When I get a little better at landing and want to bolt on the wing, how do people attach the hatch cover in an elegant fashion?

From : Don Stackhouse

Mike,
Elegant, eh? I guess that rules out most of the common techniques, like a piece of tape, or a rubber band around the nose!

The popular method right now is a piece of heat-shrink tubing about 1 inch wide, shrunk to exactly fit the nose about 1 to 2 inches ahead of the wing. Just fit the hatch into position and slip the tubing over the nose to hold it in place. Light and simple. Unfortunately, if you covered your Chrysalis fuselage with plastic film or gave it a really slick painted finish, you may find that the only way to get the tubing off is with a knife (guess how I know?). This is the primary method used on the Monarch, and should work on a Chrysalis if you don't use too much paint. One other hint, shrink TWO pieces of tubing to fit, in case you lose the first one in the grass.

Another method that worked well on the earlier Monarchs is to bend 2 small wire hooks from "T" pins, then epoxy one to the fuselage floor just ahead of F2, and the other to the inside of the hatch just above it. Loop a very small rubber band between them to hold the aft end of the hatch in position. The rubber band will allow you to lift the aft end of the hatch above F2, then slide it aft far enough to disengage the lip at the front of the hatch from the battery compartment cover. Just reverse the process to put the hatch back on.

If you want to get really fancy you can resort to moving parts. One fairly simple latch is a sliding pin. Fit your hatch in position, then find a spot on the hatch which is not in line with any wing leading-edge attachment pins, and not where you put your fingers when you hold the model for launch. Put a mark on the back of F2 at this location about 3/32" (2.4mm) below the top edge. Fit the hatch into position, then drill a 1/32" hole through F2 and about 1" into the aft end of the hatch, parallel to the outer surface of the hatch. Remove the hatch and ream out the hole in the hatch to 1/16" (4.8mm) diameter.

Cut a 1/4" long (6.4mm) slot in the top of the hatch connecting with the front end of the 1/16" hole. Now slip a piece of the nylon tube casing from a small diameter flexible cable pushrod into the hole in the hatch till it reaches the back end of the 1/4" slot. Wick a drop of thin cyano-acrylate adhesive into the hatch around the tube, then cut the tube off flush with the aft end of the hatch.

Bend a small (3/32") loop in the end of some leftover 1/32" music wire and slip the other end of the wire into the nylon tube from the 1/4" slot in the hatch. Push the wire through until the loop in the wire snaps into the 1/4" slot, then push the loop all the way to the aft end of the slot. Cut the aft end of the wire off so that 1/8" (9.6mm) sticks out the back of the hatch when the loop in the wire is all the way aft. Make sure the end of the wire pulls up inside the aft end of the hatch when the wire loop is pushed forward (lengthen the forward end of the slot if necessary). Use a file or some sandpaper to polish the aft end of the wire smooth and round.

Slide the wire loop forward, set the hatch in place on the fuselage, then slide the wire loop aft so that the aft end of the wire sticks into the 1/32" hole in F2. You're done! Looks slick and professional, but after all that, a piece of tape is starting to look a lot more attractive, isn't it? Seriously though, it's harder to describe than it is to do, the whole process takes about 5 minutes. Just make sure the wire loop isn't located near your fingertips when you grip the model for launch, or you might see your Chrysalis jettison its hatch on the way up!

Don Stackhouse @ DJ Aerotech