Slow Flying Concorde

[DennisP]

Once the carbon fiber tubes have been glued in place (araldite mixed with micro-balloons to reduce the weight) the wing minus cables will be laid on a un-cut piece of Depron and pressed hard down on same. This will make lines where the carbon tubes have to go so that I can route grooves here as well. There is no need to apply this technique to the cables as they fit snug in the grooves. Once routed 3M77 spray and bingo we have the wing ready for trimming to match the original.

Now I have to see when the MOHA is going out to play Mahjong so I get back into sanding to get a wing profile .

[AstroBoy]

Aaaah!! I can see the wing now! Lovely Shape isn't it? Call all your wife's mahjong kakis and get her out of the house for the next 4 hours!

[DennisP]

I am afraid slow progress, the carbon fiber tubes have been epoxied into the upper wing half. It is essential to get an even coating in the groove for the rods so disposable epoxy brush was used for this, this ensures and even spread and keeps the amount of epoxy down..

We are now ready to join the two wing halves. The picture shows the upper wing with the carbon fibre tubes whilst the lower wing has been routed so that tubes fit in this as well. Next step is to lay in the cables and then the big join. To assist in this I have made small marker lines on both edges so that alignment will be easy.

[DennisP]

You will note that I decided to cut a second wing panel rather use a blank sheet of Depron and then trim as I originally planned. My reasoning for this was the shear size of a blank piece of Depron and getting the fit snug first time.

[DennisP]

Well the worst is over the two wing halves have been joined without too much drama. After careful consideration I have decided to mount the elevon servo's in the fuselage, it saves having another set of servo leads buried in the wings. The down side is of course the need to use torque rods and there will be a need for four of these. Two for each inner elevons and then two more to couple the inner elevons to the outer elevons by the engine pods.

Again another deviation from the plan of AstroBoy I have used some very light 5mm balsa as a leading edge for the elevons and also for the wing edge, my motive being it would provide a good base for the torque rod tubes and also form the foundation for the AXI motor mounts. Once the Lite Ply is bonded to these it will be Dremmel'd out to reduce the weight. It also means that I do not need to use balsa traingle for the motor pods as I now have a square surface to glue to.

The 5mm balsa also will be a benefit for the elevon hinging as I am not inserting the hinges in between the two joined sets of wing foam, I have to say I am not that happy about control surface hinges glued into Depron.

The picture below shows the joined wing with the 5 mm balsa edging.

[DennisP]

The next step was the hinging of the elevons and the fabrication of the four torque rods, after this comes the motor pods followed by the big sanding job to get all the shapes correct. Must check when the MOHA is going to play Mahjong before a I start that task.....

[DennisP]

Ooop's got so involved with building I forgot about flying today yoiks . So I have pressed on and fitted the engine pods to the wing. The vertical mount for the AXI's came really handy as it was possible to use a square to get the sides at right angles to the mount.

The Depron plates in the inlets are jigs so the sides remain square while the glue dries. Next step visit LHS and get the AXI's and then it is mess time while we convert slabs of Depron in to the shape that they should be, now when is the MOHA playing Mahjong again....?

[AstroBoy]

Looking Good Dennis!

[DennisP]

Well I used up all my brownie points tonight making the AXI motor mounts, sawdust everywhere.... You can see in the attached picture the Lite ply motor mount an odd shape but it allows the air to pass through. You will also note that balsa alignment bar inside the pod is now hollowed out. So how did I get it square...? very simple if you look closely you will see a Lite ply plate between the balsa post and the engine mount on the side of the engine pod. There are four of these one on each side of the engine pod, needless to say they ae most critical parts as they have to be identical in length

So next it is the center baffle in the intake and then on goes the bottom of the engine pod with two hatches to get to the ESC's... This bit I am looking forward too, no mess lah

Then of course the big mess starts making the wing look like a Concorde wing, did I hear Mahjong this Wednesday

[DennisP]

Time to finish the wing off, the bottoms of the engine pods are on and the hatches for the ESC's are cut out

[DennisP]

You may note in the previous picture the HS55 elevon servo is flush with the bottom of the wing. The next picture shows the top of the wing, The motor power cables terminate in a PC board mounted Deans plug (NTC sells these) in the center of the wing, gets those heavy cables down, just one fly lead to the Li-Poly required now. You can see the Pine servo rails, Pine is light and very strong and this area may not be too accessable even when the fuselage hatch is made.

[DennisP]

So now the shot that you have been waiting for after suffering my meranderings for n pages on this thread : Yes the first trial fit of the three assemblies, OK AstroBoy you can collect your Mutley medals now......

So it is Mahjong tomorrow night for the MOHA so I can convert this slab of foam into a Concorde, really looking forward to the sanding exercise. There is a fair amount of work required on the wing to get it where I want, apart from the dust we shall get there, must remember to turn that fan off tomorrow night

[AstroBoy]

Great Work Dennis!, the concorde looks Gorgeous!

I will collect all the medals from you once she maidens Good Luck!

Would you like me to be your official concorde hand-launcher?

[AstroBoy]

Hi Dennis,

I've uploaded Concorde drawings on post #1 of your thread, it's FREE download for anyone who wants to build one themselves.

Thanks for being the first Beta-Builder for this Concorde, I am looking forward to the maiden. Cheers!

[DennisP]

Thanks AstroBoy for the kind words , yes you have just volunteered as the CLP (Chief Launch Pilot) I need to speak nicely to our mode 2 CTP (Chief Test Pilot)...

I would suspect that we are still a few weeks away from the rise to the sky or return to Mr. Gravity as the case may be...., the decals will not be in Singapore until the end of next week and I still have to prove the Chris Goulds finishing method on Depron, before I actually do the Concorde using this method. Hence that original fuselage test piece in the beginning of the thread now serves another purpose.

I also want to rig the elevons to prove that they work well using the torque rods, from the test flying I have done using the Reflex sim Concorde (still have not sorted the scaled down version ) the model seems to need a fair amount of elevon throw to fly. The more throw the greater the pressure on the elevons (may do the maths on this just see what loads they are), and I do not want to much springing effect on the outboard elevons which may cause / create the infamous "Flutter" and self destruction of the model