sahartman21

The UPS brought a nice surprise today.

Lee was kind enough to send an AR-6 fiberglass fuselage. Kevin Matney provided the foam cores.

Send a PM (private message) to Lee if you are interested in getting a fuselage. Send a PM to Kevin if you want cores.

I'll probably wait until Lee gets back from the Nats before starting on the model.

Please note that this is a builders project as there are no plans nor instructions.

Thanks to Lee and Kevin for making this project possible.

diggs_74

Instruction will come, just not high on the priority list at the moment.

I won't be doing any more until after the nats.. They aren't perfect yet but this was only the 5th one I've done.

After the Nats I will finish the wing and tail molds and be offering a full composite kit.

Please PM me with any questions regarding the "builder" version.

Thanks Scott, can't wait to see how it goes.

GSJames

So..... when do I get mine???

I sent the CNC files for the wing tooling to Kevin and Lee tells me that Kevin will bring them to the NATS for Lee to take back with him. Hopefully, I've designed this right and we will have another Q-40 tearing up the pylons in short order. Lee and I are discussing having me make CNC cut files for the fuselage, but it might not be necessary. I've also already made the CNC files for the stab tooling. Maybe someday I'll have the "thumbs" to be able to fly one

diggs_74

Don't worry Gary, yours is coming.. After the nats

As far as the thumbs go, they fly great when set up properly.. It's the one shot at landing that gets most into trouble when they start flying them..

D.E.

Go man Go!!!

AR6s are cool and all but I want to see the Miss Furious happen. I think that would be a cool looking airplane.

DE<br type="_moz" />

GSJames

Dave: I am not familiar with "Miss Furious", but if you'll send me a link, I'll take a look at it. If it's a Sea Fury derivative, it can't be too different from "September Fury", for which I have mostly finished the design work.

I searched for "Miss Furious" but couldn't come up with anything.

D.E.

Gary, the september fury is the one I was talking about. Lee sent me some drawings of it a couple of years ago and then I seen your drawings. I think it would work well and was thinking about doing one before I started this F5D thing.... maybe after I am done with that. To many AR6s around.

DE

diggs_74

I remember when I started the AR-6 thinking there wasn't one.. Then one day I open up the NMPRA site and there yours was.. I just about didn't even do it.. Obviously, I did it anyway.. Looking back, my racing life would have been much less frustrating had I quit back then

D.E.

Awww Lee, you will get it and there is alot of satisfaction in knowing you didnt just go buy it. I think it is like the old days of modeling, guys working in there basements on there own design with thoughts of how well it is going to do at the next big competition....Its worth it!

DE<br type="_moz" />

GSJames

Ya, but Dave's AR-6 and ours are different enough that they won't be quite the same, either on the ground or in the air. It's always better to have more airplanes than fewer airplanes. I'm sitting in a hotel all day today and will work on the September Fury 2D drawings for approval submission.

Hopefully, after this years Reno race, there will be a new F1 to model. "Fraid Knot" should make it this year and has a unique wing planform that should make it stand out from the crowd.

Scorpion Racing

OK Scott, forgive me for this off topic, but I can't resist!!

Rope walks into a bar

A length of Rope went into a bar, sat on a stool, and ordered a beer. The Bartender said, "We don't serve Ropes here." Dismayed and disappointed, the Rope went out and then got an idea. He stopped a man and asked, "Will you please tie a knot in me and separate my strands at both ends?". The man obliged, and with this done, the Rope went back into the bar and again ordered a beer. The Bartender looked him over and said, "Say, aren't you the same rope who was in here before?!" "No," was the reply, "I'm a frayed knot."

diggs_74

I wonder if the designer would let us do a Q40 of it..

GSJames

Ya know, I'll bet if I asked him real nice that he would say yes... I'll go ask... Yep, I thought so. See what happens when I get locked up in a hotel room... I start talking to myself...

sahartman21

I've been drooling over the AR-6 ever since I got the fuselage. It's time to look at some of the details around the wing.

The AR-6 has a very low tail and therefore needs a long landing gear to provide room for flight rotation on takeoff. Lee indicated he used 4" long legs on his model.

I looked around my shop and came across Kevin Matney's Q500 gear. His longer gear has very close to 4" legs.

The following pictures show the conversion into a Q40 gear:




The sketch shows a couple potential locations for gear. You want the gear far enough forward that the model doesn't nose over on takeoff, but not so far forward that the model bounces on landing or is difficult to use the muffler break.

sahartman21

Here is one method to make the wing skins:

Begin by weighing each sheet of balsa.
I then place the heaviest on the top and lightest on bottom.

sahartman21

Use the outline of the shucks to define the size.

Trace the pattern about 1/2" wider than the wing cord.

Make the length about 1/4" longer.

sahartman21

Select several of the heavier balsa sheets and use them for the top sheeting.

I try to use the heaviest wood on the left hand side of the wing. This helps counterbalance the engine weight.

Place a sheet of wood at the front and back of the skin template. A third piece of wood is fitted to go between the front and back pieces.

The sheets are taped together at the seams with masking tape.

sahartman21

Make the other top skin with heavier wood.

Make the bottom skins with some of the lighter wood.

Lay out the skins and label them on an area that will be glued to the foam.



I made a second set of skins for another wing. Note that a different colored marker was used on the second set.

sahartman21

Two 1/8" thick hard balsa spars form the support for the future landing gear blocks.

I didn't have any 1/8" thick balsa so two thicknesses of 1/16" thick were glued together.

The spars are 16" long and are trimmed to fit flush between the top and bottom wing sheeting.

sahartman21

The main spar is actually a 21 thousandths thick x 1/2" x 36" piece of carbon fiber laminant.

A slot is cut on the top surface of the wing cores.

sahartman21

A piece of 7 thousandths x 7/8" x 50" carbon fiber laminant provides tensile strength on the bottom of the wing.

Plan the location of the fiber so that the landing gear blocks don't interfere.

The wing skins are taped together so that trailing edge makes a hinge. It's sorta like a book or taco.

sahartman21

A layer of 1.6 ounce fiberglass cloth provides strength for the wing and provides the basis for a thin trailing edge.

sahartman21

Mix about 3/4 ounce of finishing epoxy and glue in the spars and wing halves together.

I pinned parts in place while drying.

sahartman21

The vacuum bag is made from 4 mil thick plastic sheet.

The plastic sheet size shown (3 foot width) in the pictures works well for making bags as you just cut a piece a little wider than the span.

sahartman21

Mix approximately 1 ounce of finishing epoxy and then add about 0.1 ounce of 91% alcohol.

The alcohol thins the mix and allows it to flow on easier.

Apply the mix to one side and use a plastic squeegee to spread out the epoxy.

The remaining side is done the same way.