Build-Along-With Wonwing-The Westwings Beguine.

[wonwinglo]

We have a brand new model on the bench today,a vintage one as well the now obsolete Westwings Beguine ( you may still be able to find examples of this kit still around as Westwings are no longer in business ) this is an attractive high wing monoplane looking very similar to the Aeronca Champ aeroplane and it is a quality de luxe laser cut kit so we can dip straight into the box and start building.
First the plans were very tightly rolled so I reverse rolled them around a card tube and have then placed portions under my heavy building board,I always clip the plans into convenient sections so things can be pinned down to the board more easily.
A start on the wings first for a change and the trailing edge has a strip that is glued to the lower edge where the wing ribs will butt up to,this can be left overnight to dry out.



A pretty little high wing monoplane to enjoy at 42 inches convenient car sized to fly down the local field.





First impressions are the good quality wood in the box.



First task to start the wings by adding a strip to the trailing edge pieces where the wing ribs go,you can just see where the strip butts up to the leading part of the trailing edge pieces.

[wonwinglo]

The wing spars were joined up yesterday evening and this morning I made a start on assembling the port wing panel,everything fitted beautifully into the slots and soon a set of wing ribs were glued into place,I am building the wing as one piece with the pre glued spar rather than make two single wings and join them later I find this much better as the centre section is literally built within the two wing panels.
At first I thought the wing construction looked a little flimsy with no leading edge sheeting but then reminded myself that this is a lightweight flyer and does not require beefing up,I did add some additional gussets at the wing centre section joints front and back.
If the wings prove a little flexy for simple aerobatics then it will be a simple matter to add some lightweight wing struts.



The wing spar joiners are added and allowed to dry overnight,scrap balsa was added into the slots to line everything up,once set the spar was sanded and each rib slot run through with a warding file.



Spar joiners in place.



First wing panel laid down with balsa leading edge packing pieces in position.



Showing how the wing is being built as one with the centre section incorporated.

[wonwinglo]

The second wing panel has been laid down onto the board and the spar has been held down to work on it,you will now be able to understand my logic in building in one piece rather than two separate panels and attempting to line them up properly,next the centre section was added and here I have added extra gussets to give more glueing area,also looking ahead I have added two hardwood blocks to the outer wing spars for potential wing struts,struts are a lightweight way of adding lots of strength to a wing through triangulation.



Second wing under construction.



Wing centre section being added with additional gussets just visible.



Wing strut attachment blocks added should they be needed in the future to add additional wing struts.



Small weight holds the centre section down while the glue is setting,light sustained pressure when glueing is all that is needed.

[wonwinglo]

Time to sand and carve the wing,the leading edge was done with a razor plane and finished with flourpaper,the wingtips were bugging me and would not have looked right when covered so some depron infills have been tacked into place,these will be carefully sanded when properly dry to the shape of the wingtips so to avoid unsightly sagging of the covering material.
Parts to make up the tail surfaces have been pinned to the board prior to lots of shaping to section,two pieces of popsicle stick have been let into the elevator joins as this is a well known strength issue area on similar balanced overhanging elevators as they are vulnerable to being knocked.



The centre section top and bottom has been carefully sheeted with 1/16th balsa.



The wing after a sanding session,note leading edges carved and shaped nice and flush with the wing ribs,care has to be taken not to damage the rib leading edges with the sanding block,wingtips bevelled in.



Depron infills tacked into place on the wingtips prior to shaping and fine sanding,nice and light and will eventually have a good blending curvature at the wingtips,well worth the extra effort.



Time to join up the tail parts at the centre bridge spruce spar and cross grained end pieces have been added.



Small modification inserting slithers of popsicle sticks into where the cross grain occurs,a sure weak area from past experience on this kind of elevator.

[wonwinglo]

The tail parts have been sanded to aerofoil shape and now the tissue covering on them commenced,tissue lends itself nicely to the lightweight construction and above all is traditional.
A start has been made on the fuselage the instructions for which are very vague and it took a while to work out my own assembly sequence,a newcomer would struggle with this part as there is no set sequence mentioned,things could easily be forgotton and assembled the wrong way.
So this is the update so far in bringing this great model to completion.




My useful glass fibre tray which is ideal for taking small parts outside for sanding down.



The nicely contoured wingtips made from depron have been shaped/sanded and given a sealing coat ready to be covered.



Fixing into place the elevator and rudder horns.



The start of covering the tail surfaces with heavyweight tissue.



The piano wire undercarriage was worked out ( there was no drawing showing the shape ) and a bit of manual wrestling with a vice soon had it formed,the holes take stainless steel wire epoxied into place,the plan calls for cotton binding but I was unable to locate my threading needle ! the wire is much stronger.



First major formers in place in the drying stage,the slotted construction is excellent and jigs together nicely.



A new former was designed to take my chosen outrunner motor,two laminations of ply were fabricated into the new front motor former,there was plenty of scrap ply in the kit to do this.



New motor mount prior to laminating,there will be one hole for the motor shaft,motor is mounted radially.



Time to add the other side,the lower floor locks everything square and was taped together with masking tape while the glue sets overnight.

[SimonT]

Why two sets of wings Barry? Just in case of crashes?

Must have taken a bit of sanding to turn it into a cat shape

Depron? Looks like some kind of foam - not heard of it before

[wonwinglo]

Why two sets of wings Barry? Just in case of crashes?

Must have taken a bit of sanding to turn it into a cat shape

Depron? Looks like some kind of foam - not heard of it before

Thats a wing used for material testing nothing to do with the model here,Depron is what your pizza plates are made from,excellent lightweight material that sands nicely,you buy it in panels from under floor heating specialists.
Wherever I build Ollie follows by my building board,he takes over a corner for himself.

[wonwinglo]

In these pictures you see the fuselage taking shape,the construction is very clever and is designed for a straight warp free fuselage,radio trial installation is underway and fitted with two micro servos abreast,attention is being paid to cooling of the ESC Speed controller mounted lower in the fuselage,it looks like the battery pack will sit just under the centre of gravity and can be fed from underneath the fuselage via sone hatch.



The aft formers are added and the fuselage clamped up to cure out overnight.



Motor firewall with offset and downthrust built in carefully,sidethrust couteracts the torque of the motor and downthrust prevents power stalling.



Floor plate in position fits between the undercarriage.



Sitting pretty on its undercarriage.



Bench checking the wiring harness and fitting the servo connectors.



Working out the radio installation and the model now has a pair of wheels.



Control rods installed and working smoothly.



Building up the nose with balsa block a good drying session before the carving and sanding to shape.



Tail surfaces all covered and given a first coat of clear dope.

[wonwinglo]

Lots of covering,carving and finishing going on,details under each picture.



The starboard side is Litespan which was a disaster after carefully smoothing the surface down and pulling taught I applied the iron,it took ages to get the wrinkles out so I abandoned the litespan and went over to my favourite Ben Buckle heavyweight tissue,super stuff that goes on nicely and tightens up first with water then dope,I left the single panel of Litespan in place for the time being but reverted totally to tissue.



The offending wing,tightening reflexed the trailing edge which had to be massaged straight again,on reflection I should have extended the spar upward in line with the wing ribs to avoid the unsightly droop in the covering between the ribs,you live and learn kits are far from perfect.



Tail surfaces covered and cloth strip hinges added to one side.



Hinges completed,lovely and smooth with no slop unlike some mechanical hinges,this is old control line model technique and time honoured.



First coat of dope on the wings,acceptable but learned my lesson with that awful Litespan.



Tail and wing painted for overnight drying,rattle can silver and yellow.



It is too hot dad,mind if I use your nice cool workbench cutting mat.

[wonwinglo]

Part 2 as lots of pictures.



I decided to fit fairings to the undercarriage legs to stiffen them up.



Sitting pretty on her modified legs,spackling added to nose area after a good carving and sanding took place.



Spackling sanded smooth and the whole lot given a coat of De Luxe materials Sanding Sealer,a great product that replaces the old cellulose variety which used to crack after a time.



Decking tissued and doped up.



Drying in the sun with tail added and 10x5 inch electric propeller fitted .



Decided to leave underneath nose open for effective cooling straight through the fuselage,most important with electric flight models.

[wonwinglo]

Real model aeroplane dope used on this,technique is to allow it to flow on and settle out.

[scottie3158]

Barry,
Another great build. You will be able to see that coming for miles.

[flyjoe180]

Another great build Barry, looking good

[wonwinglo]

And in U.S Army colours today looking like a Grasshopper.

[Mickc1440]

That's one eye catching model