Frank's .46 size P-51 re-build and IC conversion to E-Power

[Frank v B]

I have not built anything in a while (2 days)

This project is an IC to E-power conversion of a Hanger 9 .46 size Mustang.  It was a project inherited from Cadez when Sophia told him to spend time on other projects and give it to Frank to drive him crazy.

Worked on it last year but did not have landing gear legs that would fit into the retracts.  I don't do retracts because they are a pain and cause a lot of trouble.  Luck would have it at the Kitchener swap meet a guy was selling beautiful anodized aluminum landing gear mounts for $10 for 3 mounts that just dropped in with very little shoe-horning.

Installed the motor using a balsa box 3/8" balsa on 4 sides and a double layer of 3/16" ply for a firewall.

Motor: Turingy Aerodrive 5055-600 drawing 80 amps.  On 5 cells and a 14 x9 prop it generates 1360 watts.
ESC :90 amp continuous, 100 amps burst.
RX Power :will be a 4 cell 2200 AA Nicad pack bought from Costco and glued and soldered together.  8 cells cost $25 for two RX packs.  Great deal.

Wing- needs a fair amount of work to cover up most of the retractable wheel gaps.  Installed false ribs so the wing sheeting would contour properly. See photo below. This plane appears to have been crashed so a fair amount of re-inforcing, glueing and filling will be required.  50/50 rule will apply.

Next steps
- sheeting the wing repair and filling
- sanding the old covering off
- re-covering the wing.

[Andy Hoffer]

I have not built anything in a while (2 days)

This project is an IC to E-power conversion of a Hanger 9 .46 size Mustang.  It was a project inherited from Cadez when Sophia told him to spend time on other projects and give it to Frank to drive him crazy.

Worked on it last year but did not have landing gear legs that would fit into the retracts.  I don't do retracts because they are a pain and cause a lot of trouble.  Luck would have it at the Kitchener swap meet a guy was selling beautiful anodized aluminum landing gear mounts for $10 for 3 mounts that just dropped in with very little shoe-horning.

Installed the motor using a balsa box 3/8" balsa on 4 sides and a double layer of 3/16" ply for a firewall.

Motor: Turingy Aerodrive 5055-600 drawing 80 amps.  On 5 cells and a 14 x9 prop it generates 1360 watts.
ESC :90 amp continuous, 100 amps* burst.
RX Power :will be a 4 cell 2200 AA Nicad pack bought from Costco and glued and soldered together.  8 cells cost $25 for two RX packs.  Great deal.

Wing- needs a fair amount of work to cover up most of the retractable wheel gaps.  Installed false ribs so the wing sheeting would contour properly. See photo below. This plane appears to have been crashed so a fair amount of re-inforcing, glueing and filling will be required.  50/50 rule will apply.

Next steps
- sheeting the wing repair and filling
- sanding the old covering off
- re-covering the wing.

Hey @Frank v B,
This is great!!  My buddies at OPG will LOVE you!!!  I will send them your address and phone number so they can thank you personally for your contribution to Ontario load growth!!

* FYI: This compares very favourably to the typical electrical capacity of a whole residential dwelling. 

Andy

[Michael]

The Hangar-9 series of .46-size warbirds were good flyers.

I look forward to seeing it fly.

[Frank v B]

Was trying to figure out where to cut the battery hatch.  The top would have been best but the covering in the area was in good shape.

Decided to cut into the bottom, ahead of the wing.  When I went to cut it through and tried to pull the knife out (photo 1449 shows the red knife blade in the hatch outline), the bottom came off... in its entirety (photo 1450).  The glue joints failed because of the oil (ex-slimer).  So it will become the whole hatch.  Then the plywood former came loose where the leading edge wing dowels would go (see photo 1451).

Glued everything with epoxy, added a balsa brace to hold it together and a surface to embed hatch magnets.  Clamped the whole thing together and will let it dry overnight. (Photo 1452)

Oh, yes- filled all the engine holes in the fibreglass cowl section (fuel, needle, cylinder head) with fibreglass cloth and filler.  Several coats of finishing epoxy, spray painted it and it is drying tonight as well.

Everything has been filled and sanded.  Start covering tomorrow.

Frank

[Frank v B]

How to make a magnetic battery hatch:

step 1- Glue in the first set of magnets on the surface that needs to be most accurate.  The hatch was flat solid balsa so it was a forgiving surface. I chose to glue the magnets onto the fuselage first.  They can be random placing.  I chose 4 corners a little bit in from the edge because of the curvature of the hatch.  See photo 1453.  The two pins were put across the magnets to stop them from falling down while the glue dried.  Let the glue dry before going on to the next step.

Step 2- Put a drop of dark paint on each magnet.  I used a toothpick and a bottle of dollar store hobby paint.  Photo 1454 shows drops of dark blue paint on two of the four magnets.

Step 3- Carefully drop the hatch on top of the 4 magnets and push once, then remove.  The paint transfers onto the bottom of the hatch.  See photo 1455.  Drill these coloured holes with a drill bit a little larger than the diameter and a little deeper than the thickness of the magnet.  This lets the magnet decide where it wants to come to rest.

Step 4- remove the magnets and place a piece of wax paper over the fuselage magnets.  Place the 4 hatch magnets on top of the waxed paper.  DO not glue them onto the hatch because of polarity and depth.  The wax paper stops errant glue from sealing the hatch.

Step 5- fill the holes in the hatch with 5 minute epoxy (if you are Frank), press the hatch onto the magnets, and use rubber bands to hold the hatch in its natural place.  Let dry overnight.

[bweaver]

RE:  Step 5- fill the holes in the hatch with 5 minute epoxy (if you are Frank), press the hatch onto the magnets, and use rubber bands to hold the hatch in its natural place.  Let dry overnight.


@Frank v B 's sense of time.

[Frank v B]

Bruce, Bruce,

What are we going to do with you?

re: fill the holes in the hatch with 5 minute epoxy (if you are Frank), press the hatch onto the magnets, and use rubber bands to hold the hatch in its natural place.  Let dry overnight.

Lemme splain,

- There is a difference between working time (5 minutes, unless you add heat) and curing time.  5 minute epoxy stays rubbery for a while so I do not want the magnets to move.
- there is a useful reaction between the waxed paper and the 5 minute epoxy.  If you peel the waxed paper off within an hour of applying the epoxy it tears and sticks to the waxed paper.  If you let it cure overnight it peels off absolutely perfectly and both surfaces are pristine.

Lastly, - The 5 minute epoxy repair was done at about 10:15 pm and set aside to cure.  Wrote the post, messed around with the photos* and posted it at 10:48 pm.  The epoxy would have cured overnight no matter what.

It's a little bit like you and I having a Morning Crew lunch on December 31 and me wishing you well and saying "see you next year at the New Year's funfly".  When you get home and Katie realizes why you are so happy, she would immediately hook you up to an I.V. drip of Molson Canadian and put you to bed.

Frank

* that should send Andy into a tizzy.

[bweaver]

Re - There is a difference between working time (5 minutes, unless you add heat) and curing time.  5 minute epoxy stays rubbery for a while so I do not want the magnets to move.
- there is a useful reaction between the waxed paper and the 5 minute epoxy.  If you peel the waxed paper off within an hour of applying the epoxy it tears and sticks to the waxed paper.  If you let it cure overnight it peels off absolutely perfectly and both surfaces are pristine.

Frank, Frank, Frank, Frank,

What type of poor quality 5 minute epoxy adhesive are you using?  If I wanted to use a poor quality epoxy for the results that you had desired in the time you had used, I would have recommended using more resin than hardener. Do you use more resin than hardener?  Then the results you had desired in the time frame you had allotted would have been expected and appreciated. 

Further, in my experience, I would also recommend using a better quality of waxed paper.  The waxed paper I use with five minute epoxy will readily peel off leaving a pristine finish in 5 minutes or less.  For example, look at the results of the Warwing pristine epoxy finishes resulting from the last build class using a quality 5 minute epoxy and waxed paper.

Face the truth Frank, you just wanted to go to bed.

[Frank v B]

Bruce,

re: "Face the truth Frank, you just wanted to go to bed."

I'm still there!!  ... in bed that is*.

You mess up your plane any way you wish and I'll mess mine up my way.

Katie, please roll him over.

Frank

* wishful thinking.

[Frank v B]

Learned a lesson last night.

When you cover a wing, don't drop it on the ground, especially on the radiator part on the trailing edge.  It broke.  Had to use 5 minute epoxy and pins to put it back together again.  Yes, Bruce, I gave it 15 minutes to dry and "cure" and then put the covering over it.  That is 15 minutes of my life I will never get back.  Covered the leading edge blister, trailing edge center section with the radiator, the corners of the ailerons and one bottom half of the wing.

Will get to it again this evening.


Frank

[Frank v B]

Back to building this beast:

- covered the entire wing and slotted the hinges and glued them in on one side, just in case I want to add invasion stripes.
- added the fibreglass cowl
- drilled out the prop and added it to the nose and adjusted the spinner for this prop size (14 x 8.5 APC).
- cut the holes for the wing hold-down screws (1/4"x 20)
- added the aileron servo and the pushrods
- installed the new aluminum landing gear blocks.
- installed the receiver and ESC.

Fiddly-bits:
Added the leading edge dowels.  Trick- sharpen both ends with a pencil sharpener so that it is guided into the holes in the wing and so that the wing is easy to attach when putting the plane together.  See photo 1458, installed in photo 1462.

Added the wing hold-down bolts. Trick- sharpen the ends of the bolts in a pencil sharpener so it finds the threaded block in the fuselage with ease.  See photo 1459.  Problem- the bolts were shorter than the thickness of the radiator.  Drilled a hole in the pointy end of the wing bolt and screwed in a threaded rod as an extension. See photo 1459.  It easily poked through to the other side.  Wrapped a small rubber band (green) around it so it will never fall back into the radiator or fall out in my van where it would be lost forever.  See photo 1460

Tomorrow will do the main landing gear.... the last step!!!

Frank

[Andy Hoffer]

Back to building this beast:............

Fiddly-bits:
Added the leading edge dowels.  Trick- sharpen both ends with a pencil sharpener so that it is guided into the holes in the wing and so that the wing is easy to attach when putting the plane together.  See photo 1458, installed in photo 1462...........

Frank

This has the added benefit of making the wing dowels readily usable for roasting marshmallows or cooking hot dogs after the maiden planting of the rest of the aircraft! Pure @Frank v B genius!! 

Always in awe,

Andy

[Frank v B]

Andy,

...or a duel of the dowel!!

Notice I did not mention they were installed with 5 minute epoxy.  Of course they were.


Frank

[Andy Hoffer]

Andy,

...or a duel of the dowel!!

Notice I did not mention they were installed with 5 minute epoxy. Of course they were.


Frank

Notice that I did not harangue you about the obvious!!! 

Andy

[Frank v B]

Andy,

re: "harangue"

Did you spill your Alpha-Bet soup again and mis-spell "hangar"?

Frank