Building my Magpie AP

[rdlb23]

This is the first plane I've gotten that is not RTF, (all Hobby Zone)

I'm a photographer so I can use this plane to further my own work as well as have some RC fun. No, tax payer dollars did not pay for the plane I bought it myself.

Here's a shot of the box. Packed incredibly well and accompanied by great communication regarding the tedious process of shipping things to Hawaii. The process was not tedious because of Mountain Models, shipping anything here is generally slow and expensive.



So I put the wing together. Making the cut to insert the spar was a problem for me. The xacto knife made a nice clean cut that was too thin for the spar to slide into, and the knife I used to widen the gap tore up the foam a little, the real problem though was when sliding the epoxy covered spar into place, I pulled all the little foam beads out of place and made a real mess of the underside of the wing. This is probably due to the fact that I've never done this before...



Good thing I'll be covering it with tape!

[PaperAirplane]

Nice!

Subscibed

[Billmanak]

Cool, I've been wanting to see how one of these went together.

[mark_]

I made a bit of a miss installing my wing spar too...no big deal in the end.

Mark

[rdlb23]

Got into work early today so I could work on the plane a little more.
Glad to hear I'm not the only one who had trouble with the wing spar..

So here's the wing all taped up. Orange on top so if I'm upside down I can tell... It's white on the bottom.
It'll probably get a good old UH sticker before it flies.
With all the tape and too much epoxy it weighs 7.5 ounces.
How does that compare with anyone else's wing??


I used this roller, from back in the day when graphic design was done by hand, to smooth out the tape, but it could still do with a little hair dryer work.


Also, I got my sweet Futaba 6ex last night...sweet!

[mark_]

The Pie is such a great lifter, don't be too hung up on weight...strong is good. I used a LOT of epoxy on my build too. It's a pretty straightforward build, I don't think that there are any real difficult parts to look out for. Good luck...I will enjoy watching the rest of it...and a flight report too!

Mark

[rdlb23]

HA! I will officially be referring to this plane as "The Pie" from now on. How could I pass up such a delicious nickname? Maybe I'll get a pie sticker instead of a UH sticker....mmmmmmmm

So here's the tray assembly. I made some mistakes being a little too hasty.

First, when pushing in the blind nuts I cracked the rear camera tray which is weakened by the cutouts surrounding the hole. I just soaked it in CA to make up for the damage.




Next I pushed the blind nuts into the landing gear tray and ended up covering part of the slots for balsa tabs with the nut.



So I had to trim off a tab on both sides of the camera support to make room. I hope there will be no effect on structural integrity.



So now I have the tray done!!
Very fast and easy despite my mistakes. You'll all be relieved to know that the fourth blind nut in the front camera tray went in with no problems...

[rdlb23]

So I just got this Power Combo...

Himax HC2816-0890 Electric Brushless Outrunner Motor 79g 200W
Castle Creations Phoenix 25A Brushless Motor Speed Controller
APC 10x7E

Tastes like...overkill
I ordered a few props

[aviatordave]

Looks good. BTW, there is no such thing as overkill. I like xtra power myself.

I was going to move this thread into the AP forum, but now I am thinking it might do good here for the beginners to see. Nobody has any problems leaving it here, do they?

[rdlb23]

Check out this awesome hairdryer I got!!!

9.99 at Ross.

I can't say enough about how much better the tape on the wings got after I heated it up a little, nice and tight and much cleaner looking. I definitely recommend doing it.

The fuse has two hs-81s embedded in it and it looks like the wires will reach all the way into the receiver cut out.

When taping the fuse, do all the difficult bits like the engine mount, wing saddle, etc. first, and then lay the tape in long lines over this. I did the opposite and my fuse looks pretty rough because I was doing the long taping first, then the tight spots then laying longer pieces over the mess I made around the tight spots again, then fixing a couple holes, etc, etc, etc.



However, progress is happening, hopefully I'll get the tail on today...

[mark_]

Looking good and coming along nicely! Not much left really...tail feathers. I smell a maiden!

Dave : I thought it should be in AP too but since there's a link there it shoudl be fine here.

Mark

[Billmanak]

Thanks for the info about using a hair dryer on the tape. Now if I could sneak my wife's out of the bathroom....

[rdlb23]

@Bill--I highly recommend getting a hairdryer just for hobby stuff. I got epoxy all over the handle of mine about 30 seconds after I started using it

Thanks for following this everyone. A maiden will most likely be delayed by the arrival of a motor and esc about a week from now.

Thanks,
Dave

[rdlb23]

So I'm as far as I'm gonna get right now.

The ESC I ordered is out of stock till next week, and then it has to get here, and I can't set up all the goodies without it. So I guess I'm on hiatus until all this stuff arrives...
I also dropped a servo into a puddle of epoxy and clogged up the plug...perfect
But that's okay, because 25kt trade winds are kicking in for this week and the surf will be up on the north shore so I can probably keep myself busy.

Here's a photo of me surfing

[PaperAirplane]

Holy crap! That is one big wave!!


Good luck with the eventual maiden.

[rdlb23]

Yep its huge. I hope its obvious that that is not really me...but it is real.

[PaperAirplane]

SHHHHH!!!!! (It is you!)

[rdlb23]

I hinged my tail with wing tape.
Should I have used stronger strapping tape??

[The Grump]

I think you should start over. Any model that takes less than a year to build... kids stuff! I could do this with one hand...

[mark_]

Wing tape should be fine...just watch it in cold weather.

Mark

[AEAJR]

Originally Posted by The Grump

I think you should start over. Any model that takes less than a year to build... kids stuff! I could do this with one hand...

Guess you won't find much of interest in this forum. As you may have noticed, this is the beginner forum, where simple is best.

I suggest you take a look over in the scale model or scratch building areas. Problaby more to your liking.

[rdlb23]

So I'm still without power....and here's why.

I ordered motor and esc from rctoys.com on Wed the 28th. Seemed easy enough.
So I don't get an email about my order being acknowledged or shipped so I call them up on Friday. The response is "oh I was meaning to call you, that ESC is back ordered."

Okay, it didn't say back ordered on the web page, and whether they were meaning to call me or not they didn't call.

Not the end of the world, they tell me to call back on Monday and they'll tell me when the ESC is due. I call back Monday, and I'm told its all there and will be shipped that day. So I didn't get a shipped email or anything again and I call back this morning(Wed), and I'm told the ESC still hasn't come in yet. I politely cancel my order.

Very frustrating!

So now all on order from maxxprod, who I was gonna order with originally. They already sent me an email...

[gramps2161]

I have been following along in the back ground nice job there. If you ever need rc parts in a hurry check out http://www.headsuprc.com/servlet/the...ORS/Categories fast service and great help with setups just ask a question and get a quick answer. I have a few planes with Jeffs setups. Looking forward to your flight report and pic's when you get her all together. Keep up the good work.
John

[rdlb23]

So I got my motor and ESC from maxxprod.com. Everything came in a timely and well packaged box, plus they had answered some of my questions before through email.

So motor is on and I can't see ever going over half throttle!!

I've only had brushed hobbyzone planes, I've never even seen a brushless motor. Holy Crap!!!

So, anyway I've got the CG and Lateral balance all dialed in and hopefully I'll get to give it a go tomorrow morning.

Some construction notes--the CC Thunderbird ESC requires that my 6exa have the throttle reversed. It says it might and it does.

The HIMAX motor mount didn't fit on the stick mount that came with the Magpie. I had to get the dremel out with a sanding wheel and slowly grind at it till it fit. Probably due to my extra glue

So anyway, progress, video of a flight is forthcoming...

[PaperAirplane]

Great! Glad to see that you are happy with the outcome. I will wait for the video. I havn't seen one fly yet.