Recently I have had the pleasure to assemble a Nimbus for Mr. Scott Reeves. While I have assembled several Nimbus 4's, this was the first that entailed an Electric Motor conversion. I decided to document the building process to show all prospective Nimbus owners the required steps in assembling the nimbus start to finish. All Pictures are thumbnails, please click for a larger view

This is the predicted performance of the converted HKM Nimbus 4!

I think this type of performance warrants a lethal weapons permit!

Thanks to Scott Reeves for the data.

  FedEx, also known as the "White airplane truck", delivers the Nimbus. Box dimensions are 200 x 30 x 30 cm. Surprisingly small for such a large model.

All parts unpacked and checked for shipping damage. The new custom wing bags are also pictured. Large bag contains the both long wing sections, the elevator, and the carbon wing rods. The short bag contains the short wing sections and the winglets. All are very well padded.

Note: Wing bags are an additional 125 euro

Let the prep work begin.....

Six Hitec 5125 Digital Aileron servos and two Hitec 85bb spoiler servos. Build mounting frames. Don't forget to cut the bottom tab on all the 5125 servos to allow removal after installation. you will not be able to access this screw. See second picture.

Build a bracket for the rudder servo

Solder together a wiring harness for the wings. These parts are mounted into the fuselage and connect the receiver to the inboard wing sections.

The first picture is the receiving end of the wiring harness. Clean and perfectly executed solder joints are the key to success. The second picture are the leftovers of some 80 plus solder joints, not counting all the pieces that flew across the room when I cut them. The servo wires are already in the wing with sufficiently long tails to solder the plugs. Same style plugs connect the inner wing sections with the outer wing sections. These plugs have to be soldered in as well.

The first picture is of the typical aileron servo installation. the control surface horn is epoxy'd in place after two holes are drilled for support. Now you can see why the bottom tab was opened on the servo.

The second picture is the installed rudder servo and bracket.

The third picture is of the elevator servo installed in the vertical support post of the rudder.

This is the completed elevator actuator. It is constructed of two supplied 2.5mm rods, measured to length, soldered together, slid into a supplied aluminum tube, filled with END FEST 300 epoxy for stiffness, heat shrink'd on both ends to keep the epoxy from running out and baked at 375 degrees for one hour.   ok... just kidding about the baking!

Next the Motor installation.... This picture also shows the modified hatch lever mechanism.

 RFM Stubby Spinner makes a near perfect match

2 three cell and one 4 cell LiPo batteries. connected in series, they provide ample power.

The completed Nimbus 4 on the day of the test flight, the dolly is in the background.