Originally Posted by terryscustom

I got a huge block of foam yesterday for scratch builds on the way 36" x 48" x 96" cut into 3" and 5" slices (one 9" slice for turtle decks) and cleaned on all four edges.

3/4# density?...and where the heck did you get it from?

Originally Posted by husker

3/4# density?...and where the heck did you get it from?

Yes, they have .7 and .9lb density, so I went with .7. Got it from Benchmark foam in Watertown, SD. They will cut to size, but for small projects, they prefer a reasonable minimum. They make the stuff in blocks that are 3' x 4' x 16', he seemed happy that I bought half of one. $160 including tax and probably enough to make 6 planes or more.

Oh ya I think you told me the density before...I'm losing my mind this week.

That is a great deal!

How did you locate a supplier? Just wondering if I could find some close to here.

I grew up there so I knew about them. They make EPS foam insulation for walls, and other EPS construction materials. You could give them a call to see if they ever send anything you're way, or if they know of anyone down in your area. Benchmarkfoam.com The guy I talked to was Mike Dylla, miked@benchmarkfoam.com

I don't think it will flood anytime soon in Sout Dakota, but I am coming to your house if it does.

Thanks Terry When I'm ready for foam for the Chipmunk I'll get hold of them.

Got the turtle deck and canopy deck foam sheeted today. Only problem I have now, which I saw going in, is that the front of the foam was bent in like the wire burned a little too much in those areas. I was thinking about just gluing on another sheet of balsa and feathering it in the best I can. I already had to do this on the belly pan foam because the radius did not quite match the former that it met up with.

Any other suggestions from the pros?? I can't just push it out because the center is just the right height for the cowl.

Originally Posted by terryscustom

Got the turtle deck and canopy deck foam sheeted today. Only problem I have now, which I saw going in, is that the front of the foam was bent in like the wire burned a little too much in those areas. I was thinking about just gluing on another sheet of balsa and feathering it in the best I can. I already had to do this on the belly pan foam because the radius did not quite match the former that it met up with.

Any other suggestions from the pros?? I can't just push it out because the center is just the right height for the cowl.

Adding more wood should work just fine. If you are going to glass the hatch you can use some wood filler before you glass and then make it perfect with body filler before painting. You shouldn't need much if you add a bit more wood.

Got a few hours in today. Canopy is done and ready to cut and install the PETG. I did a test and mixing 50/50 Titebond and microballoons works great for attaching balsa filler blocks. It still sticks good and sands just like balsa. I had to add almost 1/8" to each side of the front of the canopy sheeted foam to get a good fit, but it came out great after some elbow grease and a sanding block.

Have to take a couple days off again with company coming, but I'll hit it again on Thursday. I've never installed a two pc. cowl before, so we'll give that a crack. Also a little concerned about filling in the rest of the turtledeck to the rudder, but I'm sure it will come out fine.

That is looking great. I will have to stop by sometime when your work slows down and take a look.

How did you end up attaching the little ply tabs to the bottom of the hatch? I have been putting off doing that because I am not sure what the strongest method would be. I don't really want my hatch to come off in a blender or knife edge spin...

I was wondering as well about the best method. I ended up using M1100G and face gluing, then I built up a fillet on the inside with Epoxy when I epoxied the blind nuts in. I installed all eight tabs to keep the canopy lined up, but only put screws in three of them.

I'm still debating on installing pins in the front, but am thinking if the hatch took an exit it may as well not ruin the top of the cowl on it's way off.

Strongest way I saw was the way mark bogus does it.
Use hardwood and make a triangle, then glue it into the corner of a longeron and verticle upright fuse side piece. This way stops the longeron from crushing if you over tightnen the canopy screws.
There is a pic on the 55%er thread, works good on them and they are much bigger!

I'm still tossing up if I should install servo boxes, sheet over them and cut them out......or sheet the wing, and install the boxes afterward. The only reason I'm thinking of installing them after is that there won't be balsa under the servo mounts to get crushed.