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Zephyrus from down under
- VinceC
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Zephyrus from down under
http://www.scalesoaring.co.uk/VINTAGE/D ... hyrus.html
The model is at 1:3.5 scale, but it will still be a beefy glider with a long and very deep fuselage.I have made a start on the fuselage, but immediately came across problems associated with lack of information, but I think I have now overcome that hurdle and hopefully moving on. I am not rushing with this, as eventually I hope to make the plan available for free to join our growing list.
Thanks go to Cliff for laser cutting the parts for me
- VinceC
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Re: Zephyrus from down under
I started with the centre fuselage section as it all plugs nicely together, but later found I had to modify the shape of the area underside, following more information. An additional nose is added to the root rib and the whole sanded back for an attachment area for the canopy
- VinceC
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Re: Zephyrus from down under
A dry fit provide the fit of all the longerons until I hit a brick wall with the waistline and underside profiles. These have now been adjusted after more details from Auz and work continues
- Barry_Cole
- Posts: 1426
- Joined: 10 Mar 2015, 09:30
- Location: Hampshire UK
Re: Zephyrus from down under
Good to see you building again Vince. Keep it up.
BC






BC
-
- Posts: 54
- Joined: 14 Jul 2015, 02:08
Re: Zephyrus from down under
Very interesting subject. Looking forward to watching this one progress.
Dion
- RobbieB
- Posts: 598
- Joined: 07 Mar 2015, 22:22
- Location: North West
Re: Zephyrus from down under
Vince,
I see what you mean about that wing - stick at it!
I see what you mean about that wing - stick at it!
-
- Posts: 95
- Joined: 18 Mar 2015, 23:33
- Location: USA
Re: Zephyrus from down under
Way to go Vince! Excellent work.... looking forward to seeing this one completed!
- VinceC
- Site Admin
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Re: Zephyrus from down under
A build log is not my idea of fun, so please forgive the amateur status. If you are a fan of Jigs, then look away now as you won't see one.
I pondered over how I was going to build the fuselage as I had already built the centre section. To jig or not to jig, that was the question, until I hit upon the idea of building inverted starting at the rear. I always cover my building area with heavy duty wallpaper dry liner and onto this I drew the fuselage centre line to which the fuselage top longeron was tacked into position on the wallpaper along its length using cyano. I then glued the upper and lower rear fuselage longerons into position, inverted the assembly and laid out on the workbench with the fuselage top longeron on the centre line. By measuring each rear former station position, I assembled the formers onto the longeron with the tall rudder post former hanging off and below my work area. I fastened two carbon rods vertically onto the front and rear formers as sight line to check on the build vertical straightness.
Next up was to install the two side longerons which hold the fabric off the formers. On the full size they are just strips of wood, but I decided to make them deeper as part of the structure and inset them horizontally into the formers. The outside edge of these strips has to be slightly rounded.
Here I hit my first problem in that the fuselage waist from the centre section to the rear was a bit severe, but fortunately I was able to obtain photos from Australia to give me some idea of the angles required. This raises a problem with 3-views, in that they only generally show the widest point and what goes on below that can be a mystery. I remade two formers and changed the wheel housing shape.
Then came my next headache - how to create the 'S' bends in these longerons, which were still quite severe.I had been informed that soaking the wood with Ammonia would help shape the wood - DON'T DO IT. I wasted time and broke longerons and it all failed, so back to steaming to bend them. I have steamed wood for years, but it has always been a lash up to create something to work with, so I decided once and for all to make a proper steamer. Details of this are in the forum here:
http://scalesoaring.co.uk/phpBB3/viewto ... ?f=7&t=338
Now I could proceed to add the main side longerons, which are a straight line through the centre section and the lower longeron, passing alongside the wheel housing and clamping onto the rear fuselage bottom longeron in a 'V' fashion.
Now to the question of building the front section. Fortunately the two smaller side longerons are parallel to each other from back to front. This allowed me to mark the stations for the forward formers and glue them in place up to, but not including the nose former as there is no attachment point for them on this former. The main side longerons were glued to the first two of these formers up to the point where they will need to be steamed into shape. As there will be a chance of vertical distortion whilst bending and fitting these, I added vertical supports to the front formers in readiness for the next stage. All is going well so far and lines up accurately. Phew!
I pondered over how I was going to build the fuselage as I had already built the centre section. To jig or not to jig, that was the question, until I hit upon the idea of building inverted starting at the rear. I always cover my building area with heavy duty wallpaper dry liner and onto this I drew the fuselage centre line to which the fuselage top longeron was tacked into position on the wallpaper along its length using cyano. I then glued the upper and lower rear fuselage longerons into position, inverted the assembly and laid out on the workbench with the fuselage top longeron on the centre line. By measuring each rear former station position, I assembled the formers onto the longeron with the tall rudder post former hanging off and below my work area. I fastened two carbon rods vertically onto the front and rear formers as sight line to check on the build vertical straightness.
Next up was to install the two side longerons which hold the fabric off the formers. On the full size they are just strips of wood, but I decided to make them deeper as part of the structure and inset them horizontally into the formers. The outside edge of these strips has to be slightly rounded.
Here I hit my first problem in that the fuselage waist from the centre section to the rear was a bit severe, but fortunately I was able to obtain photos from Australia to give me some idea of the angles required. This raises a problem with 3-views, in that they only generally show the widest point and what goes on below that can be a mystery. I remade two formers and changed the wheel housing shape.
Then came my next headache - how to create the 'S' bends in these longerons, which were still quite severe.I had been informed that soaking the wood with Ammonia would help shape the wood - DON'T DO IT. I wasted time and broke longerons and it all failed, so back to steaming to bend them. I have steamed wood for years, but it has always been a lash up to create something to work with, so I decided once and for all to make a proper steamer. Details of this are in the forum here:
http://scalesoaring.co.uk/phpBB3/viewto ... ?f=7&t=338
Now I could proceed to add the main side longerons, which are a straight line through the centre section and the lower longeron, passing alongside the wheel housing and clamping onto the rear fuselage bottom longeron in a 'V' fashion.
Now to the question of building the front section. Fortunately the two smaller side longerons are parallel to each other from back to front. This allowed me to mark the stations for the forward formers and glue them in place up to, but not including the nose former as there is no attachment point for them on this former. The main side longerons were glued to the first two of these formers up to the point where they will need to be steamed into shape. As there will be a chance of vertical distortion whilst bending and fitting these, I added vertical supports to the front formers in readiness for the next stage. All is going well so far and lines up accurately. Phew!
- B Sharp
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- Joined: 19 Mar 2015, 17:18
- Location: Perthshire
Re: Zephyrus from down under
Vince, I never cease to be amazed that there are still gliders out there that I have never seen or even heard of and that have not been modelled before. I spent a bit of time scratching my head over the photographs and working out where the structure was going, but I am seriously impressed. Keep up the good work Vince and keep the photos coming.
Brian.
Brian.

- ARUP
- Posts: 175
- Joined: 12 Apr 2015, 14:21
Re: Zephyrus from down under
Yes... the wings are a great shape! The wheel fairing leaves a little to be desired but it is a cool build and unusual sailplane! Keep up the great work!