Merlin Build

Finally the Merlin build is finished and I have managed to find sometime to fly the glider. Before I get onto the flying characteristics I will run through some of the key points in the build, which was very straight forward.

For the servo tray to make it easy to fix in place I formed a mold as part of the tray to hold the ballast tube. Once the tray was secured in the correct position it was easy to glue the ballast tube in the correct position in the fuzz at the correct CoG point.

Once I completed the Tray and Ballast tube I moved onto the tail area. I made a simple jig to bend the brass tubing to the correct lengths and angles in prep to secure into the tails as per the pictures. Make sure you run some tape along the hinge line to protect it from the epoxy :

Once the brass tubing was in place I cut it to length and soldered the ball joints in place:

And finally the tray fitted out:

Important Note:

On the ailerons and flaps makes sure you lay some fiberglass mat over the brass linkages for extra strength.