IMAC All New 3.1m Radiowave Giles 202 Competition Series Build Thread

[Kevin-Young]

So Yesterday was the sit and watch glue dry kind of day

With the fuselage sides pretty much done it was time to assemble the motorbox. When assembling the motorbox we use the Loctite Hysol 9462 epoxy. The hysol is awesome because you can fully assemble the motorbox and then just go back and make a fillet with the hysol on all your glue joints and it will be perfect strong and looks clean.

So we will start with some of the pictures of the motorbox parts first.

Picture #1 is the motorbox sides. The sides are offset for three degrees right thrust and 1 degree up thurst. You will also notice that the sides have areas where you can run velcro strap through them if you choose to mount batteries or something up in that area.

Picture #2A The F1 former which the motorbox sides slide into and get tabbed into. Because the thrust line on the MX2 and Giles is high we use a step between the front motorbox floor and the fuel tank floor so in Picture #2B you can see the step and also the top of the F1 former which ends up being used on the Hatch.

Picture #3 is the firewall. Again it is offset for right thrust and upthrust.

Picture #4A and #4B are the motorbox top plate and bottom plate. As you can see the top plate has a removable hatch so you can get to a servo if you mount it up front , ignition batteries, ignitions or whatever else you may choose.

Picture #5 is the fuel tank floor. Again at the front it has slots for mounting different items if you choose and then down the sides you will also see slots for securing your fuel tank if you choose to mount it with velcro.

Picture #6 is the F2 former which tabs into the motorbox sides, top plate, and fuselage sides. This former is near the front of the wing so it give support for the front wing mounting bolts. (pictured is actually the standard kit version former and not the CS version which is notched for wing doubler on the fuse sides. AKA, the old man grabbed the wrong former to take a picture of http://www.GiantScaleNews.com/forums/images/smilies/200.gif)

Picture #7 is the F3 former which again tabs into the motorbox sides, top plate, and fuselage sides. In addition the front most fuselage floor also tabs into it.

Picture #8 is the Landing gear formers. Basically they are just there to hold shape between the F1 and F2 formers when the bottom gets sheeted.

 

[Kevin-Young]

Now that we have all the parts laid out it is time to put it together.

Personally I do the entire motorbox at once so I can just clamp everything together and this way I know everything is going to fit perfectly. On this build Al did it in a couple of stages which to me may have made it a bit more work when you try and glue certain things. No big deal though.

So before you start gluing I always suggest you dry fit everything once or twice so you can find the order that you want to install the parts and then even clamp it just so you find the best areas to do that.

So here is the basic order that we suggest.

Picture #1 is the Motorbox sides being slid into the F1 former. (We generally build this section upside down so it is very important to make sure you put the motorbox sides on the correct side. They are labeled but it is worth double checking yourself before you get to far.)




Picture #2 is with both motorbox sides installed




Picture #3 is the firewall being installed. You will notice that purposely leave the tabs on the side long just so you know the firewall is secured well

Picture #4 is the fuel tank floor which tabs into the motorbox sides, the step piece on F1, and the F3 former.

Picture #5 is the F3 former being installed which again tabs into the fuel tank floor, fuse sides and top plate.

picture #6 is the step between the tank floor and the motorbox bottom




Picture #7 is the motorbox top plate being installed. It is shown with the hatch on but we did remove it when actually gluing everything.




Picture #8 is the F2 formers and landing gear formers being installed. Also in this picture you can see the fillet line of the Hysol.

Picture #9A & #9B are some of the clamping spots we used after gluing.






Picture #10A & #10B show the motorbox completed and ready to move on to the next steps.

 

[Xpress]

This isn't a kit, this is just an ARF+!!

Nice work, that whole assembly doesn't even look like it's difficult to do.

 

[Kevin-Young]

This isn't a kit, this is just an ARF+!!

Nice work, that whole assembly doesn't even look like it's difficult to do.

We try!

 

[jtec/radiowave]

This isn't a kit, this is just an ARF+!!

Nice work, that whole assembly doesn't even look like it's difficult to do.

Actually it is very easy to do. We do it without instructions!! LOL We are actually are doing this at the shop stealing time between real work.

Alky6 is watching the thread and he built one of our kits last year. I think it was one of his first builds. I am sure he will give you his opinion on how they build.

I think the difference between this and an ARF is you have to come up with your own scheme to cover it!!

Al

 

[Alky6]

Actually it is very easy to do. We do it without instructions!! LOL We are actually are doing this at the shop stealing time between real work.

Alky6 is watching the thread and he built one of our kits last year. I think it was one of his first builds. I am sure he will give you his opinion on how they build.

I think the difference between this and an ARF is you have to come up with your own scheme to cover it!!

Al

Yep. First airplane kit was a 40 size Kaos. Second was a mojo 25 profile. Third, I went big. 35% JTEC extra. Build was very easy - even though took me almost two years to complete (have a 9 and 11 year old so that takes priority ha ha). Also spent a lot of time overthinking everything to make sure I didn't miss a step where I should be prepping for for the radio, exhaust, engine etc. Next one will be significantly faster, I promise .

This one Looks just the same....but better!

 

[pawnshopmike]

 

[jtec/radiowave]

If we build it to fast people will think its an ARF and not a kit

 

[jtec/radiowave]

So while we were waiting for glue to dry and we had the top plate available we went ahead and put in the 3/8" sq balsa cross members for additional support

 

[jtec/radiowave]

The Hysol we used to glue engine box is dry so we test fit it into the top plate and test how the fuselage sides also line up before gluing the engine box onto the top plate.