Hi everyone,

To get over the loss of my new Ugly Stick this Sunday, I needed to build something new.
But all these poor souls waiting on the shelf for their turn...

So decided to ressurect the Fantasia I’d crashed some years ago...

The Fantasia looked really beat up.
Improved a bit after a soap scrub.
Hinged back a broken off elevator half.
And repaired a clevis.

Repaired a clevis???

No alternative as all the clevises I have are bigger bore than this pushrod...

Drew up a complete new front end.

The motor mount will be ply, but for the rest of the structure, yet to decide between balsa, depron, styrofoam and glass.
Perhaps balsa for the motor box and backing plate to join up with the existing structure...

Motor box and backing plate

Made some progress...

Lots of dents and dings from crashes.
Filled some of them with Spackle.
But that stuff is 5 years old and may crack or come off.
Will check after 24 hours drying.

It was only after I had glassed the front end that I read on the internet that glass on foam will result in a surface like a golf ball. Found out that it’s true.

Two issues on which I need advice:

1. How to get a smooth finish on the fibreglassed areas

2. How to prepare high density styrofoam fuselage for repainting

Any help is much appreciated.

Try a water based wood putty on the foam

@sanjayrai55,

Thanks Rai saheb. Saw your post just now.
Coincidentally, found this very item on amazon an hour ago.
But delivery only on 26th. Didn’t want to wait that long, as flying planned for 24th.

Meanwhile, located the two part filler/sealer I’d bought long ago, but found that the hardner (liquid) had evaporated. So went to the same shop to get some, but it was closed for Ramzan.

Had already tried homemade gesso with and without tissue (napkin!)

Aah, life is tough!

So out came the two part microballon filled filleting epoxy compound that a friend had made for me last year.
I used to mix it 10:8 by eye, but doing it carefully by weight revealed that the hardener is much lighter, so a larger volume is required. Perhaps the microballoons are in it and not in the epoxy.

Waiting for the first trial to dry...

Regards
Iyer

That's good. Basically you need a non-reactive intermediate layer

Is that a Tiger Moth with RAF roundels?

Yes 

Found this for 50 bucks. Dried within an hour, and sands well.

Surface is getting better, though not as smooth as it would have been on balsa...

Front part with motor mount attached to the fuselage with epoxy.
Join line filled with filleting compound (microballoons in epoxy)

Next issue is how to get a neat join line for the removable cowl.

Couldn’t believe what I just found.

Same plane, same topic, same author.
TEN YEARS AGO!

Here’s a short video from that thread:



And the link to that thread for anyone curious enough...


http://www.rcindia.org/electric-planes/resurrection-of-fantasia/msg198920/#msg198920

To say the least, that is a really old plane. 😁

Here’s a pic of the plane after the 2013 crash.

Repaired and flown in 2014.

Can’t remember when the next crash happened. Probably 2014 or 2015.

And a pic of the current repair progress.

Like a phoenix, born from the ashes. The resurrection is coming along beautifully!

Here’s the short life history of the Fantasia’s 3rd incarnation

1. I was surprised at how well behaved a properly set up pattern model is. Butter smooth maiden, not a click of trim required.


2.. Flexed muscles a bit. A loop and a roll.


3. Wanted the local pro to check it out. He’s mode 1, so installed his Rx. All went well till the slow roll.
And then...


Well, that’s that.

Been on the wagon for more than a year, but losing two in a fortnight justified buying a bottle of Vodka on the way home

That's tragic. Well, vodka can settle stuff in a Russian way, (let us agree to disagree 😄) probably families of mig21 pilots used vodka too . The field is jinx, in my opinion.

Enough left for a third rebuild?

Third reconstruction for fourth incarnation is under way!

Two weeks gone by, just thinking about how to proceed!

Finally, some progress...

Will it be done by Saturday?

Nose is starting to take shape...

Looking very nice! you just sanded it?

Thanks sir.
Though not ‘just’ !
Balsa structure for holding motor, lipo and Esc, and cooling duct. And for the cowl.
Then clad with styrofoam. Wish I had some high density stuff. Instead, clad the styro with depron.
And then sanded.
Needed some effort to match fuselage front, cowl and spinner.

This time trying decoupage instead of glass!
The black strip is to spread the load farther back along the fuselage. It’s 0.5mm CF sheet I made last year...

Masked and sprayed.
Just about passable, methinks...

I doubt I’ll ever be able to get a good finish on foam.
The best I could manage was on my Gentle Sharkface.
With 37 micron lamination film on depron (not styrofoam) and a mistcoat of silver acrylic spray.

Very pretty. Wish you the best on the next flight.

Did you heat seal the lamination film on the depron?

The film and paint, how much weight did it add?

Thanks.
The Fantasia has no lamintion film.
In the previous rebuild, the front end was done in 18gsm glass cloth with finish cure epoxy.
This time decoupage!

The Sharkface has lamination film ironed on gently.
Film and spray added under 5gms.
Ready to fly with 360mah 2s lipo, it’s only 300gms.

I get 6 minutes using 50% capacity of the 360mah battery.
So avg current draw is 1.8amps.
So it flies on under 15 watts!

http://www.rcindia.org/gas-glow-nitro-planes/sharkface-undecided/msg320412/#msg320412

Motor sounded really rough.
Despite oiling the bearings, solid mount on 1/8” ply plus 1/4” balsa, and a balanced prop.
Perhaps the hollow nose area amplifies the sound.

So made some some dampers by punching holes in bits of inner tube...

Third rebuild completed.
Wearing pants for the first time in 15 years!

It isn’t over till it’s over!

Came out slightly tail heavy.
So moving the motor mount forward by 2cm.

Now there’s a gap to fill!

Sir, did you calculate the "2cm" by the bending moment or something like that. Do we calculate the tail moment arm using the weights of nose and tail. For example if we know the weight on the nose and the distance of nose from the cg and distances of weights from the same (cg) , then can we equate it to find out the tail moment arm if the weight of tail is already known to us.

Had done that for the Ugly Stick.

For this model I just happened to have 2cm wood harder than balsa.
Still needs about 20gms nose weight...