SHORT SOLENT MARK IV – 2014 WINTER BUILD

[wollins]

Well, I have to admit ... I was pretty burnt out over this build ... anyone who's been following it knows that it was pretty intense there for awhile. (900 hours or so. ) So ... since I got it to the stage of being able to be test flown ... I didn't feel that pressure to get it completely "done". So ... I took the last couple of months off.

Having said that I'm slowly getting around mentally to resuming this build ... this week I intend to start on that loooooong list of "to do's" that still has to be done for me to say that this is "complete". So ... in that vein, where can I find some .040" PETG sheets (clear preferred) locally?

Colin

[Andy Hoffer]

Hi Colin:

Have you tried Plastic World?  http://plasticworld.ca/store/

Here is their listing for PETG sheet - http://plasticworld.ca/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1_67

Plastic World
4478 Chesswood Drive - Units 15&16
Downsview, Ontario M3J 2B9
Tel: 416-630-6745
Fax: 416-630-9272

Looking forward to portrait day!

Andy

[Andy Hoffer]

Colin,

I am holding a 12x6 Electric APC and the micrometer shows the thickness as..... 9.3 mm or .372 inches.  You do the conversion.  My brain is fried* after a long day.

Hope it helps.


Frank

* yes Andy.... both brain cells!

Gee!  How did I ever miss this soulful plea for help?!!  Frank, just hold the leads of your lipo charger and set it for 2S, 1 amp. You'll be fully charged in 6 minutes. (You can skip the balancing; it will just confuse the left and right temporal lobes!)

Andy

[wollins]

Hi Colin:

Have you tried Plastic World?  http://plasticworld.ca/store/

Here is their listing for PETG sheet - http://plasticworld.ca/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1_67

Plastic World
4478 Chesswood Drive - Units 15&16
Downsview, Ontario M3J 2B9
Tel: 416-630-6745
Fax: 416-630-9272

Looking forward to portrait day!

Andy

Hmmm ... had checked their site and couldn't find it.  Thanks Andy!

Colin

[piker]

You deserved a break, Colin.   

I'm looking forward to seeing the final version of you Solent, and especially to seeing it in the air!

[wollins]

Hi Colin:

Have you tried Plastic World?  http://plasticworld.ca/store/

Here is their listing for PETG sheet - http://plasticworld.ca/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1_67

Plastic World
4478 Chesswood Drive - Units 15&16
Downsview, Ontario M3J 2B9
Tel: 416-630-6745
Fax: 416-630-9272

Looking forward to portrait day!

Andy

Ok their smallest size is their 4 foot x 8 foot sheets ... that should be enough for a hundred canopies? I'm gonna get one sheet. ($48+tax)  If anyone wants to share one let me know since I doubt I'll need to pull THAT many parts! 

Colin

[wollins]

So the saga of the spinners continue.  If you've been following the thread you know that I've gone through two attempts to make some scale spinners.  The last version being made out of easter egg "shells" and were the perfect size and shape. 

However I had since decided that they were a bit too flimsy and since the last thing I want is a spinner (or two ... or three!) disintegrating in flight I had sourced it out to a guy who makes plastic aftermarket parts for the RC industry.  Anyway that deal fell through so I'm gonna pull the spinners myself. (hence my order of the PETG sheets)

I'm gonna use the very same easter egg shell spinner that I used to make the last spinner version. I'm gonna use it as my "buck" to pull the new spinners off of.  What I have to do though to make that usable as a buck is I have to fill it with some kind of material that will make it "solid", thus making it resistant to being deformed/crushed when I'm pulling my spinner off of it. 

Any ideas as to what  material I can use to fill it with? (I'm drawing a blank ... all I can think of is drywall mud! lol)

Colin.     

PS. Last spinner version (on the right) was made from the easter "eggshell". (on the left.)  

[sihinch]

Is it Parkflyer plastics who are doing to work for you?

How about just using epoxy?

[wollins]

Is it Parkflyer plastics who are doing to work for you?

Yeah Keith's a good guy ... he's just been too busy and I need this done asap.

[wollins]

Well, I've finally found a solution to my problem.  Sometimes "function" has to trump "scale".    Ok ... so lets start from the beginning.

My intention from the start with this plane was to set it up with 4 bladed counter rotating props. As we all know the P Factor Torque effect can make our models veer off course something fierce in takeoff, (and to a lesser extent taxiing) which can result at best in a not so smooth take off and at worse a botched takeoff/crash.  In my experience the effect is even more pronounced with a multi. Using counter rotation on one side eliminates that completely. (see the difference in my CL-415 here http://temac.ca/smf/index.php?topic=4354.msg35355#msg35355)

The problem is that counter rotating props are very rare in a 4 blade configuration and even rarer still when looking for a particular size.  At the size I was looking for (the 10 to 12 inch diameter range) they are virtually non existent. Believe me I've searched! 

Not one to give up easily when faced with a challenge, I decided to make my own. Since counter rotating props are much more common in the regular 2 blade configuration I was able to source four 10x6 MAS two blade counter rotating gas props. The plan was to splice (overlap) those 2, two bladed props and make them into one four bladed one.  Years ago I had come across a few examples of modellers who had done just that so after much research I figured out how to do it.     

The only issues I saw (other than maybe a possible compromise in strength) was that one prop would not be on the same plane as the other. (it'll be slightly ahead of the other. .. not flush) This is because I did a 25% cutout opposed to if I had removed 50% of the hub. (which I've seen others do) The reason I did this as opposed to a 50% cutout was to minimise the potential compromising of the structural integrity of the now four bladed prop. This is also the reason I chose GAS props as opposed to electric props since the gas ones tend to have thicker/stronger hubs. 

Anyways ... on second thoughts ... because of my paranoia of that slight chance of something going wrong even after testing in terms of the props coming apart (and the fact that there would be four of them thereby quadrupling the chances of that happening) I decided against using them. 

So I then decided instead I would take the much safer route and just "stack" two x 2 bladers one on top the other to make my four blader. Not nearly as pretty, but 100% safe since there would be no cutting into the hubs thereby potentially creating a compromise in prop strength.

This decision then created the problem of sourcing a long enough prop adapter that would be able to accommodate the thickness of two prop hubs.  As you've seen in my earlier post my stock prop adapter's length was 26.5mm but I would need at least 5mm of that for my nut to be able to thread onto something in order to secure the props onto the shaft.

Hence my search for the longer prop adapter.  Well, after going through all of that frustration, I decided to just check to see if there were any counter rotating APC electric props in the regular 2 blade configuration in the size I needed. (10 to 12" diameter) Lo and behold I found some!  Not only that but two of their hubs together measured just under 19.5mm which incidentally is just over 1 mm thicker than my original DIY spliced MAS four blader.

So! Long story short ... problem solved cause my stock prop adapters will have enough length to accommodate these props, no problem. A special thanks to Pat for paying some attention to (and giving input/advice on) this challenge not only in this thread but the other threads in which I had posted it as well.   

Colin   

Ok, so I just realized that Kingston is less than a month away and since this plane MUST have its test flight before then I figured I'd better get my a$$ in gear and finish this counter rotation mod so I can do the test flight. 

As you've probably read before (above) I had decided to just "stack" two x 2 bladers one on top the other to make my custom four bladers. The problem then became sourcing a long enough prop adapter that would be able to accommodate the thickness of two prop hubs.  I was able to resolve that hurdle by finding some APC props that when stacked together were slim enough to fit. But then they were the wrong size for the KV of the motors I was using. 

I've since solved that by swapping out the motors for motors which were the right KV and actually had long enough adaptors!  Long story short. I now have four different motors (more power I might add! lol!) and four new custom 4-blader props.

You'll see in the first two pics that these are two pairs of "regular" APC 11X5.5's cut down to 9.5X5.5 ... and stacked.  Obviously I then had to do two pairs of COUNTER ROTATING APC 11X5.5's again cut down to 9.5X5.5 ... and stacked. See last two pics of everything installed. (last pic shows how weirdly thick the hubs are but that will be covered by the spinners  )   

She's now ready for a backyard test run to see how straight she tracks as opposed to the veering to the left with the "regular" props. I know ... I know ... some would say just counter the veer with opposing rudder. And to you I say ... I'll do anything I can to make life easier.  Besides, that's easier said that done without a tailwheel! (yes I have differential thrust but I only want to use that to taxi into position on water) 

Colin

P.S. Holee molee, I just saw that this thread has over twenty thousand views! Didn't realize there was that much interest in this build.     

P.P.S Th saga of these props aren't done yet btw, once the test flight is successful I'll fill you in on the final configuration! 

[wollins]

Happy Father's Day to ME! Lol!  I just gave myself the best father's present ever ... A SUCCESFUL TEST FLIGHT OF THE SOLENT! Pardon me for shouting but I'm excited! After 900+ hours of construction  ... plus several attempts last year to do the test flight ... plus countless challenges and "do overs" in the build ... she finally flew.

Left my house at 6.30am to meet up with Rob for 8am near his place on Lake Scugog at the best float flying site I've ever flown at. Lots of visibility and the wind was low and the water calm. All that was left was to get the beast in the air. I took along my "warm up" water plane ... my foamie CL-415 and flew that for a couple of flights before it was time to just bite the bullet and do it.

Had an uneventful minute or so taxing around and then pointed her into the wind and let the 3200 watts haul the 19.5 lb beast into the air! As we were about 20 feet up there was a squealing of a motor (timing?) which as you can imagine increased the "pucker factor" but I throttled back down and decided to continue. Flight was uneventful ... needed a fair bit of up elevator trim but that was because I had adjusted the wing incidence to counteract Ivan designs' tendencies to balloon on acceleration. Apparently I compensated a wee bit too much.   Anyways, a little aileron trim and she was on rails. 

Flew around for about seven minutes and then decided to focus on getting her down in one piece.  (I've not had a whole lot of experience flying off water and landing/taking off is quite different from off land) Anyways long story short ... I made the best landing that I've EVER made on water. woot woot!

NOW I can doll her up and do all the scale stuff! (FINALLY those passengers will be able to see outside ... lol!)

Colin.

BTW, I thought my hat cam was recording the whole thing but turns out that it wasn't even on!   However Rob was also taking some pics and I think he also caught some of it on vid. (at least the landing .. i think)     

[Michael]

That's very exciting and great news!

Congratulations!

[bweaver]

Congratulations Colin on a fantastic plane and flight. 

I can't wait to see it at future float flys and watch its further evolution as you scale in more details. 

[sihinch]

That's fabulous news Colin, congratulations! What a journey. I hope you are very proud and please with yourself.

I can't wait to see it.

[wollins]

Thanks guys. Special thanks to Robert for taking time out from his house reno to help me with the test flight. (he brought along his "recovery boat" just in case)

Colin