IMAC Build: Dalton Extra 300

[Notorious B.E.N.]

I figured it's about time that I posted something about this here. I've had a Dalton Extra 300 (non-MEL) since the spring of 2009. I was still in school so having time to work on it and the funds made things go very slow. I then graduated and moved up to the Amarillo area. Time and money are still issues but I'm pressing on and I'm going to see what I can do with it.

I originally bought the plane for IMAC but now the contests are too far away although I have heard Abilene may start having contests again. I'll at least get it to ARF condition if nothing else and chances are I will finish it but who knows.

Here's a link where I've been posting the pictures in an album:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/104820651251991515011/albums/5949589270974787569

Last night I did a little work to finish up the right wing.

I needed to plane and sand to match the taper of the wing the trailing edge material on the right wing. After I get the balsa planed down, I of course switched to sand paper. To avoid messing up or thinning the skin, I put down masking tape. When I start sanding, I use two pieces because I tend to get aggressive. This way if I sand some of the top layer down, I can still easily pull it up without all the little bits that stick. Once I get closer to where it needs to be, I go back to one piece.

Also with my wing cores, I noticed on the front leading edge at the wing tips, it curved in about 1/16". So I added a piece of balsa to make up the difference. I noticed this on the left wing but only after I had sanded everything flush.

 

[Notorious B.E.N.]

Well, the right wing is ready to go for setting the incidences. I used my 22" sanding bar with 220 grit sandpaper and just slowly worked the edge down. I broke the leading edge into 4 different sections and worked them differently to get a nice even taper to the wing tip.

 

[Notorious B.E.N.]

I've been working on shaping the leading edge of the left wing. For one of the 1/2" strips of LE material, I had some glue on the material. I believe my plan was to put that on the back side against the foam core and somehow things got turned around. So I've been working again the glue residue and decided just to sand it down completely tonight rather than fight it and take off too much balsa on either side. This left me with some flat spots on the LE so marked the sides of them with a sharpie and just put some balsa filler on it. I'll sand it down tomorrow on another time and I'm hopefully going to be able to get the incidences set this weekend.

 

[Notorious B.E.N.]

Well it was another windy weekend and I had to work and go to a wedding. I did manage to get some work done on my 40%er. I was hoping to set the incidence for the wings, but I had to order a 3/16"x18" drill bit. I could find an 18" bit that was 1/4" or bigger but not the 3/16" that I needed for doing the wings. I decided that I could go ahead and do the horizontal stabs.

For the first time since I've had this kit, I put both wings and both horizontal stabs on the fuse. However, I discovered that I needed to cut 1 7/8" off of the carbon stab tube. It was the same length as the phenolic so no big surprise there. I used my Aeroperfect meter to zero for the top of the fuse and then measure the angle on the tail. I drilled the holes for stab retention first and when I went to drill for the anti-rotation pin, I discovered a normal 1/4" drill bit is just barely long enough to make a small dimple.

I'll get a longer 1/4" drill bit tomorrow or the next day and go about finishing the stabs. I may have to open up the holes for the bolts that hold the horizontal stabs to the fuse to make sure I get the incidence to 0. I had to drill at a small angle so they're probably off by 0.25 degrees. It's very close though and the holes I drilled are only for retention of the stab anyways.

 

[Notorious B.E.N.]

I didn't have time to get everything set up again so I just worked on odd jobs. One is a messed up part on the front of the motor box. This happened when I moved from central TX to west TX. I just cleaned it up, cut pieces close to what size was needed and glued them in. I plan on wrapping the front of the motor box with some carbon fiber cloth or something similar to help maintain strength.

 

[IMAC FANATIC]

Subd' and thank you for the thread.

 

[Alky6]

looking forward to seeing you finish it!

 

[Notorious B.E.N.]

Thanks!

I'm hoping to be able to have it flying for next summer. Just going to continue slowly working on it and get it done. I don't really have any other projects to work on so I'm a lot more relaxed. It's a busy time of year and the summer is always crazy with a lot of travel for me but now I'm getting to where it's working on a single wing panel and the only thing I have left to sheet is the rudder.

 

[Notorious B.E.N.]

Not too much to update. I had to get some things for work done last night and I'll probably have some more office work tonight.

I did get the brass inserts for the tailwheel glued in last night. I also opened up the holes for that the wing bolts/anti-rotation pins go through in the fuse.

 

[Notorious B.E.N.]

When I was gluing the root caps on the horizontal stabs, I marked and sanded down the top edge so that it was close to the shape of the airfoil but neglected to do the same on the bottom. So I am now working on getting the bottom to match. With it being lite ply, an 80 grit flapwheel sander really helps speed things up.