WeaselPro build page
Ok, so the box arrived. You've all seen a box, right?
Well, just because it contains a Weasel Pro from Dreamflight.com, and it's mine, you're going to look at it again.
And now I am making you look at what's inside.
And with some of the bits and pieces removed.
Silly, right? Ok, I agree. But it is very obviously clear that a lot of thought has gone into getting
as much as possible into a box as small as possible, and as safe as possible.
All components are of the usual high quality we've learned to expect from Michael. The very same impression
I got when I opened the box of my MiniWeasel 3 years ago (that long? Yep, just checked. April 2004 I
build the MiniWeasel). Nice clean cut pod and winghalves. No flash or EPP strings. Fiberglass pushrods
and fin protector rod (not CF, but more about that later). Nice straight, pre-beveled balsa elevons.
A piece of sanding mesh, and a small bag of goodies.
And a sticker...
I also ordered the 4x730 NiMh battery and the Mikro5 receiver. The Rx is realy tiny. That's a regular size
CD it's sitting on. Not an old vinyl LP!
As my servos hadn't arrived yet, I started with the pod.
I took out the plug from the battery cavity, and found that the battery is so tiny in there, it can do
some serious rattling about! So instead of only making a cover out of the plug, I carved out space for
the battery inside the plug, so it'll all fit snug-as-a-bug.
The battery and plug just slide in.
And the same goes for the Rx.
With the Mini I sorely misjudged where I could drill a hole to add nose weight. So now I pre-drilled
a hole. As you can see, I didn't use a drill bit. In my experience, drill bits just tear up the EPP and
leave you with a hole much bigger then you (and I) intended. So instead I use a pointy round file.
Good preperation is half the work done. Let's see: 3M77, fiber tape, pre-cut Oracover, sanding pad,
knife with fresh blades, covering iron, credit card, and oven mitts. Don't forget the oven mitts!
3M77'd and fiber taped.
One side Oracovered and lightly tacked on with a warm iron. Then make slits in the overhanging material,
tack that down as well. Repeat for the other side and the bottom. Then turn up the heat on the iron somewhat
and iron flat. Then turn up the heat again (now it's going to shrink) and iron the surface again, but with a
sheet of greaseproof paper in between. I don't know why, but even with me, it turns out better and smoother.
All heat settings ofcourse, must be tried out first on a piece of scrap EPP...
Marked the CG and the point up to where the fin will go.
I am not using epoxy to glue the wing halves together, as the manual tells me to. For some reason I am
always heavy handed with epoxy. Apart from my MiniWeasel, all wings I've made were glued together with 3M77
without any problem. So I'm doing that here as well. First I taped of the areas that should not get any glue
(like the root area behind the mark, and the top and bottom of the wing halves). 
2 Coats of a "mist" of 3M77 (waiting about 10 minutes in between), then slide them together carefully
(once the parts touch they cannot be pulled apart anymore!). Press together for a few seconds, and
than use some masking tape to keep the parts together for another 15 minutes or so.
And don't forget to block one wingtip 2cm up...
CF Rods and dehidral were done as per the manual.
Again a small departure from the manual (although you can't see it). I used masking tape to block of
most of the wing surface, apart from the areas where I would put the fibertape. I then sprayed
3M77 on the uncovered areas (2 coats of mist), removed the masking tape and attached the fiber tape.
Now, when I spray again before Oracovering I will spray the tape as well. I will also lightly sand the
tape first, so the glue and Oracover will stick better to the tape.
OK, so I changed my mind. Or my mind was changed on the Yahoo Weasel Group. I decided to remove the fibertape
from the TE and CA a stretch of carbon fiber flatrod onto it. This will hopefully prevent warping when I put the
heat on the Oracover. It'll also strengthen the whole wing assembly, with minimal weight gain.
If you do this, you must be very carefull later, when you work on the Rx and antenna. Antennas notoriously
dislike carbon fiber. I am planning on using a base loaded antenna, going right down the center of the pod
towards the rear, perpendicular to the wings' cf rods.
The process is very simple. I removed the tape slowly and carefully. I cut two pieces of CF flatrod to seize
and taped them tightly to the TE with maskingtape. I then applied CA to the CF/EPP seam, just like with the
carbon rod inside the wing. And then covered again with fiber tape, as I did before.
I find it worthwhile to do the radio setup before glueing everything in place. So I taped the radio stuff
to a board, and made sure all bits and pieces work and move in the correct direction. Always keeping in
mind ofcourse that the servos are on the underside of the wing!
And then mark everything...
Incidentally, if you wonder what servos these are, they're Hextroniks HXT9320 MG servos from UnitedHobbies.com.
20 Grams with 3.85Kg torque at 4.8V. I cut of the lugs as I don't need them, and first wrapped the servos in
maskingtape, to protect against any glue fumes, and then in heat shrink. The heatshrink is to be able to easily
remove the servos once they're glued in place. Just cut the heatshrink, and you can pop the servo out.
I do this with all servos that are glued in place, instead of screwed the conventional way.
It was at this point I found the servo arms that came with the servos to be totally inadequate.
They were very short, and one broke in my hand! So I got some cool aluminium (aluminum for you US readers) blue anodised,
after-market servo arms from my LHS.
I'm going to make a slight detour from the manual here. You're supposed to cover the wing now,
and fit in the servos later. That would mean cutting into freshly ironed on covering. I don't like
that idea! So I'm inserting the servos before covering. It does mean that I have to fold away the servo
arm (after centering) inside the servo cavity, but that's no problem.
Almost a perfect fit. A small piece of scrap EPP in there, and we're safe.
Two pieces of scrap EPP glued in place. I also marked were the servo wires enter into the pod.
Test fitting. Looks good to me.
Can't get much flusher than this.
Hot glued in place, and a piece of fibertape for protection.
Not my favorite job: Oracovering. Possibly 'cause I suck at it...
But I'm getting better! As with most things when building, you have to think ahead, and have all tools
and materials ready. So, first I cut out 4 pieces of Oracover, making sure I cut left and right sides
(yes, I have made that mistake before. twice). What I did this time, I placed the wing on the Oracover's backside
and traced the outline. Then I drew another line, about 2 cm outside that line. Now I am sure I have the
right shape and size covering material.
Jumping ahead now. No pictures of this procedure, as time is of the essence here.
I sprayed two "mists" of 3M77 as per the manual. Careful not to spray too much! You can easily
add 20-30 grams just by over spraying glue. I placed one side of covering on the wing, making sure it
was overlaping equal amounts on all sides (oh yes, don't forget to take the back covering of. been there.
done that). I then lightly pressed on the wing with a soft dry clean cloth, starting each stroke in the
middle moving towards the outside. Then, with a lukewarm iron, I do the same movement again. Set the iron
slightly warmer, and again the same movement, followed by folding over and ironing (tacking) down the
overlapping material. Do the same with the other wing half. When both sides are done, set the iron hotter
again, and iron down the entire top (or bottom). And the overlap as well ofcourse...
I hate doing curves and corners. They never turn out as smooth as with others'.
Repeat for the bottom. As you can see, I am sticking with my usual base colours: white on top,
dark blue on the bottom. I find this combination works best for me and my eyesight.
Further proof I suck at covering curves and corners.
Covering the elevons was fairly simple. After a light sanding, and wiping over with some alcohol, I
cut out enough material to wrap the elevon in.
With a warm iron I tacked down one side, and then cut these teethy things to wrap around the edge.
And ironed the teethy things and other overlaps.
Repeat for the other side.
And now for color schemes...
For this I traced the wing's outline onto a jpg file, and fooled around with good ol' MSPaintbrush.
As we know, this is the basic:
and this is the same old, same old:
A problem arose with the "same old, same old". I know that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery,
but it can cause problems. There's another WeaselPro flying around who almost copied the design I have on all
my flying wings. ("the same old, same old one"). On several occasions, while flying my MiniWeasel he was
up as well. And it happened twice that, as we were flying in the same direction, I got disorientated
and nearly started "flying" the wrong plane! So we need a change.
Variation on a theme?
Naaah.
Sergeant stripes!
Sergeant stripes with a twist?
Who am I kidding? I'm only a corporal...
Pointy stripy things?
Too much yellow
Hmmm.
Getting there.
Eureka! This is it!
Final bottom color scheme.
To measure where the opening for the fin should go, I first re-found the centerline, and taped a piece
of black string along the center line.
Then I marked the 95mm.
And with a calipher marked the 2mm width.
With a brand new X-acto blade I cut the opening.
Back to the pod. I lightly sanded and then cleaned with alcohol, the wing saddle. I then unrolled
the supplied double sided tape, and applied it to the wing saddle.
Remembering my MiniWeasel build, I did not put the tape all the way to the
front of the wing saddle.
I found that it was nearly impossible to get the wing all the way to the front with the sticky tape there. Instead,
I left the first 5mm or so open. The tape is super sticky, and the nose area gets filled with hot glue anyway.
I opened the servowire- and fin openings, and marked the middle of the pod.
And I marked the centerline of the nose.
Following the manual, I trial fitted several times and then stuck the pod on.
Another small variation from the manual. When attaching the elevons, instead of sticking them on
with hinge tape along the TE straight away, I first use two small pieces of tape to keep the elevons
in place, and then do I apply the hinge tape along the TE. This way I can re-align the elevons
before I commit the whole TE length.
Tadaaa! for the top
and bottom.
Remember I mentioned in the beginning the glassfiber rods instead of carbon fiber? You want to
scroll back up to check? I'll wait... We'll talk amongst ourselves....
...
...
Ah, there you are...
As was mentioned, carbon fiber and antennas don't like each other very much. So some time ago Michael changed
the pushrods from CF (carbon fiber) to GF (glass fiber). Now, with the new MIKRO5 Rx, there is a base
loaded antena in the pipeline. Rumours have it that it's been tested already and should be available "soon".
In anticipation of that, the CF protective fin rod has also been replaced by a GF one.
But for the time being, I'll have to make do with the standard antenna. As you also know, I added cf
flatrods to the TE. That could influence the Rx reception. So in order to try and prevent any glitching
I will lead the antenna to the rear, behind the fin, in a plastic pushrod tube. This way the antenna
runs perpendicular with all the carbon rods and reception will (hopefully) not be compromised.
Now, all I need to do is balance the wing, and set the Tx setup.
You'll see, for the next two months, each Friday the wind will be North, East, or South. And if it is
Western, it'll be gale force or nearly non-existant...