SE5 foam build (full fuselage)

[solentlife]

First the credit goes to Peter Stapleton for the plan and being able to download free.



...



This uses the method of layered foam to build up the fuselage ... with each layer having lightening holes to keep weight down.

The foam I am using is 5.5mm underfloor insulation similar to Depron ...





10 sheets of 1m x 0.5m for about $7 ... at local shop.

Start cutting out after joining together plan A4 sheets from the PDF file ...



making sure I had smooth sides sorted ! This foam has a line scored side and needs to be innermost...

I also do not waste the off-cuts as these often are enough to cut out the smaller items ...





Fuselage parts now cut and PVA glue curing for the blocks ...



The wings appear on the plan to be flat plate and single sheet foam. I may look at whether to make twin sheet wings with a foam spa spanwise to create an aerofoil shape. Basically holds the two sheets apart and then you pinch the LE and TE's together to form the shape.

Will resume later with the build once fuselage blocks are workable ...

Nigel

[mclarkson]

Hey, Nigel. That looks sweet. I'm glad you were able to find some foam over there that works for you.

[solentlife]

Originally Posted by mclarkson

Hey, Nigel. That looks sweet. I'm glad you were able to find some foam over there that works for you.

It's working brilliantly in fact ... agin thanks for description that helped me explain to guys here. You have to appreciate that most people here do not speak English and many products in the west are only starting to appear.

Anyway ... here's the bits stacked up ready to carry on with build ...



Here's my idea with the wings ... I think just plain foam board is not enough strong .. so a 9mm wide strip of foam glued at approx 30% chord provides a spanwise spar ... the white foam is 3mm Depron sheet cut slightly oversize which will then be glued on top to form a curved upper surface to the wing. The bottom will stay flat.



Here's the wing being glued up with the top sheet ...





now you can see the slight foil shape developing ..





and here viwed at fuselage slot ...(I elected to have top sheet butt to fuselage and not have to shape wing seat ..)





Fueslage is now blocked up and being shaped ...





I have digressed a touch from the plan style ... not only on the wing - but also on the nose of the fuselage. I intend to fit a balsa front and grill ... so the plan cut-out for motor is unsuitable .... I've smoothed it of. The wood mount will be set-in and back up the balsa radiator / nose front.
The rear fuselage has two layers of top / bottom deck ... so I can shape the corners more. It's also to stiffen the rear fuselage more.
The wing changes I made have me wondering how to fit the interplane struts as plan uses foam rings round the wing ... I may insert blocks and then hooks ... haven't decided yet.

My plan is to have a hefty motor in there that will swing a largish prop - so I can have lower noise etc.

Mine will be overweight compared to original plan ... but that's intentional. Where I live - windless days are few ... so I need a model that has a bit of weight to handle wind.

Must get on with it !!

Just got to nip out to lay the runway !!

Nigel

[solentlife]

Well I've been lucky that buidling has continued due to bad weather, but unlucky that flying is not on ! Plus of course that my flights out to assignment have been put back a couple of days.

So what next .... mounted tail feathers ... and cut firewall for motor. I mounted a good size motor : 2836 1000kv capable of turning an 11" prop if needed. Plan is to run an 8x6 and see if that enough.

Modification again ....... plan shows the prop below centre of grill - but all photos I can find show prop is ABOVE centre of grill. So I modified mine to put prop up ... I inserted a pink foam block in original area to give strength to fuselage. Motor is rear mounted so innaccessible once firewall glued in place.

Ailerons are via twin servos and a y lead ...

Here's photos anyway ...













I decided that I would risk losing the 3D element of the model and adjust the build to produce a more scale like model .. ie with cambered wings, prop in proper place etc. The weight will suffer but flight should still be good. The cabanes. landing gear and struts will have metal rod cores and foam / balsa covers ... I have a packet of 2mm control push rods just begging to be used ! I cannot get piano wire where I am ... so make use of what I have.

I do noty know when I can get to continue on with the model as tomorrow is sort out various before travel to Singapore ... so bear with me ... I'll be back as soon as I can !!

Cheers
Nigel

[mclarkson]

Have fun in the East, sir! We'll be here watching when you get back.

[solentlife]

Originally Posted by mclarkson

Have fun in the East, sir! We'll be here watching when you get back.

Cheers .... it's a right pain when work gets in the way !

Nigel

[earthsciteach]

I'm confused, Nigel. Where does the EDF go?

[solentlife]

Originally Posted by earthsciteach

I'm confused, Nigel. Where does the EDF go?

Didn't you know that was my next experiment !!

I love biplanes and especially WW1 jobs ... occasionally I like to calm down a bit from just carving up the sky.



Nigel

[solentlife]

Taken a while baut back on the SE5 again ... making up cabanes and struts.

Using 2mm push rod stock - I bent up cabanes to insert into the foam fus .. epoxied into place and then capped with 3mm depron to simulate the wood.



Interplane struts are 3x 3mm depron in sandwich so I can then insert bamboo into front and rear verticals to provide strength and pins to insert into wings.



Slowly coming on !

Nigel

[solentlife]

Wings on and rigging wires fitted ....





Now it's fit the ailerons ... measure up and fit control rods / horns ...... and then sort out the way the battery will stay in the big hatch area ... bit more paint ... few decals ...

She's well powered and will probably fly nice on about 1/2 throttle ...

The plan actually says it's a 3D machine ... judging by the size of ailerons, elevators and rudder - I can believe that's the intention of designer. But I'm not a 3D person - so added a couple bits here and there to make her more suited to general flying ... and possibly a few aerobatics ...

Nigel

[solentlife]

Added ailerons ... and start on control connections :





Here you can see the massive ailerons !







Thinking I might go up a prop ... that's an 8x6 on there ... might swap for a 10x6 and just slow fly it ..



Nigel

[solentlife]

Started to give it overall green top colour ... (matt household water based paint) ...







Control rods / servos are in ... I use old 450 heli flybars - they make excellent pushrods and fit the small M2 clevis.

The 2mm black pushrods from Hobby King ... pkt of 10 for peanuts ! - they make up the undercarraige legs and cabane struts.

I have Roundels etc on order at local shop ...

Nigel

[solentlife]

So applying finishing touches ...







and final with my 'unique' reg signature GB-NCL ...



Quite pleased !!

Nigel

[baz49exe]

Looking good Nigel; awaiting the maiden report with interest. I've only built one biplane twenty years ago and some depron WW1 types look really interesting now.

[solentlife]

Originally Posted by baz49exe

Looking good Nigel; awaiting the maiden report with interest. I've only built one biplane twenty years ago and some depron WW1 types look really interesting now.

Winter has finally arrived for us .... we had -8C this morning when I got up ... 50cm snow out there ...

If weather is good tmrw - I may venture out ! Trouble is Sunday - I will be travelling out for another assignment ... work has to pay the bills unfortunately. It's maybe silly - but I don't like maidening day before travel ... just in case I come home with bag of bits and no time to repair.
The other problem is finding clear area to fly ! Not so much for landing as snow can be an advantage ... it's softer than ground ! But for take-offs !

Thinking of that - she needs bigger lightweight more scale style wheels ...

The base plan I used is by Peter Stapleton ... it has flat plate wings etc. - which I altered to have aerofoil ... I also used 2mm metal rods for Ú/C, cabanes etc. ... with bamboo for interplane struts.

Nigel

[solentlife]

Tried to maiden today but with the snow on the road etc. - she dug in and nosed over with her small wheels ... broke the motor mount.

It's all repaired now - but weather doesn't look too good tmrw ... so lets see ...

Nigel

[solentlife]

Decided that if I can't fly - then I'd add last touch to her ....

Snoopy and his SE5 :









Nigel

[solentlife]

Oh Dear ! .... not a good start !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu0Fk...ature=youtu.be

She's all back up together again - just waiting better wheels ...

Nigel

[mclarkson]

As maiden crashes go, that's not too bad. We've all had worse.

[solentlife]

Originally Posted by mclarkson

As maiden crashes go, that's not too bad. We've all had worse.

Very true ... what annoyed me was that usual nose-over is change prop and fly ... but this broke the motor mount inside ... I had to cut open the front fuselage to get at the rear of firewall where the ply had separated and allowed the screws to pull out. Managed to put all back cleanly - so doesn't look like any damage done. I've also put a doubling piece to each screw so shouldn't happen again.

I'm very pleased with the general appearance of the model ... given I basically threw it together !

Takes standard 3S 2200 packs - so should have long flight times.... IF I can get her up there !

Nigel

[earthsciteach]

Nigel, make yourself some scale wheels! For my SE-5a scratch build, I used foam board, removed the paper and replaced it with wood venire. I then applied hot glue to the circumference of the wheels as tread. Used black sharpie to color the "tread" black. Worked great!

[dahawk]

+1 on the SE5 Great looking ! -1 on servicability. Reminds of the British Leyland MG-C I once had- LOL

Maybe you guys could roll out the rubber conveyor belt along that driveway or just try to pack and groom the snow more.

Aw, have an eggnog !

Cheers,

Hawk

[solentlife]

Originally Posted by dahawk

+1 on the SE5 Great looking ! -1 on servicability. Reminds of the British Leyland MG-C I once had- LOL

Maybe you guys could roll out the rubber conveyor belt along that driveway or just try to pack and groom the snow more.

Aw, have an eggnog !

Cheers,

Hawk

Oh Dear .... the MG-C was a disaster ... nowhere near as good or iconic as it's predecessor the MG-B or MG-A.

The 'Belt' is still in original place and the others clear it of snow when they want to use.

I actually like the road site as shown here as it has the clear land area around it ... only trouble is when the SAR Helicopter does his pract8icve stuff as the land is at end of Runway of airport !

Once I get the bigger wheels on - I'll be fine ... and of course home from Venezuela !

Nigel

[dahawk]

Nigel,

I know. Why would they have (2) 6v batteries instead of (1) 12v battery? 6 cylinders though. If I had it today, it would be worth a fortune. In the mid seventies, it was not easy to find all the Lucas electrical components either. I could not keep up with the maintenance. Then I got a Mercury Capri and guess what? Another Lucas alternator !

No wonder you've gotten ill. Going back and forth beteween the tropics and north pole will do it. -LOL Give my regards to Chavez, the commie !

Cheers,

- Hawk

[solentlife]

Originally Posted by dahawk

Nigel,

I know. Why would they have (2) 6v batteries instead of (1) 12v battery? 6 cylinders though. If I had it today, it would be worth a fortune. In the mid seventies, it was not easy to find all the Lucas electrical components either. I could not keep up with the maintenance. Then I got a Mercury Capri and guess what? Another Lucas alternator !

No wonder you've gotten ill. Going back and forth beteween the tropics and north pole will do it. -LOL Give my regards to Chavez, the commie !

Cheers,

- Hawk

I raced a 2 litre Ford Capri (The original design Mk 2) ... then later had 2 2.8ltr V6 Capris ... they were the 'flashboys toys !'

Anyway - on way home tmrw night ......... Venezuela - Trinidad - London - Riga ...........

Oh how I love travelling ! NOT !

Nigel