Angel dust

ummm.... any updates Mike? Five days left till the end of July you know :whistle:

Fuselage is now basically complete and rough sanded. It took a lot longer than expected due to all the head-scratching before gluing anything in place. This plan is a copy of the one that would have come with the MK kit back in the 1970's and whilst it shows you where to glue everything, it doesn't necessarily show you what shape each piece should be. I'm also aware that the kits back then were seriously over-engineered and I'm trying to reduce weight where I can. We'll see if I was successful when it's done.

I'll make a start on the wing tomorrow.

Mike,your workshop is far too tidy :ohmy:

flyingpete wrote: Mike,your workshop is far too tidy :ohmy:

15 minutes before that photo was taken it was not so tidy. And here's a pic looking the other way today.

As for the build...not a lot to show but I cut templates and then a foam wing. Tomorrow it's mounting the retracts and servos into the wing, and suitable tunnels for their servo leads before skinning.

flyingpete wrote: Mike,your workshop is far too tidy :ohmy:

I was going to mention that too Pete! And space under the worktop, WOW!

Four skins...

...two left and two right, ready for sanding

Most of the work today was on the foam cores. Cutouts were made for the retracts and aileron servos. After cutting the sides with a sharp scalpel I used a sanding drum on my dremel to cut into the foam. Dremel in one hand and the workshop vac in the other...saves a lot of mess.

The mounting plate for the retracts has 4 dowels epoxied into the foam. These are angled like a saw-horse and will hopefully spread the load on those heavy landings.

I also cut channels for the servo leads. I decided to make them big enough to take the large connector on the end of an extension lead so I can easily swap servos and retracts if necessary.

Tomorrow it's wing skinning time and fin construction...

First job of the day was to lightly sand the wing skins...much easier to sand before you glue them to a curved wing. Then it was time to glue the skins on using Gorilla glue. This is when I spread the glue onto the freshly sanded surface instead of the unsanded side :oops: After spreading the glue the skins are added and the wings are placed back in their offcuts, then taped and weighted down for a few hours while the polyurethane glue foams and dries. Compared to contact adhesive or epoxy, this is a much cleaner and easier glue to work with.

The base of the fin was tack glued in place and rough carved. The fin itself is drying.

The wheel wells are lined and leading and trailing edges are added.

I've made a bit more progress and will upload a few photos in the morning. But more importantly, I went flying this afternoon and apparently "I've gone up in Franks estimation", due to the fact that I've cut my own cores. I'm not sure where the baseline was, so I don't know if this means I'm just hovering above the gutter now or if I'm right up there on a pedestal. But high praise indeed. Thank you, Frank

Oh dear, that does not bode well for me!