3D EMHW 2.15 Ultimate

[ThePledge]

^Can't imagine doing a build without one after using it. Works exactly as advertised. Hobbylinc.com

Finished sanding the big balsa stick in the ailerons to match the line of the triangles. It was easier than I expected. Used a little 60 grit CA'd to about an 8 x 1in piece of ply. This let me hit the stick without hitting the triangles. The balsa sticks extend lengthwise out past the sheeting and this makes getting the angle at the edge of the sheeting easier by supporting the sanding stick.

Glued the opposite sheeting on the ailerons. Surprised to see this put a bow into the ailerons. Might have some to do with the water in the glue. Fortunately the bow disappeared after weighting them down on another flat table for a few hours. Needed to make room for the next ones. I bought a ton of rice and filled gallon bags about half way. Figured this was a better idea than messing around with sand as I'll eat the rice. The sheeting really stiffened the ailerons up.

Had some room on the table so I started the stabs. These are really easy with the miter sander. There's a nice picture included on the CD so I just cut the angles the same. Balsa sticks go on either side of the ply so I cut four at a time (one for each side of the two stabs) after measuring the angles. Got one stick perfect than cut out the other three in the miter box leaving about 1mm extra length than finishing with the miter sander. Worked in a circle pinning each stick and using the last one as a reference to get the angles and length right.

Edit; These pics are getting downgraded pretty severely by my phone --> computer transfer. I'll get them straightened out..

 

[ThePledge]

Have the stabs and elevators framed up after 140 miter joints!!

The manual mentions poplar for the little triangle mounting points for the flying wires. I missed this and installed balsa triangles in the elevators. Planning on doweling here as a fix. Got it right in the vertical stab. They are incredibly light for how strong they are.

Still need to sand a radius around the edges. They're 15mm thick so my plan is to find a 16-17mm bit and drill a board length wise with a drill press then rip the board down the center of the hole to give a half moon shape long enough to keep the edges straight. I'm going a little bigger on the drill bit to leave room for the sand paper.

Extended a bit of balsa scrap to get the full part for the bottom of the rudder. Then rough cut it and glued then finally sanded it round following the ply in between.

The rudder builds in much the same way with the exception of 4 15x2mm strips laminated/bent around the trailing edge. Cut a small section of each strip and glued them together for a little thickness jig to set the pattern with the pins. Pinned the rudder down and set the pins around it with the jig. May have gone overboard with the number of pins, but they hold well. The strips bent easily in boiling water. The pic doesn't show it because I needed another hand, but I had the strips bent into the boiling water.

Want to let it dry before I glue the strips.

 

[Terryscustom]

Wow, you are doing a super job!! Great build

 

[ThePledge]

Thanks Terry, really enjoying it. Nice to get my feet wet building.

 

[ThePledge]

Went through and re-positioned all the pins for a tighter fit. The jig got them close, but didn't transfer the curve perfectly so there were quite a few pins with a gap. The jig served its purpose, it just needed to be close to dry the strips in a curve.

Glued it up. Worked fast as the glue I'm using has a short open time.

The strips ended up much tighter after re-positioning the pins.

You can maybe see in the picture the different color of the balsa crossmembers. There was some heavier stock in the kit I tried to save for the rudder.

 

[ThePledge]

Went by the shop for a few hours and snuck in a little sanding jig for the radius on the edges of the tailfeathers. My rip a 17mm hole in half idea wasn't happening as I wanted a longer jig than the drill press has travel. Found a round router bit and in two easy passes had a decent half moon in the edge of a board. Had a dowel the right size and used that to clean it up with sand paper.

It's long enough it should be impossible to put any waviness into the edges.

There's a picture of the first edge I sanded on an elevator. Makes it easy, as hamfisted as I am doing anything free hand I need all the help I can get.

 

[ThePledge]

Disaster Strikes! Well not bad, one of my brand new clamps cracked in half and snapped down on the frame messing the wood up a bit right at an anti rotation point.

Wicked thin CA into it and may reinforce it with a backing, we'll see how it feels when the glues dry.

Edit: Pics of what I meant to do before the "incident"..used larger clamps this time.

These are three balsa patterns glued together for thickness than after the glue drys they'll be sanded to match the curves of the formers for sheeting. They give the curve about the wing where it fits into the fuse.

 

[ThePledge]

Lots of sanding. Blended the balsa structure that fits above the lower wing. This will be sheeted over.

Put the upper deck together. It includes two pieces of heavy birch ply the carbanes will be mounted to. Surprisingly difficult to sand down and flush even with 60 grit on a heavy stick. Test fit the jig for mounting the carbanes in the right place and correct incidence and had a minor panic when it wobbled back and forth on the slightly higher middle former. Turns out in the included picture they show the jig missing a large center section that enables it to bypass the middle former and rest on balsa stick near the out formers. After removing the same section from my jig it fits perfect and no wobble. Considering it's all cnc cut I'm not sure why the jig isn't fully shaped in the ply sheet, but the pictures clearly show what needs to be done. I've included their picture so this all makes sense.

Ran two 6mm carbon tubes between predrilled holes in the formers for the tank mount. Used epoxy. A small amount to wet the wood in the holes and a small filet after positioning the tubes. Unfortunately a 1000ml fiji is a little long and the middle former interferes with the tank position. Plan on picking up two 500ml Fiji bottles and seeing how they fit side by side and I could run them in parallel or in series with one as a header tank. Thought about a 500ml and 330ml to a save a little weight since I usually only trust my concentration about 10 minutes..

Drilled the holes for the landing gear and got it on its feet for a minute. They supply blind nuts to secure the bolts, but the bolts are stainless steel and soft and even with a new allen wrench I was having trouble getting the blind nuts pulled in to the birch without stripping the bolts. I'll replace them with some steel bolts and use a drill, should be easy...

The forward area needs the tank situation figured out and the carbanes mounted and it's ready for sheeting.

 

[Jetpainter]

Looking good!

 

[poprlite]

Looking good!

I'll second that. Nice.