Plane Build! Pulled the trigger.

[SQRT(-2)]

Thanks for the input guys. Lots of good information.

I have some store credit with Tower, so I went with the PT-20 for my build. I love the look of that sigma, but I just can't get myself to try building it yet. I think I will build the PT-20 first and make my build mistakes on it. I can then build the Sigma next winter and I can always sell the PT-20 if I don't crash it. I know in this ARF world building in unnecessary and I won't ever be as good as the guy making the F14. (Look at that build!) But I just want to build them, for the fact of building them.

I will get a foamie to learn on. Those flying wings look like a nice thing I could throw into the air have fun and practice landings and such. I'll probably keep my eyes open at the local swap meet next month, I bet someone will have something like that. Would not be a swap meet without some swapping going on.

Oh, I am playing with coloring for the PT-20. Here is what I am thinking. Too complex?



Hope it does not look like I brushed off all your good advice. Hopefully this will be the year I get into fixed wing too!

[stevec]

looks good, it will be easy to fly, just remember not to chop the throttle when you roll or loop it!

if you can fly circuits with the helis, then you will be fine with that, just keep the wings level as you come in to land and it will do the rest.

colour scheme may take a few attempts but is perfectly achievable. get a decent iron and lots of blades.

I'd cover the wing in red and then add the black on top for ease. the fus should be easy enough as it is nice and square. test the covering on your iron before you even try to do the ailerons! make sure you know the correct settings for tack, and shrink.
on mine tack is about half way up, and shrink is about 3/4 on the dial.

/steve

[SQRT(-2)]

Thanks for the pointers. Ya keeping the throttle in place will be hard.

Red first then add black, sounds like a good Idea. I'll grab another roll of red just in case. I will probably borrow an iron form someone around here. Save a couple of dollars.

I just rearranged my bed room to make room for one of those long folding tables for the build. Some super glue and epoxy and I will be set to begin. I hope to get a weekend where I can focus on it and get a lot of it done at once. Keep my momentum once I get going. That may take some time to find that kind of time, but I think it will improve my chances of finishing it.

[Crashkopter]

Looks good! I have destroyed planes because of losing orientation. So now I have a distinctive pattern on the underside so I can tell if I'm banked to or away from me.

[SQRT(-2)]

Opened the box today, I'm snowed in, seems like a good day to start!

Wish me luck.

[stevec]

good luck

[litehawkdown]

Did you get anywhere with it? I opened my Balsa kit I got from Santa and spent 2 days just soaking it all in then boxed it up for later. It is one of those muti use ones. There is no RC instructions for it. But It can be done. I will do mine one day when all my other projects are figured out. Till then it sits in a box. This is what I got to look forward to

Stuka JU 87-B (10 min 2 sec)

Good build picture vid that's Long with a bad sound track. Might be why the planes in a box LOL.

[Skiddz]

The PT-20 is a pretty simple build. All the parts are tabbed so they pretty much lock together and the instruction book makes it dirt simple...

Lay up a wing, get it flat and square and wick some CA into the joints.. Done... Same with the fuselage.. Tail feathers are all solid.. Just gotta do a little gluing and then sand the leading and trailing edges...

Almost all the hardware you need to complete the thing is in the box too. Just a few things to buy to get it done...

[SQRT(-2)]

I made a little progress. I spent most of the time reading the instructions and stuff. I am not as confident sanding and gluing as I am wrenching.

[13kawasaki13]

I saw that you were going to just borrow an iron for the monocoat but If you plan on having a couple of balsa planes I highly suggest you get your own iron, it's well worth the money

[SQRT(-2)]

An iron is only $20, would be worth it. Good point.

I hope to do some work on it today, jump right in and get some balsa glued together.

At my club swap meet someone donated a lot of old planes to the club to sell. A couple were old ones that had no engine or electronics and needed some fixing up. Re-coating and other minor stuff, not crashed. I picked up an old version PT20 for $15. I am going to use it to practice coating and such. If it turns out good I may throw some electronics in it. Maybe a spare, maybe a club plane, who knows what will become if it? But for $15 I thought why not?

[Skiddz]

Sounds like a good idea to practice covering on a "beater". Quick tip (that I wish I had been given 35-ish years ago when I built my first RC plane) for you; Determine the correct adhesion and shrink temps for the covering you're using. The adhesion temp is lower and the covering won't shrink when you're applying it which makes for an easier installation.

[Scirocco]

As an experienced plane builder, a couple of suggestions. First, don't put TOO much effort into making your trainer "pretty", if it is going to be your trainer. It will take a beating as you learn to fly. OTOH, if you fly the 'beater' PT-20 you bought as your trainer, then it's OK to put a lot of time & effort into making your build a nice one.

Second, it will be difficult to put those large patches of black Monokote over the red, w/o getting lots of bubbles under the black. There are tricks to doing it without getting the bubbles, but it takes experience. My advice would be to use narrower strips of black Monokote to do your trim colors. Or you can "stitch" together several panels of Monokote to make one sheet to apply when you're covering the wing. But again, that's tricky to do well to get the seams to stick together.

Third, make the underside of the wing something COMPLETELY contrasting with the top. Maybe white w/ red stripes or something. This will help you from getting disoriented at a distance. As an instructor, I find that this is what my students struggle with the most; the plane gets a little far away and all of a sudden they're not sure which side they're looking at.

Have fun, take your time and enjoy the build!

Mark

PS...here's my latest build. A SIG 4*Star 20EP. My first electric build, all of my other large planes are nitro powered. This plane uses the same 3S 2200 mah batteries as my T-rex 450s. Here's a link to the build log on wattflyer:

http://www.wattflyer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=69868