Scale Soaring UK

A couple of weeks ago I received a call from Paul Watkins asking me if I would be interested in his father, John’s, model of the EON Olympia 419. John has asked Paul to find good homes for all his models. A number of years ago I got a set of plans from John for the 419 however I have never got round to doing a build of this big machine.
I only had to think for a couple of minutes before I accepted his offer.
The model is to 1:4 scale but as the full size 419 is a big aircraft it is still a big model. Paul told me that although it was still flyable it really required someone to lavish some TLC on it. So that is how John’s “Wild Goose” 419 now resides in my workshop.

Having spent a couple of days going over the model with a fine tooth comb I have decided that a full “nut and bolt” restoration is in order with the aim of returning the model to a flying condition similar to when John was flying it (and wining) scale events. There is a considerable amount of work to be done as John has done a considerable number of repairs over the years so this will be a long term restoration.
John kept a meticulous log of all his flights and times and here are a couple of stats from his records.
First flight – 07/03/1998 – Long Mynd - 30 min – Strong wind gusting 50mph???
Total Number of flights – 434 Total flying Time – 121hrs 35mins.

I have attached a number of photos of the model components to show the scale of the task I have set myself. Most of the components look Ok at first glance but a closer look reveals a multitude of old repairs, cracks and dents.

This is not going to be a two-week job as I want to do John's workmanship proud. So progress will be quite slow going forward.

Brian.

Nice project Brian. I have johns "Kite" could probably do with the same treatment!

I have now made a start on the restoration work. John had very conveniently made a note of the construction details in his folder. The tailplane was covered in solartex, The wing was covered in doped tissue while the open structure trailing edge was solartex covered. The fuselage was covered in doped nylon.

I decided to start with the tailplane halves which were showing a couple of repairs. With the judicious use of a heat gun I was able to peel off all of the solartex covering. There were areas round about the repair that required a bit of sanding back and filling to get a good surface once again. However is found a number of the ribs had split or were coming away from the 0.8mm plywood skin. I repaired all these with thin cyano.
The tailplane halves are now in a fit condition to be recovered and painted. I have ordered 6.0m of DIACOV 1000 fabric from Sarik which will be used to recover tailplane and the wings when they are complete.

My next task will be to start on the wings.

Brian.

I also have John's jaskolka it also came with a folder and logbook. Think it had over 200 hours.

Looks like you will be doing quit some work on this glider, I'm looking forward to the progress!
Hope you will share some details when working with the DIACOV 1000 fabric since I used nor seen the product!!

Daniel

Neither have I Daniel, so it will be a learning experience for both of us.
Brian.

It’s been a very wet day here in Scotland and I was able to spend a fair bit of time in the workshop this afternoon.

I continued my work on the tailplane with the centre section which attaches to the fuselage and provides the all-moving tail aspect. There were a couple of very conspicuous repairs which I decided to investigate further. I started to try to sand off all the existing paint but it was proving hard to shift. I resorted to paint stripper which did the job quite readily and exposed the repairs. I will have to clean up the surfaces further before I start further sanding and replacing sections of sheeting.

While I was waiting for the stripper to work I removed the rudder from the fin. The rudder felt a bit flexible under the covering so I decided to remove the solartex covering. Using the heat gun once again the ‘tex’ came off quite readily. I was able to see a number of places where the skinning was no longer adhering to the structure. Ten minutes work with the cyano bottle saw the rudder much more ridged. I just need to give it a light sanding and it will be ready to cover once again.

Brian.

I did the repairs on the tailplane centre section today. The worst damage was on the upper surface so I started there.

The patch area was marked out, then cutting back into sound wood the damaged area was removed. A 1/64 ply patch was cut to size and trimmed to fit exactly. I glued little 1/64 ply tabs under the existing sheet surfaces along the cut lines to support the patch when it was glued in place. The patch was then glued in place using slow set cyano. Once it was set and rigid I sanded the surfaces flat and then applied a little Ronseal wood filler to take up any unevenness.

Once the upper surface was completed and dry I turned it over and repeated the process on the underside damaged area.
It took me the whole of the afternoon to complete and it was quite fiddly work, but very satisfying

I am quite happy with result and I am sure that it will look just fine once it is covered and painted.

Brian.

Well that’s the easy bit done.

I have now started on the wings which are a whole different ball game. The wings have all their joiners and incidence pins permanently mounted in the roots. There is one servo located in the wing root driving the aileron through a system of plastic snakes, two bell cranks and wire pushrods. It is not a system that I am all that happy about as I noted that there was quite a bit of slop in the system. The over and under airbrakes are driven by a single servo in the fuselage. Although the top surface of the wing is in pretty good condition the under surface has had a number of dings and repairs. Most notable is a patch which runs along the leading edge from the root out to the first aileron bell crank location. It looks as if there had been a problem with the plastic snake at some point and full access was required. The edges of the patch were very ragged and coming away in places.

My first decision has been to replace the existing aileron actuation system with two servos located in each wing to drive the large aileron. I have decided to leave the airbrake mechanism as it is as it is easy to adjust as required.

I started by cutting off the aileron as a couple of the mylar hinges had already broken. I then removed the existing aileron servo from its little bay near the root leading edge. I gently prised away the long strip of plywood patch which exposed the plastic snake and the bell cranks. A couple of the exposed wing ribs were split and broken and the 1/64 ply wing surface was coming away from the ribs in places.
I have now marked out and cut the servo bay hatches. I trimmed back the long hole in the under surface wing skin to sound wood and glued the loose skinning back in place. I was able to channel the new wiring loom through the plastic snake outer which kept things neat and tidy. It is effectively a Y lead which will drive two identical servos from a single output.
So far, so good!

Brian.

The wiring loom for the wing is now complete with plugs and sockets. Before I set the servo mounting blocks into the wing I will have to strengthen the floor of each bay (actually the upper surface of the wing) with glass cloth and epoxy. If I don’t the 1/64 ply surface will flex when the servo arm moves the aileron. I have also been doing my prep for installing the servos by drawing the setup at 1:1 in order to get the geometry or the control arms/pushrods/control horns correct.

Before I start adding new repair patches to the under surface I needed to strip all the paint from the wing. When I fix the new patches in place I want to be gluing wood to wood and not to paint. I tried removing the paint mechanically with sand paper but there was a serious risk of creating very thin areas on top of each wing rib. I resorted to good old fashioned paint stripper which did the job quite well but was seriously messy. I used this method a few years ago when I restored my Oly463 model.

However this also created a further problem in that it lifted some of the tissue covering as well as the paint. The important word here is SOME. I am now left with areas of totally clean plywood and areas which are still tissue covered. As I am going to cover the repaired wing with ‘Diacov’ I don’t want to lay it over tissue which may come away and cause bubbles. Soooooo, I am now using a rag and cellulose thinners to gently ease the remaining tissue off the surfaces. Painstaking and very tedious!

There will be no further posts for a little while as I am heading off to rediscover the very north of my country.

Brian.

B Sharp wrote: ↑01 Jun 2021, 15:25
'.....................There will be no further posts for a little while as I am heading off to rediscover the very north of my country'

Brian.

Brian, I think I can put your mind at rest there and save you quite a journey - it's still there (nice to see John's Oly getting a new lease of life - seen a few campaigns has that one).

Thanks Robbie, I'm going to do my best to do it justice. I just hope that I don't scare the pants off John in the process.
Brian.

When I returned from my vacation in the far north I was delighted to find that a large roll of Diacov1000 had been delivered.
As I had never used this material before, and there were no application instructions, I decided to try a couple of test pieces. I found it was better to use a higher heat setting than usual, around 140deg. I started on the left tailplane section and found the Diacov went onto the bare timber very well and was exceptionally pliant around the compound curves at the wing tips. I have now completely covered all the tailplane components and shrunk tight the open sections. I still have to fix the trim tabs back onto the rear of each tailplane half but I am very happy with the end results so far.
I will be leaving them unpainted until the rest of the wings are repaired and covered as I want to see if any bubbles appear in the covering and whether it all stays taught.
Brian.

The left wing is now completely stripped of paint and the underlying layer of tissue and is now a bare wood surface.

I started the repairs with a skin insert over the existing aileron servo hatch. I was pleased with the result and it will only require a minimum of filler to provide a smooth surface for covering.

I have been contemplating the best method to re-skin the long cut-out in the leading edge sheeting. The difficulty is matching up the existing 1/64 ply edges with a new 1/64 ply patch. Sitting with a glass of Scottish Falling Down juice the other evening I came up with a “cunning plan” (thanks Baldrick). The rear edge of the patch would be supported with balsa inserts located between the ribs and under the edge of the existing wing skin. The 1/64 patch would have plywood tongues at the front edge to slot under the existing front skinning. I made up a test piece of 1/64 patch material and fitted it into place where it was a very accurate fit – problem solved.

So today I will set about cutting out the remaining patches.

Brian.

As the aileron servos are to be mounted out in the wing close to the aileron itself I decided to reinforce the upper wing skins inside the servo hatches. I don’t want the 1/64 ply wing skin buckling when the servo arm moves. I lined the ply skins inside each servo bay with two layers of fibreglass mat wetted out with polyester resin. This will now give a firm surface for the servo mounting blocks.

The underside leading edge hole has now been closed with a long 1/64 ply patch. I have used aliphatic resin spread on the ribs, balsa supports and the plywood tabs on the patch to glue everything in place. The location tabs seem to be successfully holding the front edge of the patch in line with the existing wing skin while the rear is pinned to the balsa supports.

This means that all of the holes in the underside of the wing (apart from the servo hatches) have been successfully repaired.

Brian.

After the glue had set I gave the big long patch a sanding back and then filled any irregularities with Ronseal wood filler. After the filler had hardened I sanded it back until I had the profile I wanted over this area. I have to say that I am very pleased with the final finish and I suspect that when the wing is covered and painted the scars will be hardly noticeable. The wings will have a wibbly wobbly surface, but that’s how very old wings look in real life.
I still have the servo bays to finish off and that work will be completed when the new servos arrive. I don’t intend to cover the wing as yet as I want the left wing up to a similar point before applying the ‘tex’.
In the meantime I still have to sort out a new hinging solution for the ailerons and cut new aileron horns from 2mm epoxyboard.
Brian.

I am now working on the left hand wing and I am nearly finished the paint and tissue stripping process. If anyone ever tells you that restoration work is glamorous you have my permission to put them right. I am up to my elbows in gunk and my workshop stinks to high heaven. (please see the attached image.

However, in-between applying paint stripper and scraping sessions, I have manufactured four identical aileron horns from 2mm epoxy-board. I find this a pleasant and soothing process except that you must wear a good mask while sawing and filing epoxy-board as the dust will do your lungs no good at all.

Brian

I have now cleaned up the left wing, removing all the paint and the underlying tissue before giving it a light sanding. This wing is rather more patched than the right wing, especially on the underside at the root. I have also discovered that the 1/64 ply sheeting has detached from the ribs in a couple of locations leaving the skin buckled and loose. After some thought I can see three options available to me .
1. Ignore it and hope that the wing is not substantially weakened.
2. Re-attach the sheeting in some way – I’m not sure how as yet.
3. Remove all the sheeting and various patches and re-skin the whole of the inner portion of the wing underside.

I would not be happy with ignoring the problem as I would always be a bit nervous when flying the model.
Stripping back and replacing all the sheeting is a major job, plus I want to keep as much of the original model as possible.
As to re-attaching the skin to the ribs? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

One other problem is that the airbrakes (when fully closed) protrude from the wings top and bottom by about 3/32 inch. No amount of opening and shutting them gets them flush with the wing surface.

While I have been pondering these issues I turned my attention to ‘Fred the pilot’.
I want to reuse Fred when the model is complete as he is part of the character of the model. Unfortunately he is suffering from old age and the material of his head has started to degrade in places and leaving gaping holes. I decided major reconstructive surgery was in order. I donned my scrubs and facemask and started to reconstruct his jaw and forehead. Once I am happy that he has healed he will get a little touch-up with a paint brush.

Brian.

Help comes from the most unexpected places sometimes. My little wifey saw my dejected face and asked what the problem was. I showed her the wing and her reaction was – Easy, remove all the affected area and put a new piece in. She obviously had a higher opinion of my capabilities than I did!
So I set to and removed all of the skinning from the wing root and I have cut a single piece of 1/64 ply to cover the resultant massive hole.

It’s amazing what you learn when you expose and area like this. I was surprised to find that several bays were as black as a coal cellar. On further inspection I discovered that there must have been a carbon rod joiner at one time which had been subsequently cut away and replaced with a similarly sized steel bar.

Brian.

Hi Brian, John is more than happy to see his model getting another lease of life in your hands. He recalled 1 flight going vertically out of sight in a strong thermal. After doing several hundred loops and flying with air brakes out, he landed the Oly and found it had gained a few degrees more dihedral! It maybe well worth while checking it before boxing the wing root in again.... Paul

Hi Paul. I’m glad that John is not horrified by the amount of chopping that I am doing. I am desperate to respect the character of the model and Johns original work but I also want it safe to fly.
As to the dihedral, there is not a lot I can do about it without serious rebuilding of the centre section of both wings as well as the fuselage. I am not covering the wings until I have started on the fuselage in order to check the alignment and strength at that point.

Well, once again the wifey was right. The carefully shaped replacement skin and the internal structure of spars and ribs was coated with PVA glue and allowed to dry overnight. This morning I tacked the skin carefully into place before going over the whole thing with my covering iron set to 170 degrees C. The PVA melted together readily and I was left with a strong bond at all points of contact. I am very happy with the finished work and it looks much better than five or six large patches.
Brian.

The left wing is now almost complete and both wings are at the same stage. I am now waiting for the servos to arrive in order that I can complete the servo bays, which in turn will allow me to start on the aileron refurbishment.

Following Paul and John’s comments the other day I assembled the model this morning to assess how well it went together and whether it was all straight. Everything went as planned and it looks as though the tailplane is only a smidgen out of line. I balanced the airframe on its wingtips and bounced it around a little. There were no creaky or cracking noises so I figure it will be Ok in the air.
So Far, So Good!
Brian.

I have been doing a little work on the ailerons today, setting them up for new hinges. The plans show rounded leading edges set into the rear of the wing with “pin” hinges. However John has built the model with top surface hinges with mylar let in under the top skins and tape laid on top to seal the gap. I have cut all of this away and will replace with Kavan style nylon “pinned” hinges set in under the top skins.

I have also finished my work in the operating theatre and the pilot figure is looking a little happier after his plastic surgery. I now need a name for the little chappie.
I don’t know if John modelled the pilots face after himself, if so I would certainly call him John. However in the absence of that information I have decided to call him Oliver. So the whole project now becomes Olie’s Oly. ‘Simples’!!!
Brian.

Both wings are now at the same stage of completion. The servo mounts are now glued into each of the servo bays ready for the aileron servos to be set in place after the wing is painted.
I started on the covering of the right wing with Diacov and I have to say I am really enjoying using this material. I find I have to use a hotter iron than usual (150 degrees) but the material really works well. I have completed the right wing this morning and will tackle the left wing later this week.
Brian.

Both wings are now fully covered and tucked away on my wing racks until its paint time. The ailerons have been sanded back and have had their new control horns added.

Now the part that I have been looking forward to/dreading – the fuselage!
An extensive examination of the fuselage has exposed a number of structural problem areas and other features I just can’t live with.

There are a number of areas round about the centre of the fuselage at the wing seat which show extensive repairs in the past. There are numerous cracks and breaks which have been repaired with generous applications of epoxy. Inside the fuselage several of the formers have been damaged and have bits of wood glued over the breaks and there are bits where there is still movement in the structure. I will have to find ways to stabilise the structure and then repair the outer skin.

The rudder is actuated by a plastic snake. Now I hate plastic snakes with a vengeance and I have seen so many crashes caused by the slop that usual comes with this system. However I am stuck with it in this case as there is no other way I can get control from the cockpit to the fin. I will just have to live with it – thank goodness it is just the rudder affected.
The all moving tailplane (AMT) is actuated by a loooooong pushrod from the cockpit to the tailplane crank. The pushrod is made from ¼ dowel with long 2mm wire extensions to the metal clevises. This is slop free when the pushrod is pulled to give down elevator. However when it is pushed it bends enough to make be very nervous about its suitability. THIS WILL HAVE TO BE REPLACED!
I would like to install a length of larger diameter carbon tube, keeping the connections to the clevises very short for maximum stiffness. This is further complicated by a cross structure half way back to the tail designed to keep the existing pushrod from bending. We will just have to see how that all pans out.

I have made a start on stripping off all the existing paint so that I can better assess what is going on beneath the covering. MESSY JOB!!!

Brian.

Can you fit a carbon rod in place of the rudder plastic push rod? .070 carbon rod works great…..

Stay calm, you can do it..




BC

Tom, I will have a look at the possability of using carbon but the snake takes a couple of turns before it reaches the rudder horn.

Barry, you know me, I am always calmmmmm. (its the little blue pills that do it.)

Well, that was a bit of a surprise then!
I found that with the third coat of paint stripper the nylon covering was separating from the timber surface as the cellulose dope melted. I found that I could take an exposed corner and peal the nylon away taking the paint residue with it.
During this process the soggy nylon lifted an edge of the untreated nylon and I gave it a tug to see if it would come away. Low and behold the untreated nylon started to peal away from the fuselage leaving the original wood exposed. I was able to remove the nylon from the entire side of the model rather like skinning a rabbit.
If I can repeat this process on the other side of the fuselage it will save me a whole lot of messy effort with paint stripper.
Brian.

I got stuck right in about the fuselage today. It looks like this model has already had two lives as I came upon lots of red paint under the blue. A quick look at Johns notes showed me that he had all the details for BGA 1960 (DAL) a red and white 419.

Once I got the fuselage down to bare wood it became evident that this model had had a long and eventful life. There was considerable evidence of multiple repairs, even some of the repairs had repairs. However there was nothing that really frightened me and everything looked doable with a bit of care.

First of all I intended to remove the elevator pushrod which was causing me a bit of anxiety. I opened up an access hole at the back to get to the tailplane crank and the pushrod clevis. Surprise, surprise – there was no clevis! The pushrod was attached to the crank arm by a simple 90 deg bend in the 2mm wire rod. I don’t know if there was ever a fastening on the end of the wire but all that held it in place was a little side pressure against a former. I have two images attached below which show the wire ends of the 1.3 metre long dowel pushrod which caused me so much concern. The whole pushrod is to be replaced with a length of 8mm carbon fibre tube

I also think I have solved the problem with the plastic snake to the rudder. A carbon rod would not fit happily through the snake outer so that idea was abandoned. However I discovered that Bowden cable PTFE outer tube fitted perfectly inside the red snake outer. So I intend to install Bowden cable outer tube through the existing red snake outer and secured firmly at each end. The steel cable inner will pass through the double tube and be attached to clevises at each end. This should make a more secure control arrangement for the rudder.

However, before any of that takes place I will be looking to reinforce a number of formers to the rear of the cockpit where they have been cracked and split.

Brian.

The three main formers in the centre of the fuselage have all sustained breaks and cracks at the top, around the wing joiner assembly. I chiselled off as many of the epoxy runs as possible to get a smooth-ish surface (how often do you get the opportunity to use the word chisel when building a model). Referring to John’s fuselage plans I produced three reinforcing partial formers which were then glued and clamped in place to bridge all of the splits.

With the inside of the fuselage now pretty stable I turned to the outside of the fuselage. There were numerous holes, gashes and splits on each side. The holes were cut out and new balsa patched into place. The gashes and splits had thin cyano glue dribbled into them and held tightly till they had set hard. I then took a sanding block with 80 grit paper over the whole fuselage.

Peter B has been using Big Boy easy sand lightweight filler on his Oly 2B build and has recommended its use. As there was a fair bit of filling to be done on the fuselage I thought I would give it a go. A fair bit of filler had been used at the fuselage/fin and fuselage/tailskid junctures. John appears to have used a micro balloons mix but most of this came away with the nylon covering when it was removed. I tested the Big Boy filler on these areas first and was very pleased with the result. I have now started to give the whole front of the fuselage on the starboard side a thin coat of filler before I attack it with my sanding blocks.

I had been debating the best finish to apply to the fuselage once shaping was complete. John had used nylon and cellulose dope and I do have that in stock. However I have decided that I will cover the whole fuselage with 48gm/m2 glasscloth attached with laminating epoxy.

Brian.

I decided to do a paint test on the Diacov covering to see how well it takes paint. I sprayed the already covered tailplane parts with a couple or coats of “rattle can” white primer. I then sprayed them with one mist coat and then two flow coats of “rattle can” white gloss. This was all done outdoors, over the course of 3 days, then left 24 hours to set.

I am very pleased with the final finish. The covering took the paint very well and coverage was good. The gloss white has settled to a semi-gloss finish which looks much better than a very shiny finish on a vintage style aeroplane.
I now have the first piece of the “Wild Goose” completely finished.

All in all, the jobs a good-un.

Brian.

I have spent the last few days sanding back all the areas that I had covered with the Big Boy filler. I didn’t lay it on thick, just a skim coat to take up the dents, patches and repairs. S selection of 60, 80 and 120 grit on my sanding blocks took the filler down nicely and I am pleased with the finish. It is not perfect by any means, but that is the whole point. I want the final finish to still have a bit of its original character including a few humps and bumps.

I am still waiting for my new servos to appear from Hobby King and that is holding up much more progress on the fuselage. I decided to tidy up the cockpit interior so I have lined out the sides with 0.8mm ply sheeting between the formers. This doesn’t weigh much and it will lift the appearance of the cockpit.

Yeah! My servos arrived at lunchtime so I am now in a position to get on with new control runs.

Brian.

Nice job & clean bench as usual Brian

WHIch servos are you using Brian??

BC

Corona DS238mg and DS538mg. I have used them before and they are all still working perfectly.
Brian.

Today has been painting wings day. Luckily the weather here has been perfect for spraying outdoors, warm, dry and still. I am using gloss white rattle cans over a white primer base coat. The underside of the wing received a mist coat followed by a good flow coat and they look ok. The upper surface got a mist coat and two flow coats and look very good. The Diacov covering material bubbled up in a couple of places but I laid on a barrier sheet and then went over the bubbles with a medium heat iron and all was well.

Between coats of paint I decided to amuse myself with manufacturing a new seat for Oliver. If he tried to sit in the existing one he would get splinters in his derriere as it was looking very much the worse for wear. A couple of hours later I had a brand new seat based on John’s original and no more splinters for Oliver. It is held in place with a couple of powerful magnets.

The original instrument panel was ok, just bespattered with blue spray paint and covered in the grime of years. A quick clean up and a new coat of mat black paint worked wonders. All very satisfying.

Brian.

Will it be ready for its maiden flight at Sherlowe on the 31stJuly / 1stAugust Brian?
Be a good time for Paul W to see it as well as the rest of us.

John M

Paul is suffering from a kidney stone at present, he may not be able to make it.

John, that's not going to happen. I am rushing to get the wings painted at the moment as I can get it done outside in near perfect conditions. However that still leaves a lot to be done on installation and surfaces.
The fuselage still has a lot of work to be completed before I can even paint.
I am going to be very busy in August/September so I think it will be October before the Goose is completed.

Sorry to hear that Paul is poorly. Kidney stones are very painful.

Brian.

Ok Brian - we'll look forward to seeing it at the October Sherlowe meeting then!
I spoke to Paul last night Cliff and he is fully intending to come to Sherlowe if he possibly can.

Hi Brian or anyone else,

Regarding the Corona servos, have you used any of the HV range? They all seem to be extraordinary value.

Rgds
Mike

Chucked one out for Martyn Kinder as it sounded like a bag of spanners, but was still working. Mind you, his wing had been in a maize crop for months before it was returned to me from the farmer! But a couple of local power modelers have used them - seemingly ok. As you usually get what you pay for, let us know how you get on with them please.

Yes Mike, the DS538 is an HV servo. My most recent models have been powered by a 2S LiFe battery and a regulator set to 6 volts. This allows me to use std servos and receiver as well as HV servos.
Brian.

As I said before, I have a variety of them in 3 models up to 3 years old without any problems so far. More than I can say for my Hitec equipped models.
Brian.

Brian & John

Thanks for your comments.

I think I will try them in the Slingsby Sky when it has been tidied up.

Mike F

Any word on its origins yet Mike, it looks in pretty good condition in your photos.
Brian.

Hi Brian

I will answer under the Slingsby Sky postings... I don't want to clog up your thread.

Thanks
Mike F

Today I finished off hinging the ailerons. I have used 6 Kavan style pinned hinges for each aileron, spread equidistantly along the hinge line. When all the glue had dried I was pleased to find the ailerons moved freely through their full range of movement.

I then set up the twin servos into their bays and manufactured pushrods to the appropriate length. Each servo can deliver 4kg of torque at 6 volts so a total of 8kg of torque should be more than enough for this big aileron surface. I have arranged for a solid fitting at the servo arm and an adjustable clevis at the aileron horn end on each servo.
At the moment I have arranged for a 60% differential up-going to down-going on the aileron although I suspect that I will probably end up with something more like 75% after the model has flown.

I have seeled the aileron/wing gap on the upper surface with a 12.5mm wide tape produced from a sheet of very thin, white, car wrapping vinyl. This tape running along the hinge line seems to have had no effect on the aileron operation..

Brian

After getting the ailerons and their servos and pushrods installed i required to make hatch covers. I cut these from thin tinplate and trim to size. I then lay them on the sticky side of white car-wrap vinyl and cut of the excess except for a 5mm trim round the edges. These are then introduced to the hatch openings and the vinyl smoothed down. These are invisible at 10 ft and are easily removed when required.

This afternoon I made up the new elevator pushrod using 8mm dia carbon tube, threaded rod and steel clevises. I drill a 2mm hole in the rod about 45mm from the end before inserting into the tube a 90mm length of threaded rod with a small 90degree bend in the end. The small bend protrudes out through the drilled hole and then a suitably shaped length of 6mm birch dowel is forced down the tube to lock the wire in place. Thin cyano is applied to lock everything solid. A clevis with a heat-shrink tube keeper is then slipped over the clevis.
I use this type of pushrod on many of my aircraft and it has never failed (so far).

The pushrod was installed and hooked up to the elevator servo. I had to reduce the servo throw slightly to avoid the mechanism stalling at each end of its travel but it was all working as advertised. I have attached a couple of images with the elevator at full up and down travel.

I will not be posting any more updates for a week or so as I am going to be a bit busy for the next little while, plus I am going FLYING this weekend.

Brian.

I’ve been very busy of late but I managed to grab an hour in the workshop today. The bare rudder was sitting there minding its own business so I grabbed it and covered its nakedness with Diacov. It looks fine and is now ready for a coat of primer and a couple of coats of white gloss paint.
Brian.

It’s a bit wet this morning so I tackled the task that I had not been looking forward to – whether the tailplane was straight or not. To explain – There is a considerable (to my eyes anyway) amount of slop on the tailplane , mainly through wear and tear on the joiner rods going through the fuselage and elevator crank. I wanted to see if this could be adjusted or did it warrant surgery.
The airframe was assembled and the fuselage levelled on top of the dining room table. Looking back down the fuselage from the nose showed that the tailplane was sitting port side down. I packed some books etc under the port tailplane tip taking up all the slop in the system and upon re-checking the tilt had disappeared and the tailplane was sitting pretty much straight in comparison to the wing. RESULT! I think I can fix this without resort to a scalpel.
However that doesn’t sort out the fin as it has a slight lean to the left when the wings are level but I will just have to live with that.
Brian.

Last night I was contemplating how I was going to stabilise the tailplane system over a glass of Scottish amber thinking juice when I came up with an idea. I have initially stabilised the tubes running through the fuselage that carry the tailplane rotational rod and the crank. I did this by levering them into the desired position and carefully locking them in place with cyano. I then cut two small squares of sheet brass drilled with holes which would be an interference fit for the rotational rod. The rod was then given a coat of Vaseline, slid into place and the brass pivot plates slid into place and glued with epoxy.
When dry the rod was removed with a pair of pliers and cleaned up. The result is that the tailplane assembly is nice and solid with no slop or excess movement in any direction. Once again RESULT!
I have also filled in the hole in the fuselage which gave access to the crank. Finally the balsa patch and the tail skid area have been given a coat of filler ready for final sanding.
Brian.

Having tidied up all my kit after returning from the Leek and Moorland Scale Bash and since I have a few days before I disappear to polar bear land I have started work on the over-wing fairing. The existing fairing was made from ¼ ply crutch and 1/64 birch ply and it was showing signs of its age. I decided to reuse the timber crutch and form a new aluminium skin. I used the existing skin as a template and marked up a sheet of 1mm aluminium. This was cut to shape with a pair of tin-snips. I then spent a productive hour or so starting the bending process. The metal is starting to harden and be a little more uncooperative so I will anneal it by heating it up with a small blowtorch and that should make it a bit more malleable.
Brian.

I have been doing a bit of “blacksmithing” on the over-wing fairing and have now got a pretty good fit over the wings. It took a bit of bending and trimming to get the aluminium worked into the correct shape and it will still require a little fettling before it can be painted. It has been a long time since I did any metal bashing but it proved to be quite satisfying.
Brian.

I have now returned from polar bear land but have been too busy with harvest to do much on the Oly. I did however manage to fit in a couple of hours on the over-wing fairing. The bending and shaping is now complete and there is a good fit to the fuselage/wing/canopy areas. A couple of coats of filler primer and two coats of colour sees the fairing finished and good to go.
Brian.

I had an hour to spare this morning so I decided to get the “Goose” moving forward again. I cut the 49gm/m2 glass cloth to size and set it over the right side of the fuselage. Epoxy resin was applied with a mini gloss-paint roller which does a good job of getting the resin through the cloth and into the underlying structure without adding excessive weight. Hopefully tomorrow I will find a little more time to get the other side covered as well.
Brian.

I have now returned from a road trip round the southern extremities of England searching for my wife’s ancestors. None of them are still living so unfortunately tea and scones were not on the agenda.

During the time that I was away the glass and epoxy covering that I put on the fuselage had hardened up nicely. This afternoon I got cracking with the 180 grit wet and dry and a new tin of elbow grease. I was only aiming to remove the very top surface of the covering and get the surface nice and smooth. Once it is all rubbed back I will be adding a further coat of thinned epoxy followed by further rubbing back to get a finish suitable for primer.
Brian.

The rubbing back of the glass and epoxy fuselage surface is now complete and the tin of elbow grease is now pretty much empty.
I have applied the covering to the front under skid using Diacov and it looks fine. The next task is to get the fuselage into paint. I will have to wait for a dry and fairly calm day before I can hang it up outside and get a coat of primer applied.
Brian.

In this last week I have finally got the fuselage into paint, however it fought me every inch of the way.
I stared with the grey primer which went on quite easily. However when you apply a surface primer it tends to show all the bits that still need sanding and filling followed by a touch up of primer.

I found rattle-cans of gloss which looked to be very close to the colour which was on the fuselage when I got it. I hung it up outside and sprayed on a mist coat and then a flow coat of the gloss blue. When I returned an hour later I was dismayed to find that the gloss coats had reacted with the underlying paint leaving me with a crackle finish. Understandably I was not pleased.

When I got the fuselage sanded down again I sprayed some more gloss on the fin which promptly reacted once again. B****r!
24 Hours on I decided to go down the route that I used with my big Dart model – household gloss paint! When I was building the Dart I decided to use household gloss, against much advice, as I had become allergic to rattle-can spray. It turned out very well and I have received many compliments about the finish over the years.

I took a sample of the fuselage covering that I had kept for a reference to B&Q and asked them to scan it and mix me a litre of gloss. I hung up the fuselage in the garage and using a small gloss paint roller I covered the fuselage with a very thin coat of paint. I then immediately dry brushed it along its length with a very broad, fine Sable brush. 24 hours later I applied a second coat in the same manner. The result is very satisfactory.
Brian.

Looks fantastic Brian, and I’m sure more realistic than a perfectly sprayed finish. Enjoying following this thread.
Rog

I think I will follow your lead and use gloss for the Slingsby Sky refurb. The blue finish that you have on the fuselage looks very good.

Mike

Just make sure you give it 3-4 weeks to fully dry. It worked for me..



BC

Thanks for the nice comments guys.
Barry, the paint seems pretty solid today after a couple of days hardening off. This Valspar water based paint dries in four hours but does require a couple of coats to get a good gloss finish. Having said that it is glossy without being super shiny - so it looks scale and not like a toy.

Today I have been doing the radio installation and setting up the elevator and rudder throws. I have still to install new connectors for the airbrakes which operate from a central servo in the wing root. I will have to assemble the wings to the fuselage to achieve this.
However, the end is in sight and I will be keeping my eyes open for a suitable day for the re-maiden flight!
Brian

Oliver has now fully recovered from his plastic surgery, and after a period of rest and recuperation he was allowed to sit in the cockpit of his “Oly” today. He will of course require to have a check flight with the CFI before he is allowed to go solo.
Brian.

Today was balancing day.
I first of all checked out the plan and found that it recommended the CG be at a point 110mm from the LE at the centre section. I then checked this out on my CG calculating app and that was consistent with a static margin of 22% which I felt was a bit too nose heavy. I then recalculated the CG using a static margin of 15% which is usually a good safe starting point. This gave a CG position of 128mm from the LE.

I decided that I would err on the side of caution by setting up two CG positions. I first of all balanced the model at 128mm from the LE which would be my “hope for” final CG location after flight testing. I then added more weight to the nose to set the CG at 119mm from the LE which is a half way compromise with the plan CG position. This weight will be temporarily attached so that I can remove it at the slope to bring the CG back as required.

I had removed several slabs of lead during the restoration however these calculation have resulted in only half being added back at the moment.

Having got the CG issue sorted out I now require to finish the decoration and set up the surface throws and movements on my transmitter before the model is complete.

Brian.

The Oly 419X “Wild Goose” restoration is complete!

I did a full assembly in the garden this morning and took the official photos.

Yesterday I applied all the vinyl markings and the decals and she now looks quite splendid, I am very pleased. I only hope that When John sees the final result he will be equally impressed.

My thanks must go to Barry Cole who produced the “Wild Goose” vinyl’s for each side of the cockpit as they truly give the model it’s character. Many thanks for that Barry your help it is truly appreciated.

The next step will be the maiden flight. I will be waiting for a good day with a 15 to 20mph wind from the southwest or east so I can get the “Goose” up my local hill.
My wife has offered to come with me to take the obligatory “proof of flight” pictures which I will post thereafter.

Brian.

Excellent Brian!

Phill

Superb job Brian. I have nobbled Peter Balcombe into doing a restore job on John's Kite for me, so we will have at least two of John's models restored to their former glory.

Really happy seeing the Oly back to her former glory Brian. When I see John tomorrow I am sure he will be impressed too. But please remember to test fly in a 50mph wind!

The “Wild Goose” gets air beneath her wings.

The conditions that I mentioned in my last post occurred this afternoon. My good lady wife helped my carry the Goose up my local hill where we were met with a westerly 15 /18mph wind. Just Right!

The Goose was assembled and checked, then checked again, just to make sure before being launched out over the valley. I did have to wind in a fair amount of down trim to the all moving tailplane but other than that, all was fine.
A dive test was followed by a gentle zoom and stall, with an easy recovery. Also the banked turns were quite wide with the elevator control feeling a bit soggy. After eight minutes I lined up for landing, opened the brakes and greased the Goose in for an easy landing.

I removed the chunk of lead from the nose which moved the CG back to 128mm from the leading edge. I then re-launched and re-trimmed the elevator to give the model a comfortable flight path. A further dive test was carried out and this time the aircraft recovered with a much longer zoom and no stall. The Goose felt much more spritely in this configuration, the elevator response was much crisper and turns could now be pulled as tight as I liked.

I then enjoyed a further twenty minute flight which showed that the Goose was flying just like a big elegant bird. I think I am going to enjoy this model!

Brian.

P.S. thanks gents for all your kind comments and also thanks to my wife for all the photographs.

Nice job, Brian...(Can I have my cheque back now, please?)

Superb workmanship and a very enjoyable and informative thread Brian.
Hope to see her in the flesh at an aerotow at some point soon.

Yes, congratulations Brian, a beautiful restoration. Its wonderful to see a Watkins original in the air again.

Regards
Mike

Good stuff Brian. I'm delighted for you (and John). I know how much care you put into all your models and your love for the Oly is evident.

Thanks gents for all of your comments. The Wild Goose will be in my car for all of the events that I attend in 2022 so hopefully you will see it in the feathers next year.
Brian.
By the way Chris - the cheque is non refundable especialy because I drank it last night.

Thanks for posting this rebuild, a very informative series for a bloke getting back into the hobby after a long break.
Soft landings
Stephen

That looks lovely Brian, well worth the effort to restore such a gorgeous sailplane.