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EON Olympia 419

B Sharp

EON Olympia 419

Post by B Sharp »

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. :)
Attachments
WG_001.JPG
WG_002.JPG
WG_003.JPG
WG_004.JPG
WG_004B.JPG
Rt wing bottom
Rt wing bottom
Rt wing top
Rt wing top
Lt wing top
Lt wing top
Lt wing bottom
Lt wing bottom
Tailplane halves
Tailplane halves
User avatar
Cliff Evans
Posts: 1032
Joined: 29 Dec 2019, 15:13
Location: Bristol
Contact:

Re: EON Olympia 419

Post by Cliff Evans »

Nice project Brian. I have johns "Kite" could probably do with the same treatment!
https://lasercutsailplanes.co.uk
https://patteaklegliders.co.uk
B Sharp

Re: EON Olympia 419

Post by B Sharp »

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. :)
Attachments
The tailplane halves.
The tailplane halves.
The start of the peeling process.
The start of the peeling process.
The repaired tailplanes, reglued, filled and sanded.
The repaired tailplanes, reglued, filled and sanded.
roo Hawkins
Posts: 557
Joined: 18 Mar 2015, 20:12
Location: Northamptonshire

Re: EON Olympia 419

Post by roo Hawkins »

I also have John's jaskolka it also came with a folder and logbook. Think it had over 200 hours.
User avatar
SedB
Posts: 98
Joined: 14 Nov 2019, 09:17
Location: Netherlands

Re: EON Olympia 419

Post by SedB »

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
B Sharp

Re: EON Olympia 419

Post by B Sharp »

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

Re: EON Olympia 419

Post by B Sharp »

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. :)
Attachments
Top surface of centre tailplane
Top surface of centre tailplane
under surface of centre tailplane
under surface of centre tailplane
Rudder before.
Rudder before.
And after.
And after.
B Sharp

Re: EON Olympia 419

Post by B Sharp »

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.
Attachments
Upper surface damage.
Upper surface damage.
The big hole wating for its patch.
The big hole wating for its patch.
The repaired upper surface.
The repaired upper surface.
The undersurface damage.
The undersurface damage.
The big hole and patch ready to be fitted.
The big hole and patch ready to be fitted.
The repaired undersurface.
The repaired undersurface.
B Sharp

Re: EON Olympia 419

Post by B Sharp »

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. :)
Attachments
Repairs and servo hatch
Repairs and servo hatch
The long patch.
The long patch.
The long patch and bell crank possition.
The long patch and bell crank possition.
The long patch removed and trimmed.
The long patch removed and trimmed.
Bell crank removed and servo hatch cut.
Bell crank removed and servo hatch cut.
B Sharp

Re: EON Olympia 419

Post by B Sharp »

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. :shock:
Attachments
An attemt at sanding the paintwork.
An attemt at sanding the paintwork.
Working diagrams for the servos.
Working diagrams for the servos.
Top surface being stripped.
Top surface being stripped.
Undersurface being stripped.
Undersurface being stripped.
Undersurface stripped but now removing tissue!!!
Undersurface stripped but now removing tissue!!!
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