Kit 701 LC Fairchild 24 Build / RC Conversion

[PsyberPhlier]

Tonight I added the hardware to have a steerable tail wheel for improved ground handling.

Basically, I added a 1/2 inch chunk of 1/16 brass tube, secured to the lower half of the fuselage with CA and fiberglass tape. I did sand down the fuselage the wall thickness of the tube to suck the wire in as tight as possible.

The wire shown is not the actual tail wheel wire. It is only to clarify the image.

Once I am ready to finish I will follow Kpriddles (rcgroups user) recommendations and fit a bent wire into the rudder, pass through the tube and bend to fit tail wheel.

Thank you for the details KP!

Check out KPs Fairchild http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=974822&highlight=spring

Ted

[PsyberPhlier]

The mail arrived and I have a MOTOR!

The little power plant is a Turnigy 1811-2900kv 12g from HK, and powered with a Turnigy Plush 10A ESC also from HK.

I remembered why gas passer planes had my fancy... NO DELICATE SOLDERING!

I had to modify the forward bulkhead to get the motor in, and as you can see in the pic, promptly broke the top of it off. A CA fix is underway...

Ted

[PsyberPhlier]

I must apologize for the lengthy gap in posting.

Turns out, if you are a developer of cost accounting software, DON'T release a major rewrite right before year end... WOOF!

Anyhow, I can see the light of day again and managed to give the Fairchild a skin yesterday. The tissue has been water shrunk, but has not been doped yet.
Please don't be too brutal, this is my first full tissue job.

I think the pilot, which is of Peter Rake vintage, looks way too much like Hank Hill...

Fairchild 11b.jpg

[PsyberPhlier]

Too much work and not enough hobby time but none the less, I got a little more done.

The aileron servos have be tested, centered, retested and anything else I could think of before permanently installing them.

The left wing is covered as far as can be prior to installation. I could get the hang of this tissue covering... Not wrinkle free, but close.

Ted

[PsyberPhlier]

PART 1

So, here is the saga of the servo wire...

First, I tested everything at least a dozen times before I made it permanent. I guess I should have done a bakers dozen...

First wing going on.

Wing Clamped 1a.jpg

And then there were two...

Wings.jpg

After getting the wings glued in place, it was time for one final test of the aileron servos. Of course one failed to move but did power up. After some surgery, I found this...

And Then.jpg

If you you look close, you can see the signal wire is broken from the connector. BUMMER.

[PsyberPhlier]

PART 2

After much skin surgery, I had both servo leads removed back to the servos. At this point I decided that connecting the Y cable inside the wing was not going to be the best solution. I cut the connectors off both servos and soldered on servo extensions.

All back together with just a little bit to finish up.

Assm 1a.jpg

The yellow paint on the nose is just a quick test of the acrylic paint I plan to shoot.

Ted

[PsyberPhlier]

I must have really pissed off Murphy...

I taped off the Fairchild and mixed up 2 ounces of light cad yellow paint. Next, I pulled out the trusty Paasche H airbrush and compressor.

I fired up the compressor and attached the hose only to find the hose had about ten holes in it...

Friggin Murphy.

Upside, A new airbrush will be here Wednesday... Don't tell the airport CEO (Wife)

Ted

[PsyberPhlier]

Well heck, its been a great day so far... Murphy decided to cut me some slack I guess.

First things first, my best friend UPS delivered my secret (from the CEO) gift to me.

Airbrush.jpg

The next thing I did today, was tape on the ailerons. DON"T LAUGH TOO HARD but I went though all 178 stupid little drawers on my bench, every box, my office and then the house searching for anything that remotely looked like packing tape. Foiled! Then I saw it, just sitting there all sad and lonely... A roll of medical tape the DW packed home from work (Nurse). What the heck says I, and I taped the ailerons on. Now, BEFORE YOU LAUGH TOO HARD, this stuff is not the tape of old with an open weave. This is more like a very thin cloth with hell sticky on one side.

After I applied it I nailed her with a shot of dope and it came out great. Visible, but great... Even paintable.

Aileron Tape.jpg

Speaking of paintable... here she is with a tack coat of yellow.

Paint 1a.jpg

I left off the oleos because I wanted to keep some flex in the landing gear and not apply a hard hit to the center of the struts. Besides, it looks better.

Ted

[PsyberPhlier]

Yesterday I said "I left off the oleos because I wanted to keep some flex in the landing gear and not apply a hard hit to the center of the struts. Besides, It looks better..."

OK I was wrong. The struts do look kinda cool.

So last night, while laying in bed, I had an idea... yup, I just had to get up and make it.

What I did was print two yellow strips on a piece of 120# card stock. Each strip was just about an inch wide and full length.
I then cut out the strips. One was cut about 3/4 inch wide and the other about 5/8 inch wide. Those are give or take numbers.
The wider strip was folded around some 1/8 inch brass tube to act as an "air foil" mandrel. The narrower strip was folder around a 1/16 inch brass tube.
The strips were the edge glued and clamped, for what was left of the night, to dry.
This morning, I simply removed the tubing and cut a wide and narrow strip to length. Then I slid the narrow into the wide to for the fairing around an OLEO strut.

After they get a little dope and color match painted, I will glue into the proper location.

What did all of this accomplish? Well, for one, I get the look of the OLEO strut without a solid connection from the flexible axle to the very fixed wing strut. SInce the paper struts can slide inside each other, no impact force will be transmitted to the balsa. Oh, and they look kinda cool...

There ya have it, totally non functioning, "functioning" oleo struts...

Ted

OLEO Struts.jpg

[PsyberPhlier]

It's a lot of work just to apply one silly little racing stripe...

Taped.jpg

[PsyberPhlier]

Now we have a racing stripe.

I made a huge error in judgement. It's a nice day (by SD standards) and the sun porch is toasty, so I chose to paint the stripe out there. Just as I finished painting, the phone in my office rang. I spent 30 minutes or so helping a customer and revisited the plane.

Well, needless to say, I learned something. When it gets hot, green painters tape really, really sticks.

In the process of removing the tape, I pulled up a little bit of the yellow base. Spent an hour with a brush fixing the best I could. IIWII Mr. Murphy.

Ted

[PsyberPhlier]

Here it is, just a few little details to go.

[PsyberPhlier]

Well there is only one thing left to do to call this build complete... Maiden Flight!

I am hoping that just before sunset tomorrow, the winds will do their typical drop and I can fly a bit.

I enjoyed the learning process of building this kit and what I learned from it. I do know that now I want to build every Guillows kit I can track down.

Ted

[PsyberPhlier]

Well, I tried to maiden in waaay to much wind and managed to rip off the landing gear on a somewhat abrupt arrival...

Fixing this weekend and trying again.

Ted

CRASHa.jpg

[David Lewis]

For low time pilots flying tiny R/C scale models, I recommend low wing loading, a generous amount of crashworthiness, rugged landing gear that can take abuse, and calm weather. Larger scales (e.g. 1:12 vs. 1:16) handle wind better, are easier to fly, and perform better due to time scaling, Reynolds number and cube loading phenomena.

The landing gear struts on most models have to be re-designed to increase the stroke, the stroke efficiency, and a gradually tapered load path from the mounting plate into the rest of the structure. A good engineer can do this without increasing weight or complexity.