TLT Aviation (KMP) 50cc Extra 330L

[BTerry]

and here is the motivation for this plane, the Brillelli 50gt. I will swap this muffler for a wraparound Pitts when it arrives. The Pitts muffler will add about 3.5 oz (this is the 6.5 oz heavy side dump muffler, not the 3.4 oz "Lite version").

[BTerry]

I have given some thought to the battery question. I know people have good experiences with the Lithium batteries, and that is all I use in my electric planes and helis. However, I am concerned about the impedence, current-delivery capabilities, and cold-weather performance of the batteries. Also some of the capacity of the lithium batteries must be converted to heat to step down the voltage, eliminating a portion of the benefit (greater mAh capacity for a given mass). The regulator also adds a potential failure point.

I haven't yet decided which batteries I will use, but I like the low-impedence Sanyo 1950 FAUP cells. They are fast-charge, high-current delivery cells (45A).

I will probably go with two receiver packs for redundancy, and will definitely use 5-cell packs.

[BTerry]

I mounted the engine tonight and cut the cowl. I will trim more when the Pitts muffler arrives. I just wanted to get everything fitted.

Notice the location of the prop drive washer in relation to the cowl. Leave it to an engineer to mess up a simple calculation. I don't feel like cutting the extra 1/4" off the engine box and I don't want to tap new holes in the engine mount, so I will leave it with 1/2" clearance. Maybe I can claim it will help with cooling and "increase thrust".

[BTerry]

Here are a couple of pictures of the cowl ring with everything mounted. Notice the left side of the cowl protrudes about 2mm, while everything is flush on the right side.

In the last picture notice the QA tag. If this one passes QA inspection, I would hate to see the planes they denied!

In the last picture is my beautiful wife of 11 years, and mother of my three boys (ages 5, 1, and 1 years old), working on my tax refund so I can buy more airplanes...if she reads this I am in big trouble!

[BTerry]

hmm, pictures didn't post last time.

[BTerry]

final two for tonight.

[BTerry]

I glued on the stab root plates, but I am worried they are not completely secure. I decided I will also pin them into location using dowels and epoxy.

Does anybody have any comments on this?

Obviously the consequences of a loose stab are immense, and probably fatal to the plane.

At any rate, I hope to run the engine this weekend.

[BTerry]

I hinged the tail using Robart 3/16" hinges and Elmers Pro-Bond polyurethane glue. This is tough stuff, and very good for hinging. It can be messy though, so watch out.

Now that I have the technique the wing should be easy to hinge.

I never trusted my original wing area calculation, which many people use. Essentially you multiply the panel span by the average chord length. This is accurate when the wing root and wing tip are parallel, but doesn't capture a large chunk of wing area. I tried that method and calculated about 1260 in^2. However when I drew the wing panel in AutoCAD the area is calculated as 684 per panel, which is 1368 in^2 total. That is certainly more like it! The box says the wing area is 1380 so this is more in line. In fact the difference is within the margin of error of the measurements.

Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of the tail being hinged. I like the color scheme and can't wait to fly it. Somehow many of my planes are red/yellow. I don't particularly like the look of these colors on the ground, but the planes are very visible in the air in all conditions!

Brett

[airborneSGT]

BTerry,

A little trick to help your probond or even gorilla glue hinging come out clean:

1. Place masking tape over hinge holes for both control surface and flying surface (i.e. aileron and wing or elevator and stab). You want to make sure the tape overlaps about 1/2" or more either side of the hole and of course above or below several inches.

2. Do this for all hinge points and be sure to cut your hole out of the tape so your glue can go in just fine.

3. When you have finished gluing and hinging you will find the glue that foamed out on to the tape will just peel off with removal of the tape. The tape prevents the glue from getting on your planes control surfaces and reduces the babysitting involved with foaming or expanding hinge glues.

Hope this helps! This is a tip from Tom (wild hare) although I am sure others have used it just fine in the past. Saves a lot of time in watching your hinges dry and cleaning up the foamed glue.

[Black Bird]

Looking good. Look forward to a flight report.

[BTerry]

Thanks for the tip on the tape for the hinges. I hinged the ailerons that way today. It really helps with cleanup. I still checked every so often to clean foamed glue out of the hinge knuckle and to make sure the hinges were straight and the hingeline was true, but cleanup was much easier.

Here are a couple of pictures of the plane, plus a shelf of nitro fuel I won't be using any time soon ;-)

[Fudman]

	Quote: Originally Posted by BTerry
	1ea Hitec 5955tg $97 shipped

where did you get it?