Stearman construction continued......
(click on any picture for a larger view)
Here's the completed cowl/dummy engine assembly. Kyosho furnishes the pushrod tubing as well as the plug wires with the kit. You'll need to form the ingnition wire ring from the aluminum tubing and also drill the holes for the plug wires. The dummy engine was painted primer grey first then with regular modeling enamels. It was given a coat of Lustrecoat flat clear to fuelproof it. It is glued to the fiberglass cowl with CA. This is probably the most time consuming step in the whole build process.
The motor has been mounted and the Quik Fuel valve installed with the fuel lines run. I made a mounting bracket for the fuel valve from sheet aluminum. Also notice the beam mounts for the motor have been cut back. This is per the instructions and allows the fitting of the cowl and dummy engine. I also repositioned the throttle arm on the engine to allow me to route the throttle wire control rod.
Here's how to mark a location on the cowl for the fuel valve cut-out. After positioning the paper strip with tape it's folded back and the cowl is installed. Then just fold the paper strip back in position and mark the cut-out location on the cowl. Make your cuts and Voila! perfect cut-out. This method works for any type of cutout you need to make on a cowl. Although the fuel valve is a bit pricey it's a nice clean installation. All my other planes are set up with fuel valves so it makes fueling easier.
The completed installation. The muffler pipe needs to be installed after the cowl is initially placed on (but not firmly attached) this allows you to move the cowl around so the pipe can be screwed on. I did it this way rather than hacking up the cowl like they show you in the instruction book. It looks much better this way.
The control horns installed and linked up on the tail surfaces. I made the pushrods using the supplied method of wooden dowels with threaded rods attahed at each end. I've used this before in other ARF's (most notably EZ) and have never had a problem. All the control horns, mounting screws and clevises are provided in the kit.
Radio installed. I had no trouble installing standard sized servos in the location provided. The receiver and battery are wrapped in foam and placed in their location just ahead of the servos. The two leads you see are for the charge lead to the switch harness and the aileron extension. I added the balsa brace across to help keep things in place.
Kyosho also provides the rubber tubing to make the cockpit coaming. All you need to do is slit it down it's length, cut to size and glue in place. A very nice touch. I painted the interior area black and you can see the Rx switch on the forward cockpit floor. A pilot bust will go in the aft cockpit (alas Kyosho does not furnish a pilot with this plane).
The plane has entered the final assembly stage. Before attaching the top wing you'll need to cutout, paint and install the windscreens. These attach with (4) small screws each. They are a bit of a pain to locate but it's not that difficult. The top wing has the struts attached to it first then the wing is positioned by attaching the struts to the lower strut fittings. The holes for the cabane attach screws need to be drilled. Make sure before you drill them that you locate the hardwood mounts underneath. I used a pin to find them then drilled 1/16" holes and installed the furnished wood screws through the cabane mounting holes.. The plane is ready for the final decal/sticker placement. There are also some gear fairing covers that need to be cut out and glued in place where the landing gear meets the fuse. This is a nice touch and provides a finished look. I also checked the CG at the specified location (15mm aft of the lower wing leading edge) and the plane is a tad nose heavy, which is fine. Weight is also right on target per the model specs at 5.75lbs.
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What is a classic bipe like this without a pilot? The pilot I used is made by DGA. It's made from latex and requires assembly and painting.
On to the final product and the flight report...............
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