The contents inside were also well packaged. Even though the box was slightly crushed there was no damage to the high quality ARF inside.
My 1st modification to enable use of the 2200 ma lipo packs I already have. Cut lines are marked.
A rotary tool with a cut off wheel makes cutting through the plywood firewall an easy task.
Now there's plenty of room for the battery.
Wing halves slipped together for a test fit. So far I'm really impressed with the quality of this kit.
1st engine mount assembled and parts for second laid out.
Precision laser cutting makes for a very precise fit of the interlocking components.
Assembly of motor mounts complete. I used medium CA for this portion. Epoxy will be used to attach them to the firewalls.
Preparation for attaching the ailerons. Pins are used to keep the hinges centered while sliding them into the wing.
Thin CA was used to attach the hinges. I had to slightly lengthen the servo cutouts to accomodate the Hitec HS-55's I'm using.
An 8" extension is added to the aileron servo and a piece of 3/8" heat shrink slipped over the connection.
Using a heat gun the tubing is shrunk locking the connectors together. You don't want these connections coming loose while pulling them through the wing, or in flight.
A length of solid small guage wire is very helpful in routing the wires through the wing. I used a single strand from some cat 5 network cable that I had laying around.
The same method was used for pulling the leads that go to the booms.
Servos added to booms and control rods installed. Elevator servos mount to outboard sides, rudder servos to inboard. You also want to make sure elevator pushrods travel in the same direction while the rudder pushrods travel need to oppose each other.
Rigging continued. I added a small piece of double faced tape that will help hold the velcro battery strap in place.
Making the battery strap. Make about a 1" overlap of the mating surfaces. The open ends will then be passed through the cutouts of the plywood tray.
A view from the bottom showing the battery in place.
And a view from the top. This is the right boom which also has a UBEC mounted to the floor just behind the servos.
Heat shrink tubing is again used on all the servo connections that will pass through the wing.
Left wing half and boom assembled. Receiver is hooked up and servo operation checked before continuing.
The small, lead pulling wires are routed through the right wing half before sliding the wing halves together.
Connections made again using heat shrink on all the connections.
Both wing halves and booms assembled. Servo and UBEC operation tested.
Nose gear temporarily attached to determine where to drill the pushrod hole.
Shoulda checked the servo direction 1st and had to re-drill. What was I thinking? Don't use this shot for a build reference either. I wound up putting the "Z" bend inside and the adjustable link on the outside.
Steering servo location. The aft former (where the servo wire loops over) will most likely need to have the top center portion of it cut away to get the wires inside the radio compartment.
Nose cone temporaily mounted and landing gear strut hole cut in.
Fuselage pod mounted to wing. Motors & landing gear installed. Mounting the pod to the wing was about the biggest pain in the ass so far.
I cut the former!
Tail feathers 101 time. I don't know why the manual doesn't make mention of "how".
Temporarily install the stab (check geometry) and mark along the booms.
Remove the covering from the stab in the areas where you marked. (top and bottom)
Use 30 minute epoxy applied to the top & bottom of the stab saddles. Re-insert the stab, clean away the excess with a paper towel dampened with alcohol. and re-check your measurements before the epoxy cures.
Vertical fins added in the same manner as the stabilizer. Elevator & rudders installed (per manual) and excess control rod ends trimmed.
Not too bad for about 10 hours of actual build time so far. I still think they should include a cute little Chinese girl to assemble it for you though. ;-)
The wing covers pretty much align themselves just by sitting them on the wing. However it's thin balsa where the attaching screws go through.
Some tape to hold the covers in place makes it easier to drill the holes and run the screws in (not tight though, just to the bottom).
Remove the screws from the covers and the covers from the wing. Put a drop of thin CA in each of the screw holes to harden the threads. Once it sets you have "threads of steel" to run the attaching screws back into.
The manual calls for CA to attach the rear pods. You will have better luck with getting them to stay on with this "old" tip though. Use a fine point felt tip marker to trace around the mounting flanges.
Use a pin to punch many, many tiny holes in the covering (about 1/16" inside the marked lines) so the glue will be able to penetrate into the wood.
A paper towel dampened with alcohol removes the ink. (photo shows pinhole perforations) Lightly sand the covers where they contact the fuselage, wipe them down with alcohol and you're ready to glue them into place.
Pods glued into place, and yes my workshop/hanger is starting to get just a little bit on the crowded side. It's getting hard to take a picture without getting "other" projects in the shot, too.
On the good side, a project doesn't care how many other projects you might have. ;-)
Canopy is attached with 3 screws (per manual) and the threads hardened with CA.
A pilot didn't come with the kit but decided to add one in. 1/8 scale is slightly oversized (I cut about 3/8" off the bottom) but was the closest to the right size I could find at the local hobby shops.
The kit didn't include spinners either, but a 1-3/4" Goldberg seems to be about the right size.
Slide the cowling on, attach the prop and backplate. Adjust the cowling as close as possible without it rubbing the spinner backplate and tape it in place before drilling the holes.
All mounting holes drilled and screws installed but not overly tight.
Prop and cowling removed to put a drop of CA in each of the holes to harden the threads.
Finished cowling & spinner assembly. I had to enlarge the prop opening on this side quite a bit due to it being the counter rotating side and the spinner being for standard rotation.
Since my club's upcoming "Warbird Fly-in" was the excuse to build this one, the AMA sticker makes it legal. I'm hoping if I print this picture and keep it in my flight box I won't have to remove the cover to show it. That's my biggest gripe about electics in general. Most of them don't have any good places to put the sticker.
At this point it's almost ready for flight testing. It's going to come in (AUW) about 6 oz. over the kit's listed 60 oz. by the time I add approx. 4 oz. of lead to the tail. It's nose heavy even without the battery packs installed. Still a great looking model though, and I wanted to throw in a picture of it.
