Vickers Varsity

Sat outside this morning and did some building.

Tailplane and elevators.
built round a 6mm Depron core with 6x3mm balsa spars and 6mm hinge points, then skinned with 3mm Depron.



Fin and rudder, built in the same way as the tailplane.
the long bits of balsa are to help brace the mount when it is slotted into the fuselage.



Back to wing designing later.

Glued a stringer down the whole length of the fuselage and then started sheeting.



Then i sorted out, or started to sort out the battery hatch.



hope to sheet the other fuselage half tomorrow and then i can look at the fin and tail plane mounting.

great building there tony

well today i managed to sheet some more of the fuselage.
glued the two halves together as well.





also did more to the battery hatch.

fitted the fin today.
That is all.

Spent ages today faffing about getting the tailplane fitted.

but it is in now and reasonably square as well.



can finish the top of the fuselage sheeting tomorrow now and then take a look at the wings.

well i have been cutting out ribs and spars and wing skins today.
enough for two models.

started building the centre section of the wing.


still need to make the rear spar and fit the dihedral braces yet.
then i can work on the nacelles before i fit the centre section into the fuselage.

outer panels will be removable.
that way the only electrics i have to attach at the field will be the ailerons, the rest will be inside the fuselage.

Been working on the wing centre section today.
paper tubes for the servo wires.


Then when it is finished i can glue it into here and add the lower section of the fuselage.
It will then be built into the fuselage.

Wing joiners fitted.



the centre section has now been fully sheeted apart from where the nacelles need to go.
i will have to cut holes in the underside of the wing to take the wheels at a later date.

it should glue in here once completed and will then stay fixed to the fuselage and just the outer sections will be removable.

so far she weighs in at 330gms, this will shoot up once motors, servos, esc's, retracts and batteries are all fitted.



need to run a wiring tube down the length of the fuselage tomorrow to take the rudder and elevator wires.
then i can continue sheeting the fuselage up to the wing area.

Well today after essential gardening i have been working on the varsity.

Made up another brown paper tube for the rudder and elevator wiring and glued it home.



Then i plodded on with the slow job of cutting individual curved sheets of Depron in order to sheet the rest of the fuselage.
I have left open the area where i need access to fit servos and wiring, plus i have left the front as i need to work out the nose wheel retract mounting still. ( i need to buy the retracts yet)



I cannot do any more to the nacelles now as i am waiting for some lite ply to turn up.

So tomorrow if i get time, i will take a look at the outer wing sections.

that's all folks..

So today i have cut two sets of lower wing panels.
two sets of main spars
two sets of wing ribs.
and nailed my outer wing panels together.


need to add the rear balsa spars and the servo mounts and the wiring tube and the wing tubes, but we are getting there.



need to think about motors and retracts very very soon.

Wing joiners all glued in now.


Leading edge sheeting being stuck down.



Wing now all fits together quiet well now.


we plod on.

I'm not sure about that stagger in the te spar. I presume they are the flap/and aileron edges, but I would have overlapped and bonded them together, to eliminate that weak spot, if it cannot be made as one continuous piece.

I would guess that most of the strength is in the monocoque, besides which, I doubt there'll be much aerobatics in the flight pattern! [badass]

I assume those are not really spars as such but more to create an 'edge' to fix the hinges to.
It may be a trick of the photo but do the ailerons actually get a bit wider towards the tip?