For about a year I have been needing a new HL to replace my well worn
Climmax, and my Father wanted to get into HL, so we were both interested in
the Terminator project. We did not have any of the cutting or bagging
equipment so we put the project on hold for a while. Not only did we want
the equipment for the Terminator project, but I have visions of many 2 meter
and unlimited wings in our future as well. Well, after Christmas we bit the
bullet and started to assemble out equipment.
The pump: We purchased a surplus Thomas pump for $80 from
www.surplussales.com, we placed the order and received the pump about 4 days
later. (to go directly to the page with the pump on it this is the link
www.surplussales.com/Motors/Motors-1.html) Excellent service and a good
price. We had a air bubble (portable air tank) that we never used so we
took off the hose and bought some fittings at Home Depot to make our
reservoir. We ordered the hose, gauge, vacuum switch, and bagging supplies
from ACP. The pump setup seems to work well in our tests, but the proof is
still in the pudding, since we have yet to bag anything for real.
The cutter: After much reading on the net and reports from others on RCSD
we decided to go with the FeatherCut. I had watched Pat McCleave cut some
cores for me with his, and it just seemed like the best way to go. I built
the power source from plans on the www.charlesriverrc.org web site, and it
works great. So this weekend we bought a 4'x8' sheet of blue foam (we could
not find pink anywhere) and started cutting cores for our stock Terminator
wings. After breaking the wire twice trying to get the heat just right,
everything went very smoothly. We had cut our templates from some large
plastic laminate samples that I had sitting around my office. (Being an
Architect I can get 12x12 p-lam samples from time to time, so I just hung
onto them for this reason.) In about 2 hours we had cut cores for three
wings. I had thought that we might waste a few cores just trying to figure
everything out, but I was wrong. The very first core turned out
beautifully! Decent leading edges and very good trailing edges, we are very
happy! I would totally recommend the FeatherCut to anyone. Sure there are
other ways, but our decision has worked out wonderful for us.
Our next step will be to bag the cores. Hopefully by next weekend I will be
able to give a report on our first attempt. The guys that developed the
Terminator have really done a great service to our hobby. The web site has
given me the confidence to take the plunge and try some new things. We are
already thinking about other wing designs to try out.
If you have any questions about our set-up please drop me a note.
Burke Jones
Kansas Soaring Society
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