Building the AREA17 Bird of Time Kit

 AREA17 Bird of Time Kit 

About this BOT:

This laser cut version of the Bird of Time was developed by AREA17

Although the wing planform closely adheres to the original Bird of Time design, slight adjustments have been made to facilitate the introduction of a brushless motor and battery. Notably, the fuselage has been extended by approximately 4 inches.

Where possible we have made the kit click to together. It can be built without a paper plan.

The all up weight of this kit with a brushless and battery ready to fly is typically lighter than the original non motor build. The original had a wing loading of 10 oz sqft this version was only 8.3 oz sqft.

Wingspan: 118″ (3000mm)

Length: 53″ (1340mm)

Wing Area: 1090 sq in 70.3 sq dm) 

Flying weight: 1.8 kg

COG: 100mm from leading edge

Wing Loading: 8.3oz/sq ft (25g/sq dm)

The laser kit includes:

• Fuselage Formers
• Fuselage 4 mm Balsa Sides, Bottom and Top
• Fuselage 3 mm servo tray
• Balsa and ply wing ribs
• 3mm Ply Wing Spars
• 1.5mm Ply false leading edge
• 25mm Trail edge stock
• Rudder
• Tailplane

Fuselage and Tail parts supplied.

Wing Parts Supplied.

What you need to complete:

• 2 x Mini Servos about 2.0kg or larger Eg. Corona DS929HV
• Motor Dualsky XM2838EG-11L Brushless Motor about 300watts
• Folding prop 11x7E or 11x8E
• 35-45 amp ESC with BEC
• 1500-1800Mah  3s Lipo
• 1.6mm piano wire
• 4ch RX
• 1.5mm Balsa wing sheeting
• Iron-on covering
• 
  

 Tools:

• Titebond Original and CA
• Box Cutter
• Pins
• 
  
• 
  

Getting started:

Building the Fuselage:

As a general note; when gluing the BOT together we use Titebond Original and CA in combination. If you dab some Titebond on the surface and then add a few drops of CA and press together no clamps are required.

Optional: We put some coloured food dye behind the lettering.

Glue the multi part formers together. (F1,F2,F3,F4)

*Note F1 is two layers of 3mm ply, F2,3,4 are laminated 3mm ply/4mm Balsa/ 3mm ply while F5 is just 4mm balsa.

Next the fuselage sides;

1.  Glue the 1.5mm ply front doublers in place. F1 to F3
2.  Glue the formers F2, F3 and F4 in place on the side pieces, do not forget to glue the servo tray between F3 and F4. 
3. Slip the 6mm quad in from F1 to F3 and glue to the quads to laser marks F1 and F3
4. We now glue clamp the sides and bottom pieces between F2 and F4. Leave the ends open at this stage it helps ensure no twists are introduced.
5. You can now glue the rears quads ie F4 and through F5 to about 170mm from the end.
6. Glue the bottom rear section to the quads and sides.
7. Glue F1 formers and glue the bottom front to the sides and quads

 

Leave the top back section open at this stage.

Note the rudder servo goes on the same side of the rear slot  Typically on the left. The rudder tube needs to track straight down the lefthand side, do not cross over. The elevator tube starts in the righthand and crosses over to the middle at F5.

take time ensure the Fin pivot tube is straight.

Building the tail plane:

• The tailplane is built bottom down flat on the bench.
• Glue the front leading edge and main spar onto the bottom sheet.
• Glue the ribs in place
• Glue the joiner tubes in place.
• Glue the 3mm ply end rib in place
• Sand the top formers to produce a tapering trailing edge.
• Glue the top cover in place

Making the Rudder:

The rudder is simple, just glue the parts in place on a flat board. You can if like carefully sand a tapering trailing edge.

The fin assembly:

The bell crank needs to be joined to the vertical part... we use a brass servo screw retainer. The shot is to use a centre punch with just enough pressure to close the back, and not enough to bind the joint.

Build Photos

Wing Planform