Aerotech 35% Edge Build

[heath bomb]

Well with Aerotech having new owners I figured I would go ahead and start a build thread for my 35% edge. I guess the first order of business is to introduce myself. My name is Heath or as others know me Heath Bomb. Now by no means am I a John Light or Bob, but I try to build and fly. Also I get bored easly so hopefully everyone here can keep the pressure on me to have this thing done by St. Louis huckfest. Now this isn't an impossible goal b/c I am about 50-70% done with this thing. Ok now down to the business part of this thread...

I have so far sheeted one wing, the fuse, rudder, and both horizontal stabs. Today I am going to try to get the one wing beveled and get the rest of my balsa ordered. (Plane was bought from a friend who had alot done, but there is some sheeting and other wood missing.) Ok now for some pics. Please disgard the mess of the shop and also please don't be afaird to tell me what you think like I said this is my first real build and I need all the help I can get.

[heath bomb]

Pics:

[smokin]

dude!!! this is great!

my name is matt mikesh and i am the new owner of aerotech! my partners paul gassman and ken perron and i are THRILLED to see this the first "new generation" aerotech build thread! we are only a little ways north of you and i look forward to seeing this one fly right away upon completion! please feel free to pm me your # as i would love to talk to another builder that is getting some experience with our product!!!!

keep up the good work and i look forward to meeting you in person!!!!!

matt mikesh

[sweetpea]

Your cowl looks similar to my replacement one on my V1. It had about 1 million pinholes in it. The original cowl had none. How's your look?

[Long Nuts]

Heath,
I just picked mine up at the Joe Nall this past weekend, mine will be a winter build by a good freind of mine, we will watch closely of your progress!!
Good luck!
Dave

[heath bomb]

All right so tonight I was not to productive. I feel that if I take one step forward I take about 20 steps back. Like I said this is my first "real" build. My building partner (two month old baby girl) decieded she wanted to sit in the fuse and bark commands at me. So anyway I started to bevil the right wing. I found that the easiest way to do the bevils is to cut out the rough bevil on a band saw and then finish them with either a small plane or sand paper. This is the second time I am doing the bevils on all surfaces b/c at first I just used a plane and they were off a little. So I deceided to cut them off and redo them. I am using gorilla glue on all the sheeting I have found this to be the best glue b/c not only is it really easy to work with it fills all the little gaps. The only problem is that it expands so everything and I mean everything needs to be either taped down good or have weight and clamps to hold it in place. Learned from doing. Had to re-sheet part of the fuse where the tape is in the pictures above. Most of the work that I am doing I have to learn from screwing up b/c the manual is not to clear on how things should be. This plane was purchased back when the old owner of Aerotech had the company NOT and mean NOT with the new ones (Smokin and others). Thanks to sweetpea I started to mess around with how the cowl was going to fit. I need to get the DA off the Yak in-order to measure and measure and measure some more, but that will have to wait until a rainy day. Also I started to trim the canopy but need to either do some better forming or figure out a way to make the canopy fit. For some reason it just doesn't look like sweetpea's when it is temp mounted. I am at work tonight until 6am central so I can't post any pics from today's build but I will in the morning before getting at again.

[heath bomb]

	Quote: Originally Posted by sweetpea
	Your cowl looks similar to my replacement one on my V1. It had about 1 million pinholes in it. The original cowl had none. How's your look?

The cowl is actually in pretty good shape from what I can tell. Like I said before a friend of mine started it and I got a good deal on the plane that I couldn't pass up. The only real problems I see is it is a little lop sided, but that should come out when I get the cowl rings mounted correct?

[sweetpea]

That should help. And don't think my canopy magically fit the fuse correctly. Like the cowl it took some time. The Aerotech Edge was my first build as well. I had a master builder help me along the way with techniques but that was really just him telling me what to do and then me screwing it up and doing it over again.

You will notice on my canopy that it is black. I taped the inside up and sprayed lexan black paint on it. This way when I covered or painted the canopy the color on the inside would be black instead of primer or the backing of the covering (yes you can cover on the canopy but you have to be very careful with the heat). Also I had to sand back the hatch to make the canopy fit flush with the balsa. Then I laid in some Evercoat bondo to smooth out the seam so the canopy appears with no seams. If I had to do it over again I should have just fiberglassed the hatch as well.......

[smokin]

make sure you get ahold of Robert Joyner of competition airframes if you have any building questions. he is our support manager and he will be more than willing to be of assistance!

good luck on the remainder!

matt

[heath bomb]

	Quote: Originally Posted by sweetpea
	That should help. And don't think my canopy magically fit the fuse correctly. Like the cowl it took some time. The Aerotech Edge was my first build as well. I had a master builder help me along the way with techniques but that was really just him telling me what to do and then me screwing it up and doing it over again. You will notice on my canopy that it is black. I taped the inside up and sprayed lexan black paint on it. This way when I covered or painted the canopy the color on the inside would be black instead of primer or the backing of the covering (yes you can cover on the canopy but you have to be very careful with the heat). Also I had to sand back the hatch to make the canopy fit flush with the balsa. Then I laid in some Evercoat bondo to smooth out the seam so the canopy appears with no seams. If I had to do it over again I should have just fiberglassed the hatch as well....... Attachment 177324

I was actually thinking about using balsa to kind of build up around the canopy. Heck I don't know figure something out. Hopefully the wood for the rest of the plane will be in by the end of the week and I can get the other wing sheeted. I will say this, this plane is coming together quicker then I ever had thought. Yea its not an arf, but dang it is darn near as easy as an arf when you get in the zone. When I purchased the plane the only things that were done was the horizontal stab and rudder were sheeted and the fuse was in bare form (not sheeted). It took about 30 min to a hour to sheet the fuse and hatch. One thing I did do is I started to have the whole hatch from cowl to rudder removable, but the back half didn't line up right, so I just said screw it and made only half of it removable. This was actually a lot easier. Also when gluing the rudder to the fuse I did fiberglass it the fuse. I am remembering things as type so if I confuse anyone I appoligize. Like I said I started the build before Smokin bought the company. I will update tomorrow when I can get the pictures uploaded and have a little bit more completed. Thank you in advance to everyone who has helped me and keep the pressure on. Only 39 days to complete and fly this bird before St. Louis. O man why do I set such tight goals.

[sweetpea]

Just fiberglass the hatch.........glue the canopy down, then use some lite filler to smooth out the transition. Then lay some 3/4 cloth and sand. Then just paint. It will be as much work as what I did and turn out better. I did the long hatch. It wasn't easy to get it all lined up but dang it makes it easy to setup things when you can reach the back of the plane unobstructed.

[heath bomb]

	Quote: Originally Posted by sweetpea
	Just fiberglass the hatch.........glue the canopy down, then use some lite filler to smooth out the transition. Then lay some 3/4 cloth and sand. Then just paint. It will be as much work as what I did and turn out better. I did the long hatch. It wasn't easy to get it all lined up but dang it makes it easy to setup things when you can reach the back of the plane unobstructed.

I like that idea, thats what I am going to do. Start playing with it tomorrow. Thanks sweatpea.

[sweetpea]

Learn from my mistakes.......I do.

I'm keepin an eye on your build. I may end up building my own 40% Su-26 if things don't line up right.

[heath bomb]

Well today I didn't really get to much done. I am working on my friends TT TOC 35% yak 54 that is coming out of retirement by taking everything out of one plane that flew like crap and putting it into the Yak. So that is what my day consisted of. I did however get the fuse sanded at 220 grit, and started sanding the right wing. Also I made sure that the wing and horizontal stabs still lined up correctly with the fuse. I will try to post some pictures tomorrow, but without having more finished it is kind of pointless. The rest of the wood should be in tomorrow and I will start to sheet the left wing and finish beveling the surfaces. Oh I did trinker with the canopy a little more with trying to figure out how this fiberglassing is going to turn out. I think the cloth I have is a little to much so I might need to pick up some that has a smaller thread count.

[heath bomb]

I've finished sheeting the left wing, now its just sittting around watching glue dry. Everything is sanded, bevels cut, and just have to finish gluing the bevels to the surface and finish the fine sanding. This weekend it should be time to start covering. Did I mention that I hate covering. I would rather watch glue dry then cover. But in-order to fly this beast I have to cover it right? My camera died so I have to find my other one, but will post pictures either later today or tomorrow of the progress.