High Quality Plan Sets and Laser Cut Partial Kits for Radio Control
Aircraft
Simplex 60 Construction Notes
Page 6
Details of the
connections at the tail. Control horns are made of carbon fiber but
I recommend G10/FR4 (circuit board material is similar) as it is easier to
work the material. Since
I built this one I have shifted to using a double loop of fine beading
wire as it is easier to twist. In order to get the surfaces in a
neutral position power up the radio and with
trims and sub trims set to zero alternately tighten the loops until
the surfaces are faired and there is good tension on the Kevlar.
Once the tension is right a second single loop of
wire is installed for redundancy. The
knots on
the Kevlar are multiple square loops which are secured with a small drop
of CA. Wick the excess CA off
with a paper towel so it doesn't travel down the
string.
The hinges were installed by routing in to the moving surface where the pin needed to be installed and
gluing in steel pins in with thick CA and accelerator. Then the area was filled out with
balsa and sanded to a round
shape to match the rest of the surface. After
the surfaces were covered the rudder and elevator
were mounted by installing the
non-moving hinge parts in the stabilizers with thick CA. Templates for the
control horns and hinge parts are on the plan.
Rudder is hinged by a
steel pin in the bottom and a small Robart hinge visible near the top of
the rudder. Align all hinges so the center of rotation is the middle of the radius sanded in
to the moving surface. Small gaps between sufaces are achieved this
way and the gap is the same no matter what angle the moving surface takes.
Detail of the sub fin. A strip of balsa
is glued on the inside of the bottom arc of the cut out to
strengthen the area with poor grain direction. Plywood is
glued to the bottom as a skid. This tail section is removable by
taking out two screws that are inside the subfin, reachable with a small
allen wrench. The nylon clevises
allow for disconnecting the control circuits for tail removal.
