The Rebuild (thread) of a YA F-18 twin

[Thomas_W]

i thought I was done w/ "details" but i found some things I missed, so i painted all the nav lights on the thing..

[Andrew Bird]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Thomas_W
	LOL.. you'll really hate me after i tell ya the next few things. the last plane i built was 4 years ago. That plane was an aeroworks 29% Edge 540 kit. It took me from monday evening to saturday night of the same week to have that airplane built and flying. Yep, an entire kit from box to sky in less than a week.... I'm "thinking" about getting back into building planes again for some extra $$$ once i get a larger apartment.... just gotta get my name back out their, and i think this is one project that should do that.

I saw on the other site that guys are charging nearly 2k to put a flash together So if you go into building you could probably make a good few $$$ on the side. Especially if you do proper projects as opposed to assembling ARF's.

[Thomas_W]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Andrew Bird
	I saw on the other site that guys are charging nearly 2k to put a flash together So if you go into building you could probably make a good few $$$ on the side. Especially if you do proper projects as opposed to assembling ARF's.

yea i did stuff back in the day for people. $1800 to do a Wing manufacturing B-25 kit from box to RTF minus paint (i screwed myself on that deal!). $1800 to build and get a BVM bandit to the paint stage (that included radio and turbine fit-out).

he'll, i'd get a flash to the RTF stage for a grand

[Thomas_W]

all of the nomenclature is on.. now its time for clear coat and all the the "paint" work is done.

[Vic3D]

WOW! That's impressive. How many hours total (Approx)???

[Thomas_W]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Vic3D
	WOW! That's impressive. How many hours total (Approx)???

havent' really been keeping up w/ them but id guesstimate around 600-1000

[Thomas_W]

For those wondering how i did the rivets, here's my secret. go to the LHS and get a .125 x .014 round brass tube. Get a 1/8" brass tube and some 1/8" wheel collars. Cut the .125 brass tube and cut a piece about 2 1/2 to 3" long. Take the 1/8" brass tube and cut a piece about 1" to 1/2" long. Now slide the larger brass tube over the small one so the ends of each tube are even w/ each other. take the 1/8" wheel collar and slide it over the larger tube about 1/2 way down and tighten the wheel collar down until the smaller tube no longer moves. Now take a pair of pliers and "crimp" the end of the large tube flat (on the end the smaller tube sticks out of). This keeps the small tube from "wiggling" in the larger tube. Optional, but a great tool to guard against blisters, take a piece of heat shrink tube just large enough to go over the wheel collar and shrink it over the entire length of the larger tube.

Now take an exacto knife and "sharpen" the inside of the small brass tube until it just begins to "flare" out. Now chuck up the tool in your fingers and start cutting some rivets.
Every couple hundred rivets, you'll have to resharpen the small tube. To do so do just like before, but before sharpening it, remove the "flared" piece of the tube by sanding it off w/ a piece of 220 grit sandpaper.

Its a major paint to do the entire plane, but the effort is well worth it in my opinion. And once the weathering and markings go on, the rivets no longer "pop" out at you except for where the weathering is fairly heavy, just like on the real thing

For rivet "distance" between rivets, i used roughly .3" from rivet center to rivet center. I started by putting rivets in the "corners" of panel lines first and adjusted them slightly to get a uniform distance between rivets (some were .28" some .32") just small adjustments that aren't noticeable to the human eye.

Here's a pic of the tool:

[RADRICH]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Thomas_W
	LOL.. you'll really hate me after i tell ya the next few things. the last plane i built was 4 years ago. That plane was an aeroworks 29% Edge 540 kit. It took me from monday evening to saturday night of the same week to have that airplane built and flying. Yep, an entire kit from box to sky in less than a week.... I'm "thinking" about getting back into building planes again for some extra $$$ once i get a larger apartment.... just gotta get my name back out their, and i think this is one project that should do that.

OH...we been hatin' ya with envy for quite a while now!!!!!hehehe

[Thomas_W]

	Quote: Originally Posted by RADRICH
	OH...we been hatin' ya with envy for quite a while now!!!!!hehehe

LOL.. well, once i start "stuffing" it full of tanks, electronics, batteries, etc yall can pick it apart, as i dont think i'm going to be able to make the inside look as good as the exterior. But we will see.. my $210 worth of the "last" air system parts should be here tommorrow.. $760 in the air system alone in this bird. And it would of been another $300 if i had decided to do an operating canopy and tail hooK! ohh well, maybe on the next one

[Thomas_W]

My package from dreamworks finally showed up after the Post office decided not to deliver mail to the entire street for 2 days... So the gear is finished.. Also got my Lex Fence's from Paul, so i'll have some install pics of those for those who've never seen/installed them before. I've only glanced at his directions, but they look top notch so far.

Here's a quick (30 seconds) vid of the gear and door sequence.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v4...=gearmovie.flv



Anyone know how fast the full-scale Speed brake actuation is?

[sweetpea]

Looks very good.

any reason why you didn't hook the tool upto a soder gun or burnish tool to make the rivets?

(just saw your post on RCU as to why......)

[Thomas_W]

	Quote: Originally Posted by sweetpea
	Looks very good. any reason why you didn't hook the tool upto a soder gun or burnish tool to make the rivets? (just saw your post on RCU as to why......)

yea.. didn't work to well.. if i had an adjustable soldering iron it would of worked.. i was trying out one of the $5 walmart ones...

I got one of the splitter plates installed tonight. only took about 4 hours, those things were a Pain in my butt! then again, they were an after-thought and wouldn't of been as bad to install if i hadn't of already painted the jet. never the less, they still look good. just have to weather them and the Lex-fences, which i'll post pics of tommorrow.