Sir newbie here,

For foam I understand that you have to cut it using hot wire but how to go about Balsa? how to cut the wing profile on it or even the foam. Any easy way for foam without hotwire?

@turbo20,

1mm foam (disposable dinner plate) can be cut with scissors

Depron sheets and balsa can be cut with a razor blade, but safer to use surgical blades #11 or #24 with matching handle.

For balsa 5mm and above, (and plywood) you need a baby saw or razor saw.

Thermocol upto about 1" thick can be cut with a new razor blade.

Hot wire cutter is needed only if you want to cut curved profiles, like wing aerofoil.

Hope this helps.
Regards

Materials for balsa kit build

The plan says 3/32" for wing, 1/8" hard for fuselage and 1/32" for stab and fin.
In the kit I'm using 2.2mm for wing, 2x2.2mm for fuselage and 1.5mm sanded to 0.75mm for tail.

The wings are already sanded to an airfoil section, though not as sharp as in the plan, as it would have made the wings too delicate.
The wing centre is already beveled for dihedral.
The fuselage has an extension below the nose for the catapult, and a 1/2" extension at the back for pulling back in catapult launch.
All parts already doped and finish sanded with 600 grit sandpaper as specified in the plan article.
Included is a small Feviquik, pin and thread for balancing, plasticine for nose weight and some rubber bands for an initial catapult.

So it can actually be ready to fly in 5-10 minutes. (However see wing fuselage joint reinforcement in a following post)

Edit:
Not able to load pics for some reason.
Will post assembly instructions and pics tomorrow

Here's a pic of the kit contents

Assembly

Use a grid, graph paper or at least draw two perpendicular lines to ensure that the stab is perpendicular to the fuselage in top view.

Hold the fuselage in place with the plasticine. Ensure fuselage and fin are perpendicular to stab.

Put a few dots of Feviquik on both sides.
Wait and check if everything is square.
Then put a small amount of Feviquik on both sides.

The wings are temporarily taped at the bottom, and BEVELED AT THE TOP OF THE JOINT to accomodate the bend for the dihedral.

Thank you sir for the detailed instructions! And we expect more on launch , trimming etc .

Place one wing flat with the other tip raised 3"

Put some Feviquik down the joint.

After a few seconds, pick it up and put some Feviquik down the bottom of the joint.

Now we have fuselage with the tail parts, and a wing with dihedral.

And we have stick them together.
IN PROPER ALIGNMENT!

For once I see several guys watching this thread...

So let's finish the assembly...

Mark a point at the top of the fuselage 2” from the nose.

This is where the leading edge of the wing will be.

Set the wing on the fuselage with packing under each wing.

The wing has to be DEAD SQUARE to the fuselage
and its center line should be DEAD CENTRE on the fuselage
And both wingtips at equal height.

See pics.

Does it look okay?

Actually the alignment is NOT GOOD ENOUGH

So I'll adjust it till it's as accurate as I can get it.

Once aligned as best as possible, put a dot of Feviquik at the leading edge and trailing edge.

Wait a few seconds, then pick it up to check alignment.

If not satisfied, the wing can be removed easily as it is stuck at only two points, and realigned.

When satisfied, pick it up and run a bead of Feviquik on either side of the wing/ fuselage joint under the wing.

ASSEMBLY COMPLETE ! 

Okay sir , understood .Thanks .And where should be it's CG ( with the plasticine)?

Quote from: K K Iyer on October 15, 2020, 08:46:36 PM
Assembly

Use a grid, graph paper or at least draw two perpendicular lines to ensure that the stab is perpendicular to the fuselage in top view.

Hold the fuselage in place with the plasticine. Ensure fuselage and fin are perpendicular to stab.

Put a few dots of Feviquik on both sides.
Wait and check if everything is square.
Then put a small amount of Feviquik on both sides.

Sir , one doubt here . Should we glue the whole fin on top or on one side of the fuselage? If fully glued , how to trim the rudder ?

Balancing

Start by putting enough plasticine (~1gm) on the nose, to balance it 1.75" from the leading edge.

Then test glide. Add or reduce nose weight till you get a floating glide, with no dive and no stall.
(BTW, this is harder than it sounds!)

Quote from: SI74 on October 15, 2020, 10:48:48 PM
Sir , one doubt here . Should we glue the whole fin on top or on one side of the fuselage? If fully glued , how to trim the rudder ?

In the kit it's already stuck on top.
If you make it a bit taller, you can stick it to one side.

Very little rudder is required, soyou can still bend it in.

Like this

Ipad battery down.
So bye till tomorrow
Regards to everyone

Quote from: K K Iyer on October 15, 2020, 10:52:55 PM
Balancing

Start by putting enough plasticine (~1gm) on the nose, to balance it 1.75" from the leading edge.

Then test glide. Add or reduce nose weight till you get a floating glide, with no dive and no stall.
(BTW, this is harder than it sounds!)

Yes! That's the most difficult part ! Now every step is crystal clear ! Thank you!

Took a bit of trial and error to get it to fly properly in my drawing room.

Then I tried it with 2 x 2" rubber bands.
Wow. What a surprise!

For testing with 2 x 2" rubber bands, you'll need at least a tennis court size area.

With more rubber bands and more pull, you'll need a football field!

Be warned. Don't fly it in a restricted space...

Best wishes

Query from aspersid

If possible can you also add some rubberbands to the kit? The long ones especially or the tan sport ones if you have them, I don't think they are available where I am currently. I'm willing to pay extra for them.

Reply

Included.
Didn't you see the pic of the kit contents?

I was surprised at the performance with 2x 2" rubber bands.
With 4x2" rubber bands, I think 30 seconds is possible.

Tan rubber, eh?
I'm not sure, but I think a 9" loop of 1/8" Tan super Sport is the standard for catapult launch gliders.

I have some, but not enough to distribute to all participants...

I have some Tan Super Sport rubber, but not enough to supply to all participants as part of the kit.

Freeflight has agreed to limit himself to office use rubber bands and not use Tan.

The prototype and the first four kits weighed 8gms with nose weight.

In the next four, I'm trying to get it down to 7gms. I can skip the dope finish (0.5gms), but I don't want to do that. Plus I'm planning to use silicon polish!

The next 4 wings are 2.5gms each.

The balsa one is 8 gms
The foamy is 1 gm (shows zero on my kitchen scale)

Their performance is identical!
In test glides in the drawing room.

The difference will show up when the speed increases.
As in full power hand launch or catapult launch...

Wonder if anyone would be interested in this TLG LAUNCH SPEED ESTIMATE, posted by me 6 yrs ago...

http://www.rcindia.org/kites-trains-free-flight-and-all-others/tlg-launch-speed-estimate/

Twelve stop action shots here

http://www.rcindia.org/kites-trains-free-flight-and-all-others/for-the-5th-sweepstakes-first-model-k-k-iyer/msg181491/#msg181491

4 kits sent
6 kits under way
4 booked.
2 available