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Albion 5m Electric soarer

All non-scale topis should go in here for discussion.
SP250

Re: Albion 5m Electric soarer

Post by SP250 »

Looking really nice Peter - please let us know the finished weights of the wing and tail panels once you have completed them.

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

Re: Albion 5m Electric soarer

Post by Peter Balcombe »

Both inner panels now have top skins fitted.
First one now has servo hatch framing in place, cables threaded though pre-cut rib holes & ready for bottom skin which is currently being glued up ready to fit tomorrow morning.
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Peter Balcombe
Posts: 1399
Joined: 18 Mar 2015, 10:13
Location: Clevedon, North Somerset, U.K.

Re: Albion 5m Electric soarer

Post by Peter Balcombe »

With inner wing panels nearly skinned & ready to plug on, it was time to look at the fuselage side of the attachment.
The Albion fuselage has nice flat sides below the wing hatch, so no fuselage facings are required :)
First job was to mark the chord line - I decided to go 25mm below the hatch line & then position the root template in the centre of the hatch length. (Ignore the 2 moulded dimples on the fuselage side).
So.. marking through the root template, the joiner, incidence tube, wing retainer & servo connector access holes were marked on each side. Luckily, I had both 1/8” & 0.8mm ply wing facings on the laser cutting templates, so the thicker ones will now be used inside the fuselage as root reinforcement, with the joiner/incidence tubes blocked in between them. The thinner facings will be fitted to the finished wings.
Photo below shows joiner slot & incidence tube hole cut in fuselage & everything dry fitted to check alignment before attaching the fuselage reinforcement ribs with polyester resin in the workshop tomorrow.
There is no way that I would get away with the whiff of polyester resin in the house :o

At the front end, the fuselage nose was cut back in 2 steps whilst checking fit of the motor mount. The first cut was at 45mm back, then a further 5mm to leave a lip of approx. 5mm for mount fixing. (The fuselage will be cut back/squared off wrt the shaft line later in order to achieve a good fit with the planned 38mm spinner).
I also removed 5mm from each side of the forward hatch in order to be able to get the motor through. This will also ease battery installation ;)
The mount will be fitted tomorrow using an initial front polyester resin fillet, followed by a rear fillet once motor (used for mount alignment) has been removed.
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Peter Balcombe
Posts: 1399
Joined: 18 Mar 2015, 10:13
Location: Clevedon, North Somerset, U.K.

Re: Albion 5m Electric soarer

Post by Peter Balcombe »

With fuselage joiner tubes in place, it was time to check the fit of the inner panels :)
(Length of stock TE taped on to give better impression of size, although 3/8” LE missing)

Meanwhile, a start has been made on the 1st outer panel.
Although the assembled laser cut parts come out at the correct length, the pic below shows the effect of a difference between laser machine & printer accuracies. The laser part are within 1mm over the 1.2m panel length but the print is just over 1% on the small side.
Although in olden days we just built to the printed plan, the laser cut parts notch together accurately, so the difference against the print is more obvious - particularly as I have a curved main spar & LE!
However, the answer is to find a straight reference line (False TE in my case) & use that to align the structure.

I this case, I spaced the (laser cut & notched) ply spar web off the building board by the rib building tab height (8mm) and jigged it into the correct shape to give a straight False TE spar.
The spar tip ends were steamed to follow the resultant web curvature whilst ensuring that the False TE stayed straight.
The pic below shows the assembly with the shorter forward spar being added, plus the tip section of the False TE doubler.
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SedB
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Joined: 14 Nov 2019, 09:17
Location: Netherlands

Re: Albion 5m Electric soarer

Post by SedB »

Nice progress so far!

Maybe obvious to the most, but it's a good tip to cut the nose of in two steps! I remember doing the same at once on my Albatros glider, even though I had a mold, the result was not perfect. Next time I'll take it step-by-step :D !

Daniel
SP250

Re: Albion 5m Electric soarer

Post by SP250 »

Dead right.
Just cut the front off my Albion and spent a happy evening (4 hours) drilling and picking out the lead chips embedded in epoxy noseweight and trying not to damage the glass of the fuselage. It totalled 550 grammes of ballast giving plenty of scope for a powerful geared motor and esc.
Now need to remove the rudder to allow access to replace the bent aluminium elevator pushrod with a carbon set up for strength and reliability.
John M
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Peter Balcombe
Posts: 1399
Joined: 18 Mar 2015, 10:13
Location: Clevedon, North Somerset, U.K.

Re: Albion 5m Electric soarer

Post by Peter Balcombe »

1st outer panel structure was completed yesterday & the top balsa skin applied this morning.
I ended up fitting some temporary bracing riblets in the tip bays (with TE held straight) and now that the underside spars have been fitted the TE is still straight.
Photo shows the panel weighted down to ensure the rib building tabs, which include 5mm washout twist on this panel, stay seated on the building board.

I am expecting the top skin to lock everything in place, so will probably remove the temporary riblets before fitting the bottom skin.
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Peter Balcombe
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Joined: 18 Mar 2015, 10:13
Location: Clevedon, North Somerset, U.K.

Re: Albion 5m Electric soarer

Post by Peter Balcombe »

Top skin now attached and a view of the underside complete with aileron servo cable and hinge hard points prior to fitting the lower skin later today.
I have tried fitting this panel onto the inner panel & happy to report that everything fits nicely :)
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Peter Balcombe
Posts: 1399
Joined: 18 Mar 2015, 10:13
Location: Clevedon, North Somerset, U.K.

Re: Albion 5m Electric soarer

Post by Peter Balcombe »

Once the fuselage nose had been trimmed back after fitting the motor mount, it became evident that the planned 38mm Aeronaut Coolnose spinner was going to be a touch small, so a 40mm was ordered from Stan Yeo.
This arrived today and fits nicely. :)

The first outer panel skin edges were tidied up today in parallel with advancing the 2nd outer panel build.
With the aileron servo connector just fitted on the 1st panel, I hope to be able to assemble the RH wing onto the fuselage tomorrow, albeit without LE, tip or control surfaces.
Attachments
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Peter Balcombe
Posts: 1399
Joined: 18 Mar 2015, 10:13
Location: Clevedon, North Somerset, U.K.

Re: Albion 5m Electric soarer

Post by Peter Balcombe »

With the top skin fitted to the 2nd outer wing panel, it’s time for a quick assembly check, although flap, ailerons & wing tips still to be added ;)

Now that I have the right wing more or less assembled, I can also do an initial wing weight check prior to covering.
Inner panel including flap, airbrake & flap servo: 720g
Outer panel including tip, aileron & servo: 435g
Panel joiner (8mm & 3mm Carbon rods): 30g

Thus, I reckon the overall wing assemblies (not including 100g for fuselage joiners) is 2.37Kg (5lbs 4oz).
Fuselage weight including motor, spinner, joiner tubes & hatch covers only is currently 950g (2lb 1.5oz).

John, not sure if my new wing is lighter than yours?
Peter
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