Page 17 - MFW June 2024

in carbon and that will be painted silver. I also laid up a
small (300ml) oil tank which will sit above the engine under
the cowl. The servo’s arrived today so I will be able to do
the cable runs ready for inspection and covering.
Hopefully by March I will make a start on the wings.

The last week or so has been spent building the
instrument panel and fitting the engine and making the
rear engine mount, I know it’s carbon fibre, but it only
weighs 80 gms.

More framing work on the wings and starting to do the
cross bracing. This is 1/4 square balsa, but to add a little
strength and stiffness I cut a lengthwise groove and glued
in some 2mm carbon rod. I just used my normal Titebond
PVA and it has worked very well. I have also completed
the spar webbing and the intermediate leading edge ribs.
Once the cross bracing is finished I will do the capping and
get ready for covering.

Above; First set up for
rigging. I have set the
plane up on a flat(ish)
base to do the rigging and
I am about to make all the
cables. I am using 1mm
stainless wire rather than
the flat steel in the kit. I
have also spent the last week making 24 M3 turnbuckles,
which are a bit big scale wise, but a lot easier to handle,
and also stronger.

The covering, using Proffi Cover (all 16 metres of it) went
well as it is a very easy product to use, and is very tough.
Perfect for a large model although the frame has to be
substantial as it has quite high shrinkage. The rib stitiching
is done using a method from the internet, and also
consulting with Russell who used the same method on his
DH. Once I’d made a simple jig for getting the string
spacing correct it was fairly quick and easy to do, and two
or three days work had all the wings done.

A 30mm wide strip of double sided tape was held to the jig
and one side of the backing removed. String was then run
between the nails, and pressed onto the tape. This was cut
into 6mm strips with a very sharp blade. These then stuck
on the wing over the ribs. Another piece of string was then
stuck along the length of the rib. Finally they’re sealed with
strips of covering. I cheated a bit and only did the topsides,
only the ants will notice!!

A final careful run over with the heat gun finished the job.
After all the covering was done I then fitted the ailerons
and covered over the hinges.

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