HET-RC F-4D Skyray Build Instructions

01 - Here's the box... 02 - ... and a couple items I ordered to make the model fly. 03 - Opening the box reveals typical HET-RC packing, with wings taped inside to prevent damage from movement. Take your time and carefully pull off all the tape before removing the components. This will prevent damage that can be caused if you use a knife. 04 - Wings were removed from the inside panel then the panel was lifted, revealing the airframe, parts bag, cockpit assembly and thrust tube. 05 - The "F4D Skyray ARF"... this is how it comes. 06 - Tape was carefully and completely pulled off of each bag and then each item was removed. Pulling off all the tape first makes sure a piece doesn't accidentally stick to the covering and damage it. 07 - The major components... top quality craftsmanship and covering! 08 - The fan compartment is viewed from below. 09 - HET-RC listened to their customers... this tow hook location is easy to find! 10 - The cockpit assembly. Once again, improvements were found as the canopy has trim lines well marked in the molding. 11 - The front of the vertical stab had a small rod protruding. 12 - A view underneath reveals this is a rear canopy latch... a nice touch! 13 - Elevon servo covers are extra thick, heavy duty plastic. 14 - Removing the cover reveals the servo compartment. 15 - My Hitec HS-81MG Metal Gear servos will fit, but need a bit of coaxing. 16 - The "bag" of components. 17 - Control surfaces have heavy duty hinges... they are removed before mounting the wing panels. 18 - A small slot was extended to remove the wire pulling thread. 19 - The 1/4" stick has to be pulled/snapped loose from inside as it is tack-glued in place during shipment. Once loose, remove it through the enlarged slot. 20 - Removing the wire puller thread. 21 - A dental pick or other device was used to break the stick loose, then used to remove it. 22 - Removing the puller. 23 - The other end of these strings are pre-threaded to the front cockpit area of the fuselage by the factory. They are used to pull the servo extension wires from the cockpit area through to a servo in each wing. 24 - I decided not to mount the receiver in the cockpit area, so the RED pulling thread was removed. 25 - A dual conversion high quality receiver is recommended for this model. 26 - The receiver will be mounted next to the fan unit, similar to the HET-RC FA-18 Hornet. This will eliminate the need to route three long servo extensions and leave more room in the cockpit for batteries. 27 - Make a mark 1/4" or more from the front wall and a second mark for the length of your receiver. 28 - Area that needs to be removed for the reciever. 29 - The location was cut out. 30 - Horizontal cut made. 31 - Receiver area cut out. 32 - Sand the area to fit your receiver. 33 - The Hitec Electron 6 reciever fits well for a 1 7/8" long hole. 34 - A 1/2" square block was cut to extend the platform for the receiver. 35 - A block was inserted... 36 - ... and dropped into place. 37 - An exacto knife was used to "spear" the block and hold it in place from the wing servo hold on the side. 38 - Thick CA was applied to the block. 39 - the exacto knife was used to position the block, making a nice and wide area now for the receiver to be taped. 40 - The receiver fits easy enough for a child to install. 41 - The cover will need to be opened so it fits over the receiver. 42 - Cover was marked, then the area was cut. 43 - The fan shroud was temporarily installed to mark mounting areas. 44 - Two marks were made from the rear of the cover... one mark at 1" and another at 2 1/4". 45 - For our friends overseas, this would be 25mm and 58mm. 46 - The other side of the hatch was marked. 47 - A 1/8" or 3mm wide strip was measured between the lines. 48 - ... and a line was drawn. 49 - This area needs to be removed in order for the lid to clear the fan shroud mounts. 50 - Balsa removed from both sides. 51 - Another view... hatch is ready to use. 52 - Beginning the build... foam is removed from the wing for servo wires. 53 - The foam was pushed out. 54 - Then the area filed. 55 - Picture showing wires routed through the wing. 56 - Close-up showing wire routed through foam wing. 57 - Beveling the edges of the dowels for easy insertion. 58 - End beveled. 59 - both dowels ready 60 - Dowel is inserted so it is flush with the inside of the wing . 61 - The outside of the dowel is marked for position. 62 - Marked dowel ready to install. 63 - Forward dowel, marked at 1/2" dead center. 64 - Forward dowel marked. 65 - 5 minute epoxy applied to forward dowel. 66 - Forward dowel inserted in fuselage up to the line that was drawn. 67 - Rear dowel with 5 minute epoxy inserted in fuselage up to the short line. 68 - Excess epoxy was cleaned up with a paper towel and some denatured alcohol, then left to set. 69 - Mixing up the good stuff for wing mounting. 70 - Epoxy applied to wing spar. 71 - Epoxy applied inside slot, then spar inserted. The spar can go in either way, making installation easier. 72 - Spar will bottom out inside the fuselage. 73 - Applying epoxy to the fuselage root. 74 - Fuselage with epoxy applied. 75 - Epoxy next applied to wing spar slot. 76 - Epoxy applied to entire wing root and dowel holes. 77 - Wing with epoxy ready to install. 78 - Installing the wing 79 - Wing pressed down until flush. 80 - Excess epoxy was removed with paper towel soaked in denatured alcohol. 81 - Joint cleaned and T-pins used to hold wing in place. 82 - Wing was mounted flush to the top of the fuselage and a small ridge was evident at the bottom, but will be fine. 83 - Edge view of installed and pinned wing. 84 - Clean up the excess epoxy from the servo well. 85 - Wing pinned and epoxy left to set. 86 - Wing installed. 87 - A piece of 1/2" brass tube is sharpened by shaving the inside with an exacto knife. 88 - Brass tube inserted through servo access holes. 89 - Brass tube is used as a drill to make a hole for the servo wires. 90 - Tube was angled upward so it would come out inside just above the horizontal runner. 91 - Tube came out just above the runner. 92 - Hole drilled for servo wires. 93 - Another view... you can see the fan tube through the holes. 94 - Rear guide dowel installed in other fuselage root with 5 minute epoxy. 95 - Guide pins installed and glue is set. 96 - Slow cure epoxy applied to wing root. 97 - Second wing installed just like the first. first. 98 - Epoxy was cleaned up. 99 - Excess epoxy squeezed out of the top. 100 - Wing cleaned up and pinned just like the first. Then placed aside so epoxy can set. 101 - The power plant... a Wemotec MiniFan 480 and Mega AC 16-15-2. 102 - Torch used to heat up the adapter so it would slide over the motor shaft. DO NOT push this adapter all the way on or the back of the fan will bind against the shroud when installed. 103 - Set screws installed with some Loktite. 104 - Other set screw installed... note the shaft base is not against the motor. It had to be pulled away about 3/16" for fan clearance. 105 - Installing the motor in the shroud. 106 - Motor intalled. 107 - 3mm screws are used to retain the motor. The fan unit comes with 2.5mm screws, so you will have to buy 3mm screws if needed. 108 - Fan installed, followed by washer and nut. 109 - Shaft adapter slotted for screwdriver. 110 - Bolt slotted. 111 - With shaft slotted, a screwdriver can hold the shaft still while the nut is tightened. 112 - Nut installed. 113 - Fan hub installed... 114 - ... and retained with supplied screw. 115 - Wiring the motor... 3.5mm connectors added to motor ends. 116 - Connectors installed. 117 - Heat shrink added. 118 - Soldering the connectors to the electronic speed controller. 119 - Socket connectors installed. 120 - Heat shrink added. 121 - Extended power wires soldered to the ESC. 122 - Assembly wired and fan balanced prior to installation into airframe. 123 - Wings glued and model ready for color. 124 - Hinges removed to mark them. 125 - Center lines are marked down the middle of each hinge 126 - Center lines are drawn... the lines are drawn up the shorter side, allowing more surface area to bond when installed. 127 - NOTE: THE BUILD STOPS HERE. The next few steps show my method of dressing up the model with a bit of color. 128 - Control surfaces stripped so I can recover them with white. 129 - Areas I wanted to add color to were stripped of the original covering, leaving 1/8" - 3/16" for overlap. 130 - A stripped area shows some of the quality of build by HET-RC at the factory. 131 - Nose color applied. 132 - Tail is stripped and black leading edge added. 133 - Red added and being trimmed before cleanup. 134 - Adding some color to the vertical stab. 135 - Stab being ironed. 136 - F4D Skyray with the color scheme I decided to use. 137 - Skyray covered in color... NOTE: THE BUILD WILL CONTINUE FROM HERE 138 - Install a hinge into the fuselage up to the drawn line. 139 - Hinges installed. I used the control surface to make sure the hinges aligned correctly. 140 - Hinges glued and tugged to make sure it is in solid. 141 - Hinge glued and tugged to make sure it is in solid. 142 - Elevon installed. 143 - Other elevon installed. 144 - Make sure it is even with the wing tip. 145 - You should also not be rubbing the fuselage here at the root. 146 - A piece of masking tape was marked at center, then 10, 12 and 15mm for down throw. The stab is designed to throw down only so far. 147 - Holding the stab with one hand, 5 - 8mm throws are what is called for. I went to 10 - 12mm so the stab wouldn't bind if pushed a little too far. 148 - Holding the fin down, thin CA was applied to teach hinge. Make sure the fin is even with the wing tip because once the CA is applied, it's too late. 149 - Other side of hinge getting some CA. 150 - Hinges glued in place. 151 - This step may not be necessary for everyone. A 3/32" x 1" x 7/16" piece of ply was cut from some scrap. 152 - Piece glued behind ply fan mount, extending the mount to the rear former. I plan on using FAUP's and wanted to make sure I could move the fan more if needed, so the mount was extended. 153 - 3/8" Balsa triangle cut to 2 1/4" long. 154 - Triangle glued under the ply fan mounts for support. This was added because the stock mount was only supported by the 1/2" wide balsa runner running from the front to the back. This seemed a bit weak. 155 - With this triangle piece, the runner is now strong and no longer flexes like it did earlier. 156 - Exacto knife used to shave the rough edges of the duct work. 157 - Another view, you can see the rough edges on the plastic. 158 - Servos hooked up to the receiver and both the transmitter and receiver were turned on so the servos could be centered. 159 - Horns mounted to servos while they are centered. 160 - One end was cut off the horn. 161 - Make sure you do two opposite servos. 162 - Another view showing mirrored servos. 163 - Servo being installed in left wing. 164 - Servo sitting temporarily in place. 165 - Servo wire pulled through receiver opening, then receiver is prepped for install. 166 - Receiver set in place. 167 - Piece of plastic tube threaded through other wing. 168 - Servo wire taped to plastic rod... 169 - ... and wire pulled through. 170 - Servo can be plugged in without the use of an extender. 171 - Fan being installed... you have to bend the cardboard duct down a bit for the fan to fit. 172 - Fan placed in compartment. 173 - Fan unit positioned over mounting holes. 174 - #4 screws and washers installed. 175 - Installing the rear thrust vector former. 176 - The thrust vector former inserted from the rear. 177 - It's pressed flush against the ply brace behind it. 178 - #4 retaining screws are installed. 179 - Thrust vectoring former install completed. 180 - At this point you can used the supplied paper thrust tube. But I opted to make my own. 181 - The face of the plastic folder was removed. 182 - This piece will be used for the thrust tube. 183 - The original tube was laid flat to draw a pattern. 184 - A pattern was dawn using a marker. 185 - Carefully cut out on the lines. 186 - Thrust tube cut. 187 - The marker was removed with a paper towel and denatured alcohol. 188 - The trust tube is ready to roll. 189 - The tube was rolled up and inserted into place. 190 - Notches made at the front to clear the fan mounts. 191 - Tube rolled and packing tape used to seal the edges. Windex was used to get a bubble free joint. 192 - Thrust tube completed and ready to install. 193 - Inserted the ESC from rear to connect wires. 194 - Wires were hard to reach so fan was removed and ESC was installed. 195 - Heat shrink used to keep the plugs in place. 196 - Front of the ESC was tie wrapped to motor lead. 197 - Rear of the ESC wires tie wrapped to keep them from flying around under thrust. 198 - The fan unit with ESC reinstalled. 199 - Fan unit bolted back in place. 200 - Rear view showing the ESC in thrust path to keep it cool. 201 - Thrust tube folded and inserted from rear. 202 - The ESC was maneuvered inside the tube fold. 203 - The right side wires threaded through the punched hole in the tube. 204 - Power wire fed on the other side. 205 - I used this from the rear like a shoe horn to get the thrust tube on the fan shroud. 206 - Thrust tube slid forward and has a 3/8" overlap. 207 - Packing tape used to tape the thrust tube to the shroud. 208 - Rear view with thrust tube installed. 209 - Red power wire fed through first hole using supplied white string. 210 - A piece of lead glued to other string which fell out. I had to re-thread it back to the rear. 211 - Threading the black wire. Note that the thread system may work better the other direction threading from the cockpit rearward, but I already had soldered my leads to the ESC, so I went this direction. 212 - Pulling the black wire through. 213 - I used a ruler to go inside above the hole to get pulling leverage upward. 214 - Pulling up got the wire through the hole... 215 - ... and out of the fuselage. 216 - Power wires routed to battery bay. 217 - There is a balsa plate that is a construction helper during the manufacturing process. It can be removed from the battery area. 218 - Plate snapped out... you can see where it was glued. 219 - Deans Ultra Plug soldered to the power wires. 220 - Heat shrink applied and plug is completed. 221 - This is the completed power plant bay. Wires were dressed and Scotch tape was used to hold down the one servo wire. 222 - Cover was installed and Scotch tape was used to hold it in place. 223 - Two 1/8" thick ply plates were cut from scrap to beef up the servo mounting area. The photo shows one side being soaked in CA to make a smooth surface for the servo tape. 224 - Two plates cut and surfaces "plasticoated" with CA and sanded smooth. 225 - Plates installed with epoxy. 226 - Servo test fitted and clearance is fine. 227 - Both servos cleaned and acetone used prior to adding tape 228 - Double sided servo mounting tape applied and prepped for installation. 229 - Servo installed. 230 - The next few steps are not necessary, but I wanted to make some color coordinate servo hatches. 231 - Thin 1/32" ply was used... original hatch was used as a template. 232 - Some left over covering was used to cover the plates. 233 - Stock plate on left, new one on the right. 234 - Plate installed with same supplied screws. 235 - Both plates installed. 236 - The rest of the hardware, which will all be used next. 237 - Clevises installed on rods, along with scrap pieces of fuel line. 238 - Ruler used for alignment and first hole marked. 239 - Picture shows alignment for proper elevon horn location. 240 -Elevon drilled. 241 - Bolt added and second hold drilled. 242 - Retainer plate held on other side as bolts were tightened. 243 - Excess bolt length cut off. 244 - Horn installed. 245 - Rod installed... 246 - ... and radio turned on to center servos. 247 - Clamp used to hold elevon at center. 248 - Wire bent at servo horn. 249 - Z-Bend made and wire installed. 250 - Wire made for other side... note the servo horn holes needed to be drilled a bit. 251 - Other side installed. 252 - Preparing to install the vertical stab. 253 - Cockpit installed and centered over rear area, then taped to hold it in place. 254 - Hatch latch extended. 255 - Latch installed into rear of cockpit. 256 - Masking placed on tail, then a mark was made at the center 257 - Trimming the canopy... it has been rough cut with scissors. 258 - Time to fit it to the cockpit. 259 - Permanent marker used to mark trim lines. 260 - Length is marked in the rear. 261 - Top view shows marks made in rear. 262 - Fuselage to nacelle joint needs some fitting. 263 - Nose is too long and needs trimming. 264 - Trimming the rear... I worked from the rear forward to fit the canopy. 265 - Rear fits well 266 - Next, the sides were marked to trim to the deck. 267 - Rear of the canopy was anchored with tape. 8 - Picture shows side marked to trim. 269 - Sides were trimmed at the lines. 270 - A ruler was used to steady the cut. 271 - Trim finished. 272 - Canopy taped down again and corner checked for fit once more. 273 - The front of the canopy marked to trim. 274 - Ready to cut. 275 - Trimming the front... canopy fitting completed. 276 - Preparing to epoxy the vertical stab. Rear of stab centered using mark made on tape from previous steps. 277 - Assembly taped in place and pencil used to make a mark on the fuselage. 278 - Layers of tape were stacked up front as a point to but the assembly up against. Two pins were used to mark sides. 279 - Tape that was used to anchor the front of the vertical stab during canopy trimming was removed from the front of the stab. The stab was removed, showing the pencil mark made earlier. 280 - Bottom of stab needed excess covering removed so epoxy would adhere to the wood underneath. 281 - Holding the razor like this allowed me to judge the depth and width of the cut. 282 - Excess covering being removed. 283 - Rear also cut away so it could be epoxied. 284 - Area that was trimmed is ironed back down. 285 - Stab ready for epoxy. 286 - Fuselage stab area ironed down before cutting. 287 - Area being trimmed. 288 - Removing the excess covering. 289 - Rear area is plastic and was roughed up with 100 grit sandpaper for good glue adhesion. 290 - Fuselage ready for epoxy. The expose area had epoxy applied lightly with a brush. 291 - Epoxy was applied to the bottom of the vertical stab assembly, then placed flush against the front tape and pinned in place. 292 - Stab was checked to be vertical, then excess epoxy was removed. 293 - Stab pinned and drying. 294 - The fin was checked for vertical alignment once more, then left to set. 295 - Pins removed, vertical stab assembly is completed. 296 - Canopy washed in hot soapy water to remove any release agents. 297 - Canopy dried and ready for paint. 298 - Painting the pilot... sunshield was glazed with epoxy prior to painting it black. 299 - Pilot painted and ready to fly. 300 - Masking the canopy. 301 - Ready to paint. 302 - Canopy primed. 303 - Canopy painted. 304 - Color didn't match... I spent all day trying to find a matching color and stripped it twice to repaint. 305 - Final paint. 306 - masking removed... it's going to do ok for now. 307 - Working on the cockpit... the edges were thickened up with another layer of 3/32" balsa. 308 - making a cockpit back. 309 - Back made and shaped. 310 - Cockpit back in place... time now to make a seat. 311 - Canopy finally painted. 312 - Detailing the cockpit. 313 - Here is the framework for the cockpit. 314 - A rubber grommet was epoxied to the dowel, then it was inserted into the figure's head. The figure could then be attached to the cockpit by gluing in the dowel at the base with epoxy. 315 - Much of the time today was spent making some decals that are unique to this model. 316 - Pilot inserted into the cockpit. 317 - View of the other side. The dash panel is an exact replica taken from a photo of a real F4D cockpit. It took a couple hours with the Paint Shop program to do the "Dash". 318 - Top view showing most of the cockpit. 319 - View with the canopy in place. 320 - Canopy epoxied to cockpit with 15 minute epoxy and left to set. 321 - I decided to cover the intakes with the correct color for my scheme. 322 - Close up of the area re-covered... not an easy job, but it was a good challenge. 323 - Cockpit epoxied and finished. 324 - Gluing the hook into place with 15 minute epoxy. 325 - Roughing up the tow hook for good glue adhesion. 326 - Gluing the hook into place with 15 minute epoxy. 327 - Tow hook taped with epoxy. 328 - Tow hook installed. 329 - Installing the battery with velcro. 330 - Once the battery was installed, it needs to be balanced at 100mm from the front of the wing joint... I made marks with a marker to note the CG location. 331 - Setting the throws... recommended throws are 5mm up and 5mm down for both aileron and elevator. 332 - I set mine at 8mm up with 5mm set as low rates. 333 - The same goes for down... set at 8mm with 5mm used for low rates. 334 - Here's a look from the front. 335 - View from the rear. 336 - The left side... 337 - Rights side... 338 - Close up of the cockpit area. 340 - The HET-RC F4D Skyray EDF Jet This Website and all documents herin are Copyright © 2012 www.scalerocketry.com - All rights reserved.