Back to Basics

Good job I checked on the progress of the hinges. I made a mistake using the Teflon sheet, the hinges were just tacky, but the Teflon which was taped to the cutting board, was almost but not quite firmly stuck to it. I peeled the hinges off the Teflon and re-attached them to some Solarfilm backing. Gave the hinges another coat of PVA, then got into trouble by washing out the Teflon sheet in the kitchen sink. I'd used too much detergent, so it was just a bit too bubbly to go unnoticed. However its all therapy of a sort. While waiting for the hinges to dry, I whiled away an hour or so by fitting cyano friendly hinge strips to the Joker's (3D LabPrint electric glider) flaps and ailerons. I was pleased that I still don't have any unpleasant reactions from the HobbyKing superglue. I suddenly realised that all that's left to do on the Joker is fit the Rx and do the usual biz with servo settings. I wonder what excuse I can find to not fly it?

This afternoon I stitched the first pieces of hinge material. The actual sewing took very little time at all, however, reading the sewing machine's manual and persuading a nearly invisible cotton thread to go around, up, down and through the assorted bits of the maze which must be necessary for the machine to do its thing took an age. With the first hinge section completed, I cut off a small section to see if it would be OK. It ironed on without any fuss, and the "aileron" moved without undue effort. It wasn't until I was packing stuff away for the night that I realised that I hadn't used any PVA on the wood parts. Even so, the hinge was stuck quite firmly in position. Think this will be the way to hinge the Kadet's ailerons.

The Kadet build has had to be put aside for a while, the hinges are all made and the test hinge proved to be strong and very flexible. I've changed tack slightly on the engine for the Kadet. I intended to fit an OS FS .52 Surpass, but in an idle moment I came across a tired looking OS FS .40 on ebay,and I felt that it would be suitable as an alternative. The haggle made a welcome change to lockdown blues, and cleaning up the engine and checking its innards more or less got my enthusiasm going again. Fortunately I'd kept a few pre-drilled engine mounts, and even more fortunately, one of them was suitable for the FS.40. A couple of minor changes to the cowling to clear the needle valve is all that's needed. Before starting to cover the model, I needed to seal the airframe with thinned cellulose dope. I'd several jars under the bench, every one of them had dried out, so each jar contained a lump of stuff which looked like amber. Perhaps next time I'll drop in a fly or two and perhaps a mosquito, then try to sell the lumps as prehistoric items, although I think the lingering smell of cellulose will give the game away. The idea is to seal the parts of the airframe where the covering is to be attached. I'm using thinned PVA and the dope will stop the glue from soaking into the wood. As an old free flight enthusiast, I found that this method is easier and weighs less than two coats of PVA, the cellulose rubs down better too. One thing I completely forgot during the build was to provide access to the fuel tank, should have corked it up and fitted it before sheeting the top of the fuselage. No problem for a gynaecologist, but my short fat fingers need lots of space, so I'll take out the sheet infill under the nose. That'll make it a lot easier to fit the nosewheel steering too, which is something else I forgot!

In my limited experience of building when I have got to the point of sheeting part of the air-frame, I pause and say to myself three times "now is there any item or cabling needing putting in place before before I close it all in. Are you sure Phil?". :lol:

It's me age dearie!

Brian - Prompted by your tale of congealed dope, I thought about my tin that was last opened
about a year ago - the contents now have the consistency of porridge but with the addition of cellulose
thinners and a bit of rapid stirring will probably be usable.
In the same box was a spray tin of Flare Spectrum paint, this originated from R.F.Austin Model Shop
in Southbourne - remember Robin Sparrow ?- the scary bit is all the health warnings- yes we have survived.

Pics attached - Health Warning - is an interesting read.

Colin.