Which 2-3 meter electro thermal glider for chilling out on a beautiful day?

[Wayne]

With flaps that can hit the ground it is common place to lift them just before the plane touches down. This is something I have always done, and never killed a flap servo. I will admit I got lucky a time or two when I threw the flaps down instead of up, or was a little slow on the up command, but I rarely use an X08 on flaps as most of my planes are larger, heavier slope gliders.

When I'm using music wire for a control surface linkage, I like to use a small enough wire that it can bow if it takes a sharp hit. Saves gears and hinges. I for sure like to do this on combat models. A slight "V" bent into the wire can also act as a simple spring, but for flap, the setup Konrad shows in pretty clean and I have seen it in action when he flew here at the shop and landed with full down flap. Thought for sure his servos would be dead, but then he showed off the spring.

It is optional for sure, but probably well worth the time and trouble.

 

[WimH]

I combed around https://www.rc-network.de/ but could not find the thread.. I know they have it there somewhere.

Probably here :

Django neon von Sansibear

Hallo. Der Djnago Classic und der Django EVO/NEON unterscheiden sich. Im Falle des Django Classic war/ist VP (Vladimir Papirnik) der Hersteller. Er hat sich das Modell mal ausgedacht. wir haben das Modell mit ihm zusammen in den vergangenen Jahren so weit fortentwickelt, daß wir als Hersteller...

www.rc-network.de

There is an instruction PDF (in German of course) in there : https://sansibear.de/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Sansibear-Django-Neon-Bauanleitung-v2.pdf
It is my favourite model , using it in F5J contests

 

[Aviphysics]

Hi Avi! Looking good! I meant to get you those build photos from the manufacturer over the weekend, but those were on my work computer. Check your email in a bit.

Received. Thank you!

 

[Aviphysics]

It is optional for sure, but probably well worth the time and trouble.

I have a bit of tube that might work. I will take a look at it.

 

[Aviphysics]

Hi Avi! Looking good! I meant to get you those build photos from the manufacturer over the weekend, but those were on my work computer. Check your email in a bit.

I didn't think to put the spars in the vertical stabilizer. I wonder how important that is, as I am not super enthusiastic about trying to add them now.

How far do you think they stick through the stabilizer?

 

[Aviphysics]

Probably here :

Django neon von Sansibear

Hallo. Der Djnago Classic und der Django EVO/NEON unterscheiden sich. Im Falle des Django Classic war/ist VP (Vladimir Papirnik) der Hersteller. Er hat sich das Modell mal ausgedacht. wir haben das Modell mit ihm zusammen in den vergangenen Jahren so weit fortentwickelt, daß wir als Hersteller...

www.rc-network.de

There is an instruction PDF (in German of course) in there : https://sansibear.de/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Sansibear-Django-Neon-Bauanleitung-v2.pdf
It is my favourite model , using it in F5J contests

Interesting. These instructions just attach the vertical stabilizer directly to the boom without a spar, so I guess it isn't strictly necessary.

The sansibar video of the new version does seem to have the vert stab spars though.

I wonder if those are just to ensure solid attachment. I think my stabilizer would probably fail before the epoxy. They used CA in those instructions, which I don't think I would trust as much.

 

[Wayne]

I'm not sure I understand what you are asking about.

Konrad points out that the vertical is a stressed skin structure and should be treated as such. This means the outer skin needs to be glued to the fuselage tube with a good epoxy and some cab-o-sil.

In looking at the pictures I think you are asking about the alignment pins? The carbon pins that exit the bottom of the vertical?

Did you already glue the vertical in place?

Photos of what you are doing will help us understand what you are referencing.

 

[Aviphysics]

I'm not sure I understand what you are asking about.

Konrad points out that the vertical is a stressed skin structure and should be treated as such. This means the outer skin needs to be glued to the fuselage tube with a good epoxy and some cab-o-sil.

In looking at the pictures I think you are asking about the alignment pins? The carbon pins that exit the bottom of the vertical?

Did you already glue the vertical in place?

Photos of what you are doing will help us understand what you are referencing.

I already attached the stabilizer to the tail. With care, I could probably remove it. I could probably also use a pin vice to drill through and add the pins without removing the stabilizer.

• In the build guide from WimH for the old Django they don't have any pins, so maybe they aren't necessary.
• If the pins aren't necessary for rigidity, I could just add a reinforcing bead of epoxy and call it good.

BTW, is the boom supposed to remain removable, or should it be epoxied to the fuselage?

Below is from the photos that Jarron sent me they put pins in the vertical stabilizer.

 

[MartinH]

Looks like a nice plane

I'd retro fit the pins by drilling from below, but I'm a belt and braces kind of person.

Martin

 

[Wayne]

No pins needed. You could actually make things worse by adding the pins as you could pull foam away from the skins.

Yes a reinforcing bead of epoxy will do the trick.

Yes, the boom gets glued to the fuselage.

Glue the fuselage nacelle to the fuselage tube: Roughen the bonding surfaces of the fuselage tube and nacelle. Apply epoxy to the bonding surfaces. Screw the wings onto the fuselage nacelle. Slide the fuselage tube onto the nacelle. Insert the control cables into the nacelle. Carefully rotate the fuselage tube to align the main wings precisely perpendicular to the horizontal stabilizer.

 

[Aviphysics]

Cool. Looks like the next thing on my list is finishing the holes for the servo connectors

 

[Aviphysics]

Finished the servo connector holes and made wing bags today.

After drilling a pilot hole, I used a bit of a jigsaw blade in a pin vice and a file to finish the hole.

 

[Aviphysics]

Screw head broke off while installing flap servo. Seemed like maybe a faulty screw.

Removed servo and used a fine soldering iron tip at 200C to work it out of the print. Just pulled it by the top of the screw through the side of the print while trying to do as little damage as possible.

Then used a larger flat tip to reform plastic, dropped servo back in, used pin vice drill to remake pilot hole, removed servo, wet hole with a little CA to fill any interior gaps/cracks, and put screw in to distribute CA and keep it from filling hole completely.

Reinstalled servo and seems good enough. Sorry, didn't grab any pics.

 

[Wayne]

Wow - interesting. This is the little mounting screw? very odd.

 

[Aviphysics]

Yeah. It was just one of the little mounting screws that came with the servo.

Everything is alright now. Nearly done with the build. It has been hard to find time where I can take up the whole dining table to mount wings to hold the plugs aligned while the epoxy cures. Same for attaching the tail. Finally got it done, so I'm in the home stretch.

BTW, for the wing connectors, I put the V+ on the outer pins, as I knew I had a 50:50 chance of getting the inner top/bottom pins mixed up. Worst case I would just have to flip the servo plug around.

 

[Aviphysics]

From Konrad:
Yes, the Bowden tubes are encapsulated in the slots after their location is found using the 5mm or 6mm servo arms. I’d like to see that there be an undercutting of the wing skin to allow the formation of an epoxy bead between the lower skin and servo well liner (servo mount). Also suggest that the flap push rods be manufactured with over ride springs.

Post in thread 'TopModel Samsara 3.2 meter glider, build thread on Aloft's Forum.'

Jun 5, 2019

Wow I just saw that Aloft has the Samsara on sale!!
Get it while you can! I see only one available! It is well worth the price just for the 1.8 meter fuselage.

TopModel Samsara

The Samsara is an excellent thermal ship that features a sleek and long carbon reinforced glass fuselage that is light yet strong with ample room for gear. A traditional built up, 3 piece balsa wing with D-tube does the heavy lifting. The full flying elev

alofthobbies.com

The override spring push rods worked so well, I thought I'd draw up in detail what they are and how they work.

All the best,
Konrad

P.S.
I wound the spring from 0.5mm music wire. Remember this is for the XO-8 servo. Larger geartrain servos might best be served with a spring made of a larger diameter wire.

• Konrad

There wasn't enough distance between the servo and the control horn to do this if you build as intended.

I decided to not worry about it until I break a servo and then I will decide what to do.

I could have gone with a smaller gauge wire too, but will save that concern for later too.

 

[Aviphysics]

@Wayne instead of making a springy link, what do you think about making a TPU control horn.

I could design it to be reasonably flexible and maybe even buckle at a designed load.

Edit: Maybe not buckling, which is could be catastrophic in flight, but I think that flexible/sprung control horn might be the way to go.

 

[Wayne]

Well, Konrad will give me all kinds of hate texts for this, but I wouldn't really mess with the spring link either. I'm a simple guy, some SMALL music wire with Z-bends at both ends is all the more I'd do. And then lift the flaps before touching down. Call me silly. Simple is also good.

 

[Aviphysics]

@Wayne do you guys have the right control links to fit these? The Dubro ones I have seem like a slightly different thread. I'm guessing it is a metric vs imperial thing.

I'm also thinking about clipping them and just doing z bends

 

[Wayne]

Yes, the MP Jet Clevis should do the trick.

Servo Linkage Parts

Aloft Hobbies offers top quality RC aircraft and radio gear with very reasonable pricing, fast shipping, and full service to backup our products. We are very loyal to our customers!

alofthobbies.com

I'm guessing those are 2mm threads, please confirm, if they are this is what I would suggest one of the plastic units down towards the bottom of the page. You can see they have different pin sizes. 1mm vs 1.6mm to fit your horns.