Chris’s SZD Cobra update

Some more intriguing photo’s from Chris

A bit more progress:  The full size had a all flying tailplane, I was going to do the same, but with such a small bearing width 19mm, and a tailplane at 900mm, I couldn’t stop the tailplane wobbling, at the tip, well not enough for me.

Not a problem, fix the tailplane and have a elevator, so I measured and cut out the elevator, problem no2; the elevator was going to be top hinged, 15mm at the center, tapering to 3mm at the tips. It gave a nice curve, OK when on the center line, but when you try to go down or up, the tips want to move away from the tailplane.

Plan C; split the elevator in the center, and operate with 2 servos, or make a new elevator with the top surface level, went with a split elevator.

I have made the wing spars, 2mm ply with carbon on one  side, a center foam core, then carbon toes laid on top of the foam, top & bottom. The spar was then glued into the foam cores, balsa was then glued on top of the toes, so that this could be sanded down to the wing profile. Glass cloth was placed on the foam with epoxy, obechi verneer, placed on top, then epoxy brushed on top of the veneer, then tissue paper placed on the wet epoxy, mylar sheet then placed on top, and the whole lot placed in a vacbag.

Chris

Check out the photos here

Message from our Chairman – All Flying has stopped

Good morning Members,

In the light of Boris’s announcement flying is now off the agenda, driving to a flying field is considered non-essential travel.

I’m as frustrated as you all must now be but we, as a Club, can’t be seen to be stepping out of line.

So, unless you’re having to work, now is the time to crack on with that project you didn’t think would be ready for Spring, hopefully you’ll be maidening in the Summer.

As I type this the sky is blue, the birds are singing and there isn’t a breath of wind, how typical is that?

Although incredibly frustrating this is a serious business and we all need to follow the guidelines.

So stay safe and get building, repairing and preparing for a bumper Summer of flying.

Best Wishes to you all,

Cliff

Chairman

Club Monthly Meetings Cancelled

Hi every one, as you probably suspected would inevitably happen we have cancelled the next April meeting at Kingsteignton. Even if we had continued turnout would sure to be low and this is the responsible action to minimise the chance of infection.

I will notify you of further cancellations as the advice comes in.

Regards

John

PS: Dont forget that although we may not see as much of each other in the coming months, we are keeping members up to date through updates and members posts and photos on our website https://dssc.bmfa.club

And by subscribing, as explained recently, you will be alerted automatically when new material comes in. We also encourage you to send in your own photos and what you are getting up to. We will post that on our website to help keep the club active during this difficult time.

John’s KA Build Update 2

First pic is the main nose skid arrangement. This is sprung by roundels of car radiator hose as seen. The skid is a strip of flexible wood screwed down at the front and held in place at the rear by a brass strip, which is a flattened curtain fitting. The skid can move under the brass on compression e.g. a hard landing. Check it out in the Gallery

Second picture is the front canopy frame, constructed with a balsa ply sandwich and reinforced with a little carbon tow as seen…all feels pretty rigid without looking too chunky.

John

Chris’s SZD Cobra 17 under construction

1st instalment.

It all started back in 2017, when I saw a build thread on RC groups for a 1/3 scale SZD Cobra 17, the builder later posted on SSUK.  Having built the ASW 17, still waiting to maiden this one, thoughts came back to the Cobra, so drew up plans for the fuz and wings. The fuz is built in 2 halfs then stuck together. Half formers were cut out and screwed to the building board, then I cut up a lot of 3/16 balsa into 1/4 strips, and started planking. When the first half was removed, I fitted braces to keep its shape, repositioned the formers, and built the 2nd half. When removed, braces were fitted to this half also; the braces help when joining the 2 halfs together, giving a bigger surface area, to move around rather than a 3/16 edge. After joining, the fuz was sanded, and gave 3 coats of glass cloth, also 1 coat on the inside. When putting on the last coat, I added a colour pigment to the epoxy; 1, – to help when painting, 2, – when rubbing down to get a smooth finish, as if you lose the colour you have removed to much.

Chris

Check out some build photos in the gallery.

Club Winch for Sale

It has been quite a few years now since the Club Winch was used and simply because no one winch launches these days, you just operate a throttle switch. Therefore we thought the way to go may be to ask members in the first instance if any one would like to make an offer for the complete kit of winch, leisure battery (to be tested) and line + accessories. Any money would just go to club funds of course. Please let me know what your thoughts are.

Regards

John

Gordon’s Fun Cub

Gordon’s Christmas Raffle prize, a Fun Cub XL made its debut at our March Club meeting at Kingsteignton community hall and received a lot of interest. Check it out in the Gallery