Speed 400
Cloudster Project
This morning I had a few final details to finish
up before performing the final weight and balance on the Cloudster. The
first task involved gluing the wing's forward plywood hold down plate into
the slot in the wing as shown below.
The rudder and elevator .032" piano wire push
rods were inserted through the yellow sheath guides and threaded brass
couplers were soldered onto the ends of the wires as shown below.
The model was completely assembled and placed on
the AccuLab scales as shown below. The gross weight of the model was 437
grams (15.41 oz) as shown below. The balance point was still just slightly
forward of the CG.
The minimum weight requirement for the SAM Speed
400 event is 16 ounces, which 453.60 grams. Therefore a ballast weight of
454-437 = 17 grams must be added to the Cloudster. A retainer for the
ballast weight shown below was made using a 3/32" plywood plate and a 2-56
cap screw and washer. This was designed to fit under the two 1/16" plywood
servo rails and utilizes a stop against the forward rail and a center
spacer.
Three 1/4 oz segments of the Great Planes ballast
lead weights was trimmed and drilled so that the weight including
the plywood retainer, screw, and washer was 17 grams as shown below.
The ballast weight assembly was
carefully positioned on the two servo rails between the two servos and
screwed down tight as shown below. The weight's aft position put the balance
point right on the desired CG.
For confirmation, the finished model, including
the ballast weight, was again weighed on the AccuLab scales as shown below.
The Cloudster weighs exactly 454 grams (16.01 oz) and is perfectly balanced.
I took the final six pictures of the finished
Cloudster for you to see below.
Right Side View
Left Top View
Right Frontal View
Top View
Left Rear View
Left Frontal View.
As this construction project draws to a close
tonight, this is the 92nd and final Cloudster's construction report. I began
this Speed 400 project on October 27, 2009, over five months ago and
completed it this evening. I truly hope you have enjoyed my efforts on this
project as much as I have sharing them with you. There will be one more
follow up report later on in the spring after the weather gets good to
present the results of the Cloudster's flight testing. So for now, good
night and goodbye............................Tandy