Topics

1

Scale / First Scratch Build Foamie.

« on: June 12, 2014, 22:11:20 PM »

Here's some pics of my very first scratch build.  A mustang based on free plans from here;
http://www.flyingpenguinrc.com/p51-main.html
It was straighforward enough to build.  I would like to do better on the canopy next time but for now this will do me. All the control surfaces seem to work well including the landing flaps. I put a 1200kv outrunner in it.  For now it has one of those Orange RX with satellite.  I hear bad things about these so I'll replace that at some point.  Haven't tried to fly it yet and wont until I have a proper club membership and can do so at an approved site.  A little big for the park methinks. Only took me a couple of nights and I wont mind too much if I thrash it as long as I learn from the experience.  The decals were interesting.  I found that you can get inket printable vinyl which is adhesive on one side.  However I doesn;t like getting even the slightest bit damp as the ink runs all over the place.  SO what I did was tried it through a laminator.  Turns out that after laminating, the backing paper is unaffected and peels off perfectly, leaving  a lovely shiny decal which is now laminated on the outside and self adhesive on the inside!

2

Scale / P47 - Electric Conversion.

« on: May 12, 2014, 22:50:21 PM »

Hi I'm Dave and I'm in Raheny.  Delighted to find an Irish RC forum.  I thought I was going to be forever tagging along on the UK sites hoping they don't mind too much.  To be fair, they're nice guys. Might as well start with a bit of an intro.

My primary interest is fixed wing.  I've only being doing this a few months but I've learned loads and broken lots of stuff. No not really, I've been fairly lucky.  I did manage to break my Ultra Micro Spitfire once but a bit of foam safe CA fixed it all up good as new.  I'm not in a club yet but intend to go along and introduce myself to the guys in the Phoenix Park at the next available opportunity.  I just love building stuff and know that I will end up building most of my own stuff as I get a great kick out of that.

My first major project will be to complete and convert a 57" span balsa P47 given to me by a friend a few years ago.  I got it mostly planned out where everything is to go and put in a nice order to hobbyking over the weekend for all the bits.  It's going to run on a .60 equivilent outrunner. Off a 6S lipo and an 85A ESC.

Here it is laid out on the kitchen floor.



There's a whole lot of hardware with it too, some useful some not so useful.  Those brass hinges are nasty.  They stick and just seem to be poor quailty.  I've ordered some CA hinge sheet to replace these.





So the build begins.  I decided to make the battery hatch on the top side of the nose section.  The battery will go behind the firewall. There is plenty of space in there.  



The ESC will probably be on the front of the firewall with the outrunner so it gets plenty of air.  I imaging I will have to make some more holes in the firewall to let air through to keep the lipo cool too.  This is how I envisage it will be, however there is also the option of installing a chute so the lipo will go in diagonally.



Here it is marked out ready for cutting.



...and after cutting.  It seems my balsa warbird is a hybrid foamie!!



I made a dummy battery from ply to test fit.  As you can see it rides a bit high however there is a few inches of foam at the bottom so I plan to make a recess in that just big enough to capture the bottom of the lipo and also so it sits down further.  I will wait right to the end to do this when I have a better idea where the COG will be.



Well all the gear has shipped from hobbyking.  I bought some used Futaba S3001s on ebay.  So more when all that arrives.