CHELLIE

Hi Everyone I always Wanted a F-20 TigerShark So, I think That this will be my $50.00 Scratch Build Entry, I will be making it out of depron and Balsa, It will be a pusher prop, I think a 36 to 40 inch wing span will be nice and easy to see for these old Eyes Ok, Now I have to Clean up my Hobby Room to make some room for this build Hopefully it will look something like these Pictures, Wish me luck, Chellie

CHELLIE

I Finally Got a Chance to get to my Build I am Drawing up my Plans, I will be using the drawing above as a Base, the wing tips will be wider at the tips for RC use, the bottom will be flat for a lifting body affect, the top of the wing will have a air foil to improve lift and hide the retracts if I decide to use them, I have to build this thing and see how it goes The intake ducts wont be so wide as to lessen drag, the rear stabilizer will be a little wider at the ends for rc use, I am starting to get ready to put it together, just a few more Measurements It looks like it will have about a 34" W/S and be about 60" long, It should be big Enough so I Can see it way out there Take care and have fun, Chellie

quorneng

Very nice - just about the size of my Fairey Delta 2.

Not quite sure of the "wider tips for RC use..." though. True scale is half the fun!

Now if I crash and destroy one of my existing EDFs I would have space to build something......

CHELLIE

I got most of the measurements done and I am off to cutting foam I am Starting at The tail feathers with this build and working forwards, I wanted to get the hard stuff out of the way first I am Using a Lot of my scrap 9mm Foam for the bottom part of the Jet, I tape a hinge with packing tape on one side of the foam, epoxy the seam, then wipe any execs epoxy off and put some packing tape on top, that makes for a very clean joint, the 9mm foam will be the wings, stabilizer, rudder assy. and bottom of the fuselage, the sides of the fuselage will be balsa, 6 and 2 mm Depron, here are a few pics, Take care, Chellie

dahawk

Aw Geez,

Let's just delare Chellie the winner and start another round - LOL

Mine will be pale by comparison but uber cheap.

CHELLIE

There is a lot of Talent Here on Wattflyers, I just feel lucky to be able to compete, I am just trying to keep up with the Big Boys Take care and have fun, Chellie

CHELLIE

I got 2 more pieces of foam cut out and Epoxied in Place, Its starting to look like some thing Now I used the same Packing tape hinge and epoxy method to glue up these scrap pieces of 9mm foam, the epoxy joints are stronger than the foam itself now I need to box in the fuselage and cut out the control surfaces, Take care, Chellie

Crashalott

Lookin good there Chellie, you got off to a fast start.
I have my plans cut out but no parts cut yet.
Crash

CHELLIE

Thanks guys for the complements Its getting there

CHELLIE

Its getting there little by little I cut out the elevators and ailerons and Hinged them with packing tape, I leave a 1/16" gap between the control Surfaces, so the surface will bend down and not cause the tape to stretch and bind, i use a small piece of scotch tape to hold the gap, before I use the wider packing tape to hinge the surfaces, I use 2 layers of tape on the top and one on the bottom, that seems to make the hinge very strong with out making the hinge to stiff, here are some pics, Enjoy, Chellie

CHELLIE

Ok, Now I am going to work from the front towards the rear, I think the tapered nose will be a bit of a Beach to do I want to use balsa to make the Fuselage Stiff, or I wil have to Epoxy some wood Yard sticks in the fuselage to add Strength, I will try to soak the balsa in some ammonia and water to soften it up to shape it, Wish me luck as I have never tried to use ammonia and water to soften up balsa before Here goes nothing

CHELLIE

Ok, now what in the heck Did I get Myself into Trying to form the turtle deck & Fuselage is being a real PITA I had to score the heck out of the 6mm depron on the back side, use Packing tape to pull the foam together while heating it, and I only have 2 hands I Think I got it though What a pain here are some pics of me Struggling with the foam to get it formed, Enjoy, Chellie

CHELLIE

I Rounded out the rear top part of the fuselage and placed it on the bottom part of the jet and it fits Ok, I will admit it, trying to shape that Foam to fit, Beat me up a little, Thats enough for today I need to get my beauty Sleep Take care, Chellie

pmullen503

Looks great. Nice job bending the foam by hand.

CHELLIE

Thank You I was going to start on the nose first, but I needed a reference for the nose part of the fuselage, so I had to start at the back part to get it, I did not have enough balsa for the rear part of the fuselage, so I went with foam,Take care and have fun, Chellie

quorneng

Chellie
That's quite a bit of Depron bending! It looks very nice

I have laminated 2 or more layers of thin 2mm Depron to get a sharp curve using PVA as the glue. It has to held firmly in place and takes 24 hrs to dry but the end result is almost like moulded 3 ply.

However my preferred method is 'planking' over formers mainly because individually fixing each plank puts very little load on the structure.

CHELLIE

Thank You I will be using 2mm depron for the air Ducts, I know that will be Easier to bend I used a can and taped and heated the depron foam rear part of the fuselage to get a rounded form, Its getting there, Take care, Chellie

CHELLIE

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7696YGqBMo[/media]

mclarkson

That's looking really sweet, Chellie!

Crashalott

Lookin good Chellie!
DollarTree Foam is easier to shape using tape on one side and usually you don't need
score lines.
Crash

CHELLIE

Thank you

Thank you Dollar tree foam is what I might have to use on the nose, because like you said, its easier to shape, I am just trying to use up what I have laying around here, Take care and have fun Guys, Chellie

pmullen503

If you can find a can the right size, cover the outside of your foam with packing tape, tape it to the can and fill the can with boiling water. That happens to be the perfect temperature to mold foam. You may have to add the boiling water twice for thick foam.

Even if the can is a little over-sized, it puts a nice curve in the foam that can be used to make a cylinder that's the correct size. Very useful for foam cowls, turtle decks, and EDF thrust tubes.

quorneng

Chellie
I have just been reading up on the Tiger Shark. What a sad story but it does rather demonstrate that foreign countries will only buy what the USA actually uses!

CHELLIE

Thank You great Idea, I will Remember that in the future for sure

I Know, Politics Killed the F-20, it was one great plane, Quick to Respond, cheap to maintain, for its time, it was a sweet bird

CHELLIE

I was trying to figure out how to make the nose and front fuselage assy. I was going through my RC junk pile and found a Stryker foam Nose Hmmmmm that looks about right, Yea, That will work so I trimmed off the 2 plugs on the back side, and cut out a 9mm piece of foam for a form to glue foam onto, soo that piece of foam got epoxied to the rear of the nose piece, now that will give me something to work with , I had to hold the nose down a little with some weight to get the right angle before the epoxy hardened. Its getting there, I got a little side tracked with my EBay Sales and overhauling a McCoy 35 Red head for a customer, the McCoy Engine came out real nice, so that was a little extra money for my RC Hobby and I have another McCoy 29 coming in to be overhaul for a customer, Thank Goodness they are in no Hurry for that engine being retired, the extra money sure helps Take care and have fun, Chellie