Have made quite a bit of progress on my F18 V4 build over the last couple days. It is raining today, so I anticipate getting quite a bit more done on the build... :)
I have decided for the cost of a little bit of weight versus a lot more strength to go with a 4mm carbon rod for my wing spar and as you can see, it extends almost from wing tip to wing tip. I am hoping that even if this ends up heavier than my F18 V3, that the stronger wing will stand up to the weight and wing loading.
I also put 3mm carbon tube in my elevons and vertical stabilizers. I found with my F18 V3 that I was getting quite a bit of "vertical stab flutter" without it being reinforced and after testing the reinforced vertical stab on my F18 V3M3e3 recently, I wanted to have that extra strength there.
All my control surfaces have been attached, I am using fibreglass drywall tape and Foam Tac on all the hinges and on the elevons I reinforced the bottom of the hinge with some transparent duct tape, so those should last a very long time.
I also sanded the leading and trailing edges of my elevons, vertical stabs and rudders and the trailing edge of the wing and ailerons. They are all symmetrically shaped and sanded to minimize as much drag and turbulence as possible. It is a bit of a fussy job to do this, but well worth it for how much slipperier my planes feel in the air.
I really won't be able to do that on the leading edge of the wing with the fixed slats/fronterons, but I will sand the plane smooth after it is all together. Today I hope to get the fuselage and wing plate together and the intakes attached as well as the canopy. I also hope to get the motor centered and mounted and maybe even dry fit my servos, but I will see how the day progresses. I will give another update when it is together and finished just before final painting.
Very straight forward build thus far... :)
Cheers,
Scott
Awesome can't wait to see the final build.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rob, it is coming along quite well, have the wing and fuselage together now... :)
DeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI've been looking at your blog and videos - Thanks So Much! They are really interesting!
I'm very tempted by these plans, but have no experience in scratch building. I've made some kits, though (Dogfighter, EZglider, RabidModels P38, Techone Rafale..)
Do you think this is too ambitious a project, or that I have a reasonable chance of making something nice?
Thanks,
Bob
Hi Bob -
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words. RC Powers has some simpler profile type planes you can build, their V1 line, or you can look at http://www.parkjets.com/, there is a huge variety of simple plans their you can download for free or a small donation. The RC Powers F35 V2 is a score and fold type airplane that was the first park jet I ever built, it is a very docile trainer, but you could try that before making any big outlay of money for the V3 or V4 planes. You just have to join RC Powers for free and you can download the F35 V2 plans or plans for an Extra 300 also for free. If you join RC Powers, I am e3_Scott there, so don't hesitate to get in touch with me there if you decide to try them out. Thanks for your kind words again. The first build takes some patience and is a big learning curve, but the more you build and fly these parkjets, the better you get.
Cheers,
Scott