Messages

1

Events / Re: 2018 ISR events

« on: April 09, 2018, 20:36:46 PM »

Ah well. Drove there yesterday, but only paragliders on sight. Which is probably the reason you guys left 

2

Slope Soaring / Ninja

« on: February 17, 2013, 19:00:07 PM »

The plan is to have some bright yellow and red there as well. Unfortunately 2013 has been quite busy and there hasn't been any progress on the Ninja. But I'll keep posting as that touch of colour I had planned starts to show up. Thanks for the tip!

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Slope Soaring / Ninja

« on: December 29, 2012, 18:01:31 PM »

My "least favourite" activity so far: cutting hinge slots. Grrrr... I'm sure there is a Dremel accessory that makes this a 30-sec job. Maybe it's time to get one...

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Slope Soaring / Ninja

« on: December 29, 2012, 17:52:39 PM »

OK, so next was covering. Again, something I've never done before, so I started with a scrap piece, then the elevator, then moved on to the canopy, and finally did the entire fuse. I have no idea about what "finished" is - I used just enough heat to activate the glue and get things in place, and then increased temperature to get the material to shrink and get the right shape. But how far is good enough? I don't want to warp the model, so no extra heat applied where things looked OK. Reasonable approach?  :?:

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Slope Soaring / Ninja

« on: December 29, 2012, 17:39:49 PM »

You can also use one of these long balloons that some guys in a usually weird costume uses to make dogs, spiders, swords etc etc  

And of course, the condoms, and always fun to go in a pharmacy and ask for king size or bigger!  :lol:

Interesting... I'd love to see a picture of a fuse going through this process  

Meanwhile, wing work continues... cutting out the servo space. I was concerned about hitting the bottom sheeting with the blade and damaging it but I found a way of combining blade and a flat screwdrive for scooping out the foam that left a reasonably straight servo housing. All lined with a generous layer of epoxy.

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Slope Soaring / Ninja

« on: December 23, 2012, 13:28:45 PM »

Regarding the fiberglass finish, plastic bags are your friends.

OK, I think I know the type of plastic you are talking about (increasingly harder to get here since the introduction of the shopping bag levy), but I have a stupid question for you: do you keep the bag while the epoxy cures, or remove it immediately after rubbing it smooth, half-way through the curing process, or...? As you see I have no clue if epoxy sticks to that kind of plastic. Ah, blissful ignorance.  :?

Thanks for the tip! I'll try that with the fuse. Too late for the wing but fortunately the ugliest bits will be hidden from view.

7

Slope Soaring / Ninja

« on: December 23, 2012, 13:10:33 PM »

Thanks for the tip, Keith. Hmmm... weakened nylon bolts, great idea. The Ninja wing is fixed with a nylon bolt screwed directly into a piece of hardwood that is supposed to be "tapped". I don't know how to get one of those taps, which has an American thread (although equivalent to M5 I think) and I keep thinking that a blind nut would be better. Maybe I'll change that too.

My studies... they are about online and distance learning. How to enable learning through technology, etc. Years ago I used to write technical books and articles, if you think my writing is descriptive, maybe I still keep some of that!

8

Slope Soaring / Ninja

« on: December 22, 2012, 14:43:45 PM »

Another new task for me, glass reinforcement. I applied a generous amount of epoxy, then placed the cloth on top and squeegeed with a bit of plastic-coated cardboard. Nice finish except at the edges where I had to cut the material, then threads would come loose and become quite unmanageable once soaked up in epoxy.

Now I'm dreading the task of reinforcing the outside of the fuse as I had planned - the glass cloth I have for that is quite coarse compared to this one provided by SIG, so more chances for fibre threads to go wild. Any suggestions to keep glass cloth edges under control?



Starting to look like a wing...

9

Slope Soaring / Ninja

« on: December 22, 2012, 14:26:15 PM »

OK Keith, more pictures!

Next was gluing the two wings together. I've read every possible opinion about Ninja dihedral but I went for the suggested 1 inch elevation at the wingtip. SIG claims the foam cores are already cut at the approximate angle for that, and I found that to be quite accurate. A tiny bit of sanding and I had a nice joint, went together with 30-min epoxy and taped in place.



And then the fixed portion of the trailing edge that houses the aileron rods. This is done by driving a bent rod through a brass tube that is concealed inside a grooved section of the trailing edge. Better seen than explained:



So what I found was that even pushing the brass tube all the way inside the trailing edge piece, the tube protuded just a tiny bit. I ended up sanding a very shallow groove in the wing, it seemed easier than deepening the existing one on that tiny piece! Here are the two wings glued together, with the right side of the trailing edge already in place, and the left side with a tiny groove being sanded. Once that was done, the piece would sit tightly and aligned just as required.

10

Slope Soaring / Ninja

« on: December 22, 2012, 13:56:50 PM »

A bit late, but well done, looking very good so far  :clap:
I had a Ninja a long time ago, and along with the Ridge Racer was one of my favorite glider at the time  

Thanks, Fred. Good to know. After much reading I decided to go for an unmodified version of the Ninja, so no rudder, no separate aileron servos, just standard build. Partly because I don't feel that comfortable making mods on my first non-ARF, and partly because many comments say it's a nice fun glider that way anyway.

So the only "mods" I am planning are fuse reinforcement, based on comments about its weak spot around F3, and maybe a ballast box.

Ah, these are the Ninja instructions btw: http://www.sigmfg.com/BuildManuals/SIGRC63NinjaP1.html

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Slope Soaring / Ninja

« on: December 22, 2012, 13:41:38 PM »

Thanks Andy, I’ll send him an application to the GOLF club as well! :lol:

I think I’ve rather hijacked Antonio’s topic, :oops:  sorry Antonio……..how is the Ninja build coming?
 
More pictures please!

Keith

Don't worry Keith, the only things that are hijacking this thread are my work and evening studies.

All I did during the week was glue the wingtip (a square block, just like your Riser's noseblock) and more carving! The instructions say rough shape only for now, so that's where I left them.

12

Slope Soaring / Ninja

« on: December 17, 2012, 01:01:51 AM »

I followed this video to glue the wings (starting from 3:00):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUoEAruPVAI

Been watching that video. I have a foam core wing to make and I found it very interesting. (That guys’ accent makes me die! :lol: )
But it’s a very informative video, all-be-it a little ‘long winded’.
Well done for finding it Antonio :clap:

Keith

Yes, the pace is a bit slow. Having done my wings I think perhaps he was using too much glue. That thing expands and will find its way out through every possible opening! Gluing the leading and trailing edges I used PU too, and where it found its way out, shaping and sanding was not easy!

Here's my LE done:

13

Slope Soaring / Ninja

« on: December 15, 2012, 20:29:13 PM »

Try a search for a Davids plane, small and handheld uses a double edged razor blade

Thanks. This one perhaps? http://www.skykingrcproducts.com/accessories/david/david_razor_plane.html

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Slope Soaring / Ninja

« on: December 15, 2012, 16:05:06 PM »

I followed this video to glue the wings (starting from 3:00):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUoEAruPVAI

PU glue (I found Gorilla glue in Homebase), spread thin with a plastic card, bit of moisture in the air and to the press for 24 hours. Average humidity while gluing and curing was 65%.

With the exception of a couple of tiny spots where I spilled glue on the outside of the skin and had to sand a bit of mould foam, things went ok. Trimming the skins down to the core was scary (done by hand with blade, the planes I have seen look too heavy for the job) but it's done. Sanding was done handling the wing over worktop covered with 200 grit paper. Tricky - I wonder if there is a better way.



Next, gluing leading and trailing edges, and wingtips. PU or epoxy? If you feel strongly about one of those, please shout... soon  

15

Slope Soaring / Ninja

« on: December 15, 2012, 15:33:38 PM »

Off to the wings and a task I was dreading, described in the manual as "truing the edges" of all balsa sheeting parts. I got a nice hardened steel ruler from Homebase and gripped to the table on one end, held the other to shave all irregularities. I did something wrong or I simply have too idealistic views of the extent to which natural materials can be finished. But when gluing the sheeting together, I found there was a bit of warping. When the five pieces were glued along, the resulting skin was not flat, but raised above the worktop one or two mm here and there.

Gluing was also interesting. I used thin CA, with waxed paper underneath, but still had to pull stuck paper stretches a few times. No damage though.

Below are my finished wing skins, not exactly flat as you can see.