Hawker Sea Hawk

Just a very short run to prove it still works.
One byproduct of the very soft foam is it does a good job of sound deadening.

Apparently tortuous inlet paths (and it is!) subdue quite a bit of the fan noise which comes out forward. It leaves a more pure turbine whine.

I had a panic when I first coupled it up, the ESC armed normally but with any power the motor just stuttered and would not run. Of course now there is no chance of actually getting at anything. :woohoo:
Checked all the connections, changed the ESC and even measured the motor resistance between the wires. Still no joy.
Eventually using a thin wood stick I managed to rotate the motor a tiny bit. When I tied again the motor spun up and a small piece of foam flew out!
Obviously dropped into the fan un noticed during the planking and jammed it.

Can't face any more planking just at the moment so I will build the wing panels next. Nice big simple shaped pieces.

Simon, With your skill and knowledge, I'm beginning to wonder if you wouldn't be able to design and 3D print an entire scale aircraft that would be within your very strict weight guidelines.

There's been a series of articles in aeromodeller on just that subject Klippy, a guy has successfully printed several models, mainly edf free flight jobs.

Klippy
Printed planes have been around for sometime now and some are quite sophisticated.
To get the right mix of strength and weight requires special structural & programming knowledge beyond the capabilities of most DIY systems but there are several organisations that sell the appropriate STL files that will print the parts on a standard size machine to make up a complete plane.
As I see it there are some drawbacks.
1, The cost of the commercial STL files is not insignificant.
2. The print time is many tens of hours with the associated risk of a print failure during a print.
3. The crash resistance is poor when compared to the same weight of conventional plane construction materials.

However I can see how it is a very attractive proposition. A complete RC plane structure from nothing more than a roll of filament.
So far my innate meanness results in my reluctance to pay someone to design what is by my judgement an inferior product.

Not quite in the spirit of 'simple to assemble' printed components but I do have a sub 250 g own design printed plane.

Just the tail boom is glass fibre but everything else including the wing spar is printed.

Pretty much my own take on the matter Simon, I was just hoping there might be something new around the corner.

The wings are proving to be rather slow to do.
The LH wing complete.

The top and bottoms wing skin as simply pulled over two shear webs.

Apart from having to sand quite an area off to achieve a fine trailing edge the real problem is the considerable force that is required to 'form' the wing section with 5 mm foam. This requires the joins to be held in place for 24 hours for the glue to go really hard.

I only have 9 clips so I can only make one wing panel every 24 hours. :ohmy:

Limited progress but the wings are now glued to the centre section with the ailerons and servos installed.

The wing is sitting like that leaning on the radiator as the RH wing has only just been glued on. :woohoo:
Rear fuselage next.

I use a handy door for hanging all my spare cables over!

Off Topic Eric.
This is how I keep mine!

Ha!
Those cables on the radiator are my 'ready use' ones to charge my phone, shaver, camera etc.
The little unused are indeed on a hook on the back of my door.

Usually hidden by my dressing gown on the same hook.
The spare mains extensions are on hooks on the stairway leading down to the cellar.

I would be much too embarrassed to show all the other stuff stored in every other nook and cranny around the house.
Way off topic but never mind.

Back on topic. A start on the rear fuselage.

As expected the small radii involved are almost impossible to achieve neatly in 5 mm thick foam even using many small width planks. It will requires quite a bit of sanding and application of lightweight filler to get anything like the right surface and shape.
At least the position of the tail plane and fin are well defined.

Apart from cleaning my car I have not done much else all day but the rear fuselage is more or less complete.



The elevator servo is in so the next tricky job is mating the rear fuse up to the centre section. The chances it is an exact fit are not good so the trick is to remove most of the mating former and then to locally slice the skin to expand or contract the shape until it exactly fits. Make good as appropriate and with a bit of luck 'you can't see the join'.
I have done the same sort of thing in the past when joining the sections of my airliner fuselages.

If Eric is right 'Webbies' have got some proper Depron in so collecting a sheet or two of 3 mm will be the first job in the morning!

As I feared joining the rear fuse to the centre section required some rather creative adjustment or put another way drastic surgery but got there in the end.

Apart from splitting the rear fuselage down the middle and adding a substantial 'gusset' to get the two parts to have the same circumference a substantial part of the top of the rear fuselage had to be cut away and significantly 'adjusted' and then glued back in to get the fuselage 'top line' anything like right. Hence the masking tape. :woohoo:
After all that the bit that has come out reasonable well is the rear fuselage exhaust fairings.

When you consider the total exhaust area against the fuselage cross section you can see why the Sea Hawk had only a 'modest' performance. I fear mine probably will too!

Did you manage to get some more depron? (I presume the price had increased - when doesn't it?)

Eric
Its £6 for a 3mm sheet. It was £2.50 5 years ago! Which is rather more than the rate of inflation. :woohoo:
Apparently Webbies are importing it from Germany where it is still sold although I believe it is actually made in Lithuania.
It is the 'aero' quality or in other words lighter but considerably more flexible than the original stuff.
I still have a small piece of original 6 mm as well as some 6mm Aero. It like chalk and cheese!

Tail feathers under construction using 3 mm Depron.

Although from my limited stock rather than the new sheet.