Fifty Six manual

Construction Manual www.oldschoolmodels.com Page 13
nStep 89 - Electric cooling scoop
If (and only if) you are powering
your Fifty Six with an electric power
system, we advise adding an air-
flow scoop to the bottom of the
fuselage, just behind the firewall.
Refer the photo for how we did it.
Simply mark and cut the bottom
sheeting on the three sides. Gently
lift the front edge and then fit two
small triangles to support the sides. You can cut the triangles from
scrap 3/32” balsa sheet.
nStep 90 - Electric air exits
If (and only if) you are powering your Fifty
Six with an electric power system, you’ll
also need to cut a few holes in the bottom
of the fuselage for the cooling air to exit.
We recommend this be down on the
underside of the fuse, in the area between F6 and F8. Refer the
photo as how we setup our prototypes.
nStep 91 - Electric firewall (optional top sheeting)
If (and only if) you are powering your Fifty Six with an electric power
system, you may want to add additional sheeting to cover the area
between F1 and the electric firewall you just installed. Although
we haven’t done this on our prototype to allow additional air for
cooling, it can be done. Just make sure to ONLY do this on the
top side, so the bottom is still open for airflow. You should have
enough scrap 3/32’ and 1/16” balsa from this sheeting, and layer it
to the height to match the top of the firewall.
nStep 92 - Tank / Battery compartment fuel proofing
If you're using a glow engine to power your Fifty Six, it is strongly
recommended that you fuel proof the inside of the battery
compartment. As you know, fuel has a nasty way of penetrating
wood, causing it to disintegrate over time. Spray (or brush) this on,
also remembering to protect the underside of the hatch and the
engine compartment (firewall and inside of the fuselage cheeks.
This completes assembly of the Fifty Six airframe. These next
few steps can be done in most any order - up until it's time to
cover.
nWing hold-down dowels.
Locate the two remaining lengths of 1/4” dowels. These are used
to create the attachment points for the wing’s rubber bands. Cut
these to length so that roughly 1”
will protrude from each side of
the fuselage’s outer sheeting.
Round both ends of each dowel
either by hand, or do it like I do
- chuck it up in a drill spin it like
a little lathe. Use sandpaper to
quickly round off one end, then
the other.
Then push these in place into the pre-cut holes in the fuselage
sides. Don’t glue these in place just yet as they’ll get in the way
when covering. But test fit them now, so you can see how they fit,
and how the wing looks like when it’s rubber banded in place.
Power system
Installing your power system of choice is up next. Here's a couple
photos showing sample electric and glow installations. Note that
these are suggestions only as your power system might vary from
what’s shown here.
Glow power
Mounting the engine is
a fairly simple thing. It
should mount upright
and use the thrust lines
on the fuselage plans as
a general guide. With the
nose gear block in place,
things are a little tight, so
plan this out before drilling
any holes. What you see in
our prototype is an O.S .30 mounted on a Dave Brown Products
engine mount (now available from Ohio Superstar as of the time
this manual was written). Other mounts will work just as well - use
what's best for you.
A 4 ounce tank works well and gives a nice flight time, although
you might be able to squeeze some 6 ounce tanks in. Again, plan
this out before committing to anything permanent.
Electric power
There's a lot of choices out there for
electric power, but we've reached
out to Innov8tive Designs for their
recommendations on power. You'll
see those on our website for both
their Cobra and BadAss brands.
What's pictured here is their Cobra
setup one of our prototypes.
Also, we're big believers in having an arming switch/plug when
using electric powerplants of this size. There's plenty of options out
there and it's something to think about. Remember, in case of an
accident, your fingers probably don't grow back!
nControl horns, servo & pushrod installation
Although you can install the servos and control hardware after covering
your Fifty Six, we find it easier to temporarily mount everything in
place before covering. This way you have unblocked access inside
the fuselage and wings to get
the servos, extensions, and
pushrods in place.
Shown in the following
photo if an example of servo
installation in one of the Fifty
Six prototypes. Glue TR3 strips
(from LP3 and LP5) where the
servos are mounted to thicken