On to my favorite part of the assembly! The box from www.kirbysgraphics.com showed up today! Woohoo!
I was about to put on the BME graphics so I went to iron down the covering on the hatch… guess what?… that ain’t cover’n, that’s paint! Like the best custom builders do… sweet:
I’ve never talked about applying graphics. I do like the Kirby’s instructions say… to use like Windex to soften up the backing before you remove it. But, what I’ve come to like using is denatured alcohol… and also to spray it on lightly and avoid spraying it around the edges. After that I immediately wipe it off/down with a paper towel. This prevents it from over soften’n the backing and also from having it leak under the backing and get under the vinyl. I’ve put down alot of graphics, lol, and this works pretty fast and easy for me:
Had to do some real work for a few days, but now I’m back on this thing. Me and Mark programmed one wing and as I always say, it’s just so satisfying… the servos are perfectly synchronized throughout the entire range of travel. Yes! (no picture, sorry)
Also, I saw Gus Stutsman had Aeroworks wing bags for his 94″ YAK, so I decided to try the Aeroworks wingbags out this time for my 104″ YAK. They look great! Got the Aeroworks stab bags, too!
Upgraded the stock tailwheel to the lighter/stronger Aeroworks CF tailwheel:
For the ignition (when it arrives) will be a Fromeco 2600 “Grunt” battery pack, Badger Switch, and a “The Regulator.”
Okay… BME says my ignition shipped Monday, Woohoo!, so I gotta get going full steam on this now! I finished programming the 2nd wing with Mark on the ruler. Goes fast with someone good doing the mayzhur’n… and Mark’s an engineer so he’s “okay” at it. lol
Side note, I’m gonna have to iron down the covering yet again on the wings… this thing must really be drying out since it got here.
Well, Wednesday night was “whittle” night. I just worked on elevator hinges. I want them to slam bevel to bevel tight with no binding. There was some glue in there keeping them from running freely. I took an xacto and patiently widdled away until they are all just as free and happy as a tick on a country hog. Where did that come from? lol Anyway, the elevators now flop around freely, bevel to bevel, which is what I wanted:
Thursday night I got started on about the only glue’n you get to do on this model… the rudder hinges. The hinges are pre-drilled by Aeroworks. And, the hinges are included. You need only glue them in. But I still have no problem making a big ol’ procedure out of that simple task. lol First we start with a real man’s tool… a Milwaukee Drill!
I used a 9/32″ drill bit to widen out the pre-drilled hinge holes for the hinge knuckles. I only drilled in 1/8″ and I ran the drill in reverse for the drill’n. Now Dunny had some way of using the dremel and making it come out real clean, I’ll have to ask him what he does. But, this worked out okay for this one (although I’m not sure I can recommend it as the drill could get away from you pretty easy)… the top hole is factory, and the bottom hole is slightly drilled out for the knuckle:
This pic shows the factory hinge hole and how far the hinge can go in easily:
This pic is of the slightly drilled out (again I only went 1/8″ deep) factory hole and how far the hinge can go in easily. Oughta’ make it run a little bit free-er is all. What can I tell ya’? :
After I had the holes how I wanted them I got the hinges ready. I lube the knuckles up with teflon lube… not just any teflon lube as you can see, but rather “professional” teflon lube. lol I lube up the knuckle real good, making sure there is lube in the hinge and also on each side of the hinge pin. I make sure to keep my hands very clean and also not to get any lube on the part of the hinge that gets glued in. Probably not a bad idea to scuff the hinges up and clean them with alcohol… but my hinges have held up rock solid without doing that, knock on wood:
I use Zpoxy from ZAP for my hinges:
From my plaster’n days I think it is important to have pressure to get a good bite. Whether that is true or not I don’t know, but I know I’ve never had a hinge I glued in come out. lol What I like to do is apply pressure to the epoxy going inside the hole and pressure to the epoxy going on the hinge. What I mean is I use a stir stick to press epoxy onto the insides of the hole… and also use a popsicle stick to press epoxy onto the hinge. Then I push the hinge in the hole:
After that I clean up any excess Zpoxy with a paper towel and denatured alcohol. Line up all the hinges nicely, and set the surface out of the way to cure. I like to do the my surfaces first and then when they harden check their fit in the wings/fuse and then glue them in. I know there are many ways to skin this cat and also that gorilla glue is very popular. I guess this is something I’m “old school” about because I have seen so many hinges come unglued on OP planes, but never a hinge I glued in. But, whatever works for you that leaves the hinges running freely bevel to bevel, and also glued securely in… is… well? all good:
The Zpoxy had cured on the rudder so I glued it into the fuse:
You can see there is clearance around the hinge knuckle. Also, I go a 1/16″ gap minimum in the hinge line (I do not make them tight at all):
You know, I’m =totally= opposed to philips head screws in our planes. But, I’ve used some of the supplied control horn screws. Mark mounted the horns on my wings and used www.microfasteners.com servo screws. He ground down the washer head on them just a little so they’d fit. But, I used the stock philips head screws on the elevators and rudder. Might have been an aberration, but while tightening down a screw with just my finger tips the screw broke in two… right at the rudder surface, too. Doh! Didn’t want to make an all night project out of it so just drilled a new hole next to the stock hole and put a new screw in there. In the end I like what Mark did with the socket head servo screws from www.microfasteners.com and as I said, I’m totally opposed to philips heads screws. They’re usuable, I used them, but I think a couple of bucks for the socket head servo screws is the way to go, fersure:
Mark mounted the gear on the other elevator/stab… he matched what I did on the first one. Thanks, Mark:
I got the plane on its mains before lights out. You know, not only are QBs really cool… they are also really beautiful planes. I love red, white, and blue… but his thing is especially gorgeous:
The landing gear comes pre-drilled for the four also pre-drilled mounting holes. Those mounting holes have blind nuts already installed. The four bolts with washers are provided. Screw down four bolts and the landing gear is mounted, instant gratification assembly. I used Pacer Threadlocker (from ZAP) on the bolts:
The supplied axles just bolt on like DURBO axles. The supplied wheels are light and durable, in my experience… otherwise I’d use DUBRO TreadLites. The supplied wheel collars use phillips heads, but you could change them out to 3mm socket head bolts if you wanted to… the 3mm bolts I had were longer than I wanted, so I went with the supplied phillips heads. The key to dealing with these phillips heads is a good screw driver tip, I’ve always used Klein tools and their #2 phillips is a good match for these screw heads. Again, I used Pacer Threadlocker, which I use on any metal to metal bolt situation on these planes. I used the stock hardware and Pacer Threadlocker:
Some 3mm socket head bolts the right length would be a nice replacement for the phillips heads (these are too long):
Use a good quality #2 screwdriver to handle these stock phillips heads bolts:
One other lil’ tidbit… when I use DUBRO axles and collars, I use the DUBRO 1/4″ long 6-32 socket head machine bolts. These are nice and easy to handle versus the little set screws:
Aeroworks makes the landing gear and wheel pants a quick bolt together affair. And, even though they leave a good relief around the tire… I like all I can get… so I’ll dremel it out wider. This keeps your tires from hitting the pants on those wild runway manuevers. lol I hate cracked wheel pants and this helps me avoid them:
Aeroworks includes button allen head machine bolts for the wheel pants. With the blind nuts already in place. Real nice and just how I would set it up. These bolts look better than the bolts I use and will work fine. But, again, I find it easier to deal with socket heads. So, these bolts and washer are installed temporarily, but I will change them out for 4-40 SS socket head machine bolts with #6 SS sealing washers:
I used the Aeroworks CF tailwheel. Here’s how I set it up:
Here’s an explanation of what I used to set it up:
You see, to have these leaf and heigh style tail wheels work properly you need to have a rudder arm that gets you in the hinge line. Aeroworks doesn’t provide that, and neither do any of the leaf and heigh style tail wheel manufacturers. Again, first thing, get the pivot point in the hinge line (I just used a Hitec servo arm to do this, easy, simple):
Next make your rudder arm holes the same width as your tiller arm holes:
The Aeroworks arm is too wide… it will get you fast ground handling in low rate rudder, but with a price… the price being when you are flying, your rudder servos will have to overpower the tailwheel springs to move the rudder. That wears out your servos and batteries. Consequently most flyers use soft springs, which gets you back to bad ground handling. Get your geometry right and you can use super stiff springs for the greatest ground handling you ever had, you can even go with no springs at all! Best of all, no binding in the air, no extra juice needed to overpower the springs… the rudder servos should only be dealing with the force of the air, not also pulling on springs to get you the rudder deflection you’re asking for. Doh! lol:
The acid test on this is easily done (and most all planes on the flight line fail this test)… lift the back of your plane off the ground… crank the rudder all the way over… does it stay there?… I didn’t think so. lol Your non-pulling cable is stretched, so it snaps the rudder back to center. That is also happening in the air. When you ask for rudder deflection the servos must not only fight normal resistance forces, but they also must stretch those springs. Doh! lol
Here you see the rudder staying put with ease at full deflection… the non pulling chain/spring is neither tight nor loose. Perfect:
