Ridge Runt Evo - Build Thread

[Wayne]

We will show a very detailed build here and also in our instruction manual. This will be a great place to ask questions or suggest any changes. We will try to be even more details when we write up the manual. This may be helpful for first time builders. But if you have any questions, PLEASE ASK.

NOTE: If you are planning to build this as an electric, there are a few changes to B2 and the servo tray that will make an electric version much nicer. We will outline that a little later in this thread. The modifications will allow the motor, ESC and battery to all reside under the canopy, and the elevator servo will move under the wing.

 

[Wayne]

Building Space​

To make your life easier and the build more enjoyable, start with a clean working space. It does not need to be a really large area, but it should be flat. Avoid building on anything that is not nice and flat. We get a lot of building board questions, and as you can see in the photos of this build we are working on a nice flat drafting table and simply use a fresh piece of cardboard as our building surface. We have used balsa boards, cork boards, nice plywood, and acoustic ceiling tiles in the past. Nothing fancy is needed. The Ridge Runt Evo is mostly self aligning but it is nice to be able to put a few pins down to secure things while gluing.

Basic tools like a fresh Xacto knife, some sanding blocks, fresh thin CA glue and basic hand tools should get you through the build. For the covering we suggest the use of both a covering iron and a covering heat gun. (An industrial heat gun from the local hardware store will work, but use caution, they get too hot!)

Kit Inspection​

Let's start with a kit inspection. Inside the box you should have the following items:

Let's open the first bag, it should have the following:

Second bag:

And the larger items (2 sheets of #4)

If you are missing anything, please contact us via email: contact@alofthobbies.com and we will get you sorted out ASAP.

 

[Wayne]

Building the Vertical Fin​

We need to start with the vertical fin and will then jump into the fuselage.
Collect the following parts:

We need to pop out V1 and V2. Use a fresh X acto blade to carefully cut the tabs.

I like to use wax paper over my plans. This is important to keep from gluing the parts to the plans. Don't have any wax paper? I have had pretty good results from various smooth plastics, but you will have more clean up as the glue can pool under the part.

Using some sandpaper of about 120 grit sand the carbon fiber parts top and bottom. This will remove any manufacturing mold release that is on the carbon and will allow the glue to attach. Here I am using a scrap of cardboard to sand against. Keeps the plans nice and clean. Do not inhale the carbon dust, it is not healthy.

I like to have an old rag to wipe the parts clean. Otherwise that carbon dust will egt all over the place and make a mess. Don't forget to wipe the sandpaper clean too!

Lets test fit the carbon strips. If they are a little long, pull them out and sand them a bit shorter.

Slip the carbon all the way in and glue them in with a little thin CA. Wipe up any excess glue, top and bottom, it will save you sanding it off later!

Lay the outer pushrod housing over the plans and mark the length that goes through V1 and V2. Then sand this area for better glue adhesion.

I like to pin the parts to the plans. (We have built without pins, but it is a little more difficult.

Now slip in the pushrod outer housing that we sanded. It should be a snug fit.

 

[Wayne]

Add a pin at either end of the pushrod housing to secure the desired curve, and when all looks good drop in some thin CA and let it wick into the full length of the V1 and V2 joints. Again wipe up any extra glue on the top. Leave this pinned for a while to cure. Note: You do not need a lot of glue, and don't get glue in the end of the pushrod housing.

We can sand the top and bottom of the tail block. We want to remove the little steps on the top.

more soon..

 

[Wayne]

Building the Fuselage​

We start by running the pushrod housing through the T1 bulkhead. We have found that some of the housings on the pushrods are wider, and some are thinner. So you may need to drill the holes a bit larger in your bulkheads to allow the pushrod housing to slip through.

And we can slide the housing into position on the vertical tail. This should be a snug fit, but if too snug, a little light sanding of the balsa should make things easier. Otherwise a little patience and tapping should git it to fully seat and the alignment holes will line up. The bottom will be flush with the wood.

Locate these parts for B3 and assemble as shown, screwing the nut onto the screw and then pulling the nut into position. Then remove the screw.

Use a single drop of thin CA to secure the outer edge of the nut top the bulkhead. This is only used to keep the nut from falling out when mounting the wing. Don't get any glue on the threads.

Locate the servo tray and B2 and install the servo tray as shown. This should be a snug fit, but I found mine beyond snug and had to sand the tray a bit to allow it to slide in. In later kits this will be resolved. Pay attention to how the parts are oriented.

The tray will slide in until flush on the rear as shown.

Test fit all of the bulkheads onto a fuselage side paying attention to the correct pin placement as shown on the plans. Bulkhead pins are all towards the rear. Also note the plastic alignment pins below the vertical. More on those soon.

Now we can slide B2. B3 and B4 bulkheads onto the pushrod housing. It is easier to do now than later.

 

[Wayne]

Now lets place the vertical into position. Using the alignment pins. These pins set the tail at the correct angle. (The initial batch of kits has these holes a little oversized, just make sure the bottom of the vertical is aligned to the bottom of the side as shown.)

When aligned secure the front with a little thin CA. Only glue at the very front, we will glue the rest later.

Then dry fit all of the remaining bulkheads to the balsa side panel in prep for the next step.

Hey it's the next step already! Simply roll one bulkhead over and add some medium CA. Medium gives us more working time and stays where we want it. We are going to apply a bead of CA on just the flat that contact the balsa side.

And we do this for each bulkhead. Here is B2 about to go in. Just rotate it back around and align the pins. Hold until cured and onto the next. Do this for all fuselage bulkheads.

Hey it's starting to look like something!

Now is a great time to use some thin CA at all of the bulkhead joints including the tail mount to vertical. (You thought I forgot, didn't you?)

And now we can bring in the other side and do a dry fit. Do not glue.

And pick it up and sight down the fuselage.

If the tail is not centered down the bulkheads while pushing the new side into alignment with the bulkheads, take note as we will need to address this when we finally glue the back of the vertical to the fuselage sides.

Now we can lift up the rear and apply some medium CA to the plastic of the T1 and then align using the alignment pin and hold until cured.

 

[Wayne]

And repeat for remaining bulkheads. And admire! But we still have not glued the rear of the vertical to the fuselage sides. This allows for some fine tuning alignment.

Sight down the fuselage and check to make sure the vertical is not pointing left or right. If it does, slight pressure at the rear of the vertical should allow you to true this up to a perfect center. Due this and lock that position in with some thin CA where the side balsa contacts the rear of the vertical.

Its now time to play with some triangles! Locate the long and short triangle stock. The longer sticks go on the bottom, and the shorter ones will be cut and used on the top of the fuselage.

Lets start at the rear of the bottom. We need to do a little sanding to get a nice fit on the T2 bulkhead and the pushrod.

I'm sure you can do it neater than I did in this attempt.

And when you are happy secure with thin CA. I like to slowly work my way forward, aligning about an inch or two at a time, then some thin CA, and move forward again. Soon it is done, and you can do the other bottom traiangle stock the same way. Should look like this.

This is a great time to apply some thin CA from the top of the fuselage while we have easy access. Make sure to get a nice application of glue at all points of contact with the balsa sides and bulkheads.

Now we can do the top, but we need to make some cuts. Roughly cut what is needed for the rear of the fuselage as shown.

And we have to do a little sanding to get a nice fit to the T2 bulkhead again.

And cut short pieces from each remaining stick of triangle stock for the nose area. Do not cut both of these from the same stick, we need the longer lengths for the canopy very soon.

Oh very nice. We can let the extra hang over and sand it off in a bit. Secure these with thin CA.

 

[Wayne]

Lets do the bottom decking! Locate these parts.

Oh, I tricked you! We need to do a little sanding. If any of the triangle stock is sitting proud of the balsa sides, we want to sand them to be flush with the sides. It's also nice to get rid of any excess CA that will keep our decking some making good wood to wood contact.

And while we are at it, lets sand down the stock that is proud of the B1 Bulkhead.

And the canopy opening. Notice that we have sanded so the decking will make nice contact with the bulkheads.

Lets start at the bottom of the nose. The decking is a little oversized to make this step easy. Lets mark how far back our decking goes.

Remove the decking and apply medium CA to the line making sure to include all of the bulkheads in this area.

Amd place the decking and hold while it cures. The nose will need a little more attention due to the curvature of the decking. be sure to hold it to the B1 bulkhead until cured.

Same process for the rear. I used some tape to help hold it while curing. It is a good idea to have the tape ready to apply.

 

[Wayne]

For the top decking lets start at the rear. Locate the rear decking.

This decking only goes to the peak of the side balsa in this area. The trailing edge of the wing will cover this hole.

Notice that the decking at the rear is in alignment with the rear of the fuselage. Easy huh? Dry fit this.

Pivot the rear decking up and apply medium CA to the top of T1 bulkhead and the triangle stock.

Pivot rear decking back down and hold till glue is cured.

Apply thin CA to the rear most decking to secure to the balsa sides and vertical fin.

UPDATE - We are going to install this last bit of decking a little later, please ignore some of the photos that show this little decking in the nose installed.

You can wick thin CA around the B1 bulkhead. Be sure not to get into the canopy latch area as it could cause fitment issues for the canopy.

 

[Wayne]

Lets build a Canopy!​

Locate these items.

Dry fit the C1 and C3 bulkheads. Paying close attention to the correct orientation. All bulkheads should be fully seated against the side balsa.

Place a drop of thin CA at each pin location.

A test fit to the fuselage to confirm all is looking nice. Very minor balsa sanding may be needed due to the laser tabs. The C2 bulkhead can be slid into place if you like, but do not glue it.

Dry fit the top decking. Then remove and apply medium CA to the C1 bulkhead as shown. (only this small area)

And align the top decking and pinch the center of the decking down where we applied the glue. Hold till cured.

Glue and pinch for the rear canopy bulkhead. Hold till cured. Don't worry about the corners lifting.

Locate the remaining triangle stock. We will be sliding that into position on the canopy.

 

[Wayne]

Once all glue has dried, the triangle stock can be slid into place. Pressing triangle stock into the corner and shown and secure with a drop of thin CA on either side. Fully glue the triangle stock while holding it into the corners for tight contact.

The corners of the top decking can be pushed into the building board and secured with some thin CA. Minor warping is not an issue as the corners will be heavily sanded.

Locate the plywood doublers. These strengthen the fuselage and also provide alignment tabs for the canopy.

The plywood will align with the canopy opening as shown. Secure with thin CA. Us minimum amount of glue where the canopy will be sliding into. Let glue fully cure.

In this photo we have slid in the center canopy bulkhead. The position of the center bulkhead is not critical, but slide it forward until snug. You can test fit it onto the fuselage to see if you are at a good position to help hold the sides in the correct placement. Once happy secure everything on the canopy with thin CA and allow to cure. We are now ready to sand the inner edges to allow them to slide nicely over the plywood guides.Sand a little off and test fit to the fuselage. Do not sand away too much material.

You may need to do a little light sanding on the canopy to have a nice tight fit. you can also sand the tongue at the front of the canopy if needed, it should not need much (And now you can see why we want to install that nose decking last.)

Lets knock out this little piece on the top decking of the nose. Located on sheet 2. Attach with medium CA.

 

[Wayne]

Magnet Install​

Put a magnet on your knife or a screwdriver. This makes install much easier.

Push the magnet into the bulkhead mount and slide the knife away. Do not glue yet.

Install both magnets. Glue the lower magnet in position with a drop of thin CA.

Tear off a little corner of wax paper and place between the magnets. Make sure the canopy is lined up nice and tight and then set the upper magnet position with a drop of thin CA.

The fuselage is now ready for sanding.. We will tackle that soon.

 

[thenated0g]

Great instructions so far.

 

[Wayne]

Building the Glider Nose​

Sand any extra wood to be flush with the B1 bulkhead.

If you are building an electric you will skip the remaining steps.

Collect this sheet:

Pop out these parts and glue with thin CA.

If you have no plans to remove the nose from the glider, then you should glue this to bulkhead B1 aligning to the existing bolt holes. (Sorry no photo of this as I'm actually building an electric version this time around.)Thin CA will do the trick nicely. It can also be attached with some screws through the firewall a bit later in the build.)

Pop out the larger corners and lightly sand the tabs for a tight fit and glue in place with a drop or two of thin CA. Avoid getting CA on or near the curved surface as it will complicate sanding a bit later.

Repeat until full.

If you want to attach the nose with screws for easy electric conversion in the future, then sourcing some 3mm or so screws to attach the nose to the B1 bulkhead. You will need to make some threads into the nose block, and then unscrew and apply some thin CA into the threads and let that glue fully cure before reattaching. Or do as I have here and lightly tack with thin CA. One drop on each side should do the trick for now. Just need to hold it in place for sanding.

 

[Wayne]

Building the wing!​

The wing goes together pretty darn quick. First step, locate these parts:

Take the plastic filament and shove it into one of the holes as shown:

Using some wire cutters trim so about 3mm (1/8") tall. Repeat for all 4 holes. These are alignment pins for the assembly.

Test fit and make sure the two parts fully close. If they don't, trim the pins a bit shorter.

Once the parts fit, spread medium CA in contact areas.

And assemble, holding the parts together for a bit while the glue cures.

 

[Wayne]

Now is a great time to prep the aileron servos. Using a servo tester, or your radio system, make sure servos are centered.

Install servo arms as shown. If the arm is not properly aligned you can rotate the arm 90 degrees and see if that aligns correctly. One position will align correctly. Confirm that servos are still centered and arm look like this.

Use some clippers to cut of extra arms. We want them to look like the second picture below, one to the left, one to the right.

And install the little screw to secure the servo arms.

Now we can slide them into the center wing assembly. Note, you may need to do a little sanding in the main hole for the servo as this area is a little tricky for the 3D printing. Did I mention we like snug fits?
Please note the small white plastic spacers that are supplied with the servo hardware. Slide it onto the screw as shown and secure the servos.

Install both aileron servos and with no power applied to the servos, we can rotate the arms out of the way and secure the wires with a bit of tape to keep them out of harm's way.

 

[Wayne]

Locate the wood and carbon parts for the wings: (Only need one sheet of each for now.)

It is very important to sand the carbon fibers strips, top and bottom. Again avoid breathing the dust and clean up after you are done.

As you pop out the wood parts it is a very good idea to LIGHTLY sand them. HINT: The laser cutter leaves some brown toasting on the wood, if you are sanding that away, you are sanding too much. This will give us a nice tight fit and allow the glue to due its job. Glue works best when all joints are tight.

We start with the shear web.

The taller end of the shear web is designed to tooth into the bottom of the center wing assembly. Don't glue anything yet! We are going to assemble the wing before any gluing occurs.

Now we can place one of the carbon spar caps onto the bottom of the wing assembly and check the fit. All should be flush and tight. Slide the end to the center of the wing assembly. And place this assembly to the plans. Using some pins to hold in place.

Then place the ribs onto the spar. They simply drop into position. (Note from the future: It is a little easier if you also install the sub trailing edge, then install the ribs.)

And then we can slide the upper spar cap into the ribs. Note: sanding a slight taper onto the spar cap makes this easier.

Bring the upper spar cap to the center of the center wing assembly. Add the sub trailing edge and use some pins to hold things in place.

Now take your time and look at all spar to rib joints and make sure they are correctly aligned. The rib should be slotted onto the lower spar cap, and all wood joints should be tight. Make sure no wood scraps have snuck under the spar, etc.

 

[Wayne]

Please note how I am pressing down on the spar and the rear of the rib to make sure they are in full contact with the building board, the front of the rib will be slightly in the air.

At this point you can add a drop of thin CA to each rib at the spar shear web, apply at the top and let the drip run down the sherweb to the low spar cap. One drop is plenty! We can also press the spar cap into the center wing assembly and add some thin CA, allowing it to soak into the joint. And finally we and glue the trailing edge of the ribs onto the sub trailing edge. Again, a single drop is plenty.

NOTE: Extra glue will pool under the spar and make your life difficult a bit later when it is time to sand. Often times less glue is better than too much glue. We will be adding more glue a bit later.

Now we can carefuly apply a very small bead to thin CA to the lower shear web. Only a bit of glue should be needed as it will wick into the joint. You can see the glue joint on the right hand of this photo. Just enough to make full contact, but not enough to get onto the wax paper.

Set the leading edge into place. Make sure the leading edge is not above or below the front of the ribs and secure with a drop of thin CA.

Note: I built mine a little out of order, but we want to add the trailing edge reinforcements at this time. Locate Sheet #5:

Pop out the reinforcements and dry fit them into the wing. If it is not fitting correctly, flip it over, it should now drop right in.

Push each reinforcement down to the building board and secure with thin CA.

 

[Wayne]

We can now pop the wing from the building board and inspect the firment on the bottom and hopefully you have very little or no glue pools on the spar cap.

If you have no pooling, you have done very well and your life will be much easier as sanding out the CA pools for a smooth finish is not fun at all. I have two small pools in the photo above. I'll do better on the other side!

Lets glue the bottom spar onto the wing center joint with thin CA. Wipe up any extra before it cures.

And we now have great access to the spar caps we can glue the remaining spar cap to sherweb joints. Top and bottom, front and back. Wipe away any excess.

Cut off excess leading edge at the tip. Sand or cut the excess spar cap also.

 

[Wayne]

When building the other side of the wing I changed the order a little bit, and liked it.

Setup the bottom cap strip and shear web along with sub trailing edge per the plans.

Then install the ribs.

The upper cap strip slides in better with this approach. Either way will work, but this is a little less hassle.