Spacewalker half scale 168" electric

[robbieskipton]

I didnt think you had overlooked the scheme, and knew you would have a reason. Hope to see it at a show. i wont be at Bradford or Bury but hopefully Cosford. If fuel prices keep rising, im selling up and flying foamies in my factory unit.

[Andy Boylett]

Ha ha, cheers Robbie. You could try what my son Sam wants to do. He has spotted that there is an elec car charging point where he parks at Uny and there is another charging point at the train station, just near where we live..................and they are free to use......totally free motoring

[John Greenfield]

"and they are free to use......totally free motoring "

Once you have brought the car !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have you seen the price of these things....you could buy a lot of fuel for that much money

John

[robbieskipton]

Sinclair C5 is about the best I could manage. Not the £30000 for a battery on wheels

[Mike Booth]

Going off topic , you are on one of favourite subjects regarding government/corporate control of the masses.
There is no way they are going to offer anything in real terms that will be highly efficient and very cheap for the population. Oil dependency equals high taxation based on guilt and blackmail, carbon footprint b*****ks.
While there will always be a modest promotion of energy saving schemes to appease the green vote, this is countered by the fact that just about everything that has been invented in the way of cheap or free energy conversions have been bought or shelved by the oil industry.
One guy who came up with a simple chemical heat exchange unit that powered an engine at zero cost was told he was mad and sectioned and threatened on his release. The oil wells will be bone dry before anyone does anything realistic about it.
Sorry guys lecture over , up the Judaen Peoples Popular Front.......

[Andy Boylett]

I felt like joining the rant after breathing in Toluene for a while this afternoon......look at how fuzzy the next 2 pictures are ....that's the spray in the air. I thought taking a photo with the flash might cause a spark !!

Anyway, nearly finished painting. Look, got a nice shiny red plane now....

IMG_3459.JPG (41.59 KiB) Viewed 15824 times

IMG_3458.JPG (38.41 KiB) Viewed 15824 times

There are quite a few red bits on the white, the odd drip here and there and a little bit of overspray in one place. But that's how its going to stay!

[paul smith]

well nice
great job

[Andy Boylett]

Thanks paul.

Painting is now finished Hooray

IMG_3460.JPG (45.48 KiB) Viewed 15646 times

IMG_3461.JPG (48.18 KiB) Viewed 15646 times

IMG_3462.JPG (38.38 KiB) Viewed 15646 times

Although, there are still a cowl and wheel pants to finish

[Andy Boylett]

Before starting assembly I have made a small mod suggested by my inspector Ian. This is the additon of some wooden angle blocks to give the undercarriage support a bit more strength.....

IMG_3463.JPG (41.31 KiB) Viewed 15407 times

IMG_3464.JPG (39.16 KiB) Viewed 15407 times

And then I started to assemble the undercarriage. This has also required a change because when I originally sized the spings I got it wrong. If anyone remembers last years Bradford show my plane was a little low on its suspension. This turned out to be beacause the springs I had used were pre-compressed before fitting so that they held the weight of the plane. However, the springs took on a permanent set whilst in this compressed state and then when the weight of the plane was put on them, they compressed further. I have now re-sized the springs...........spot the difference...

IMG_3465.JPG (56.15 KiB) Viewed 15407 times

IMG_3466.JPG (43.76 KiB) Viewed 15407 times

[Andy Boylett]

I have now worked out how to modify the undercarriage to take the scale sized springs (that I have should have used in the first place!). To keep the springs centred I have made up some washers on washers, silver soldered together..........

IMG_3524.JPG (50.21 KiB) Viewed 15101 times

IMG_3525.JPG (30.72 KiB) Viewed 15101 times

Then comes the operation where fingers can be lost. I hate compressing spings and then having to work very close to the ends of them with fidly little bolts....

IMG_3526.JPG (45.79 KiB) Viewed 15101 times

Here is one strut assembled.....

IMG_3523.JPG (51.49 KiB) Viewed 15101 times

And then the whole thing back together....

IMG_3527.JPG (60.75 KiB) Viewed 15101 times

IMG_3528.JPG (48.06 KiB) Viewed 15101 times

[Andy Boylett]

Can anyone help me with where to get particular bolts from......I am assembling the linkages now. I use a couple of online places for bolts but they do not stock some tricky ones I am after. Where I have pushods/cranks that are bearing on a bolt as they rotate I would like to try and get bolts that have a straight shank for the first part - rather than have them rotating on a threaded area. The bolts are mostly M2.5 and M3, and from 10 to 22mm long. All the bolts I can find at these lengths are fully threaded .

[Phil Clark]

They will be.....I think plain shanked bolts don't start until about 25-30mm long, and even then, the longest section of plain shank is normally on about 6mm...so you'll have to buy over long & cut them down.

I use............. http://www.modelfixings.co.uk/

Phil

[Andy Boylett]

Thank you. I'll have a go at the cutting down method then. I guess I will also need a range of different longer lengths to try and get the right length of plain shank before cutting as well - as each of the different lengths is going to have a differnt plain length.....I have just been looking for drawings of them and they are not easy to find!

[Phil Clark]

I'm 99% sure the Modelfixings site lists the length of plain shank on each different bolt length...........

Phil

[Andy Boylett]

Phil, yes they do. They have shown overall legnth and thread length. Spot on.

[Ted Oram]

Hi Andy....I have been following your build from the beginning. I have built 2 Spacewalkers...both the Sig 1/4 scale and 1/3 scale so anything Spacewalker I am interested in. Having built the scale undercarriage for the 1/4 scale version I am a bit puzzled as to why you have pre compressed the springs.....from information I could obtain the springs operate in compression via a slotted tube set up and the aircraft actually "sits on the springs so to say" leaving the springs to take up the landing loads......by pre compressing them you are losing spring travel.....please let me know what you think
Cheers
Ted Oram

[Andy Boylett]

Hi Ted,
I have been looking at the 1/3rd scale one as well. A friend of mine has one and its a great plane.

Yes you are absolutely correct in that the Spacewalker sits on the springs. When it is on the ground the plane is trying to seperate the wheels and the strut from the lower edge of the wheel passes up through the main strut and has a securing ring above the spring - which it then compresses as it pulls down it from the top, through a slot.

If you do not pre-compress the springs, then when the plane 'sits' on them they will move an amount to take up the plane's weight - as you say. I am not exactly sure how this undercarriage is supposed to go but I have constrcuted all the parts from the actual manufacturers drawings and the 'travel' of the spring is not a big distance. On the drawings the height that the plane is shown when on the ground corresponds with the springs not having moved from the top of their travel ie suggesting a pre-load is used.

If the springs are not pre-compressed then a lot of travel is already used up before the plane can even take it's own weight and it does not leave much for additional load when landing.

For landing the springs I have now used are sized to take 2 times the plane's weight as a 'bounce', so all together they can take 3 times weight. The way it is currently set up the springs will only move when the plane bounces (or hits the ground a little hard) and they will start to do this at 1 g, - the planes own weight. The springs will compress up to a total load of 3 times the planes weight and they they hit the end stops of their travel.

There is also a good bit of spring in the tyres.

With the previous springs that were in they took on a permanent set and then were effectively not pre-stressed. The plane sagged under it's own weight and with little extra help it was possible to get one wingtip to touch the floor.

I am hoping it is about right now but may need more adjustment yet!

Cheers, Andy

[Ted Oram]

Hi Andy...all that sounds good......my only concern is.........as I found out the hard way with my 1/4 scale version...is that only a small bounce will eat up all the spring travel...and then the load has to be taken up somewhere else...after many repairs I finally remade the UC on my 1/4 scale as per the kit (same as my 1/3 scale)....with all the bent wire bits.....it still looks the same and so far has had no problems.
As far as the Sig 1/3 scale Spacewalker goes it is a lovely aircraft to fly.....I converted mine to the 2 seat version and powered it with an OS FT300...a bit over powered at 23lbs.
If I can figure out how to upload photos I will post some for you.
Cheers
Ted

[Ted Oram]

Hi again Andy.....trying for some pics of my 2 Spacewalkers.......they all fly very well......I am sure yours will also.
Cheers
Ted

[Andy Boylett]

Hi Ted,
Nice pictures. It's also nice to see the Spacewalker in a different scheme to the red/yellow. Robbies was just asking a few weeks back about colour schemes.

I also have a SIG 1/4 scale Spacewalker, but my son Sam usually flies it. It does have a tendancy to be very bouncy and Sam has said he has to concentrate to do one of his excellent landings where the plane looks like it just touches down with no bounce at all. We did find at first that if you did bounce it while still horizontal, then the prop could clip the ground as the undercarriage compressed up. However, he is one of those incredibly annoying 19 year olds who can fly perfectly and I don't think he has ever even bent an undercarriage....whereas me.....well that's another story!!

Hey, I like the cockpit of yours. You have got the steel spaceframe just right! Did you make it all? My son Sam is in charge of doing the detaling for my 1/2 scale and he has yet to start . Do you have any more pictures of the inside?

Cheers, Andy