Well a bit more work done on the Starship...

Began work on the main wing today. Using 3/32sq leading edge and 1/16X1/8 trailing edge and cracked rib construction instead of sliced rib.  The bottom of the ribs are 3/32 very light wood and the top of the ribs is 1/32X1/16 balsa strips.  I used what I thought was 1/32 balsa for the spars until I reached for more 1/32 balsa for the front spar.  Guess what, the rear spar was made from a strip of 1/16 by 3/8's tapered to 1/8.  Oh well continue to build!!!

I'm still debating on how I want to mount the wing to the fuselage.  I usually prefer to build a one piece wing and then l cut away the fuselage area in one piece that can be replaced after the wing has been placed in the body.

The Starship doesn't have much dihedral if any at all on the real one.  I've heard that the swept wing acts as dihedral as well.  Still working through this setup for now.  After finding the slip up with the 1/16 spar instead of 1/32 I'm also considering rebuilding the whole wing again.  We'll see after sanding the panels tomorrow.

If you notice droplettes on the plastic wrap, I spritzed the panels with isopropol alcohol while the wing sets up to take out some of the tension in the wood leading edge and turbulator strips and the washout of 1/8 inch at the tips.

With the placement on the fuselage the side of the fuselag is angled sharply under the side.  I'll have to check this out some more.  Sorry for thinking thru this out loud!   The joys of freeflight modelling

Tom

Thanks Mitch,

I'm finding a lot of short comings in my plans but nothing that can't be corrected eventually. Thanks for the kind thoughts.

Here's a bit more progress.  My buddies on SFA had some input on the canard so I've enlarged it by approximately 45%.  I've also added 4 degrees of dihedral to the canard. 

The canard has 1/8 square leading edge with 1/16X1/8 trailing edge with a cracked ribs made from 1/16 sq strip.  I then sanded the wing  down and rounded the tips.  I didn't make any movable surfaces on this canard, as found on the real plane.  The canard is set at 4 degrees incidence as well. 

Also carved the nose block.  To be hollowed out next.

Here's the latest pics.

Tom

Well the fuselage is starting to look like a Starship.  Stringers and window openings added today. 

Here's the latest pics...

Tom

Crikey Tom, you do like a challenge.  That looks like one difficult plane to model.  Really looking forward to more pics of the build.

How do you go about creating the CAD drawing and plans?  It would be nice to be able to design models.  But how do you draw and scale them?

Good luck with the rest of the build.

Concretecow

Thanks Mitch,

Will post progress as I move along with this build.  I'm looking forward to this build after all the false starts.

Tom

Hi ya'll,

Bet you thought, "He's never gonna build the Starship!"  Well, still got the foam plug, but it won't be used.  Going with a more conventional build method.  I'll be building an inner box/ladder style construction with the round formers outside the box.  We'll see if I can keep it straight and make it look like it should. 

Can't find my magnets for the magnetic building board.  Was really hoping to use them with this build.  So went down to Home Depot.  Guess what? They don't sell the accustic ceiling tiles 2ftX4ft as singles anymore. Can you believe that?  Only in bundles of 15 for around 30 dollars!!!!!

I went and got a worker and asked about the two tiles with bum corners in the back.  She crawled back and got them and said they should be up here on a shelf above the bundles.  Signs said $.49 for 2X4 sheet.  I didn't question her and took one of the singles up front to pay for it.  45 minutes and the checker calling three different managers who said we don't sell them individually.  One said the $.49 was a square foot.  So I offered to pay $3.00 for the single tile.  I eventually got the one tile for $2.00 bucks.

I guess you guys with hanging ceilings who break a tile moving something long and awkward are just out of luck.  You'll have to buy a whole bundle to get a nice tile to replace the one you broke.   Sorry for the rant.  Now I got that out of my system!

Here's a pic of the fuselage box/ladder with both sides, one built on top of the other to try to make them identical. 3/32sq balsa was used.  I did wet the balsa with water on the areas where ther bends are located and after gluing everything up, I spritzed them with alcohol to try to relieve the tension in the wood, to prevent future warps hopefully.  I also tried to use matching wood grain on the sides to assist in this also. 

I 'll let this set overnight and using rt triangles and 90 degree upright glue the cross members tomorrow and maybe even get to the formers.  I'll be using 1/16 for the formers and when I add the stringers I be using 1/16X1/32 balsa for them and sand a taper in the tailend of the stringers after they're applied.

So to prove I've started....here's the pic

Tom

You'll get it in time. I know what it is like to be without that one box. You can find all the ones you don't want right now....

Ok,

I've started on the Starship and have already had my first set back.  It seems that the glue didn't set in the middle of the laminations, so as I made the first cuts the laminations started to come apart.  So you will see the top view cut on both sides and everything back under the blocks for a couple more days. I still have to find the reed and start it soaking for the formers for the fuselage. 

I was in a funk for a while trying to recover from the computer crash.  I know better than not to backup and now I won't let that happen again. 

Now I feel like building and the peanut things has been quite invigurating for a change.  Peanuts are a little fragile for these thick fingers, but it's nice not having to work with a 32 inch wing and longer fuselage. 

I know why Bill Parker likes working with the big planes, you don't have to worry about breaking a stringer everytime you turn around or bump it.

Not much to show for the work involved but here's the bricks sitting on the foam to show that I have started!

Tom