NMPRA

Pulled the plugs out today. I have some voids in the surface coat, but there is work to do on these anyway.

There are unedited videos of applying the surface coat at:


And the unedited first layup at


I will edit those videos soon ... don't try to watch the entire videos of you will be bored to tears

I will have Part 4 - Taking the plugs out - edited an online by Tuesday.

These are my planned / proposed prices for the replacement fiberglass parts:

Fiberglass Cowl - $30
Fiberglass hatch $15 - with clear canopy - $20
Molded clear hatch - $15
Fiberglass Turtle deck - $15
Fiberglass Belly pan - $10
Fiberglass Wing fillets - $10
Fiberglass Wheel pants - $25

Raw video of taking the plugs out

This video shows the demolding of a couple of Club 40 canopies and the demolding of the Estrellita EF1 / Shark EF1 wing fillet male mold and the turtle deck male mold. The parts for the EF1 molds were made from were thin vacuum formed plastic pieces and removing the molds from them was a bit of a challenge. But if you take on a similar challenge, seeing how I did it may be of benefit.

https://youtu.be/xuiJ7Ofqhd8

Here are the Estrellita EF1 and Shark EF1 male molds that I have trimmed and ready to prep for mold making. There is some missing surface coat and I have to do some minor work on them before I can make the molds.
I was trying to get the EF1 molds made by the first of February , but I have 4 Quickies to build by then. 3 Screamer woodies and 1 Smasher with a conventional tail. No wings. But I will be busy building for a couple of weeks.

The Rivets Q40 male molds are baking at 80 degrees right now. I plan to start taking them out of the molds around noon.

I'm going to trim the EF1 cowl molds after I pull the Rivets molds. Hope to have those ready to join by bedtime.

Here are the cowl plugs after another trim. It's going to require some serious cut-off wheel work to get these ready to join.

I'm low on epoxy so I can't do any molds making until an order comes in.

But I have enough to work on the existing molds and some airplanes.

I'm also out of a lot of cloth. Right now about the only thing I have is some .7 and 5.8 soft drape and some 2 ounce that is hard and doesn't wet easily. I need to get more 1.4, 1.6, 2.1, 3.1, and 3.8 soft drape.

I made one belly pan using a layer of .7 and two layers of the 2 ounce with one layer on the bias.

The mold is on the left, then my piece, then a piece done by Greg Doe.

My piece weighs 23 grams and the edges are not perfect because I could not get the cloth to lay down. Greg's piece weighs 12 grams and is perfect.

So I have some work to do on keeping the weight down and getting good parts. Greg has been a great help and I'm sure I can get the layups better with his input. I did this one on my lunch break from work yesterday.

DonStegall wrote:The Estrellita and Shark EF1 cuts will be specific to the plane model. The wing and tail parts are different enough that it doesn't make since to have a single kit.

Here are the plans for the fuselage and the built-up wing.

I have additional photos of the wing building process as well as video. I will assemble them into a video to provide context and post it on RCPylon.TV as soon as I get a chance. The built-up wing assembly looks pretty straight forward and I think even I can do it.

I will have a set of the vacuum formed parts soon and I will start to make the molds when I have an airframe together to get the fit right and have support for the plastic parts.

Hello Don.

I may be commissioned to build one of these for a friend. Then, how shall I get the plans printed full-size? I assume open and copy to a memory card/stick, but then what instructions to provide to a printer shop (such as Staples)? Simply "print full-size?"

Thank you.

Tim

Are you going to try to cut parts by hand or buy a laser cut kit?

I will be including the plans in the thread with the kits. These I think I can provide via email in PDF format that you can take to FedEx Office, UPS Stores with large format printers, or other places with large format printers. I will check on what I'm able to do.

I do not have rights to publish the laser cutting files (if I even had them) that you would need to cut the parts out.

Carolina Custom Kits sells the kits at the moment. But with plastic parts. You can find them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/CarolinaCustomKits/

Thanks Don.

We have the parts. I just need the plans at this time. I was already provided a pdf of the fuse and wing, but apparently they are reduced because when I open the pdf to view, the resolution is poor. I printed one out on 8-1/2 x 11, but they are unreadable. So I don't think the pdf I was provided will work, so whatever pdf you can provide I assume would be different/better.

The images of the plans I opened several posts back in this thread seem to be quite clear, but I assume those are not printable?

If you can provide a pdf of a plan I can print full-size that would be great.

Thanks again.

Tim

Tim,

Send an email don.f.stegall@gmail.com ... I'll get you what you need.

Do you have the foam cores or the built up wing kit?

I should have fiberglass parts including a fiberglass hatch with or without a clear canopy around the first of March.

You'll see the progress here, and there will be videos.

There are some tricks to assembling the fuselage. I will be doing a fuselage build video soon. You need to figure out the plywood pieces and put those together first. I have some snapped together and I could do a quick unedited video taking them apart so you can see how they go together.

Don do you have fiberglass cowls ready for sale? I'm interested in some if you do. I know you said March but racing season is happening now in NorCal!

mcdracing wrote:Don do you have fiberglass cowls ready for sale? I'm interested in some if you do. I know you said March but racing season is happening now in NorCal!

mcdracing......Where....when?

mcdracing wrote:Don do you have fiberglass cowls ready for sale? I'm interested in some if you do. I know you said March but racing season is happening now in NorCal!

Wish I could help you out, but it's going to be March.

I'm glad it's a long weekend.

Estrellita EF1 / Shark EF1 - Making the Molds - Epoxy Filler Basics - Micro-balloons and Cab-o-sil

*** The video was corrupted while uploading to YouTube *** It will be updated later today as it was missing the good part ***

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E381eQxRJTo



This video is about preparing some plugs for the Estrellita EF1 / Shark EF1 pylon planes in preparation for making the female molds. It is also an Epoxy Filler Basics primer with Micro-balloons and Cab-o-sil to teach people how to use the epoxy fillers effectively.

*** The video was corrupted while uploading to YouTube *** It will be updated later today as it was missing the good part ***