Topic: Zim's experimentals: she has a name - the Razor!

it's been that long since you flew power, do you think you'll remember what the left stick is for?? 

On or off?  Fingers crossed Dunc!

Z

Bit more work done tonight... Throttle linkage tube is now installed and checked against getting the tank in etc. After much debate with myself about what linkage to use I've decided on Bowden cable. Usually I use a piano wire with a double Z bend to save weight, but it is a massive a4se to do. So I made one up anyway and weighed that against the Bowden alternative. Lighter! A4se! Anyway, I rummaged about in my bits box and came up with some luuurvely little park flier closed loop quick link clamp thingies. Got them in the vice and carefully drilled them out a tadge to take the Bowden cable and hey presto we have a throttle linkage which is fully adjustable at both ends, and is 0.5g lighter than my usual piano wire job! Would have been happy with the same weight tbh, but this is cool!

Anyway, I'm being really careful with it at the mo - these last few jobs before the wing goes on. Don't want to rush it and end up with something that needs changing after the wing has been glued - the access to the front inside if pretty Carp once the wing is fitted - one piece model you see.

But I've decided on how to route all my fuel lines etc and I'm really chuffed with my solution. Given that this is a hobby and therefore essentially has no point to it, I love finding solutions to problems that don't really exist other than to "make it nicer". And this one is cool! Instead of having a little stopper for the refuelling line, I've soldered up an M4 pressure nipple so that it is blocked and threaded it into the motor mount. So when I've filled up, I just push the filler line onto there. Can't loose the little stopper, and it has the advantage that it keeps the filler line from flapping about in flight. See what I mean about a solution to a problem that doesn't really exist? Well chuffed with that one  :colm:

Anyway, no pics tonight as I'm knackered after a hard day's draining the brain with various worky thinky things. Next up is to modify the mount to allow the fuel tube routings I'm looking for - just a bit of dremelling here and there and then I'll cyano the motor to the mount to lock it in place whilst I drill out for the engine mount bolts.Once that's done I shall do the final check on tank fitment with all the lines in situ and then it's wing glueing time! I'll bang on some pics of that stage.

Hopefully this is keeping some of you entertained anyway - I've really enjoyed building the model so far and writing this daft little thread. But there are still some leetle secrets which aren't covered in here that I'm keeping for myself to see if they work!!

Oh and thanks to Dunc I now have a supercool logo for the model - check it out!



Zim

Well I flew my old C2000 racer yesterday for the first time in god knows how long. I'm going to try and get the Razor done and maidened soon as well... Had a good chuckle at this

Pictures of the engine install should be up tonight!

It is now 'tonight'

feckin' useless! and no, I still haven't actually installed the engine!

Z

How long do ya think it will be Zim   I been popping back to this thread every night for nearly 16 months now  Not sure how much more i can take   

How long do ya think it will be Zim   I been popping back to this thread every night for nearly 16 months now  Not sure how much more i can take   

Lol Chas, Yeah come on zim my eyes are killing from starring at this page.

LOL sorry guys! I promise I'll have her maidened before Christmas!! About the best I can do at the moment I reckon - have a load of work on at the moment (thankfully).

Funny thing is regarding the engine install, I had put loads of thought into my fuel tube routing to make sure that nothing would protrude in flight. A bit anal some might say  . So the holes in the bulkhead aren't in the usual place. Had a look at it all the other night. Absolutely buggered if I can remember which line is supposed to go through which hole to achieve my streamlined fuel tube routing master plan! Aaaaaaaargh!!

Z

Jeez. So much for painting it. The weather's forked it! But a bit of news... Finished my workshop rejig. So all ready for the pre-Xmas maiden... Or can I make that before New Year? It's only 19 days till Xmas already!

Z

Jeez. So much for painting it. The weather's forked it! But a bit of news... Finished my workshop rejig. So all ready for the pre-Xmas maiden... Or can I make that before New Year? It's only 19 days till Xmas already!

Z

Nice one! Don't put such a dead line on it though. Get her done in time for the start of the season though! (2011 season!!)
J

! (2011 season!!)
J

LMAO - you know me so well!

Is it built yet!!! ??

Got the mask for the Razor logo from Dunc if that counts as progress!!

Z

Well thats quite a major and important hurdle tbh! Gotta look good first.

Found a nice ASP muffler for my OS as well from me box of bits. Luckily it still fits despite my weird motor orientation. Hope it doesn't cartwheel it on the first landing.

Maybe one day I'll actually get to do a landing with it. First things first!

Z

I've got it out of the loft in the garage and shaken my paint cans. Tomorrow I'm out with the old one to see if I can still fly a Club2000... I think I've finally got tired of travelling feckin' ages to go fly gliders.

Z

Did you go and fly it Rick? Has it filled you with enthusiasm?

LOL well it definitely reminded me how long I've not flown for! But yeah it was fun man - the joys of simple models - brilliant. Ran it on an 8x6 just to pep it up a bit and get the motor to shake off 3 years of no running. So the fuel still works, and the model still flies - but I'm doing 90 second runs without any pylons! Practice needed 

Will I end up in Grp 3 again because I've not competed for a few years? No objection if so really.

Shook the paint cans for the moulded one again when I got back.

Z

Well some interesting things today. Did a bit of work on the Razor. There were a few bits that needed a bit of blocking down - making the sure transition to the tips is nice and smooth from the wing panel, smoothing over the torque rod cuts and also the leading edge needed a few little blemishes filling in. Duly done - now the fuse etc just needs a block down with some 800 paper and it's ready for paint.

Came across the CG calculator on this site and decided to put Justin's theory to test that the pitcheron version didn't fly due to a far to rearward CG. Of course, turns out he's highly likely to be right! The stability margin on that model was a spectacular 2%, where the CG that works well on the Toyer model is closer to 15%! Ooops. But anyway, I don't think the pitcheron is the way to go nonetheless.

Anyway, I've run the numbers on this one, and I now have a really good idea of where the CG this one for success rather than massive failure!! Even though the chord on this model is somewhat larger than the Toyer model, the CG with a stability margin of 12% actually ends up at 44mm due to the far smaller tail volume that this model has. This is the one area that I'm a little concerned about on the model really, but time will tell. The section has a very low, close to zero, pitching moment, designed to unload the tailplane and therefore allow for a much smaller volume. But as I know from various gliders, tails a little larger than theoretical perfect are sometimes a good thing in handling terms! But we'll see - I've taken Mr Hepperle's advice from his excellent site and applied the strongest medicine version!

Anyway, bit more blocking down tomorrow and then with a little luck, I'll shoot the black paint bits next weekend, which will sort the fuselage, tail, torque rod channels, and the underside of the tips - I'll probably use the black to blown in the whole leading edge as well just for conveniences sake. Then it's just down to a bit of red topside to do the top of the tips, and then, if I can find the mask Duncan made me years ago, a logo on the top of the fuse.

Then we should be in the home stretch - tanks made, servos all test installed already, motor mount just needs drilling. Hoping to get her flying sometime between Xmas and New Year. (2011  )

Z

Unbelievable! Just actually done some more work on it - two days in a row! Leading edge is now pretty decent and all the other little rough bits are gone. Ready for paint, and I would have gotten it done today if it hadn't been for the fact that I can't find my ruddy tack rags. I KNOW I bought a pack a few months ago for something else I did, but can I find them now? 

Anyway, never mind. Looks like she'll be in paint next weekend, so we're sort of on target.

Z

Hows it going Zim? Did you find the tack rags?

No! I need to buy some from a motor factor, and then I'm set for some painting this weekend. Have Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon free without any family commitments, so fingers xed mate! I'm happy with the prep now - not perfect but not too bad - so it's definitely time for paint. Hoping I can get away with one session with the red and one with the black.

Also need to sort out some elevator hornage before I shoot the paint. Maybe Friday night!

Z

Pointless update of minor progress - managed to pop into RAEs on the way back from a meeting darn sarf and picked up some tack rags and vinyl gloves - sorted for weekend painting.

Z

Well believe it or not, I've nearly finished the paint. Red tips are done, black fuse and tail are done, torque rod areas touched up, hatches painted - just need to let that cure and then I can hit the underneath of the tips and the leading edge with some black, and then we're done!

Going to be a fair bit of polishing to be done to blend in all of the touch up areas i.e. tips, torque rods, leading edge etc, and this alone puts me off another bagged model. It would have been easier just to glass it in the normal way (as these wings are pre-sheeted) and then hang the whole thing up and paint it. Or not paint it! I can easily see my scheme going from this to being black fuse, balsa coloured wings, red sprayed tips! (As ever, the comments from Team Odell at the start of this build borne of much experience prove to be completely on the money  )

Anyway, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the black goes off before this evening, and then I can shoot the tips in before bedtime - would be nice to have all the spraying complete before the week starts. Then next weekend will be a flat'n'polish, and an install over Xmas.

Z

trust me zim after painting a model this year i'll never do it again. I spent about a month primering. In the end I gave up and just painted it! Then you still have to lacquer it!!

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/298411_144232075664981_143611385727050_252038_6162921_n.jpg

Wow J - that looks beautiful! Sadly mine will look nothing like that!

btw one thing that makes this paint process slightly less of a pain in the arris is that I'm using Klasskote - epoxy paint, so it's fuel proof and needs no lacquer. It sprays beautifully and the finish seems to be absolutely top class in terms of hardness etc. Seems a really good product. The other thing I did which I think made the painting a bit quicker/ easier on the fuse anyway is that I precoloured the resin used in the glassing with a bit of pigment. Then you only have to put a bit of paint over it of the same colour to get it fully opaque. Not sure how well if would work with white though. This one's a bit of a black bomber.

Z

where do you buy Klasskote from over here mate. Allways wanted to try it.

http://www.klasskote.co.uk/

Easy as you like mate. It's great stuff I think. Really like using it. Main thing to pay attention to is that you must leave it for 30-40 minutes after mixing the paint and the cat for it to "induct" before thinning it and using it. Do that, and it's great - cures quick and can't fault it really.

Z

Oh and one other thing about it that's rather nice - if you mix up a bit too much and want to keep it for something else, just seal it up in the bottle and put it in the fridge. I just finished off the leading edge and the underside of the tips on the model with this mornings paint. The ham smells a bit epoxy-ish though - shhhh!

Anyway, so that's it - paint done. No matter what happens when I come to polish out the feather edges I'm not painting this again, so it if comes out a bit pish, then that's what it'll be. Gonna leave it for a week now, and hopefully by next weekend it'll be nice n hard for flatting/ polishing. Just a quick one though.

Whoo - hooo - nearly there!

Z

A picture tells a thousand words mate, so I reckon you need to post about 10 photos how did the masked logo come out?

LOL Dunc - yeah - tbh I'm quite enjoying writing this saga of a build on a tiny daft little model - concluding this thread is a motivator in finishing the model if that makes sense!

As far as your marvellous paint mask goes - unfortunately, I bloody well lost the mask in the years that the model sat languishing on a shelf. No doubt I'll find it after everything is complete  how well does vinyl stick when it's getting plenty of attention from glow fuel running all over it?

Z

As long as it goes down on a clean surface it should be fine mate. J's models have had vinyl on for some time and he hasn't said anything as yet about the vinyl coming unstuck with glow fuel

They Stick like Kate Moss to a Roll up mate. Mine are like paint really. wafer thin and the edges don't lift when cleaning.

Fantastic - was hoping that you would both say that! Any chance of another copy in white Dunc 

Z

zim did it ever fly ?

She will! Progress is slowly being made!

Z

looks nice ZIM.

I have a new pylon-ish model on the bench.
Got a brand new os25sf and some MH32 cores.
I have taken the plan form from a meronic of avicraft fame (Funfly model), but pimped the dimensions to make it go fast.
Also I like the way the fuse is built, simple with no complicated curves.

Its for a club open pylon race in the summer against GB and the other.
I got the section down to 8.7% and I don't dare go any thinner, with pink foam cores and compressed with obechi skins. 44" span
Its like a HLG wing on a simple fuse with a hot motor.

Jon

John - you would love Club2000 mate. And you'd do well at it. I'm hoping to get to a couple of meetings this year. I'll be shite as I haven't done it for ages and I was shite when I was doing it. In other words, no pressure on you! Meetings are held in Northampton and Peterborough, so not too far away from you compared to the usual competition trek - I'd be more than happy to point you in the right direction for airframes etc. Motors can be picked up for not a huge amount, you'll have all the radio gear... Fancy it? I've got a rather second hand airframe you could use as a try-me if you care to come up for a comp?

Z

Zim,
I used to do open club pylon racing and love that.
If I was to do it I would rather build my own, thanks for the offer.
I maybe tempted if it all goes tits with F3B

I already have quite a few 25 sized motors.

I'm looking forward to the open pylon were holding at my club, looking forward to kicking GB and Marts Butt

My model is starting to look sweet, but deffo not club 2000 legal.

J

Oh I also have an old Dara 20 with a irvine 36 on it, and thats rather fun

Just re-read this thread again and had a good laugh, videos are priceless. Looking forward to seeing it done.

What comes after the bagged wings Zim? Composite fus?

It's built mate. Just needs a radio install and an elevator horn. But I've not round to it in a year plus! When I do it'll be on here 

Z