Spacewalker half scale 168" electric

[Andy Boylett]

Found another covered wing picture......

IMG_3076.JPG (36.89 KiB) Viewed 13567 times

And finsihed covering the fus front half....

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[Andy Boylett]

Rudder covered. Just the stab, fin, one elevator and 4 ailerons to go.......

IMG_3074.JPG (37.66 KiB) Viewed 13511 times

[Andy Boylett]

Covering is complete and all 14 pieces are done

Here are the last pieces....

All 4 ailerons done, here is one.....

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Two ailerons make up a whole one (as each half is operated by a seperate servo from a seperate receiver)..

IMG_3109.JPG (50.34 KiB) Viewed 13461 times

Each of those giant hinges has been tapped M5 to take a bolt from the inside of the wing to secure them in place.

Stabiliser..

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Fin..

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And an elevator..

IMG_3108.JPG (35.55 KiB) Viewed 13461 times

[stuart cotgrove]

Any updates on this one...

[Dave Parry]

Any updates on this one...

Hi Stuart, I think he has had a major operation so I think it will be a while before any updates will be posted.

[Andy Boylett]

Hi guys,
Yes, not been too well and hence not been doing any building.....or flying....or anything . Pretty much the only thing that has happened recently is that my pilot from A H Design has arrived.
Cheers, Andy

[Dave Parry]

Hi Andy hope you are feeling well enough soon so you can finish this project it must be frustrating knowing you have got so far and had to stop.

[Andy Boylett]

Hi Dave,
I am getting there now. I did talk to Dave J befoe Elvingtom as we were intending to come and fly, but in th eend I was snot up to it. I think sinf June I have only managed a bit of indoor flying, nothing else . Anyway back to reasonable form now and should be back on the model soon. We have just completed a new shed in our back garden specially to house the half scale plane and make painting/finishing it easier. This new shed is shoe-horned in behind 3 large trees. The only observation form my son was, whay have you built a shed 7m long when the wingspan of this plane is 4.3m? Obvious....room for something else maybe?

Here is the new shed.....


And here is the half scale Spacewalker in its new home primered and ready for finishing....




Apart from painitng/finishing my remaining building jobs are not too much....
- install 4 some additional wooden strengthening blocks suggested by my inspector Ian T-W to improve undercarriage and motor mounts.
- complete pilot and cockpit installation.
- install the multi-block Aslock connectors for all the electrical connections between the sections.
- re-work the scale undercarriage to take much bigger springs (and devise atool for pre-compression of same so I keep all my fingers).

I hope to get back to more updates soon.

Cheers, Andy

[Tony Collins 1073]

Nice job with the shack Andy. Love the roof. A Lick of paint and it'll be the DB's. I wonder how long it will take to grow into and start needing an extension.

[Andy Boylett]

Ha,ha. Did you you spot the overhang of the roof on the left side? I had to order sheets in packs of 10 when I only needed 8, so I had enough to extend the roof an extra 2m. I could always add sides to suit !!

[Tony Collins 1073]

Yes I did notice it but I thought that you might be putting a balcony and patio there.

[Andy Boylett]

Finally managed to get back into the shed today and pick up form where I left off. Quite a good afternoons work saw me complete the primer spraying. All parts are now ready for top-coat. I have got 4 rolls of trim tape in preparation for the tricky very long star shaped pattern that the Spacewalker has. I have detail dimensioned the pattern from th efull-size so that I can draw it out on the model. Here is the scheme I will be using.



I do not have a lot of experience in this type of painting so any comments on the following approach will be much appreciated....

To try and make masking more simple I propose to paint the white first and to paint the whole of the rear end of the fus, the whole of the tail group and most of the wings. Doing it like this I can mask off the forward part of the plane joining the ends of each of the white areas, so that all the area that needs to be white is covered, but as lttle of the red covered as possible.
After the white I will mask the complete pattern ready for the red. The red will then be overlayed on the white along the thin tendrils of the pattern.

I'll get more photos soon.

[david clarke]

Hello Andy nice to see you are up and about again,i was laid up for 6 months a few years ago after surgery it drove me insane.Your approach is spot on,you need to lay the white on first as on multi colour paint schemes you always start with the lightest colour.What paint are you using?,i have done a few similar schemes to this one being my Utterly Butterly stearman which was painted in automtive cellulose and laqured with two pack.Only draw back with the two pack is you will need an air fed mask,but the results are superb.Another alternative is Klass Kote,i know Phil Clark has used this in the past as it is less aggresive than the automotive 2K,Good luck.

Dave.

[Phil Clark]

Careful with the use of Klass Kote, using it as a final gloss clear coat is fione over some types of paint, but it's not compatable with all. The reducer is still quite aggressive and if thinned to the max ration, it can 'pickle' colour coats. Either do some test or try and stick with 1 brand of product start to finish.

2nd tip is once you have the white on and you are masked up for the red, blow over all edges in white to seal the tape.....this way, if anything does bleed under, it's white on white so will be invisible. This helps give a nice crisp edge to the red.....especially useful when spraying over fabric where masking tape never seels 100% all the time due to the weave of the fabric.

Phil

[John Rickett]

I've found that standard cellulose thinner is fine as a substitute to KK reducer (and much cheaper) so if you are using a cellulose based paint system, and the previous coats have hardened properly, then there shouldn't be problems. I've used KK colours over cellulose primer, and KK clear over enamels without experiencing pickling, but as Phil says its probably safest to use the same system for all coats.
Of all the paints tried, I've found Klasskote to be the easiest to achieve satisfactory results.

[Phil Clark]

Agreed, KK is fine over standard cellulose.................problems arise when using it over the current crop of water based auto paints. I have used it over our water based 'Warbirdcolors' and as long as you knock the reducer ration down a little from the maximum recomendation, it is also fine.

Phil

[Andy Boylett]

Thanks for the help guys.
On the wall in my shed I have got a print-out of Phils post when he wrote a really long description of how to spray (its somewhere way back in this build thread)

I am using automotive cellulose (Ford diamond white from memory ) and toluene 'top gloss' thinners. Nice and stinky and definately needs a good mask!..otherwise you look like this

I am not looking for a totally pristine finish, just something that looks good. Will I need to use final clear coat or is it ok just with the car paint? I didn't think cars had a clear coat on top?

As this is the first time I have sprayed anything I haver had a little go today with white, on the underside of the wing center section. The biggest issue I have found is that my airhose is big and beefy and drags a little. I think I need a much smaller diameter hose!

As for the finish, I got an area that on one side looks nice and smooth and on the other looks like I did not quite put enough pain on to let if flow - so it is slightly dulled. I used the Iwata spray gun for this. It has a round spray pattern and is a much smaller spray than my other el-cheapo gun.

Cheers, Andy

[John Greenfield]

Don't forget that if you are spraying automotive cellulose over an open structure you will need to add a plasticiser to the paint or once it has fully dried it will crack as the fabric flexes.

John

[John Rickett]

Andy,
There's nothing wrong with cheapo guns for our purposes, its the technique thats important.
When using cellulose paints, which are generally quite thick straight out of the tin, you will need to thin at least 50%, otherwise the piant will not 'flow'. You can test on any smooth impervious surface. I would suggest painting outside when the light is good and behind you, so that you can see the reflection as you paint. Regardless of whether the final coat is gloss, satin or matt, there should be a wet-look as the paint settles on the surface. If it looks dull and powdery, you need to increase the paint flow (or slow down the gun sweep speed). Putting on too much paint is quickly obvious by runs or what appears to be small waves building on the surface. The trick with spraying is lots of thin coats but not too thin that there isn't a 'wet-look' as you spray, don't try to obliterate the base colour at the first pass.
If the paint looks nice and glossy when first sprayed but then dries to a much duller finish, it could be bloom or blushing caused by the air being too cold and damp, use non-bloom thinners for best results, but cellulose generally will dry this way, Klasskote is much better at holding its gloss as it dries. At this time of year, when there's little strength in the sun, paint in the middle of the day and in the sunlight. Unless its a windy day, there isn't much dust in the air, so its possible to get good results. A clear coat will help preserve the final wet look. If, on a multi colour finish, some colours look glossier than others, a clear coat will make them appear all the same.
When you have applied the final coat of red over the white, permove the masking tape as soon as you can to help reduce the stepped edge that will occur. Don't worry about this too much though, once the paint is thoroughly dry, you can rub down any edges with wet-and-dry paper (used wet) and then apply a top coat of clear to really blend in the edges. The clear is alo useful to seal any transfers or decals.

[Andy Boylett]

Thanks John and John.
I have not heard anyone talk about plasticisers before. Any guidance on what to use and what ration?

I like the idea of painting outside as the biggest issue I had was keeping the light reflection in the right place so I could see the 'spray front'. To keep the reflection right I needed to bend to different points - whihc is something my back does not do well !

Cheers, Andy