birdDog

Pretty simple. Remove as much carbon as you can. Glue up hatch sketeton and wash hands. On the sheeting, Use thin ca to fix the first sheet to the center line. Apply more thin ca from the bottom to glue the entire flat surfaces. Wet the sheet for the bend and use thick ca on the ribs and bottom brace. Roll the whole thing on the table to keep the sheet straight and place a drop of thin ca at the top of the bend (where you didn't get the thick ca). Solid

On the canopy, I cut out the rear and left about 3/8" in the front, cut the bends off the sides. It should fit the contour of the sheeting really nicely. Now with the hatch off the plane, use a marker on the inside of the canopy to follow the rear contour. I left about 1/4" in the front cause it fits nice. I marked where it meets the bottom of the hatch in the front and back and cut the bottoms with a straight edge. Nice and tight fit. I will epoxt it down tomorrow.

I covered the H stab and elevator and you have to be very careful how you shrink the film. Do it as evenly as possible but try not shrink it too much, these parts are very light.

birdDog

I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!!!
Got the toughest part about wrapped up. A couple more hours of aesthetics and on tho the WIRING!!!!

I wish I kept a log of my hours spent...... Great Airplanes are worth the time to build.

Oh Yeah! When you epoxy the canopy to the hatch, Go easy on the coffee before hand and wait until your favorite tv show starts. You will be holding it for a while....I mean the canopy....

birdDog

Here is a pic of the what I perceive to be the tail wheel set up.
Note the cut I had to put in the rear of the fuse to install the elevator!
The instruction explicitly state INSTALL THE ELE BEFORE THE H STAB!
Well.....
I have installed HS-55's for the ailerons, and HS-65's for the tail feathers.
I am going to maiden with an AXI2820/10 with an Align 35amp ESC.
(There are mostly components from a Trex and a plane a wrecked previously)
Also probably install a AR6200, but I have set it up with a AR6000.
Running 4s 2200mah Zippy lipo's I get around 400watts with a 10x5e. (430 with 9x6e)
Should be enough power to get me out of trouble (or into).


I think that is it for this build thread. Hopefully in the next couple months I will be able to post some flying video. It has gotten up to 14 degrees today.

All in all this was the best engineered kit I have built to date and am very pleased with the build.

Wish me Luck! I will let y'all know how it flies

gfdengine204

Good luck, Rob. I will be quizzing you when I start my Cub.

birdDog

Very well behaved plane. Get right up in the air on 3s 2200mah, Axi2820/10, APC10x5. Tight loops, very axial rolls, nice knife edge (for my limited skills). Great kit, Great flyer. One of my better planes.

birdDog

Edited due to using too heavy of a motor.

birdDog

After a season of spectacular flying. This plane has taught me alot.
I have been running a 3536-10 from headsuprc.com on 2200 3s and it is truly amazing.

Just ordered another one for the building season! I hope this is not a bad omen for the red and white one.

buzzltyr

Rob, great to hear that you enjoyed flying your Etana all season. I really need to buy myself another Etana kit and build it up. It's been a long time since I had one.

Mark

texasclouds

nice lookin plane.

two is better than one...

birdDog

After much deliberation, and framing up a second one. I have to state that all of the clamping and straight edging was a problem on the first build. You really only need a straight edge for the fuse sides, front 2/3 of the bottom fuse and the hinge surfaces. This model has so much complex contour to it that it is best built by letting the pieces jig themselves and eyeballing the heck out of the lines. This second build went WAY smoother by just letting the parts go where they wanted, much straighter than the first one that I fought with. This is the nicest kit I have built.

PaperAirplane

Great job on the build birdDog! Any video?

PA

birdDog

Not to keep pounding this thread into the ground, but, here is one set-up I think is worthy of sharing.

smokejohnson

I bought a fistful of those same clamps at Harbor Freight and I love them.

birdDog

That's where I got these too. They are all over my house, from keeping chips fresh to the stack of bills to drop in the mailbox. Handy little buggers. I though, Jeeze, I'll never use all these. I need more.

Just capped the CA, #2 is almost ready for the sanding booth.
Gonna try my hand at this covering scheme.

Just found a Hacker A30-12L, ZOOM

birdDog

Black Friday? Let the crazed bargain hounds have the streets.

100% Coverite Microlite. I love this stuff!

birdDog

Ready to sink the rest of the funds into. The mind numbing task of choosing a power system. Had to exercise a little artistic license. May still put a white stripe down the fuse to brighten it up a little bit.

texasclouds

wow, nice work!

PaperAirplane

very nice

smokejohnson

Wow...really nice job.

birdDog

Scorpion 3014-18, Common Sense 45a opto, Medusa bec, HS81's and 55's (might go 65's), AR6000 and one reinforced motor mount. I think it will fly .
Too cold out to ramp it up and check the watts, maybe tomorrow.

If your gonna go with the HS81's, lengthen the rear servo mounts before you cover.

birdDog

While the 3024-18 is a big motor, the hs-81's in the tail help to balance it out. 3s2200's sets right above the spar. Over 400 watts at around 39 amps with an APC 12x6e and beat up Rhino Lipos. This thing is a rocket and unlimited vertical seems as fast as level flight. Ok, I may be exaggerating a little bit but WHOA does this thing go!
Lands light as a feather as well.

Maiden went on in 36*, overcast with 10-12mph winds so it was a little tough to check things out really good but a nice 3 packs went through it. Get one!

PaperAirplane

Video?
Glad to hear 'bout the maiden.

PA

birdDog

Nah, not yet, I promise to work on it though. Probably gonna be a while till the weather helps out. Im not affraid of the cold but the wind blows. Got a couple large parking lots that get plowed to use.
P.S. I started out by building a slow stick.

smokejohnson

Congrats Rob

PaperAirplane

Very cool. I hope to have great success with the SS.