Scale Soaring UK

Well it all started when Mr Brian Sharp, asked me at the Eden Valley event, whats next for my building board, not having thought much about it, I mentioned, a couple of things, then when driving home thought abit more about it, back in the early 80's, I had one of the first production ASW17 from Pat Teakle, and it flew very well, so how about a 1/3 scale, having started to draw it up, this is a big model, so ended up with a scale of 1/3.25, this will fit in the car, and a wingspan of 6.1 mtr, meant that the foam I had matched the span, if I make another lost foam fuz, I would use the Blue/Grey foam, not what I used, found it hard work to get the shape right, easy to take to much off, plus not a lot of stiffness down the back end, ended up putting carbon tows down the length, also drinking straws, to take the wiring
6 layers of 160g twill cloth has produced a fairly stiff fuz,
Chris

Nice work

Thank's Roo, you are partly to blame for the build, I have messed about making small parts for planes using the lost foam method, but then I saw what you where doing, so thought why not give it a go, it is a learning process, but fun, a bit more progress with the fuz, carbon tows around the canopy opening,
tailplane, cut, and fitted to the fin
Chris

I would like to make it known from the outset that I bear no responsibility what so ever for this mad persons wish to build an ASW17 from scratch. I would rather attribute all blame to Roos influence.
By the way Chris, did I do something wrong that I get my full "Sunday " name.
Brian.

No, you have done nothing wrong, but if I had said I was talking to Brian, somebody would have asked, Brian Who?? Roo can't take all the blame, as you know, us lot down south can be a bit strange

Thanks. I am glad you have been looking at my theads and are having a go. I think you are right to use white foam it is a lot easier on a 1/3 scale to shape and to remove. Blue foam is now getting harder to find as it is not made now. How are you planning on doing the wings? Yes all the you lot down south are mad. Roo

Hi Roo, when I was making the wings for the ASW 15, plan calls for foam inserts between the ribs, I didn't have enough blue foam, what a job trying to get some more, they where happy to supply a artic full, but a few sheet was a no no, did find one company that would supply, only prob was the £ 75 std carriage charge, did eventually get some from Ebay, but grey xps foam, seems the same apart from the colour
as for the wings, the foam being 600mm wide, 10 pieces give me the 6mtr wing, and being a 4 section wing, the inboard panel is made up of 3 panels, plus 600mm is a nice lenght to cut, just have to make a few more wing templates, the main wing joiner is 20mm, I can get enough dihedral on the wing to use a straight joiner, using 6mm full depth spruce spar, capped top and bottom with 2 layers of 25mm carbon tape, then 80g class cloth then obeich veneer
Chris

Hi l have made a lot of foam veneer and compesit wings now. Using various methods there is pros and cons with all of them. I do not know if you have a hot wire cuter I whould consider just makeing a foam wind no point in the ribs use them has templates . The best method I have found for spars is carbon tow I use soft wood srip with 2 pins at each end plus 3 in the middle and go round them with the tow then epoxy. More tow at the root to the middle and less from the middle to the tip.I use 1 roll of 50m of 12k tow per spar costs about £6 a roll. I use 2 spars per wing cutting out the foam with a hot chisel then cut off the d box and glue a ply web in a lay a layer of carbon plane weve tape along it.then glue the d box back on.my ash 31 I am adding a carbon ud 100gm cloth around the d box only used a sq meter. before veneer is added. Lots of photos on my ash 31 thead. Roo

Have been making the most of the hot weather, good time to start the wings, have made the inboard sections, pic shows first panel in the vacbag

Seeing we still have nice weather here, thought it might be prudent to put what I have built so far, together to check that everything lines up, the bottom skins still need to be fitted, fortunately everything lined up, so can now fit the bottom skins

Well done Chris.
Build looks to be giving Roo a run for his money
Good to see you at the weekend at the Okehampton aerotow.

Thanks Peter, enjoyed Sunday at Okehampton, nice to see you also, have fixed the 15 after my tree trimming, having checked the plane over, new outer wing joiner, and repair the winglets, lucky to get away with such little damage, shows how strong the design is

Have released the ailerons & flaps from the wings, and fitted the airbrakes, also while on the internet, I saw that some 17's have retro fitted winglets, with this in mind, have made wingtips removable, so at a later date I could fit winglets, just a case of unplugging the tip, and fit the winglet

Hi Chris
This is truly a wonderful project. Love it, well done.
Cheers
Paul

Thanks Paul, you never know you might be there for the maiden, not done a lot lately, holidays and flying, but managed to make the canopy frame, fit the tow release, and battery shelf ready to glass in, fitted a bolt and wingnut to the shelf, so I can fine tune the C of G with lead sheet, hole in the shelf is for access to one of the screws keeping the release servo in place, always handy to be able to get the servo out

Chris,
Top marks for the servo connection to the tow release rod. Excellent.



BC

Thanks Cliff, with a bit of fiddling have managed to make the ASW 15 canopy fit, so thats another one sold, only another 1000 to go before the cost of the plug is met

Thanks Barry, yes a couple of ball joints takes out all the angles, leaving just a straight push/ pull, mind you it was fun filing down the brass ball to fit the quick link

Chris Bowles wrote: ↑13 Oct 2019, 11:02 Mind you it was fun filing down the brass ball to fit the quick link

It's what Lathes are for!!!!



BC

A bit more work done, retract unit made, now fitting the formers to take the unit, it stopped raining for a few hours here so took a picture of the finished fuz, well almost, still wiring and servos to fit

Hi a bit more done, cut out the doors for the retract, hinged them and fitted the torque rods to keep the doors closed, have been using torque rods for awhile 0.3mm, fit and forget, can be a bit of a pain getting the tension just right, so this time made up a couple of adjusters, when happy with the tension tighten up the cap screw, you can see them either side of the RX, made up the wiring harness for both wings, everything worked first time, made up and glassed in the frames for the retract, did think about moulding a mudguard for the wheel, in the end took the easy route and made up a cover for the retract unit, might stop some of the grass getting inside, time will tell
For battery power using 5500mah 3s lipo X 2, need the weight, but only using 1 at a time, fly for one day, then swap over to the 2nd battery for the 2nd day the Jeti bec gives me telemetry, input volt, output volt, capacity used, plus alarms can be set, all the servos are HV, at the moment set at 8 volt

Hi, well have now finished the model, everything working, model balanced, ready for the first flight, put the model on the scales, came out at 11kgs, very happy with the weight, the next post should be flying shots

Thanks Cliff, you might get to see it in the flesh, next year, missed you a couple of times this year, by a day

Well done. Hope the maiden go well

Very nice job as usual Chris. Hopefully I will see it at some point next year.
Brian.

Thanks Roo, winter is not the best time for a maiden, but if a window appears I will take it
Brian, I am sure we will meet up somewhere next year, and if the maiden is a success I will bring the 17 with me, if only to out fly Bobs DG 1000

with the weather being what it is, thought this might be a good time to get on with the winglets, tried something different this time, cut a piece foam to the tip profile, then cut the underside, but not all the way through, bend to shape, tack in place with 5min epoxy, then mix up some skining epoxy with light weight compound filler, fill all the gaps, when set this can be sanded to a nice curve, cut and carve the balsa tip and glue in place, then cover with 80g class cloth and epoxy. also decided to add wheels to the tips, thought about moulding wheel mounts, but come up with a easier fix, fiber board cut to go over the joiners, and the outboard one tongue and groove into the bottom, not alot to cause much drag, will be able to swap over the tips and see if there is any difference, unlikely

Chris, you have done a great job with your build. As a matter of interest we had interchangeable tips and winglets on our full-size DG800 glider. The winglets didn't seem to make much difference although the manufacturer claimed another point on the best glide. They looked very smart anyway. Regards John.

Thanks John, yes the winglets could be like the cars we drove in the 60's white stripe's gave you 5mph extra, but gliders with winglets do look good