48 DW Foamies Juka build log

[Xpress]

Since we don't have a foamies section (hint hint!!!!!!) I'll just stick this here for now



[SIZE= 15px][COLOR= #000099]DW[/COLOR] [COLOR= #33ccff]Foamies[/COLOR] [COLOR= #cc0000]48" Juka[/COLOR] build log[/SIZE]



[SIZE= 14px]^^^Links to website/airplane^^^[/SIZE]



For years now my go to foamy selection has been DW Foamies. I've had dozens of Mikes airplanes, and never had one that flew bad! This time around, since I smashed my 48" Extra 330 in at the Wenatchee Huck, I decided to build another 48" Juka. I had one years ago when I was just an entry level 3D pilot and honestly don't remember how it flew since I built it way overweight (I do remember it still tracked arrow straight!), BUT this time around it will be built the right way. The Juka is a 3D ANIMAL! Ask anybody who has flown one extensively. So this airplane was the perfect selection for me. I will be building it utilizing the DW Foamies Gear Set so that I can land it on 3 wheels, rather than belly land. It's a great airplane to practice and hone your 3D skills without risking that big expensive gasser.



This will be a quick build log and I won't go too in depth but I'll show the basic assembly of the airplane (PM me or post anytime if you have questions, I've built plenty of DW Foamies airplanes and I'll be happy to assist!)



Since I got a late start tonight, I started off with something simple:

One half of my main landing gear. I assembled the wheel pants out of some scrap sheets of 6 and 9mm depron foam. The gear itself (wheels, hardware, and wire) are all included in the DW Foamies 48" Gear Set. It's a relatively straightforward install, which I will detail at a later time in this thread. The wheel pants will be painted to match the airframe after some final sanding/refinement.



Stay tuned

 

[BalsaDust]

subd'

 

[Xpress]

Much appreciated! I have to pick up some adhesives/paints from wally world tomorrow so that I can begin painting the foam before assembly. I'll get more pics/details up then.

 

[desertrider]

This is great. I fly pattern and have been looking for a foamie to start practicing more advanced maneuvers like rolling circles that I don't want to take a chance on crashing my expensive competition plane doing.

 

[Xpress]

desertrider;12084 wrote: This is great. I fly pattern and have been looking for a foamie to start practicing more advanced maneuvers like rolling circles that I don't want to take a chance on crashing my expensive competition plane doing.

There are plenty of DW airframes if you are looking for a specific type of flying. I would suggest a 48" Yak 54 if you are looking to fine tune your abilities since the Yak does everything from precision and pattern all the way to down and dirty, low and slow, elevator scraping, rudder dragging, old school 3D. Of course if you're looking for something different then DW has everything from big ass foamie (BAF) 55" kits all the way down to 23" micro indoor kits.

 

[Xpress]

Tonights workshop shenanigans consisted of assembling the fuselage. The first thing you want to do is assemble the horizontal fuselage pieces and the vertical fuselage pieces. There are a few ways you can glue the pieces together- regular foam safe CA, gorilla glue, and the age old epoxy. I opted to go with White Gorilla Glue since it cures in about an hour and makes a strong, durable joint that isn't brittle. There are gorilla glue joints on some of my old foamies that have not broken in 5-6 years.



Tape is a must if you want to keep everything neat and tidy (as well as holding the pieces together). Use a low-tack type of tape, such as blue masking tape.

I let everything dry up for about an hour and a half then proceeded to cutting bevels into the fuselage and control surface pieces. 1" Blenderm tape on both sides of the hinge will ensure it lasts forever (well, not entirely sure about forever, since I haven't gotten that far, but it holds for a long time).

I tend to cut about 40* into both sides of the foam. 80* is plenty of control throw.



At this point, I glued the horizontal and vertical fuselage pieces together using BSI Super Gold+ Foam Safe CA. I won't ever use another adhesive product (aside from gorilla glue) on my airplanes. BSI makes the most consistent products and their adhesives just plain work.

It's difficult to tell but I didn't glue a 3" section just behind the rear of the firewall intentionally. This area sees a lot of stress I've found so it will get glued together using white gorilla glue since it won't crack from a million WOT snap rolls or blenders. The same go for the vertical glue joints on the keel- white gorilla glue. I fit the firewall in place (did not glue it) for tonight to keep the nose area relatively square.

That's all for tonight. Tomorrow I'll be assembling the wings and then proceeding to painting.

 

[desertrider]

I like that a person can buy a combo deal and get everything necessary to get in the air.

I was thinking it would be easier to paint before assembling the plane, or am I wrong.

Another question, what pain works best, in the rattle can type ?

 

[Spats]

Looks good. Will it be ready to fly this weekend? If so I'll bring my DW you built for me:smiley_simmons:

 

[Xpress]

Spats;12760 wrote: Looks good. Will it be ready to fly this weekend? If so I'll bring my DW you built for me:smiley_simmons:

Maybe. Are we flying on monday? Won't be able to make it on sunday.

 

[Xpress]

Didn't do a whole lot today since waiting for the paint to dry sucked up a lot of the time.



Here is the start to the color scheme I have in mind:

Some touching up will obviously have to be done tomorrow when everything dries up. I have a neat color scheme in mind, hope it turns out well. I've never really tried anything this in depth.



Yes my workbench is a mess. Too many projects going on at one time..