20%VULCAN

[Tony Collins 1073]

Mike--SUNSHINE at Cosford---since Arthur passed it over to me,i have always prayed for the sunshine--surely this year we must be due ??

Tony--yes yes,i know i have already got a couple of litres of whiter primer,so you may get your wish---

Lets hope all our prayers are answered.

IN nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.

[Chris Lane]

Deo volente

[AndyHopwood]

Dave a question seeing your new vulcan made me think u know us club modellers we build planes that are about generally 50 inch wing span and we check for the correct centre of gravity and the nose weight etc for gliding if engine fails and wing weights to see if one wing is heavey then the other then we add or take weight out to make wings level etc before flying etc

your vulcan in the excess of 20 - 25 kgs how will u weight and check the c of g ??

[Nick Reeves 3055]

two very strong fingers??

[Tony Collins 1073]

And two very long arms.

[DAVE JOHNSON]

Andy---there are many ways of working out and checking c/g on models---on all my large airframes ,i have always used the same method---a pair of car axle stands with a piece of brush handle on so the airframe can rock on it---a bit crude but it works great.As for the c/g position,i am lucky on this as i already have 2 flying Vulcans,and this one is blown up from the plan i have for my 10 ft version,so i can accuractly work out where it will be.As always ,i will add weight temporary for the initial test flights[nothing worse than a big delta tail heavy]and remove bit by bit when flown---on my 17ft model vulcan--i added 10 lbs lead intially to be safe,by the time the test flights were finished,there was no lead left in it---this i have found the safest option,and other than the elevators being a liitle "dead" the extra weight intially made very little difference to the flying.I will do the same with this one---10 lbs up front of a model this size will just be a safe option,and [hopefully]slowly remove as the flights progress
hope this answers your query----DAVE

[AndyHopwood]

Nick u made me burst out laughing!! thanks my missus thinks I am bonkers!! tony long arms!! oh christ! haha

Dave, so u still use the same method of weighting for c of g and etc etc good idea about broom handle and axle stands. i was standing in the garage the other day which I built it is 21ft long and 14 foot wide which houses my spitfire, sopwith, extra 300 and a glider and thinking jeeez your vulcan wouldn't even fit in !! massive!!! so do u reakon the new vulcan will be ready for the cosford show ?

[DAVE JOHNSON]

Andy--if i worked on it full time--yes it would be at Cosford,but unfortunately that nasty word work interupts !!!plus once the show season starts,i have several other models to maintain so very little will get done on the build untill late September---but,still hoping it may be ready in ----WHITE----[ok Tony] primer for test flights later in the year---DAVE

[AndyHopwood]

Dave Stop swearing !! saying that horrible word that interrupted our hobby and free life!! "work" hehe yeah I understand same here I am halfway thou decorating my house now hoping to finish by end of feb with new carpets down so that I can resume flying in early march. hope to see u soon long before the cosford show this year. right off to my garage to cut the foam wing for my new wot 4 classic !!

[DAVE JOHNSON]

]For the past month,i have been working on the jet front intakes and ducting thro the fuselage ,all this is now complete and basically rubbed into shape,the fuselage was then put to one side and both wings came back into the building shed to get to a decent strong stage to transport to the spring seminar at Bradford.I have concerns about damaging the balsa structure whilst transporting to Bradford---so i have been working on parts such as wingtips etc to make sure there is enough strength to manhandle into the van.The first stage was to put the wing tubes in the wings and lock together without the fuselage so i could level and lock the wingtip angles and washout before starting to sheet.The wing on the big delta has many awkward shapes with several wing curves and some sections of undercamber,and even tho the plans were very good,having my 10ft scale model made it much easier to compare the shapes etc---this new project is exactly double the 10ft wingspan model,and one of the pics shows the two wings together.
Once the wings had been locked in postion ,i spent two weeks sheeting the tops,and adding stringers underneath to lock everything in postion so they could be moved around in readiness for transporting to Bradford.The first wing had some sheeting added underneath so the leading edge could be added--the first pic shows this being glued on

2011-03-14_19.35.04glue lead edge.jpg (21.56 KiB) Viewed 13355 times

the next stage is to rub the edge into shape,and the next pic shows this and the amount of wood shavings on the floor just from this

2011-03-14_19.36.48shaving LEAD E.jpg (24.67 KiB) Viewed 13355 times

Once all this was rubbed down,it was time to take outside to give a general dust off,this gives an idea of how big each wing panel is,leaning against my modelling van

2011-03-16_16.15.50WING ON EDGE OUTSIDE.jpg (31.75 KiB) Viewed 13355 times

the final pic shows the new wing panel,with the 10 ft model wing leaning against it---i always thought this model looked big,so can just imagine what this one will look like in the air !!!

2011-03-16_16.17.54wing standing with 10ft.jpg (28.28 KiB) Viewed 13355 times

[Andy Boylett]

And I thought I needed a big van !!!!! I think mine will fit in the shadow of that.

Looking fantastic.

[Dave Parry]

This is all very nice and impressive, but could you all spare a thought for his pit crew. Well done Dave that is going to be a show stopper. Neil you are going to need a wider lenses for your camera.

[Nick Reeves 3055]

dave j, quick question. on an earlier pic it looked like one wing panel was finished in proskin and now the wing shown is balsa skinned. was there a change of plan or have i missed something??

[DAVE JOHNSON]

Nick--yes ,there has been a change of plan---once that wing was finished ,i heard several stories about proskin onto open structure that worried me ,so i ripped off the complete wing covering ,refinished the areas and recovered in Balsa--i still intend to use proskin to cover the finished balsa as i have seen this done before and it seems very strong and an easy good finish---DAVE

[Alan Cantwell 1131]

COR!! wish i owned the shop that sold you balsa

looking good boss, looking forward to seeing it in the flesh at the Bradford do, there are several big jets on the go, and all in the northwest!! are we grouping them together at Bradford? what a site that would be!!!

[AndyHopwood]

jesus christ!!! that wing drawfed the van!!! how are year gonna transport the wing if the wing is bigger then the van??? lorry? wings strapped on the roof!!

[DAVE JOHNSON]

Andy---the wing on its leading edge should just about fir in the van--we will find out over the next few days when i start looking at loading for the Bradford event

[AndyHopwood]

Fingers crossed it will go in. U got two wings and fuseledge and then the two cones etc. Wow. U are sure the king of modellers !!

[Mike Booth]

Dave looking at it another way , that would be pretty bloody amazing if it was the vertical fin leant up against the van !!!!
So glad you took the Proskin off.
Regs M

[AndyHopwood]

Dave won't the balsa skinned and proskin together cause weight problem ?? orignally with proskin to make it lighter but now both Andy