ElectroStreak build..

[retiredVTT]

Back in the day...some 30 odd years ago there were ElectroStreak kits that, although powered with a brushed motor, became popular enough that Great Planes Manufacturing, in later years, produced an ARF model with a fiberglas fuselage. It was a good design that when powered properly (meaning 150 watts per pound) would scoot from horizon to horizon while performing aerobatically.

Today, the ES has long been discontinued, but through the thoughtfullness of John Walker, a few of us are going to resurrect the ES with the electronics of today and see what we have.

When I looked at the plan for the ES the first thing noticed was the tapered wing with something like nine ribs of various sizes in each half. It turned out that while John had built an ES from a kit...and whereas most modellers would have discarded the balsa remains after punching out the many die-cut ribs...in his wisdom he had saved the balsa "blanks"..! Wow, this was a golden find...!

Once I had the balsa blanks, which are only 1/16" in thickness, I traced their outlines onto 1/8" lite ply with a very pointed pencil, cut these new "rib templates" out on a bandsaw, and sanded them carefully on a disc sander, and viola..I was able to fit each rib back into the balsa blanks perfectly. So now I had a very decent set of rib templates. That process only took roughly two hours of working outside on a sunny September day.

From there it was simple to trace the outline of these "rib templates" onto 1/16" balsa to create a nice set of accurate ES ribs.

Let the Fun begin..!

Bill

[retiredVTT]

A new set of 1/16" balsa ribs is produced by tracing the thicker rib templates.

Bill

[retiredVTT]

Next step was to mount the wing plan onto 6mm "peel -n stick" poster board ...this stuff is excellent at keeping the plan in place.

Bill

[retiredVTT]

Got a start on the wing tonight...using basswood for spars instead of balsa...

I had thought this would go quite well...but that thought went away when I got into attaching the LE and TE.
These pieces in the original kit were notched to fit the ends of the ribs, but they must also have had "feet" to keep them in proper alignment with the rib ends so you would not wind up with a wavy wing.
So with no "feet" attached to my LE and TE it was a constant battle to make sure that at least a reasonable alignment was being held.
A few more pieces such as webbing, etc, and I can remove it from the board, and hopefully sand the LE and TE to match the rib profile then pin it down again and attach the balsa sheeting.

I had forgotten that JW had also made me a complete copy of the original instruction booklet, so I'll get that out and maybe it will show what the original LE and TE were shaped like.

One thing about it, once the wing is built, the rest should be a cakewalk..! Oops..!

Bill

[retiredVTT]

..more progress,

..removed from the board to shape the top side of the leading and trailing edges, then got the respective sheeting and cap strips in place.
Next will be to do the same on the bottom side. Then I have the pleasure of doing it all over again, for the other half..!

Bill

[Entropist]

Looks great, Bill. I've been trying the Electrostreak in Real Flight. It flies nicely, but has smaller control surfaces than today's models and it looks like the sim version has a brushed motor. I'd expect a big boost in speed with the inrunner I've got ready. I'm thinking May 24 weekend or so, Canada Day at the very latest.

John

[retiredVTT]

Good to hear John, I'll work toward one of those dates as well...the 24th of May occurs on the 21st this year...well, you know what I mean..!
Oh, I see Easter Monday is the 9th of April...hummm!

More progress today...one half of the wing is now complete except for the aileron servo mount.

Tip of the day: when sanding the LE or TE of the wing to get it to match the height of the rib, run a couple lengths of masking tape the length of the wing on top of the ribs to protect them from your sanding block.

Bill

[retiredVTT]

Hey, I want to thank AC for his Xmas gift, delivered the afternoon of the 24th.

I am thrilled to see my Hyperion Extra in flight, every time I check my 2012 Calendar, hanging above my workbench..!

Bill

[retiredVTT]

..and then there were TWO...!

..more progress with the wing, now it's time to make two halves become a whole..!

Bill

[retiredVTT]

Since it's time to join the wing halves together...and since this is sort of an "old school build"...prior to the days of carbon fiber spars..it might be a good time to "pause and reflect'' on just what this model might fly like with today's power systems.

There are a couple of vids available on You Tube..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8S4YmZjzlc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7IK2-yikwE


Well, based on those vids...I better incorporate some cf hollow tubes within the wing joint, as well as do the fiberglas cloth wrap as suggested on the plan. One would not want to drop half a wing mid flight..!

Later Edit...cf not necessary...wing appears plenty strong even before 'glas wrap at center.


Bill