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Author Topic: Andy's - Bell 206 JetRanger build.  (Read 13741 times)

Andy M

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Andy's - Bell 206 JetRanger build.
« on: January 12, 2020, 07:51:11 pm »

As my Sea Knight is mostly finished and I can return to do more work on it any time, I have already started my new project, another quadcopter powered helicopter, anybody got any idea what it is?
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TailUK

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Re: Andy's - Bell 206 JetRanger build.
« Reply #1 on: January 13, 2020, 09:13:52 am »

Long round section tail boom! Could be a Russian Mil 8?
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Andy M

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Re: Andy's - Bell 206 JetRanger build.
« Reply #2 on: January 13, 2020, 09:40:10 am »

Nope. I was going to do a cobra, but again, finding decent drawings was a problem. I was worried about rolling 1/32 balsa on a tight tube like this but it turned out not bad, I did the sheeting in two parts. Superglue to do the first bit of each and woodglue and pins to close it up. And well wetted balsa of course.
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Andy M

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Re: Andy's - Bell 206 JetRanger build.
« Reply #3 on: January 13, 2020, 03:02:53 pm »

Mil 8 looks nice right enough, need to add it to my list. Hoping to do a cobra as soon as I find decent drawings, at 1/19 scale to match the seaknight, it is about the same length. Also thought about doing skycrane at same scale, it comes out at  45 inches compared to 28 inch for seaknight, getting it within my weight limits would be a challenge tho. I built a skycrane for walkera 5#8 co ax helicopter, it flew but the rotor wash made the body wobble a bit. Sold to someone in germany. I have the video of it on my youtube channel. It ended up within my weight limit for the heli. The skycrane is pretty spindly so might manage 45 inch version within weight limit for my quad setup. The never ending build list. :-)
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Andy M

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Re: Andy's - Bell 206 JetRanger build.
« Reply #4 on: January 13, 2020, 05:55:26 pm »

Some amongst you may be wondering why I started building the tailboom first, main reason was that I wasnt that confident of managing to get 1/32 balsa round the thin end of the boom,which is 18mm diameter, without the balsa splitting. The rest of the helicopter body is even more challenging, with compound curves everywhere. So I picked the eaaier option. It also spurs me on to do the rest of the working out on how I am going to build the fuselage. I have got decent drawings this time and a reasonable bodyshell to copy from a cheap co ax heli, it ate one of its motors after about 10mins of first flying it, after buying 2 more sets of motors, I found out that 10mins is actually the longest I got from a motor! Ah well the bodyshell is good, my balsa one is going to be 3 times the size at 3 feet, so scaling up is easy. Building as light as I can, I hope to have the weight of the bare bodyshell with no motors, receiver or battery around the 200g mark. A bit of a challenge but I have managed to build the tailboom, horizontal stabilisers and fin at 20g. I have still to refine the sanding, which will take a small amount off this, then painting will put more on. Its promising. Undercarriage and glazing will add a fair bit, more paint. I need to keep it really light from the start as there are so many bits I cant lose weight on, I already made my first mistake with the tailboom, its formers are 2 layers of 1/32 glued together with grain running 90 degrees to each other forming superlight ply that you can cut into without it flaking off. There are seven formers, I was going to cut lightening holes in the inside 5, leaving end ones solid for gluing........I forgot, it was only after I had cut all my slots and glued the stringers in, ready for sheeting, but much too late for holes. Ah well. I am trying to design my fuselage as light as possible to compensate a bit for my error, I hope to use 1/32 balsa for as much of the structure as I possibly can, while being strong enough for a heavy landing.
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Andy M

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Re: Andy's - Bell 206 JetRanger build.
« Reply #5 on: January 16, 2020, 02:28:12 pm »

Here is my tailboom assembled. Anyone know what it is yet?
I have cut out all my body formers/bulkheads/frames, I have just to sand the edges to their finished shape and cut slots for stringers (longerons?) I have still to work out some of the parts to join all these together accurately, I am making it up as I go along so I will get these figured out soon.
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KitS

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Re: Andy's - Bell 206 JetRanger build.
« Reply #6 on: January 16, 2020, 04:20:42 pm »

Looks like one of the umpteen Bell Jet Ranger derivatives.
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Andy M

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Re: Andy's - Bell 206 JetRanger build.
« Reply #7 on: January 16, 2020, 04:40:40 pm »

Correct. And its a complex shaped beastie to try and reproduce. Years ago I had a morley Mx ranger, flew it several times but never felt that comfortable with it as it was a major investment of time and money, so all flying was tense. This is my easy flying version. (If I get my weight within limits)
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Andy M

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Re: Andy's - Bell 206 JetRanger build.
« Reply #8 on: January 18, 2020, 11:46:18 pm »

More progress, formers cut out, still have some more work to be done, then I can start on cutting slots for stringers, maybe get some assembly done soon. Hopefully. Still working it out as I go along, next thing to think about is attaching my motors securely. The seaknight method worked well. Tight sliding fit with 3/16 balsa horizontal above and below 5mm square carbon motor tubes and 1/16 hard balsa going vertical front and back. It loosened off as I flew it a bit.  Two tubes had moved out 10mm so a spot of Uhu glue where they meet the fuselage cured that and could still be pulled out easily if I want to. Anyway, I am thinking of the stucture around the motor mounts, the 'doghouse' (apparently) where the fullsize hides its powerplant and rotor drive system, this is is going to be a challenge to keep light, as it has to be strong too, and very well attached to the rest of my bodyshell. I am hoping to fit my control board in here and also my battery, which has to be easily accessible. Going well so far. I have two main formers in my bodyshell design, each one is a skid attachment point, so I figured they need to be strong. They are each made from two formers made from my doubled up 1/32 balsa superlight ply, separated by 1/32 strips, with a 1/8 sheet piece to take the skids at the bottom. I will put on photos that should explain them better.
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Andy M

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Re: Andy's - Bell 206 JetRanger build.
« Reply #9 on: January 19, 2020, 06:03:46 pm »

Rear skid former and the ones that go behind it. I have still to make the front one, it gets built at an angle though. Will tackle that tonight. I am pleased with progress so far. Should get to some construction soon. I usually do lots of test builds without glue to make sure every part is right before it gets glued. Still loads to do.
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Andy M

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Re: Andy's - Bell 206 JetRanger build.
« Reply #10 on: January 19, 2020, 11:19:09 pm »

Front skid former, the angled one, is built and sanded, still got 1/8 skid support plate to make and glue in place. I made a cardboard template to get angle correct. Also did a trial fit of rear formers onto my rear keel bit.
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Andy M

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Re: Andy's - Bell 206 JetRanger build.
« Reply #11 on: January 20, 2020, 08:59:02 pm »

Also shown in above photo is the start of the nose section, I will be having a go at moulding a clear nose section using my home made vacuum former. It did a good job of my mini, beetle and capri bodyshells. Due to the shape, I am going to mould it in two halves.
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Andy M

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Re: Andy's - Bell 206 JetRanger build.
« Reply #12 on: January 20, 2020, 09:26:01 pm »

Also of note in the photo is my trusty Spiralux fret saw, 0.5mm blade is amazing for accurate parts, ,if you steer the wood through it carefully. I have cut 1/4 inch birch ply on it, but it takes ages. On thinner ply and balsa it comes into its own. It cost me £80 about 25-30 years ago, but has been worth every penny, I have cut out parts for over 100 rc planes, about 20 boats, a pteranodon, a jackdaw, a sea eagle and several rc car bodies . I would highly recommend it to other modellers, but I dont think they are still available.
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Andy M

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Re: Andy's - Bell 206 JetRanger build.
« Reply #13 on: January 21, 2020, 10:53:36 pm »

Made up some of my 1/32 doubled up superlight balsa ply for my doghouse formers, woodglued, so I have to wait till they are dry before cutting them out. Also started building up my nose section moulds, using up scraps where possible. I had some 1/2 x 1 inch balsa I got in a pack. Too heavy for flying but perfect for this job. Long way to go before I can start carving and sanding. Times like this I wish I had bought some 4x2 balsa planks.
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Andy M

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Re: Andy's - Bell 206 JetRanger build.
« Reply #14 on: January 22, 2020, 12:34:19 am »

My homemade vacuum table and some of the bodyshells I have produced so far. I am pleased with the results but they dont always turn out good, I heat the plastic in front of my shed stove so temperature is a variable, but experience helps judge the right moment to get it onto the vacuum table. The jetranger front end will be my biggest moulded item so far.
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Andy M

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Re: Andy's - Bell 206 JetRanger build.
« Reply #15 on: January 22, 2020, 12:56:26 am »

A 'few' more bodyshells. I got a bit carried away. My friends took a few off my hands. Notice the extra bit where the plastic pulled in with a crease on the front wheel arch,  superglue from inside, a patch of kitchen roll and a bit more superglue makes it strong enough to trim off the extra bit and sand flush. Didnt need to add filler as the superglue had filled the tiny gap.
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Andy M

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Re: Andy's - Bell 206 JetRanger build.
« Reply #16 on: January 22, 2020, 11:34:20 pm »

After using up a lot of my balsa collection, full 36 inch sheets and an assortment of scrap bits, I have built these, still have a lot of carving and sanding to do before I can try moulding from them. I really need to build the main frame of the heli soon, then I can sand my cockpit/nose moulds to their exact size.
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Andy M

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Re: Andy's - Bell 206 JetRanger build.
« Reply #17 on: January 24, 2020, 06:20:05 pm »

A good bit more progress, starting to look more like a jetranger. It's shape is showing me how difficult it is going to be to cover it with its 1/32 balsa skin. It is going to be done as a lot of differently shaped panels, some quite big, some just spanning one 'square', but they are not square. They will meet on my bulkheads, 2 layers of 1/32, so I will only have 1/32 on each side to fix my panels to. The fuselage is already quite strong, I am thinking of taking a bit out the insides of some of the files. I didn't want them to be weak tho, especially for sanding the frame, I have broken lots of bits on this and the sea knight might, while holding the fragile frames. Once the skins are glued on, the whole thing becomes more robust. I have added quite a lot of wood since the photo of it on the scales, it was 65.8g. I will be removing some more balsa before I put the skins on. Don't know if I am on track for my weight limit
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warspite

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Re: Andy's - Bell 206 JetRanger build.
« Reply #18 on: January 25, 2020, 08:25:19 am »

Due to the complexity, why not do as the fly boys do and skin it in tissue and dope, even A4 photocopy paper would be more pliable
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Andy M

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Re: Andy's - Bell 206 JetRanger build.
« Reply #19 on: January 25, 2020, 08:50:10 pm »

I notice the topic has been split, but wrongly named, its actually a bell 206 jetranger. I was going to ask Martin to change the title to quad copter helicopter bodyshell builds or something.
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Andy M

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Re: Andy's - Bell 206 JetRanger build.
« Reply #20 on: January 25, 2020, 09:06:17 pm »

The 1/32 balsa is the best weight to strength material I have. The sheets are 4 inch by 18 and weigh 6 to 8 g. I have used 12 sheets so far, fair bit of that has gone into my scraps box. The formers used up a lot. As the weight is only 60 odd grams, I have probably only got about 8 full sheets in the airframe, and a few bits of 1/16,1/8, 3/16 and 1/4. I had hoped to get it all made from 1/32 but some bits needed bigger sizes. I have made more lightening holes but don't want to go too wild. The tailboom will have a lot of leverage on the structure at the rear of the fuselage, especially in a heavy landing. I may try to shave some balsa off the inside of the frame before I put the skins on, it will all help.
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Andy M

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Re: Andy's - Bell 206 JetRanger build.
« Reply #21 on: January 25, 2020, 09:14:42 pm »

I have to say that I do intend building a cobra, but not yet, I need good drawings to start with.  I am enjoying the jetranger build so far, skinning it will be a challenge. The good thing about the balsa as skins is that it is quite robust when finished, and doesn't say between bays like tissue would.
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Martin (Admin)

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Re: Andy's - Bell 206 JetRanger build.
« Reply #22 on: January 25, 2020, 09:52:40 pm »


Opps!   Fixed! 


 Martin  :embarrassed:
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Andy M

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Re: Andy's - Bell 206 JetRanger build.
« Reply #23 on: January 26, 2020, 12:12:19 am »

Thanks Martin. I hope to do a few builds using these quadcopters as donors. I will start a new topic when the next one starts.
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Andy M

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Re: Andy's - Bell 206 JetRanger build.
« Reply #24 on: January 27, 2020, 01:57:22 pm »

More progress, nearly there with the nose section mould. It has taken a lot of sanding to get to this stage, I have to take a break from sanding for a while, my hands keep cramping up. I can get on with skinning the fuselage and making my landing gear. The nose section is close to being ready. I have marked out areas on my frame that I am going to remove, some can be done after sheeting but some need removed before sheeting goes on
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