Joe Nall...

Not much to report other than I had a chance to go to Joe Nall yesterday!  All I can say is WOW!  Some of the most incredible pilots I've had the pleasure to watch.  I also was able to witness some actual turbines in the flesh.  I would love to (eventually) make a large 1/8th or 1/7th scale F-23A with twin turbines. One step at a time though!  What I find kinda cute is that the AMA and by extension the FAA requires a turbine waiver. Since I have full size turbine time approaching 5 figures I find it kind of amusing!  True enough, they aren't quite the same...

Anyway, still haven't had any time to work on the project this week but I'm really close to PAV-1 first flight, I promise!  I did manage to order some more supplies of the AV-1, the big jet so at least some things are happening!

Stay tuned!

Slow Steady Progress (I guess)

Even though I had 5 days off I didn't get much done although I'm close to first flight on PAV -1.  What was able to do was install the V-stabs and pushrods as well as hinge the ailerons. I was going to just tap the ailerons but I was not confident that  wouldn't fluster or even rip off.  Here's a pic:

What's left is install aileron clevises and pushrods, bullet connectors for the ESC/motor and then install the servos and receiver.  I need one good day to finish this thing up.  Next up will be to copy the large model plans so I can start work on the beast!

Big Plans!

A good friend of mine was kind enough to rescale and then print out my general arrangement plans for me.  They arrived today and they're really nice. I'm very glad I choose 1:13.5th scale as the jet is just a perfect size.  I still haven't had much time to work on the other jet but I was able to cut out new V-stabs and get them shaped.  Here are a could pics of some of the sheets. A 60" ruler in at the top for reference:

Stay tuned!

Quick update

 I had to help my brother make a 600 mile move so my time off was consumed by that this past week. I was, however, able to work on the profile model for about an hour and managed to secure maple blocks to the dat fuselage for the spindle mounts. I'm hopeful that I'll be able to finish up this week but I do have another fairly busy week ahead.  I should be getting my plans in soon and I'll be sure to post a couple pics when they do.

More progress...

Well I was hoping to show the jet done but my efforts have been frustrated with the mounting of the V-stabs.  My original design placed the spindle location to far forward:

The problem was that it required too much torque for the servo to move.  I cut out another V-stab to test out a better location for the spindle point.

I was also having problems for mounting brackets for the stabs. I was trying to go for quick and dirty and use depron and balsa without reinforcing it with brass tubing.  So now I had to rip out the brackets and move them back on the fuselage:

 I haven't had the chance to reinstall them but on the plus side I was able to install the ailerons and fan mount:

I was originally going to mount the ailerons with hinges but decided to speed things up and just use tape.  The fan mount was made out of depron and glued to the fuse with gorilla glue. I will trim it down a touch before the first flight.

All for now!

Starting to look like a jet!

Getting pretty close slapping on some electronics and go flying!  Added on the vertical shapes, shaped the airfoils and cutout the ailerons. I made a engine motor mount and painted a canopy to round out my progress thus far.  Next up is installing the V-stabs and ailerons.  Here's a pic:

That's it for a few days.  Have a good weekend!

Getting there!

Got a fair amount done today. Glued in the spar, cleaned up the verticals and glued the bottom pieces on:

I finally tried sanding and was pleasantly surprised how well depron can be shaped. Not quite as nice as balsa but it's pretty easy to correct mistakes.  I also built a inexpensive hot wire cutter! I gave it a go on another trial bulkhead.  I like it, better than cutting for curves in my opinion although cutting is better for straight edges; especially if they're long.  Below is the two trial bulkheads glued together:

Both sides had the outer edges finished by sanding.  The one on the left was cut with the hot wire cutter, the right with a xacto.  I rushed cutting out the hole but otherwise both look nearly identical.  One point that should be made is that my knife work was quite above my usual standard and the hot wire was faster for less mistakes so I foresee many a pieces cut with the hotwire for the larger model.