Notched Leading Edge

Here's a technique for building a notched trailing edge by Tandy Walker. In addition to the Cloudster, it could be adapted to the Taibi Hornet, and the Garami Molecule among others.

New SAM 62 Videos

Fin Detail: Tandy's 900 Cloudster

Tandy's updates have been coming faster than I can post them.  Here's #14 in his series on the 900 square inch Cloudster.  The fin detail looks pertinent to a lot of other designs.

 

 

Electric Cloudster 900 Project

The fin base is a 1" piece of 1/4" balsa sheet that slips down into the stab center slot. Notice the cut out for the stab's 1/8" center spar. Two 1/8" X 1/4" plywood rectangles were cut to size, drilled, tapped with 2-56 threads, and glued into the bottom of the fin base as shown below.

 A 1/4" square fin post spruce brace was cut to length, tapered, and glued to the rear of fin base as shown below. The two 2-56 cap screws are used to secure the fin base in the stab slot as will be shown later. 

 To start the fin framing, the fin's 1/4" X 5/16" leading edge and 1/4" square rear post were pinned down and the R1 tip piece was glued in place as shown below. A slope was cut on the leading edge of the fin base, which was then glued in place to the fin's leading edge and rear post as shown below. Notice the forward 1/4" gusset that reinforces the joint between the leading edge and the base. Finally the three 1/16" X 1/4" strips were glued in place as ribs.
 

The rudder was lined up on the pinned down fin with a 1/16" gap for the hinge line and the picture below was taken so you could see what the complete vertical tail will look like. 

 

Tomorrow gussets will be added to the 1/16" ribs to prevent the covering from crushing the 1/16" ribs into the medium soft balsa leading and trailing edges. The rudder will also be hinged to the fin tomorrow before the sanding and shaping begins.......................Tandy

Revised Walston Transmitter Installation

The picture below shows the Walston Transmitter inside the earlier lipstick tube. The problem was there was no quick or convenient way to hold the tube in its position and so it kept backing out during flight and falling down in the bottom of the fuselage.


I really wanted a design that was simple, functional, and easy to work with. The transmitter batteries have to be removed and installed and the transmitter itself has to be transferrred from aircraft to aircraft. The design would have to involve some very small rubber bands that go around the tiny transmitter to hold it in place. So I went to the orthodonist and got a package of his dental bands shown below that are used on kid's braces to straighten their teeth. These bands are quite small, very durable, and extremely elastic.


The design for the transmitter holder that I came up with is shown below. It consists of a 1/16" X 1/2" bass wood base with a short piece of 3/16" X 1/4" spruce drilled out for the antenna sheath and glued across the end of the base as shown below. This was cleard doped three times and two pieces of loop Velcro stuck to the bottom for securing the holder inside the Cloudster's cockpit. The antenna sheath was also CA'd in place. The transmitter's antenna was instered into the sheath and the transmitter was secured to the holder's base with four dental bands. What could be simpler or more functional and it does protect the antenna joint at the end of the transmitter.


A piece of 1/32" plywood was cut out to fit down on the fuselage's cross members to the left side of the speed control's platform. It was clear doped three times and two pieces of hook Velcro stuck to the top for securing the transmitter holder as shown below.


To install Walston transmitter, you simply slide the antenna sheath back down into the fuselage and then move the holder forward and push it onto the Velcro hooks on the right side of the speed control as shown below. Notice that the holder sticks out over the fuselage's cross member in the back a 1/4". To remove the holder, you put a finger under the holder's overhang and lift up, which easily separates the Velcro interface thus releasing the holder from its platform. This truly is a design that is simple, functional, and easy to work with moving it from plane to plane..............................Tandy Walker

Update on Tandy Walker's Speed 400 Cleveland Cloudster

Second Cloudster 300

On May 3, 2010, I had a fly away on the third test flight of my new 300 sq. in. electric Cloudster. Which prompted the purchase of a Walston Retrieval System.

On May 11, 2010, the lost Cloudster was found in the back yard of an Arlington home eight days later after two rain storms.

It had suffered rather extensive damage.

I decided to jump back in and build another 300 sq. in. Cloudster for the Speed 400 event! It was too good of a flyer for me not to have one for this year's SAM Champs, if it could be built quickly. I concluded that I could build a second one in a much shorter time using what components I could salvage and my own construction reports as a guide.

The right wing panel was missing and the center section was badly damaged, but the main plywood spar brace was in tact.

A completely new right wing panel was built.

The new wing panel was integrated into the salvaged wing structure.

A complete wing structure emerged.

The wing structure was covered with transparent red UltraCote Lite.

The color scheme and trim were duplicated and the exact same Cajun graphics were applied to the wing.

When the vertical tail covering was cleaned off, it was discovered that the tip of the fin had received a moderate blow to the top edge, leaving the silk covering on one side of the tip wood a little wrinkled. Distilled water was injected into the crushed balsa through the covering with the syringe and a little heat was applied to the area, which expanded the damp balsa underneath and tightened up the silk covering.

The elevator control surface has been subjected to exposure and over stressing, which had significantly wrinkled the covering.

It was necessary to remove all of the covering from both the elevator and stab so each joint could be inspected and reglued as necessary. Discolored wood from water damage was bleached out with household bleach. The elevator and stab were recovered with transparent red UltraCote Lite.

The fuselage was so damaged that it was not salvageable so a new one had to be built. To add a little weight and reduce ballast, I used heavier 3/16" balsa strips in the fuselages primary structure.

To save time an aluminum motor mount was used. This aluminum motor mount for the Speed 400 motor was machined by a guy named "Loren Kramer".

The main landing gear was salvaged with a little straightening and rust removal.

Because of all of the water damage, two new servos along with new receiver, ESC, battery, and motor were purchased.

2.4 GHz antenna guides and push rods were installed.

Balsa blocks were glued together to form the blank for the new cowl.

The new cowl was carved and sanded to final shape.

The fuselage and cowl were double covered with white silk over Polyspan Lite and given seven coats of clear nitrate dope.

The fuselage and cowl were double covered with white silk over Polyspan Lite and given seven coats of clear nitrate dope.

The fuselage and cowl were given one thin air brushed coat of clear satin Klass Kote.

The covering was cut out to form the four side window openings.

The windshield and side windows of 0.005" clear Dura-Lar were installed.

Red striping tape was used to seal the bottom of the windshield as well as trim the side windows.

This second Cloudster was finished this morning, 64 days after the decision to build a new one.

The Cloudster's balance point is at 48.7% as per the Jim Adam's plan and the total weight is 16.05 ounces................Tandy

Last Flight of the Cleveland Cloudster?

2010 Flight Test Program

(2nd flight)

Sue and I went to Veteran's Park again this morning to test the 30% reduction in elevator control and get some in-flight pictures. We arrived around 7:30 a.m., clear, calm, and about 59 degrees. I assembled the Cloudster and took it to the edge of the park on the concrete walk way to check the RPM out in the open as shown below. At full throttle it tached 12,800 RPM. Yesterday I tried to check the RPM in model room and only got 6,500 RPM so it must have been the lights in the model room interfering with the tach.

We walked out to the center of the park's field to launch. I made one last check of the controls before I launched as shown below.

Sue caught the Cloudster a moment or so after launch as shown below.

For some reason I was having problems trimming the model as it was climbing out, but it did get quite high at the end of one minute. However, after I cut the motor I still couldn't seem to get it under control and it was getting higher and further away. I sensed that I was beginning to loose the Cloudster as its image had grown very small now due to range. So I added throttle to try to start coming back to the field. However, the power only aggravated the model's gyrations. Finally it just disappeared out of sight in the morning's clear blue sky somewhere over Arlington.

I have no explanation for went wrong this morning. I only know that the Cloudster is gone, unless someone happens to find it and calls me. Otherwise, this is last picture we will ever see of the Cloudster on its way up........................Tandy Walker



N.B.: This has happened to the best R/C Assist flyers. But, it can be prevented with some on board insurance.

Tandy Walker's Speed 400 model completed

As this construction project draws to a close tonight, this is the 92nd and final Cloudster's construction report. I began this Speed 400 project on October 27, 2009, over five months ago and completed it this evening. I truly hope you have enjoyed my efforts on this project as much as I have sharing them with you. There will be one more follow up report later on in the spring after the weather gets good to present the results of the Cloudster's flight testing. So for now, good night and goodbye............................Tandy