Mid section rigging

Now I can finally start to rig the mid section. First I need to fabricate the wire harness for all the functions found in the tail section which need to be routed through this section.

I have them running through a cool tube but not to keep them away from heat but more for a neat installation. The great thing about the cool tubes is they are very light and corrugated so they can bend any way you want them to.








Here is the little burner control for the LED's in the tail. Once it is set I should not have to bother with it any more but it is still accessible if need be.

Tail section completed

The tail is now complete and ready to move to the mid section.

Here you can see the thrust tube installed with the bell mouth attached. For those of you not familiar with turbine installations the eflux of the turbine sits inside of this bell mouth allowing for air to flow around it.

Here you can see the other end with the after burner nozzle installed and weathered.
The LED burner ring sits just inside here and will light up at certain preset throttle settings giving the visual imitation of the real thing, but not the noise unfortunately.

Burner lights

I need to install the burner lights and get the wiring sorted out. For those who do not know the burner lights simulate visually the afterburner function. When a certain pre determined throttle setting is reached they flicker and then light up stronger and stronger the same way you would see a full scale after burner light up.

These very bright LED's are controlled by a little  controller box that I will place nearer to the front of the plane for C of G reasons. The wiring will need to be routed for this to work as in the previous post and there needs to be a break and plugs attached so the tail can be removed.

The burner bolts into the fuse and then the tail pipe slips inside it.

Here is the wire harness that I need to cut and add connectors too. Waiting for the connectors to arrive. Should be here today.

Tail section work

Finally getting back to the plane again. I have been waiting on parts for the tail section as I cannot complete the mid section until I have all the wiring done in the tail.

There are two lights on the tail on each side. Top ones are amber and bottom ones are white or clear.

You can see the LED now attached to the lens.

Here you can see the tail to mid section break. Not all that unlike the full scale. I will want to be able to remove the tail section for maintenance or replacement of servos etc. so I have to be able to unplug all the wires at the joint. Unfortunately all of the wires are long and so I will need to cut them and put a male and female plug on each one. The tail is also the most difficult section to work on so I took some scrap honey comb cardboard and made up a stand to hold it so I can work on it without damage to the tail and my neck.