The Squirrel and the TSK (Part V)
George Schneider

(continued from previous page)

Now it was time to head over to a friend's place for the decals. My friend Mike is a professional sign maker, and has a very slick set-up for making signs, letters, decals, and custom artwork- all that stuff. He is also a beginning heli flyer who was keen to help me out with this project. Since he has more taste than I do, I talked with him about the best way to make some decals for the machine. I brought him some of the ideas that my partner and I had come up with while this project was going on. Some were very flash, but really called for multiple paint colors- which I wasn't gonna try on my first machine. So we settled on a fairly basic electric blue stripe layout on the sides of the body, with the lettering to be either the factory supplied decals, or custom-cut lettering, made by Mike on the spot.

After about 6 hours the machine was looking pretty sharp, if I do say so!

Then next step was to have the paint and decals sealed, with a clear coat of some sort, to protect them from the elements, and fuel. One of the guys that works where I spend my days, has a small car painting sideline at his house. Joe was working many of the nights that I was doing the spraying, and saw the hard work that I was going through. He said that he'd be glad to shoot the machine with the normal automotive lacquer that he uses on the cars. I took him up on the offer, and after hanging the model from his roof joists, I stood back and let the pro go to work. After about 6 coats, and 4 hours, it was ready for the final touch.

Joe advised me to take the fuze home and let it sit for a few days, to harden up good. Then he said to take a clean piece of cheesecloth and a drop of Brasso polishing liquid, and then I was to rub and polish the clearcoat to a high luster! Well, wouldn't you know, but it worked a treat!! I had to be careful around corners and edges, or the polish would possibly cut right through into the paint, but it did everything that Joe said it would. The entire machine just shined.

The final touch to the machine was to mount the two windscreens. These were trimmed out from the provided bits with care, and after many test fittings- they were glued into place with UHU- a strong but flexible clear adhesive. Uhu is also not a CA product, so I don't have to worry about out-gassing fogging the clear plastic windscreen.

After this was set aside to cure, all that was left to do was to mount the mechanics into the fuselage nd then sit back and enjoy it.

A view from the left side, with a look at how the working side of the stinger finished up.

A closer view of the left side of the machine. The name Silver Shadow, is a compromise. I was advised my originally desired name "The Silver Ghost" was a bad omen, so I settled on this. With my flying skills, I need all the good luck I can get!!

I have now flown the machine for more than 20 tanks, and I'm still tweaking things a bit. I have learned that the body does catch the wind more than just the pod and boom, but not tremendously so. I plan on replacing the gyro in the machine with a better one, which should help a great deal. Since I am not a 3-D flyer, I am working on developing a feel for scale-type flying- but this includes engine speed, not just airspeed. I dial the hover pitch way back and increase the pitch from my TX, and then really work on some scale-like takeoffs, circuits, and landings. I know the TSK 30 can hover at the normal rpm rate, but to see and hear the machine flying along at ½ the sound level is something I love to see.

A close look at the decals on the side of the machine- the top one is supplied with the body. All the blue pin striping and lettering by my friend Mike. Also a close look will show at the bottom of the body, and you can see the bottom plate attached.

Now that the project is finished, I have learned a lot, as you would, I guess. I didn't do as badly as I could have, I suppose. But with the help of a bunch of folks, the final product is pretty sharp.

Some things I learned from this project-
- use the best possible mechanics for your power plant- and try to fly them before mounting them inside a body
- talk to the guys in your area about their experience with a build like this. They can help answer a bunch of your questions- and there's no such thing as a stupid question!
- If you are gonna try to paint it yourself- go with a good basic paint system, nothing too $$$ or too flash. You can always get fancier on your next one!!!
- When spraying- think about re-hanging and re-orienting the model after shooting several good coats- this would help avoid getting thin spots in the same areas, I think.

Like I've said, there is no way that I could have completed this project without the help and support from some good folks. Here is a list of most, if not all the folks that were so helpful to me:

Grant Billingham of Leisuretime Developments in Auckland
Rick and Doug from Ricks RC Helicopters
Bob McG. from the WMAC for all the wood help
Coiln from Chch, for the great stinger
Mike B., for the great detail work
Greg, Terry and Darren, for the support and help at the field
And thanks to the many other members of my flying club- Wellington Model Aeroplane Club

And finally my thanks to Simon of littlerotors.com, for his help and encouragement in getting this series of articles together for his great website.

I've gotten many emails from folks that have been following my efforts, and I appreciate every one of them. If you want to try a project like this, I hope that I've been able to give you a feeling for the work required, and some of the skills you'll need. Maybe we'll meet up at some flying field someday, and,
as the Bishop said to the Actress- You show me Yours, and I'll show you Mine!

Thanks- G2