SHORT SOLENT MARK IV – 2014 WINTER BUILD

[wollins]

My building skills do not match Robert's nor Colin's.

You're much too kind my friend, much too kind. I'm just flattered to be named in the same company!  My skill is purely persistence and "anality"! lol!

Colin

[wollins]

Starting in the keel and nose today.  Excited about that cause it'll finally give the plane it's flying boat shape.

C

[wollins]

Didn't get to do anything today except install my servo tray and a couple of servos.    Anyways I decided to do a weigh in and at this stage without the keel, nose, battery tray, canopy and the balance of sheeting we're just over two pounds. (33.6ozs to be exact.  ) I have a feeling that that's pretty good considering the size of this thing and the amount of wood that's on it!

Hmmm ... just checked where my CL-415 was at roughly this stage ... 28.5ozs! Even though that was with the nose, battery tray, keel and fully sheeted, I'm not doing too badly at all with this one! By my rough calculation, to be on track weight wise with that build I have to have this fuse with the nose, battery tray, canopy, keel and balance of sheeting ... come in at 38.6ozs.


C.

[wollins]

Well, the inspector came by last night and as I expected he had to find fault with something with the build!  Just kidding ... in all seriousness I'd had some concerns about my ele linkage (yes, that again!) in terms of the slop/play that I couldn't seem to pinpoint. Not only was there slop, but it was uneven in the sense that there was more slop on one half as opposed to the other. I certainly didn't want to risk a 1000 hour build (yep, time estimate has been extended) due to something that I "took a chance with", knowing full well it was suspect.  So I asked Rob to come by and give a second opinion.

As you know I have my elevators in two halves to make them removable and even though every thing fit perfectly, somewhere in the whole setup I was having this softness/play that I was not at all comfortable with. Turns out that we discovered it was a combination (a perfect storm if you will) of:

1. Not enough torsional rigidity in the carbon fiber connecting rod itself.
2. Tiny bit of slop within the actual fit of that male CF rod within the female CF rod. (previously undetected by me)
3. Some give or buckling in the Sullivan Gold N' Rod control rod from servo to linkage.

Turns out two pairs of eyes (and we used several pairs of glasses! lol!) and two minds are better than one! I knew when I was switching over from brass to CF that there might have been some compromise in rigidity. Didn't cater for it being this much. 

Long story short ... there are three options at this point.

1. Leave as is and take a chance. 
2. Do it all over again ... back to the brass linkages, this time just making sure the alignment is perfect so I don't have the binding that cause me to switch over to CF in the first place.
3. Forget "scale" ... and just run the control rods outside the plane. (like normal people would, lol!)   

Pros and cons of each?

1. PRO: No more work. CON: A very real chance of losing the plane to a known issue.
2. PRO. "Scale" baby!  CON: A ton more work (maybe another 15 hours?) for not a guaranteed satisfactory result. 
3. PRO: Guaranteed rock solid and proven, worry free result. CON: NOT SCALE! 

As far as option three is concerned, some would say "hey man, even if they're run outside they'll be under the stabs anyway, so no one will see them!"  The trouble with that is  ... I WILL SEE THEM.   

So ... which option do you guys think I will take?     

Ok onto a more pleasant aspect of the build ...

I realized that I hadn't put in my battery tray yet so that further delayed putting in the keel. (which btw effectively seals access to the fuse from the bottom which is why I'm leaving it for as long as possible) So I did that (pic #1) and then moved onto something that I could relax with, (no design headaches!) the windows! 

What this entails is that I have to roughly trace an outline of each window opening onto the plexiglass itself (pic #2) and then cut them out individually. (pic #3)  Then I have to shape/sand the outlines of each window to match each window opening to get an exact fit. (pic #4) Each window opening's edge will then be beveled so that the pane will be inset about 1/16 of an inch. Pane will then be glued into place.

Next, that 1/16 of an inch will then be "filled/sealed" with rubber "window framing" which will be glued into that space and that will eventually be flush with the fuse. (material of which yet to be determined but I'm thinking O rings) The effect I'm going for is a window that double paned, inset ... with a window frame that's flush with the fuse. 

Time? We're looking at about 40 mins per window (for the whole process) for a total of about eight hours to get all 12 of them just right!  Fortunately the inner panes (windows are gonna be double paned to give that 3D look of depth) don't have to match the openings as they will just be glued to roughly cover the openings from the inside.

Obviously this is gonna be done in stages because of other processes (filling, sanding, sealing, painting etc) that will be going on with the fuse at various stages.  For now however, I'm gonna get everything to "fit" perfectly and then the actual final installation will be dependent on the aforementioned fuse stages.

Colin.

P.S. BTW, I'm playing with the ideas of installing some "passengers". (pic #5) Whaddya think?           

[Papa]

It's a no brainer, you only have one option. Go back to square one and do it right. You'd never live with yourself if don't.


Passengers are a nice touch.



Jack.

[wollins]

It's a no brainer, you only have one option. Go back to square one and do it right.

Exactly. 

[wollins]

BTW guys, what options in terms of glue do I have for something that can glue plastic, sets up relatively fast and won't fog the plastic. Need this for my plexiglass windows.

Colin

[Papa]

Canopy glue will work.


I have an adhesive that works well if you want a bottle?


Jack.

[wollins]

I have a canopy glue that sets up in 30 to 60 minutes ... I was hoping for something a bit quicker than that. What's the setup time for yours?

Colin.

P.S.  Keel preparations have begun, guys! 

[piker]

The windows will be so cool.  So far, so good.

BTW, I MAY have an idea about your intention for those big holes on the side of the fuselage 

[Papa]

The same or longer. I don't think you'll get anything faster that won't fog.
Besides what's an hour. Glue them last thing at night and they can be curing while you sleep.
less fuss and worry.


jack.

[wollins]

The same or longer. I don't think you'll get anything faster that won't fog.
Besides what's an hour. Glue them last thing at night and they can be curing while you sleep.
less fuss and worry.


jack.

The time is not the issue ... it's just because of how they're gonna sit within the openings (somewhat recessed) they'll be hard to keep in place or secure while the glue sets up.

Colin 

[Papa]

Make pink foam plugs and cover them with saran wrap. They will hold the acetate in place and won't stick to the glue.

[wollins]

Sounds like a great idea Jack, I'll try that.

BTW, for all you glassing experts out there ... Water Vs Oil based poly for glassing?

I've always used WBPU for my fiber glassing and have never heard of folks using the oil version for glassing.  Any particular reason why?  I have used the oil based to seal my wood first before glassing with WBPU so I was thinking why not just use the Oil based for the whole process since I use it to seal the wood anyway?

Also ... any better product to seal the wood? Sanding sealer, dope etc etc.  Suggestions?

Colin

[wollins]

After a good chat with the experts, I was able to pretty much finish my horizontal stabilizer... I consider it 95% done, the only missing step is filling / sanding to smooth the lines... I'm already building the fin / rudder... it should be ready soon.

Hey Andre, first you get my name mixed up and now you get your own build thread mixed up !lol! I'm guessing you meant to post in this thread? Great job by the way!


Colin