Alright, some new pics.
I've been very busy lately and unfortunately not just with the plane.
I've done a whole lot more work on the plane then is visible. To the naked eye, it might seem like all I did was glue the balsa skin on...
First I started by cutting leading edges of the profiles off and leaving a 2 cm long, about 1 cm wide strip on each profile, that I could glue the balsa leading edge on. Then I cut the holes into the leading edge balsa and made sure it fit across all profiles nicely. After I got that done for both wings, I glued on the balsa at the trailing edge, where the elevons will be. After that, I started gluing the balsa skin to the underside of both wings. When that was done came the hard part... the upper side of the wing. That was very difficult because the balsa had to be twisted across multiple profiles, sometimes very tightly... took a while before the glue settled enough for me to continue with the next strip of balsa...
After I glued on all the balsa skin for the wings, I started cutting the edges off so the leading edges would fit on. I then glued those on and then I needed to sand the top and bottom part of both wings, so the transitions between balsa strips were smooth. I also made the vertical stabilizers and rudders and I'll glue those on soon. After that, I started gluing the skin to the body. I haven't done the top and bottom parts because I need to work on the interior a bit and figure out how to do the landing gear. I want the front gear to be steerable and I also want the ability to drop gear after takeoff.
Also on the to-do list is the nose cone. I bought some 2 cm thick balsa that I will cut in and stack. I'm thinking of making a 6 cm thick nosecone, but might be 8. I'll draw the cone in paper and cut it out first. To prevent adding all that weight on, I will hollow out the balsa from the inside.
Also, I need to fully sand down the leading edges, so they're nice and round and not square.
After that, I need to finish gluing the top and bottom skin on and do a little bit of work on the back and some beauty stuff like making the cabin...
But for now, here are some pics:
So the total to-do list now is this:
- Sand down the remaining bumps in the wings.
- Sand down the leading edges.
- Make the nose cone.
- Finish sanding the left elevon.
- Glue on the vertical stabs, sand the edge of the wing into a nice shape.
- Make the landing gear.
- Finish the balsa skin on top and bottom.
- Make the cabin.
- Glue in the servo tray.
- Stick on the ailerons and rudders, make the connections.
- Wrap it all up in foil, give it a real DeltaGliderIV paint job
- Install electronics.
- Hope she flies, don't crash.