Cessna 180 Group Build

[BassettsAllSorts]

Hi Guys

Right I thought I would finish the construction tonight and with the help of Andrews tutorial I got the dihedral put in. That's been a great tip so thank you!!

I also sorted out the dihedral on the "flat" wing while I was at it so it is all sorted out now and it should all be consistent... Hopefully

Here is a picture of the whole lot



I'm have not got around to weighing the plane yet but I'll get that done soon.

Thanks again Andrew for all the tips and I'll wait to hear your tips about making the wing stronger.

I know what your saying about other commitments - I'm so busy with work and with the wife expecting its a busy time. At the same time I need to get cracking and build more before the new arrival comes!

Tom

[Phugoid]

T

[BassettsAllSorts]

Hi Andrew

No worries at all.

I agree these models are superb!!

I just weighed my fuse and it came in at 7 grams.

Can't wait to cover and see if she flies.

Tom

[MakMov]

DOH! stupid me cut the spar off flush at the root. ripped it out and got a new one setting now.

Have no idea what I was thinking. complete brain fade.

So I am a little futher behind than I though I would be. Did get the horizontal stab mocked up. Can't tell if you are supposed to use the same TE stock as the main wing or something smaller.

[BassettsAllSorts]

DOH! stupid me cut the spar off flush at the root. ripped it out and got a new one setting now.

Have no idea what I was thinking. complete brain fade.

So I am a little futher behind than I though I would be. Did get the horizontal stab mocked up. Can't tell if you are supposed to use the same TE stock as the main wing or something smaller.

I seem to get that brain fade quite a lot building these planes.

I'm the same with the stabilisers for the wings. I didn't get enough stringers so I had to cut manually the last two on the thicker sheet of the stock wood to complete the fuse if that makes sense. It happened to me on the Super Cub too but I had enough for the stabs on that plane.

I had no wastage on the wing TE stock and stringer wood etc but the stabs are not quite long enough! Will I get away with gluing extra wing stock to make them the correct size or will that be so weak that it snaps off on landing. I have a feeling its the latter! I may need to source some balsa!

Oh and mu fuse weighed 7 grams without the nose cone or wheels.

Tom

[BassettsAllSorts]

Oh and sorry I cannot remember what wood I used for the horizontal stabiliser. I did that at the very beginning.

Tom

[MakMov]

I was running low on some wood too, so I used the bigger stuff on the H stab, and actually had to make some of the V stab from scrap balsa.

Nevertheless, my basic airframe is complete.

[BassettsAllSorts]

Good stuff that the airframe is complete.

I need to sand the frames and get ready for covering but it is looking like I won't get to a model shop to get some blue tissue paper for covering. I might just go for an all yellow cessna although it would be good to do it to the drawing on the front of the box.

I'm quite liking the idea of a banana cessna though!

Still not sure what to do about the stabilisers on the wings I can fit them but they wont be at the bottom of the side fuse section like the plans (About half a centimetre or possibly more up).

Tom

[MakMov]

How did that happen?

Another pitfall?

Yellow is not really a Cessna color, but I do like yellow.

I have virtually every color tissue under the sun, now.

Never flew a 180 but the 152 I flew was white and green N4777H

[BassettsAllSorts]

Hi Makmov

I'm not sure really as I said earlier there was not enough stringer wood for the fuse so I used a thicker piece of wood that was on the strip stock. This happened to me on the cub and I figured it was a manufacturing fault so I cut it in half with a ruler. Once cut they were the exact size of the stringers I needed so I thought that was that.

I figured that I would use the left overs from the TE wood for the supports but they are not quite the right size!

Its more likely a mistake that I have made (As always) I saw that Andrew used scrap balsa and smaller wood stringers to cover the same problem. I'll know that for next time.

I'm sure there is a way round it I'll just have to get my thinking hat on!

Tom

[BassettsAllSorts]

Oh and that plane looks great!!

Covering the plane on the fuse with those colours could be rather difficult!

[Phugoid]

[MakMov]

I figured that I would just sand away anything that seems like excess

[BassettsAllSorts]

The traling edges of the stab are meant to be 3/16" and are narrower than on the plan, I chose the inner lines and haven't worried about 1/32" ish "missing bit"

The wing struts are meant to be 1/4" I think, but will end up being 3/16" on mine, as the two pieces of 1/4" I have left are too short. I was trying to think of some imaginitive way of covering up for my mistake of not cutting the wood economically - "saving weight" seemed a good one, what do you think - will it wash?

Whether it washes or not I might use the same excuse

[cutter]

Thanks to everyone who took the time to weigh their fuselage. Looks like we are all around 7 grams.
Mine is 7.1 guess I need to sand some more.
Adam