Cosmic Wind from Sterling

The Cosmic Wind build project continues:





I was busy with other stuff and traveling on business, plus I build this beautiful and uniquely rare plane with extra attention as I want this to be a lasting one...checking all pieces before gluing in, whether reinforcement is needed, the fuel tank compartment already sealed with a special glue to prevent soaking by castor, the fuse nose will also get some thin glue sealing...most of my R/C planes grow old with castor finding its way through the monokote cover and soak balsa...not only unesthetical but making the plane nose-heavy..



As written earlier, I modified the stock firewall to accommodate all 3 engine options, with only 6 different mounting hole locations for the 3 engine mounts: My TeeDeeReedie, TeeDee049 and a never-run TeeDee09 I just bought from a Swiss ebayer, who was kind enough to put in the package a 1938 Model Airplane News too, printed in the USA...lots of interesting historical stuff in there, including a report written by an American modeler Frank Zaic about his visit to a German model airplane flying contest...all on the doorsteps of WWII...the remarks by the American about the military uniform of his host ( a military officer) and the German modeler kids wore are still elegantly reserved and polite but already foreshadowing that Germany, even through training kids on aviation, was already planning for 1939...

More to come (on the Cosmic Wind) soon...

I am almost done with my Cosmic Wind, only have to mount the balloon tank inside, otherwise it is airworthy. A beautifully shaped plane, probably the nicest I have ever put my hands on.

With a TD049, receiver, battery and all radio equipment it weighs dry 420 grams i.e. 14 ounces. My last homemade bird the Canary weighed a bit more if I correctly remember, and the 049 Reedie I put in that drove it like hell (I posted a vid on youtube then on CEF too.)

The Cosmic Wind  was originally designed for 049-015 size engines, the smallest being a Babe Bee. Seems to be a strangely wide performance range. I assume if it flies well with a Reedie, the TD-s must go ballistic with it...

Because, as planned, I modified the firewall to accomodate a wide variety of my engines:

1. With the TeeDeeReedie 049.


2. With the Tee Dee 049


3. And with Big Brother Tee Dee 09


(This looks really brutal in reality.....)

I will maiden it probably with #1 or #2 and Big Brother will only come on board after I have trimmed the bird. I built it for 3 channels R/C (elevator, rudder, and throttle, the latter yet to be added)

Unfortunately the factory decals have aged so much that when I moistened one and tried to apply it on the wing, the figures on the decal broke up to pieces.

Anyone has an idea how to revive 50+ years old decals?

That's a beauty! Well done!

balogh wrote:
Anyone has an idea how to revive 50+ years old decals?

Scan and reprint... That way they can be reproduced too if someone wants to restore one.

Thanks Kari that is a good one for archiving the design. But it still needs further technology to produce the sticker type decal,that I miss.

Thanks, Lieven,

that is a great idea, I have never heard about that vynil sticker stuff feasible for office copier use...my question is whether the toner used in copiers and the vynil sheet itself  tolerate nitro or not?

The fender of my car is covered with a plastic foil (Stoneshield, if you know the brand) and sometimes the fuel from my plane exhaust splashes on it.. ( I fly my planes in an open field with rudimentary conditions, no table etc. to put my plane and gear on, I start the engine just next to the car...) .the nitro turns the foil totally mat and blurred.

I will look around in some stationery shops here and check the availability..

Great ! I am a bit puzzled with the engine, looks to be a TD 051 but I only see one crankcase for the 2 cylinders...

COX Two-Dee 051...

Andres the plane is looking really good there buddy , the .09 looks more in proportion to scale than the others . The decals i have made from home needed a fuel proffer sprayed on them to keep in tack after applying to airplane . Is that monakote and what is the color white?

Thanks, Eric,

I just remade the decals in a Word file and printed them on the sticker sheet as Lieven advised. I found the material in a Office Depot nearby.
The sticker material is said to be oil-proof (though nitro is a really aggressive rascal when it comes to destroying plastic surface brightness).

I will test the decals in fuel before I apply them on the plane.

The material I used to cover the plane is monocote, it is a light beige color, translucent and a bit heavier than normal coating materials are. I have planes that have been soaking in castor for years, made emergency landings in bushes, and the coating is still intact. A strong coating, I built this plane to last.

With the decals I made I hope to make it a bit more vivid in color than the light beige alone.

I agree the 09 looks on it really cool and because of its sheer power I expect it to pull the plane through the roof.

Yet, I will try it with the reedie and TD049...I have a bunch of engines that I want to use and am too lazy to build a plane for each of them...

Hello Balogh, the model is very nice, very delicate, I really like. I hope to see you soon in some video in midair !.
Regarding stickers printed on photo paper, comes an aerosol of a clear lacquer or varnish to protect, I have not used yet, but I am interested to see how good ?!

I still do not get in my country, but maybe you can get .....

Thanks, Mauricio,

I tested the home-made decal, and the results are as follows:

1. The laser printed letters are damaged by fresh fuel including 20% nitro (my standard blend) but the plastic foil itself remains intact.
2. The castor, left behind after the methanol and nitro evaporate, does not damage the letters. So in principle, if you place the decals on the plane, far from the exhaust gases where nitro is not, or no longer present (like wingtips, rudder etc.) , chances are your decal will survive without damage.
3. I have some colorless acrylic spray varnish that I have just applied on the decal surface, and will test it in nitro-rich fuel once it has dried. (Maybe the varnish covers the letters well and its thinner itself does not damage them , but the dried varnish maybe destroyed in nitro so we are back to square zero with this varnish again...time will tell.) More to come on this later.

András

The acrylic varnish seems to work. I have applied 2 layers on the decal sheet before cutting out the letters. Here are a couple of photos. The COX Powered emblem is also my replica of Bernie's decals. This is the only decal in the main stream of exhaust gases near the engine. I hope the acrylic varnish will protect it.

OVERLORD wrote:That's just the DB's. I hope everything will stay on!

Thanks Lieven (BTW what do you mean by DB-s?)

Here's my guess of what Lieven meant:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Dog's%20Bollocks

And my opinion:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Bee%27s+Knees

Slang expressions are brill, but a non-native like myself, must tread with care. A!

OVERLORD wrote:Indeed, there's also "the cat's wiskhers"

The Cats A$$ here, for at least 30 years for me.
Bob

KariFS wrote:It would be great if you would trace the parts on paper before assembling the model. Outerzone has the plan but no patterns of the parts. Easiest way to do this would be to trace them with a pen on ordinary copy paper and then scan the sheets into a PDF.

Also if you should ever need to make new parts, it is easy to print the required sheets out on a laser printer, put them face down on balsa sheet and then with a hot iron transfer the outlines on the balsa. It's like magic

Making replacement cowls wheel pants and other cosmetic parts is easier (provided one is not after 100% accuracy) than trying to figure out the shapes and dimensions of parts not shown on the plan.

I second the motion.

If you still have the sheets that the ribs and formers were punched from, that is even better. If you can them, or at least trace the outlines and send to Steve at outerzone.co.uk, there would many who would be in debt to you for preserving yet another classic model.

I have a couple of kits right now I bought just to scan the plans and send to Steve. He has a couple of plans online that don't have ribs/formers that, again, I bought the kits for so we can capture the ribs/formers. If you really want, I would pay to ship the remnant balsa pieces to me and I'll do the work.

You're doing an excellent job with the build, too. He'd love photos to post when you're finished...

Cheers - Poughkeepsie Pete

I love it!

I am a sucker for a natural finish.

Thanks to you all. I copied the outline of ribs and still have the sheets for the formers. But the good news is I found and bought another one on eBay which the seller said is complete except the plastic parts. Once I get it I will copy all precut parts and send it to you whoever wants. I could not agree more the Cosmic Wind is a beautiful plane.Chances are I will maiden it this weekend and post vids weather permitting.