by Bill Gaylord » Wed Mar 09, 2016 8:18 pm
Pic 1. The cocpit glass is now attached, faired in with strips of 1/32" balsa, sanded flush with the edge of the plastic, followed by a coat of sanded filler. The filler tends to mush a bit when heating during covering, which is why the balsa was applied first. The balsa is also lighter, as filler weighs. The covering will be trimmed and ironed down at the edge of the plastic, being careful not to heat and warp the plastic parts. The plastic part edges must be fully glued down, or any heat applied will cause the edge to lift up in that area.
Pic 2. Don't miss any chance to shave weight, cutting away the unnecessary plastic under the top turret.
Pic 3. I came across a small 1A switching BEC on Ebay, with good reviews. I may use this part. Other thoughts are to wire the on board ESC linear BECs in parallel, with diode isolation. I could use a 4 pin plug, and wire the BECs to have the option of using either the linear BECs, or the switching BEC, using either a jumper plug for the linear BECs, or the switching BEC.
The motor wires are a bit stiff, and you want to be careful not to horse them, at the motor attaching point. I cut away a bit of the shrink tube, to allow the wires to flex closer to the motor, and fit in the nacelles. Fortunately the upper area of the nacelles is further away from the motor centers than the bottom, which will allow room for the wires.
The covered stab now weighs 5 grams, showing how covering adds weight. At this point, the fuse balances properly with an Eflite 2s-430 fully forward, and about 13 grams of weight added at the stab location. With the aft weight of the v-stabs/rudders, paint, and rear turret still to be added, that figure could be reached, although the motors/ESCs should provide more forward weight, in which case the battery can be moved rearward about 1-1/4". All in all, it appears to be pretty much on target.
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