Precedent T180 Restoration

I've picked up a nearly new prolux sealing iron off fleabay for a good price, so should get that next week.

I'm going to have to think of the colour scheme though.

I was testing fitting the servos and control rods yesterday, and I need to build a raised servo tray. So that'll need done first.

I finished the servo tray today. I've made it removable as the battery and other electronics will be underneath.

I'm going to change the control linkages though. I'm also going to ditch the inner snakes and change them to rods. I inserted shorter threaded rods into the snakes, but there's some resistance.

I take it there's no issue if the rods aren't the same inner diameter as the snake outers? I was going to use 2mm or 3mm rods.



I need to then work on the fuel tank plumbing. Any tips for securing the tank in the nose?

Rods instead of snakes - no problem, just beware they don't go round corners very well - you have to stop the outer short, then bend the inner rod as needed to clear the structure. Don't go as far as a 90' bend, though, or it may act like a spring!
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Fuel tank - don't make it permanent! Most people just trap it in with foam rubber, and make sure it can't slide back and to!
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Rule of thumb - if you can't get at it, that's the bit that will go wrong! :S

Thanks. I've got some stiff foam that came with furniture packing, and I kept it thinking it would come in handy one day :lol:

I'm going to need to place some orders before I can progress more.

The other big job I was considering, was cutting out the firewall and making a new one.

I want to mount my engine at 90deg, so the exhaust is straight underneath. I've ordered a pitts style exhaust for the job, and so I don't need to cut holes in the cowl.

But the old engine mount was at about 45deg, so the T-nuts are already in place and I think would interfere if I tried to add new ones.

I'd be a bit careful about removing the firewall, re-attachment of the glue maybe just be a problem since the plane has already been well used and there's bound to have been some oil migration.

I agree, it's probably the strongest part of the airframe, proceed with caution! foam round the tank is a good idea but put a bit under it as well to stop any foaming issues.

If you can get at the back of the firewall, the T-nuts will just lever out, with the help of a small screwie.
Then make a doubler to go behind the exising F1, thoroughly epoxy it in, drill through, and bolt through into that.
If the back is inaccessible, you will have to make another cuppa and have a think about it! :evil:

"T" nuts on fire wall. As they are mounted from the back/inside of the wall insert the mounting screws from the front and gentle use a hammer on them. In the event of them also being epoxied in, the heat from a solder iron on them will soften it then quickly use the same Screw and hammer. Never had this fail.

Thanks for the advice on the firewall. I was reluctant about removing it, so I'm glad I post my thoughts on here first before hacking away :lol:

I can get to the back of it quite easily, so I'll remove the nuts, and put in a doubler as suggested.

My covering iron arrived! I'm going to do some practice bits tonight on the old tail, then the ailerons. I need to wait till Friday for the local shop to get in the other colour that I want. I'm going for dark blue underwings and LE, and top half of fuselage and all the tail, then the rest white. I'm might try my pinstriping skills and put a blue line along the fuselage as well.

I had a question about sticking covering over covering. I was going to do the central span of the wing blue to match in with the fuselage. Can covering be tacked over other covering, or would I be better leaving a gap when doing the top of the wings? Also does covering stick to the fibreglass ok, or does it need any prep first?

In the meantime, and for curiosity sake, I calculated the CG using a couple of calculators and they're both showing in the same range. The range covered puts the CG point just in front of, or on, the main spar.

www.ecalc.ch/cgcalc.php?deeplink=Precede...0;0;0;0;72.5;25;12.5 ;

No problem putting covering over another covering ( presume your using a plastic type film covering?) you may like to give the trim a coat of covergrip just to be sure.
You better of painting the cowl tbh, pin stripes are good fun, you do need a steady hand though.

You should always overlap by about 6mm, any more and you will have bubbles.

C ofG on or just in front of the spar is almost always the correct place. Locating it on a heavily tapered or swept wing is another problem, but irrelevant here.
You can overlap film, but not too much, or you will, as stated, start to get bubbles - but you can pop them by sticking a pin into it, then chasing the air out from edges to centre (or pin-hole!)
You'd be better painting glassfibre, as film doesn't stick very well. If it's the glass in the centre join, then cover that bit first, and the overlaps on the wood parts will help to hold the film on, and keep the oil out.
I remind you of my earlier post about keeping all the joins downwind!

Practiced covering part of the old tail. I think I've done ok on the flat surfaces, but the curves at the wing tips need some thought about where to cut. Also at the base of the fin. I suppose leaving a longer overlap and cutting tabs will help, then trim the excess.

I'm going to cut it off and practice again, but I'll practice the cuts on tracing paper first.

Again, this is all new to me. I don't think I've done bad for a first attempt, but I don't want to make a mess when I'm doing it for real.

Looks pretty darn good to me.
Much of the quality of the covering is to make it look good. Small imperfections will make absolutely no difference as to how it flies. Of more concern is to avoid ironing in any warps as they will make a big difference.:woohoo: