The launch lug was glued on and fillets applied.
The body tube and glued in nose cone were shot with filler/primer and sanded to surface.
This is a BT-50 sized tube, I didn't have any D engine casings to fit on a painting wand dowel. I taped some cardboard around the 18mm engine casing already on the dowel wand.
This is the main wing after a spray of filler/primer.
On the right is after sanding. This kit had some good balsa, there was very little grain left to fill.
I had already filled all the balsa so the hinges will stick better than if it were rough wood.
I didn't see a reason for hinges on both sides. A double hinge is similar to the way you attach flaps to RC plane wings.
I decided to use just the single L hinges on one side of each wing.
With the thickness of doubled tape hinges you wouldn't be able to butt the edges together.
The wing pieces were taped down so I could concentrate on the hinge placement.
Again, lift and position the hinge with a blade to keep the (down) sticky side clean.
Set the center pencil line over the joint.
Note the hinge doesn't go all the way out to the sides, but a little short of the outside edges.
If you were to apply the hinges to bare unsealed balsa, you probably should use two hinges or one on each side. I filled and primered the fin and flaps so the sticky hinges will have a stronger hold.
Hinge tape on both sides will give you a hinge that won't try to peel away over time (and at odd angles) as the adhesive-backed paper of the original Gyroc did. It is common in small RC models which use tape hinges to do both sides....though following the Estes instructions exactly (well, the implied butting of the wing and flap against one another before applying the top tape yields a "gotcha". I wrote about this on YORF back in January: https://www.oldrocketforum.com/showthread.php?t=18282
ReplyDeleteI'd just repost here but I don't see how to post pictures in comments, and at least one is really needed here.
Hi Bernard,
DeleteI revised this post to explain why I only used a one side hinge. I went back and read your build posts. I could see where you could end up with a gap if both hinges were used.
After the build is done, I'm posting a follow-up with some of the information you posted on YORF.
I see now that you anticipated clearance issue (I also wish one could edit comments!) but there still is real value in doing both sides, I think.
ReplyDeletewhere can i get those without buying the whole tazz kit?
ReplyDeleteHi Lucas,
DeleteI would think clear plastic lamination sheets could be cut and used for a hinge like this.
My favorite hinge tape, which I use on small RC models as well as on the Tazz (after running into the “gotcha” that I mentioned above) is Scotch Multi-Task tape. It’s more durable than regular Scotch tape and also more tenacious. I have RC airplanes with Multi-Task tape hinges that are a decade old and still just fine.
ReplyDeleteChris’ suggestion of lamination sheets makes some sense as well.