Northstar

[piker]

Very nice, Jack!  That's going to be a very impressive plane!

[Papa]

Thank you all for the encouragement, you have no idea how it spurs me on.

The first photo below is for any one intending to scratch build. You will need to accumulate lots of compact heavy weights. Here I'm gluing down a 46" x 4" sheet of somewhat warped 1/16th balsa on the underside trailing edge. I needed almost complete coverage.
My weights are an old bronze suppository mold broken down into three parts, stainless steel rotogravure plates taped up to prevent marring the wood and an old blown fluorescent light ballast. I got perfect contact all along the edges.

The second photo is an illustration of what you may face when you stray from a plan. The kit calls for 3/32nd sheeting on the LE, TE and center sections and cap strips. I decided I wanted to cover all over with 1/16th sheeting. When assembling the wing to the fuselage there will be a 1/16th difference which will have consequences for the fin placement. So I added 1/16th strips to the fuselage as the simplest way to bring everything back in line.

The third photo is an experimental hatch system I'm trying. It will be on the upper surface of the wing. The black material is magnetic rubber and the hatch cover adheres to it. Hopefully it will be strong enough to stay in place during flight. The rubber seals the hatch so it should be water resistant to casual water. If not plan "B" will be four screws in the corners. The magnetic rubber is 0.5mm thick and comes from a dollar store fridge magnetic picture holder. It is not very thick so the amount of attraction may be marginal but nothing ventured nothing gained.

Jack.

[Andy Hoffer]

.... The first photo below is for any one intending to scratch build. You will need to accumulate lots of compact heavy weights. Here I'm gluing down a 46" x 4" sheet of somewhat warped 1/16th balsa on the underside trailing edge. I needed almost complete coverage.
My weights are an old bronze suppository mold broken down into three parts, ..........

Jack.

OK.  All was well Christmas night - a nice meal, a glass of wine, a few emails and sharing of best wishes for the season while some nice fluffy snow fell gently outside on our well-iced trees - and then I read this post.  Bad move!!  This is Stephen King stuff!  It obviously had a profound effect on my psyche and woke me at 2:15 a.m. Christmas night, in a cold sweat no less. 

Jack:  How on this earth did you come to have bronze suppository molds?!!  They conjure up all kinds of fearful images of your hidden past, so I will impose an embargo on my thoughts.  You really will have to elucidate and give us a master class at the next Pilots Meeting.

Fearfully yours, with much trepidation,

Andy

(However do I sleep on this?!! Be still my fertile mind!)

[Papa]

Hi Andy,

did you say "fertile mind" or did you mean "febrile" LOL.

I worked for many years for Eli Lilly Pharmaceuticals and they made a lot of suppositories and the also owned Elizabeth Arden so lipsticks were made in similar molds. They were throwing out this particular mold so I kept it thinking it would be useful someday. Some 30 years later I was right, it is very useful.

Now go back to sleep.

Jack.

[Ededge2002]

Makes me wonder if the suppository and lipstick molds ever got mixed up!

[Papa]

If they did you would have a very colourful A$$.
Come to think of it that would suit your colourful personality. LOL.

Jack.

[Papa]

Back at it. I tested the servo locations and everything looks good. My plan is to keep the servos in the wing exiting through the upper skin. To minimize the openings I'm using Sullivan cables so the outer tube will be all that exits the wing.

I completed the extra long extension leads for the servos. Tested them and they work. Soon they will sealed in when the wing and fuselage are finished.

Sanding the top of the wing skins to fit the fuselage was a slow sanding exercise. I wanted to get a really tight fit and think I achieved it. The gaps in the skin at the points will be covered by the splash rails.

It has a lot of mass!

Jack.

[sihinch]

Oh wow! What type of beans are they, Jack? 

[Papa]

The best! They are "Bush's Beans". They are American and you can get them at Costco. Best beans bar none.

Too bad you missed the model, it's not bad either.

J.

[Andy Hoffer]

I guess he couldn't see the forest for the beans!  It's a TEMAC thing!!

Andy

[Michael]

Beans, beans are good for your heart.

The more you eat, well, .... the better for your heart! 

[Papa]

I just blew a capacitor off my brand new speed control!

I was testing all the wiring because once I finish the model it will be inaccessible.
Also some of the extensions are 36" long and I assembled them myself so I wanted
to double check. All the servo's worked fine so I thought OK now let's try the motors.

Hooked up the motors and got four beeps for 4 cells but nothing else.
Since the ESC's were located about 24" from the motor I was not watching them.
The motors did not make any happy music so I checked to see if the Tx was reversed.
At this stage everything had been hooked up for about a minute. There was a loud pop
followed by grey smoke and a burnt electrical smell. One ESC was hot but not too hot to hold.
The other one was cold. The hot one had popped the capacitor right off the PC board.
The capacitor had one wire only the other was smoke. The scorch marks are only around
the one capacitor.

The test battery was a 4 cell 5,000mA but was on storage charge and now I'm wondering if
that might be a cause or did I just get a bad ESC. They were HK brand 60A with a BEC.
The one with the disconnected BEC was the cool one. Any ideas?

Jack.

[Andy Hoffer]

It's the beans, Jack!  The same thing happens to me when I eat too many of them!!  Not good for ESC's.   

Andy

[Wingnutz]

Jack if the ESCs you're using are Plush 60's, I've had excellent performance from mine, so it must be the beans! Good luck finding the culprit!

[Andy Hoffer]

Jack, you're awfully quiet all of a sudden!... 

Jack, are you OK?.....

Jack? Are you in there?  Speak to us Jack!! .........................

Mary, could you please check on Jack!!  Wear a respirator, just in case .....

Andy