Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
Friday, January 20, 2012
Reactor by E-flite (ARF)
Hi, Guys,
Another winter project. Although it is an ARF it still took this old man a week or two to complete. Ray Ozmun sure helped me to get the wing halves to fit into the sides of the fuselage. Notice the clamp type connections for the pushrod.
It will probably only take a few seconds to destroy. It is designed for 3D flying. Which means, don't blink your eyes. If you do it is gone.
Especially if your an old man!
Latest from Bucky
Hi Guys,
Two Winter rubber band projects I built from plans in the December 1982 Model Airplane News and October 2011 Flying Models magazine.
The Monocopter was designed by Bill Hannan. Bill wrote that Charles Sotich flew a Monocopter 80 feet high for over 40 seconds at the West Baden indoor championships indoor site. Full size plans are in the magazine.
The Zaic Z-15 was designed by Jim Lueken and is a tribute to Frank Zaic. Full size plans are also in the magazine.
I could not resists putting the Z-15 in my wifes Tulips. No, she did not pick them in our backyard. Although it is sunny outside, it is also a mild 5 degrees here in Sandusky, Ohio on this 20th day of January 2012.
Have Fun Building and Flying Model Airplanes
Bucky
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Building the Lanzo Bomber's Pylon
Do the isometric drawings for the Bomber's pylon construction leave you with a headache? In report #27, Tandy Walker gives some step-by-step hints.
Today, I completed planking the Bomber's attached pylon structure, except for some final finish sanding. To repeat myself, planking this structure is undoubtedly one of most difficult task I have ever done. I want to walk you through the Bomber's pylon planking process in the following pictures.
As you recall from my Report No. 25, this is what the unplanked pylon structure looked like.
On my previous big Bomber, I made the mistake of using medium soft balsa for ease in planking the pylon. At the contest flight line, when I hit the big Edco Sky Devil .65 with the electric starter, my crewman (Joe Percy) punched his thumb through the soft rear pylon planking while trying to hold the Bomber in place. Since I am going to power this Bomber with a hot Series 20 McCoy .60, this time I selected medium hard balsa for the pylon planking, which makes the planking even more difficult.
In the picture below, you can see the "hour glass" effect of the forward planking. The problem arises when trying to shape the bottom edge of the planking to make it fit properly where it intersects the fuselage's sheeting. To achieve "Fit Properly" requires several iterations, trial fittings, and loads of patience for each sheet. This picture also shows the internal alignment tabs on the aft sheet required to properly interface the planking vertical joint.
This picture shows the above planking joint completed. Note that the pylon cross section goes from a varying width hour glass at the LE to a constant width along the pylon vertical brace. Also notice the complex intersection starting to form of the bottom edge of the planking with the fuselage as you move from the LE aft.
Aft View
Left Side View
I thought this was a nice shot of the top view. Even though
quite large, this built up structure is surprisingly light weight.
The 1/16" planking really adds the final stiffness to the pylon and securely attaches it to the fuselage. Don't ever let anyone try and tell you that a Bomber is easy to build! Those of you who have built one know what I mean.
This completes all of the Bomber's basic structure now except for the wing. However, I think my next step will be to install the ignition system, radio equipment, servos, and control linkages.
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Larry Davidson's improvement on the Lanzo plan includes dropping the core of the pylon down into the fuselage. The top corners are reinforced with large gussets and the pylon core replaces the top longeron which is cut away.
