Topic: Clives Strutter Build

Well, after a few years of following lots of threads on here (mostly WW1) I've decided its time to step up and post my own build .

Firstly a quick introduction. I started aero modelling in my teens (about 40 years ago) but then work and family life happened and balsa bashing came to an end. I re started about 4 years ago and couldn't believe the changes that have happened in the hobby whilst I was away.

I don't profess to be in the same league as many on here so if you spot me doing something wrong or have any help or advice I'd love to hear from you.

I tend to build to a standard that makes me happy rather than competition standard, so whilst I love scale I don't always invest the time needed to get them to a competition standard (not to mention about not having the skill level required to do  so!).

I started the build a few months ago (Its taken me this long to pluck up the courage to start this thread  ) so to start with I'll post some images of the build so far.

Clive

Well, after a few years of following lots of threads on here (mostly WW1) I've decided its time to step up and post my own build .

Firstly a quick introduction. I started aero modelling in my teens (about 40 years ago) but then work and family life happened and balsa bashing came to an end. I re started about 4 years ago and couldn't believe the changes that have happened in the hobby whilst I was away.

I don't profess to be in the same league as many on here so if you spot me doing something wrong or have any help or advice I'd love to hear from you.

I tend to build to a standard that makes me happy rather than competition standard, so whilst I love scale I don't always invest the time needed to get them to a competition standard (not to mention about not having the skill level required to do  so!).

I started the build a few months ago (Its taken me this long to pluck up the courage to start this thread  ) so to start with I'll post some images of the build so far.

Clive

Great stuff Clive, I have been watching your thread with interest at the 'other place'. I am not a supporter on there (yet) since I have problems with speed and accesibilty on that site for some reason. Looking forward to this,

Ian.

Ohhhhhhhhhh looking forward to this    Lots of details please, size, engine radio, covering paint etc and pictures lots of pictures (I'm a visual type).

OK guys, thanks for the quick responses. I seem to be having a problem uploading images. Its my not understanding the site rather than a technical problem.

Clive

Ah, I think I've got it now so lets try this

The first thing was to find a scheme I liked and after much searching have narrowed it down to four possibles:-

Scheme 1 and 3 are currently my favourites but I've got plenty of time to decide. Bob Pearson kindly gave his permission for me to use these images (they are copyrighted) which are from his CD at http://www.cbrnp.com/RNP/CDv2/index.htm .

I want a scheme that's a little different and many of these had the extra markings which were replicated on the tail so will make the aircraft a bit different. If any of you have any others let me know.

Clive

Looking forward to this one Clive

John
aka Albert (don't ask)

Engine choice:-

My last few builds have all been Petrol (gas) but having heard a few Laser twins I don't think you can beat the fantastic sound and reliability so a quick call to Neil Tidey and a lovely V200 turned up.

I built a test stand for it, filled up with fuel, energized the plugs and it started on the first flick and ran, I didn't have to touch a thing! if only all new engines were that simple to get running.

Clive

Because the Laser has it carbs and exhaust at the back I needed to make some changes to the firewall to accommodate them.

The choice was to cut the firewall (F1) to allow it to fit or move F1 further back.

I decided that moving F1 further back was probably the better option as It allowed for a more secure fit, I'd prviously seen this done by Don Coe on his pup build thread so basically copied what Don did (thanks Don).

I've included a shot of the plan with the new position for the firewall shown in red.

The next job was to cut a new F1 plus a stand off to allow the carbs and exhausts to fit.

Thanks for your comments John. Your right about the pleasure this hobby brings and yes, I would welcome any feedback, particularly if I do anything that would compromise the integrity of the model  .

Clive

Ammended my post Clive,jumped in with both feet again without reading all of your posts,realise now you build better than me
John

The next job was to join the longrons using scarf joints. Following this I built the two sides framed one on top of the other to make sure they were identical. Then I joined the sides together in a jig I have, I didn't take any shots of it in the Jig (I forgot) . I then stained the visible bits of the fus.

The next part of the build is to construct the unit that holds the rear of the fus together, holds the tail skid and is the rear mount for the tail, fin and rudder. Its made with tin plate bent to shape and soldered to brass tubing.
Once this was done and in place I then made the small bracket that locates the trailing edge of the tail to the fus and the rear post of the fin. Its silver soldered brass tube.
Once this was done I then moved on to the tail, elevators, fin and rudder. The kit has sheet balsa included to make up the rudder but the grain was running the wrong way so I decided to make the rudder from bent piano wire in the same way as the elevators are made.

I must admit to having been apprehensive about silver soldering the undercart so decided it was best to tackle it early in the build.

It took me about 10 days and a lot of head scratching to work out how to hold the job whilst I silver soldered it up but I got there in the end and actually learned how to step solder

The PC10 colour is from Mick Reeves and the linen colour on the wheels is Warbirds paint from Phil at Fighter aces.

I have heard that the PC10 isnt as fuel proof as we would all like so I decided to give it a coat of Warbirds satin clear. I only did this today and I'm concerned that its a bit on the shiny side for my tastes so I'll give Phil a call and ask what to do to flatten it down a bit.

Because I moved F1 further back to accommodate the Laser it left less room to get the tank in which meant that the tank would protrude into the front cockpit.

After talking it through with a mate I took the plunge and decided to make a tank that would fit underneath the floor below the pilot.

It doesn't look very pretty but its functional,  It passed a pressure test so fingers crossed it will work.

In the instructions for Laser twins it suggests that you use two tanks, one for each cylinder. I decided that one large tank with two clunks, two vents and a separate fill and drain line should be OK. When the weather improves I'll hook it all up and test run the engine with it.

So several baked bean tins later and several pounds worth of solder I had this:

Following on from the tank, the next thing I wanted to do was to build two exhaust systems. I know that some people with this engine have dispensed with the Laser silencers (mufflers) and just used bendy pipe straight out the bottom of the fus.

Where I mostly fly we are a bit noise sensitive so I needed to use silencers of some description so decided to make my own based on the Laser design (why reinvent the wheel ) from brass (the weight will help with balancing the airframe).

This is what I have come up with (MK1) made from brass and Mick Reeves bendy pipe.

I'm waiting for the weather to improve so I can test run the engine with these in place to make sure they don't restrict the performance to much. With the V200 I have plenty of power in reserve anyway so can afford to loose some performance, well have to see what happens.

OK that's it for tonight. I'll continue to update the thread tomorrow until I've got the thread up to date with the actual build and then just post as I work through the rest of the build.

Clive

Will be following this. Looks Stunning so far.

Si

Yes, lovely....... Subscribed...

Welcome Si and Stueysheep, glad to have you along for the ride.

Clive

OK, on with the catch up:

After building the exhausts I moved on to the servos, I started with the throttle which I placed on the back of the firewall, I had to use a ball link on the servo end of the connecting rod as once the engine is mounted on the firewall I cant get to the connection on the carb. Using the ball link allows me to disconect the link at the servo end to remove the engine.

Then I placed the Elevator, Rudder and Flap (air brake) servos between the cockpits, these wont be seen once the dummy petrol tank ends are installed (made from litho orcardboard).

I then moved on to the elevator control horn, this is soldered up from brass. The tricky bit was getting the width absolutely correct so that they were outside the main fuselage but inside the covering where the fus starts to change from flat sided to round.

I then rigged the elevators temporarily so that I could set the control throws to make sure that the control horn didn't fowl the back of the tank when full down elevator was put in, It didn't so alls OK .

Clive

The next decision was how to run the rudder closed loop wires. If you run them straight from the servo to the tail the cables run through the rear observer/gunners cockpit at an odd non scale angle.

The cables should run down the inside of the fus up against the fus wall. The only way of achieving this given the servo position would be to run the cables forward around some pulleys then back down the inside of the fus. This option wasn't open to me as I'd already taken the decision to put the fuel tank right where the pulleys would have to go.

So the solution was to use an idea I'd picked up on another forum (thanks Greg). This requires the wires to be run straight back underneath the rear cockpit floor. When the wires get to the rear edge of the floor they then turn upwards to exit the fus at the  top rear just in front of the tail.

The only issue with this is that the wires would bind on the edge of the cockpit floor. The solution was to make some small pulleys on my trusty far eastern lathe.

The wires cant come of the pulleys  :xxas I have soldered some small tube in line with and close to the bottom of the "V" of the pulley that the wires run through, these prevent the wire from coming off the pulley even when the wire goes completely slack, which it will do when the model is disassembled for transport (the tail, fin and rudder are removable).

The yet to be stained balsa blocks are non scale covers for the bolt heads that hold the pulleys in place. They also stop the dummy gunners feet from fowling the cables / pulleys.

The next job was to make the tubes that fit on the outside of the fus (I think their called fair leads?) that take the elevator wires. These will need to be properly cleaned up before being painted PC10.

Clive

I decided that it would be better to do some of the internal cockpit detail before carrying on with the structural stuff on the fus.

The first bit was to construct the Lews gun spare magazine racks. These are made from 1/32 ply, glued together with cyno and then stained (I hate cyno, it makes me sneeze) .

One bit of information that I am yet to find is how the spare magazines were retained in the racks. I have scoured the net but cant find the info. I may have to make a trip to the IWM reading room and do some more research If any of you guys has any ideas about this then let me have your thoughts. I'm guessing that there must have been some sort of strap across each opening but that is just a logical guess .

Clive

The next item to build is the observers/gunners seat.

First I made the top of the tripod on the lathe and the legs from brass tube. Then soldered it all up.

Then I had to make the actual seat, I made this from 1/4 ply. Its mounted off centre as per full size so when the gunner rotates he stays in line with the gun.

I then covered this with some thin foam to give it shape and then covered that with some imitation leather which I stretched over the foam / ply and glued to the underside of the ply.

Clive

To keep the rear cockpit as scale as possible, I decided to run some "dummy" rudder cables along with the brackets for them in the rear cockpit.


Clive

WAHAY....   Nirvana this thread. Will pecil some time in at the weekend to fully read and understand.


Many thanks clive...

Your very welcome.

Clive

Watching with great  interest, as I intend to start building a Mick Reeves 1: 3.6 version in the New Year.
Some schemes I have been looking at:






   Tom

Hi Tom,

Welcome.

8778would look good in the air with those flight leader streamers on the struts. I've not seen the Russian scheme before, it would certainly make for a different subject to the norm on the flight line.

I have searched out schemes that had the observation area cut out in the upper wing as I think when its on the ground it gives a better view into the cockpit detail, although the single seat version would proberbly be a quicker build given only one lot of cockpit detail to do.

Let me know if you start a thread on your build so I can subscribe.

Clive.

Next on the agenda is to make and fit the dummy fuel tank front and rear. These hide the view of the servos from both cockpits.

I was going to make this out of litho plate but on weighing the litho and comparing it to medium thickness card the card won as it is about half the weight. Mick suggests making it from card on the plan (should of just done what Mick did.

Clive

I then fitted the rear of the dummy tank and the formers that sit above it.

Clive

Whilst waiting for the paint to dry on the front of the dummy tank I cut and fitted the rails onto which the pilots seat fits.

I'm not sure if I wiil get any more time today as I have to attend my daughters school concert.

 
Clive

Nice work.

Watching with interest.

Thank you nss

Great job, its coming along nicely

Ian.

Thanks Ian

Very nice Clive.

What have you used to stain the timber with please?

Will it have working airbrakes?

Alan

Before I could fit the front dummy tank I needed to fit the former that goes behind the pilot and then stain it.



Clive

Hi Alan,

I am using Ronseal antique pine wood stain (as opposed to varnish) from B&Q. About three coats on balsa and ply and two coats on spruce gives about the right shade.

My current intention is to make the air brakes work (the servo is already installed). However, I don't know if I will use them in flight. I have heard some stories about them upsetting the air flow over the tail so much that the aircraft becomes very unstable (I think the full size had this problem as well).

My plan will be to do the three mistakes high thing, slow her right down and apply them  and see what happens 

Clive