Sukhoi 29KS

[Rod]

Covered over the chopstrand with more 200gm glass. Gave the whole thing a good rolling with the bubble buster.

[sprice50]

Rod,

You really are the man. This is an insane amount of work. I guess you will be flying sukhois for life! What do you estimate the total materials cost from beginning of the entire mold-making process to the completion of the first airframe?

[Rod]

Hi Shaun
I am not keeping a tally on materials but a rough guess is the mold NZ$400 max. Then the airframe will be maybe NZ$200-300. Not really big sums but of course it is quite a bit of work. However I will have a unique model at the end. I may do a few to sell but it is not really worth my time.
Rod

[sprice50]

Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

[brusty]

Rod , you were asking about the Zyvax release, yes I used #4 and found it excellent. Fibreglass Supplies will decant one litre for you for seventy something dollars and that will last forever. ( you do need to talk to them about the application !) As you know the less you use the better. I found it released very well, and also took the paint okay, I sprayed on a onestep type primer. I did notice a couple of small patches of paint lifted when I was applying the first layer of cloth in the mould, that was minimal, but it is pretty slippery. Talking to FS they said that the envirowax you are using is Ultra slippery and the paint may not hang on, and advised using the #4 Zyvax release, as opposed to going to the #6.

Your moulding setup and process has to be seen to be believed. I thought I knew what I was doing....Ugh ! Cheers, B.

[Rod]

Thanks for that info Barry. Actually I reckon I could get the paint on OK over my envirosheild (most slip) if I misted it on at first, but whether it would stay on while pushing around the glass etc. I thought I would use DeBeers epoxy undercoat in the mold. Should get a molecular bond between it and the resin. Actually I dont mind leaving undercoat off the part and fixing the small pinholes left in the 2oz glass. I make my own pinhole filler from lightweight spackle (Rapidfilla). Bob Violet also does a good one. This system leaves the least possible undercoat on the part.

[Rod]

Shaun
I had a look at your videos. The performance of that model is really good. I could install a full pipe. I would make an extra piece of pipe tunnel for the extra length as I like to keep the pipe separate from the internal model. I am going to start off with a can system to keep it compact. Actually a properly designed can is just a folded up tuned pipe. Here in New Zealand we have the usual noise issues too so I am interested in getting a nice quiet setup. That means running the prop tips at a low enough speed so they wont rip. So the rpm have to be reduced or the diameter needs to be reduced or both. Of course that tends to reduce thrust as well, thats where the pipe comes in. A longer pipe setup will produce more power at lower rpm so it can be loaded up with more pitch or blades. Any way sorry for the lecture. I am looking forward to some experimenting with these ideas.

[Rod]

I made an effort to really seal the MDF splitters which sort of worked. Here are the worst hangup and also where just the undercoat was left behind. Also a shot of the worst bit cleaned up which fortunately didnt take much to do. Next time I will use a much less porous material for the splitters.

[Rod]

Ready for the gell coat. Getting ahead of myself a bit but here are paper patterns for the foam layer.

[Rod]

Half way through applying the second layer of gell coat. I have used less tinter so I can see where I have been. It will be a big day tomorrow as I will put on the last gellcoat and then all the glass.

[SleepyC]

WOW, this is really good!! Keep the reports coming. I'm am really blown away by this!

[Rod]

Got the second side of the fuse mold done today. All that is left is the pipe tunnel/firewall piece.