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Post by exrafbod on Dec 8, 2004 18:17:44 GMT -7
I have had my TF ARF Nobler now for nearly a year and a bit so I thought I give an update on how things are going. This is not 'another TF SLAM' more rather an update on my plane which, I promise, will fly one day. Maybe a bit of humour too is the real intent of this. Dispensing with the nose weight I ditched the old kitchen- sink type metal tank as initially supplied. Saved a ton of weight right there. Peeled off the fuse covering as it is not supposed to look like a US Navy Junkers JU52 Transport (excessive covering ripple effect) and recovered with TF Mono Silver/Aluminium covering. Looks reasonable now. Tail and nose sections will still be blue so no attempts at 'appearance points' for any future competition for this machine. Underside is still blue too all the way back to the elevators and fin/rudder. The stabiliser is now silver/aluminium. Please note there are two i's in aluminium (at least when I write it). The mainplane flaps are to be left in 'as is' condition i.e blue ripple Junkers type finishing.....just as a 'reminder'. The pot-metal bellcrank went away many moons ago and the leadouts are now roughly 18/20ga solid. The tank was replaced last weekend with a Sull*van 4oz soft tank configured as uniflow and mounted flat not upright against the former that the mainplane butts up to. More rearward weight distribution. The control rod for the flaps were simply installed with 90 degree bends in the right places and the flap control horn was drilled out a bit to accommodate. The Bellcrank is now a S*G 3" Nylon and was a sow to install (but doable). An OS 46LA was purchased and the rear needle R/C assembly scrapped for a fixed venturi and standard OS NVA a la FP variety installed. Told to use S/Tigre NVA but won't listen. The LA muffler went 'walkies' too and was replaced by an Art Adam*on Tongue Muffler which also saved a grain or three. The prop will be an 11x5 A*C when ready to go. Even at moderate engine running on my excellently performing Brian Coop*r's Custom Blended 5% Nitro Fuel this combination has all the oomph needed to do it all so that means I'll have to get out and start doing it. The mainplane 'lost' its covering today and will be redone in TF S/A as the fuse now is. Are you listening Santa? I suppose now I have a spare set of decals (transfers to my Brit pals) hanging up in the workshop. Oh.... the LA will be mounted as close to the fuel tank hole in the front former as possible which may lead to some cowling shortening. I have no desire to use a shaft extension nor do I want to stick anything leaden on the back for balance. While being about it, the weight box on the outboard wing will become accessible for obvious reasons that I will most prabably yet have to find out about later. So that's where it sits..... way ahead of schedule! Tight lines everybody and Merry Xmas etc.
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Post by exrafbod on Dec 28, 2004 3:11:16 GMT -7
....lets see now...
Post Xmas the 5 thousand or so miniature steel balls used as a glued-in tip weight were dug out of their respective resting places and a new weight box installed top and bottom of the outboard wingtip. With 7/8oz installed in the lower box which is non removable I calculated that I can vary the total tip weight up to 1 & 3/4 IF I NEED TO. The original ball bearing collection weighed 1&1/8oz. The top tip-weight box has a screw down lid that sits flush in the wing.
The OS 46LA was installed as far back as possible. The engine bearers were shortened a full 1/2 inch and the cowling now sits much farther back than originally intended.
So now I do not have a Nobler but I suppose it's now a sort of NoseBLessor..... its new name!
A DuBr* 1 & 3/4" Spinner in matching blue was purchased as were some small long bolts and blind nuts with which to secure the cowling. The Blind nuts will be installed through the engine bearers, two per side to prevent vibration and or separation.
The air scoop and engine cylinder hole have been Dremelled out of the cowling without chipping the paint (still blue). Hey, I just invented a new verb!
The APC 11x5 prop has been purchased and balanced.
The U/C legs now sport a stopwasher inboard and a wheel as supplied followed by the appropriate collet on the shaft. A small ring of silicone tube now prevents the collet falling off if it should vibrate loose.
I have beefed up the firewall by installing a couple of hard balsa gussets behind (to dampen the vibration which shakes loose) the firewall. These balsa gussets also dampen any tendency for the soft Sulli*an 4oz fuel tank to wander about inside the fuselage. a couple of light ply gussets will go on the engine side of the firewall too.
The elevator pushrod has been fabricated to more or less the correct length and has been soldered to the rod and weight tested.
The entire tailplane has been assembled (dry fit only) prior to final assembly and eyeballed for correctness.
The elevator hinges have been Pacered (another new verb) into the Stabiliser.
The mainplane ply wing bolt bolt facing has been glued in place and drilled as required.
Due to the tank being installed as far back as possible, the wing seating dowel got a bit circumcised (sorry) to prevent it from poking the tank through the ply fuse former.
The tank in now plumbed in Uniflow form and will be installed much later... well at least after the mainplane is installed.
Stellar progress what?
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Post by exrafbod on Dec 29, 2004 16:31:56 GMT -7
Ok. A couple of setbacks to report....
Tried re-covering the fuselage. Everything aft of the cockpit area is ok but the forward fuse turned to to be a disaster. How? Well it seems the if some residual glue or other detritus is not removed before recovering i.e. the fuse was not re-sanded the new mono covering went on without preparation and the undersurface reacted to the application of heat. Result was one blistered, uneven and bumpy, ugly mess. Off it came again and back with the sandpaper. Lesson learned.
Inside fuselage around cockpit area is now painted black.
Recovering the mainplane is next and is going to be a bit of a sow as the flaps will remain attached during the process. The covering will be done in four sections starting with undersides first. Not looking forward to that at all.
The AP* 11x5 prop is balanced and awaiting installation. The *oldberg matching blue spinner will be trimmed up to fit tonight. The GPlains spinner was rejected as it was natural metal, didn't match the cowling, was relatively heavy (I thought) and pretty expensive.
The 46 LA lost its Phillips Head screws and were replaced with Allen headed bolts a la the OS FP Series.
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Post by exrafbod on Jan 4, 2005 23:03:56 GMT -7
Decided the Du*ro 1 & 3/4" is too small to accommodate an A*C 11/5 so I chose a *oldberg Spinner which was a better colour match and on sale too to do the job. Cannot justify the $35-odd bucks plus tax for the GP Aluminium Spinner. A lot of hacking and (new verb again) Dremmeling the prop now fits the spinner and looks ok. Have ordered a new OS 40FP cover (back) plate to replace the nasty looking black plastic one. Have a gasket set aleady in stock. The OS #8 Glow Plug was removed and replaced by a long reach Thunderbolt (with idle bar) instead. Got a small set of blind nuts and long bolts with which to retain the cowling. Blind nuts will be sunk into engine bearers. Hard balsa gussets are now glued in place behind firewall to engine bearers and small ply gussets are now cut to reinforce the engine bearer front firewall joints. The balsa gussets will also serve to restrain the tank and prevent any shifting in flight or during engine runs. Hopefully.
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Post by Garf on Jan 5, 2005 10:45:37 GMT -7
Isn't an LA46 a liittle overkill for an ARF Nobler? The original was able to fly very well with a Fox 35S.
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Post by cardinal40 on Jan 5, 2005 22:42:38 GMT -7
So I would guess that the Nobler and you will be tuned up to perfection for Prarie Fire 2005 !!!!!!!!! ; I have seen a Nobler with a LA46 and it was a very nice flying plane.Also a very smooth running engine.
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Post by exrafbod on Jan 6, 2005 12:12:50 GMT -7
Phil,
The Nobler goes really well with an OSLA46. Even at modest rpm it goes where it's pointed. Not too heavy either surprisingly enough. The 40 range is good too. I saw one fly last year with a 46 and was impressed so decided to go the same route.
cardinal40.....
perhaps I will do my customary commissary-tent flying again this year and remain in awe of those who turn up to fly the pattern. Can't testify to any tuning for me or my aeroplane at that time as the aging process continues to wreak havoc on mobility and agility. The way things are going it may well be PF 2006 before that plane is ready for anything.
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Post by tperry2054 on Jan 7, 2005 9:58:19 GMT -7
ExRAF, I recently obtained an OS .40 and an OS.46 myself. I borrowed some backplates from a couple of my tired FP .40s. I did something a little different for fuel feed (I will tell you all what later, depending whether it works or not.) If you would, please tell me where you obtained your replacement cap head screws. Will the FP 40 screws work? Tight lines, Tom
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Post by RetNavySuppo on Jan 7, 2005 17:31:56 GMT -7
Tom, You can get just about any type of screw or bolt for your engines from the following source: www.microfasteners.com/I have one of those screw-checkers - a piece of steel with many holes that you screw in a bolt to check the type of thread it has. This way I know what to order. However, before I had this measuring device, I would just tape samples of the bolts/screws I needed to a piece of paper and mailed it to them and they figured out what I needed. Just tell them you want hex-heads and tell them what type of metal you want - stainless steel or the standard black metal. By the way, their website has their catalog. Great service and quick turn-around.
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Post by exrafbod on Jan 8, 2005 10:01:17 GMT -7
Tom,
The Coverplate for the OS 40FP fits well and improves the LAs appearance to my mind. I also intend to use the same headbolts from an FP40. I did that replacement already with an LA40 and it worked just fine too.
The suggestion by RNS to get them from microfasteners.com is good as they are probably cheaper than ordering from OS.
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Post by exrafbod on Jan 25, 2005 12:51:33 GMT -7
The front fuselage section was recently recovered again and, although not great, is, for the moment, acceptable. This now opens the door for other things to happen.
Tonight, hopefully, the Uniflow Pipe gets installed then followed in short order by the tank itself (as mentioned - as far back as it will go). That will give me an opportunity to guestimate where the blind nuts will be installed through the engine bearers. Those will hold the cowl in place. Once the positioning of the cowl has been determined the engine will be trial mounted sans muffler. If all goes well the placement of the cowl retention screws will be finalised and the holes drilled.
The fit of the spinner and prop will follow after the holes for the muffler exit and mounting screws have been located and drilled out. Catching the edge of the blue paint with the Dremel bit is always a worry so one has to take it slow and easy and not let the bit skip or bite the plastic cowl. Keeping the bit perpendicular to the surface being cut is the key to cutting it clean.
Trying to keep the long lower tongue on the cowling intact is going to cause some grief. The lower fuselage joint that will be cemented in place after the wings are glued in is not a perfect fit and there is a small but perceptible gap. Go figure. The cowling tongue will hopefully disguise and cover that up by shrouding the bad joint.
I suppose in the meantine I could go and give the engine some serious running-in time as the weather is way above our seasonal norm right now. Capital idea.
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Post by exrafbod on Feb 7, 2005 2:02:36 GMT -7
Rats! Hardly any of the stuff mentioned above got done. Why? More problems. Go figure. What did get done was the plastic cover (back) plate for the engine went walkies and was replaced by good old pot-metal a la part number 3017. Uniflow tank was installed finally. It is removable though. The main undercart was screwed in place. The wing was bolted in place (but not yet glued). The elevator pushrod was connected to the main flap control link, soldered in place to make it non-removable. Ooops! The tail section was squared off more or less by the Mk1 Eyeball and glued in place. Double ooops! The tailwheel got (Araldited to my Brit pals) epoxied in place. Just gets better doesn't it? A 3/8 oz tipweight got smelted and bashed into shape for installation in the above-plane weightbox. Combined with the 7/8 oz in the lower fixed weightbox there is now a total of 1 & 1/4 Oz replacing those hundreds of crappy little nasty ballbearings the dear folks at TF took so much time to glue in place. The 46 LA donk got installed and roughly plumbed in after the extra anti-vibration plywood engine bearer stiffeners were Araldited/epoxied in place and duly fuelproofed. Then the real fun started with the fibreglass cowling. Many minutes later with the Dremel to make the engine aperture a bit roomier, being overly generous with the allowance of the cutout around the wheel leg area and generally becoming cognisant of the fact I was starting to screw it up royally just got me madder at my own stupidity. Did I stop to consider? Nope! Did I make it worse? Yup! How much? Read on..... There used to be a nice little hole in the front of the cowl for the intake of air, flies and other assorted minced hoppitycloptera to be sucked through. Let's make it much bigger. So, to iterate that instead of reminiscing over the sexy air intake of RR Merlin Cowls as was the intention for this orifice to be, this gaping hole is now fairly representative of either end of the Channel Tunnel. Amazing what damage can be done with an unsteady hand at the Dremelling tool. Shifting my attention to the Junkers-52-blue-finished lower wing cap, I realised....... it does not fit! "It does not fit!" exlaimed I. Expletives deleted. Thanks again TF! The cap is too short and there is a 1/16th gap at one end. By now interest in the entire project is beginning to wane. But wait....there's more! Something made me squint down the front while playing with the cowl/spinner gap. "Why is the wing tilted down?" thought I. The wing is tilted down towards the outside (Stbd) because the fuse sides are uneven. As my pals in Oz would say....... Bugga! Now seriously considering tap-dancing on the whole thing. Going off for a few days to consider my options and possibly a mental meltdown. How we gonna fix this? Did I not solder in the pushrod already? Mea culpa.
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Post by exrafbod on Feb 15, 2005 10:20:03 GMT -7
It was noted that the Original Nobler had a lifting section in the rudder rather than straight symmetrical section and no rudder offset. Someone somewhere commented that without rudder offset, any overhead manoeuvres were subject to "fall-in" if relying on the lifting power of the rudder/fin assembly alone.
In a panic I rushed downstairs to check mine and make any necessary corrections. I needn't have worried for when I looked at it I found that mine, happily, has a very pronounced warp to starboard as well. Bonus.
People who build rudder offset into stunters in this part of the world are spat upon and their ilk are shunned by the knowing and the purists. It is simply better aerodynamics to have a straight tail and the aeroplane flying at a constant tangent rather than actively pulling in the opposite direction.
Since I did not build the fin and rudder assembly I shall no doubt be held blameless and free of all ensuing guilt in the matter of the wonky tail.
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Post by exrafbod on Feb 23, 2005 11:08:48 GMT -7
After checking out another club members TF N at a Mall Show last weekend I noticed hers was similarly cursed with a warped outward rudder. Deliberate? Perhaps they're supposed to be like that.
Anyhoo... to continue.
A fairly long and protracted battle ensued in order to finally fit the cowl. I lost count of the number of times the thing was emplaced then measured then removed then cut then replaced etc. I was posessed by the need to get the spinner centered and a realistic cowl/spinner gap created first before selecting the anchor points for the cowl blind nuts. Using the "ahh sod it - its not a piano we're building" thoughtology, I finally selected the anchor points. One each side of the main cowl shroud in line with the engine bearer and one at the extreme cowl flap just ahead of the wing root. This gives the cowl little chance of rattling free during engine runs. Due to the fact that I had epoxied in some firewall block stiffeners behind the main firewall it required a great deal of manual dexterity to locate and centre the blind nuts before securing them. In order not to crush the fuselage balsa tightening the blind nuts I used a large steel washer to dissipate the tightening load.
The real fun started with the hole cutting for the engine exhaust system. The OS Muffler for the LA25 was discarded and a tongue muffler substituted. The hardest part of that process was continually starting and stopping the cut to check dimensions again and again to make sure the paint was not chipping from the fibreglass. The tongue muffler is tapped for UNC so the OS mount screws were replaced by Allen headed bolts. A better arrangement as it makes life now a lot easier removing and tightening the muffler. Drilling out the head bolt holes for that was much fun too. I tend to cut or drill things a number of times after I realise that what I am cutting or drilling is too short to begin with. Something to do with my Irish heritage I think. (No offence to anyone else out there with green in their blood).
After the muffler actually went on and was checked for binding, the next step was to drill the hole for the needle valve. Using BGT - best guess technology, I started with a 1/16th drill to approximate the starting point and slowly enlarged the hole to the point where I could finish it off with the Dremel.
The fuel overflow pipe when replacing the cowl is long enough to be pushed forward towards the LA and pokes down and out of the corner of the engine cooling hole when the cowl is in place. Handy that.
Please note that I ensured all relevant and exposed holes in the LA were bunged up with gauze before any drilling took place.
The cowl can be removed and replaced without having to remove the glowplug.
The cowl is still in its original length and was not shortened at all.
The wing.
"Cover it and be dam*ed" I thought, so out came the moneycote. I did the tip sections in halves, top and bottom first then overlapping the tips slightly, I covered the bottom sides, again overlapping by about half an inch. I finished off by doing the top sides last. The trick to doing this with the flaps in place is to take it slow and cut a bit of an excess in the trailing edge to use as a threading tang. Thread the tang through the TE and Flap gap and use the tangs to tension the moneycote as you apply heat.
Not a stellar job but way better than the factory Ju 52 finish by a country mile. I user silver/aluminium for the fuse and main wing and stabiliser. The original blue is still on the flaps, cowl, elevators, rudder and underside of fuse just as a reminder.
As noted before, the wing seating was found to be out of true with a very pronounced droop to starboard. Not good. How to fix this?
As I was mulling over option 1, i.e. to shim the port wing to equalise the list, the great gods of balsa smiled down on me. Remember that the wing was/is now forever in place because I stupidly and prematurely soldered the elevator pushrod in place so the wing will not detach. Well I found that my stupidity was rewarded by the fact the I could cant the flaps in full-down position, pop out the trailing edge from the fuse then withdraw the leading edge plug from the fuselage former and drop the wing out of position. Here's the miraculous bit.... the whole wing assembly now was able to articulate away from the fuse to give more than enough clearance to get in with the Dremel and a coarse grinding wheel to re-contour the starboard wing root. YIPPEEE!
Problem solved.
Not quite.
After checking and rechecking again the wing was epoxied in at last and hopefully for the life of the airframe anyway. Hoo-yah.
Now it started to look like an aeroplane.
The underside wing fillet was glued in place after the cowl was removed.
BIG MISTAKE! OH NO!
The cowl does not fit now!
The air in the workshop was royally blue. Never in the field of human cussing has so much invective been owed to so many by so few.
That night I denied the parentage of everyone and their dog who ever put this ARF on the market.
After having given the glue a great deal of time to set up, I now had the joyous honour of having to cut through it and remove the bottom section without too much damage.
More blue air.
In the wee small hours, the offending part came away and was cleaned up and yet, many hours later, was re-contoured and made to fit as it should then again, finally cemented in place.
I believe that somewhere in a kit or ARF that to qualify as a model aeroplane one has to have used some original balsa glue in the process. Good old Ambroid was used to complete this step and to round of the fuse wing filleting.
The cowl was replace finally, when dry, without a fight.
The canopy was tack-taped pending the purchase of a few inches of double sided tape and the canopy edging was painted in light blue.
The weightbox lid was painted the same as the canopy edging to make it stand out from the main wing. Why? Because.
Because people may ask "Why is that bit a different colour"?
That's because I want a hook to get them into conversation about how this thing was put together.
To all intents and purposes fellow modellers, this thing just needs a final balance and a couple of engine runs to make sure before releasing it.
I'll do up some decal/wordage suitable for the project and post the image of the completed thing and some final comments here before the maiden flight.....
.....just so you all can see what not to do.......
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Post by exrafbod on Feb 23, 2005 15:35:36 GMT -7
Here it is - without any decaling or other wordage. ....hope this works so y'all can see what the fuss was about. I think I'll keep the weightbox lid in Royal Blue to remind me of the cussing that went before. p.s. forgot to mention that one of the original wingseating blindnuts gave way due to a crummy thread on a taiwan bolt being rougher than average. Owed the swearbox a small fortune fixing that one with epoxy.
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Post by Garf on Feb 23, 2005 22:44:48 GMT -7
Is the blue part on the nose all plastic? I would like to see a detail pic of that section with the plastic part removed.
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Post by Britbrat on Feb 24, 2005 13:11:37 GMT -7
Well, It looks pretty good from a distance of 3,000 km.
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Post by exrafbod on Feb 24, 2005 14:33:47 GMT -7
Phil, The blue part of the nose is the fibreglass cowling I had so much fun with. I'll take a close up of the nose area minus the cowl next time I have it removed. I have to shave down the engine bolts a little to shave a couple of grammes off and tidy the thing up before the final weighing and balancing. britbrat: As Tommy Cooper would have said : "Fank you very much".
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Post by exrafbod on Mar 22, 2005 21:11:07 GMT -7
OK, You are all dying to know how much it weighs right? Dry and sans anything liquid it tips the scales at 2lbs 9 and 7/8 ozs. That's 41 & 7/8ths ozs.
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Post by jehold66203 on Mar 26, 2005 9:42:22 GMT -7
The pictures show that you did go to a lot of work for an ARF airplane. Looks great tho. I did not spend that much time on mine and wanted to stay as stock as I could. Started out with OS 35S and was marginal on fuel. Also too fast to really fly pattern to my liking. Tried one flight with the Brodak 40 and as rich as it was it pulled the ARF Nobler with authority. Then it hit me. The original was designed around a Fox 35 Stunt. Made all the differance in the airplane. Plenty of fuel with supplied tank and performed pattern more to my liking. Big problem was uni-flo vent kept coming lose. did manage to get second in Tulsa last year in intermediate. Anyway I hope yours flies as good as it looks and you get many flights out of it. Later, DOC Holliday
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