Topic: Farmhand 90

Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder...

You don't happen to drive a Fiat Multipla by any chance do you Paul? 

 wots the saying
  IF IT LOOKS RIGHT IT WILL FLY RIGHT
 my build not quite as fast as yours but there,s a lot of model there as
it come,s together

  andy

Wouldn't be seen dead in a Multipla, or a Smart, or the Mini, especially the estate mini.

I drive a Vectra Estate, one of the best model aircraft "shuttles" of recent times

re the looks of the Farmhand thing thats going on here, is it the same as owning a dog, you get to look like it?

re the looks of the Farmhand thing thats going on here, is it the same as owning a dog, you get to look like it?

Always reminds me of Superstox from the 80's

Hi All,

Well after all this talk about the looks of the farmhand and cars, as i drive a Rover 75 (with two weeks written notice to SWMBO) and have the use of a Inca van as transport for my aircraft I have decided that part of the covering will carry the name UGLY PUP with affection 

And so back to putting it together, I managed to pick up an undercarriage at Weston Park. It is not totally ideal but I think it will do at least until i find something better.
I have drilled the mounting to take 6mm number plate bolts as i buy these in the 100s for work and they should allow the brakeaway factor that i like as it protects the main structure in event of a heavy landing (situation normal for me  )

i would guess that the u/c came from Falcon Aviation ? i was eyeing them up at another show for use on a farm ahnd but thought they were to close in on track

Hi Again,

I also added the seating for the wing and infilled the wing mounting structure as although I'm sure it would have been strong enough i like the captive nuts I intend to use for the wing bolts to have enough purchase to remain seated.








.

Hi Nickr,

Yes it was from Falcon Aviation and YES it is a little narrow but I'm impatient and thought that something was better than nothing and as i don't intend to spend that much time on the ground  and want to get in plenty of flying practice before i try towing anything up with me  !

Can i ask where you found your undercart and at what sort of price, i would be most interested ans don't mind putting this one in the spares box 

if i'm honest i haven't found one as i was looking for a friend who is building one with my help. i havent measured it up but i have an 'Alpha Wing' fibreglass u/c on my greenley and it works a treat. it might be suitable for the farmhand, but i think they are about £40 now. the other place to try for 'off the shelf' stuff is Ian @ www.iadmodeldesigns.co.uk i know he has a fair stock of different one and if nothing suits can make you one up to your requirements.

Hi All,

Time for joining the wings 
I decided to do this in two stages, so first I glued the dihedral braces to one side of the wing making sure to keep them at 90deg. Then it was a simple matter to glue the second half on using 2hour epoxy to give plenty of working time to clamp everything nice and true  .
It has to be said "this is a very big wing"
Once it was nice and dry i cut the slot for the wing locating tongue then i used some heavy duty wing tape I had with a good soaking of resin.






.

Hi All,

Withe the wing joined I offered it up to the fuselage and was quiet disappointed to find that there was now way it was going to seat down onto the wing seating, not sure if its me and the way I've built it or if it's something others have found 
Anyway with a careful use of a file i adjusted the receiving slot in the fuselage until the wing was seated correctly with just a small amount of pressure required. This means that once the wing is bolted in place everything is mechanically solid.
I was however very happy with the wing to fus match once the slot had been adjusted.




.

The slot is deliberately tight so you have to file/adjust to fit as every builder uses different wood and glue to skin the wings.

The build is looking very good, I'm looking forward to seeing the finished model>

Cheers Steve

Hi All,

Thanks for the comments Steve, nice to know it wasn't dumb thumb's that caused the slight hitch.

OK ever onward ! the cowl is very easy to build but a bugger to get right. I followed Steve's instructions but found it easier to set some scrap to support the front former so I could set everything in line (yes i spotted my mistake before gluing....can you ??  ).
As soon as I had the front and slide formers in position it was just a case of adding scrap sheeting to get the basic shape, more will be done with the front end to make it look a little less like a bulldog chewing a wasp 








.

Sorry about that the pics got mixed up in the loading (told you i had dumb thumb's  )

So I went ahead and completed the sheeting 







Then as I tried the fit of my nice new cowl a thought struck me  Yes it fitted, Yes it was nice and firm to remove, but just how tight would it be after I've covered the thing 
I can see a bad case of sanding to give clearance, that will teach me to try and get everything so bloody close !!

Any thing to do with the thickness of the sheeting not added to the building aid to get the front former in the correct place ?

Hi Fubar,

You hit the nail on the head  If I'd glued the stringers in with the front former as set i would not have had a straight line to the front of the cowl 

Decided that Steve was right in the DVD, it need a bit of shape at the front. So a bit of scrap 1/4" sheet and a bit of bodywork mesh and it's looking a lot better.




.

Don't worry about the tight fit of the cowl, it will develop slop after a while and you will end up shimming it to get it tight again. Partley this is due to the heat inside the cowl shrinking the wood and partly its the vibration from the engine.

Cheers Steve

Hi All,

Most of the build is now finished, so i'm onto the covering  As the aircraft will be my first film covered aircraft in about ten years i'm hoping it will not turn out to much like a dog's dinner 
First colour (it will be a simple finish) is the yellow, and yes the finish will be broken with some logo's and stickers 






.

dont see dogs dinner-more like dogs dangly bits!!

Hi All,

OK time for the second colour to add a little contrast to the finish. Then because i always seem to manage to do more damage moving the airframe round, and wanted to apply the covering to the side of the fus first, i have left the tail and fin off until this point.
With the tailplane fixed in place and square with the fus i placed the fin in postion just to have a look 






.

Back Again,

Until now i have managed to get what i considered to be quite good straight join lines between the two colours used so far 
But with the tail stuck in place my covering skills went out for a walk with the dog 
Then i remembered something that i was told about film covering and two colour join lines (not sure who Loopy ?? ) but this is how i cleaned up the joints on the tailplane.

I cut the film as i covered to give a close ( to a blind man on a fast horse ) straight ish joint and near on the rounded part of the tip, Then i ran over all the joint areas with the iron to seal the edges as flat a poss ( iron slightly hotter than normal ) Then depending on the colour that had traveled over centre thin strips of the other colour were cut, it is just a matter of then tacking the edge a small section at a time to travel the length of the surface giving a nice straight edge.
Because the strips are only thin, about 3/16"-1/4" wide when you roll them round the curve of the surface the extra film edge blends into the curve and disappears 

Well done KC it looks good.
Taking it to Cosford over the weekend ?

Hi Fubar,

I will be at cosford on sunday but only to watch and enjoy ( plus spend a few bob    ) will not be ready to fly for another couple of weeks yet 

Hi All,

OK it's time to start all those little jobs that we leave till the end of the build. Some because we can't do them until other things are sorted and some because if your like me ............you just hate doing them 

First thing to get out of the way is to fit and centre all the servos, I use a spare receiver and battery pack with switch so i can move around the airframe and set up each servo or set them as a pair if they have to work in tandem, either on separate channels or by Y-lead.






.

Hi All,

On the wing there are of course four servos to play with Two for the flaps and Two for the ailerons, because i will be using all seven channels on my transmitter it has meant that i have to use Y-leads on both flap and ailerons.
It took a little head scratching to make sure i had all the servos going in the right direction 




.

Hi All,

The throttle servo was tried in several differant locations but the most direct route without being mounted to the bulkhead is to the side of the fuel tank, this gives a straight line drive to the throttle on a DLE55.
I like to use a ignition cut on my transmitter so i can have the ign routed through the receiver but powered of it's own battery. This means if the switch on the airframe or the transmitter or the main power switch for the aircraft are not all on ...........not ign ...........safe hands 
I can of course also cut the engine without going anyware near it ........can be a godsend 




.

Hi All,

OK a question, as you may have spotted i have fitted all the flight surfaces. I have used Robart large point pin hinges, this time i tried something a little differant for me and used Locktite Hysol 9462 (fighteraces) http://www.fighteraces.co.uk/
Now before I tried it for real i did a couple of test pieces the first i wiped the barbs of the hinge point with the Hysol, on the second i used a machstick to wipe the Hysol round the inside of the mounting hole.
Once the Hysol had plenty of time to cure i gave both a pull test ! The first came free and pulled out with a small amount of balsa attached.
The second took a lot more effort and pulled out a largish plug of balsa ............ it has to be said that i was using a large pair of pliers and the mounting block was in a vise, It also has to be said that in both cases i had a bad case of bulging neck 
As a general interest note vaseline wiped onto the hinge area kept the movement totally free, but the first way of appling the Hysol did make it a lot more messy.

Back to the question ........what do you lot use on Robart hinges, and have i made a mistake using the hysol. Will the vibration from the single pot engine destroy the bond and leave me with to free a hinge. 

Please let me know now before i have a chance to commit aviation 

Hi KC

Please be very careful modding the engines wiring in any way to fit ignition cut switches. The first problem is it may invalidate any warranty on the engine and the second more importantly it may well induce interference into the rx. Just fit a normal switch on the outside of the model at the front, please don't extend the switch wiring back so both the rx and ignition switch's are together as this will be self defeating. Arrange for the throttle servo to fully close the engine and all will be fine.

Good luck flying the Farmhand, Steve

P.S. Iceland has just bought eight to bring its airforce back to strength, there is a build site but I don't speak Icelandic so one of the builders will have to post the link to their site for me.

Not a builder myself but I'll post the link anyway.  

http://frettavefur.net/Forum/viewtopic.php?id=4143

Not a builder myself but I'll post the link anyway.  

http://frettavefur.net/Forum/viewtopic.php?id=4143

Re. the post from Sverrir:

Eight kits were recently ordered from Traplett and are being built here in the far north. Mine will use an old ZG62. 

We are therefore following this thread with great interest. 


Regards
Agust
Iceland

I am one of those who are replenishing the Icelandic Air Force with new Holland Farmhands (btw did you know there is a manufacturer of farm equipment called New Holland?)

The fuselage has come together (with a tiny bit of difficulty that I won't go into here) as I had all the balsa needed for it.   I even made a landing gear from the bumper of a Volvo.

The only thing I need now is the balsa and hardwood for the wings.  Can someone direct me to a supplier of cyparis who also sells 3/32" balsa?

Hi Gaui

Not sure if this is what you had in mind, but try here....  http://balsamart.co.uk/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=46&zenid=44348051308fe49240eba75f5224d70a

Hi.
Yet another Icelandic farmhand builder here.

A DLE-55 is getting ready to be mounted in mine. I have been seriously thinking about extending the air intake into the engine box, thereby muffling the intake noise. I seem to recall Steve Holland talking about the advantages of such an arrangement.  This would be very easy as the carburetor is situated on the back of the crankcase (as can be seen in one of the photos above). I already have a 2" trumpet that fits.
The one liter fuel tank leaves plenty of room around it for air flowing in.

Anyone having comments/advice on this?

Björn Geir

Hi Gaui

Not sure if this is what you had in mind, but try here....  http://balsamart.co.uk/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=46&zenid=44348051308fe49240eba75f5224d70a

Thanks Brian - that's exactly what I needed.

Hi All,

Thanks for the concern about the ign cut Steve, I have used this system before and had no problems. I am simply using a channel from the transmitter to a relay, this cuts the power to the ign in just the same way as a switch. The physical switch is really just belts and braces and a safety feature, it works in the same way a powerbox kill switch would operate.
The receiver for the 2.4 is placed further back in the cockpit well away from the switch's.

Nice to have our Icelandic friends on board, I'm sure you will find this a fun build. Not sure about the trumpet Bjorn but YES there is plenty of room (one good design fits all  )

Talking about the fitting of the DLE-55 this is how i managed the throttle and choke setup, the choke it set as pull for on and push to run.






.

Hi Guai,

Meant to mention that the link you have been given is were i got my Cyparis and wood from, they sell the cyparis in 6' lengths but will cut them to 4' and 2' lengths for shipping, this gives you plenty to work with.

Another suppier is Stuart at Solutions don't know a web address but you can email him at askus@onebyone.co.uk he is the guy the Dawn patrol seem to use 

Keith

Ps off for a look at your site

Keith might I suggest http://translate.google.com to ease your viewing pleas  experience!  

Hi Selleri,

Thanks for the translations link, it made it readable and informative (even for a linguistic idiot like me)