Pepsi Chipmunk Build

PhilF51 wrote: A few minor wrinkles but will not fiddle with them at this time.

A mantra that we should all abide by

As Cashmoor was no go today, did a bit more (slowly and verify every move I make)

Transferred the top wing profile via tracing paper from plans and marked the fuselage ready for cutting and sanding. Once it was sitting "near enough", I used a tape to align wing and marked the wing securing bolt positions. Set in 6mm spike nuts and done. Spent the rest of the afternoon dry fitting and checking rudder and steering. A bit of cutting to do on the stab to clear the rudder rod needed which is also the tail wheel wire. Tail wheel bracket and assembly has been dry fitted and checked.

Don't tell the Missus that I was in the new kitchen doing this please. :whistle:

Looking great Phil

I know it is slow but I am thinking ahead before I make the next move and glue...

Much checking of alignment using the wings and the centre of F1 and making sure the rudder and tail wheel wire all fit neatly. The tail wheel wire drives the rudder and there is not much room for adjustment so everything has to be double checked before finally gluing with 30 min epoxy the fin, verfiying its height and alignment. once the fin is fitted there is not enough room to retrieve the tail wheel wire if an error is made. To save a bit of fiddllng later I have covered the under side of the fuselage where red is used rather than trying to cut round the tail wheel bracket. Tail wheel bracket is loose fitted until fin epoxy has set.

You will notice that I am back out in the conservatory - she found balsa shavings yesterday in the new kitchen and suspects I have been working on the Chippy in it. Me? No not me love! :lol:

Due to an aborted pre-planned trip to Cashmoor, might as well do a bit more. Making up a jig or two , sorry I meant templates for fuselage sides and top sides took a little time but helped when cutting out the red film which has fairly precise angles to allow for the transfers at a later date. Dorsal fin in white had to be done first though.

After cutting out templates for the fuselage this morning (Sunday) I discovered to my horror I do not have any white film worth talking about...... So, that stalled that job. Afternoon comes and looking for something else to do. How about the rudder although I thought I might need a fair bit of patience on this job. In fact it went quite well once I had the alignment templates made up.

Looks like you will be ready for a 7 min wing covering soon Phil

Starting to get quite reasonable at this covering malarky, Pete. Not got a lot of choice in reality. No Oracover 10 white and Probuild are out of stock (according to website) so I can't pick up some tomorrow. I'll have to order online from RC World which won't get here till Tuesday.

Pepsi has been neglected recently and I had lost momentum....... due to "maintenance" of other stuff and ruddy cold.

Rudder and elevators installed. Canopy cut out ready to be painted . Covering finished. Front end underside hatch area completed and sanded down till cowl just slides over nicely. OS engine on order.

On the down side I have noticed an error. The fuselage blue forward line should match up with the wing when installed. I followed the dimensions in the manual and the wing don't! Looks like I will have to recover leading edge of wing to match. Out by 1 inch........

Being a bit cold in the conservatory yesterday, Tuesday, I only got the rudder and elevator servos in. With the very slightly milder weather today and the OS engine turning up early now to get on with more stuff. Cut down a set of DLE30 stand offs to 50mm and then drilled them out to 5.5mm. Made up aengine mounting template from the plans and compared it with OS dimensions. Firewall drilled for the 5mm spike nuts located on the inside. With 5mm spike nuts on the inside of the firewall I could now use long HT stainless bolts to secure the engine. Any settling of the mounting can easily be cured from the front.

With the engine fitted it was time to cut out the cowl to fit. The Pepsi cowl is more streamlined compared to Pennzoil Chipmunk so I had no guidance from the latter, so a bit at a time cutting, trial and error, etc.. Done now though. Phew!

Apparently, my wife says I have got to be done by Christmas because she wants her conservatory back to start off next years crops. They don't understand that some things must not rushed, measurements are critical, holes have to drilled.....