Geek's STi Build

[Geek]

Jim - I would definitely agree with the Hysol coated balsa being sturdier. I was originally actually thinking I would line the inside with Hysol and stuff it wilt the original foam supplied with the kit to just to beef them up some. Jury is still out on exactly what I will wind up doing.

[Geek]

Worked on getting the counterbalances installed on the right flaperon. Got all the counterbalances drilled and got the two for the right flaperon riveted and Hysol'd on. Not a lot done but for whatever reason working on the flaperons makes me overly careful. Must be that they are so thin and so fragile when they aren't all connected to their pivots.

Flaperons 8.jpgFlaperons 9 A.jpgFlaperons 10.jpgFlaperons 11 A.jpgFlaperons 12 A.jpg

[Geek]

I really didn't like the prefab tips for the flaperon just cause they felt thin and would self destruct without much effort. They probably are fine but that was just me. But I did like the way they looked when they were installed. So I took some Hysol and lined the inside of the tip. Not pretty but it really made them feel solid when they were installed. Finished the control arm install on the left flaperon so that part was done. I started installing the hinge mounts on the left wing. I sandwiched a piece of aluminum between the two hinge pieces (literally a couple thousandths thinner than the washers the instructions say to mount between the mounts. Marked a line on it for the 1/8 inch space between the trailing edge and the mount and pressed it up against the washer so I could see my spacing. I clamped a three foot aluminum L to the ribs so that the back of the mount pressed against the L when the 1/8 spacing was right. That way I was certain the mount would not slip back and I would loose my spacing when I drilled them. Got both my inboard and outboard hinge mounts drilled and cleco'd with the proper spacing I measured between the hinges on the flaperon. Now I am ready to mount the flaperon to the wing and install the remaining hinge mounts.

Gary

[alexM]

I'm just about to do this step, so thanks for the pictures. Great idea clamping that extrusion in place to keep the hinge brackets from shifting.

I have the prefab tips and agree they seem thin. I was thinking about just roughing out a piece of balsa and squishing it with Hysol into the tip piece. Sure a lot faster than shaping, sanding, filling, shaping, etc like we do in the tail of the airplane.

[Geek]

Getting ready to go off on travel again for work so didn't want to get into anything major. Thought I would do a bit of fit and finish work. The flaperon hinges are punched out of flat sheet during manufacturing so the edges are sharp with some square corners as well. Just like a good punch will do. So I smoothed the edges and rounded the corners to make them look a bit more finished. I had run a fillet of Hysol along the edge of the wing tip and the fence just to give a touch more support. Started going over the Hysol with the filler to smooth out that fillet and give it a better look when I paint the tip.

Gary

Hinge.jpgWing Tip Fence 3.jpgWing Tip Fence 4.jpgWing Tip Fence 5.jpg

[Geek]

Have been building the electrical cables that go into the wings. Now have the magnetometer, pitot heat and both port and stbd cables for lights (landing and nav lights) completed. The light cables are set up with connectors where the wing tips attach as well as at the wing root. I haven't attached those wing root connectors just to make routing them down the wing spars easier. The magnetometer is also going to be routed down the rear spar while the OAT cable will route behind the fuel tank to keep the length of the cable in spec. The magnetometer, lights and OAT will all be incorporated into the one wing root connector for the port wing. Stbd wing is easy with only the lights coming out to the root.

Magnetrometer Cable.jpg

[Geek]

A friend of mine asked me the other day how the plane was coming. Thought about that for a bit and came up with a one word answer; stagnated. I have a really nice HVLP paint system that is pretty high quality. That's the good news. The bad news (and the reason for the stagnation answer) is that the HVLP paint sprayer operator (me) isn't good at all. My last week of effort has been pretty much sand, spray, sand, repeat. I am so good at running that I should have been in the Olympics. I am very good at sanding out the runs too. Maxed myself out on You Tube vids on how to and just keep winding up with runs. Today I tried again on both the wing tips and one of the flaperons. The good news is that while there are still some minor runs on the tips, I took what I learned there and applied it to the flaperon. No runs there. It actually came out pretty nice. So maybe my days of stagnation are behind me. God I hope so.

Wing tip 1.jpgWing Tip 2.jpgFlaperon 1.jpgFlaperon 2.jpg

[DesertFox4]

Your post is so familiar when it comes to building an aircraft. Whether building a part or painting the thing. The best work doesn’t always appear during the first attempt. Not quitting or settling for mediocre results is a worthy goal. Keep after it. Any tribulations during the build will vanish when you take your first flight.👍

[Eric Page]

They sure look good to me. I'll haul mine over the pass when it's time to paint!

[airlina]

One thing that really helped me to eliminate runs , was to rotisserie most everything I painted so I was only painting a horizontal surface. Bruce N199CL