Phase 5 by Chris Foss

I use these, lot easier and neater than T nuts

www.modelfixings.co.uk/threaded_inserts.htm

What size do you need Mike? I've got these in M4-M5 and M6. You're welcome to try them.

A little more work completed. Pockets for the aileron and flap horns and the wing is as complete as can be at this stage

Then on to the fuselage. First task is to make a bellcrank for the all moving tailplane. This is from 2mm G10 (yellow) with 1.5mm G10 (black) laminated to create a thick 'bearing' for the pivot. I've used much thicker piano wire than shown on the plan with a view to reducing that waggy tail that is so common on AMT's.
Once the crank is made a 1/16 ply box is constructed to house it all.

Lovely job Mike too good to be hidden away. What's AMT got some funny results on Google

It's an All Moving Tail John

You'll remember from earlier posts that the tailplane had been cut from foam? Last night I skinned them with 1/32 balsa using Gorilla glue like I did for the wings. Today was time to face the leading edge with 1/4 balsa and the trailing edge with 1/16 x 1/16 spruce. The tips have a core of 1/16 ply and 1/8 balsa.
And I've made a start on the pockets for the tubes in the tail. A chunk of foam/balsa was cut out. The base is then lined with 3/32 at the front and 1/8 at the rear which seems to place the tubes about central in the slot. The sides are faced with 1/32 and scraps hold these sides in place while the glue dries.

The fuselage is a simple affair. A more modern design would use a lot less wood for lightness and to reduce costs. However, this model is going to be flown heavy in strong winds and using 1/2 inch blocks of balsa as designed will make it very strong.
The fuselage has just three formers, one in the nose, one in front of the wing and one behind the wing. The fuselage is built inverted over the plan. Fuselage sides have 1/8 x 3/8 spruce stringers along their upper surface and 3/8 triangular section balsa along the bottom surface.

Rudder is a solid piece of 1/2 inch balsa. I added a 1/16 x 1/16 piece of spruce along the centre of the trailing edge to give me a nice sharp and hard surface once sanded

The plan calls for a closed loop for the rudder control. But I'm not a fan of closed look and will be using a carbon rod in a PTFE tube. Holes were pre-drilled in the formers but I wanted another support along the tail boom. The trouble is that the elevator pushrod also has to move freely in that space so I could not put another former in there. It's also very tight and adding a support after sheeting was not going to be possible. So I've made a thick support of 1/2 inch balsa faced with 1/16 ply. A 3mm hole is drilled through and then a 5mm hole is part-drilled through the block. When the carbon rod and PTFE tube is passed through the two formers it naturally lines up with the 5mm guide hole to pass through the 3mm hole at the other side of the balsa block - well that's the plan anyway!