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

[Kevin-Young]

Ok, since this has been the week of hell with the website issues we have not had a ton of time to mess with the Giles but we have made a little more progress, mainly on the little detail kinds of things.

When we are not searching out hosting companies or on hold with our current one (sat on hold for an hour yesterday with no progress) we have been able to mount the aluminum landing gear brackets, install the bottom stringers and sheet the bottom of the fuse (not including the foam bottom section).

So here are some of the pictures of what we did.

Picture #1 is the aluminum angle that we use for mounting the landing gear.




Picture #2 shows us marking the aluminum angle for the three mounting holes on the motorbox sides.




Picture #3 shows the aluminum angle mounted to the motorbox sides and secured with blind nuts.




Picture #4A and 4B show us installing the bass wood stringers for the bottom section. We choose to use bass wood here just for handling purposes if you ever have to pick the plane up to put it in your trailer or something.

Picture #5 shows the stringers being installed by the tail wheel mounting plate.




Picture #6A and #6B shows us laying the front sheeting down for the motorbox area and also the sheeting for the tail wheel mounting plate. First, we used some ammonia (supposed to be lemon scented but certainly is not!!!) to soften the balsa and let us shape it easier. The weights and rubber bands are just there to help keep shape.

Picture #7 shows the far side sheeting installed on the motorbox area. If you look towards the fuse side you will see that we have added a 1/4" x 1/4" strip of balsa just to give ourselves a better gluing surface for when the bottom sheeting meets the fuse sides. (This was actually a tip from one of our customers and makes life a whole lot easier)




Picture #8A and #8B show the final product of the bottom of the motorbox section being sheeted.

One thing that we did not do that may have been easier before sheeting the bottom was to install the carbon fiber socket in the fuselage. Not that it is an issue to do it later, we would have just had a little more room to work without the bottom sheeting on. What can I say, we were a little excited to see the fuselage closer to completion! http://www.GiantScaleNews.com/forums/images/smilies/209.gif

 

[Kevin-Young]

One thing that we have not shown a ton of but is very important is some of the cross bracing that we have added to the rear section of the fuse to ensure that the tail does not twist. There are lots of different ways of doing it and some are way more complex then what we use but we have found a simple zig zag pattern down the fuse works for us. It may be a little hard to see but the top plate cross bracing is opposite of the bottom section of the fuse sides.

Also you can see that we added some cross bracing behind the fuse sides. This was not for twisting or anything like that but just to make sure the sides did not look like they we caving in between the formers. On this one we did it like traditional cross bracing in the rear two bays and then just a vertical in the bay with the fuselage doubler. In the future we will just do them all vertical just for simplicity.

so here are some of the pictures of the cross bracing.

 

[jtec/radiowave]

I had a chance to lay out the sheeting for the belly pan foam and have it ready to go for bagging. The bottom belly foam weighs 82 grams ( a little over 3 ounces ) So Kevin and his buddies, ( Tuny that includes you and Jason ) talk him into lighting it up. Me I'm like what the heck its 3 ounces!!!!

Kevin lays out a pattern much like some friends do on there builds ( you all know who you are!! ) We cut all these little 3/4" OD holes out in the foam. It looks Very pretty!!! Kevin weighs it. WOW we saved 6 grams!!!! ( less than a 1/4 ounce ) it now weighs in at 76 grams.

I guess this is what you get when you hang around with pattern fliers!! LOL

I can't wait to post the pictures. ( tomorrow I left the camera at the shop ) LOL
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[dhal22]

You take care of the grams and the ounces will take care of themselves...............

 

[IMAC FANATIC]

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.)

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Picture #2 is with both motorbox sides installed

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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

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

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

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

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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.

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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.

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

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

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Clamps... lovely lovely CLAMPS !

 

[Alky6]

Clamps... lovely lovely CLAMPS !

 

[jtec/radiowave]

Ok I have been away for a couple days and work has gotten into the way of working on the Giles. Kevin has been busy cutting out the foam for a 3.1 MX2 kit for a customer as well as the foam for the wings on the Giles build.


So here is another weight savings. Some of you know we also make control horns. The base of the horn consist of two pieces of ply roughly 1" sq. We 'll they came up with the idea to use 2 thinner pieces of plywood. Cut a balsa plate out and sandwich the balsa between the two plywood plates. You get the same gluing area but now you go from 11 grams per control horn base to 5 grams. Weight savings of 6 grams per control horn. Thats the same as we got out of coring the bottom foam and its a whole lot easier!!

using 4 servos in the wing and the 6 grams on savings on foam bottom we are up to 30 grams weight savings. Once ounce = 28 grams

 

[jtec/radiowave]

Last night I finished the sheeting for the turtle deck and foam bottom. The plan hopefully for today is to get them bagged.

Picture one is the foam bottom with lightening holes

picture two is the sheeting for the turtledeck

picture 3 is the sheeting for the foam bottom

 

[jtec/radiowave]

The sheeting is taped together and we will be using gorilla glue to bond the sheeting to the foam. I will spray the sheeting ( oppisite sid of the gluing surface with ammonia prior to putting them in the shuck. It make the balsa more flexible and helps it conform to the foam parts.

 

[jtec/radiowave]

Haven't had a chance to post anything. After spend some great time with my grandson I think he may have given me a present that he brought home from daycare. Spent most of last week and the weekend not in the shop!! On top of that our website went down again. I am happy to say both are back up and running.

We will get an update going on the progress.

Al