The built is going well, just at the stage of doing some pretty standard things like gluing rudder horns and installing the tail wheel. Simple and straight forward so I'm not including pics of that. My only advice, don't over tighten the tail wheel steering collar. Mine stripped and I had to re tap the threads... I also mounted the rudder servo in the tail, bays are there the manual just doesn’t detail them. There are three slots in the rudder for the control horns; with this tail mount set up I used the top two with a 1.5” arm. Normally I would cut off the other side of the pull/pull horn but I want to keep my options open on this plane in case I need to add another servo. I should be fine with a single BLS-157HV servo though since it puts out a lot of power. If you haven't tried these servos check them out, they are incredibly smooth and also have finite control, no jitters or jerkiness. I can already tell they are smoother than my HiTec 5955 or 7955 servos I used in the past.

The most unique aspect about the rudder set up is that it's removable which is done perfectly with minimal gap. I had an issue on a 35% Hangar 9 Extra 260 where they pre-glued the surfaces. This sounded great until I discovered that they sent me a mismatched fuse/rudder combination resulting in hinges that were all 1-3mm misaligned. I had to cut them out and redo the entire thing which was a complete pain and ended up looking like a hack job requiring me to reenforce and recover that area, I still have that Ultracote to this day. Not on this plane the hinges aligned and piano wire fed through all the hinges with very little effort.

The pipe tunnel is complete except for fuel proofing. I had to open an additional area about 2.5" back from the aft most cooling holes on the bottom. The RE2 pipes are long and it looks like this was a slight oversight on the model. Easy enough to fix with some basswood glued between the bottom stringers. Iron the coating to it then cut out the hole, done. I'll upload some pictures later.

Next up: mount the engine, pipes, throttle servo and then modify the fuel tank location over the wing tube for a centered CG. The current location is in front of the wing tube which should be fine for most people but I like a consistent balance throughout the entire flight. I’ll detail this mod for everyone.

I have also decided to custom paint the RedAero-RC (fixed upon request :-))pilot helmet and uniform so I've been toying with some designs to compliment the scheme, it looks cool as hell in the cockpit and it's only white at the moment. I really like the RWB scheme, the blue is lighter/brighter than the EG MX2 scheme so it shouldn’t darken as much in the sky. The fuse design looks a little odd by itself at first but with the wings and rudder it looks really good and it all ties together. It’s a bit more traditional than the bumblebee scheme while still having some swagger. You couldn’t go wrong with either one and you will be very impressed with the quality of this kit. You know what they say. Different strokes for different folks.

Originally Posted by RoughLandin

I didn't get very much done last night but I'll share what I did.

The kit doesn't include blind/t-nuts to mount the engine. Not a big issue because I usually don't like the type with the machined splines. The machined splines always break off on hard wood like used on the firewall or spin on me shredding the wood when I’m at a field working on an issue. Instead I like the kind below that you screw in from the back side.

Once you have drilled to the appropriate size to fit the nut put it in place from the outside. Drill a small pilot hole for each of the three small screws. I use hex head servo mounting screws that have a good aggressive thread. Screw these in then back right out this will thread the hole in the wood, thin CA the holes to harden them (and fuel proof) then sand any burrs off from the mounting surface. Next, check the fit of the blind nuts from the inside where they will be permanently mounted, I had to Dremel away a very small portion of the angled stock to get a flat fit. Last line up the holes of the nut with the pilot and threaded holes. Thread the screws but don’t tighten all the way. Mount the primary bolt and tighten to suck in the nut to the wood, then tighten the screws the rest of the way. Note you may need to trim the screws if they are too long so they don’t protrude the engine mounting surface.

I also mounted the elevator servos with 1.75” servos arms from Spot-on (corrected), the nice thing about these it they will allow me to mount the linkage at 1.75”, 1.5” or 1.25”. Since I fly primarily IMAC I haven’t decided if I will mount at 1.25” for the greatest precision or if I’ll mount further out for greater throws. This arm allows me some leaway.

I should at least get the wings and servo wiring done this weekend, something easily done while watching the NFL playoffs, Go Seahawks!

Brian where did you buy those t-nuts. I have found the splined ones, which i don't like as well.
thanks
Joel

Uh-oh, you dippin your toe into the world of giants now Joel?!

Originally Posted by RoughLandin

I have also decided to custom paint the RedArrow-RC pilot helmet and uniform

Love to see that!!! (ps, we spell it a little differently )

Originally Posted by supatimhanstine

Uh-oh, you dippin your toe into the world of giants now Joel?!

Dippin?? Ah more like CANNONBALL!! I have a big bumblebee to work on for now and then we will see what is next

This is keeping a little busy this week.

Originally Posted by GotballsP-38

Brian where did you buy those t-nuts. I have found the splined ones, which i don't like as well.
thanks
Joel

Joel, Brian, just a bit of advice..Tnuts are fine, but you might want to consider using 1/4 inch cap head bolts and nyloc nuts with washers front and back to mount a 35% and up engine size.

The attached pic is an example of how I mounted a DA100L to the firewall of the Pilot Edge 540.
The large metal disks were provided with an aeroworks kit, the red washers are part of a standoff kit from Chief..I used those and some flat washers to tweak the mounting distance..but you can see how the 1/4-20 cap head bolts and nyloc nuts provide a very strong connection.

Originally Posted by Azhar

This is keeping a little busy this week.

Do I see things correctly in that the builder has the choice to split the flaps/ailerons if they choose to do so, but it comes from the factory as one long strip aileron?

No. Its split. But they are huge.

Originally Posted by GotballsP-38

Brian where did you buy those t-nuts. I have found the splined ones, which i don't like as well.
thanks
Joel

Hi Joel,
I got these are either Ace or True Value hardware

Hey guys,

I got a decent amount done last night. The pipe tunnel is done, and gilled covers in place. I installed the engine and pipes as well as the throttle servo. The throttle servo from Seacraft works great with a standard servo. Since I'm using a low profile servo I had it required a modification with the trust Dremel.


I also installed the landing gear and wheel pants, a comment about these items. The carbon fiber gear is top quality as with all EG models. The wheel pants and all of the fiberglass is top notch and incredibly thick. On previous planes the cowl and wheel pants have been very thin. Even to the point of flexing while the plane idled and wheel pants that cracked on the first flight. I still need to glue on the gear filets when I get the correct glue. I also used flylite wheels that are top notch quality and are much lighter than the wheels sold with the kit.

Here are the pics showing the technique I use to align and drill the holes in the cowl with the pre-mounted cowl mounting blind nuts. It's pretty simple, tape paper to the fuse to overlap the mounting bracket holes. Punch a hole in the paper where the hole is at. Next, pull back the paper to install the cowl. Finally fold the paper back over the cowl and while making sure nothing slips; mark with a felt pen through the hole punched previously.

Here are some quick pics of just the fuse, no pilot, no cowl baffling yet.

I think it's looking good!

WOW that's looking great!

Looking awesome!

Hey guys, I figure I will ask. what glue do you recommend for glueing on the wheel spats and fillets? In the past I used "Shoe Goo" but with age it can yellow and it collects dirt really fast. I used this because the glue needs to be flexible but the downside with shoe goo is if you glue to the gear and fuse the gear can't be removed without taking coating with it from the fuse.

Any suggestions?