I didn't get the rudder controls built this week. So we
started the night by cutting holes under the horizontal for the elevator
controls so the servo could be placed forward of the tail section.. Our
original plan was to mount the tail servos inside the side crew door. But
after talking to Randy Linderman over the week-end we have decided to move
the tail servos further forward to right behind the wing. Randy Linderman
has already build a B17 and his was soo tail heavy that 7 pounds of lead was
needed to balance it.
We moved on forward to the navigator station and cut in the side windows,
overhead window, and his rear facing gun window. The gun window needed a
balsa frame work. Our decision was to form a foam block and sheet the foam
with balsa. Next week we will cutout most of the foam to create the opening
for the window. But for tonight this allowed us go get our "lines right".
--
Gary Himes
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Tonight's work actually started last Saturday. Gary had
found some heavy wall tubing and took it to Larry Johnson of Action Arms
Inc. to be machined down to thin wall tubing. Thin wall tubing of the
correct inner diameter could not be found so Larry volunteered his services
on a metal lathe. Thank You very much Larry!
Today after work the metal parts were delivered to Rick and he brazed them
together. Now we were ready for tonight's work!
The control rod was cut to approximate length, then fitted into the bottom
of the rudder. Once we were happy with the fit, the top portion of the
control was permanently mounted to the rudder. Necessary oval hole was cut
into the fuse at the bottom of the rudder. A delrin support bracket was
made to support the bottom portion of the control assembly.
Meanwhile up at the navigator's gun window work was being done. The window
was cut to shape and transferred to the fuse. The wood and foam were
removed as necessary then 1/32" balsa was used to "line" the inside surface
and cover the remaining foam.
Attention was now totally given back to the rudder controls. After much
active discussion the decision not to decide was made. We are confused
whether to run the rudder pull pull cables low in the fuse or higher with
the elevator push rods. We will decide next week after we make up elevator
push rods and install them. We are running one servo for each elevator and
one for the rudder. We did decide to move the servo locations all the way
forward to at least the rear of the wing area. We then called it a night.
--
Gary Himes
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