Built the fuselage.  A bunch of balsa blocks glued and stacked in place then sanded.

Installed the motor and it fits like a glove.  It fits a lot better than my previous electric model.  It had a larger diameter motor.

Next is a razor plane and sanding block.

Frank

Thank you Michael for publishing this date.  It will allow us to count down to spring/summer.  Anything to get out of this horrible winter.

If you are a new student... welcome....
If you are a returning student.... welcome back.

Mark will show you through the membership process (RPAS, MAAC, TEMAC membership). Our ground crew Paul and Mark will help you set up your airplane when you get to the field.  Please listen to them.  They will explain why things are done this way.

Instruction will take place at Rogo Field every Wednesday starting at 5 pm. I will show up regardless of the weather because I have to commit early*.  We have had situations where it was pouring in the City or in Markham and not a drop at Rogo Field.  If it rains we will hide at Tim's Woodbine.

Please remember that the teaching staff volunteers their time.  They are good enough to help out but can also pull their services if they are not treated fairly.

One day closer to spring!!

Frank

* I live in midtown Toronto and set up customer appointments in the north end every Wednesday.

That's a stunner Corsair.  It's nice to see all the work that goes into getting it built.

My plane demonstrated good judgement by staying close to home!!😇

If you cannot see the plane, then do not fly. Just saying.. 

The good news (for some): 15 degrees Celsius and NO wind.

The bad news: visibility periodically down to 50 m in advection fog,  but with advance warning!

Snow is saturated, slushy and very soft,  making takeoffs a challenge on skis.  Rubber boots highly recommended. 

Should be fun when this freezes up next week!

Cheers,
Andy

Next, I moved on to mounting the landing gear. Once I confirmed which unit was left and which was right, they simply bolted into place. It was a very straightforward install with hardly any effort required.

That pretty much wraps up the major components on one of the wings. I still need to install the control surface covers, the air scoop, and the guns, but those are mostly cosmetic details and can be taken care of later. I'll follow this exact same procedure for the second wing and call it a day. In my next post, I'll start working on the fuselage and its components

With the ailerons and flaps now glued in place, I turned my attention to mounting the servos and linkages. I always try to preserve the maximum amount of servo travel — essentially keeping them at 100% throw — since this provides the best resolution and smoothest control.

I achieve this by using the hole closest to the servo arm's pivot point while still getting the control surface movement I need. This setup not only improves precision but also gives the servo the greatest mechanical advantage and strength.

I did find that I had to put a slight bend in the aileron control rod to prevent it from contacting the wing cut-out. I don't normally like putting bends in pushrods since it can introduce a bit of twist under load, but I remember having to do the same on my last model as well. I tightened everything down securely, so it shouldn't be a big deal — just a small tweak to get everything moving freely.

Next, I turned my focus to the flaps. The Phoenix 120 Corsair uses three separate flaps per wing. The outermost flap is the one directly connected to the control linkage, while the remaining two are driven by a plywood strip that ties the flap surfaces together. I remember struggling with this on my last model — trying to glue all three flaps at the same time while keeping everything aligned so they would move smoothly. It was a bit of a juggling act.

This time, I took a different approach. I aligned and glued the outermost flap first with the control linkage connected. Once it was secured and moving freely, I test-fit everything before gluing the other two flaps to make sure they moved smoothly whenever the outermost flap was moved. Once I was happy with the hinge positioning and alignment, I taped everything in place and glued them.

This model uses proper hinge pins on the wing control surfaces. The hinge mounting holes come pre-drilled, but the pins still need to be glued in place. I always apply a little white grease to the hinge joints to prevent epoxy from seeping in and restricting movement. Before gluing the aileron in place, I mounted the control horn and test-fit everything to make sure nothing was rubbing and there were no restrictions to movement. I normally prefer using 15-minute epoxy for a bit more working time, but since I didn't have any on hand, I had to move a little quicker with 5-minute epoxy. I glue both sides of the hinges, set the aileron in place, and cycle it up and down to make sure everything moves freely and that all the hinge pins are properly aligned.