Hi Guys,

I am happy to say, I have started on a very ambitious project to build myself a Cessna 180, designed by David Blum from scratch.

With initial difficulty of find stuff I wanted, this project started as of last Monday. With my busy schedule, I only have an hour or two max for this every day, and may be little more on the weekends.

I will be posting Pictures and Material list as an when I reach certain stages.

Your thoughts, assistance and comments are welcomed. Well minded Critics are also welcome.

Attached here are design specs and my current progress.

This Design's are for 2mm balsa which i realized later on, after i went though a lot of cutting on 4mm balsa, I will have to do some tweaks once i start putting this to gather, and will inform you about the same.

For Experienced builders I for see a problem with the crawl mold and cockpit windows. I would like to hear your views on best way to build this either using balsa again(i dont think thats the right way) or mold-able plastic / fiber.

 
Special thanks to ankurkaul17 for supplying me with the actual plans.

f any one has a source who could get be a larger sheet of balsa, sized at bellow I will appreciate it. I need it for the main body.

a) Balsa Sheet
    1/4" (6.4mm) x 4" x 36"
    1/8" (3.2mm) x 4" x 36"
    1/4" x 3/16" x 36"
    3/16" x 3/16"
   
b) Plywood
    3/8" x 4" x 36"

I had floated this query with RCDhamaka based on their request on one of my earlier post, which they never thought off to reply either positive or negative.

One more PIC

The knife above is a surgical knife size 2. Its very sleek, and thin tipped. Easy to get, just call Just Dial and ask for a surgical shop in your area and you can buy the knife body for 65 INR and 5 INR for blade. Buy -3 or more blades as you will need it.

Be careful with the blade it is very sharp and is designed to cut through human skin.

Good going  

Looking forward to the progress and final results !

 

Hi Hemal,


All the best.

Hemal,
I find your craftsmanship to really fine! the wing ribs have come up real real great, especially the the slots/notches you made (marked in the pic below). Could you share a video or something how you made them ? I had hard knife cutting similar small notches on 5mm Depron using the hobby knife.

Hi ujjwaana,

Thank you for your kind words. After few really bad pieces i realized,

a) your knife has to be quite sharp, and the blade has to be very thin.
b) assume your knife is blunt, but putting force will not cut it but, if you cut at the same place over and over it will slice it. That really helped though it takes a little longer. you must try the Surgical knife, one of the best point with SK is that its build to cut to similar material like depron or balsa which is human skin which is as delicate as balsa but as stubborn as skin. 
c) I believe for depron the best suggested way somewhere is hot wire, a small device which passes electric current to a very thin wire like piano wire or 6th guitar string. one use's a very low voltage. A hobby shop should be able to help you.

Hi Hemal

Good luck with your build . As far as your queries regarding cowl..i think vacuum forming will be the best bet. Check  the link below...it will help you a lot. It is a build thread by a person building the same cessna from the plans i gave you.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=316445

and here is a depron version for the same...and the plans too...

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=851970

Regards
Ankur

Hello guys,

Am almost done will all the cutting, my blade broke last night and it was the last one so could not continue and finish off the FS body, but just re-stocked myself and will be going at it soon. I will post some pictures soon before i start assembling it.

Ankru,

Thanks for the link and i have gone thought that before I started cutting the wood. However, i was not quite able to figure out the technique and the materials needed.  If you could guide me when I reach that stage i would be very delighted.

LSH,

Soon  I will be needing to pick up electronics for this project, I want your Recommendation, Am not sure of the final weight range, hence i will try and keep buying of the motor at the final junction however following items i will be looking for so any recommendation / deals will be appreciated


Radio 4/<b>5</b>/6 ch, I am not too keen on Hi-grade Device or a Second hand device will also work, bottom line is should be a budgeted product.
Servos for Rudder, Elevator, Aerilons, and Flaps in future
ECS for motor Control (I would like to have an extended flight time, hence a ECS which can support higher input and regulate output to whats needed will be nice)
Battery (I would like to have an extended flight time, so a twin sized battery would be nice)
Brushless motor with mount and prop. 8/6 should be good, though will be interested in your recommendation

Misc Materials
Landing Gear Wheels, Rods
Push Rods, Connectors
Servo pin (not sure of the right term, the attachment on the gear, in + or - format)
Wires for Electrical's, LED lights (Red, White, Green 4 Peice Each)


Any one having any of the above items laying around and want to sell it off, please let me know.

Any one from ahmedabad would be interested in assisting me for the maiden flight Please let me know.

/h

Keep Going Hemal.............doing well 

Hey Hemal!
Good to see people still interested in building from plans/kits/scratch etc. So far so good keep it up and we all would be glad to see a video if it flying.
Just a small correction on the terms used by you. What you are doing is called building from plans and not scratch building. It would be scratch if you designed and build the plane yourself. Not to take away the credit from what you are doing but just to make sure that people understand, you see even an ARF assembly today is called a build.
Keep up the good work   

Hey that seems a bit complecated to build. Check this out. A simple one:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14298158#post14298158

My next project.

Quote from: flyingboxcar on February 23, 2010, 06:51:35 PM
......you see even an ARF assembly today is called a build.

I guess it is common for people to refer to such assembly as "build".  Every international forum has tons of "build" threads for ARF planes (and 100% of heli "assemblies" are called "build"s). 

It does help clarify the type of build with proper naming though.... wondering if there are widely accepted standards to this ?

so u cut all the parts of balsa wood only by 'surgical knife'? any more new updates with pics??

Hi I have also downloaded the plans but when printing on big sheets the plans get blurred can anybody give the clear ones.

In my opinion we can also use needle files for making slots and fine details.

If you are looking for information on balsa builds, there are probably no threads here currently which can beat this :

http://www.rcindia.org/gas-glow-nitro-planes/gloster-gamecock-latest-project/

Mike would be happy to answer any questions related to working with balsa. 

hello hemal,
really appreciate your skill, attention to details and the  patience. All the very best to you.
best regards
ashta