Re: My N-1R build log

roddie Sat Nov 09, 2024 7:11 pm

getback wrote:Looking Slick Man ! Your putting some good mojo on a wild design

roddie Sat Nov 09, 2024 7:50 pm

rdw777 wrote:Power system looks good Roddie….The sound of the twin throbbing together seems to go with the spacey design IMO

Thanks Robert. I'm going way out on a limb with this one.. but that's what makes it fun. I picked up a package of 5" X 7" X .010" Aluminum step-flashing at my neighborhood Lowe's Home Center.

It's useful to have around the workshop.. but I bought it expressly to see if I could fabricate nacelle-tubes out of it. The 1.5" dia. nacelle-discs have a circumference of 4.71".... so the 5" side of the flashing could be rolled into a 7" long tube. It may be too heavy.. but there isn't a whole lot more going into this craft. We're currently at 9.05 oz. and I'm hoping to keep it under 12.

TD ABUSER Mon Nov 11, 2024 3:57 pm

roddie wrote:
rsv1cox wrote: The tri-angular birch-ply "sticks" are cut-offs saved from the trash by me.. from my last job.

Roddie at today's prices what you got there is about $200 worth of tri stock.
I'll just offer you $100 for the whole shebang.....

roddie Mon Nov 11, 2024 9:09 pm

TD ABUSER wrote:
Roddie at today's prices what you got there is about $200 worth of tri stock.
I'll just offer you $100 for the whole shebang.....

I'm sure that we can work something out Charles.

KariFS Tue Nov 12, 2024 12:28 am

TD ABUSER wrote:
Roddie at today's prices what you got there is about $200 worth of tri stock.
I'll just offer you $100 for the whole shebang.....

Just curious… Is that kind of stock commonly used for some specific purpose? I made some loudspeaker cabinets out of birch plywood, ended up with similar off-cuts (which I mostly tossed, as I had no use for them and already have way too much off-cuts or scrap pieces Embarassed

).

A lot of times one ends up with long 2-3” wide strips of plywood, would be easy to cut them into tri strips with a table saw.

Oh, and @roddie, this is going to bee a really next-level cool model! The ”real” fighters in the movie did kinda sound like twin Bees too Cool

roddie Tue Nov 12, 2024 12:17 pm

KariFS wrote:
TD ABUSER wrote:
Roddie at today's prices what you got there is about $200 worth of tri stock.
I'll just offer you $100 for the whole shebang.....

Just curious… Is that kind of stock commonly used for some specific purpose? I made some loudspeaker cabinets out of birch plywood, ended up with similar off-cuts (which I mostly tossed, as I had no use for them and already have way too much off-cuts or scrap pieces ).

A lot of times one ends up with long 2-3” wide strips of plywood, would be easy to cut them into tri strips with a table saw.

Oh, and @roddie, this is going to bee a really next-level cool model! The ”real” fighters in the movie did kinda sound like twin Bees too

Hi Kari, These triangular cut-offs came from exactly the same as yours; production-runs of Baltic Birch speaker-cabinets/enclosures by my last employer. I mostly saved the cut-offs for making gussets.. but using two pieces; they could also be glued-together to form "square-stock" for a spar..

The pieces are 28 inches long.. but were cut from panels having "dados" on both ends.. so there's approx. 26 inches of length that's consistent.

Both ends have these dado-cuts.. which I generally cut-off and discard.

Setting-up a table-saw principally to make these in quantity... wouldn't be an easy thing to do. These are "cut-offs" that all came from dimensionally-identical (exactly..) panels which were initially cut on a CNC router. The table-saw operator would save them for me every time that he would setup for that particular job-operation.

I too have WAY too much in the way of scrap-wood.. Embarassed

but it's "hard to discard".. when I think about how many times I've been able to utilize pieces.. rather than having to purchase something.

Take this current project for example; which is using scrap materials almost entirely. Thanks for the compliment on it Kari! The model is being built with the hopes that it will achieve ground-effect flight.. with some degree of pitch-control via my FlexEL control-surface concept. I've invested less than $5 (USD) in a pair of plastic spinners for the engines. If I get into trouble and go "nose-in"... Shocked

the spinners will provide a "crumple-zone" which could prevent damage to engines.

Today I'll be working on that actually. It will join to the central-structure "extension".. which sort-of creates a horseshoe-crab/tadpole look.

KariFS Tue Nov 12, 2024 1:56 pm

Yes, the Naboo vessels have a kind of ”organic” look to them, I thought of stingrays, but a tadpole bears a resemblance too Very Happy

I was wondering if this kind of a model could be built as a ”flying wing”, like combat models, the ”tail” would not do much anyway.

When I saw the heading of the Tatone muffler discussion, I thought it was about another Star Wars model. But Luke’s home planet was Tatooine Very Happy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatooine

Now that you mentioned it, I do remember the loudspeaker thing, what kind of speakers do they make? Here are mine, made them kinda ”outrageous” on purpose and just for the fun of it. A bit of a vintage look and all that. Inexpensive 12” PA fullrange drivers for the mains, and a second-hand 15” woofer in the middle. Cabs are 3/4” birch ply, the sub box has a lot of internal reinforcement.

Building this system including the amps and rebuilding/modding the turntable etc is the biggest reason for my modeling hiatus. A lot of renovation on the house too, but my ”me-time” has mostly been spent on this stuff.

roddie Tue Nov 12, 2024 3:13 pm

Yes.. You've been MIA.. but that's OK.. It's much better to get stuff done. The forum is both a catalyst and a deterrent for me.. when it comes to my model building.

I like your speakers/cabs! I assume that you've got some serious vibration-damping for that turntable!

"Fulcrum Acoustic" is the company that I recently retired from.. (Feb. 2023) after just short of 5 years. My younger brother "Andy" is upper management there. Fulcrum Loudspeakers can be found worldwide in a variety of settings from arenas to houses of worship.

Fulcrum Products weblink

Here's where I worked.. running the CNC router. A vacuum system allows one man to lift the plywood sheets over onto the CNC machine's bed.

Since I retired.. the company has experienced exponentially huge growth.

rsv1cox Tue Nov 12, 2024 3:23 pm

Horseshoe Crab roddie?

Nice Kari. Ah, Vacuum tubes. Brings back memories of analog computers, dynamic chambers, and very heavy power supplies.

roddie Tue Nov 12, 2024 3:27 pm

15.625" wide X 29.0" long..

roddie Sun Nov 17, 2024 6:54 pm

yea.... this idea just kind'a popped into my head today.. when thinking about a material to "skin" the cylindrical/38mm dia. engine nacelles. The aluminum step-flashing was a hopeful.. but at .010" thickness; it's heavier weight than what I want. Thinner aluminum will dent too easily.. so it will likely be some type of plastic-sheet. Rolling Eyes

decisions decisions... Rolling Eyes

So..... I've been saving these 1 quart plastic "Rose's Sweetened Lime Juice" bottles.. for mixing hummingbird nectar.. and always have a few around.

That's a "Gimlet"..

So..... I wondered if there was enough "length" in the sides of the bottle.. to do what I wanted.. and I don't think there is. I'd like for the nacelles to encapsulate the Cox engines as much as possible.. which is why I sourced the 38mm spinners. Maybe I can use my heat-gun to form some thin plastic sheet around a 1.5" dia. piece of pipe?

So..... I'm still holding the Lime juice bottle................... Huh...

and the idea pops into my head; could I possibly use it to add some 3-Detail to the central section?

Now the wheels are really turning... Eyebrows

There's a projector in my mind, trying to envision how this bottle would look if cut in half lengthwise? Shocked

Further inspection reveals that the bottle has two "mold-seams" 180 degrees from one another.. providing a line to accurately bisect it.. but what should I use to cut it? A knife??

The horizontal mold line extends up the sides to the neck.

This could form the cowling/cockpit/canopy/turtle-deck.. if I wanted... and the belly-contour could mirror it for aerodynamic balance.

I usually draw-out some plans as I go.. so I got my graph-ruled paper and Scotch-tape to panel enough sheets together, for the full-size design-views.

I may need one of the French-curves to make a pattern for the central-section's 2nd half.. which "transitions" into the FlexEL/tail-section. This 2nd half/central-section is tapered "aft" similar to a football shape.. and will be made from the same 3mm plywood as the main cross-member. The two center-sections overlap each other at the front/cross-member and will support a 3" control-line bellcrank assembly.

roddie Mon Nov 18, 2024 3:51 pm

Cardboard template made for the 2nd half of the central section.

FlexEL/tail-piece cut to size..

3mm lite-ply (luan) to be cut-out.

rsv1cox Mon Nov 18, 2024 5:05 pm

Nice work roddie.

How about a paper towel roller cut to length, split end to end and hardened with CA for the engine Nacelles? Seam could be located at the bottom out of sight. I have been watching how-to videos doing just that. CA seems to work well for this. I thought sanding sealer, but it's water based, not the best thing for cardboard. As you mention aluminum foil is subject to denting, but Reynolds makes a heavy version too. Perhaps wrap the roller instead of CA. Lot's of options.

rdw777 Mon Nov 18, 2024 5:24 pm

Looking good Roddie….Lots of complex shapes to explore ….I think the paper towel tubes strengthened up may be a good option….There’s always balsa planking as well, You’ve got a good start with the round formers Thumbs Up

roddie Tue Nov 19, 2024 8:43 am

rsv1cox wrote:Nice work roddie.

How about a paper towel roller cut to length, split end to end and hardened with CA for the engine Nacelles? Seam could be located at the bottom out of sight. I have been watching how-to videos doing just that. CA seems to work well for this. I thought sanding sealer, but it's water based, not the best thing for cardboard. As you mention aluminum foil is subject to denting, but Reynolds makes a heavy version too. Perhaps wrap the roller instead of CA. Lot's of options.

I like your idea Robert.. but I'm still dealing with my CA allergy from when I used it on my foam tires.. Rolling Eyes

I'd need to use a LOT of it to strengthen a cardboard tube. I'm going to try some thin plastic sheet. Other than that; I was thinking on the same lines as you for fitting them up.

roddie Tue Nov 19, 2024 8:53 am

rdw777 wrote:Looking good Roddie….Lots of complex shapes to explore ….I think the paper towel tubes strengthened up may be a good option….There’s always balsa planking as well, You’ve got a good start with the round formers

I think that thin plastic sheet will work, if I can form it into a tube without having it recoil.. we'll see. There's still some work that needs to be done on the nacelles before I cover them.

1975 control line guy Tue Nov 19, 2024 9:09 am

I like your idea Robert.. but I'm still dealing with my CA allergy from when I used it on my foam tires.. Rolling Eyes I'd need to use a LOT of it to strengthen a cardboard tube. I'm going to try some thin plastic sheet. Other than that; I was thinking on the same lines as you for fitting them up.

You could try 5 minute epoxy painted onto the inside of the tube with some stiffener material glued in place with it.

roddie Tue Nov 19, 2024 9:20 am

I lucked-out with having the correct size hole-saw for the R2 unit.. (weight-canister) I cut a ring of bicycle tire inner-tube to stretch around the neck of the pill-bottle which allows it to fit snug in the panel when the cap is screwed-on..

I'm using an old Veco 3" bellcrank to help achieve maximum control-throws

11.75 oz. so far. Not too bad considering the construction materials used.. and twin-engines.. Smile

rdw777 Tue Nov 19, 2024 5:00 pm

Great photos Roddie…. Emphasizes all those curvy shapes….Would be an attention getter at the flying field for sure Thumbs Up

roddie Tue Nov 19, 2024 8:56 pm

rdw777 wrote:Great photos Roddie…. Emphasizes all those curvy shapes….Would be an attention getter at the flying field for sure

I'm happy with how it's taking shape. The 2nd half of the center section was tough. I had to walk away from it several times before deciding on the current shape and the way the tail blends into it. I need to come up with something to raise the craft closer to level.. when sitting on the pad.. but I have to have my wheels of choice installed on the main gear in order to do that.. Huh...

These aren't the wheels I'll be using. They're only for set-up purposes.

Here's where it currently balances.. (not that it means anything right now..)

roddie Yesterday at 11:43 am

I wanted to use a 5-40 cap-screw for my Veco bellcrank. It turns out that K & S 5/32" alloy tubing is a perfect fit inside the Veco bushing.

I used my Harry's Z-Bender for 1/16" music-wire to make a pushrod with 90 degree opposing Z-bends.

Finding the model's balance-point yesterday, gave me an approximate location of where I should mount the bellcrank.

The lead-out guide configuration is TBD.

Here's how my FlexEL concept functions..

Yes.. I'm rolling the dice.. but like they say; "No Balls.. No Glory".... Laughing

akjgardner Yesterday at 3:23 pm

Looking good . What is the pill bottle for ?

roddie Yesterday at 9:29 pm

akjgardner wrote:Looking good . What is the pill bottle for ?

Hi Joe. Thanks Smile

I came up with the pill bottle concept for "dual-duty". From a styling standpoint; it will mimic the "R-2 unit" which is directly behind the pilot's cockpit. From a functional standpoint; I can add weight to it... if it's needed for balance.

I sectioned a ping-pong ball to emulate the dome-shape of the R-2 unit.. and CEF member Levent Suberk supplied me with graphics.

The pill bottle can be loaded with clay or putty for adding/subtracting weight in easily measurable increments and stationary... which is important for smooth operation (damping) of the FlexEL system. There's more detail to be added, which will shift weight aft of the current balance-point.. so it's hard to say whether I'll need to add any ballast-weight or not.

Lynne tells me that she wants it to have 3D contours to resemble the actual Star Wars Naboo N-1 fighter.. and she wants to paint it. I'm lucky that she wants to join in my modeling madness..

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My N-1R build log