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Mick Reeves 1/4 scale RF4

Fans and Thermals.
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Peter Balcombe
Posts: 1399
Joined: 18 Mar 2015, 10:13
Location: Clevedon, North Somerset, U.K.

Re: Mick Reeves 1/4 scale RF4

Post by Peter Balcombe »

No further progress on the fuselage build over the past few days as the laser cut wing/retract mounting plate (item 12) supplied in my kit had a slightly different profile from that on the drawing and appeared to be 6mm or so too wide. After querying this with Jim at Mick Reeves models, Jim has confirmed that the part is too large and a replacement part is in the post.

Meanwhile the wings have moved on a little to bring them both up to the same point in the build process (all skinning now fitted, electric airbrakes fitted, aileron servo plates fitted in each wing, tip blocks fitted & roughly shaped and 12mm wing joiners installed).
Once the pins have been removed from the lower root sheeting, I will put the wings together to check fit & dihedral prior to fitting the fuselage mounting plate/dowels.
I hope to receive the aileron servos in the post tomorrow, which will then allow a couple of Stan Yeo's servo mounts to be epoxied in place on their plates and the ailerons set up.
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Peter Balcombe
Posts: 1399
Joined: 18 Mar 2015, 10:13
Location: Clevedon, North Somerset, U.K.

Re: Mick Reeves 1/4 scale RF4

Post by Peter Balcombe »

Servos arrived today from Stan Yeo (only ordered evening before last) so I was able to fit the servo mount in each wing after fettling the mounts to get the servos to fit.
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After removing the pins from the lower root sheeting and sanding T/E down, I realised that the kit instructions had not mentioned fitting the T/E reinforcement for the rear wing bolts.
Although this is shown on the wing plan there is no mention of this in the instruction sheet until after the wing build is supposed to be complete & you get to the short paragraph on Wing Assembly. This mentions fitting ply plate item 31 for the wing bolts together with balsa wedges (item 33) on top of the ply plates. Note that the plan contains no mention of item numbers 31 & 33. It is further confused by number 62 being positioned on the ply plate, whereas this actually refers to the hard balsa wedge immediately forward of the T/E between the two root ribs.
I therefore marked out where the internal pieces should be & cut out a 1/2" wide piece of the upper skin between ribs 1 & 2. I then cut a piece of 1/8" ply as piece 31 to fit through the gap & epoxy directly onto the lower skin. I will cap the remaining space flush with the upper skin with hard balsa (piece 33).
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(Not sure how to insert only one photo at a time from the iPad as the system has placed both at the 2nd insertion point!)
To be honest, I am getting a bit frustrated with this build as IMHO the plan isn't good enough to build from this alone & the instructions do not fill the gap with the existing plan.
By the way, I managed to fit both wings together today & check the dihedral. It turns out that I have about 4" under each wing instead of the recommended 3.75" so probably could have done with a fraction less angle on the joiner boxes.
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Peter Balcombe
Posts: 1399
Joined: 18 Mar 2015, 10:13
Location: Clevedon, North Somerset, U.K.

Re: Mick Reeves 1/4 scale RF4

Post by Peter Balcombe »

Very nice Cliff. Was that 1/3 scale?
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Peter Balcombe
Posts: 1399
Joined: 18 Mar 2015, 10:13
Location: Clevedon, North Somerset, U.K.

Re: Mick Reeves 1/4 scale RF4

Post by Peter Balcombe »

First wing servo has been fitted in place, aileron hinged & linkage set up ok.
Picture shows servo dry fitted only. Final fitting will be with silicone sealant as per Stan's recommended procedure.
Meanwhile, the replacement wing forward bulkhead/retract mounting plate (item 12) has arrived and was fitted yesterday. I have also installed the forward bulkheads after placing the fuselage in a makeshift jig to make sure everything stayed straight & level.
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Noël Rumers
Posts: 220
Joined: 20 Mar 2015, 10:29
Location: Hoboken Antwerp

Re: Mick Reeves 1/4 scale RF4

Post by Noël Rumers »

...and flew well too, and what is more passed the LMA proficiency test !!!
Indeed well done Bob!
I'm way behind schedule due to a few things that where not on my list...
Very soon the 1/4 and 1/3 scaled Milan fuselage drawing will be ready.

Noël
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Peter Balcombe
Posts: 1399
Joined: 18 Mar 2015, 10:13
Location: Clevedon, North Somerset, U.K.

Re: Mick Reeves 1/4 scale RF4

Post by Peter Balcombe »

Another good day today, despite a couple of hours in the garden!
On the underside, the wheel well side plates have been fitted and then the block balsa applied to the very bottom between the firewall and retract mounting plate. This will be faired off later.
Note that I have modified the former behind the firewall to enlarge the tank cutout as I will be electrifying the model, thus I am making allowance for a battery tray - the battery to be loaded via the top hatch & sits at an angle, higher at the cockpit end.
On the topside, the formers have been added forward of the canopy.
Note that I found the two pieces No.20 (top hatch side rails) to be 6mm too short against the side elevation drawing on the plan. My pieces were correct against the template shown, but I reckon this is 6mm short. I made replacements to fit under both supplied formers (pieces 21 & 22) which both have cutouts to enable them to sit on the side rails.
I will let Jim know at Mick Reeves models.
Also shown below are the tailplane (less tip blocks) & the part built elevator assembly.
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Peter Balcombe
Posts: 1399
Joined: 18 Mar 2015, 10:13
Location: Clevedon, North Somerset, U.K.

Re: Mick Reeves 1/4 scale RF4

Post by Peter Balcombe »

More progress made on the fuselage as the top hatch has now been sheeted. As I will be using this regularly to access the flight battery, I will be changing the retention method. This will almost certainly use pegs at the front and magnets at the rear. Also, a new upper cowling attachment will need to be added. This will probably be a new sub former attached to the front of the firewall, also incorporating the hatch front locators.
The 2nd wing aileron is now hinged and the wings are about ready to attach to the fuselage mounting plate. Hopefully I can attach the wings to the fuselage tomorrow & get the wing mounting plate epoxied to the wing assembly.
Meanwhile, I have fitted the tailplane/elevator tip blocks & roughly profiled these, plus built up the fin assembly to the point where the first side has been sheeted. I will remove this from the board tomorrow, cut off the building tabs and sheet the 2nd side.
Only the rudder to start now.
I have measured up the fuselage and motor to calculate the length of the box needed on the front of the existing firewall to get the prop clear of the cowling. A 60mm extension will be required in my case. I will try to mount this using the existing IC engine mounting holes provided in the firewall.
More photos tomorrow once I get the wings in place on the fuselage.
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Peter Balcombe
Posts: 1399
Joined: 18 Mar 2015, 10:13
Location: Clevedon, North Somerset, U.K.

Re: Mick Reeves 1/4 scale RF4

Post by Peter Balcombe »

Wings now able to assembled to fuselage so the dowels have been fitted in the wing attachment plate, this plugged into the fuselage, the wing rear location dowels fitted and then the assembled wing mounted onto the fuselage so that the wings can be epoxied to the wing attachment plate in situ as shown in the photo.
Once the epoxy has cured, the wing assembly + bonded mounting plate will be removed from the fuselage and the plate cut at the wing joint, leaving half a plate & one forward fuselage mounting dowel plus the normal rear location dowel and rear mounting bolt on each wing.
The fin sheeting has now been completed and the rudder assembly built up. The rudder photo shows the rudder post pinned on whilst the glue dries.
By the way, I normally use aliphatic glue for all wood joints as this allows the joints to be easily sanded back as necessary without issues with rubbery joints (white glue) or exposed hard joints (cyano).
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Peter Balcombe
Posts: 1399
Joined: 18 Mar 2015, 10:13
Location: Clevedon, North Somerset, U.K.

Re: Mick Reeves 1/4 scale RF4

Post by Peter Balcombe »

Many thanks for the comments Pete,
I hope that I will have got around most of the build issues you mention apart from the balsa fuselage longerons as I used balsa as per the plan!. However, following your comments, I think that I will glass the fuselage in lightweight cloth now, as per my wooden glider fuselage practice.
I am using the Mick reeves retract, electric airbrakes and a spruce wing main spar/ steel joiner system so hopefully will avoid some of the other issues. I am not really expecting much soaring from the RF4 (particularly given my stronger but heavier wing) so will also be building a Milan when a friend finishes his 1/3 & 1/4 scale plans.
Thanks for the tip about the outrigger legs. I will now build in a coil at the top of each leg.
I currently plan to fit a 3548/900 electric motor as recommended by Mick. Hopefully this will be big enough!
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Peter Balcombe
Posts: 1399
Joined: 18 Mar 2015, 10:13
Location: Clevedon, North Somerset, U.K.

Re: Mick Reeves 1/4 scale RF4

Post by Peter Balcombe »

Wing attachment now completed using M5 Tee nuts mounted in the fuselage. I ended up realigning the rear fuselage attachment plate to put its surface parallel to wing lower surface/wing plate. The fuselage side rails also needed to be chamfered to follow the wing dihedral angle.
Moving on to the retract, this has now been fitted and the retract servo fitted immediately behind the bottom of the firewall.
I mounted the servo on the bottom of lite ply battery mounting plate as shown on the attached photo.
A ball joint on the servo arm drives a 2mm pushrod to the retract actuating arm.
The servo has now been fixed in place in its 6mm frame using silicone sealant after first checking that everything worked ok.
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