Workshop: Build Your Own Mini T-Square

While building the fuselage for my Chuperosa, I needed a way to square up the bulkheads. My regular T-squares were too big for this job, so I quickly built a simple mini T-square. It's easy to make, and if constructed correctly will be very accurate. Below are a few sequence photos with descriptions that will show you how to build one.



These are the tools you'll need. A larger drafting T-square and a builder's triangle. The ridge on the builder's triangle needs to be flush up against the blade of the T-square.



I used 1" by 1/8" bass wood strips from the hobby/art supply shop, and squared it up on the combination tri/drafting t-square and then used slow CA glue, and pinched it with my fingers for a few seconds until the glue dried.



After the glue dried, I cut the long side to match the other side of the beam. As you can see it is perfectly square.




Here's the mini T-square in action, as you can see, a normal drafting type square wouldn't work for this hand launch glider. If you build one, please let me know about it and post a comment.

Airplanes: Chuperosa Part Two

I have started construction on the replacement wing for my Chuperosa RC glider. Below you can see the stack of 1/16" blanks along with the aluminum root and tip templates. These will be formed into a stack, bolted together, and shaped to conform to the templates. Luckily, my Dad recommended this method, as I was unsure of how to proceed after I destroyed the foam core wing. I found an application that seems like it could work, but since the free version is cripple-ware, I could not be bothered with it. The method I chose should work just fine, and is described in detail here. (Link is a PDF) That link by the way, is an awesome reference and true wealth of knowledge for RC glider builders and pilots alike. The RC Soaring Digest is a great example of the open source
philosophy, and they allow anyone complete and unrestricted access to their archives. Let us know what your favorite spots on the web/library/newsstand are for RC model/hobbies by posting a comment.