straight foward dynaflite "bird of time"e-powered, winter 2012 build

[stuart]

hey gang,on the 23rd of feb i have to get my icd replaced after an 8year run on the first one. it's minor to cut open the area in my chest for the out with the old & in with the new,and it's also an out patient treatment. stitch's need time to heal before i go back to work.....sssoooo,i'm taking the following week off to heal,and hope to put some time into the bird of time.

shop's all straightened up the table with the hog and rv-4 is for laying out the wood and built pcs waitting for final assembly. the other table is ready for the plastic gift wrap that protects the drawing from glue and i tape wax paper on top of it. plans are copied and just need to p/u some ca,carbon fiber for the wing spar. and away we go.

the plan is to post pictures for the fun of it,post progress,and read as many threads on this kit so i can add the best mods. like spoilers.

a thought came to mind and i want to run this by you glider guys. if spoilers assist in bleeding off glide ratio to improve spot landings. what wold happen if i activate just one spoiler only a little using the slide levers on my TX? would it act as a aileron? not my plan but the spoilers designed by others for the bot are simple to do.

other than the wrap of the wing spar and spoilers,everything will be straight forward. hope it will be fun to follow as I'm sure the building will be. thanks before hand for the help you fellow builder contribute to wattflyer forums. just the best bunch of people I've met online..none better.

[gramps2161]

Stuart hope the switch out of the icd goes nice, and smooth for you. Give ya self one day of rest before you go ballistic on that build. Looking forward to following along on your build.

By the way I still havent pulled out my Sig yet, and get it on the table. Nice to see it hanging above the bench looking sweet.
Good luck.

[TM4197]

Stuart

Hope you recover very fast. Take Gramps mention of a day or two of really good rest!

Spoilers....I have a a DG300 that has spoiler/flap. Two times, two different issues caused me to . One time, only one side deployed..and the plane slipped and rolled so darn fast I couldnt respond fast enough. Amost lost her that time. Second issue was on a Standard high start launch both control rods came unattached while on the upstart. They flapped back and forth so fast it sounded like a machine gun firing. The glider responded by osilating up and down a very high rate...almost matching every up and down flutter of the spoiler/flap. Needless to say, the landing was a handfull. When you deploy them, it really disrupts the air over that part of the wing, to do it intentionally, would take some experimenting with very small amounts of movement. My question is why? do you want to do that?

[foodstick]

I am going to try and get my old bird of time out to the field more this year. they look so good floating by..

[stuart]

hello TM and foodstick,

TM,do you think spoilers aren't necessary,i figured they help to land by causing the bot to loose altitude quicker without loosing speed so she doesn't stall on to slow never ending glide landing. i know the question of using one side of the spoilers as a turn application wouldn't make sense what with all the dihedral in the wing tips. so I'd want to be able to activate them simultaneously with a slide control and not have them just pop up like some kind of air brake. it just seems that many of the build threads I've read have the builder's installing them or wishing they had. plenty of time to decide. at least i hope to start build Thursday which is 1 week before my icd change.and I'll definitely take your advice to chill a few day for the stitch's to take hold.


foodstick,
your absolutely right to get the bot out more this year,they need plenty of sunshine and warm rising air to stay healthy. a frequently flown bird is a happy bird of time.
.................................................................... ...................
a question I'll ask those who know.....why wrap the spar with carbon strips and thread if i don't plan on using a high start launch. my power choice will lift the bot vertical with only a moderately hard toss. and is there a simpler way to strengthen the spar to prevent wings from folding during dives or unintentional g forces while flying high.
any suggestion to help performance improve will be taken under advisement to applying during construction. i can't wait to get started...lol
................................................... ........................................

[foodstick]

My BOT was built by a local friend that sold it to another person, and then I bought it. It was never intended for a electric motor by the original builder.
I converted it over and so far have had no problems with strength of spars . I am pretty sure it was built to plans (over 20 years ago) Mine does not have spoilers, however if I ever recover the plane I might add them.

Our field is pretty easy to land on without them, I have heard it said that if you were caught in a big thermal without spoilers you might either lose the plane from the lift, or the dive trying to get out of it.

Mine also has a very low wind airfoil, it really gets taken downwind with a poor ability to get home without a large loss of altitude.

But I like it.. have fun with yours.

[stuart]

fun it is!!!! i was going to take a few pictures of all the marked pc's in the sheeting and tried to pop out a pc or 2........wow!! all pc's popped out clean and easy,more fun popping pcs and it took all of 10mins. it require some fine sanding but thats all.

no mater how i look at the wood pile,i still cant believe such a cool bird can be built from so little wood.....

just kicking back watching tv,typing and thinking about covering the table with clear plastic wrap,cut the plans into parts to slip under the plastic,and unfortunately have to get wax paper to build on. need some extra wide wax paper for this wing.

so for to night ,just a few pictures...gotta have pictures.

[stuart]

finally getting ready to start fabricating the wing,all ribs are smooth and ready go. i really love doing the prep work organizing all the pc's for easy building during assembly.

i took a few pictures of the plastic wrap used to wrap flowers. a 30 yard by 30"wide roll costs $6 at any art supply store like pearl,ac Moore, or Michaels. i wrap it's ends on pc's of door trim and screw it down. it pulls real tight and holds the plans down firmly/flat. i can tape with packing tape wax paper and build on top of the plastic sheeting which double protects my plans. the packing tape peels off the plastic wrap without ripping it....man ,what a difference to be able to change the wax paper often and slide drawings in and out easily.

if i rip the plastic wrap,simply run a pc of tape and its good as new to continue. a single run of wrap will last the entire build if your careful not to slice it up with the knife,but i use a cutting board.

just a picture to show the way i run the wrap,and how clear a protection it is even before the wax paper.

[stuart]

so,"whats going on stu,wheres the building of the bot...we'er waiting to see some progress!"

thats what i figure you might be wondering. well the surgery went really well Thursday,i was first on the schedule and at 9:30am to 10:45 i got the defibrillator replaced,got home and in my typing chair around 2:30pm.

all i can say is the bandaging sucks as it pulls on the sight of the stitch's and I'm popping percoset's to relax. so may have to wait till my head clears before picking up the knife...lol,i don't need anymore stitch's.

I've been working on the hk parkjets and they are ready for test flights,I'm also going to build a TX tray and locate a camera bag neck strap for comfort. this will make self tossed bird launches safer than leaning the TX on my hip while controlling elevator stick.

i also want to build a camera mount type gun stock that old timers at my field like me can point and shoot videos of fast moving planes...lol[parkjets]. i got the idea from chellie and have a new camera with the screen only view finder.

then I'll refocus my attention on the bot. but for now another pill,antibiotic,and rest are in order...thats the order really.

sorry for the delay in progress ,but that will change. stu

[gramps2161]

Ya bunch of us where starting to get a little ticked off about the lack of building going on.

Ya percocets and sharp razor blades don't mix glad your taking a break for all the right reasons.

Rest relax and enjoy the wife waiting on you hand and foot.


Hope you have a quick recovery Stuart sure your itching to get cutting again.
Rest of us will sit back and eat till your ready.

[stuart]

thanks john,i'm sure itching under the bandage....,they said no shower for a week.......yeh ,right....thts what are waterproof bandages meant for.rhe huge bandages come off tomarro and those clear waterproof bandages wiil cover the incsion perfectly...so ,after a quick clean up and no more perks for pain i'll get started on the tx tray,and camera gun mount[i'll post pictures]....they'll be plenty of time while off next week to put time into the bot....am looking forward to hanging in the mancave all day while the families away.


have a good night my friend,stu

[max2112]

Glad to read that the surgery went well, Stu.
I have never had any experience with a model like the BoT, but I do like to learn about building planes!

We'll be here when the pictures start up again.

[stuart]

what a pita!! just kidding,but really,these are crappy instructions in the assembly book. after years of building i would have thought I'd read the book and get to some serious building. but even a simple miss read instruction could cost a lot of problems. but when studying the build with the eyes of many other builds,i just want to go ahead and build away using perhaps a little extra wood from my stock pile and not worry about strength of the main spar's. i purchase some carbon fiber strips and may not even use them since this bird will be powered up to soar able altitude. i also may skip the spoilers as i can always have a go around and do over on the approach. so heres a picture of some of the left wing and i need to decipher the instructions more before continuing since the dihedral for the wing is very important. I'm building the wing first as the fuse should be more fun.

[stuart]

ah to build the day away! i worked on the left wing some more and have the parts joined solid. i have used several changes to the process that increase strength but not severely the weight' example is to shear web the whole wing with 1/32 basswood on both sides of the spars. also used a special mix of sawdust and 30minute 2 part epoxy to fill the area where the arrow tube sets,i install shear web on one side and filled the spaces in between the top and bottom spar where th tube is with this mix. the sawdust makes it liter and adds to the filling process with less epoxy required. then i sher webbed the other side sandwiching in the tube. i also used a carbon fiber rod for added strength the full length of the inboard half of the wing.

i need to finish top sheeting the wing and add the leading edge...then the cap strips,and lots of sanding. i am very pleased with the way this wing builds flat on the building board and expect the second half of this wing to be completed by Saturday. have things to do Thursday and its back to work Monday,so hoping to accomplish a lot with this build over the next few days,

it makes me crazy,but I'm seriously thinking of rebuilding the GP rv4-40...i reallylovedd the way it look and the components wont be china cheap if i do..

[stuart]

ever have one of those days.

started building around 9;30 am and verizon showed up to work on the vios...3 hr's later and issues with the work caused my wife to arrive home with internet malfunctioning ect...ect.... and shes been on the phone for 2 hrs now. it screwed up my day royaly.

on the plus side i have the left wing half ready for shaping and sanding. and iv started the right half...but in the confusion i forgot to include the carbon fiber rod like in the left side. so i had to dremel out a slot next to the spar and epoxy it in. anyway,enough for today so i don't get stressed out when building these wing has been fun so far. i really like the way theyer turning out.

just a few pictures of rough pc's completed. truth is...i hear my work table calling me to return and get more done...lolll......i must ignor the voices calling me...they arn't real....or are they

[stuart]

right hand wing is well under way and I'll post pictures later. must say I'm sad its Friday after having a week off to heal and the incision site keeps pinching and tugging at the stitch's. i hope this doesn't last the year long aggravation i had the first time they inserted it. seem the tighter the chest muscles the longer the discomfort.......they told me the first time discomfort might be a few months,thats if your 80years old and overwieght...lol....so I'll age quickly and eat a huge dinner.

2 more days to build and then work gets in the way,it'll be great to get back to work.

[stuart]

snap a few photos for the sake of not going back down to the cave until saturday...

[Stevephoon]

Stuart,

Been watching! And get better so you can lie down and fly this thing for an hour! The BOT's wings are always such a nice shape! It's looking good. I really need to get an electric glider as well....

Steve

[stuart]

thanks Steve,it's nice to hear from someone now and then while posting build progress..... funny thing folks don't understand about build threads. they post progress and supply pictures and no one responds as if the build were meant for applause and praise....lol.

for anyone interested in doing a build thread on popular kits you'll see why you did it over time. i did the "Sig hog bipe, when pig fly"it has over 7500 views and the number keeps growing.

i did the "aerocraft skimmer build,please help" thread ,it has 6000 views and keeps growing. so the beauty in doing build threads is to help others with ideas and pictures to complete a fun build with modifications others have done.

i have noticed this to be very important so folks can locate the builds on goggle search or other on line searches. type the manufacturer's name in full first,and then the model type in full ,then with funny quips said in the title to end it .

example of a failed title: GP RV 4-40 build.....very few hits,could also be a lack of interest in a kit that has build issues. but if i had typed the title to the thread "greatplanes RV 40" it might have been found by folks searching on-line.


hummm,I'm going to move this post to a new thread for all to read ,it just may encourage more builders to post and not expect praise and applause..lol. Stu

[stuart]

the longest I've flown the skimmer was about 25mins sitting in a chair circling in lift before getting a sore neck...lol ,i love the way the skimmer flys with full ailerons added.

as far as the bot goes,I'm leaving it stock with the exception of carbon fiber in the spars,any other changes will be noted. i read the rcg "lisf bot thread" through out all 54 pages and it was extremely useful since the directions that come with the kit leave a lot to be desired..

i took a picture of the wings,the Le are shaped and they need finishing touches and fine sanding still,but they came out straight and very solid. dynaflite designed a beautiful wing on the bird of time. it's been a pleasure to build.

next step will be the tail feathers,leaving the fuse to be modified for a brushless motor and folding prop. thats when the real fun begins.


i made a simple sanding block curved for shaping the le,and my favorite shaping tool is that mini woodplane that i bought at home depot for $8.00,best $8 bucks spent

[Rolling Thunder]

Looks great stu just one question.It may be a optical illusion but in the picture it looks like there is 1 change of angle in the wings leading edge but there are 2 change of angles in the trailing edge.Is this correct & if so how on earth were you able to get them to lign up correctly

[stuart]

hi rt,very curious what your asking but am not grasping the question. can you restate the question so i can see what your talking about.

thanks,stu

[Rolling Thunder]

Originally Posted by stuart

hi rt,very curious what your asking but am not grasping the question. can you restate the question so i can see what your talking about.

thanks,stu

The change of angle on the wing tips(the polyhedral?)
looks like theres 1 change in the front but 2 in the back.Dont know if I cleared it up any or made it worse

[stuart]

huuummmm,not yet, the bot wing dihedral is very straight foward, each hlaf has a 5" lift from the center point of the wing when the wings inner panel is flat on the board. the to halve put together also have a lesser dihedrial built into the #1 ribs.....if the wing were balanced on ite center ,the lift to the outer edge of the inner wing panels would be 1.5" on each side. so there is still some sanding on the front wings root rib to get that angle. maybe thats what isn't looking right,it not fully shaped or finnished sanding yet.

[Rolling Thunder]

Yeah im probly not explaining it right.When I get home tomorrow I'll photoshop the picture which will explain it better.
The reason I ask is because I also have a bot kit.Just not ready yet to put it together but trying to gather as much info as possible.Thanks & enjoy your bot