Curare EP Resurrection

JonTappin wrote:

PhilF51 wrote: Checking a few of my ARFs and found that many have no continuous ply fuselage sides! Wings have balsa ribs! Ply ribs would have added virtually no weight at all. Nothing I can do about it but moan.. :lol:

Phil
I'm afraid you are showing your lack of building experience here

Exactly :pinch:

I probably would've dumped the Curare in the roof space for infinity but I really liked it which is why I am making an extra effort to fix it and get it flying again. and if stuck get some assistance on here.

Then maybe have a go at building a simple kit plane later when there are wet / windy days

Put together the SLEC Building Jig today and now the Curare's fuselage is supported to reduce any more stress on the airframe. Have started to cut away some sheet to view the broken stringers then plan on the best option to drop in new stringers and reinforce the joints. Then create some templates to recreate the broken formers.

Well done, Phil. I'll be good to see this one flying again some time soon.

This afternoon was taken up by recreating the top half of the former that closes off the nose wheel bay and its' main job to locate the wing. Looking at the glue lines it appeared that there may have been two former back to back. One sits into the recess and the outer one is keyed into the fuselage and supports the nose wheel retract bay. Took a fair bit of time using bits of paper and templates then cutting by hand the two 2mm ply formers/doublers. The birch ply is hard work to cut but of excellent quality, made of 4 layers, very sturdy. Unlike my thumb!

Once I had it fitting neatly, I then brought the wing up to it, the dowels having some red blobs of nail varnish to mark exactly where the holes need to be drilled. Holes done and wing fits nicely.

Not sure whether to glue with PVA or epoxy though.

Great to see you making progress on this Phil, I too have been busy and to the untrained eye it looks like blocks of balsa gluing up, but to those in the know, they might be wing tips and the beginnings of a tail fin.

With the glue if you feel confident in a good tight wood against wood joint then the PVA is probably fine, if there is daylight, epoxy has gap filling properties that might be more advantageous.

Thanks Chris, The former is a good fit so PVA then.

I have started on the fuselage as it is a bit fiddly and time and time consuming, leaving the wing to just tidy up and do some infills when I get some sheet balsa (missed it off the order.. )

Hoping to get up to Cashmoor tomorrow so maybe Monday have a go at F4, this one is critical because it sets the height of the snakes relative to the servos and helps support the servo tray and wing mounting plate and the spread of the fuselage. All good fun. :lol:

A week has passed already. :ohmy: Have made good progress I think with the Curare between home maintenance jobs. Forward wing former fitted but I was slightly out on the holes. I had not allowed for the fact that as the wing slides forward on the saddles it will rise about 6mm. Had to do a hack from inside the retract bay - but it fits perfectly now, just not pretty to look at but functional.

Servo tray is installed and servo ready for connecting up again.

Further down the fuselage I have dropped in new stringers and bridged the joints with some more balsa. Not pretty either. I have doubled up the top stringer for increased strength and have added two more stringers too. Fuse is nice and rigid now..... Ready nearly for skinning.

Which begs the question from a novice balsa basher. How to form the curve in sheet balsa? Glue one edge then wet the balsa and tape it down to shape? How wet does it have to be?

Phil
Fill the washing up bowl with water and imerse your bit of balsa.Take it out and pat dry with kitchen roll to remove any water and you can slowly bend it to shape and tape it into place whilst the balsa dries out and then glue.
This is best done in a nice warm place otherwise it will be ages to dry in a cold workshop.
You can also use the foaming gorilla glue as this reacts and sets with moisture.

Thanks Pete.

I have had go today at bending and hopefully finish the skin on the fuselage. First attempt resulted in the balsa splitting. Maybe not soaked enough? Anyway, had another go and have now got a curved piece fro the top side of the fuselage.

I'll be glad to get to the point of re-sticking down the covering although it ain't gonna be a pretty. I have got loads of blue Profilm and Solartrim but not in this blue Minor issue, the main thing is to get it flying again.

Hopefully Wednesday I can sort out the wing and then............whatever!

Curare all ready to go. Covering is not pretty but will sort it out later after I see if it flies. I'll put some pics up later.

Off subject a little - Fitted the Cherokee with a new OS46, and replaced items that I nicked for other models, radio, wheels, etc. Ready to fly again soon.

Must stop "borrowing" bits on a grand scale. Gets expensive to put it all back again...