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XB-51 Dragon


Dandiego

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Some more basic construction. Adding more bulkheads and a wooden strip glued to the plastic keel to give rigidity. Lots of cutting and gluing and fitting everything together.

 

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8 bulkheads in all.

 

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Wooden stiffener super glued in place on both sides. Anyone who remembers my Banshee build will remember the wooden stiffeners, however this time I am reducing the scope of the wooden components to keep the weight down.

 

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Taped together to ensure correct alignment of major components.

 

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Tons more work to do  before I can even begin thinking about closing up the fuselage. I must figure out a way to mount the landing gear, support the engines and wings. Build the cockpit and detail the wheel wells. Should take a day or so.

 

Dan

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Ok, not much work happening, but a lot of pondering.

 

How will I be able to attach the wings, have a strong, stable attachment but have the wings be removable for transport.

 

I have an idea but it looks like I will have to build up the wing with any and all necessary supports before I can commit to internal fuselage construction. The same applies to the engine pods. So I transferred flap and slat locations to the upper surface of the wing. These will be cut out and whatever is left will be utilized to accept the wing support structure that will protrude from the side of the fuselage. No I don't have this entirely figured out yet, fingers crossed.

 

tkOMMOr.jpg

 

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Dan

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Starting to cut up the wings. 

 

I will be utilizing my basic construction method, upper wing, middle plastic blank and lower wing. These will all be glued together. I will also be adding some thin sheet metal to add strength and rigidity, I will then create a "pocket" inside the wing that a support from the fuselage will slide into. Clear?? If it is email me so that I can understand.

 

Wings will be incorporating dropped slats and flaps, provisions for the outrigger gear and a hot air exhaust at the very outboard tip. Piece of cake?!

 

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Small ailerons have not been cut out yet.

 

Dan

Edited by Dandiego
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Ok a little more basic work on the wings and engine pods.

 

First the wings. I have added some bulk to the trailing edge of the wing where the flaps will attach.

 

Sj3lPdF.jpg

 

And I have glued up the flaps. I have also beefed up the forward edge that will mate to the wing. And a little putty.

 

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Engines have had the inlet and exhaust opened up.

 

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Pylons have been beefed up to better serve as an attachment point to the fuselage.

 

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And finally I needed a tube to represent the interior of the pod. This is a plastic tube that used to hold pennies, just the right size.

 

4s4GhJd.jpg

 

Thats all, Dan

Edited by Dandiego
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14 hours ago, Dandiego said:

Thats all, Dan

 

That's plenty!

 

I love your approach to this; old-school model skills with plastic card, putty and lots of drawings. And yet it still comes out precise and sharp. Lots to learn here.

 

Great project, bringing something not well-known (not to say weird) to life.

 

Fun to follow!

 

Richard

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Coolness. My first 3d printed parts from my own 3d printer.

 

I used Tinkercad to design these and there is a definite learning curve to be able to get a workable design. These are very rough with no real detail, but.......

 

This is so cool.

 

spD8fO7.jpg

 

Each tire had a "raft". I have removed one of the rafts.

 

Dan

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Ok a little more 3D printing.

 

First image is the design of the parts on Tinkercad.

 

yEC747N.jpg

 

Next image is of the completed parts still sitting on the print stage. It only took me 15 minutes to design the parts and about 50 minutes to print. A little rough but should look good after cleanup and sanding.

 

BXLTb3W.jpg

 

3D printing opens up a lot of doors. Design of simple parts is fast. More complicated......another matter.

 

Dan

 

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