n00bs Gonna Build a Carden

[gareth.ky]

Thanks for the reply mark786, nice looking 260!

I agree that inside is better. I don't know if its that much better though. Its 1/8" of skin really holding much of the load? Its a lot more work to do it that way after you put the skins on. I will try it tonight and see how it goes.

[mark786]

It's probably not so much about strength as it makes a better looking joint at the root when covered. Just like a lot of people are doing the same at the wing root. Just pretties it up some. Kinda hard to get the shape sanded without screwing it up when the sheeting is thin balsa and you are sanding the edge of ply.
I thought it was easier to sand the ply root to shape and then insert.
Mark

[buttface]

Great!

[gareth.ky]

I'm still working on getting the truss sides onto the motor box. Here is what I did this weekend:

• Attached F2, F3 & F4 parts to the motor box
• Added the motor box bottom
• Pinned the hardwood blocks with the 1/8" dowel (ran out and had to go to the hardware store!)
• Sanded and fit the truss sides to the motor box
• Cut the holes in the struss sides for the wing and tail tube sockets
• Applied LE & TE stock to the wings and rudder.

So far it looking really straight. The tube socket plates lined up just right and the level reads 0 on the wing tube. I still need to drill the landing gear mount before I can attach the sides to the motor box.

I mocked up the sides and at this phase I'm more worried about them being vertically straight and square to the box than I am about them being straight over the plans. I'm planning to use triangles to keep it straight and only use the aluminum angle when I'm building the truss bottom. One thats done its back to the triangles for the top. Should come out very straight and square.

Dan phoned in the winning solution to the problem with the H-Stab. Easy and simple . I'll post pics of that and should have them done this week.

[Spdstr280Z]

Looking good Gareth, I'm following along looking for inspiration since I'm in the same shape. I picked up an older 35% Carden Extra 300 kit a while back and I don't have much building experience. Right now I am working my way through a few smaller kits to pick up some experience and skills. I can already tell I need to improve my tools and work area. I haven't done anything yet other than sheet a couple of non-critical parts.

Keep it up !

Jason

[gareth.ky]

Yeah, the fuse sides are on! Here are pics from the weekend:

Last pic is me checking the tube socket is level. I bit premature but it all looks good

Tonight I drilled the holes for the gear. This was kind of a . You got this motor box and its wobbly and perched on the drill press and what do you get? Error:

Yup, the big hole was the first attempt. Way off the mark. For the other holes I went back in with a pin vise and drilled a pilot hole about 5mm deep as a marker. Then I went in with a small drill bit on the press and drilled a full depth pilot hole. Then I hit it with the big bit. All those holes were on target. I went for blind nuts and 4mm bolts for the gear. The blind nuts need to be cut off to fit:

Then I mocked up everything for gluing the fuse sides. When it was all done I found a small error where I had sanded too much off of on of the F-4 bulkheads. It actually tapers towards the table. Its not a huge deal, I used epoxy and milled glass for all the joints so the gap was easily filled. The point is that you should be able to find the error in your parts with whatever jig you set up. If your jig isn't helping you locate errors your stuff is perfect or its not a good jig. Everything has error in it. Find it, see if its acceptable, correct it if needed and move on.

(Don't bother cutting any holes in F-5. It only saved 2 grams, not worth the time.)

[gareth.ky]

Now that the fuse sides are on I'm looking at the small space there is to get to the forward wing anti rotation pin. I have big hands, its gonna be annoying to get them down in there. Any tips for what hardware to use or how to set this up?

[gareth.ky]

Humpty BUMP, see above. I always seem to update this threat a 1am when no one is looking.

[mark786]

Gareth,
I usually leave the bolt in the hole during transport so I only have to slip a allen driver in thought the hole. This may be one of those items that you retain in memory for your next Carden build. I have a lot of those things to remember for my next one.
If you had cut your lightning holes different it would have been easier. However if I remember correctly, the stock plywood side only has a large enough hole for the driver.
Attach is a picture of Walt's lightning hole on a 40%. Lots of room.
Mark

[gareth.ky]

There might be enough room in my lighting holes, I'll have to check tonight.

I went by Ace hardware and had a long look around. They had some plastic caps for socket head cap screws so you don't need tools to screw them in:



They didn't have the size I would need so I did some digging. Seems that they are made by Shear-Loc. The site has the Knurled style knobs in M4 Metric and #8. The knobs are not very big, only 1.3cm (1/2"). Good news is these could easily be retrofit onto a lot of peoples airplanes.

[gareth.ky]

I was hoping that I would get the incidences set on the wings but I'm not quite there yet. The wings and stabs should be set this week. I'll hold off on the pics till the incidences are done. I see a lot of questions on how best to do it in other build threads. The Carden directions are pretty terse and don't really tell you everything you need to know. My method is mostly taken from the Carden directions + bits I picked up from Walt and others. Its pretty straight forward and easy to do.

List 'o stuff I 'discovered' this weekend:

• Don't let the razor plane hit the sheeting.
• Hobbylite filler works great. (ask me how I know)
• The best tool for spreading Hobbylite is your finger.
• It's best to mix it up before you use it and maybe add a little water.
• The Master Airscrew razorplane works better than the Dremel plane (IMHO). Its cheaper too.
• Stick construction always takes longer than you think it will.
• The ghetto Boxfan+AC filter is the bomb. Get one.
• In fact, get anyhting that makes sanding easier, faster or safer.
• A propane heater is a much better investment than a Kerosene heater.
• Mr. Heater here can raise the temp in my uninsulated 2 car garage by 20 degrees, on low, in an hour.
• Burning propane creates water vapor which makes poly glue react faster. (Can you tell I like the propane heater?)
• My Jerk Chicken is way hotter than your "Japalenyos" or whatever it is.

Questions:

• How should I shape the leading edge of the wings, how blunt or pointy should it be?
• Is there anything I can do to toughen up the balsa on the LE & TE?

[dmichael]

Hey Gareth- looks good. I wanted to mention that, unless I'm wrong, Dennis designed the gear mounts to work without blind nuts so that, if the gear were to come under unusual stress, the threads would strip out of the hardwood and not pull the bottom of the plane out.

I have no blind nuts in mine with many flights and no problems.

Dave