Jets Gen 3 Shockwave Build/Assembly

[rc4flying]

I just took delivery of a new Gen3 Shockwave and will be starting a new build/assembly on my progress.

Scott Marr and Pablo Fernadez from Elite Aerosports were great to work with when I was looking into this plane. I ordered a scheme that was in stock and it was delivered in just 4 day. That was cool to get it so fast. That new plane anticapation was not so long. I think I remember Scott say that they try to keep as many as 20 planes with different schemes on hand and they do carry spare parts. So lets start of this first jet build/assembly here on Giant Scale News.

This is delivery day.

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[Sgt_Buzzkill]

Joe... how many of those turbizzels you up to now?!?!?



And you got Mark building you balsa nose cones?



(This is Sleep, forgot to log out of admin)

 

[rc4flying]

Sleepy, you are the man. Number 1 in my book. This Shockwave assembly is my 4th jet. And I am addicted.

Check out the "Show us you jets thread" for pics of my others.

By the way.... Thanks for the quick upgrade in rating. You know I will help on the site however I can.

 

[Do-rag]

rc4flying;4593 wrote: Sleepy, you are the man. Number 1 in my book. This Shockwave assembly is my 4th jet. And I am addicted.

Check out the "Show us you jets thread" for pics of my others.

By the way.... Thanks for the quick upgrade in rating. You know I will help on the site however I can.

Hey no fair on the upgrade. But looking forward to the build information

 

[BalsaDust]

Can't wait to see this come together.

 

[rc4flying]

Well, between attending a couple jet events and work, I finally got some time to put some work in on this new plane. I had placed an order for my Futaba 9157 servos and servo arms by Futaba which will be installed on all surfaces and I am ready to start.



My normal starting point on a new build is with the vertical stab. I feel that this allows me to get into the building mode slowly. The bottom opening had to have some slight trimming done to allow the servo to be trial fit into position. Turns out my servo opening in the wood mount needed some slight sanding on the opening to get the servo to drop in. This was done with some small sanding files and the servo fit right in. The servo mounting screw holes were already drilled at factory, so all that was left to do was to use #3 servo mounting screws , beacuse of the size holes drilled. I also used thin CA on the holes to help harden them. This was an easy mounting to get out of the way.



After deciding which double servo arm i was going to use, I decided on a MPI 2 1/2" double arm because I had it on hand, and this was the measurement of the control horn that was already factory mounted. You need to decide on what servo arm you want to use prior to cutting slots for the arm in the vertical stab skin. This is because not all arms are the same. Some mount higher or lower on the servo. To figure out the slot location, I measure from the top of the arm to vertical stab botom then transfer these measurements to the outside of the skin. Measure twice and cut once. I start at what would be the servo arms center point and work my way from there. It can take time but I end up with a keep slot for the arms travel movement. Sorry, I had pics of how this was done, but I accidently deleted them from my camera prior to downloading them.



After servo arm slots are done and you are happy with them, it is simple to install the ball link and pushrods. My servo position has me using 2" Hangar 9 Titanium pushrods and Dubro HD Ball links. I decided on just HD ball links because of the Push-Pull type setup.



I did the Vertical stab tube mounting of the alunium tube. And it was a simple mounting with the screw with the hole in the vertical stab and tube already done.



For now, this stab part is done and ready for mating up to fuse.



Just a side note, when you go to set up your radio travel throw, reduce you ATV to it's minimum so as not to overdrive the servo arm past the slot openings. With this size arm, full ATV travel is not necessary.

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[rc4flying]

Well, now that I am back from a little vacation, I can try to get some things assembled.

I first decided to finish mountinf the vertical stab to the fuse. This was not to bad being the screw mounting thw v. stab tube is already done. But I have seen many Shockwaves that the builders had a second screw in the leading edge of the stab to help secure the stab to the fuse. I decided to add a screw to the side of the fin and going through the solid carbon fiber alignment pin.

I noticed that a wood spacer would have to be installed between the inside of the fuse skin and the sleeve that accepts the carbon dowel. I cut and Hysoled it in to be used as a spacer and mount. Than onto the drill and tapping.

I marked out the location I wanted to drill and checked for depth of the pin. This is done to be sure I am in the center of the pin. I drilled and tapped for a 3mm screw and than I counter sunk the head of the screw to leave a flush mounted look like the other v. stab mounting screws

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[rc4flying]

I next moved onto the H. stab. I first mounted the servos, but had to do some minor trimming of the servo hole openings. Nothing major, just a little time consuming. Once the servos were mounted the servo are slots have to be cut out. I started out slowly and worked my way to the final slot size opening. This gave me the results I wanted. I than mounted all the pushrods and ball links with the servos at their centers and the elevators also centered up. I will do the final adjustments when I hook up the radio.



This stab has a hatch access to the elevator servos so a hole has to be cut to have the wires exit the stab. I fit the stab to the stab saddle and marked a line with the fine marker so as to mark the stab saddle size onto the stab. It would not be good to just cut a hole and than be either on the stab saddle or under a exhaust pipe. I have not fit the exhaust pipe as of yet, but it looks like it is going to be close, so I kept the elevater wire openings off to the front corners. So no pics of this. But this can be decided on an indivudal basis.



The H. stab mounting came next. The carbon dowels and stab mounting screw holes were already installed. But I had a major concern on the counter sunk holes for the screws. I wish they were not sunk so deep. To me, they just did not look like it left enough material to make me feel all warm and fuzzy as to how long it would hold up, so here I had to come up with something to make me feel better about a secure stab mounting. I came up with using some large "T" nuts that I modified as a spacer and washer combo. I cut the teeth of the "T" nut that mounted it on a bolt to use my drill to turn down the base of the nut to a diameter I wanted. I felt thatdo this with having a spacer washer combo gave me a more secure mounting of the stab and made me feel better about this all holding up better over time. I would rather have a bolt show that always be worried about something coming apart with this high performance jet. I filled gap and glued the "T" nut spacer with Hysol , mounted the stabs and will leave stab mounted to fuse for proper alignment of the screws.



That now has the tail surfaces all mounted and on to the next thing.

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[Bunky.F.Knuckle]

Is this done yet??

 

[rc4flying]

I don't build as fast as you, Chris. Simple answer....... No !