Many of you have asked how I built the SUT so I will attempt to write down my thoughts and experiences here. First and foremost make a copy of the pages so you have a set of instructions. You can order the plans from the AMA or merely copy the page and blow it up. Your choice but if you chose the latter you need to calculate how much blow up % you need and insure the print you get is to a one inch real scale.
Read, read and re-read the instructions, refer to the photos and the plans and completely become familiar on how this goes together. We did this over and over and still made mistakes. Since this was my first attempt at scratch, it was a learning experience. My partner had done this many times prior so he prevented many mistakes. The BOM is pretty good. I only found one error and that was in the the requirement for
1/8x3x36 balsa. We needed three and preferred 1/8x4/36.Our plan was to have dual aileron servos as well as dual throttle servos. We wanted the same plane as the author. We increased the engine size to a Magnum .46 which we bought two brand new ones. The engines and MK III ARF was ordered from Tower and with the $30 discount was not too expensive. I ordered everything on Sunday and received it on Wednesday. It pays to live close by Las Vegas! My partner have a garage full of balsa and ply so no purchases were required there.
I cut out the templates for the nacelles and we began to cut. The tools required were a band saw with a fine tooth blade, a fine tooth jig saw and bench disc sander. We cut four ply nacelles and four balsa nacelles by nailing the woods together and cutting everything at the same time to keep it all the same. We then cut the firewalls, formers and other assorted parts that the plan called for. More in part 2.