Sky 120 LMA Trainer

[Geoff McVey]

Wing 2.5mm Balsa Skin

Bottom 2.5mm sheet added to the right wing, only glued the sheeting to the main spar, once dry will then glue to both LE and TE, weighed down with 189 magazines, the sheeting was a tight fit where it only just covers the wing frame. will let this dry over night and then glue the rest tomorrow.

[Alan Cantwell 1131]

Blimey, you didn’t need that many! Before gluing, put the sheet on, put the mags on in 5 s, along the wing, until the sheet touches the structure, don’t want to squeeze all the sticky stuff out!

[Geoff McVey]

Blimey, you didn’t need that many! Before gluing, put the sheet on, put the mags on in 5 s, along the wing, until the sheet touches the structure, don’t want to squeeze all the sticky stuff out!

Alan,

I used a mixture of RCM&E and RC Model World magazines, each magazine weight was an average of 338 grammes times by 189 magazines equals to 63.88 kgs or 140.84 pounds, when placing the magazines over the wing was always mindful and watching the amount that I was putting on the wing skin, once dry had a look and the results are execellent, just shows how strong the wing is, I'm currently glueing the aileron servo box to the wing skin and have 33 RCM&E magazines, times 338 equalks 11.54 kgs or 24.95 pounds which is more than enough, there is no flex in the wing at all with these magazine currently being placed over the mid section of the wing where the servo box is, once dry will post some photos of the results which I think are good.

[Alan Cantwell 1131]

I don’t think even Phil Clark builds with that level of research and attention to detail, fair play to you, Geoff, glad the idea—which wasn’t mine, worked for you, enjoying your build,

[Geoff McVey]

I don’t think even Phil Clark builds with that level of research and attention to detail, fair play to you, Geoff, glad the idea—which wasn’t mine, worked for you, enjoying your build,

Alan,

The Sky 120 has been a joy to build, I try and build as neat as I can, and have of course made the odd mistake, it's human nature ;-) we all make mistake from time to time, but has been a learing curve for sure.

I'm alraedy thinking about what to build next, Durine D31 Turbulent, RAF Beardmore, or large scale a current plan, maybe register and build something over the 20kgs scheme and learn what's involved in this process, just 1 or 2 ideas, but will finish and build this kit first.

Always open to suggestions and advice on a second model.

[Geoff McVey]

Aileron Servo Mount

Aileron servo box mount cut out and sanded, this step was simple and easy to do.

[Geoff McVey]

Wing Fixing Tongue

Wing fixing tongue parts W20, W21 dry fitted after bottom skin is complete, just need to sand LE, TE, to finish off, just had to sand a little from part W20.

[Geoff McVey]

Locating Pin

I have made a small box between ribs W1, W2, made this out of scrap lite ply, just need to trim off the end, this is now very solid and much stronger.

[Geoff McVey]

Right Wing Top Skin

Just glued the top skin for the right wing, initial step is only to glue the skin to the main spar making sure that the skin covers the right wing frame, there are a total of 140 magazines, time by 338 grammes for each magazine, equals 47.32 kgs or 104.32 pounds, more than enough weight, the wing has not moved and there is no flex in the wing at all, just shows how strong the actual wing is. Once the glue is dry on the main spar will then glue the skin to both LE and TE.

[Geoff McVey]

Right Wing Top Skin

Right wing top skin leading edge glued, this was left for 24 hours to dry, good result, started to use a little masking tape to hold down the LE.


A small amount of magazines have been added to keep the top skin in place.

[Geoff McVey]

Right Wing Top Skin

Right wing top skin trailing edge glued, this was left for 24 hours to dry, placed 240 RCM&E magazines, 338 grammes for each magazine equals 178.84 pounds, the result was good, with such weight there was no flex in the wing at all.

[Geoff McVey]

Right Wing Top Skin

Right wing top skin glued in place in stages, magazines removed, results very good.


Right wing top skin, looking from the wing tip.

[Geoff McVey]

Right Wing Top Skin

A little light sanding before LE and TE are added.

[Geoff McVey]

Right Wing TE

Right wing TE glued in place and held into position with packing tape, a small amount of adjustment was needed.

[Geoff McVey]

Right Wing LE

Right wing LE glued in place, and held into position with packing tape, a small amount of adjustment was needed and left to dry for 24 hours.

[Geoff McVey]

Right Wing LE, TE

Right wing LE and TE added, view from wing tip.

[Geoff McVey]

Right Wing LE, TE

Right wing LE and TE added, view from root top.

[Geoff McVey]

Right Wingtip

Right wingtip added and glued in place after LE and TE have beed added.

[Geoff McVey]

Right Wing

Have done some light sanding on the bottom skin after glueing in place LE, TE and wingtip, a little more sanding is needed to finish off the bottom skin.

[paul needham]

Looking good Geoff, cracking idea using old magazines to weigh down the wing skins, never heard of that before.