without failing?
Just in case someone fancies trying to see how fast one would go? ::)
I'd worry about the wing before I worry about the fuse. Why don't you try and let us know :)
Well, not quite build pictures but they are re-build pictures!
Had a bad day today, completely smashed the nose of my Morphine. But once I got home, after some coaching from Glenn, I managed to get the fuse back together again. In fact, I think it looks better now!
Just got to fix the wing leading edge now.
Use Dark Brown on the nose that way the clay won't show next time.
LOL
Jack.
Wing repair has started.....
Oh, and I did a static amp test to see why I was having problems with it cutting out.
25-26A static!!!!
Finished! Again.
Quote from: sihinch on April 13, 2015, 05:56:31 PM
Oh, and I did a static amp test to see why I was having problems with it cutting out.
25-26A static!!!!
I knew you were running that last year!
But that old ESC never cut out!
Stephan told me that old CC18A ESCs can take 30A, so I found some old ones to buy on RCGroups!
It's still the same ESC boys!
I'm pretty sure a little cooling is critical.
I think I attained 25 amps when I installed a slightly larger prop before the second race of the day last year. By chance, this also turned out to be my last race of the day and the last race ever for my Nooner....imagine that.
Glenn
So before I take the blame for letting people believe that the old CC18 can take 30amps and exploding mid-air, I would like to clarify that I was told that by a chinese motor manufacturer at the Toledo show where I was scoping for some motors... be warned!!
.... or actually nevermind, I think I heard you can push these to 40amps ;D (to my team mates, stick to 20 so that you can actually finish the races!!)
Quote from: sihinch on April 17, 2015, 11:31:38 AM
But that old ESC never cut out!
Stephan told me that old CC18A ESCs can take 30A, so I found some old ones to buy on RCGroups!
It's still the same ESC boys!
Monocoat/Ultracoat covering question:
For the morphine fuselage, do you use 4 different pieces of vinyl (top, bottom, and sides) or can someone master using a single piece?
I don't have any issues with the flat surfaces however I am having some challenges with all the compound curves of the fuse, especially wrapping the front.
Would anyone be interested in a mini workshop for just for covering? Any masters in the covering arts willing to share their knowledge for an evening??
Stephan
I just used 4 pieces, wrapped around the side a little, added in this order:
Bottom
Sides
Top
Glenn gave me some great advice when I was repairing my morphine....
"It doesn't have to look good Simon, it's a racer!"
You won't be able to wrap the covering around in one piece. The accumulation of excess material at each end will be too much to shrink out. The most you could hope for would be three sides, but even that would be very hard to manage and not worth the effort. You should do as Simon suggests as far as number of pieces and order of application is concerned, but don't listen to him regarding the look of the racers ;D
Quote from: piker on April 24, 2015, 10:39:39 AM
don't listen to him regarding the look of the racers ;D
Glenn
@electroflyer said it! :o
Thanks for the heads up, if only I had that info before I started!! Mine is definitely looking like a "Racer"!!
Could have been worst for my first scratch build balsa plane though!!
I just have to install the control horns and hook up the electronics.
Maiden and race tomorrow!!! Please wish me luck that it will even fly straight!!
Looks great! Congrats Stephan.
Excellent, Stephan! The plane looks great and what a great job you've done to get ready for the race.
If I don't see you before the test flight... Good luck!
Did you get Eric's done too? ;D
I never did post recommended throws as promised, but +/- 1/8" on ailerons and +/- 3/32" on Elevator is a good starting point. Does that sound right to you, Simon, Glenn?
I made my ailerons smaller (to reduce drag and make it less sensitive) so I'm not sure.
But elevator, yes.
Hey all you new Morphine builders (my competition.... ;D )
Don't forget about the minimum 16oz flying weight rule! I had to add 2 oz. of lead in my plane to make it legal.
I just did the covering of Eric's fuselage, the second go around is much better, especially with the four sided vinyl strips, I still had challenges on the front rounded corners with creasing and possibly over heating.
I am about to cover the wings now, again a little practice helps a lot but it still won't look great. Eric's will still look better than mine, however mine will be faster... I will make sure of that ... hahahaha (evil laugh of the younger brother) 8)
Stephan
Quote from: piker on April 24, 2015, 01:57:42 PM
Excellent, Stephan! The plane looks great and what a great job you've done to get ready for the race.
If I don't see you before the test flight... Good luck!
Did you get Eric's done too? ;D
I never did post recommended throws as promised, but +/- 1/8" on ailerons and +/- 3/32" on Elevator is a good starting point. Does that sound right to you, Simon, Glenn?
Ok, the 2 morphines of the crazy frenchmen squadron are almost ready to go for tomorrow's race, just have to install the control arms and connect them to the servos.
With the batteries, they are about 500 grams ( 45 grams above minimum) but my CG is at 2-2.25" behind LE which is 1/4 or 1/2" too far back as per Robert's recommendation.
I am concerned that I may need to put some weights up front. Oh well, hopefully they fly properly and we get to race tomorrow. ???
Great job!
Being a bit further back than mine might be O.K. I think mine is rather far forward. If your CG is at about 1/3 the cord, it'll probably be fine.
What about your's, Simon and Glenn?
My airframe weight is 356g plus 119g for battery. So race legal with no weight.
CG is about 1.75"
I know this is the Morphine "build" picture thread but I think this "crash" picture still counts since it is part of the rebuild.
Oh and by the way, note to self, when you switch the elevator cable from the top to the bottom, make sure to reverse the servo!!!
Yeah I know it is dumb, for some reason I made sure to check that the ailerons were correct before flying but not the elevator :'(
Anyways, here is the question: when my plane decided to act like an ostrich, the battery gave a very nice example of one of Newton's laws by plowing into the ESC and bending it against the motor (as per the picture). At this point the ESC still works, the actual question is whether I should trust the ESC to continue working or should I get a new one???
Absolutely not. Use as a bench tester maybe but don't risk it in a model.
Jack.
Thanks Jack, in my next upgrade I am bringing the battery forward, about 1" in front of the wing LE to satisfy the proper CG, which means I can bring the ESC behind the battery. Should I still provide some ventilation for the motor or is the ventilation only required for the ESC?
Thanks,
Stephan
When you run an ESC at full throttle it generates very little heat. The power to the ESC is DC which is linear. The motor is AC which is cyclic. The ESC cycles the power from on to off to provide the alternating current. It does this by stopping the current to the motor for a fraction of a second at a time. While the current is stopped the power is still flowing from the battery. That stopped power has to be gotten rid of somehow. The ESC does that by converting it to heat. That is why at slow speed the power is stopped for longer periods and thus more heat.
The motor will always generate heat and require cooling. Some take a chance and eliminate cooling on the basis of the shortness of the run. You can get away with that approach with an expensive motor but not so much with a cheaper one.
Welcome to a world of compromise.
Jack.
So yesterday my morphine's wings got pissed off at me and split !! ::) Mid air!!
Either that or the plane decided to imitate a corsair on a ship!!
I am learning way too much on this project, I enjoy building but I much prefer flying.
I realized afterwards that in my previous crash the wing had a bit of the monocoat damaged on the bottom which I didn't fix, which I can now assume helped a lot with the tension strength.
Now I have to learn about glassing the damn thing!! :-\
Hopefully should be ready for race day.
It can be repaired Stephan - I still race this wing.....
Well after an operation with a carbon rod, some Kevlar and a bit of glass fiber, I should be able to stand on this wing without it splitting :o.
It probably won't look very purty but it will hopefully do the job for tomorrow.
Now if only the 30min epoxy would set so that I can sand it a bit and monocoat it, I would be much happier than if I have to wait until the morning and scramble to do that.
Nice one Stephan!
Test flew this today. (yes, uncovered. ;D) Uneventful ... slow and sluggish ... have to do some tweaking (CG, throws, etc) and streamline the nose to its final shape if I want to even look like a serious contender in the races.
Colin
Was great to see it fly Colin. Get it ready for Sunday, now!!!
Worst covering job I've ever done but hopefully it'll be so fast no one will notice! :) Also was able to shave an ounce off the test flight weight. Ready for Sunday! ;D
Colin