Moonglow by Mike Birch from 1968

Anything with a propeller
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stuart mackay
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Re: Moonglow by Mike Birch from 1968

Post by stuart mackay »

In between teaching duties, I managed to get another couple of jobs ticked off the list!

The tips were added to the completed wing structure and the rear wing hold down fitted after checking the squareness of the wing to the fuselage from tips to fin post and F1 centrelines.

No differences in the diagonal measurements could be found, so it looks like it will be a straight airframe!
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stuart mackay
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Re: Moonglow by Mike Birch from 1968

Post by stuart mackay »

Had a play with the lower wing sheeting and fitted the Inwoods servo mounts
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Today saw the postman bring a couple of items, a nice aluminium alloy spinner from China and a 12 ounce tank from Pegasus in Norwich, which would still fit in the tank bay as an alternative to the 10 ounce tank I had bought from SLEC.
So I set about getting the nose ring in place and decided that the top part of F1 would make access to the tank just too tight...so will move the upper [art of F1 forward to the position shown on the plan for the Merco installation.

I also checked and an Irvine 61 will still fit if needed! :evil: :evil: :twisted: :twisted:
lower side of cowl area
lower side of cowl area
12 0unce Radio Active/Logic RC tank
12 0unce Radio Active/Logic RC tank
Motor with cowl side cheeks being prepped
Motor with cowl side cheeks being prepped
Motor and tankl showing upper parts of F1 and F2 removed
Motor and tankl showing upper parts of F1 and F2 removed
Nice shiny alloy spinner
Nice shiny alloy spinner
Will go and continue playing this evening with the 3D jigsaw puzzle and trying to scheme a way of making the cowl as well as the tank access hatch removable.
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stuart mackay
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Re: Moonglow by Mike Birch from 1968

Post by stuart mackay »

So the 3d jigsaw puzzle that is the Moonglow nose has finally started to take shape.

Don't know what it is, but after making rapid progress, I get into overthinking mode and start to slow up and enter faff mode, pondering for hours if I add this bit then I wont be able to do that , etc etc..
So I gave myself a good talking to this lunchtime and told myself to stop pi55ing about and crack on...with the results you will see below.

Got the epoxy out & gave the nose a good coat inside before glueing on fuse engine bay sides and nose ring. The front lower sheeting had to be cut out for the fixed nose leg and glued on before coating the whole lower sheeting with epoxy. I made up a fuselage servo tray, so hopefully these will be fitted tomorrow and sort out closed loop and lay in cables for rear servos and finally get the top decking on.
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Last edited by stuart mackay on 06 Feb 2021, 23:08, edited 1 time in total.
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F2B
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Re: Moonglow by Mike Birch from 1968

Post by F2B »

Oh, how I love seeing balsa sculpting taking place (is that English? ;) )

Been hacking around so many times in the past, while 'removing all balsa that's not an aeroplane'.
F2B machines are notorious, too:
Neus ruwbouw 1.jpg
Neus ruwbouw 1.jpg (72.24 KiB) Viewed 1922 times
Neus ruwbouw 2.jpg
Neus ruwbouw 2.jpg (73.62 KiB) Viewed 1922 times
WK 2b.jpg
F2B or not to be....
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stuart mackay
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Re: Moonglow by Mike Birch from 1968

Post by stuart mackay »

Bruno, that is a lovely looking piece of work not only the cowling, but also the complete model, looks very much in the style of a CAP 231? :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Aiming to get the top decking on today
So the fuselage servo plate was fitted into the fuz.
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Made up a long twisted Y lead for the rear mounted elevator servos and hot glued it in place in the rear fuselage so it doesnt rattle about.
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Next job is to lay in the rudder closed loop linkage before sealing it all up and giving it a good seeing to with the razor plane and sanding blocks.
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stuart mackay
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Re: Moonglow by Mike Birch from 1968

Post by stuart mackay »

So managed to get a couple of snake inners into the rear fuselage and avoid fouling the two elevator servos and fixed these into place at the rear fuselage and on the wing bolt plate forward, which should considerably simplify the fitting of the closed loop rudder cables.
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The big wooden girder with loads of clamps is what the fuz looks like now as the top decking glue dries overnight.
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Let the balsa dust creation begin! :D :D :D
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stuart mackay
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Re: Moonglow by Mike Birch from 1968

Post by stuart mackay »

As predicted, there was a lot of balsa shavings and dust being created during an hour or so in the workshop today as the Beast from the East 2 turned everything around here very white!
Swaffham Cupcake Lantern
Swaffham Cupcake Lantern
Half of the fuselage decking shavings!
Half of the fuselage decking shavings!
My workspace
My workspace
First trial of canopy fit
First trial of canopy fit
Stab fairing
Stab fairing
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stuart mackay
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Re: Moonglow by Mike Birch from 1968

Post by stuart mackay »

Did a bit more on the canopy fit this evening.
Fitting canopies to a rounded top fuselage is always a PITA with it being a bit hit n miss on trimming acurved canopy to fit another double curvature surface.
I apologise if this is "teaching some to suck eggs" but I use a simplified method of trimming the canopy flat, mount it to a suitable base and rebate the top of the fuselage to accept the canopy assembly (transparency with a flat 1/8 liteply baseplate). THis method has worked for me and is incredibly tough and strong....How do I know, well a low inverted pass with my Kwik Fli had me doing a landing on the canopy, only damage was a broken prop! :lol: :lol:
Outline of canopy baseplate and rebate
Outline of canopy baseplate and rebate
Canopy Baseplate from 1/8 liteply
Canopy Baseplate from 1/8 liteply
Canopy on baseplate and recessed into fuse top
Canopy on baseplate and recessed into fuse top
Me playing with my camera!
Me playing with my camera!
stormer254
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Re: Moonglow by Mike Birch from 1968

Post by stormer254 »

That Prestige set looks good Stuart!
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stuart mackay
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Re: Moonglow by Mike Birch from 1968

Post by stuart mackay »

stormer254 wrote: 08 Feb 2021, 22:44 That Prestige set looks good Stuart!
Thanks Steve and a bit off topic, but it has now committed aviation again!
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