Herr Mini-Sport

[sackohammers]

Preparing the work area:



Obligatory box shot:



Labeling the parts and checking off the parts list:



Labeling the wood (all parts checked off list):

[flyinghigh]

Sweet little kit. Can't wait to see the rest!

[mararra]

Hey Hammers,

Nice lookin kit from the pics. Is the laser cutting good? How bout the quality of the balsa? Always lookin for high quality kit manufacturers; this is the first I've seen of a Herr kit, so I'll be followin ya close. I'm bout done with my MM J-3 Cub. I'll post some pics if you promise not to laugh at my cover job.
Good luck with your build

M

[sackohammers]

It is laser cut. It seems like a really nice kit... although my experience in judging kit quality is nill. I was recommended the Herr Engineering kit by some regular kit builders at RCU. You can buy Herr Engineering kits directly from SIG (another quality mfg). www.sigmfg.com

[sackohammers]

This was my first night of kit building ever. It was a lot of fun. I got the entire fuselage done. I even sanded it.

Pinning down the rear stab plans:



Not much to the rear stab:



Pinned down the fuselage plans - test fitting some parts:



Doublers are already glued on, now I'm lining up the first formers:



Got the firewall in place, gluing both sides of fuselage together:



Formers in place all along the fuse:



Top and bottom decking glued in:



Getting the top formers lined up, these support the stringers:



Top formers glued in:



Aft stringers glued in:



Sanding the stringers to even them up on the rear cocl<pit wall:



Forward stringers glued in:



Cutting, bending, forming, and gluing the cocl<pit into place:



Cut and glue the back wall for the cocl<pit, installed the motor mount:



YaY! Sanding:



Thats it for now, not bad for a fun evening of building, watching TV, and drinkin' a few beers. Had a great time.
Someone asked me if this was a laser cut kit. Yes, you can tell by the burn marks on the edges of the pieces. I've heard people referring to kits just "falling together". I don't have any experience building kits so I don't have a lot to draw on, however, I can't imagine it being any easier than this.

If this isn't "falling together" then I don't know what is. Every piece has just fit where it was supposed to fit. Its fun to build because the progress is so quick. In a short period of time you get a pile of wood and sticks to start looking like something that might eventually fly. I think I'm getting hooked.

[sackohammers]

Pinning down the plans for the Left Wing:



Pinning down the bottom main spar and the bottom trailing edge piece:



Rib 2 laid over rib 3. Rib 2 is the closest rib to the center of the fuselage. Note the notch for the bottom main spar is shorter on rib 2. Also, on rib 2 there is no notch for the bottom trailing edge piece. Only a notch for the top trailing edge piece.



Test fitting rib 2.

[l8again]

Great looking build Hammers!! Nice evenings work!

[sackohammers]

Thanks man. And if anyone is wondering at all if they can do this? The answer is yes. This is so easy. Do NOT be intimidated by this at all. Its like gluing legos together. Give it a try. The kit was $25.

[l8again]

Any thoughts on how you plan to power it?

[flyinghigh]

Looking great stack! Are you using CA on the whole thing? What's the WS of this plane?

[sackohammers]

Thanks for the interest guys. Encouragement helps.

Instructions call for these extra parts to handle linkage, power, etc:

.6 Volt 280 Class Electric Motor
3 Channel Radio with mirco servos & Receiver
5 Amp ESC with BEC
7 cell 270mah NiCAD or 7 cell 720mah NiMH battery
Sig Easy Hinges #SH-710 or Du-Bro Kwik Hinge #537
Du-Bro #847 Micro Pushrod Assy.
1 roll of Monokote covering
4 #32 rubber bands to hold the wings

Specs:
35 3/4" Wingspan
214.5 Square Inch wing area
9 ounces total wt
Wing Loading: 6 ounces per square foot

Using Med CA to glue the whole thing together.

I do not plan to install power and control into this plane. I'm going to leave off the control horns, etc. This is just to get my feet wet with kit building and practise covering. I'll probably just hang it from a string in the garage or something when I'm done. I'd give to a kid or something, but I think it'd be novel to keep my first kit build around... so when I'm an old fart I can get nostaligic about it.

Next build will be a Sig Something Extra or a Sig Four Star 40.... I'll probably go with the Something Extra. I'll be building that for flight.

[mrmugen]

Nice looking job so far! I have bought a few kits over the years and never once gave thought to building them. I always thought it would give me something to do once I reach geezer status. Maybe sooner by the looks of it. I bought a shrike kit a few months back. I may give it a go if I don't get in over my head like this winter.

What did you cover your plans with?

[sackohammers]

Give it a try. I couldn't line up anyone to go hit the bars with last night, so I built an airplane fuselage. You've got enough space there you could do it pretty casually.

I used clear monokote. GP sells it as a plan covering.

[mararra]

Lookin Really Good Hammers !!
It looks to be a well done kit. So, how come you aint gonna fly it? I' bet its a good flier if you keep the weight down.
BTW, If yur a cheap thrifty old fart like me, wax paper works good for coverin the plans.
Keep up the good work, and thanks for sharin
M

[mararra]

Just stumbled across this thread on WattFlyer. Someone buildin same plane as you : www.wattflyer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30568