ovationdave

My Feedback: (16)

My sympathies Anthony. I know what thats like, I had a pinched sciatic nerve in my left leg from a ruptured/herniated disk, and had outpatient surgery on it, with 6 weeks off work (I have a desk job). My recovery took a while, just make sure that if you go for a surgical option, I can't emphasize how important it is to not over-do it during your recovery. Good Luck, I hope you get resolution because back pain can be horrible to deal with......

Best Wishes,

Dave

VincentJ

That's about the head start I was hoping for Anthony! At you're lightning building speed you may still finish first! LOL

Sorry about your back pain, and I hope that the doctors will be able to get you the relief that you're looking for...permanently.

VincentJ

Exciting day as I am introducing the wing to the fuselage for the first time. In fitting the wing to the fuse I had to get the profile of the wing saddle to match that of the wing for it to sit properly on the fuselage. A small lite-ply wing saddle carving guide is supplied to help, but I didn't use it as I found it cumbersome. It was easier to by eye match the dihedral angle of the wing to the saddle.

Having this accomplished I needed next to glue in two wing hold-down straps supplied with the kit. These are made from 3/32" birch ply, but I opted not to use them and made my own from 1/8" birch ply intead. I wanted the extra strength in this area since I am using these straps as a means to hold a sliding tray that will hold the gas tank and ignition box. The gas tank tray is also birch ply with a thickness of 3/32". You can see a photo of what it looks like. 1/4" holes were drilled in the bottom that will align the wing to the fuse through two dowels. At this point I will not follow the instructions on drilling the holes in the leading edge of the wing for the dowels because I need to set the wing incidence first. I will be sure to cover the process when I do it.

Propworn

My Feedback: (3)

Do they give a reference angle of incidence to the thrust line. This will make a world of difference in how the plane will handle. I didn't see you mention this and after all the nice work it would be a shame if you skipped this step. Keep up the great work.

Dennis

VincentJ

Dennis, the incidence angles for the wing and horizontal stabilizer will be set to specifications (see photo)
using an incidence meter.

Propworn

My Feedback: (3)

I wasn’t criticizing I just noticed you hadn’t mentioned it before. I have seen more than a few builds go wrong when someone assumed all the parts were cut and assembled correctly so they never bothered to check. It would be terrible to put all that work into such a model only to have to do major surgery afterwards. Keep up the good work I like to read good build threads.

Dennis

VincentJ

No offence taken Dennis, I'm happy that you're following this build and by all means ask or question what you see (or don't see) done here. I have been known to make plenty of mistakes!

I am trying to present an honest build that I hope will not only foster interest in the Spacewalker but give others a visual presentation of how it's built.

Propworn

My Feedback: (3)

I needed a plane that flew so well I could lend it out to the visiting modest pilot or even an advanced pilot. I had it twinned on my two transmitters and I would check the visiting pilot out then turn him loose with the Spacewalker and tell him to fly as much as he wanted. A 3000 mAh receiver battery usually wore the pilot out before it needed charging. 1/4 scale powered with a Thundertiger 91 four stroke. Even with fuel proofing it ended up soggy and finally the firewall fell apart.

VincentJ

Sliding tank tray has been completed. I slightly modified my original design. The tray slides in and out easily by removing two 4-40 cap head screws. The tank will be mounted on the upper part of the tray secured by a tank strap while the ignition box will be secured to the underside of the tray also secured by a strap. This arrangement will be easily serviceable.

Work on the wing continues as well. I sheeted the lower part of the wing's center section along the trailing edge only. Note that I did not install the two plywood wing hold down plates as of yet. I prefer to align the wing on the fuselage then drill the wing bolt holes through first. The holes center can then be used to center the wing hold down plates.

VincentJ

Today's tasks were that of aligning the wing on the fuse, drilling and tapping the wing bolt blocks and finally "letting in" the wing bolt plates into the wing's sheeting. Each of these tasks were important and I made sure to take my time so as not to make any fool mistakes.

Getting the wing properly aligned, making sure that it was centered on the fuselage was easy enough. I taped the wing to the fuse to make sure that it wouldn't move. Carefully measuring where to drill taking into account the dihedral and the slope of the wing was a little nerve wracking. All of this had to go through the wing and target the center of the 3/4" wide hardwood mounting block... In the end it was all good.

I drilled the holes with a #7 Fractional drill bit as I would later tap threads into these blocks with a
1/4-20 tap. After running the tap through the first time I liberally soaked the threads with some thin CA and after it dried I again ran the tap through for a second time.

In a earlier post I said that I like to install the wing bolt plates after I drill the holes into the wing because I can center the plate much easier that way. Pictures are worth a thousand words so you can see the steps I took to get the job done.

All in all a pretty good days work...

Cub Flyer Fresno

Superb craftsmanship there VJ!  Excellent job... as always!

ovationdave

My Feedback: (16)

Nice Work! Its funny you mention this only because it has to be one of my least favorite tasks in a build. I NEVER feel comfortable at the stage of putting those holes in the wing and the hold down plates, it just never feels "right". Anyway, it looks like all is well on your build!

On a side note I am finally getting my new trailer to a point where it should be ready to transport planes come Sunday. I can hardly wait to go flying now!

Dave

VincentJ

Dave, show us some pictures of your new mobile hangar (trailer).

Drilling the wing hold-down bolt holes is not one of my favorite things to do. There are a lot of things that could go wrong at that point. I just tell myself trust in your measurements, then commit to the process...

TomCrump

I agree with both of you. I'm always nervous when I align the wing to the fuselage, but in reality, the job isn't that hard.

Nice work, Vincent.

Dave, I'd like to see pics of your trailer, too.

VincentJ

Thanks Tom!

This morning I was eager on getting started checking the wings incidence. The wing was secured to the fuse with two 1/4-20 nylon wing bolts. Note: The rubber band you see is holding the leading edge of the wing tight against the bottom of the fuse. The two wing dowels have not been installed, nor should they be until the wing incidence is set.

Leveling the Fuselage
In order to accurately check the wing incidence, the fuselage needs to be perfectly leveled out. Checking the plans you need to determine where the aircrafts datum line (center line) is. On this model the datum line is the top longeron. Leveling this model couldn't be easier since the top of the fuses longeron was covered with lite ply (PT-1) making a very nice place for your level to rest.

Shims bought at my local hardware store was used to level everything out. The shims were placed under the stands feet until the bubble on the level was where I wanted it to be.

I'm using the Robart Model Incidence Meter which I find very versatile and easy to use. The meter is attached to the wings leading and trailing edge using sliding vee blocks. The amount of incidence can then be read off the meter's dial. This model calls for 2 degrees of positive incidence and I'm currently at 2-1/2 degrees positive. I'm off by 1/2 degree! I will dismount the wing and remove a slight amount of material from the wing saddles trailing edge which should bring the incidence into specs.

This is why the front wing dowels shouldn't be installed until this process is done. Once the incidence is established the dowels can then be installed.

rogergh

My Feedback: (3)

VJ , I have been following your build from the beginning and I serm to learn something every day! Thanks for the concise directions on using the incident meter, it will definitely be my next purchase. I built my Spacewalker last winter thanks to Tom's great build thread and have been enjoying flying this summer, you will really like the way it handles. Here are a couple pics my wife took last week.

Thanks, Roger

VincentJ

Super job on your Spacewalker Roger! Tom does have some nice planes, that's what gave me the bug to build this one. I hope I can generate interest for others to follow suite as Tom has apparently done with his thread...

Anthony (Waconut), will be starting his 1/3 scale Spacewalker soon, be sure to follow along it should be a good build!

Roger how did you attach the windscreen to your fuse?

rogergh

My Feedback: (3)

VJ, I used button head screws but you might check out Tom's thread, he used some sort of tape that looks really good.

Will be looking forward to Anthony's thread, his thread on his cub inspired my first kit build.

Roger

WacoNut

Roger,
You built a couple fine looking planes there. I never knew I inspired anyone

VJ,
The S/W is looking really nice. I did get some good news from the doc today. He is confident he can fix my back with a combination of oral steroids and an epidural steroid injection in the affected disc. It does sound painful and he assured me it was but I am ready for it, after next Wed. I should be pain free. I will get my buddies Decathalon assembled and then on to the Spacewalker.
Later!!
Anthony

SunDevilPilot

Vincent,

cublover

My Feedback: (47)

Took me a few days to get threw all the post,,,great thread,,,Even an ol' dog like myself can learn a few things...I love great build threads, don't you?? here is mine I built over the winter!!..scratch build sig plan blown up to 136"...I love the way it flys!!A few "tweeks" here and there!!....good luck with yours, cant wait to see it all done!!!...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Abpr3_FcuEI


You have fun with yours!!..I love the Spacewalker,,always have!!

VincentJ

Anthony, that is great news! I hope that you can finally put an end to your back trouble... Anxiously awaiting your Spacewalker build.

SunDevilPilot, your welcome. God knows I have learned plenty from reading your threads...

Cublover, what can I say, I'm speechless. You are obviously a very talented builder and painter. I wonder what your car looks like? Great job, I enjoyed watching your video!

cublover

My Feedback: (47)

hahaha Same color!!!..Thanks

VincentJ

I knew it![8D]

TomCrump

I'm glad that some of you guys have found my Spacewalker threads useful. Of all the build threads that I've done, they seem to be the most popular.

Just in the past week, I've recieved communications from two builders who have completed and flown the Sig kits.

Vincent, you have upped the bar, for build threads. Keep up the good work.

My windscreen is glued and screwed. I used aluminum tape to simulated a windshield frame.