TOSS Blog

Ok, so basically Connie structure is complete, all surfaces are in and working
All electrics are inboard and all looms in place, battery pack etc all there.
So a few final little bits and pieces to do....
The spinners were driving me nuts as there are a specific shape
so I eventually found some that were of the correct proportion.
Slightly longer than normal, I had to backfill all the prop openings and spray to aluminum finish...x4.
Then I had to create the sleeve that the spinners come out of, that covers the motors,
luckily found a molded bit of plastic from servo trays and backfilled with balsa.
Then borrow Andy's drill press, fit with a toothed circle cutter,
and try like hell to center the hole in said plastic bits x 4...
A few whiskeys later and this was a cinch.
Boy did this take time, but in the end came out all right me thinks.

 

Thank you Andy - drill press now on the shopping list

First test spinner in place - 3 more to do

Beginning to look more like the real thing

Black leading edge boots in place - de-icers actually on the real thing

Air intakes with some shape and colour

and finally 4 spinners in place....

 

 

 

 

Not wanting to do the great trans peninsula trek on Saturday,
Brendan and myself headed to Signal Hill for what promised to be light conditions.
With the anti gravitational devices firmly active on our Sky Climbers we had a ball in the light conditions.
Up we went... and down we went... depending on just which part of the lift versus sink cycle you were on.
With the whole of Table bay shrouded in mist, the hill was still open,
although the inversion created some interesting bump in flight characteristics.
After telling Mally not to bother coming through... conditions predictably began to improve...
and with Bobby Purnell on hand we started have a really good late
afternoon session from about 3:30 onwards with cool and solid lift out of the SSW.
So sorry Mally, in the end it did come good and we flew till sunset more or less,
while other individuals managed to park a rather large fishing boat
on Clifton's pristine beach, in the same aforementioned foggy morning conditions.
Jeez, what some people do for kicks!

What a perfect evening by the seaside

Just the minor issue of a great whopping trawler in your front yard!

 

 

 

 

 

OK, so where were we...
Fuselage covered, tail covered and onto the wing covering
This understandably took some time with all the complex curves
around the nacelle mounts etc, so I did those first
and then came back to covering the rest of the wing surfaces.
This meant I could overlap the film onto the covered nacelles
and so get the best possible seamless joints.
Unfortunately the grey of the covering was too light so
I would have to spray over the orocover. A 1000 grit paper
given a light dust over the cover resulted in a good bind for
the grey base coat, followed by the colour coat.

 

Ailerons getting covered, with the tools of the trade, orocover,

special iron ( available at a hobby shop near you), ruler, scissors and a sharp knife

 

Servo hatches get the same colour

 

as do the nacelle mounts

 

and then to cover the basic wing area

and after some work, one half covered.

 

and onto side two, note the flaps are cyno hinged as well as using orocover

to cover the base hinge line

 

Getting the cover over the tips and as before, heated and re-heated till all wrinkles vanish

 

Robart hinges about to be given a smattering of Vaseline to protect the joints

it seems as if they even smell epoxy they tend to get sticky, and noisy

so grease the joints well, add epoxy and you will escape the sticky joint issue..

Hinges at 60 degrees to ensure that they are all straight as a dime

and lined up to stop any binding

Putting foam into the training edge just prior to spraying to keep knuckles as clean as possible

Wing gets a grey primer and then the colour coat

Playing chase the string as I set up the loom. First went in with string attached to plastic tube,

then attached the servo leads to the string, pulled the string through

and had the servo leads out the other side

and metal gear sevos firmly in place, for this I used the trusted gws 8mbb servos

and adding the plugs back on the other side

Control horns in place and push rods set through the wing

all the plumbing for this was done way ahead of the covering

and addition of the surfaces

Basic wing completed and functional with ailerons in place

and a full crow system operational

Right. Now to add some sticky bits with colour - decals.

All forecasts got it more or less right this time around.
Three frontal systems stacked up one behind the other,
blew the cobwebs out of the Chapman's Peak site for 3 days in a row.
Unrelenting and at times vicious the slope crew flew themselves to a standstill.
Friday, read public holiday, dawned to the rustle of the palm tree as the storms gathered
on the horizon and Chappies started to light up with moderate, stable and solid lift.
Just a beautiful day had by all who made the trip, between the Black Eagles,
crows and all manner of flying machines. 5 hours later and down the hill we went,
just to repeat the same process on Saturday to strong and gusty conditions
that eventually led to overnight rain. Sunday was a replay once more, however
the lift was just ballistic, smooth and about the best Chappies can get.
Yesterday the mother of all fronts arrived finally and we got as wet as can be,
and this morning there's nary a fart
So some of us old sods (read Mally, Kev, Noel as prime suspects ,
Ryan, Brendan, Rob, Jeff, Lionel and Grahame as the not so guilty parties
and even Steve made a guest appearance) had at up to
15 hours of slope soaring over the three day period.
Talk about sloped out!

I know your probably getting tired of this view, but were not!

Mally and his friend Karel Kraai do a bit of ridge running together

That's pretty darn high up there - think the crow was getting a nose bleed.

Saturdays gusty but awesome conditions

Sunday was just insane, ice cold, and huge dynamic lift that had every
plane screaming like a banshee, while we played pass the radio on the Aldij
which resulted in an hour and a half session - awesome!

 

One of those rather unusual weekends... this is a peninsula after all...
After threatening to be a beaut of a Saturday, an approaching front
decided to take the wind out of the South Easter, just as we got to the front of the slope
and swung a not so elegant Southerly at us
and so we had to trudge all the way back up the hill
and headed off to Kommetjie for the afternoon.
Not to be outdone, Sunday did exactly the same thing, however we were not quite
at Red Hill yet and were able to scarper off to Kommetjie
for some SSW but good lift for the whole afternoon.

One incident for the afternoon was where Bill's Bree wing
got launched into the heavens with the switch off
after landing in the bushes, which then proceeded a good kilometer
down the mountain side in brilliantly perfect trim and
necessitated a somewhat long search and lucky find.
Lesson learnt. Before your "mate" launches you unseen out of the bushes....
just make verbally sure your surfaces are actually working
via a nice old yelling match.

So the Autumn season sets in and we feel the chill in the mornings
but are seriously lacking in the vertical water dropping department
Lets hope those cold fronts get a little bit more steady as we head for June
and the PSS festival - enter now online.

Mally and "that" Aldij, the one that goes on and on and on

Christo, Bill, Noel, Jake and Neal, Mally and myself had a real good Sunday on the slope

 

Hi Guys

Entries open for the Black Eagle Trophy PSS Festival 2012
under the banner above. Be there or be square!
Looks to be a treat this year with some nice toys present and past and new
Lets hope the weather gods favour us as they have done for the last 3 years

 

For the not so astute you would have realised that I had covered
the fuselage somewhat ahead of even getting near the wing construction.
This was due to the time pressures at the time, and then slowed down
dramatically as I realised I was never ever going to make last years comp.
So here's a basic recap of the fuselage and tail covering

First the tail was covered in white. I find that orocover etc work best when
you apply say 300 heat to get the basic bind and then shoot up to 400 heat
to get all the wrinkles out, and believe me, with enough patience you can.
Best to apply, get some wrinkles out, go have a cup of tea and let the shrink
cool down, and then have another go, and you will be pleasantly surprised
at how the wrinkles clear out of dodge.
Something to do with the hot/cold thing that allows the shrink
to stretch better and better every time you do the hot/cold thing.
This amounted to a 12 hour stretch for the fuselage alone -
from 5 in the morning till 5 in the evening. Basically barrel wrapped
in 5 separate pieces from tail to just behind the cockpit.
The trick is to try and get the joins even, which I failed miserably at
as the fuselage just never has a consistent shape to it. Ever.
So in the end I settled for the best I could get
The nose cone was fun - cockpit done as a separate piece,
and tail area of fuselage done as a smaller separate piece.

Adding the little fiddly bits based on images of the actual aircraft
In a later post i will show a differing finish (read redo) as I have found
a nice way to get windows to look like, well, windows.
Trial fitting the horizontal stabs to check overall line-up of the fuse and tail
Trial fitting the wing and tail to the fuselage, sprayed the nose
and added windows with black vinyl. Underpart of the fuselage sprayed at this point as well
Seems best to spray Tamiya primer as a key coat and then go with whatever colour works best.
I found the grey of the orocover to be too light and so went with a spray -
normal old fashioned hardware shop spray paint and the two seem to work well together.
Also found that normal insulation tape - cut to a thin strip works very well for getting
around corners and shapes when masking off an area. Not too sticky - not too loose.
I like to work with contrasting tape to paint colour so I can see the spray area better
then a thicker strip for bind and finally whatever cover you want too use for the rest of the area
Once the paint is dry the insulation tape comes off like a dream.

All looks pretty straight at this point

yup and from the arse end too.
Just out of interest, the Connie's wing on
the actual airliner was based on the P38 Lightning wing as they both
came from the same Lockheed stable and the P38 showed of extraordinary gliding
capabilities during wartime, so there seems to have been a natural evolution
with the wing platform carried to the airliner business.

 

 

 

What a lovely weekends sloping
Friday Chris Leal jets in from JHB, as is his way,
and we end up at a hot and bumpy Signal Hill on the Friday evening.
Not the worst way to end the week I suppose.
Congrats to Bobby for actually putting up the Enyoni in lift/no lift conditions.
Was a real challenge but great fun.
Saturday saw the arrival of the cold front as predicted and
so we headed for Chappies for a real non event day
as the predicted westerly blow refused to arrive, and so we spent the afternoon burning the
volts our of every Lipo we could find in the newly acquired Sky Climbers by Nine Eagles.
These really do fly well in light lift conditions and so the transmitter was handed around
as all and sundry had a go at sloping in real light lift.
Well done to Graham Jackson for actually keeping it up on the slope.
Been so long since we've seen him, thought he might have forgot the technique.
Seems our Chairman's perchance for powered flight might be overcoming his slope tendencies...

Sunday promised better and so delivered better.
As per all predictions the forecasters got it all wrong and a lovely
North Wester hung around for the day. Strong in the morning and lunchtime sessions
we were able to get Aldij's etc up and had a good time on the sticks. By late afternoon
the lift had gone light so out with the Enyoni and sky Climbers once again
and Mally and myself played swop the radio, which proved quite challenging
as you get to take over a new TX and plane simultaneously, (not for the faint hearted)
and Chris just flew the day away till late in the afternoon,
before jetting back to JHB, as is his way.
All in all a great weekend enjoyed by those who chose to venture out.
Christo and the Sky Climber on the west slope when the wind changed
Graham and Christo do the EPO twins thing
Even in dodgy conditions there's fun to be had
Sundays glorious conditions as Mally puts the Aldij through it's paces

Chris mastered the light conditions and had an awesome weekend on the slope

Yup, just another awe filled weekend in the cape!

 

 

This part was fun - and not for the faint hearted ...
4 times every thing and boy can that be tedious,
so be careful when choosing a PSS subject with time restraints,
as things like nacelles can chew up some serious time
based on the amount of repeats required.
A bit of engineering was required to take the wing forms
and then shape the balsa  to fit at the 10 degree angle to the wing
Backfilling joints etc also took some time so all in all
the little "non engines" became somewhat complex,
but that's the fun behind scratch building, it's one hell of a challengeThe only parts that were purchased as molded on the entire plane were the nacelles and the air intakes
Here they are being filled with expanding foam, to add some strength as well as keep it light
One week later and the magic mushrooms have risen and dried, ready to be cut and shaped
Backing up the foam to ensure a nice base for the extender/joiner
made with former and 2.5 mm balsa curled around the shape
And so we have the wing edge 10 degree ready for stage 2
Placing a piece of sandpaper on the wing, vertically sanding a 3mm sheet to get the wing shape,
then using a jigsaw to cut the shape and finally sand down to get the accurate as possible nacelle shape
for flaring into the wing via the leading edge
and Bob's your auntie, it all fit - kinda
Do the same for the base, solid balsa as these are likely to take a
hammering when landing in the Fynbos
Making sure all of this lines up with the fuselage
The 4 stages of the intakes at the base of the nacelle
Made up of 3 pieces of mold, took some time to wok out, but in the end
Cyno jointed with balsa reinforcing on the inside and then Combifill to cover the joints,
sprayed with base coat, sanded again until flush and then a final coat of base coat
Balsa backfill to allow better traction onto the nacelle
Balsa on the inside to strengthen the joins
and pegs added to assist the grip in those bush landings
add to nacelles and combifill the joints

Good friend combifiller, but can be heavy, so go gently with it
and do the same for the top air intakes
and after much sanding, joint filling and general make good
we virtually have the complete engine nacelle make up x 4 - phew!

Next time, to wing covering and dressing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OK, so bang on cue we get the first and real cold front of the winter.
Easter Friday delivered the pre-frontal goods with the wind nice and
strong from the North West and the early birds caught the worm
as Brendan was able to really have the vector up and away and
whistling around much better. As the day progressed the wind
did increase but the lift just did not do so at the same time.
In the end a very nice day on the slope had by all,
other than once more being harassed by SANPARKS rangers
for no particular reason and with such arrogance it was hardly believable.
Saturday was wet - just plain wet, with a garden loving down pour
so there was nary a soul on the slope.
Sunday much the same and two intrepid persons headed out to terrible conditions
and headed home not too much later.
Monday went still as a fart, so it was out with the Sky Climber
(an EPO 2m ship that is a lot of fun to fly) and
off to find some slope generated thermals. Had a real good time
with the  spinning anti gravitational device at the front end, getting
one out of trouble when required....

 

And so Eater delivers it's normal pattern
Tomorrow looks awesome with a beaut of a North Wester blowing in so lets make to Chappies lads
Saturday looks to do the traditional Easter rain - amazing how accurate that is
virtually every Easter I can remember is wet and windy...
and so the bunny will get soaked along with the Two Oceans runners,
and then Sunday continues with a smattering of water before
we get to a sunny but cold South Easter Monday.
Just what the doctor ordered!
See you out there if you have not yet escaped the big smoke.

Ok, so basic wing shape completed.
Time for the fun part x 4 in each case
This really chews up time... and more time....
so possibly a big decision on next project will be
how many bleeding engines does the thing have
because doing everything 4 times in a row can really get to you.
Tends to add that never ending feeling to the build!
The only part of this build that is not hand made are the nacelles and air intakes.
Pre-vac formed, and I ordered them with the plans as
I was aware that that was going to be a time chewer as well either way.
Cutting the surfaces free and cutting out the servo bays, all previously drawn up
on tracing paper from the original foam cores, then placed over the balsa
to ascertain position of servo lead channels and servos bays. Flaps cut free as well as ailerons
Due to knuckle joint for ailerons, 10mm cut from trailing edge and then .5mm ply
placed at trailing edge to give a good clean strong trailing edge, that balsa would normally fail at.
Back plate of balsa add to leading edge and outside edges of the flaps and ailerons
so that no foam is left open and aids the orocover later on

Flap is base hinged with Cyno hinges. Hard points were added from light balsa
before adding the back plate of balsa to the trailing and leading edges respectively.
Hinges were then added at 45 degree angles to ensure that they were
not just hanging onto the skins.
Ailerons get a center hinge hole for the robart hinges as well as a light balsa "knuckle"
added to the leading edge to slot into .5mm ply casing on wing trailing edge
Like so...

With this finish once all is covered and finalised
Will update with more later in the week, but this is basically all the surfaces ready
for cover and spray work

 

 

 

 

 

Fine, so the tail is done, fuselage complete and time to start the wing.
At 2.3 meters this was going to be a large job
and thanks to Jeff and Steve, eventually the cores were cut
very close to the original Constellation profiles.
I then kept the outer core saddles for compression of the cores to the balsa later on.
The balsa sheets were made up of the 2.5mm sheets,
glued together with professional wood glue, compressed overnight under some books
and then all three sheets sanded down with a flat level and
60 grit sandpaper to negate any join lines prior to bonding to the cores.
The wing profile has a rather large 16 percent foil so getting the balsa to
get to the leading edge was going to be fun, but then I was going to
put a meranti leading edge on so the would negate some of the leading edge issues.
Due to the dihedral in the wing, the center panel would have to
be separate from the outer panels with a dihedral cut on the join
and then to be "bandaged" with a light glass coat and 12 hour epoxy
and then faded into the join with lightfill.
Unfortunately I do not have many photos of the early part of the wing construction
but will post what I have up to where the wing is at this point.
100mm x 2.5mmbalsa sheets being glued together - 3 sheets at a time
Pile a bag load of books on-top and leave to cure overnight and then sand flat with 60 grit paper
Center wing panel being joined with servo lead holes in place
Carbon rod through the whole affair and into the outer tips -
probably would have been better to face off the entire edge, instead of small balsa area
but went with the principal that as long as it touched both skins,
then strength would be there
Balsa skins ready for application, with wood glue - the red professional variant
and into the vac bag - cheap, available and just need a vacuum cleaner
just check for constant pressure overnight and re-apply as required
Nice tight vacuum doing the job and pulled the balsa in really well
This method was used on the center core, but I had done the outer panels the traditional 
way of leaving them sandwiched under a ton of books in-between the saddles that they came from.
Still think the vac-bag came out just that bit better.

Joining the outer panels to the center core with the dihedral in place
Foam cut away and awaiting the meranti edging. A lot of people think that a hard leading edge
is a lot of work.... and it is but can be so easily  improved by investing in a hand plane
that carries weight and a bloody good blade.

This I beg, borrowed and stole from Steve for a weekend and boy, what a treat.
Handplane meranti to more or less shape, tape off the balsa with masking tape to avoid an overrun,
and then take down the meranti with 60 grit paper on square edge and finally 120 grit paper
on square edge... and Bob's your Auntie

And in the end, after a few weeks work we have a wing! Really missed out on the photies through these stages but in the end the leading edge is meranti, join is light glassed for strength...

Balsa wingtips and yes, meranti railing edge as I just hate a balsa trailing edge
of .25mm that wobbles around endlessly and curves itself to death. Meranti keeps it strong
and flat as a pan handle. Next the surfaces and the motor mounts...

ooooh kak, hier kom werk....
 

 

For those who keep up with the Blog you will notice the
blog categories to the top left hand side....
with two build blogs on the go there.
Each  is an individual blog and if Damian will just get us pics of his build,
we could have three build blogs on the go....
What it does mean is that the Black Eagle PSS Festival is very much on the approach
and if you have the time we would be very happy indeed to have you on the slope with us.
In essence and foremost is that this is a PSS FESTIVAL,
and I use the word FESTIVAL in caps because that is the main drive of the event.
Get together and fly PSS planes. Period....and do that over two days with
foamie, correx, glass - you name it- PSS scale aircraft
and we have an event full of fun, laughter and friendship with like minded individuals.
If however you have the need for a competitive side the rules for the
three differing competitive classes are posted above here under
the Black Eagle PSS Festival button.

If the weather plays along this could deliver the best year so far
in terms of scratch build beauties in all three classes just waiting to be maidened on the day!
Man, it's going to be fun. Talking of which, here's some of last years fun.

 

Finally with the body more or less complete and ready for cover
I moved onto creating the tail section. The horizontal surface would be a foam core
and the vertical stabs would be solid 6mm balsa shaped to the tri-fin configuration
The real trick to the tail section would be to somehow get
the servo set into the base of the tail section, and so
negate the need for a long fuselage push rod. This would mean 
creating an internal control horn system that cannot be seen
as well as using knuckle joints for the Robart hinges and so making all
mechanics "disappear" as it were. In the end this little piece of trickery took far longer
to resolve than expected, but the final result is pretty convincing.
 
Two outside vertical stabs and the center stab, with cross balsa at the top and base to stop warping
and a thin cyno applied 1.5mm ply on the leading edges, just to stop those fine twig induced nicks

Setting the hard points in the foam core as well as the vertical carbon sheet
to add horizontal strength

Careful not to warp the foam with the carbon implant

After skinning the surfaces with 2.5mm balsa, using wood glue ( Red Professional )
and then back into the foam saddles left over from the cutting, the skins have taken nicely
Two carbon rods also applied across the join to add some teeth to the join

Checking the horizontal plane using a spirit level, leading edge cut away at this stage,
ready for the meranti leading edge to stop any serious nicks

Adding balsa tips with 1mm ply sandwiched between two 6mm balsa sheets
Meranti leading edge in place and sanded down, first using a hand plane to hone the edge,
then 60 grit sandpaper and then much lighter paper to get edge to take nicely

Basic surface complete and awaiting the vertical stabs
Vertical stabs added to the tail with carbon dowels through the verticals and into
the horizontal, then all wood glued together
Tips added as part of the process so verticals and horizontals all become one piece
Final check of the tail fit to the saddle and resultant incidence
then to covering with orocover and adding knuckle jointed Robart hinges in placeand finally adding the Metal gear slimline servo gear at the base to fit...
inside this wee little hole to the right hand side of the main fuselage spar
and so the long tail gets completed...

Lionel gave me a call and inquired on a few things on the build that I had not covered.
So here a a few answers to cover those questions that others may be wondering about.
When planking the fuselage I was in somewhat of a rush, trying to get the 
model completed for last years Black Eagle PSS Event, which in the end proved 
somewhat futile as I now enter the 350 hour mark, more or less, on this build.
So I chose Cyno to attach the planking. This done by applying the planking to the
4 "corners" of the structure first, much the same way you would tighten up a wheel
on a car. This was to ensure that there was no torsional pull to left or right,
specifically in the tail area. 
Then I worked back to the center of each quarter and cut planking to
suit the ever diminishing plank width closest to the tail and nose.
Some would argue that cyno is a more brittle bond than wood glue, 
but it is quicker, and at that stage is what was required from a time point of view.
The very best solution would probably have been to glue and pin the planks to the structure
and leave overnight to dry as wood glue will have a wee bit of give.
I applied the wood to one end of the formers at the fuselage join,
applied cyno to each of the stringers as I cam across them 
and then finally wicked cyno into the joints lengthwise.
Once the lightfill was added and the elbow grease applied with 80 grit sandpaper,
the cyno joins quickly disappeared.
With the structure not being too much of a curve, the 20mm x 2.5mm planking bent
very nicely over the curves so no need to wet the wood as the cyno held the balsa well.

So now to the joining of the two halves, the wing saddle and the wing fairings
Two halves joined together for look and feel
Staring down the ass of the beast
Wing saddle area covered with 1mm ply, to take the shape as created by the formers
Note the bolts holding the two halves together

Rear saddle area added and holes drilled for the wing bolts to attach
to the pre-0attached claw grip bolts in the fuselage.
Two front ones still to be done. One invaluable lesson I learnt
from Steve who has been building for years, is that sometimes
an electric drill can be your worst enemy...
so my preferred method of making holes nowadays is to take a hollow
brass or aluminum tube of the right diameter, sharpen the opening
with a fine file and then use a model knife to make small "teeth" in
the sharpened end. Use this to rotate your way through foam, balsa and thin ply,
and walla, you get neat, controlled openings/holes just where you require them.
No muss no fuss and most of all looks neat.
Just couldn't see getting this thing into a drill press!

Finally, the two sides joined with epoxy and the bolts on each side of the fuselage
and joint sanded in with lightfill to cover the join. Believe me, you can hold this by the tail
and wield it like a baseball bat, it's that strong.
The fillet for the wing fairing being formed onto the 1mm ply that was
sticking out from the wing saddle in the last photo. Solid balsa at the front, planking in the middle...

and these solid balsa back fairings that lead to the wing trailing edge.
That took some serious work and reference to the real thing to work out
Literally hours on each one....

and there we have the wing fairings/fillets prior to lightfill and completion

More and more like the real thing, fillets sanded in and complete

Tuna! and that's all till next post

 

With the change in weather in place we once again
we had a delightful North Wester push through on Saturday
and a wonderful afternoons sloping took place up at Chapman's Peak.
At one stage the cool lift just hit perfection and hinted at the winter
days that will be spent at this awesome site.
A good few lads headed up and between Brendan and the Vector 111
Christo and the Aldij, Rob and Andrew and their collection, Mally and myself with the Impalas
and his Aldij, and Schalk with the warbirds, we had a blast.
The Aldij was coming through something terrible
and just lit up the sky with some serious high speed passes,
from heights we call "Guatemala" because Mally can fly so
bleeding high he could be half way there!

But Sunday was even more of a treat with one of the best Kommetjie days for a very long time.
Cool South Westers caressed the slope and with white horses charging across the sea,
the lift was dynamic and smooth, although landing proved to be a
real challenge as nothing on earth was going to slow down those gliders on that day.
They simply refused to be halted and a few landings were somewhat quicker
than one would have liked, but even a burn to the bottom of the slope
did nary a thing to halt the energy these babies were carrying.

And then enter "Osama", an 11 year old peach skinned lad, accompanied by Dad Niel,
who had gleaned the name "Osama" the previous day at Chappies, when somewhat
heated adult discussions over SAMAA and there role in slope soaring,
had this tiny voice enquire who the hell this "osama" person was
that we were talking about...
Once the fits of laughter had subsided, the name had stuck!

This being their first real ady on the slope we all spent a wee bit of time
setting up their newly aquired BEE wing and it was time for Osama's first lesson.
Now I have had the honour of assisting a few people to learn to slope soar
and thinking that this would take some time I got ready for a good long session.
Not to be it appears. Starting with this tiny individual standing in front of me
between my arms, we went from hands on hand on sticks...
to hands on elbows with gentle taps for directional changes...
to hands off, your on your own mate...
all in less than a mind boggling 45 minutes!

Now you can say what you want, but the PlayStation Generation are just simply unbelievable!
Remembering how many times I had to walk, stumble and bumble
my way around the sky in my own 3 week learning process,
it was just simply brilliant to see the new generation pick up a transmitter,
sans any knowledge and cane the sky into submission in the flash of an eye.
So here's the question....
How do we ensure these new generation kids become
part of the future and take those skills to the next level,
stay within the hobby and become truly great at it?
That's the real challenge.

 

Ok, so posted wrong and will apply to correct category.
As stated most of the building of the fuselage complete
and so we get to add the planking to the skeleton.
Planks are 20mm wide out of the 100mm standard planks,
(20 into 100 means little or no waste of balsa),
by 2,5 mm deep as we will sand down to 1.5 mm
after liberal doses of lightfill are added.
Lightfill pretty much weighs the same as balsa
so no need to be scared of a liberal application

Two halves of the skeleton joined up, thats a 2m table there

Something pretty going on in there

Planking the right hand side with 20mmx2,5 mm planks

once again using the balsa stripper to keep the planks uniform in size

and then the left side with lightfill added, sanded down with 80 grit paper to 

ensure that the lightfill and balsa even out at the same time

and finally finished with 150 grit

Checking out the front applied to the tail an overall size

Planking the latter half of the beast, starting at centre top,
then centre side as planking dictated till two halves meet, to stop any "pulling" in either direction

and the other side - plenty of cyno utilised here, you could wood glue it, but cyno does work

and speeds up the process somewhat

Adding the nose made of 10mm balsa sandwiched cross grain for strength

And walla, nose sanded to shape and cockpit area filled in

planking sanded to a smoothish finnish

Time to join the two halves!

 

 

 

Slangkop, for those of not Afrikaans extraction or understanding, literally translated means Snake Head.
Although a more plausible translation would be "snake hill" as a koppie in Afrikaans
means small mountain/hill...possibly a fair warning to take into consideration
when collecting a glider down the base of the hill. There be snakes in them woods!
But enough of the linguistic gymnastics crossed with geographical positioning
and more about the fantastic slope sessions over the weekend up at Slangkop.
This Autumn spot is one of those dream spots. With a nice vertical face
it takes very little wind to get up a head of steam and
in general produces the most insanely smooth lift, provided we get
the SW or SSW winds that really focus the lift into the bowl.
You can be standing there baking away in the sun and fell nary a breeze on your face
and yet be flying the smoothest lift possible. Just awesome!
and with Autumn now well and truly on the go, the westerlies are starting to push through
and this slope is starting to become a favorite once again.
Saturday produced 25-30km/h winds and although a bit bumpy to start with there was just lift deluxe
and so Brendan, Marc, Mally Christo, Schalk and myself gathered for a sublime
afternoon's slope session. Combat, formation Aldij flights with three up at a time
and then more combat whiled the hours away.
Come Sunday and a repeat performance, this time attended by
Damian as well and formation flying in lighter lift with the Impalas took place.
By the end of the weekend a good few tired and yert happy slopers headed home
with a wee bit of a grin on the face. Roll on winter and the Chappies sessions
which look set to kick off this weekend if the early forecasts are anything to go by.

 

To add to Jeff's build, I will slowly upload the build photos
I have taken of the Connie build on a weekly basis
over the last year, hopefully ending up at the same date and time as the Black Eagle Festival .
Lets start at the beginning. A traditional build this is, balsa, foam core and oracover....
Simple, light, and a pleasure to work with.
In the end I am aiming at 4 Kilos or less on the 2.3 meter wingspan
with the fuselage being balsa planked on an open structure,
the wing foam core balsa covered.

Here we go!