Building the Guillows B-25 (26.5" span, now 31") with RC and brushless motors.

[Michael]

Looks great!

[Andy Hoffer]

Skis @Frank v B ?

[Frank v B]

Andy,

Those are not skis, they are barn doors! 
Love the photo of the Basler BT3 turbo DC 3 in the second photo.

Frank

ps: I have decided to build the Guillow's DC-3 as well when this is finished.  I love the low cost tinkering involved with these planes.  They suck up hours, not money or storage space.

[GuyOReilly]

Will the DC3 be in Buffalo Air bright green colours?

[Frank v B]

Thanks Guy, Simon and Michael.

Sprayed the canopy.  It came clear so I masked off the windows and sprayed it grey.

Photo 1- masked and sprayed.
Photo 2- masking removed in the windows. Clean-up still required.

F.

[Frank v B]

Andy is holding the damaged motor with support equipment (battery, ESC).

Do you think he will be able to fix it???
Stay tuned for the updates.

Frank

[Frank v B]

Installing the rudder and elevator linkages.  I use the British method of small plane horns.

The steps are easy and automatically absolutely centre the servo/pushrod linkage:

step 1- cut a horn from plywood and add a hole for the pushrod with a #11 blade.
step 2- connect the pushrod to the servo in the centred position.
step 3- tape the moving surface in the neutral position (masking tape on the aileron in photo 3230)
step 4- cut and bend the pushrod to the correct length
step 5- cut a slot in the moving surface
step 6- fill the slot with 5 minute epoxy, attach the horn to the pushrod, insert the plywood horn in the epoxy-filled slot.  It will now be absolutely centred when the glue dries.  Note: let the 5 minute epoxy ooze out of the slot so it strengthens the joint. This is very visible at the base of the elevator horn in photo 3228.

The reason I like the plywood horn- the slot will always be across the grain of the moving surface.  When the glue dries it makes the wood much stronger.

Frank

[Andy Hoffer]

Andy is holding the damaged motor with support equipment (battery, ESC).

Do you think he will be able to fix it???
Stay tuned for the updates.

Frank

Bingo!  One of the silver linings of COVID-19 is that it has given @Frank v B  way more time than he would otherwise have had to build testosterone-based micro planes and drop the occasional wing directly onto its spar, ripping the guts out of the unsuspecting motor which had been quietly minding its own business.  This presented me with an opportunity to rebuild one of his casualties, and the time to do it.
 
So, in keeping with the spirit of technologically significant TEMAC build threads and artistic macrophotographic expression, I am pleased to present the E-Fright Park 180.  Careful examination of the dismembered windings on Frank's motor indicated that they would probably not have been up to the task Frank would be inflicting on them anyway, so I elected to dispense with them altogether.  X-acto knife and hemostat in hand, I performed a microsurgical windingectomy and opted for direct connection of the leads to the stator laminations, yielding maximum current flow and superior electromagnetic flux.  The new configuration approaches 0 kV, with virtually zero internal resistance, allowing the rebuilt motor to swing a full-scale 12ft-7in 3-blade prop which should fill the bill nicely.

(I haven't done this since my slot car days when we used to rewind the motors with excess windings (secured with epoxy to handle the potentially explosive over-spec rpm), the electromechanical equivalent of overclocking the CPU on a computer, or performance tuning a hot rod engine.)  What a great afternoon in the shop!  Thanks so much Frank!! 😊

[Frank v B]

My motor has been Hoffered! 
Poor little thing.

To heck with E-Fright.  It will be No-Flite!

F.

[Frank v B]

Progress!

- installed the canopy over the hatch cover.  Still have to figure out a way to secure it.  Probably magnets.
- painted the bare wood areas with silver paint (ply horns, exposed balsa, some joints)
- installed the nose cone.  To hold it in place I drilled through the barrel locations, dipped a toothpick in 5 minute epoxy and glued them to the firewall.  The gun barrels hold the nose cone in place.  Snipped off them points and painted the gun barrels black.  The sinister nose of the B-25's business end.

All servos are now hooked up.  Testing later.

Looks cool.


Frank

ps: yes Guy, I will paint the props black!!!

[Frank v B]

Finished!!

Connected everything today and did the final details.  All the wigglers work.

Guy, notice the props are painted black with yellow tips.  Just for you.

Frank

Note: I will be maidening the plane on 72 meg equipment.  Since these small planes are so twitchy, with 72 meg equipment you can do instant full trim corrections.  None of this 2.4 gig beep, beep, beep one click at a time trim levers.  It has saved many a small plane.  I will use a Berg receiver, essentially an electronic wart on a wire and weighs next to nothing.

[GuyOReilly]

Thank you @Frank v B , black props with yellow tips are much nicer.

Finished!!
Connected everything today and did the final details.  All the wigglers work.
Guy, notice the props are painted black with yellow tips.  Just for you.

Frank
Note: I will be maidening the plane on 72 meg equipment.  Since these small planes are so twitchy, with 72 meg equipment you can do instant full trim corrections.  None of this 2.4 gig beep, beep, beep one click at a time trim levers.  It has saved many a small plane.  I will use a Berg receiver, essentially an electronic wart on a wire and weighs next to nothing.

[Andy Hoffer]

Congrats @Frank v B !

Can't wait to see how the E-fright 180 performs versus E-flite 180! 

Andy

[Frank v B]

Thanks Guy and Andy.

Forgot the water slide decals of the USAF insignia.  New photo below.

[Michael]

Beautiful!