build tread eaglet 250

[et2b]

Dear all,
I want to start my build with a tread here.
(off note; English is not my first language, so spelling mistakes are abound...)

I got the eaglet 250 via via as I was looking for a gentle 4ch trainer.
I am a near noob at building, so bear with me at some points as some parts will not fit "logically", at least not for noob me.
I have build 2 guillows like kits (from SIVA) and a retroRC sinbad which I will hopingly maiden soon (awaiting one part and better weather).So building wise I am also learning still.

Reading building posts on rcgroups and the flite test forum I learned that wing parts are mostly on wing sheets and fuselage parts are mostly on fuselage sheets.

So I got busy and started piecing things together. Parts required some sanding here and there as some were a bit burned by laser.
Also a few of the "tabs" (pointy thingies) on the interlocking parts were a fraction of a mm (using metric here ) to big to slot into the fuselage straight away. So some light sanding here and there and voila:

[et2b]

Most tailpieces are obvious

Other view

But the last piece is not that clear; a question for the Willienillies team. Is this the end block for the stringers? And the other piece goes on the top piece of the end of the tail?

Meaning the piece of balsa at the right with 2 pieces still on it.

Are the little balsa rectangles on the left for the battery hatch?
together with these 3 pieces that should go at the bottom front of the fuselage.

I cannot figure out how to make the battery hatch at the moment... should be obvious, but the tread on the general assembly shows a battery hatch on the top fuselage side, and apparently that is just closed off on the eaglet 250?

[et2b]

Luckily there is much to do.

So onwards with the landing gear. I downloaded the patterns and got to work with the piano wire. Off note, the piano wire provided was about 1-2 cm to short to make both landing gears exactly to specs. My wheels are rather thin, so I just scaved some from the ends of the rear landing gear wires. Could have done so from the front as well, but only after bending the front I noticed that the piece leftover for the rear was a bit to short.

Piecing the ply and balsa pieces together was rather easy,

but getting them to fit was a bit more difficult. The landing wires are carved in the the ply pieces, but the balsa middle parts did not entirely line up. The bottom hole is 1mm off and for the rear gear the top triangle bit also did not line up. I had to sand about 1mm of the right side to make sure the balsa did not partly overlap the carved section of the ply.
Pictures...

The balsa middle bits I glued with aliphatic glue.

I chose to glue the wires into the holes (and the top ply bit) with 15min epoxy. Its a lot heavier off course, but as I also want to start practicing proper landings instead of grass belly landings I figured that rough landings are ahead of this little plane...

[et2b]

So after the landing gears are put together I decided to make the center piece of the fuselage and started to glue some main part together.

Before doing so I made the holes (for the pushrods?) a bit bigger. They were quite small and when removing the lasered out bit there was some uneven wood, so I decided to make the hole bigger. just in case they might be needed later on.

The pieces came together and were mostly done with thin CA, some sides were done with aliphatic.

[et2b]

now for a bit off a pauze.

To finish the fuselage I need to take the stringers and place them in the tail bottom and top. There are several longer stringers, but also a few smaller ones on the sheet with the wing pieces. Which one to use for the tail?

Also, How does the battery hatch go together? Are these all parts for the battery hatch and how to place them a the front bottom of the plane...

And what is this sheet with all the rectangles for?
And can I glue already the two balsa squares that fit on the nose and front "windshield"? Hmm best to wait until the electronics etc are in before doing so....I think...