Prob building Phase 6 fuselarge.

[Happy Days]

Thank you for your complements gentlemen

An old English playwrite, William Shakespeare, once wrote; "To be, or not to be. That, is the question" (Sorry to bore you guys with culture :roll: )

I say; "Flaperons or Spoilerons. THAT is the question!"

Maybe I won't use either and just keep the model in a glass case and look at it from time to time. If I break this one I shall cry! :cry:

The weather is possibly looking okay on Saturday to maiden her. Watch this space!

[Happy Days]

Yes, there was snow on Big "L" today. And a 20mph wind! But true slopers don't care!

Although a passer-by did ask me what I was doing on a snow covered mountain in a strong wind. When I told him he smiled, wished me luck, and walked off muttering something about 'Mad dogs & Englishmen.'  (I have no idea what he meant :roll: )

Anyway, today was the day,..............to maiden the Phase 6

I had a quick flight with the Filip first,.....just to test lift conditions. It was a VERY quick flight actually. Following a roll, the nose balast came loose, the model became virtually uncontrollable...........and you guessed it..........gravity won the fight :cry:

Undeterred I went back to the car for the Phase 6. (I did wonder if I was being brave,...or just stupid.) (Don't answer that!)

Well, she certainly flys! :clap:  First flight was a bit hairy, I'd forgotten to put any exponential on the controls. She was very "twitchy". Got her down on Tera Firma okay and inputted some Expo'

Second flight was much smoother. As Luke found, these '6s come in very fast. Spoilerons certainly slow her down though. (Thanks Brian)

I've only got the control surfaces on low movement. Now it's time to reset to higher movements. This is where the fun begins. Can't wait till the next flight.

Here follows a few snaps taken during the build,.....for those who are interested :wink:

 

Weight,......I need more weight!!!


This is the fuse with extra doubler

Following Freds advise I chose "Top hinge" ailerons, using extra strong sellotape as the actual hinge, (Don't laugh Joe) (Private joke lads). So I had to shape the aileron cross section. Thanks for advise Fred. It works fine


It's all starting to come together


Now to start covering. Tail feathers first I think.



She's starting to look as though she might fly one day

Bit more to go


And the rest, as they say,........is history!  

Many thanks for all the advise and tips guys. Anyone for a spot of flying this weekend???

Keith

[Fred]

Very good Keith ! :clap:  :clap:
Congratulations on the maiden flight !
Looks really good on the ground, must sure look good in the air !

And thanks for the additional photos, good to see some activity !  :clap:
I'm off Sunday, but we'll see for Saturday !  

[Brian]

Hi Keith,
That poor model is shivering in the top photo.

[Happy Days]

Okay Fred, maybe Saturday. I'll look forward to that.

No Brian, the model isn't shivering. It's shaking,.......with excitement at the thought of getting into the air

[Alan_Perse]

Looks good Keith. Great Job. I like the colour scheme.
By the way, was it difficult to drive to Mt Lenister with the snow? I'd say it would be difficult in some places. Especially where their is steep drop beside the road.

[Happy Days]

Thanks Alan!

There are two roads that lead up to Mt.Lienster. The road you're refering to is the one from Bunclody. I came up the other road from Kiltealy. This road doesn't have those precipice drops off the side, like the one you're refering to.

But yes, it was rather slippery up there in the snow. I've only got a little car, not a 4x4. I found getting up there was not too much bother. However when I came to go home some of the snow under my car had melted and then re-frozen. :?: Getting out of the car park did prove to be a little...... 'difficult', shall we say.  (Sliding around the car park as if the car was doing a waltz :lol: . I'll take some salt with me next time.

The most "interesting" part of the journey was coming down off the mountain. Very slowly, in first gear was the way I did it. Although half way down the ice on the roads turned to liquid, so from there on it was fine

(It's all part of life's great adventure :wink: )

K.

[IceWind]

Hi Keith!

That plane looks AWESOME! I love the covering work.
Don't even dare not to make some video of it flying.

[Happy Days]

Thank you for your complement Nando, but I'm not very happy with you!

Flattered by your desire to see a movie of my plane, (and enthused with over-confidence,) I thought I'd try to do the same as I had with the "Elite," and film the model while I was flying it.
However,...... this Phase 6 has to be flown, unlike the Elite which just kinda floated around.
The net result is that while trying to get a grip on the camera with my left hand my right hand moved the stick the wrong way!!.......... and I now have a dented '6 :x



And it's all YOUR fault! ( :lol: )

So here's the deal Nando. We'll meet up somewhere and you can hold the camcorder while I fly the plane. (Or, if you're feeling brave, I'll hold the camera and YOU fly the plane.) You can have as much footage as you like then.

(You could intersplice it with some of the shots from one of your onboard camera's. Viewers would never know they were two different models filmed in different locations!   )

Keith

[IceWind]

Oh....snap!
Sorry to hear that... :-(

But that's a deal... but let's play safe i can hold the cam and you fly.
Also you can put my onboard cam on the phase 6 if you want, it's 36gr.

I haven't touch anything RC in a while.

[Happy Days]

Okay Nando, sounds like a good idea. :clap:

As for the onboard cam I don't see any probs. The model already weighs 300grms more than the recomended weight due to the reinforcing I've fitted in the floor and sides of the fuse, so an extra 36grs shouldn't make any difference. ( It'll just make it fly that little bit faster!) Where shall we put it to get the best views, without upsetting the CoG too much?
I was thinking  of under the nose,.......but the cam might not survive my landing :oops:


Let me know when it's warm enough for you to venture outside again.

K.

[Happy Days]

Okay Guys, let me explain what you are looking at.

It's the tail end of my Phase 6.

The 'fuse is up-side-down, and part of the side has been removed to expose the elevator activator arm. (This arm now has little rust spots on it, and the nylon celvis which is attached to the elevator control rod, can just be seen on top.)
There is a spot weld at the junction of the metal arm and the metal rod which fits into the LE of the elevator. (Covered white)

The problem is that the spot weld has come loose. This allows the elevator to move without the elevator control rod moving.
The matter is further complicated by the fact that the activator arm lies up against the TE of the horizontal stabilizer and the whole assembly of stabilizer, elevator, 'fuse, and the fin and ridder are, of course, all glued in place.

My question is ,................ How the hell do I solve this problem without having to rip half the rear fuse apart? :!:   :?:  :?:

I'm hoping someone out there has some kind of answer. I fear simply dropping some epoxy onto the loose weld in case it also sticks to the back of the stabilizer and or the side of the fuse.

I await some wisdom on this matter fingers crossed,

Keith

[Fred]

:!:  :!:  Bugger !
But should be relatively easy to fix.  :?:
If I were you, the best thing to do would be to cut the top clean (to glue it back later, or taped just in case if you need to access it again...) for a good access and use a solder iron to resold everything. I will go with at least a 80W, nothing below that to do it quick and efficiently. You can alway put some flux on the solder iron end to help the process and add more flux in the soldering...
Should only take you 5 minutes to fix, and hopefully for good  

Other than that, epoxy, with really thin yano first might be your answer...

[Happy Days]

Solder? :shock: ,.............you expect to solder steel???

Well you're absolutely right! you cleaver ol' Frenchman you :clap:  :clap:

I would never have thought of that.

In fact, after I posted the problem on this forum I went back to the plane and decided that the original activation arm couldn't be repaired and that the easiest answer to the problem would be to put in a new flexible elevator control arm, and fit an exterior horn onto the elevator. (Major alterations)

But I removed a small section from the side of the fuse, and with a bit of plumbers flux and a very hot 80watt iron...............(as they say in England) "Bobs your uncle!". (Translation - It worked.)

[Happy Days]

(I've just hit the submit button by mistake)

So thank you very much Fred (again) you're a very useful fellow to know. That tip saved me a great deal of work.

Thank You.

Keith