FunAero S.E.5a build
07-19-2005, 01:11 PM
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FunAero S.E.5a build
Hi folks,
I've enjoyed reading the recent build threads by Wraith and MountaineerFan that I thought I'd contribute my own build experiences to the board.
This is my third kit. The first kit was my trainer, a Sig LT-40. The second was a Bruce Tharpe Venture 60, a wonderful kit to build and a fantastic plane to fly. For my third plane I wanted a kit that would both provide a challenge during the build process and result in scale-like looking aircraft at the end. I chose the 60" FunAero S.E.5a as it has reportedly excellent kit build quality, gentle flight characteristics, and should just about fit into the back of my car without having to dismantle the wings
For more information on the plane see the FunAero web-site [link=http://www.funaero.com/se5a.htm]here[/link]
So, here's what I'm aiming for:
Pretty cool looking plane, eh? It's not a true scale model but it's plenty scale enough for me, especially since I've never built anything this complex before.
On opening the box it's immediately apparent that this is another high quality kit. The parts are all laser cut and clearly labelled. It is also apparent that there are a LOT of components to this plane! On opening the manual the next major difference is clear. The style of instructions for my kits so far could be paraphrased as follows:
1) LT-40: Take 1/4" x 1/2" x 36" balsa leading edge and pin over the plan. Using a razor saw, cut the leading edge to length. Don't worry about being exact as it can be sanded to shape later. Now use medium CA glue to attach the leading edge to the stabiliser center section. Make sure there's a visible fillet of glue in all the joints - the strength of the model depends on the quality of your glue joints.
2) Venture 60: Take 1/4" x 1/2" x 36" balsa and pin to plan. Cut to length and glue to stabiliser section S1 using medium CA.
3) S.E.5a: Cut balsa according to plans. Glue. Cover. Fly plane.
I'm obviously exaggerating for comedic effect, but this kit certainly makes the assumption that you've got some build experience under your belt before you start. This is NOT a kit for beginners. As an example, building the stabiliser and elevators is a single one paragraph step
Having said all that, the plans supplied are of excellent quality (four sheets of blueprints, one large sheet for the fuselage and tail, and three sheets for the top, bottom and centre wing sections.) As long as you can read a schematic there shouldn't be a problem (we'll see how my confidence holds up as the build progresses.)
So, on to the actual build.
The Radiator
The kit starts you off with something simple - assembling the radiator. You start off by framing the radiator structure over the plans using 1/4" square balsa stick, and three pre-cut balsa top pieces giving you the S.E.5a's curved top cowl. I cut the pieces of balsa stick to the correct length, pinned all pieces to the plans (after covering the plans with wax paper of course) checked alignment with a set square, then glued with thin CA. The instructions then call for attaching the pre-cut thin ply radiator face pieces to this frame before gluing 1/32" x 3/4" ply sheeting around the entire edge of the radiator. Here's where I hit my first snag. The balsa frame leaves a gap of about 1/32" between the edge of the framing and the edges of the laser cut ply facing. Checking the blueprints shows that the frame and the radiator faceplate should square up against each other as the sheeting is glued onto the outside of them. I assumed that the laser cut ply face pieces were the correct size and that the plans had shrunk slightly since printing (boy do I hope THAT assumption is correct!) I cut 1/16" balsa sheeting into a few 1/4" deep strips and glued around the outside of the frame so that it extended past the edges of the ply radiator face. The balsa was then sanded to fit the contours dictated by the ply face pieces and the sheeting glued to the edges as shown in the plans.
The stabiliser
The stabiliser is of a simple stick construction, and is therefore a quick build. Everything was glued with thin CA. I think I'll reinforce the joints with fillets of medium CA before sanding and shaping the leading edge and corners of the stabiliser.
So that's the first two nights of construction. I'm planning on building the elevator halves tonight, and will try to take more 'in progress' construction pictures as I go along.
Cheers,
Neil.
I've enjoyed reading the recent build threads by Wraith and MountaineerFan that I thought I'd contribute my own build experiences to the board.
This is my third kit. The first kit was my trainer, a Sig LT-40. The second was a Bruce Tharpe Venture 60, a wonderful kit to build and a fantastic plane to fly. For my third plane I wanted a kit that would both provide a challenge during the build process and result in scale-like looking aircraft at the end. I chose the 60" FunAero S.E.5a as it has reportedly excellent kit build quality, gentle flight characteristics, and should just about fit into the back of my car without having to dismantle the wings
For more information on the plane see the FunAero web-site [link=http://www.funaero.com/se5a.htm]here[/link]So, here's what I'm aiming for:
Pretty cool looking plane, eh? It's not a true scale model but it's plenty scale enough for me, especially since I've never built anything this complex before.
On opening the box it's immediately apparent that this is another high quality kit. The parts are all laser cut and clearly labelled. It is also apparent that there are a LOT of components to this plane! On opening the manual the next major difference is clear. The style of instructions for my kits so far could be paraphrased as follows:
1) LT-40: Take 1/4" x 1/2" x 36" balsa leading edge and pin over the plan. Using a razor saw, cut the leading edge to length. Don't worry about being exact as it can be sanded to shape later. Now use medium CA glue to attach the leading edge to the stabiliser center section. Make sure there's a visible fillet of glue in all the joints - the strength of the model depends on the quality of your glue joints.
2) Venture 60: Take 1/4" x 1/2" x 36" balsa and pin to plan. Cut to length and glue to stabiliser section S1 using medium CA.
3) S.E.5a: Cut balsa according to plans. Glue. Cover. Fly plane.
I'm obviously exaggerating for comedic effect, but this kit certainly makes the assumption that you've got some build experience under your belt before you start. This is NOT a kit for beginners. As an example, building the stabiliser and elevators is a single one paragraph step
Having said all that, the plans supplied are of excellent quality (four sheets of blueprints, one large sheet for the fuselage and tail, and three sheets for the top, bottom and centre wing sections.) As long as you can read a schematic there shouldn't be a problem (we'll see how my confidence holds up as the build progresses.)So, on to the actual build.
The Radiator
The kit starts you off with something simple - assembling the radiator. You start off by framing the radiator structure over the plans using 1/4" square balsa stick, and three pre-cut balsa top pieces giving you the S.E.5a's curved top cowl. I cut the pieces of balsa stick to the correct length, pinned all pieces to the plans (after covering the plans with wax paper of course) checked alignment with a set square, then glued with thin CA. The instructions then call for attaching the pre-cut thin ply radiator face pieces to this frame before gluing 1/32" x 3/4" ply sheeting around the entire edge of the radiator. Here's where I hit my first snag. The balsa frame leaves a gap of about 1/32" between the edge of the framing and the edges of the laser cut ply facing. Checking the blueprints shows that the frame and the radiator faceplate should square up against each other as the sheeting is glued onto the outside of them. I assumed that the laser cut ply face pieces were the correct size and that the plans had shrunk slightly since printing (boy do I hope THAT assumption is correct!) I cut 1/16" balsa sheeting into a few 1/4" deep strips and glued around the outside of the frame so that it extended past the edges of the ply radiator face. The balsa was then sanded to fit the contours dictated by the ply face pieces and the sheeting glued to the edges as shown in the plans.
The stabiliser
The stabiliser is of a simple stick construction, and is therefore a quick build. Everything was glued with thin CA. I think I'll reinforce the joints with fillets of medium CA before sanding and shaping the leading edge and corners of the stabiliser.
So that's the first two nights of construction. I'm planning on building the elevator halves tonight, and will try to take more 'in progress' construction pictures as I go along.
Cheers,
Neil.
07-20-2005, 12:23 AM
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RE: FunAero S.E.5a build
Tonight I had planned to build the elevator halves. Things didn't quite go to plan though as I ended up building the elevator halves, the fin and the rudder
Elevator, fin and rudder
Like the stabiliser before them, the elevators, fin and rudder are simple stick construction on this model. In the absence of instructions on exactly which CA glue to use I've used thin for all the joints. I'm a little concerned about the strength of the thin CA though, so once I've sanded and shaped these completed pieces I aim to (a) re-glue the top and bottom joint surfaces with thin CA to make sure that it's truly capillaried into the joints, and (b) use medium CA to put fillets of glue into all the internal joints. Hopefully that'll ensure a plane strong enough to survive my landings!
One thing I've learned tonight is that try as I might I cannot, cannot stop balsa adhering to the wax paper I use. I've used the same roll of paper for each of the three planes I've built and each one of them has involved hours of picking wax paper off of the model before sanding. I noticed tonight that the wax paper I have is marked as 'microwave safe', so maybe it's not true wax paper. Either way I'm going to pitch this roll and try some non-microwave safe paper for the rest of the build.
The next step in construction is starting to build the fuselage. I'm trying to decide whether to sand and finish the tail surfaces or start on the fuse. The responsible part of me is telling me to finish the tail surfaces, but the geek in me is telling me to start with the fuselage. I'll see who wins out tomorrow night.
Later,
Neil.
Elevator, fin and rudder
Like the stabiliser before them, the elevators, fin and rudder are simple stick construction on this model. In the absence of instructions on exactly which CA glue to use I've used thin for all the joints. I'm a little concerned about the strength of the thin CA though, so once I've sanded and shaped these completed pieces I aim to (a) re-glue the top and bottom joint surfaces with thin CA to make sure that it's truly capillaried into the joints, and (b) use medium CA to put fillets of glue into all the internal joints. Hopefully that'll ensure a plane strong enough to survive my landings!
One thing I've learned tonight is that try as I might I cannot, cannot stop balsa adhering to the wax paper I use. I've used the same roll of paper for each of the three planes I've built and each one of them has involved hours of picking wax paper off of the model before sanding. I noticed tonight that the wax paper I have is marked as 'microwave safe', so maybe it's not true wax paper. Either way I'm going to pitch this roll and try some non-microwave safe paper for the rest of the build.
The next step in construction is starting to build the fuselage. I'm trying to decide whether to sand and finish the tail surfaces or start on the fuse. The responsible part of me is telling me to finish the tail surfaces, but the geek in me is telling me to start with the fuselage. I'll see who wins out tomorrow night.
Later,
Neil.
07-20-2005, 07:30 AM
#3
RE: FunAero S.E.5a build
ORIGINAL: Mindwarp
One thing I've learned tonight is that try as I might I cannot, cannot stop balsa adhering to the wax paper I use. I've used the same roll of paper for each of the three planes I've built and each one of them has involved hours of picking wax paper off of the model before sanding. I noticed tonight that the wax paper I have is marked as 'microwave safe', so maybe it's not true wax paper. Either way I'm going to pitch this roll and try some non-microwave safe paper for the rest of the build.
One thing I've learned tonight is that try as I might I cannot, cannot stop balsa adhering to the wax paper I use. I've used the same roll of paper for each of the three planes I've built and each one of them has involved hours of picking wax paper off of the model before sanding. I noticed tonight that the wax paper I have is marked as 'microwave safe', so maybe it's not true wax paper. Either way I'm going to pitch this roll and try some non-microwave safe paper for the rest of the build.
By the way, nice work on the build. Keep it up!!
Ken
07-21-2005, 05:55 PM
#4
RE: FunAero S.E.5a build
I'm looking forward to the rest of your build as I've been contemplating the Funaero SE5a vs. the Flair SE5a. I like the look of the Funaero's flat-bottomed airfoil a bit more than the curved ones typical of Flair's scout line. I'm currently building the Flair Legionaire and have ordered their Puppeteer. But I've certainly been tempted by Funaero's DIII, SE5a, and upcomong DH5.
07-22-2005, 12:51 AM
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RE: FunAero S.E.5a build
Took a break last night, but got back to the build tonight. If you're looking for some exciting new pictures of the fuselage taking shape then I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed; I decided to knuckle down and finish the sanding/shaping of the tail surfaces before I move on to the fuselage.
Tail surface sanding and shaping
It's apparent from the start that this model needs a lot more shaping of the tail control surfaces than any of my previous models, especially on the leading edge corners of the stabiliser and to a lesser extent the trailing edges of the elevator. So that I wouldn't have to waste time sanding off large chunks of balsa from the corners of the stabiliser and elevators I used a couple of scrap pieces of wax paper to trace the required curves from the plan, then transferred those curves to the tail surfaces by aligning the wax paper in the correct positions, then *****ing through the curves with the tip of a T-pin. Once the wax paper was removed I then cut back to the marked curve line with a razor saw.
The edges were first roughly shaped with a couple of Great Planes Easy-Touch sanding bars with 150 grit sandpaper. Once I'd sanded a close approximation of the curves I wanted using the bars I switched to hand-held 180 grit sandpaper. I take a quarter sheet of sandpaper and gently bend it, sandpaper side in, around a 1/4" dowel. This allows the sandpaper to form a nice smooth semi-circular profile rather than a jagged fold. With the sandpaper prepared I've found that just light finger pressure is enough to keep the smooth profile while finish sanding the edges. It's difficult to see in the picture, but the surfaces now have a nice even curved profile to them (it's more noticeable if you compare with the similar photograph from the 20th.) Once the edges were done, the faces of the control surfaces were sanded down with 220 grit sandpaper. The whole process took about two hours.
Things I've learned tonight:
* A cheap paper breathing mask is invaluable when you're sanding balsa.
* Carefully tracing your curve outlines and removing the unwanted balsa with a razor saw really saves a lot of time.
* Change out of your work clothes BEFORE you start.
* Guns'n'Roses definitely helps the process along.
NOW I can start work on the fuselage!
Later,
Neil.
P.S. It seemed a little lonely just having one picture of the control surfaces in this post, so I stuck a couple of my workshop in too. The picture on the left is my main workbench (the cork covered building board section is removable for final assembly when I need a nice wide flat surface.) The picture on the right is my covering table and plane storage. I'm going to run a mains spur over to that part of the basement soon so that I can also make it my battery charging station.
Tail surface sanding and shaping
It's apparent from the start that this model needs a lot more shaping of the tail control surfaces than any of my previous models, especially on the leading edge corners of the stabiliser and to a lesser extent the trailing edges of the elevator. So that I wouldn't have to waste time sanding off large chunks of balsa from the corners of the stabiliser and elevators I used a couple of scrap pieces of wax paper to trace the required curves from the plan, then transferred those curves to the tail surfaces by aligning the wax paper in the correct positions, then *****ing through the curves with the tip of a T-pin. Once the wax paper was removed I then cut back to the marked curve line with a razor saw.
The edges were first roughly shaped with a couple of Great Planes Easy-Touch sanding bars with 150 grit sandpaper. Once I'd sanded a close approximation of the curves I wanted using the bars I switched to hand-held 180 grit sandpaper. I take a quarter sheet of sandpaper and gently bend it, sandpaper side in, around a 1/4" dowel. This allows the sandpaper to form a nice smooth semi-circular profile rather than a jagged fold. With the sandpaper prepared I've found that just light finger pressure is enough to keep the smooth profile while finish sanding the edges. It's difficult to see in the picture, but the surfaces now have a nice even curved profile to them (it's more noticeable if you compare with the similar photograph from the 20th.) Once the edges were done, the faces of the control surfaces were sanded down with 220 grit sandpaper. The whole process took about two hours.
Things I've learned tonight:
* A cheap paper breathing mask is invaluable when you're sanding balsa.
* Carefully tracing your curve outlines and removing the unwanted balsa with a razor saw really saves a lot of time.
* Change out of your work clothes BEFORE you start.
* Guns'n'Roses definitely helps the process along.
NOW I can start work on the fuselage!
Later,
Neil.
P.S. It seemed a little lonely just having one picture of the control surfaces in this post, so I stuck a couple of my workshop in too. The picture on the left is my main workbench (the cork covered building board section is removable for final assembly when I need a nice wide flat surface.) The picture on the right is my covering table and plane storage. I'm going to run a mains spur over to that part of the basement soon so that I can also make it my battery charging station.
07-22-2005, 06:11 PM
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RE: FunAero S.E.5a build
Mindwarp;
Be sure and check the cabane struts. I've built a couple of these kits and had to re-bend the cabane wires every time. That is the only "klinker" in the kit. This is my favorite plane of all time to fly and it always draws lots of attention at our field.
Tom J.
Be sure and check the cabane struts. I've built a couple of these kits and had to re-bend the cabane wires every time. That is the only "klinker" in the kit. This is my favorite plane of all time to fly and it always draws lots of attention at our field.
Tom J.
07-22-2005, 07:03 PM
#7
RE: FunAero S.E.5a build
What are the most obvious ways that the Funaero SE5a deviates from scale outlines?
BTW, ditto on pre-bent wires from any kit. I would never assume that pre-bent wires are accurate. Certainly the landing gear wires on my Flair Legionaire kit were not quite right (I ended up making up my own UC with suspension from 3mm music wire and some bits of steel bracket). Good as most kits today are, it's best not to trust (or following) the instructions too slave-ishly. A kit is inherently a compromise and the individual builder needs to adapt it to "local circumstances and preferences."
BTW, ditto on pre-bent wires from any kit. I would never assume that pre-bent wires are accurate. Certainly the landing gear wires on my Flair Legionaire kit were not quite right (I ended up making up my own UC with suspension from 3mm music wire and some bits of steel bracket). Good as most kits today are, it's best not to trust (or following) the instructions too slave-ishly. A kit is inherently a compromise and the individual builder needs to adapt it to "local circumstances and preferences."
07-22-2005, 07:54 PM
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RE: FunAero S.E.5a build
Of course, this is a FUNFLY kit. You have already noted that the SE5a has a flat bottomed airfoil. Another deviation is in the lower wing. There is no "notch" where it joins to the fuselage. The overall look is quite close, and, as I have mentioned before, it is really a "crowd pleaser". Here is a picture of mine. I used Tamiya paint and fuel proofed the green part. Of course, just fuel proofer on the natural fabric.
Tom J.
Tom J.
07-22-2005, 08:44 PM
#9
RE: FunAero S.E.5a build
Here's a shot of the Flair SE5a from their website. It's also sport-scale but like the Funaero looks fairly convincing. Like all the Flair scout kits the airfoil is a bit curved on the bottom but can still be built flat on a board. In this respect the Funaero is a bit more authentic looking. The Funaero kit is also bigger at 60" (vs. 51" for the Flair kit) but otherwise they seem to have similar construction. The Flair kit uses fairly crude (and thick) aluminum bar stock for cabane struts vs. wire. Here's a build thread on the Flair SE5a that might be of interest for comparison purposes:
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_24...ionaire/tm.htm
I suppose what I was really wondering is how do the outlines of the wings, fuse, rudder, and stab look in terms of scale? The nose looks like it's been lengthened a bit and the gear repositioned (as is typically of most sport-scale WWI models).
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_24...ionaire/tm.htm
I suppose what I was really wondering is how do the outlines of the wings, fuse, rudder, and stab look in terms of scale? The nose looks like it's been lengthened a bit and the gear repositioned (as is typically of most sport-scale WWI models).
07-22-2005, 11:12 PM
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RE: FunAero S.E.5a build
Now that you mention it, the nose does appear to be a bit longer even than the Funaero 1/4 scale SE5a. I've been having so much fun with the way it flies with a 91 Surpass that I haven't given it too much thought. After all it isn't supposed to be be exact scale. The thrust line isn't really THAT scale.
07-23-2005, 02:16 AM
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RE: FunAero S.E.5a build
Tonight was on to the fuselage.
Fuselage - right side
Reading the instructions indicates that the right side is started by pinning the top 3/8" balsa longeron to the plan and aligning everything to that. The top longeron spans the entire length of the fuselage and is therefore greater than the 36" maximum stick length in the kit. To span the length of the fuselage you need to join two pieces of 3/8" square balsa longeron, making sure that the joint between the two pieces is underneath the light ply side panel. With some careful measuring I found that joining a 29" longeron length from one stick with a 14" longeron length from another leaves you with pieces that fit the front and back bottom longerons perfectly.
In order to create a strong, straight joint between the 29" and 14" top longeron segments I cut the balsa at a 45 degree angle using a mitre box. Glue was applied to both 45 degree ends, and the mitre box was then used to ensure alignment during the gluing. The end result is a very straight top longeron with a strong glue joint. Admittedly, the 45 degree joint probably isn't necessary due to the fact that the light ply side will reinforce the joint, but why miss an opportunity to over-engineer something [8D]
Once the top longeron was pinned to the plan and checked with a long straight-edge I trial fitted both the light ply side panel and the stabiliser saddle. The light ply side panel fits the plan exactly, but the stabiliser saddle height is around 1mm less than the plan. I therefore decided to make sure that the lower rear longeron was aligned to the plan where it joins the light ply side panel, but aligned to the stabiliser saddle at the rear of the tail.
With both top and bottom longeron in place you then cut the 1/4" balsa stringers to length and fit between the longerons. Finally the stabiliser saddle is slotted into place and everything glued together with thin CA. It's definitely worth taking your time with the cutting and shaping of the stringers as you want the joints between them to be nice and tight. I wasn't entirely happy with a couple of my joints so I re-cut them. I'm guessing that I'm going to have to go out and purchase a couple extra sticks of 1/4" balsa in the near future
Things learned tonight:
* The construction of the fuselage sides is a lot of fun, but it's also far more complicated than any fuselage I've built before. Since I really didn't know what I was doing and since the instructions are a little vague in the manual, I probably spent half an hour studying the plans and playing with the fuselage components to make sure that I understood where everything was meant to go. Some 'during construction' photographs would have been very helpful at this point. Unfortunately the pictures in the construction manual look like they were printed out using an old dot matrix printer, then photocopied ten times before being shipped out with the kit - the pictures are small to start with, and given the terrible print quality it's impossible to make out any details of the construction. Given the excellent quality of the laser cutting and labelling of the kit parts I'm really surprised by the poor print quality of the manual. It's really letting the kit down. Just in case anyone from FunAero reads this thread, here's a suggestion: How about you generate a PDF version of your manuals and put them on your website for download? You could even burn it to CD and include that with the kit for those people with a PC but no Internet access? It's really easy to do and it'll allow people to see your pictures in their original digital form.
* The balsa used for the longerons is DENSE. I imagine it might be intentional as they're going to be taking a lot of the tail forces, but I had to use a piece of scrap ply to push the pins through on a couple of occasions!
Tomorrow I'll join the tail section to the fuselage side and add the remaining bottom longerons. After that it's on to the left side of the fuselage. I also just noticed that I'm going to need to mark up and drill the mount points for the firewall shortly, so I'm guessing it's time to place my monster Tower Hobbies order now. O.S. 91 Surpass II, radio gear and servos, covering materials, hinges, fuel tank, switch harness, and wheels... here I come! It's a good job that I warned the missus this was coming [8D]
Later,
Neil.
Fuselage - right side
Reading the instructions indicates that the right side is started by pinning the top 3/8" balsa longeron to the plan and aligning everything to that. The top longeron spans the entire length of the fuselage and is therefore greater than the 36" maximum stick length in the kit. To span the length of the fuselage you need to join two pieces of 3/8" square balsa longeron, making sure that the joint between the two pieces is underneath the light ply side panel. With some careful measuring I found that joining a 29" longeron length from one stick with a 14" longeron length from another leaves you with pieces that fit the front and back bottom longerons perfectly.
In order to create a strong, straight joint between the 29" and 14" top longeron segments I cut the balsa at a 45 degree angle using a mitre box. Glue was applied to both 45 degree ends, and the mitre box was then used to ensure alignment during the gluing. The end result is a very straight top longeron with a strong glue joint. Admittedly, the 45 degree joint probably isn't necessary due to the fact that the light ply side will reinforce the joint, but why miss an opportunity to over-engineer something [8D]
Once the top longeron was pinned to the plan and checked with a long straight-edge I trial fitted both the light ply side panel and the stabiliser saddle. The light ply side panel fits the plan exactly, but the stabiliser saddle height is around 1mm less than the plan. I therefore decided to make sure that the lower rear longeron was aligned to the plan where it joins the light ply side panel, but aligned to the stabiliser saddle at the rear of the tail.
With both top and bottom longeron in place you then cut the 1/4" balsa stringers to length and fit between the longerons. Finally the stabiliser saddle is slotted into place and everything glued together with thin CA. It's definitely worth taking your time with the cutting and shaping of the stringers as you want the joints between them to be nice and tight. I wasn't entirely happy with a couple of my joints so I re-cut them. I'm guessing that I'm going to have to go out and purchase a couple extra sticks of 1/4" balsa in the near future
Things learned tonight:
* The construction of the fuselage sides is a lot of fun, but it's also far more complicated than any fuselage I've built before. Since I really didn't know what I was doing and since the instructions are a little vague in the manual, I probably spent half an hour studying the plans and playing with the fuselage components to make sure that I understood where everything was meant to go. Some 'during construction' photographs would have been very helpful at this point. Unfortunately the pictures in the construction manual look like they were printed out using an old dot matrix printer, then photocopied ten times before being shipped out with the kit - the pictures are small to start with, and given the terrible print quality it's impossible to make out any details of the construction. Given the excellent quality of the laser cutting and labelling of the kit parts I'm really surprised by the poor print quality of the manual. It's really letting the kit down. Just in case anyone from FunAero reads this thread, here's a suggestion: How about you generate a PDF version of your manuals and put them on your website for download? You could even burn it to CD and include that with the kit for those people with a PC but no Internet access? It's really easy to do and it'll allow people to see your pictures in their original digital form.
* The balsa used for the longerons is DENSE. I imagine it might be intentional as they're going to be taking a lot of the tail forces, but I had to use a piece of scrap ply to push the pins through on a couple of occasions!
Tomorrow I'll join the tail section to the fuselage side and add the remaining bottom longerons. After that it's on to the left side of the fuselage. I also just noticed that I'm going to need to mark up and drill the mount points for the firewall shortly, so I'm guessing it's time to place my monster Tower Hobbies order now. O.S. 91 Surpass II, radio gear and servos, covering materials, hinges, fuel tank, switch harness, and wheels... here I come! It's a good job that I warned the missus this was coming [8D]
Later,
Neil.
07-24-2005, 01:22 AM
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RE: FunAero S.E.5a build
Fuselage - right side (cont.)
Not a huge amount of visible progress tonight as I didn't manage to get down to the basement until 11:30pm. Tonight I attached the longeron/tail assembly to the right fuselage side. Front bottom longerons were also attached. Strictly speaking the instructions now call for the fitting of the front formers, firewall and tank/battery tray, but since I don't have the engine yet I removed the completed side panel and started cutting the longerons and stringers for the left side. One interesting point to note is that while the right side is built 'face down' (i.e. outside face to the plans) the left side is built 'face up.' This means that in order for the stringers and stabiliser saddle to build flush with the outside of the left side, 1/8" shims must be used to raise the pieces to the correct level.
It's at this point that I'm glad I never throw away any wood The old LT-40 fuselage die sheet surrounds are ideal for breaking up and shimming the wood.
With luck I'll make more significant progress tomorrow. I was hoping to spend a few hours at the flying field, but since the temperature is meant to be hovering around 110f I think I might give it a miss!
[8D]
Later,
Neil.
Not a huge amount of visible progress tonight as I didn't manage to get down to the basement until 11:30pm. Tonight I attached the longeron/tail assembly to the right fuselage side. Front bottom longerons were also attached. Strictly speaking the instructions now call for the fitting of the front formers, firewall and tank/battery tray, but since I don't have the engine yet I removed the completed side panel and started cutting the longerons and stringers for the left side. One interesting point to note is that while the right side is built 'face down' (i.e. outside face to the plans) the left side is built 'face up.' This means that in order for the stringers and stabiliser saddle to build flush with the outside of the left side, 1/8" shims must be used to raise the pieces to the correct level.
It's at this point that I'm glad I never throw away any wood
The old LT-40 fuselage die sheet surrounds are ideal for breaking up and shimming the wood.With luck I'll make more significant progress tomorrow. I was hoping to spend a few hours at the flying field, but since the temperature is meant to be hovering around 110f I think I might give it a miss!
[8D]
Later,
Neil.
07-27-2005, 01:11 AM
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RE: FunAero S.E.5a build
Took a couple of days off building due to family commitments, however today a large and interesting package arrived [8D] This is the first of two, and contains my brand spanking new O.S. 91 Surpass II four stroke. I know that engine brand discussions can spark of holy wars of a magnitude that only political allegiances and UNIX text editors can rival, but I've always had great luck with O.S. engines. In my admittedly limited experience they've always run smoothly and reliably even after a short break-in period, so the 91 was a natural choice for me for this model.
Fuselage - Left side
The manual suggests leaving the right fuselage side attached to the building board and attaching the firewall and fuselage formers at this point, but since I don't have the engine mount yet (that should arrive in the post within the next couple of days) I unpinned the right side fuselage and started building the left side. When all of the stringers were cut to length, pinned between the top and bottom longerons and shimmed to be flush to the surface a comparison was made to the completed right side. Everything looked good, so the joints were all glued with thin CA. Something I've learned during this build process is to always cut the longest stringers first. That way if you trim or sand a little too much wood off your stringer and feel that the fit is too loose you can always cut it down slightly and use it as the next stringer size down. Saves wasting a lot of wood that way
After completing the tail section you move on to gluing the lower front 3/8" square longerons on to the left fuselage side (taking care to glue them to the CORRECT side.) It was at this point that I had my first 'whoops' moment. The top front of the fuselage side is detachable and allows the top of the engine compartment to be removed for easy engine access. Once the fuselage is built you saw through the small uncut points of the light ply sides and detach the top section. I clearly wasn't careful enough where I was holding the left fuselage side as I was aligning it with the tail section and detached the top section by accident. Luckily it's nothing that a couple of pieces of masking tape easily corrected.
Once the lower front longerons are glued to the fuselage side, the completed panel is glued to the tail section. Before final gluing I decided to check the top longeron for straightness again. It was a good job I did, as it had warped considerably since I pinned it a couple of days ago. Prior to yesterday Chicagoland had been in the worst drought for eighteen years - we hadn't had any significant rainfall for close to two months, and temperatures had been constantly above 90f. Yesterday and today the weather finally broke, and we were deluged with rain. The drop in temperature and increase in humidity had definitely had an effect on the pinned top longeron, and appeared to have set a fairly persistent curve into it. I couldn't pin the longeron to the plan prior to gluing as the ply fuselage side has to be attached to the upward face. I therefore decided to hold the longeron between two long straight-edges during the gluing process. The ends of the straight-edges outside of the fuselage side were pinned to prevent the top longeron from moving. This seemed to work really well, as after gluing the top longeron is perfectly flush along the length of the fuselage side.
Once the glue set up I unpinned the left side and compared it to the right. I'm pretty pleased with the outcome so far
Later,
Neil.
P.S. I just have to commend the staff at FunAero, particularly Jan, for the fast turn-around on emails asking them for building information. On every occasion I've contacted them they've replied with detailed information within 24 hours. Now that's service! The smaller kit manufacturers I've dealt with, namely Bruce Tharpe Engineering and FunAero really have been a joy to work with. I think it would have to be a compelling kit indeed to cause me to stray away from the smaller manufacturing shops to one of the Giant Producers at this point.
Fuselage - Left side
The manual suggests leaving the right fuselage side attached to the building board and attaching the firewall and fuselage formers at this point, but since I don't have the engine mount yet (that should arrive in the post within the next couple of days) I unpinned the right side fuselage and started building the left side. When all of the stringers were cut to length, pinned between the top and bottom longerons and shimmed to be flush to the surface a comparison was made to the completed right side. Everything looked good, so the joints were all glued with thin CA. Something I've learned during this build process is to always cut the longest stringers first. That way if you trim or sand a little too much wood off your stringer and feel that the fit is too loose you can always cut it down slightly and use it as the next stringer size down. Saves wasting a lot of wood that way
After completing the tail section you move on to gluing the lower front 3/8" square longerons on to the left fuselage side (taking care to glue them to the CORRECT side.) It was at this point that I had my first 'whoops' moment. The top front of the fuselage side is detachable and allows the top of the engine compartment to be removed for easy engine access. Once the fuselage is built you saw through the small uncut points of the light ply sides and detach the top section. I clearly wasn't careful enough where I was holding the left fuselage side as I was aligning it with the tail section and detached the top section by accident. Luckily it's nothing that a couple of pieces of masking tape easily corrected.
Once the lower front longerons are glued to the fuselage side, the completed panel is glued to the tail section. Before final gluing I decided to check the top longeron for straightness again. It was a good job I did, as it had warped considerably since I pinned it a couple of days ago. Prior to yesterday Chicagoland had been in the worst drought for eighteen years - we hadn't had any significant rainfall for close to two months, and temperatures had been constantly above 90f. Yesterday and today the weather finally broke, and we were deluged with rain. The drop in temperature and increase in humidity had definitely had an effect on the pinned top longeron, and appeared to have set a fairly persistent curve into it. I couldn't pin the longeron to the plan prior to gluing as the ply fuselage side has to be attached to the upward face. I therefore decided to hold the longeron between two long straight-edges during the gluing process. The ends of the straight-edges outside of the fuselage side were pinned to prevent the top longeron from moving. This seemed to work really well, as after gluing the top longeron is perfectly flush along the length of the fuselage side.
Once the glue set up I unpinned the left side and compared it to the right. I'm pretty pleased with the outcome so far
Later,
Neil.
P.S. I just have to commend the staff at FunAero, particularly Jan, for the fast turn-around on emails asking them for building information. On every occasion I've contacted them they've replied with detailed information within 24 hours. Now that's service! The smaller kit manufacturers I've dealt with, namely Bruce Tharpe Engineering and FunAero really have been a joy to work with. I think it would have to be a compelling kit indeed to cause me to stray away from the smaller manufacturing shops to one of the Giant Producers at this point.
07-27-2005, 10:31 AM
#14
RE: FunAero S.E.5a build
Your fuse is looking good! Looks like a bit more sophisticated building method than on the Flair SE5a. I notice that the undercarriage is located in close to a scale location. How does this attach? Do you have to put the wing on at the field and then attach the UC? Or does the lower wing plug into the fuse sides?
Also what size wheels does this kit call for?
Also what size wheels does this kit call for?
07-27-2005, 11:50 AM
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RE: FunAero S.E.5a build
The kit really needs 5" diameter wheels, but due to the demise of Williams Bros. I couldn't find any vintage looking 5" wheels. I've ordered the DuBro 1/5 scale vintage wheels which come in at a 5.6" diameter. Hopefully they won't look too bad on the model.
I haven't looked too closely at the undercarriage attachment points yet. Picturing the plans in my head, I think that the ends of the undercarriage struts fit into hardwood mounting blocks and are then fastened down with straps. I think in order to remove the bottom wing you need to remove the undercarriage. From the dimensions of the model I think it'll just about be able to fit into the back of my car without dismantling it. This was one of the reasons that I chose the FunAero kit over the Dynaflite and Flair ones
Cheers,
Neil.
I haven't looked too closely at the undercarriage attachment points yet. Picturing the plans in my head, I think that the ends of the undercarriage struts fit into hardwood mounting blocks and are then fastened down with straps. I think in order to remove the bottom wing you need to remove the undercarriage. From the dimensions of the model I think it'll just about be able to fit into the back of my car without dismantling it. This was one of the reasons that I chose the FunAero kit over the Dynaflite and Flair ones
Cheers,
Neil.
07-27-2005, 05:29 PM
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RE: FunAero S.E.5a build
While the landing gear on the FunAero R/C SE5a, the front wire is in the scale postion and the rear brace wire had to be moved forward slightly due to the new working gear which would have required a 38 inch long rear brace wire. We have had no luck finding this size wire so we chose to move it out of a scale position to do this, (we felt the working gear out-weighted scale posisioning of the rear wire as it is sport scale.) The transport of this plane will let you leave the front gear wire attached, removing the rear gear straps will allow you rotate the gear forward to install or remove the lower wing. Note: TIP: when the time comes for mounting the gear. mark the placement of the rear wire, drill the mounting block and insert the short pieces of the 2-56 inner-nirod, and glue with thin CA. This allows #2 screws to be removed and installed many times. This acts like a nilock system. If you should strip the nilock just drill it out and install a new piece and your good to go again. Take a piece of ply,LT Ply is fine, the widht of the fuselage, the length just needs to long enough to allow the landing gear to rest on. Glue a short piece of 5/32 gear block for the rear wire to rest on, or (2) pieces of hardwood block to hold the rear gear wire in position. We use one flat gear strap, screw in one end loosly. On the other end we slot the gear strap to allow for flipping around on the second screw. This allow you to transport the plane with out the landiong gear flopping around. PS it would have been nice if I would have told you to use the original wing bolts to hold this plate on. HA HA. Thanks Mike FunAero R/C
07-28-2005, 04:25 PM
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RE: FunAero S.E.5a build
The original SE5a had a ridged gear system. However it was the last one of the planes to go to the working gear. What we mean by working gear is the way we have you solder the brace wires to the 3/16 center axle. This allows the axle to flex from the solder joint outward. Why not a true rubber bungie gear, it gives the same effect except in the sport scale version. If I knew how to post picture I could put one on the site. Mike
07-29-2005, 11:46 AM
#20
RE: FunAero S.E.5a build
Posting photos is dead easy if you've got a digital camera. First of all, make sure the photo is in standard .jpg format. Then to upload use the POST REPLY button. Don't use the FAST REPLY box as it doesn't provide the link to upload. After you've clicked on POST REPLY you'll get the box to type your messeage and beneath that on the left it says: "Click here to upload." When you do that, there will be dialog box that allows you to browse your hard drive for the photo. You just click on the file name and press OK. Works like a charm.
It would be a great help if you could post a photo or two here to illustrate some of the special features (or more complicated bits) of the kit.
--Don
It would be a great help if you could post a photo or two here to illustrate some of the special features (or more complicated bits) of the kit.
--Don
07-31-2005, 03:32 AM
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RE: FunAero S.E.5a build
Had to take a few days off from building due to a busy work and family schedule. Managed to get a good four hours in tonight though. In fact it was one of those fantastic nights building when you completely lose track of time, as is amply evidenced by the fact that I'm writing this at 2:45am!
Firewall, formers, and fuselage joining
As you can all see, the [link=http://www.towerhobbies.com]Tower Hobbies[/link] fairy paid me a visit last week. I'm sure that there's something I've forgotten to order, but I've certainly got enough supplied to be going on with now
Tonights project was the initial fitting of the front fuselage formers, and the joining of the left and right fuselage sides. Since this involves epoxying the firewall onto the fuselage the first step is fitting the engine mount to the firewall and drilling the required holes for fuel line, pressure line, and throttle cable.
The firewall was matched to the plan and the horizontal and vertical thrust lines transferred to the front of it. The engine has 0 degrees thrust in either up-down or left-right directions, so the mounting turned out to be pretty simple. I purchased a Dave Brown FS90 engine mount for this model. I used the 60 size Dave Brown mount for my previous kit, and found it extremely easy to work with. The mount itself is built around a circular back-plate, and has alignment notches at vertical and horizontal dead center. This makes it a snap to align with the thrust lines marked on your firewall.
One of my favourite hobby tools is my Dremel drill press. It's fantastically useful for exactly this sort of work, namely drilling accurate perpendicular holes through firewalls. Once the mounting holes were drilled out, the 6/32" blind nuts were tapped into place and epoxied down (being careful not to get any epoxy inside the threads of course.) Both of my previous models have used thick, gap filling CA hit with hardener to secure the firewall blind nuts. Since this model is using a 90 size four-stroke engine though I feel that epoxy is definitely called for.
With the firewall prepared it was on to fitting the formers to the right fuselage side. This kit differs from the others I have built by supplying the lower formers in two, and in the case of the B2 former three, pieces. I assume that this is to make better use of the light ply and to reduce the overall size of the wood for the kit. The extremely precise laser cutting of this kit makes assembling the formers a snap though. A little medium CA produced very tight and strong joints in the formers. When glued into the fuselage they'll be plenty strong enough.
The B2 former (the one with the wing hold-down plate in the bottom of it) was attached to the right fuselage side and checked for squareness. Medium CA fillets were run around the fuselage join to ensure a strong joint. Next came the B3 former behind it, and the first of the slight fit issues. Due to the fact that B3 is mounted at a slight angle, the top of the B3 former would not quite seat properly due to it catching on the 3/8" top longeron. The longeron was carefully notched, and the former then seated correctly. After the B3 former comes the servo mounting tray and the B1 former/firewall gusset assembly.
Once the formers are fitted and glued, the firewall is epoxied into place. Again, a slight size discrepancy was found. The fuselage sides are about one millimetre smaller than shown on the plan, yet the firewall was exactly to plan. This meant that the top notches in the firewall would not seat on the 3/8" top longeron. Rather than modify the firewall the top longeron was notched to allow the firewall to seat correctly. The longeron at this position isn't a load bearing structural component as it is part of the removable engine compartment hatch.
A couple of things to note when epoxying the firewall. Firstly, the firewall is only epoxied on the bottom half as the top half is underneath the removable engine compartment hatch. You don't want to be gluing the 'removable' hatch to the firewall! Secondly, when cutting the 3/8" triangle stock to brace the firewall with note that the rear brace is a little shorter than the front brace. This is because there is a 'fuselage side gusset' labelled FSG that is glued in between the firewall and the firewall gusset later in the construction process. Be sure to leave enough room for this part to be attached later, and also make sure that when you run a bead of glue between the fuselage gusset and the fuselage side you leave it clear where the FSG will later be attached.
Once the epoxy and glue had set up, a trial dry-fit was performed with the left fuselage side. Once the top longeron was notched in the same manner as the right top longeron everything clicked together in an extremely satisfying way. The fit between the left and right fuselage sides is amply tight enough to allow me to pick up and move the fuselage without the joints even being glued yet. The high quality laser cutting of this kit has resulted in a very strong, very straight fuselage.
Of course, with the two fuselage sides joined I just couldn't resist fitting the radiator grille for a final late-night photo call It's really starting to come together now!
I'm planning on more building tomorrow, so I suppose I should get some sleep now
Later,
Neil.
Firewall, formers, and fuselage joining
As you can all see, the [link=http://www.towerhobbies.com]Tower Hobbies[/link] fairy paid me a visit last week. I'm sure that there's something I've forgotten to order, but I've certainly got enough supplied to be going on with now
Tonights project was the initial fitting of the front fuselage formers, and the joining of the left and right fuselage sides. Since this involves epoxying the firewall onto the fuselage the first step is fitting the engine mount to the firewall and drilling the required holes for fuel line, pressure line, and throttle cable.
The firewall was matched to the plan and the horizontal and vertical thrust lines transferred to the front of it. The engine has 0 degrees thrust in either up-down or left-right directions, so the mounting turned out to be pretty simple. I purchased a Dave Brown FS90 engine mount for this model. I used the 60 size Dave Brown mount for my previous kit, and found it extremely easy to work with. The mount itself is built around a circular back-plate, and has alignment notches at vertical and horizontal dead center. This makes it a snap to align with the thrust lines marked on your firewall.
One of my favourite hobby tools is my Dremel drill press. It's fantastically useful for exactly this sort of work, namely drilling accurate perpendicular holes through firewalls. Once the mounting holes were drilled out, the 6/32" blind nuts were tapped into place and epoxied down (being careful not to get any epoxy inside the threads of course.) Both of my previous models have used thick, gap filling CA hit with hardener to secure the firewall blind nuts. Since this model is using a 90 size four-stroke engine though I feel that epoxy is definitely called for.
With the firewall prepared it was on to fitting the formers to the right fuselage side. This kit differs from the others I have built by supplying the lower formers in two, and in the case of the B2 former three, pieces. I assume that this is to make better use of the light ply and to reduce the overall size of the wood for the kit. The extremely precise laser cutting of this kit makes assembling the formers a snap though. A little medium CA produced very tight and strong joints in the formers. When glued into the fuselage they'll be plenty strong enough.
The B2 former (the one with the wing hold-down plate in the bottom of it) was attached to the right fuselage side and checked for squareness. Medium CA fillets were run around the fuselage join to ensure a strong joint. Next came the B3 former behind it, and the first of the slight fit issues. Due to the fact that B3 is mounted at a slight angle, the top of the B3 former would not quite seat properly due to it catching on the 3/8" top longeron. The longeron was carefully notched, and the former then seated correctly. After the B3 former comes the servo mounting tray and the B1 former/firewall gusset assembly.
Once the formers are fitted and glued, the firewall is epoxied into place. Again, a slight size discrepancy was found. The fuselage sides are about one millimetre smaller than shown on the plan, yet the firewall was exactly to plan. This meant that the top notches in the firewall would not seat on the 3/8" top longeron. Rather than modify the firewall the top longeron was notched to allow the firewall to seat correctly. The longeron at this position isn't a load bearing structural component as it is part of the removable engine compartment hatch.
A couple of things to note when epoxying the firewall. Firstly, the firewall is only epoxied on the bottom half as the top half is underneath the removable engine compartment hatch. You don't want to be gluing the 'removable' hatch to the firewall! Secondly, when cutting the 3/8" triangle stock to brace the firewall with note that the rear brace is a little shorter than the front brace. This is because there is a 'fuselage side gusset' labelled FSG that is glued in between the firewall and the firewall gusset later in the construction process. Be sure to leave enough room for this part to be attached later, and also make sure that when you run a bead of glue between the fuselage gusset and the fuselage side you leave it clear where the FSG will later be attached.
Once the epoxy and glue had set up, a trial dry-fit was performed with the left fuselage side. Once the top longeron was notched in the same manner as the right top longeron everything clicked together in an extremely satisfying way. The fit between the left and right fuselage sides is amply tight enough to allow me to pick up and move the fuselage without the joints even being glued yet. The high quality laser cutting of this kit has resulted in a very strong, very straight fuselage.
Of course, with the two fuselage sides joined I just couldn't resist fitting the radiator grille for a final late-night photo call
It's really starting to come together now!I'm planning on more building tomorrow, so I suppose I should get some sleep now
Later,
Neil.
08-02-2005, 02:16 AM
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RE: FunAero S.E.5a build
Tonights project was continuing the fuselage.
Fuselage (cont.)
With the left fuselage dry fitted to the right fuselage/formers a final check was made to ensure squareness. The firewall and tri-stock bracers were then epoxied in the same manner as with the right fuselage side. The formers were first glued to the left fuselage side with thin CA, then fillets of medium CA were run along all completed joints.
With the front fuselage fully joined the next step is the installation of the wing saddles. These are 1/4" thick pre-cut balsa pieces that fit along the inside curves of the wing saddle. With the wing saddles in place the next step is to install the hardwood front landing gear block and the plywood wing hold-down plates.
As can be seen, the notch for the front landing gear block is partially obscured by the lower 3/8" balsa longeron. I used a razor saw to cut down either edge of the landing gear slot, then used a small craft chisel to remove the obscuring balsa. This gives a tight landing gear block fitting with plenty of surface area to epoxy the block to. Examining the plans it seems that reinforcing tri-stock is not needed between the landing gear block and the fuselage sides. I imagine this is because of the longerons providing plenty of support.
After the landing gear block come the wing hold-down plates. The wing saddles proved slightly too long for the hold-down plates to fit into their required positions on the trailing edges of the wing saddle, so the saddles were notched to accomodate them. After a successful trial fit tri-stock reinforcement pieces were cut to fit above each block between the block and the fuselage side. The hold-down blocks and reinforcing tri-stock were then epoxied into their required positions and clamped into place. Note the fillets of epoxy on the opposide side of the B3 former to the hold-down blocks. That angled former is going to be taking a portion of the force exerted by the hold-down blocks during flight and landing, and so the plans call for epoxy fillet reinforcement of the joint.
The final task for tonight was the fitting of the fuselage belly pan and flooring. Parts fit was excellent, with just a small amount of sanding needed to ensure a gap-free finish.
That's all for tonight,
Neil.
Fuselage (cont.)
With the left fuselage dry fitted to the right fuselage/formers a final check was made to ensure squareness. The firewall and tri-stock bracers were then epoxied in the same manner as with the right fuselage side. The formers were first glued to the left fuselage side with thin CA, then fillets of medium CA were run along all completed joints.
With the front fuselage fully joined the next step is the installation of the wing saddles. These are 1/4" thick pre-cut balsa pieces that fit along the inside curves of the wing saddle. With the wing saddles in place the next step is to install the hardwood front landing gear block and the plywood wing hold-down plates.
As can be seen, the notch for the front landing gear block is partially obscured by the lower 3/8" balsa longeron. I used a razor saw to cut down either edge of the landing gear slot, then used a small craft chisel to remove the obscuring balsa. This gives a tight landing gear block fitting with plenty of surface area to epoxy the block to. Examining the plans it seems that reinforcing tri-stock is not needed between the landing gear block and the fuselage sides. I imagine this is because of the longerons providing plenty of support.
After the landing gear block come the wing hold-down plates. The wing saddles proved slightly too long for the hold-down plates to fit into their required positions on the trailing edges of the wing saddle, so the saddles were notched to accomodate them. After a successful trial fit tri-stock reinforcement pieces were cut to fit above each block between the block and the fuselage side. The hold-down blocks and reinforcing tri-stock were then epoxied into their required positions and clamped into place. Note the fillets of epoxy on the opposide side of the B3 former to the hold-down blocks. That angled former is going to be taking a portion of the force exerted by the hold-down blocks during flight and landing, and so the plans call for epoxy fillet reinforcement of the joint.
The final task for tonight was the fitting of the fuselage belly pan and flooring. Parts fit was excellent, with just a small amount of sanding needed to ensure a gap-free finish.
That's all for tonight,
Neil.
08-03-2005, 02:13 AM
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RE: FunAero S.E.5a build
This evening's build got interrupted by a support call from work, but I still managed to get a fair bit done.
Fuselage (cont.)
First order of the evening was to cut and attach the 1/8" balsa transition pieces to the back of the fuselage. These pieces will be sanded into the contours of the fuselage and will remove the 'step' at the transition between the ply fuselage and the stick built tail.
With the transition pieces in place it was on to the top formers. The instructions tell you to start with the front former, F0. On dry-fitting it to the fuselage it became apparent that although the fit between the sides and the former tabs was good, the former appeared about 1/32" too long to fit. The 3/8" square bottom longerons were trimmed to accomodate the former, the former length trimmed down to match the depth of the fuselage sides, and the former glued in place.
One thing to note is that without the stringers in place former F0 is an EXTREMELY fragile piece of wood. When you're manouvering the model around be especially careful not to brush against the top of the former. A gentle tap on F0 such as you might do when not paying quite enough attention when reaching for the glue could snap the top of the former clean off. Not that I did that, of course. But if you DID do it then you'd have to spend ages gluing it back on in exactly the right alignment. And you really, really wouldn't want to do that. Trust me. Please pay no attention to the barely visible crack marks at the join between F0 and the top longerons. [:@]
With F0 in place it was on to F3, F4, F5 and F6. The locations of the formers were carefully transferred from the plans to one side of the fuselage. A builders square was then used to transfer these marks to the other fuselage side and the model flipped over to check the new marks against the plan. With everything aligned the formers were glued to the fuselage top being careful to ensure perpendicular alignment. The only interesting formers are F4 and F6. F4 is a two-piece 1/4" thick balsa former that acts as a transition brace between the engine sheeting and the cockpit sheeting. F6 is actually the cockpit control panel face and is glued on at an angle aligned with the B3 former. In order to get this angle correct I used a scrap piece of 3/8" square balsa and a couple of pieces of masking tape to tape the glued former into alignment.
The fuselage is really starting to take shape now. I can't wait to fit the stringers and sheet it, but first there's the sliding engine compartment hatch to build.
Later,
Neil.
Fuselage (cont.)
First order of the evening was to cut and attach the 1/8" balsa transition pieces to the back of the fuselage. These pieces will be sanded into the contours of the fuselage and will remove the 'step' at the transition between the ply fuselage and the stick built tail.
With the transition pieces in place it was on to the top formers. The instructions tell you to start with the front former, F0. On dry-fitting it to the fuselage it became apparent that although the fit between the sides and the former tabs was good, the former appeared about 1/32" too long to fit. The 3/8" square bottom longerons were trimmed to accomodate the former, the former length trimmed down to match the depth of the fuselage sides, and the former glued in place.
One thing to note is that without the stringers in place former F0 is an EXTREMELY fragile piece of wood. When you're manouvering the model around be especially careful not to brush against the top of the former. A gentle tap on F0 such as you might do when not paying quite enough attention when reaching for the glue could snap the top of the former clean off. Not that I did that, of course. But if you DID do it then you'd have to spend ages gluing it back on in exactly the right alignment. And you really, really wouldn't want to do that. Trust me. Please pay no attention to the barely visible crack marks at the join between F0 and the top longerons. [:@]
With F0 in place it was on to F3, F4, F5 and F6. The locations of the formers were carefully transferred from the plans to one side of the fuselage. A builders square was then used to transfer these marks to the other fuselage side and the model flipped over to check the new marks against the plan. With everything aligned the formers were glued to the fuselage top being careful to ensure perpendicular alignment. The only interesting formers are F4 and F6. F4 is a two-piece 1/4" thick balsa former that acts as a transition brace between the engine sheeting and the cockpit sheeting. F6 is actually the cockpit control panel face and is glued on at an angle aligned with the B3 former. In order to get this angle correct I used a scrap piece of 3/8" square balsa and a couple of pieces of masking tape to tape the glued former into alignment.
The fuselage is really starting to take shape now. I can't wait to fit the stringers and sheet it, but first there's the sliding engine compartment hatch to build.
Later,
Neil.
08-03-2005, 01:27 PM
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RE: FunAero S.E.5a build
Could I just add that if anyone sees me doing something wrong/stupid/combination of both, please let me know so that I can both learn from it and correct any mistake at an early stage. Heck, let me know if you have suggestions of alternative construction methods that you think would be easier/better.
Cheers,
Neil.
Cheers,
Neil.
