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Olympia 2b 1/3 scale**

Let us all watch your new project progress.
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Peter Balcombe
Posts: 1399
Joined: 18 Mar 2015, 10:13
Location: Clevedon, North Somerset, U.K.

Re: Olympia 2b 1/3 scale

Post by Peter Balcombe »

Thanks Vince,
Now that the elevator linkage is sorted & with a new stock 0.6mm ply available, good progress is being made today on completing the upper fuselage sheeting.
I hope to finish this tomorrow, so will post more photos when done.
This marks a significant point, as the fuselage is then sufficiently rigid to be removed from the building base board :)
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Peter Balcombe
Posts: 1399
Joined: 18 Mar 2015, 10:13
Location: Clevedon, North Somerset, U.K.

Re: Olympia 2b 1/3 scale

Post by Peter Balcombe »

Upper fuselage & fin skinning now completed, so the fuselage has been removed from the building stands in order to get to the lower half.
Whilst skinning around the tailplane seat, a balsa block was put in & roughly shaped to the tailplane LE profile, followed by bedding the tailplane in a layer of filer to get a good fit. I also used this technique to identify the tailplane underside profile in order to be able to get the side skins close to the tailplane to avoid having an unsightly gap.

Attention has now turned to getting the bottom skin support longerons in place & adding 1/8” balsa former edge doublers to increase skin glueing area as for the upper sections.
Note that there were no slots cut in the bottom of F6 to take the bottom longerons each side of the skid keel sections.
I cut mine by hand, but hopefully this will soon be corrected for future kits.
Free at last!
Free at last!
Stab in LE seat
Stab in LE seat
Stab underside skin support
Stab underside skin support
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Peter Balcombe
Posts: 1399
Joined: 18 Mar 2015, 10:13
Location: Clevedon, North Somerset, U.K.

Re: Olympia 2b 1/3 scale

Post by Peter Balcombe »

With the fuselage skinning now completed (remembering to fit the rudder C/L wire guide tubes before it’s too late) and the skid fitted, the fuselage is looking nearly complete.
A little filler has been used to smooth over the skin section overlapped joints, which are particularly noticable at the nose due to the greater angles between sections & greater tendency for the skin sections to take a straight line in the fore/aft direction.
I fitted some 1/8” balsa plates around the rudder C/L wire guide tube fin exits & then used these to support the rearmost ply skin sections, having slotted these to fit over the protruding tubes.

The rear skid area is blocked up with balsa & then sanded to profile to allow the rearmost skin sections to be attached all the way to the bottom. A ply strip can then be fitted to the bottom when both sides have been skinned.

The nose skid was pre-bent to shape by running a trickle of freshly boiled water over both sides of the forward section for a few seconds (which made it quite pliable) then holding in place on the upturned fuselage whilst the wood cools & dries out.
I glued hardwood blocks between the keel pieces at front, rear & just forward of centre to allow the skid to be glued and screwed in place.
(I found that the skid supplied for the 2b version was about 10mm too short, so glued a small ply extension at the rear. The CNC file has now been updated to increase the length.)

The wing joiners have now been cut to length, so an overall dry assembly can be done to see how much church roof can safely be squirrelled away in the nose cone before this (& the tow release) is permanently fixed in place.
Weather permitting, I will try to get this done tomorrow.
Skinned fuselage
Skinned fuselage
Rudder C/L tube exit
Rudder C/L tube exit
Nose skid fitted
Nose skid fitted
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Max Wright
Posts: 198
Joined: 10 Mar 2020, 19:57
Location: Clayton Bay South Australia

Re: Olympia 2b 1/3 scale

Post by Max Wright »

It looks lovely, Peter. 8-)
Max
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VinceC
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Re: Olympia 2b 1/3 scale

Post by VinceC »

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

Re: Olympia 2b 1/3 scale

Post by Peter Balcombe »

Initial CoG check indicates that I can virtually fill the nose cone with lead if I like :o

Whilst the wings are joined to the fuselage, the canopy ‘ears’ can be fitted.
CDFF8486-A4A8-441E-86BA-0FDEA4184CC5.jpeg
0ED8AADD-929F-474A-A953-B57349804F5A.jpeg
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SedB
Posts: 98
Joined: 14 Nov 2019, 09:17
Location: Netherlands

Re: Olympia 2b 1/3 scale

Post by SedB »

Looks great so far, nice to see how it's coming together!!
Just for comparison, may I ask what filler you use? I use lite basla filler myself, but would be surprised if there are better options :D

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

Re: Olympia 2b 1/3 scale

Post by Peter Balcombe »

Thanks Daniel,
My filler of choice is a lightweight polyester body filler called ‘Big Boy’ & available in ‘Proper Job’ stores here in the U.K.

After doing the trial assembly & initial balance assessment yesterday, I’ve got to do it all over again tomorrow due the the recommended CoG location not being where shown on the Jilles’ 3 view sheet I was working from. This shows the CoG to be 90mm behind the wing LE (376mm chord), which puts it at only 19% chord.

So, for those currently building this model, please take note:
The CoG should be at 28%, which equates to around 133mm behind the wing LE
(This point is quite close to the middle of the main joiner.)

Consequently, I have revised the nose cone weight downwards (currently just under 1kg) & will re-check the balance tomorrow before fixing the cone & tow release in place.
Peter
490A2346-F0BD-4B4A-B1CE-9B53C113C787.jpeg
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VinceC
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Joined: 22 Feb 2015, 11:45
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Re: Olympia 2b 1/3 scale

Post by VinceC »

Sometimes I mix my own filler using 'lightweight filler' powder I get from a local Marine shop. It comes in a dark brown shade and sands very smooth. I mix it with epoxy, but that takes longer to go off to a suitable hardness to sand. You cab, of course, mix it with F/Glass resin for quicker set.
Filler.JPG
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Peter Balcombe
Posts: 1399
Joined: 18 Mar 2015, 10:13
Location: Clevedon, North Somerset, U.K.

Re: Olympia 2b 1/3 scale

Post by Peter Balcombe »

Rudder LE now shaped and the 2 part pin hinges fixed in the LE using the hinge wire to make sure they are all in line - then the other halves added & the whole assembly attached to the fin post after confirming full & free movement.

Meanwhile, the scale RH airbrake assembly has been fitted into the wing.
The rear airbrake sub-spar was repositioned 27mm behind the original front one to give a 25.4mm slot between the brake box sides. With the new brake assembly installed using its two 3mm axles, the space around the upper & lower blade areas was filled with 3mm balsa sheet to provide wing skin support.
The servo pushrod line was also tweaked to connect to the horn at the rear (lower) blade pivot arm.
Rudder hinged
Rudder hinged
RH brake top
RH brake top
RH Wing underside
RH Wing underside
RH Brakes viewed from TE
RH Brakes viewed from TE
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