Arrow Build

[ADW 123]

after a few hours of work, the fuse on its way to being finished. i was dissapointed how some of the die cut formers fit, and one made my fuse look so dumb, i had to rip it out, and ill have to make a new one. ive avoided making a banana fuse on this one. it is so easy to make this thing crooked. the long fuse and flimsy halfs make it that way. overall, im pretty satisfied. also, the landing gear has been bent finished.















you can see here how the former wasnt fitting at all











ill remake the former and see what i can do in terms of mods to make it fit better. its hard to stick something like this together with white glue. took lots of ruber bands and waiting. i noticed that when i cut out cross formers from strip stock myself, they usually fit perfectly....

[ADW 123]

also, notice on the green background (in my work space) the fuse looks a little messed up (because it was). i managed to get the kinks out after removing the former.

[grinx76]

nice wire bend for the lg

what pliers do you use to make those nice, tight bends?

[ADW 123]

i use a smaller pair of needle nose pliers with a spring in it to hold it open, so its easier to use. ill get a pic of it if u want them. i also dont bend the wire with the tip of the needle nose pliers. i actually use the fatter end of it, o make the bend easier and cleaner/more accurate

[ADW 123]

fuse basically finished, and sanded. just have to add landing gear(if i do end up adding it at all) and a couple of stringers on the front side. total fuse weight at 8.3g

the wheels weighed 3.7g each, which beggs the question-- should i really add the landing gear on this??????

still need a decent target weight.....







you can see here my remaid former-- now fits snug on the fuse without deformations....

[supercruiser]

For a finished target weight, I would think that .6 grams/sq. in. wing area would make for decent flights. something around .4 gms/sq. in. would make a nice flier.
I know my units of measure are screwball but, thats how I do things.

What is the wing area of the Arrow?

[ADW 123]

wing area is aprox. 98" sq.

[ADW 123]

so if my math is correct, ( 50g/98"=.51) then, this thing should be about 50gs. idk... this kit wood is pretty heavy. but that still leaves the question about the landing gear. i could take off about 7-8gs off by just not adding it. the other thing was by the cockpit of this thing towards the back, it is generally week structure there, so i might add alittle more suport. last time i built this thing, when it crashed, the fuse ripped right in half right at the cockpit area....

[StefanJ]

I appreciate the detailed photos.

I just started work my own Arrow, and felt that the instructions for placing the fusalage cross members were kind of sparse. (It is possible that the detail is better on the flip-side of the instructions, but they are currently pinned down!)

[ADW 123]

StefanJ, you really need both sides of the plans for cross member placements. (i dont understand why they dont just put them on the same page to make life easier) i would put in the largest former as per the instructions, but just rubber band the tail sides together. it will make the tail adjustable if necessary, which is better than having to rip it apart. i then added the first former, and worked from the nose towards the tail. once you get to about B8 (cockpit head rest) you can glue the tail together, once u have made sure that the fuse isnt a bannana. its is VERY important that you constatly check all angles of the fuse/former (top, bottom, and side) to make sure everything is square and straight. i cant even stress enuff the importance of that. you might have notice that i had to remake a former becasue it was too small, which also might be necessary. this is another reason i work from the nost to tail on this one. i added the formers first, then crossmembers.

[StefanJ]

That's good advice.

My first build, a Cessna 180, almost ended up a banana. (Great term!) I ended up having to split the glued-together tail pieces and re-aligning. It's still not perfect, but you have to look hard to see the curve!

[ADW 123]

its just on this one esp, the fuse is so long its tough to get it perfect. if you wanna fly it, it needs to be straight....

[ADW 123]

got the wing finished up last night. i detailed the dehedral on this one-


here are where the instructions for dehedral were... just below the wing plans... someone asked a question about that...



you can see here how i proped up the left wing tip as per the plans. i did add a balsa block for some extra suport.


the block seen here


here im adding the stringers... note how i put my pins just next to the wtringers, to hold it tight so it would be nice and pretty.... then i do the repeat to the other side.


you can see here i put the stringers on, but DO NOT glue it to the center rib F1 quite yet.


had to make some mods for the wing... here the f5 rib didnt fit correctly in the back, so i just stuck a piece of 1/16" stringer in there and sanded it after it dried. most of the ribs if not all needed some sanding on the bottom so it would sit down right on the LE and TE.


here i add the dehedral in the right side, to make this thing a polyhedral wing... i also added a balsa block for some more suport. i then added the stringers, and glued them real well at the center rib f1



how pretty it looks after being lifted from the board:








after some sanding:



final weight of the wing:
[/img]

[grinx76]

thanks for the info and pics

did you sand the ribs with a sanding block or a thin emery board?

i am finding 1/2 of the ribs need to be built up or shaved to fit properly

[ADW 123]

just my trusty sanding block.