HPA

Quote* Window Film: Should I glue the window film to the sides and front from the outside before covering with paper, or after the paper covering is done?

Whichever suits you best and that you think will let you make the neatest job.  I usually fit glazing after covering because I find it easiest to do that.  If you leave the top of the cabin area uncovered it may, depending upon the size of the opening, be possible to fit the glazing on the inside of the fuselage after you've covered the sides and front of the fuselage and opened out the window frames.

Quote* Wing Covering (Bottom): Should I cover the bottom of the wings completely, or should I leave the cabin area open on the underside?

I'd cover the entire underside.  When the tissue is shrunk it makes a significant contribution to the rigidity & strength of the wing so leaving an area uncovered may impair that.

Quote* Winglets / Solid Balsa Parts: Should I also cover solid balsa parts like the winglets with paper, or is it better to leave the bare balsa and just give it a thin coat of dope/clear finish?

Depends. My preference is to cover sheet / solid parts with the same tissue as the rest of the airframe. I think it gives a more uniform look.  However... if you prefer the appearance of bare wood doped then do that.  Your model, your rules.

Hi everyone,
Just a quick progress update on my current build: the fuselage is essentially finished and is now waiting to be covered!
Before I get started with the actual covering, I need to run a test on a scrap frame. I want to try airbrushing the Japan paper white before applying it, and I want to see how it reacts.
Along the way, a few questions came up. I would really appreciate your advice and tips on these points:
 * Window Film: Should I glue the window film to the sides and front from the outside before covering with paper, or after the paper covering is done?
 * Wing Covering (Bottom): Should I cover the bottom of the wings completely, or should I leave the cabin area open on the underside?
 * Winglets / Solid Balsa Parts: Should I also cover solid balsa parts like the winglets with paper, or is it better to leave the bare balsa and just give it a thin coat of dope/clear finish?
Looking forward to your thoughts and tips! Thanks a lot in advance!
Best,
Markus

My 'Coffee' well camouflaged in the very long grass...

Congrats Glenn, Wayne, Bruce & Leigh! And thanks Glenn for coordinating.

The South Australia contingent (myself, Mike Thomas and Dave Putterill) were a bit slow off the mark due to me not having a model built. Gentlemen as they are, they waited for me to be ready, and consequently we started running out of days! Some trimming done, I picked a day to fly at our larger flying field which turned into a comedy of errors (my errors) - the forecast had changed and Dave and I arrived in the wind and rain, and I couldn't even get the gate open... We did eventually get in, but conditions were poor. Also the field is long and narrow, which is ok because the prevailing wind is down the long axis. However, on this day it was blowing across the narrow bit and toward a horse paddock where the owner is not a fan of aeromodelling and once you are over his fence it's basically game over...

Another day was chosen (by someone else!) and this was much better - though the light wind was blowing the other way across the narrow bit and into some deep crops.

I'm sure the others can add some detail about their own flights, but mine started well with an easy max. Then second flight went into a strong thermal and was still going up even after the DT had deployed. I lost it in the blue - walked for quite a while to look for it - found an Echidna (pic below) but my off-white and brown model seemed difficult to spot in the general colour scheme of the landscape. It was not found, so 120 + 120 OOS. So be it. I guess I have to build another.
Tim

Part 2

Inserting the wing spar.

I decided to follow the spar concept of Teachers Pet - hard 1/16"x 1/8" balsa in the centre panels with  a doubler spar for about 2/3 of the span and ply braces front and rear of the spar at the centre rib position; and medium hard 1/16"x1/8" balsa in the tips and a ply brace between the tip spar and the centre spar at the dihedral break rib.

Here are the full length centre panel spars glued in place with the front ply brace in position.


Of course, the spar notches never line up exactly, so each needs to be adjusted with a fine file.  I put pins each side of the ribs to try to stop them moving around as the file does its work.


After a spar is fitted, it is glued and weighted in place until the glue dries.

Today, I joined the wing centre panels, added the centre straight rib and the diagonals on each side and then started inserting the wing spar.

First, joining the centre panels.  With each panel propped up 5/8" and the panels pinned down at the centre, the LE and TE were glued to each other and the ply braces were glued in place.  Left to dry.




Then, the 1/16" straight centre rib was glued in place and left to dry.


Once dry, one centre panel was pinned down flat on the building board and the diagonal rib next to the centre rib on that side fitted and glued in place.


Once that side was dry, the process was repeated on the other centre panel.

Hi All
Let me thank everyone that took part in the postal this year. There was no max outs this year and from the emails I received there was some tuff flying conditions with fly always and looking in tall grass for hours and at least one fence involved. We also have a tie for 2nd place so I will have a second award made so everyone will get what they have earned. It was also great to see some new names in the mix and sorry that some of the usual flyers were not able to fly this year. So here are the results

Glenn Grell. Batutick  USA 120 120 112 102 120. 574

Wayne        Loque
Lightfoot.   Bis.      NZ. 120 120 81. 120 120. 561

Bruce.       My.       USA 91. 120 120 110 120. 561
Hannah.      Coupe

Leigh.       Deuzio.   AUS 120 120 120 120 77.  557
Morgan

Ted.         My.       USA 80  120 120 90. 120. 530
Vernon.      Coupe

Sean.     Baron Hunter.AUS 120 106 120  88 57.  491
O'Conner.    DDIII
 
Vin         Raulin.    AUS.114 120 120. 90 23.  467
Morgan.     Coupe

Mark.       Fuit 3.    USA. 67 105 120 106 0.   398
Sexton

Mike        Deuzio.    AUS. 120 44 116. 0. 0.   280
Thomas

Tim.        Coffee.    AUS. 120 120. 0. 0. 0.   240
Hayward-Brown

Gram        Nikolina   NZ.  120. 87.  0. 0. 0.  207
Lovejoy

Dave.        Dorbec.   AUS.  59. 0.  0.  0. 0.   59
Putterill

Hope there is no mistakes but if there is please point them out. This year we will be giving out medallions for something different. I will post a picture of them if I can figure out how to do it. Would Wayne Lightfoot and Leigh Morgan send me your mailing address and I will get them on their way. Thanks again to all you took time to fly let's keep this going.
Glenn Grell

Build Update: Box Fuselage & Cowling
�Today's session went really well, and I managed to finish the box fuselage structure smoothly.
�Tomorrow, I'll be moving on to the cowling section (right in front of the cockpit). That's going to be an interesting challenge: I'll be trying to shape the side curves using carefully sanded, ultra-thin 0.4 mm balsa.
Markus

Is the Tempo Solo -for small brush motors I presume- available yet and if so, will some be brought to Wychen for the IIFI?

Neat work Jeremy - following with interest
Tim