Mode Zero

Now that we have settled into our new digs in NZ after having had to change from the place we moved into when we first arrived, I've joined a local Club, and even had a fly of Brian_Z's Radian e-glider. Since I didn't bring any airframes with me (I couldn't fit any in ), I needed something to fly. Enter the Half Tone which has been on my "gotta have one" list for a long time . Then, while poking around in a local arts & crafts supply store, I found 700 x 500 sheets of 5mm thick depron-like foam board, with a thin glossy coloured paper coat on one side and white on the reverse, for the princely sum of NZ$2 a sheet - a bargain I reckoned, so I lashed out and spent NZ$20 on an assortment of yellow, green, sky blue and white sheets (pink & black were the only other colour choices ). Add in NZ$8 for a small hot melt glue gun and NZ$2 for a packet of 27 glue sticks and I was armed and dangerous

I printed off the plans from OZ - https://outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=5673 - then made templates by gluing the relevant parts to thin cardboard (in my case, a cereal box). Given the material I was going to use, I had to make a few mods to the structure.

• fuse sides and formers would be 5mm foam board

• fuselage top & bottom would be 2 mm foam board that I had brought with me

• the tailplane would be a single sheet of 5mm foam board with a bamboo skewer to reinforce the LE.

• the wing would be a single sheet of 5mm foam board on the bottom with 2 mm foam board top sheeting.

• The wing spar would be a bamboo skewer top & bottom with a shear web from 5mm foam board

At this point, I thought it prudent to test out the construction materials and techniques I had in mind on something expendable(?) Look for a post in Slope Soarers (viewtopic.php?f=29&t=1277&p=10833#p10833)

Love it...look forward to seeing some construction photos.
Built an old Rearwin Speedster once from white foam and brown paper ( back in the early 90's)
Ran for year on an OS 61 four stroke until some hot shot with a pylon racer shivved right through the guts of it.

Similar foam board stuff available in Aus do you think...??

Just saw an old comparison of different types of foam sheeting where they compared to the Dollar Tree foam in the US.
Seems 0.19g/sq cm was the quoted weight to aim for.
Depron in Aus but large quantity packs. ($200.00 plus)

https://www.flitetest.com/articles/foa ... australia

thanks Jeff

bluejets wrote: ↑04 Apr 2021, 04:20 Love it...look forward to seeing some construction photos........Similar foam board stuff available in Aus do you think...??

Good question - the shop here is the same as the old $2 shops back in Aus, so I'd be surprised if it wasn't available somewhere similar.

bluejets wrote: ↑04 Apr 2021, 04:20 ...Seems 0.19g/sq cm was the quoted weight to aim for.

I don't have an accurate scale where I'm staying. I'll track one down and post the mass/area.

Great little plane.. I featured it as an RCM&E free plan back in 2017.

Flys on rudder, throttle with e-power.

Shaun

bluejets wrote: ↑04 Apr 2021, 04:20
Seems 0.19g/sq cm was the quoted weight to aim for.

Should have been per sq inch .......

Weighed some sheet from Officeworks today and the 5mm came in at .30g/sq inch so another 50% heavier.

Shaun wrote: ↑04 Apr 2021, 10:13 Great little plane.. I featured it as an RCM&E free plan back in 2017.

Flys on rudder, throttle with e-power.

Shaun

Shaun,

Did you stick with the 1/8" rudder movement as shown on the plan? Clearly there is plenty of rudder authority!

I had more Wayne. I seem to remember I flew it on a 1+1 converted Mac G propo/3 position throttle set. 1/8" would be a good starting point for bang bang rudder.

Cheers,

Shaun.

bluejets wrote: ↑06 Apr 2021, 04:36 Weighed some sheet from Officeworks today and the 5mm came in at .30g/sq inch so another 50% heavier.

Managed to get access to a calibrated scale in the site geotech lab today, so no question about the accuracy of the sheet mass

The 5mm sheets come out at .235g/sq.inch

Wayne_H wrote: ↑07 Apr 2021, 09:54 The 5mm sheets come out at .235g/sq.inch

I'm glad I'm not the only person to mix their imperial and SI units together! I'm forever getting told by the kids to stick to one system (364g/m²) or if I have to the other (0.0083oz/sq.inch). But I can relate to .235g/sq.inch better than either of the other two, it must be our age

I second after quite many years in the "Imperial world", what I have learned is to not mix them in the same project, it's like when switch between languages...You can't think in one language and speak an other. Might be easier when you are born in a bilingual ...
What confuses me is that the imperial system have the "choice of fractional or decimal" especially in mechanical workshops.