RE: F3F-1 project
I don't want to go bigger, cause it becomes a PITA for storage and such. Re: solenoid. I'm all for simplfying, but I have no idea how it work in this application. I think of solenoids as simply switches that use low voltage to turn on big voltage. I'd have to have a circuit diagram or pic to understand this.
Posted on: 11/8/2011 3:56 PM by Author "catspaw" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10803181

RE: F3F-1 project
Thanks for the tip. I was able to find out about that small electric F3F with retracts. I wonder if a modern servo would enough strength to keep a similarly designed gear in overlock position? I was thinking of electric retracts involving a servo, electric motor, and 4 switches.
Posted on: 11/8/2011 8:25 AM by Author "catspaw" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10802483

RE: GP Ultimate Biplane build
I built one a few years ago around a Saito .65. Got the fiberglass cowl and wheelpants for it. However, never got around to finishing it-needs radio and covering-cause it was about the time I started getting burned out, and just let it sit on the rack. It's got a little hangar rash on one wing, but mostly just a coat of dust on it, waiting to be restarted. One thing I didn't like, and was going to redo before burnout, was to do something about the wing sheeting-it was WAY too soft, and I should have realized that before installing it. It sanded way too thin, and it's where the hangar rash is. Otherwise it's a very straightforward build.
Posted on: 11/8/2011 7:52 AM by Author "catspaw" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10802430

RE: Quick Question About Kerf?????
That falls under the heading of Kerf also. Kerf is simply the total width of the cut.
Posted on: 11/7/2011 7:39 PM by Author "catspaw" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10801859

RE: RCM Plans Service
FWIW, I recieved all 5 of the RCM plans I ordered, today. 3 weeks, from Oregon to Wisconsin.
Posted on: 11/7/2011 5:34 PM by Author "catspaw" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10801678

F3F-1 project
This past weekend, I got my new scanner in, and was able to import the F3F-1 3-view into turbocad. Short learning curve to do what I have done so far, which is trace outlines of the fuse, formers, and wing planforms. Plan is to make the upper wing 60", to make it IMAA legal for no reason at all. My first decision is power, if I should go glo or electric. The cowl is only 4.5" from firewall to front edge of cowl, which precludes the Saito 1.80 I was hoping to use. I can't recess the firewall, cause the landing gear is practically right behind the firewall. Even if I go with fixed gear, it's going to be tight back there. The other option is to go with electric. I have yet to make any calculations for wing area, or guesstimate the weight, so I'm just guessing at .90 size equivelants, and not actually figuring out wattage and voltage I'd probably need. Prop size about 16" scale, but I can go to 18" but only 1/2" ground clearance in level position. If I want to go with glo, I can build one way, but if I go electric, I build a different way. So in your opinion, do you think this size of electric motor, about 22.2-3x.x volts (various motor ranges), with a 16" prop would be enough oomph for a bird this size? I've also thought about building a 1/8" scale (48" upper wing span) with fixed gear as a "proof of concept" plane, but I'm more leaning towards full size with fixed gear first, then retracts after I figured out how to build them.
Posted on: 11/7/2011 5:31 PM by Author "catspaw" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10801671

RE: Gotta Have The Man Plane! -MUST SEE!
Not much detail. Power requirements? # of servos and torque? how many channels needed?
Posted on: 11/7/2011 9:13 AM by Author "catspaw" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10800886

RE: Quick Question About Kerf?????
Is the software for these laser cutters not capable of offsetting for the kerf? When I program to cut on a CNC machine, I have contour (outline) cuts to cut on the left side of the line, cutting clockwise around the part. The program knows the diameter of the cutter, so knows how much to offset the cut to stay outside the line. I would consider having to manually adjust the drawing to allow for offset to be a MAJOR PITA in this day and age.
Posted on: 11/4/2011 8:03 AM by Author "catspaw" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10796450

RE: *** Ultra Sport Brotherhood ***
I built my US 40's with a saito .65. In my second plane, I put the tail servos about 2-3" behind the wing. I staggered the heights of the servos so the control arms could overlap. Balanced perfectly.
Posted on: 11/2/2011 10:19 AM by Author "catspaw" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10793570

RE: Loaded Dice III engine
The plan arrived today. only took 2 1/2 weeks to arrive from England. 1 sheet. Definitely intended for the 1.40 w/tune pipe class engines, but does mention using 4 strokes by moving back the firewall. Options for fixed or retractable gear. foam tail feathers and wing. only a few few fuse formers. Could definitely be built pretty light.
Posted on: 11/2/2011 10:16 AM by Author "catspaw" in the forum "Classic RC Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10793565

RCM F-4 conversion?
Has anyone done or heard of building the F-4 phantom from RCM, the one by Pavel Bosak (IIRC) into an electric DF? Seems to me, that with electric, one could try either a single DF or 2 smaller ones, if there's room.
Posted on: 10/30/2011 12:51 PM by Author "catspaw" in the forum "Electric RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10789524

RE: Source for lazer cutters for balsa
The advantage of DIY is that you get the size you NEED. If you are going to use it strictly for the RC hobby, then a capability of handling 12"x48" would be the most you need, since birch plywoods from wood dealers come in this size at the largest. OTOH, if you branch out, looking into a bigger table would be a plus. There are other advantages to a DIY. For example, etching bottles, you could make a rotary axis setup with the X axis, instead of having work with a seperate axis. Still, the big killer is the cost of the laser. You could take the less expensive route and go with a router.
Posted on: 10/30/2011 8:15 AM by Author "catspaw" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10789191

RE: Source for lazer cutters for balsa
I've looked into this from a DIY point of view. You can get 40-100W laser tubes on ebay from china. Something like $400 and UP, BUT you will pay as much or more in shipping. The 100W tubes are about 6' long. You still need a power supply, water pump, and a few other things. Then you need your table, complete with X and Y axis, controllers, servos, interface, etc. Then since your laser is so long, you need to align everything with the mirrors. Messing with a laser's output is no joke, even at low power. I have not tried to find shorter lasers, I'm not quite familiar enough with them to know what to look for. Even DIY, you are looking a 3K-5K rough estimate startup costs. I still want one though.:)
Posted on: 10/29/2011 7:14 AM by Author "catspaw" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10787864

RE: Turbocad Plat Pro 16 VS Turbocad Plat Pro 18
So are you visualizing some kind of 3/4 view of the aircraft parts "assembled" or maybe rotating the plane on the screen so you can "visualize" the layout? something like that? Do you really NEED to do that? All you are going to need is a top and side view of the wing and fuse, and maybe a front view for some things. I would STRONGLY suggest you get the $50 software first, instead of spending several hundred bucks on something you may wind up not liking, or not using enough of the features to justify the price. I have TC17 ONLY because it was an upgrade, cause I started with like V9 or something and upgraded a few times, and older versions weren't running on my then-new computers. I'm not trying to discourage you from buying, I'm just asking you to start small and work your way up. Get the $50 program, learn it, then figure out if you really will use the advanced features the more $$$ programs offer. If you wind up spending a few hundred bucks later on the better version, $50 isn't much for a "prep course" by using the 2D.
Posted on: 10/26/2011 7:37 PM by Author "catspaw" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10784403

RE: Turbocad Plat Pro 16 VS Turbocad Plat Pro 18
Let me ask you this... What is in the plat. pro versions that you think you need for designing a RC airplane? Would a 2D program work, or do you think you'll want to use 3D for some reason? Any reason you can't use the lesser versions of turbocad (I have v17 deluxe, but still haven't learned what I really want to know...too stuck on my at-work CAD/CAM program called MasterCAM)? How about designCAD which is IMSI's 2D CAD program for $50 I think.
Posted on: 10/26/2011 10:49 AM by Author "catspaw" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10783592

RE: CNC machine for hobby use?
You'll have to look into costs of the parts a lot. Does the design use belts with drawer slides or rod slides to move the cutter, or ballscrews? I'm not talking about regular threaded rod, that's not very good. For a 2'x4' size, you are looking at a pretty penny if it uses ball screws on a 4' length. We don't need a lot of precision for this hobby, so belt drive on a sliding rod system could work, but there needs to be a method of backlash control, and how do you support the long rods to prevent sagging on the long lengths? How much will it cost to build the controller? does it include everything if it's a kit? the steppers (motors)? Is there a clear path from programming the part to posting the cutting program in a way that the controller will understand without any hand coding? In other words, how do you get the .DXF file translated to a toolpath that will run on your controllers? This is a software issue for the most part. This is something you are going to have to research in detail. I once had a kit that should have run a 12x24 dremel router setup, but I never finished it cause I was getting burned out on the hobby, and the ballscrews he recommended were hard to find and expensive.
Posted on: 10/26/2011 10:44 AM by Author "catspaw" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10783584

RE: Good news from Great Planes !!!
I flew a Ultrasport 40 with a saito .65 for a couple of years in novice pattern 20 years ago. First year I flew my first ultrasport with retracts, placed 6th, 5th, and 4th in the three contests I entered. Next year, I'd built a fixed gear US40 with the same engine (and tail feather servos in rear fuse for balance), and took 1st, 1st, and 2nd in the same 3 contests. The 2nd was only cause of bad weather the next day.[:D] So yeah, it can be considered a pattern plane. But then again, so can any plane. Some just do certain manauvers better than others. If it's capable of doing em, then it's all on the pilot. Back then, I was single, flew almost every day, doing the novice schedule over and over and over, and being my own worse critic. Paid off, obviously. BTW, it was pretty much the same pilots in the same classes at those contests, other than those who moved up.
Posted on: 10/24/2011 6:56 PM by Author "catspaw" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10780998

RE: Drill press milling vice
Drill presses aren't meant for milling. As someone mentioned, it's not rigid enough. Drill presses and their bearings are not meant for side loads. You can get away with light milling of wood and may aluminum, but it won't be precise, and you'll just put extraordinary strain on your drill press. And as also has been mentioned, those vises suck at precision. If you really need some model size machining done, go with the sherlines for quality.
Posted on: 10/24/2011 10:05 AM by Author "catspaw" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10780180

RE: Band saw or scroll saw
I have all of them. :D For someone starting out, I would recommend the scroll saw, BUT with the goal of getting a bandsaw quickly. I'm in a hurry, and I don't like using a coping saw...I don't even have one anymore. Having said that, I use my bandsaw the vast majority of time. Cutting out parts, ripping strips (less waste than a tablesaw, BTW). a 10tpi blade is the most I would use-it's better for plys, and 15tpi the smallest, esp. ifyou are doing thinner balsa. A good compromise would be 12tpi (that's teeth per inch, BTW). As others have said, get quality. My bandsaw is a sears 14" throat depth, and the scrollsaw is also a sears 16". Both have cast tables. A drill press is nice, but not really needed in this hobby. But you'll want one anyway. I don't have a spindle sander. I have used a "robo sander" (sanding drum) in the drill press in those rare instances I needed to do internal sanding, usually large formers.
Posted on: 10/24/2011 9:45 AM by Author "catspaw" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10780150

RE: RCM Plans Service
I ordered 5 sets of plans a week ago. I think most of them might be fairly "rare" as far as popularity goes. 3 pattern plans (vector II, Loaded dice II, Gitano), a 60 size stuka, and the "Yellow electrician". So we'll see how long it takes. As a side note, those last two, I've had them before. I never did finish the stuka because I didn't know how to cut the sharply tapered foam wing tips (I do now), so abandoned it. The electric was a flying wing thing. Back from when 05 can motors were the popular electric power source. In hindsight, 2 things made the plane I build a heavy piece of crap....a big 7 or 8 cell battery (the bigger, the longer it'll fly, right?), and lots of lead! I'm not sure why (then), but I had a lot of trouble trying to balance it, and wound up with a lot of lead. First hand launch went directly into the ground. :) Now that I know more isn't necessarily better in electrics, and with todays stuff, it should be better this time around, whenever that is.
Posted on: 10/24/2011 9:31 AM by Author "catspaw" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10780130

RE: Don't have a clue
When I need templates, I get a copy of the plans at a reprographic place. They have no issues with making copies. If yours do, tell them you intend to use the copy for cutting up, not selling.
Posted on: 10/23/2011 5:59 PM by Author "catspaw" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10779229

RE: MonoKote will not shrink
Makes me glad I bought that big lot of, what, 40 rolls? or was it 80? of monokote of ebay several years ago.
Posted on: 10/20/2011 12:02 PM by Author "catspaw" in the forum "Tips & Techniques"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10774738

RE: *** Ultra Sport Brotherhood ***
For covering techniques, see if you can find the book "Tom's Techniques" from the yellow Harry Higley series. That book will teach you a lot about about covering with iron on coverings. I'm sure there are some stuff on video out there too, but I've never looked. My covering cutting surface is a sheet of tempered glass from a truck window that got replaced by a sliding window. Monokote wont' stick to glass (or hardly at all), so you can make a bunch of overlapping colors, using a iron on low to stick them together, then move it en masse to your plane.
Posted on: 10/19/2011 9:34 PM by Author "catspaw" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10774101

RE: Coreltrace & turbocad question
Found the inset command on turbcad. Worked fine. Now all I have to do is use it. I've had turbocad 9, 11 and now 17, but I never really learned to use it, since I'm so hooked to the CAD/CAM program I use at work, MasterCam. Unfortunately MC can't import graphic files for tracing, and I don't want to spend my off hours at work. :) Don, I didn't think about compatibility mode, I'll give that a try. ETA: Back when I had modelcad, there was a command called the scale command, IIRC. You could define the distance between 2 points as a certain number of units. For example, if I drew a line between the wingtips of a top view of a plane, I could tell it it equaled 55" or whatever, and everything on that drawing was now to that scale. Is there a similiar method in Turbocad 17?
Posted on: 10/19/2011 12:40 PM by Author "catspaw" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10773406

RE: Sig Kadet Mark II build
I have to admit it's been 20+ years since I built my Kadet II, but isn't there a diherdal brace involved in there somewhere?
Posted on: 10/19/2011 9:50 AM by Author "catspaw" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10773113

Coreltrace & turbocad question
I haven't used Coreltrace (as part of the corel draw 12 suite) in years, and installed in on my win 7 pro 64 bit machine. However, when I tried to give it a quick spin and loaded a random JPG from the hard drive, Windows tell me it (coreltrace) stopped working, is looking for a solution, can't find one, and closes. I haven't tried any other formats. I downloaded a "full upgrade" from corel, but it won't install. Any ideas? Second question, I thought turbocad (v17) had a feature to import a JPG or TIFF so you could trace over it in another layer? Or am I remembering wrong? I was hoping to scan some 3-views of a F3F-1 I got from Bob Banka years ago, so I could start working on that, but if I can't get something imported that I can trace, what can I do?
Posted on: 10/18/2011 3:53 PM by Author "catspaw" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10771938

RE: Loaded Dice III engine
As far as I know, the LDIII is a 2m pattern aircraft. In perusing what little research on various pattern models, I didn't find a whole lot of info on the LD3. The hobby shop in England that sells the plans for it didn't have a description. It's my understanding it was designed for the 1.40 class engines as Renegade mentioned, and was from the mid to late 90's. The hobby shop that sells the plans also has a cowl, wing, and tail available, but I'm not sure why the tail needs to be available separate, since I haven't seen the plans. Shipping is too cost prohibitive though. I think I'll order the plans anyway, just because! :) If I build this, I don't want to shell out the bucks for a high end YS or OS engine, and would rather get a nice calm saito 4 stroke or a non-pipe 2 stroke. The other planes I'm talking about, are older designs, with the Gitano and LDII being published in RCM in 1994. 2 stroke .60's, but I'm not sure if either uses a pipe, I'll have to wait for them to arrive. ETA: Just noticed that the LDIII plan is listed under "electric" on that website, but mentions a 1.40 under power requirements. [link=http://www.myhobbystore.co.uk/product/17808/rc1877-loaded-dice-iii-plan]LDIII plan[/link]
Posted on: 10/16/2011 7:23 PM by Author "catspaw" in the forum "Classic RC Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10768760

RE: Loaded Dice III engine
David, I guess my original question was poorly phrased. I mean that the big 2 strokes with pipes, but the 4 strokes with regular mufflers. I put it that way because the modern 2x2 pattern planes, including the LDIII, seem to be geared towards the big 2 strokes with pipes, and was wondering if maybe a 1.2-1.8 4 stroke would be enough power, or physically too big. The plans I got from RCM with using non-piped 2 strokes or 4 strokes in mind. I really like the classic pattern aircraft look.
Posted on: 10/16/2011 10:46 AM by Author "catspaw" in the forum "Classic RC Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10767979

Loaded Dice III engine
I'm getting back into the hobby after a short (~5 years?) semi-absence. I ordered the plans for a Loaded Dice II, Gitano 60, and a Vector II. The first 2 use 60's, the latter a 40 size engine. During research on these models, I also found out about the LDIII, and am wondering if this plane is pretty much just for the 1.2-1.x engines with tuned pipes, or if it could be used with "regular" 2 or 4 stroke engines w/o a pipe. I'm not looking for F3A performance, so I don't really need hot performance. If were to get into pattern again, it'd be more like sportsman level. John
Posted on: 10/16/2011 7:33 AM by Author "catspaw" in the forum "Classic RC Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10767730

RE: You Know You Are A Real Sports Flyer When-
When you roll up a garbage bag and tape it to the INSIDE of the fuselage.... When your servos have masking tape over the soldered joints when you repaired that wire... You have a dozen used glow plugs in the drawer of your flight box "just in case" You have a hobby shop's worth of used screws, bolts, control horns, etc rattling in the same drawer..."just in case"
Posted on: 10/15/2011 1:54 PM by Author "catspaw" in the forum "Sport Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10766813