Scale Soaring UK

1st wing now has top skin fitted & turned over to fit lower skin false LE balsa strip support and servo hatch support.
Bearing in mind previous comment about thin ply skins, I will cut some foam inserts for the inner panel D box to help avoid handling damage, but having already fitted the upper skins, I will cut these using the 2nd wing structure as a template.

Meanwhile, the tailplane attachment has been completed, including cutting slots for the servo connector holders. The tailplanes slide over the plugged in connectors as they slide home.

Interesting photo I came across today

The 2nd wing structure went together quickly once the main spars had been spliced & tapered.
I happened to pick up a large piece of packaging polystyrene whilst at the local recycling centre earlier today, so have now cut small blocks to fit the inner panel D box spaces on both wings & profiled using a Hotwire bow.
The idea is that these foam blocks will help support the thin ply skins to prevent finger damage during rigging etc.

The 1st wing lower skins can now be fitted once the servo cables have been threaded though the pre-cut holes in each rib. The wing joiner box can be made up for the 2nd wing - remembering to fit this so that the 4 joiners are interleaved in the fuselage

Bottom skins fitted to the 1st wing yesterday & servo hatch openings found today.
I have also cut down a length of stock TE section to size & tack glued to the hinge spar ready for shaping to profile.

Hi Peter

Nice to see the Salto modelled with authentic trailing edge brakes. The Valenta version has full length flaps.

Mike

Thanks Mike,
Yes, the TE brakes look good, although time will tell how well the thin down-going blades survive landings if not retracted before touchdown.
The built up structure (with full length 1/16” ply ribs at the brake ends + full chord ply skins gives the small central TE section between the brakes) gives a reasonable amount of support & keys the brake hinge areas into the wing structure nicely.

The 1st wing now has its hardwood LE & tip block added and is nearly ready for glassing. (Just need to cut out the aileron, finish profiling the LE & tip block).
The 2nd wing is progressing rather quicker than the first with the experience gained in the brake blade area. The blades are now ready to be released from the inboard section tomorrow, prior to checking pivots/actuation before completing the wing skinning.

Meanwhile, I have drawn up the fuselage joiner assembly (now that I can physically measure wing root separation on a fuselage) & can get the ply scissors box parts cut shortly. As with my recent PIK20 thread, I will make up the joiner box assembly & then fix this into the fuselage.

Photos on the above progress to follow tomorrow.

2nd wing brake blades released this morning, plus aileron released on the 1st wing.
Now some tidying up to do, plus facing the aileron ends, bevelling LE & fitting horn.
Wing root layout also taped to the fuselage root stub to confirm match & spot through joiner, incidence pin, wing retention & servo connector locations.

Steady progress over the last week or two to get the 2nd wing more or less to same state as the 1st.
Ailerons are having end capping fitted & ready for fitting horns.

Meanwhile, attention has turned to the fuselage.
The wheel opening has been released ready to fit the 3.5” wheel identified on the original PT build instruction sheet.
However, a Dubro 3.5” wheel is a bit neat in the width department, so a 3.25” may be a better choice unless a slightly narrower wheel is used.

The fuselage wing root stub has also been marked (using root section drawing template) for wing retention peg centre, wing joiner & MPX servo connector apertures, plus rear incidence pin centre.
The cockpit coaming has been traced & a card canopy frame template used to cut a 0.8mm ply canopy frame base plate which has the rear section (behind pilot seat) blanked off as usually done on the full size - covers wing joiner/control connections.
After fitting a glossy release tape on the cockpit coaming & carefully protecting the fuselage from spills/drips, the canopy frame base has been epoxied to a couple of layers of glass cloth to hopefully form a nicely shaped base for the canopy frame.

The canopy frame base shown last time has been cleaned up and then 2 layers of 2mm Liteply added around the edge to build up a canopy glueing land. This will probably be attached to the fuselage using a front peg & rear magnets.

As the fuselage cockpit framing was some 18mm wide, the front part has been cut back to 10mm to match the canopy frame width. A couple of strips of carbon roving has been added along the top of the fuselage side, just under each coaming & covered by glass tape to reinforce the area as a result.

After looking at a few full size Salto photos, I have decided to reduce the wheel diameter from 3.5” to 3”. A Dubro wheel has been fitted in a simple wheel housing (two 3.5” Dia. semicircles & 0.8mm ply surround). The housing will be located from the inside of the fuselage wheel opening & glassed in position.

Peter, an excellent build thread showing your excellent work as usual.