ZNLine Factory Enigma Build by Mark Novack

Guess what. Aside from a few holes for fuel dots and needle valves and remote glow plug sockets, this about finishes the construction portion. I have some ailerons to bevel and wings to final sand, and the MK elevator device to fit. Oh, there is one more piece to install before painting, the landing gear plate stiffener. That is worth a photo or two. I am going to sand these fuses in prep for our painter, and then the shop will be like an empty home where all the kids finally took off for college or whatever!!! I hope that this motor installation was informative and fun to see.

This piece was incorporated a couple of years ago into all of the airplanes after some hard landings cause stress cracks to start around the back of the gear plate and the front of the wing saddle. This piece really stiffens things up and has stopped those annoying little cracks.

Here is a photograph of the brace in place. We put the bead of glue around the firewall and glue this at the same time.

The cracks are just annoying. On my Majestic, I just added a little CF on the inside and used CA to harden it up. JP is mounting the brace on the forward edge of the gear plate. I think that I like it further back, though. I think it does a better job a little further back. However mounted, the brace has done the trick. How do you like that blackened epoxy on the firewall. Looks clean, doesn’t it? The landing gear brace will go in with black epoxy at the gear plate/brace joint, and then white epoxy where it bond to the fuse sidewall foam laminate. JP is really good at making things look really nice while being incredibly functional. Here is the last point of attachment for the belly pan.

An inverted blind nut. We will put a little lump of black epoxy over the nut.

The stab is fitted and the exact point for the retaining screw is marked over the CF tube.

This piece is located in relationship with the control horn and the push rod length. The two elevator push rods are the MK rod. Light weight, very strong, and pretty. Inside, we will use a CF rod and titanium ends from Central Hobbies. 3mm MK B.B. connectors all around. The hole for the MK device is drilled with a conical Dremel stone. No backing is needed inside of the fuselage. The MK device has a screw all the way through to hold it all together and the 5mm screws simply hold the bearing carriers in place on the fuselage side.

It took about eight hours to sand and fill this wing. To really make it awesome, I could add a coat of paste wood filler, but that would add an unnecessary ounce and take another 6 hours or so. It also makes covering a little bit more difficult. If I were building this for a personal sport flyer, I might add the wood filler. Paste wood filler is extremely light weight and in two coats can fill all of the grain so that the covering looks like it was painted on. It may add 30 grams on a 1900mm wing. For a contracted airplane, it will definitely add to the cost. NOTE: The incredibly beautiful, painted wings favored in Japan, smooth as glass, actually display a disadvantage in flight characteristics over a slightly rough, covered surface. The golf ball effect if you please. So, the impeccable finish is only for the eyes, not the air.

The first thing I did before joining the wings was to mark the servo wire tunnel location. I just opened it up with the Dremel tool as the final step before covering. The coverer is coming over this evening to pick up some stabs and two wings. One is for Christophe, so I had better get back outside and final sand Christophe's wing to utter perfection.

 Here is the aileron. Beveled just enough for great F3A snaps. Friends, this completes the construction phase of the Enigma until it returns from the paint shop and covering shop. The the servo tray is added, the hinges are glued, and all of the hardware will go in. I do not believe that I have left anything out. For those of you who think this was lots of work, remember, I was building 5 at once, and at the same time working a full time job, preparing ARFs, installing canister mufflers in big airplanes, flying, sleeping, eating, and all of those other things that make life full and wonderful. I would estimate that a power builder using 3 hour epoxy instead of 24 hour stuff could get one of these ready to paint in about 2-3 weeks. I hope to get some photos during the painting process and covering process. If I am unable to do that, then the installation will be next

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