Fliskits - 3's a Charm

A knot was then tied into the end of the Kevlar thread and the knot was poked into the hole made by the nail. Some glue was then applied to the hole and the nail was forced in to its head. Then end was then sealed with more white glue.

Hi John:
I'm in the process of building 3's a charm as well. During the Snow in I started the process but got side tracked with a Valentine Odd-Roc...Doh!

As Jim mentioned already sanding the lugs sure helps with adhesion between the mylar lug and bodytube. I always fillet lugs with 5 minute epoxy just because. These were no exception.

One of the best friends we micro builders have is plain old wax paper. tape down a sheet to your building board while assembling the tiny pins and other assembles sure makes things easer to free up when dry. dummy that I've become this week I didn't take a single pic while building this micro
I'll try to do better as I start on the gliders.

Micromeister said:

Hi John:
I'm in the process of building 3's a charm as well. During the Snow in I started the process but got side tracked with a Valentine Odd-Roc...Doh!

As Jim mentioned already sanding the lugs sure helps with adhesion between the mylar lug and bodytube. I always fillet lugs with 5 minute epoxy just because. These were no exception.

One of the best friends we micro builders have is plain old wax paper. tape down a sheet to your building board while assembling the tiny pins and other assembles sure makes things easer to free up when dry. dummy that I've become this week I didn't take a single pic while building this micro
I'll try to do better as I start on the gliders.

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I had read somewhere around here, not sure where, about scuffing up this type of lug. I didn't go 360 with it and only did the side going to the BT. I have a blunder to document in a few steps that makes me glad I did not use epoxy, though that is probably the right choice.

Here it is

Micromeister said:

The Trick with any of the Plastic Stems or stir sticks is to sand them all around with 80 or 120grit sandpaper before application. I generally us a couple drops of med. CA to stick them in place then fillet with 5 minute epoxy for a permanent mount. Cheapy dollar store Q-tips seem to stay put with this treatment.

Some Stir sticks are very brittle, look for some that are a bit softer. Again sand the heck out of the entire surface before cuttng to size seems to make all the difference

PS: I only use med. "ZAP" CA. it's proven over the years to be the best bang for the buck. There are better CA's but they are not worth the extra money for me.

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The forward mounting pin assemblies were glued to the front end of the fuselage sticks and set aside to dry while I worked on the glider wings.

The wing template was cut out and used to mark six wings on the balsa sheet.

The wings were then cut out with an X-acto and given the first coat of the double glue joint and allowed to set up as I turned back to the mounting pins.

The rear pins were glued onto the glider fuselages set a bit forward of the rear end. The printed template was used as a guide.

I also used this time to cut out the dihedral guides and glue the launch lug into place along the root edge of one of the fins.

Why did you cut the Dihedral guides completely off the cardstock base?

They can work that way but its sure easier to tape a large stable piece of cardstock to the table then the little tabs

Micromeister said:

Why did you cut the Dihedral guides completely off the cardstock base?

They can work that way but its sure easier to tape a large stable piece of cardstock to the table then the little tabs

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I was going to ask the same thing Much easier to use the guides if you leave them intact on the pattern sheet. They still work though, but I would tape them down to your work surface.

jim

As far as the dihedral goes, it was one of those things that just happened without benefit of concious thought, kinda like what my wife says about my sermons.

I was really hoping to have this one ready for this weekend but I don't think it is going to happen. Lenten obligations have snowed me under.

I understand being snowed under by obligations John...and Yours have a much Higher priority and boss then mine.

Perhaps since our club launch has been postponed I'll get a change to do some work on my 3's a Charm Gliders this weekend...and this time remember to take a couple Pics. If so; I'd like to add them to this thread if thats OK with you? Especially since I completely blew it during booster construction...didn't even think about the camera...I really must be getting old

Micromeister said:

I understand being snowed under by obligations John...and Yours have a much Higher priority and boss then mine.

Perhaps since our club launch has been postponed I'll get a change to do some work on my 3's a Charm Gliders this weekend...and this time remember to take a couple Pics. If so; I'd like to add them to this thread if thats OK with you? Especially since I completely blew it during booster construction...didn't even think about the camera...I really must be getting old

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You're welcome to post what you like.

Another coat of glue was applied to the roots of the wings and then they were glued together, one pair at a time, using the dihedral guides to get the correct angle.

Filleting the fins was a problem since my fat fingers would not fit into the allowed space. Looking around, I saw that I still had about 2 feet of 1/8" brass tubing left over from another project and cut a piece of that to use. It seemed to work and white glue fillets were applied to the root edges of all the fins.

When the wings were all done, it was time to glue them to the fuselages. Some white glue was run along the wing joints and the fuselages were glued into place.

The streamer was taped into place on the Kevlar a bit back from the nose cone. I tried a new method that brought both ends of the Kevlar out from the same side of the streamer and then doubled over the taped end.

Looks like the build is going great! Now for finishing, eh?

Oh, and then a launch!

hhmmmm, then recovery... You may want to consider a consignment of local neighborhood kids to help with that

jflis said:

Looks like the build is going great! Now for finishing, eh?

Oh, and then a launch!

hhmmmm, then recovery... You may want to consider a consignment of local neighborhood kids to help with that

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If all goes well, it will be launched at the Amateur Rocketeers of Texas Freedom Launch next weekend. This little MMX will be competing for attention with the HPR stuff and some Ex stuff as well if I'm not mistaken.

I wish I could have had it ready today. I had kids fighting to recover rockets today. Next week, probably not.

Looks like you found some time John.

I did get the gliders built as well over the weekend. Unexpected company kept me for going any furthing the construction.
some photos from booster completion.... almost forgot the Darn Launch Lugs again!

Jim!
These little gliders are a TRIP!!! The better 2/3rds is not happy about the size as she's usually the recovery crew. I've been instructed to build several replacements LOL!!!
I told her I'd Trim them to do a tight circle...but she's not buying it. We'll see how it goes.

Here are the last few.
trimming them in the living room was funny, I'd add a little clay to a wing but they didn't want to turn tee hee he.

Been following this thread for awhile. These look like big finger terrorists. Glad you guys posted so many pics. Will be a great help when I finally get around to building. Great building tips.

I'm dying here guys waiting for a flight report!
What releases the gliders? The kickback from ejection charge?

blackjack2564 said:

Been following this thread for awhile. These look like big finger terrorists. Glad you guys posted so many pics. Will be a great help when I finally get around to building. Great building tips.

I'm dying here guys waiting for a flight report!
What releases the gliders? The kickback from ejection charge?

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Yes Jim:
The Gliders are released at ejection, not sure if any of you are familar with Edmonds Deltie airshow or Fliskits Tri-Glide, but 3's A Charm is basicly the same type set up in micro scale. Robert Edmonds has one thats a 3 glider, a 4 glider and I seem to recall him doubling up on one with 6 small delties for a night launch (cylumes on each glider and the mother ship). It was truely an airshow LOL!!!
I'm hoping 3's a Charm fills my bill for that type of Micro airshow

The only part of 3's A charm that is a bit of a trouble is all those clear tiny launch lugs. My suggestion is to keep them in a seperate closed baggie until time to actually apply them.

Same with the 3/8" and 1/4" x .040" square Pins. a pair of flat tipped tweezers and wax paper on a Glass or other Flat plate make all the difference in assembling the fuselage bodies. I used mostly white glues on this one. with 5 minute epoxy as the fillets where needed.

As always I replaced the provided light kevlar line with 36" of 90lb kevlar. This seems to work best for me as I alway seem to snap the provided lighter weight kevlar shockline or the first or second flight. I also switched out the provided 1/2" x 10" streamer with a 1/2" x 10" Yellow teflon permanent wadding/streamer.

I really expect to get these little gliders back as they are almost twice the wing span of my 3x downscale Micro Orbital Transport Glider, that flys and recovers for it's minimum diameter mothership fairly regularly. Of coarse these glider may trim out better and glide away and there are 3 of them to watch...so we'll have to see...but HOPE springs eternal LOL!!!!

Another GREAT Little kit Mr. Flis! Hats off to ya again!:wave:

One of the nice things about 3's a Charm is that, with all that drag, she doesn't go very high (70+ feet maybe). This makes it easy to see all 3 gliders detach. The problem is, as you can guess, is that they all go off in different directions...

I recommend you paint the top sides a bright color that doesn't match the ground in your launch area

The construction of the 3's a Charm went into the final stretch when I cut out the vertical stabilizer template and used it to trace 3 tails for the gliders.

The tails were then cut out with an X-acto blade.

The tails were then glued into place with white glue and set aside to dry.

Decided to really go back to basics with this kit finishing.
Late evening I put a couple coats of Midwest Balsa filler (used to be aerogloss) on the NC and fins just for fun.
I think i'll leave the gliders unfilled, but fine sand with 600grit before applying a couple coats of Magic Marker Fluroescent colors to them.

OH Man JIM! These little buggers are a PAIN to trim!!!!! tiny bits of clay but still have one that refuses to fly!