Looking good man, I've never saw one of these or anything with a folding wing in person. But I really like the idea of having one. Could you show how the wings and struts mount up? O and did you sell that belite yet?
The factory fiberglass leading edge is so much easier to build then Steve’s, but I do love how my Highlander rolls with his mod. I don’t think there is clearance to put an aileron gap seal on since they are differential.
It was a little more work to figure out the aluminum aileron leading edge, but I think it will be worth it. At some point in a future video I will go over my ideas for the flap and aileron seals. I have seen them done a few different ways on highlanders.
I was wondering if you were still building this thing. :) Honestly, the lack of plans is a major detractor that makes me think twice about going with JUST. I don't doubt they are excellent planes (lots of flying proof), but the build process needs to be enjoyable, not frustrating or full of second guessing.
There really isn't that many things that are very complicated in this build to require plans. Especially if you get the quick build kit with the wings, flaps, and ailerons already made at the factory. It would help out to have better pictures in the build manual or some diagrams. I am adding a lot of complexity to my build by extending the wing and flaps, choosing different hinge points for flaps and ailerons because of the extensions, adding an aluminum altered leading edge to the aileron, installing a wing leading edge cuff, and so on.
About how to glue and how can you explain in a separate video? How is the aluminum alloy of the pipe processed, what is the grain size of the abrasive, can it be used with charred edges of plywood from laser cutting, how then to protect aluminum parts from corrosion? Very interesting. Machine translation, sorry.
Great questions, I can cover all of those in the next video and give you the short answer in this reply. The glue I use is a 2 part structural epoxy made by 3M. I use this to attach aluminum, steel, and wood parts together. It also creates a barrier between the wood and steel or wood and aluminum to prevent corrosion. The metal parts are roughed up with emery cloth ( I use something like 150 grit) and cleaned with acetone or MEK before bonding. The wood parts are touched up with sandpaper ( to create a smooth/flat bonding surface) and blown off with compressed air before bonding. This airplane does not have laser cut parts but it would probably be best to clean off any loose charring from the laser cut before bonding. I build a lot of wood model airplanes that have laser cut parts, and they are usually cleaner and need less prep work for gluing than mechanically cut parts. The steel parts (4130 chromoly) on this aircraft are painted with a 2 part epoxy primer then a 2 part top coat to protect from rust and corrosion. Most of the aluminum parts (mostly 6061 and 2024) are left unpainted, I make sure they are clean and free of corrosion before they get covered. If they are dirty or have a small amount of corrosion I touch them up with a 3M scotch pad (the red type I like best for aluminum).
