Closeups of my handywork. After sandblasting I ‘ll reheat the joints to make them flow a bit more and fill any voids leftover. This will be for cosmetical reasons only.
Just a relative quick job tonight: making the fin. The only noteworthy item would be that after installing the ribs, I still had to drill a hole for the bracing rods. I decided to simply cut a slit with the Dremel and enlarge it to fit the tube. Seems to work well, and since it will be hidden, it’s good enough for now. Consider this a practice run for the elevators.
Once it is all finished it looks easy. At the start it’s more like ‘how am I going to tackle this? I decided to use a 3 mm alu plate as a mount for the short tubes that hold everything together. This way I could mount some 5 mm wire studs to hold the motor, and line things up as I think they should be. The frame bolts are actually mounted in the frame, which makes everything line up perfectly. Mind you, this is probably version 1, when I get further along I might need to change things because of balancing, place for the exhaust, servo’s etc. The mounting tubes are still oversized, but better a bit longer then too short. The top cross bracing went OK, when I started adding the bottom ones, I found there is no space for them because of the Walbro carb. In theory the supports on 3 sides would be enough. I also have to think of a place for the exhaust, might have to make something special, since I really don’t want the hot exhaust next to the carb.
I ran out of tubes, so next stop is to figure out what I need, place the order and wait.
The mount weighs nothing of course, I did not weigh it, but I would guess around 90 grams.
For the clever ones: no sidetrust in the mount? Based on good advice I decide to use a throttle to rudder mix to keep things lined up. I can always change it! I also might use this mount for running in. (There is no need for it, I know, but I want to see how it holds mechanically before letting go into the big blue yonder.!)
It fits, no worries there! It’s gonna be jus’ perfect! I am sure I can’t resist building the engine mount next. It might not be the correct size, because depending on the CG I will move the engine forward/back. But it will be a good exercise, and it makes things look real..
It’s never too early to add that famous mark. Of course this is the full size one, and I might not like it, but it is a good enough place to start!
Probably overpowers the plane, but it has the right sound, and I have seen the engine long enough in use to know it is going to be a happy marriage! Hey, this thing is called an Acroduster, the more oomph, the better!
Last year I had some fine nice sand left over from doing some garden-diy-ing. ‘Just in case’ I stored it in a nice dry place, knowing that one day, dry sand would come in handy.
I knew from the onset that I needed to find a way to clean up my brazed parts. Up to now I used the 3M-scotchbrite pads and lots of elbow grease. However, you never get into the nooks and crannies. I already had a friend offer his help, but of course there is always the thought ”I could do this myself”. Lots of googling and you know sandblasting can be dangerous for your health, so please only do this if you are a responsible adult, and know how to take the proper precautions!
The mechanics do not appear to be complicated, as shown by the many DIY sandblasting contraptions on utoob. After playing around with some fittings and getting lots of sand in the wrong places, I thought I’d try the most basic version: the plastic bottle version.
So, I got an empty bottle, drilled 2 holes in the neck, modified an airpistol, filled up the bottle with some dry sand, squeezed the trigger, and wow, this works!!
The only downside and need for further work is that my compressor does not really have enough oomph to supply a lot of air. So I blast 10 secs, wait 20 sec etc. I might try with a smaller tube, less air, less sand but more continuous blasting. I did not build an enclosure, I just use the ferns at the edge of the garden as my shield, and they do a good job at catching all the sand!
Yes, I know, the surface is not evenly blasted, there are shiny parts etc. However, the main thing I wanted to achieve was to get rid of all the gunge, and that worked 100%. I still need to add a gazillion bits of tubing and supports, so there will be more opportunities to hit every part. For now, I am happy with the result!
Oh, by the way, so far the fuse weighs in at 973 gram, which is pretty good going. I only used 30 grams silver to solder everything so far.
After a few weeks of putting bits of tubing together, I am at the point where things start to look like something you would recognize as a fuselage.
This morning I cleaned up the fuse with a diy sandblaster, much to my surprise this went really well. It’s the usual bucket of dry sand, empty bottle and some compressed air contraption. Needless to say, do wear a decent respirator. For the rest, the neighbors are building an extension to their house, I blame all the extra sand in the air on that!
The brazing is getting easier as we go along, however, the further the construction progresses, the more time it takes to make the parts. (When it looks 80 complete, you have 80% of the work ahead of you 😉
Anyways, below some pics from the various stages of construction. I was at this point still struggling getting the right flame from my torch. After suffering from empty bottles, I have now switched to a decent propane tank (still using the oxy-bottles) and a .6 or .7 mm needle as a welding tip. When I am all finished I will be an expert and write a nice story about the pitfalls of silver soldering.
Only if I really feel adventurous will I apply this colour scheme! (Click the link under the pic for the story!) Or have a look on https://www.airliners.net/search?keywords=Stolp+SA-750&photoCategory=39&sortBy=dateAccepted&sortOrder=desc&perPage=36&display=detail
