Pepsi Chipmunk Build

Nice work Phil I would change the rods for steel or stainless as ally is far to soft from the vibration from the motor,the threads will strip

Thanks Pete for that info. I do have some 3mm carbon rod kits that have steel end connectors to glue on. Would they suffice?

I will retract my ally rods statement Pete. They are steel, the magnet picks them up. :oops:

Not happy with my wing covering either, maybe I am expecting too much? So, going to strip the film off and have another go when my mind set is right.......

Phil, if it was me, I would fly it a few times and let the covering settle down (You are going to get a few more wrinkles in it anyway) and then gently go over it with the covering iron and deal with the worse bits, nobody is going to see the bits of covering you are not happy with when its in the air

I agree with Chris. I've been building and covering models for 36 years and if I kept removing the covering and re-doing it until it was perfect I'd still be on my first one! Unfortunately (or fortunately, whichever way you want to look at it) you have been spoiled with ARTF's that look just about perfect because they are covered by professionals. The other challenge that you have set yourself is recreating a scale scheme. My early models were done with simple schemes like just one colour on the wing with a sticker or two to distinguish top from bottom.

Chris73 wrote: nobody is going to see the bits of covering you are not happy with when its in the air

True, BUT you know how people check new stuff over up at the field and make comments (usually good). :lol: Then the words "crappy covering came to mind". Got away with the Curare patching though........ :whistle:

Anyway have started stripping already. Then I thought about sitting the wing on the fuselage for the first time to see where the colour trims meet the fuselage. Dowels are keeping the wing off the saddle.

My option here as I see it, is fill the dowel holes in F2 and glue another piece of ply behind to beef up and then let the wing determine where the holes go. I had to do the same with Curare.

I know the wing dowels are not far out as iv had the wing on myself.All you have to do is take the high spots off the wing seats and it will sit perfectly I have to leave you some bits to do otherwise it will be too easy.I know for sure they are correct as I always sit the wing on and drill through the ply former and the leading edge.You make it sound like I have cocked it up

flyingpete wrote: You make it sound like I have cocked it up

Not all Pete. Sorry if it came out that way. It just looked odd as it was not sitting down on the fuselage as I expected.

I got quite a few steps forward with the wing covering and hardware and now back a lot more further. Stripped the whole lot off again. Sort of 3 forward and six back.........

I got quite a few steps forward with the wing covering and hardware and now back a lot more further back. Stripped the whole lot off again. Sort of 3 forward and six back......... [/quote]

Phil - To quote a famous engineer " Perfection is the barrier to Progress "
Do the best job you can do, sit back, admire it then go fly it !

Colin

Trying to remember not to make the same mistakes as last time, took it real slowly. Wing recovered and hardware installed. A few minor wrinkles but will not fiddle with them at this time.