Excellent progress, KK Iyer sir.

Me too extremely slow with the woodwork, even though it is laser-cut kit build.
My current problem is the engine mount...drilling precise vertical holes thru' beams are a big challenge.

Before starting on the fuselage, one last rethink.

Unthrottled OS Pet .09 (circa 1960), or EMax CF2822 (~150w on 3s, presumably 100w on 2s...)

Views?

I have about 10 such 300ml bottles of half used glow fuel with the castor oil separated.
So inclined towards electric, even though my lipos, 6 yrs old on average, are a bit bloated, but should manage 10A(10c)...

For years, nay, decades, I've tried and failed to get a mirror finish.
I've tried dope and balsa dust (saved religiously by wife in the 'fine sawdust can')
I've tried grey filler putty
The best I've done is with 18gsm glass cloth and Bob Smith Finish Cure epoxy (Smooth, but hardly mirror finish)
But I want to do it without glass/epoxy.

On a recent US visit, got some Mod Podge and some Spackle.
Don't know what to do with the Mod Podge, and the spackle says 'not for use as a skim film'

Somehow, one thing I never did was to cover sheet balsa surfaces with dope, then tissue with thinner.

Request suggestions for a nice finish on the Marvin fuselage and empennage (while waiting for 38 micron doculam for the wing)
Rai saheb said 'Just use monokote'
But all I have is a 5m roll of Green.
Really want translucent silver on wings, silver on fuselage bottom half, black on fuselage top half...

Quote from: K K Iyer on November 28, 2019, 07:33:22 PM
I have about 10 such 300ml bottles of half used glow fuel with the castor oil separated.
So inclined towards electric, even though my lipos, 6 yrs old on average, are a bit bloated, but should manage 10A(10c)...

Throw them all away! Fuel first. Either get the ingredients and mix a fresh batch, or buy 5% Falcon Fuel 1 litre

Quote from: Aeroresurrect on November 28, 2019, 10:19:41 AM
Excellent progress, KK Iyer sir.

Me too extremely slow with the woodwork, even though it is laser-cut kit build.
My current problem is the engine mount...drilling precise vertical holes thru' beams are a big challenge.

You don't need 'precise holes'  Drill them slightly oversize eg for a 3 mm bolt use a 3.2 mm drill etc. Use a Nyloc nut for simple and assured retaining

(Iyer sir, sorry for interrupting your thread)

Quote from: Aeroresurrect on November 28, 2019, 10:19:41 AM
Excellent progress, KK Iyer sir.

Me too extremely slow with the woodwork, even though it is laser-cut kit build.
My current problem is the engine mount...drilling precise vertical holes thru' beams are a big challenge.

Drill on an aluminium template first. CA it to the mount. Then use it as a guide to drill through mount.

One advantage of oversize holes is that you can adjust side/down thrust 

Traced outline to make some internal changes...

Was away 1st to 7th, Pondicherry and Chennai, family meet and a wedding.
Got sick due to lousy air from AC in Chennai hotel.
Still not fully recovered even after 5 days of antibiotics.

Deadline to fly the Marvin is 31st (effectively last Sunday, 29th)

So started on the fuselage...

Take care! All the best

Sent from my motorola one power using Tapatalk

Some progress...
Going to bed now.

I wish I could come to your place and learn some balsa lessons. Great work sir.

@manu,
Most welcome any time.
Where are you now and what are you doing? In Sendhwa? Update me on Whatsapp.
Merry Christmas to you and your family.

Here's a pic of progress today.

I am in Delhi, sir.

Took hours of work to modify a glow engine spinner to fit over the collet/spinner prop mount of the electric motor. Had to cut off 9mm from motor shaft.
A few more hours to blend the nose into the spinner.

I guess with age, its taking me an hour to get 10 minutes of work done.

My Lipos are also aging and getting puffed. After six years I got lazy and let them remain unused at full charge instead of at 3.85v for storage. The result is they come down from 12.4v to ~10v even at 10C (10amps draw).
With a 9x4.7 prop, showing 100watts (10a x 10v) at full throttle. (60watts on 8x4 prop)
Hope that will be enough, and that the finished weight stays well below 1lb/450gms...

Thanks to a past thermal soaring world champion and author (Sundancer on RCG), I discovered Doculam. What a pleasure.
At par with discovering dope some 55 years ago, the first Cox Babe Bee 50 years ago, then Monokote 40 years ago and CA glue 30 years ago.

Learnt how to use it with very little error by exercising patience and low heat.
When I hurried it a bit and turned the heat up more than I intended, got 2-3 small holes.
But that taught me how to patch.

Had doubts about being able to cover with tissue over the doculam.
So tried on one wingtip bottom with some several year old yellow tissue (the white I had seemed too stiff)
Remembered Sundancer mentioning somewhere to draw the tissue across a pan of water.
Really pleased with the result. Not perfect, but 9/10.

This is the way to get that vintage dope and tissue look on vintage models, with puncture resistance added by the Doculam.

Doubt if anyone is interested in such vintage stuff, but I carry on due to my own vintage!

I had bought some heat shrinkable adhesive-backed lamination (low heat melt) to try with thermocole. Is Doculam something similar? ( I haven't yet used it, but tried on a small area - seemed OK)

This is the product -  https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B07N85GCR9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Quote from: sanjayrai55 on December 28, 2019, 06:43:32 AM
I had bought some heat shrinkable adhesive-backed lamination (low heat melt) to try with thermocole. Is Doculam something similar? ( I haven't yet used it, but tried on a small area - seemed OK)

This is the product -  https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B07N85GCR9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Same/similar. Doculam is a name like Monokote, that has become generic.

Quote from: K K Iyer on December 27, 2019, 07:38:00 PM
Thanks to a past thermal soaring world champion and author (Sundancer on RCG), I discovered Doculam. What a pleasure.
At par with discovering dope some 55 years ago, the first Cox Babe Bee 50 years ago, then Monokote 40 years ago and CA glue 30 years ago.

Learnt how to use it with very little error by exercising patience and low heat.
When I hurried it a bit and turned the heat up more than I intended, got 2-3 small holes.
But that taught me how to patch.

Had doubts about being able to cover with tissue over the doculam.
So tried on one wingtip bottom with some several year old yellow tissue (the white I had seemed too stiff)
Remembered Sundancer mentioning somewhere to draw the tissue across a pan of water.
Really pleased with the result. Not perfect, but 9/10.

This is the way to get that vintage dope and tissue look on vintage models, with puncture resistance added by the Doculam.

Doubt if anyone is interested in such vintage stuff, but I carry on due to my own vintage!

Do you first cover with tissue, then laminate?

Laminate first.

What is the "pan of water" for then?

Quote from: sanjayrai55 on December 31, 2019, 11:53:30 AM
What is the "pan of water" for then?

To drag the tissue over so that one side gets wet.
The laminated surface is doped, then the tissue is laid on wet. While wet, it's brushed through with thinner.
Well that's the theory. My experience limited to only one wing tip so far!
Here's a pic of one tip with only laminate, and one with tissue too.

Canopy/hatch.
Toothpick pegs at the back, magnet pair in front.
Took more effort than I expected, to get right.

Doculam glazing?

Almost ready, but not quite.

It's 11pm on 31st Dec, so time for bed!

Happy New Year to all our forum members.