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RE: Ziroli Skyraider Build
Doc, Yours looks very good. I am hoping the second one I paint will turn out better. I am trying to figure out the right recipes for the colors I need so I can mix the Klass Kote paint better. I am fixing the sizing of my decals now and masking off my unit markings and stuff. After those are finished I will start weathering and then shoot the whole model in a flat clear. I am hoping I can use the weathering to somewhat compensate the "off" colors. I also still need to finish off the pylons and sliding canopy. I found quite a few pictures of the black bottom skyraiders on skyraider.org. Probably not enough to document a competition model, but it surprised me how many there were.
Posted on: 7/14/2010 9:14 AM by Author "VoughtF4U"
in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9864224
RE: Ziroli Skyraider Build
More color shots. Sorry about the multiple posts with only two pictures. I am trying to stay within the size restrictions of each post. I sprayed this using a cheap "automotive touch-up gun" from Harbor Freight. It actually worked very well except the overspray is too much to free hand the camo pattern so that it looks right. I realized I had to mask the colors off, but was trying to get a good looking edge without it being razor sharp. I settled on using 3/16" thick foam weather strip tape from Lowe's. I would have liked to use the 3M round blending tape the professionals use, but the price was way too high. I paid $3 for 17ft of the weatherstrip tape and it worked okay. Basically I just sprayed from the masked side to the side that needed painting to get a soft edge from the foam tape. It worked okay, but I have some areas where I ended up with no blending. Overall it looks pretty good though. Note the four tan stripes n the fuselage. The Skyraider guys in Vietnam used these to denote the squadron commander's aircraft. I figured it would be okay to add these to my dad's aircraft since I will let him be the commander of our Skyraider squadron (of 2 aircraft). Mine will be painted similar to his but minus the stripes and with a black bottom instead of the light gray.
Posted on: 7/13/2010 11:36 PM by Author "VoughtF4U"
in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9863629
RE: Ziroli Skyraider Build
Spot the mistakes... Okay, I realize most of you scale competition guys are laughing at me right now. For those non-scale competition guys I'll clue you in. While painting I got my greens mixed up on the left wing and painted the light green where the dark green should be. This wouldn't be a big problem except I painted the flaps and ailerons correctly. So that left me with a dilema. Should I just try and hand mix some more klass kote to match the colors I already sprayed to correct the mistake, or should I just try and cover it up with a little freestyle painting with the small amount of dark green i had left before it set up. I chose the later and just started freestyle painting on the camo scheme to get things to match up. So i guess my dad can't compete since his scheme doesn't match any documentation I have. Oh well... Second mistake I made is not as obvious. The flap in the picture won't go up. Why you ask? Well, because the one i painted turns out to belong to the other wing I built. No matter how close you try to build two wings, there are differences. Needless to say, no matter how careful I tried to be about keeping which went with which wing, i got them messed up in my hast to paint. Not a huge mistake, except i won't be able to hand mix the same shades of paint for the other flap I need to use. I think I am just going to trim the inner edge of the flap some so that it fits and call it a day. Painting the inboard side of the flap is mauch easier than trying to match the green and brown. So that catches all my pictures up through this weekend. I will try to add a few more pictures of the weathering and finished product. I am planning on going back to Missouri next month so I need to finish it so I can deliver it to my dad then. If anyone has any questions I will try and answer them. I would also appreciate some comments and criticism of my build and paint job. I am always ready to learn something new. Thanks, -Scott-
Posted on: 7/13/2010 11:26 PM by Author "VoughtF4U"
in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9863708
RE: Ziroli Skyraider Build
Couple of detail shots. First picture shows my crude attempt at a hand carved static show prop. I still have to paint the tips, but it actually came out pretty nice. It is missing the cuff of the full scale Aero Products prop, but looks pretty good from 10 feet away. The cowl is just sitting in place right now, but will be mounted using dowels and rare earth magnets. The dowels will keep it in alignment and the magnets will keep it in place. Works nice and clean with no external screws to worry about. The second picture shows a couple of minor details. I added 1/64 chart tape when primering and then removed it before painting to simulate panel lines. Nothing new there, but it was the first time I had done it so I was happy with how it came out. I learned a lot and will apply it to future models. Another thing to note are some small raised panels. There are two in the second picture but are hard to see. Before primering I added some metallic Shurtape brand tape. When i weather it, I will sand and scuf the paint on these panels to simulate wear and tear and paint chipping. The two panels in this picture are the ammo boxes in the wings. I'll get a better picture after I weather this area to show it better. The last thing to note are the small decals I added here and there. My wife has a "Brother P-touch" label maker she uses for scrap booking and things. I figured i would give it a try for making decals. I downloaded the USAF amarillo style font from the internet and used that with the label maker to make these. The resolution degrades on the really small stuff, but work pretty good for what I needed. I think most of the decals are in too small of a font anyway so I will probably peel these all off and redo them in a little larger font. I have to say i have been impressed with the decals as far as their chemical resistance. I labeled some containers I used to mix up the Klass Kote paint and they stood up to lacquer thinner very well. They also seem to be good with alcohol and gas. Turns out we use the same labels where I work and they stand up okay to high concentrations of nitric acid and caustic solutions too.
Posted on: 7/13/2010 11:12 PM by Author "VoughtF4U"
in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9863674
RE: Ziroli Skyraider Build
Almost finished product... Here are some pictures as it sits now. Couple of things to note here. I am using Klass Kote epoxy paint to paint these. I have to say this stuff is pretty nice. Sprays easy and is pretty forgiving. I have not put the clear on it yet and will spary the whole thing with a flat finish after adding all the nomenclature, markings and weathering. To my eye the colors are off from what they should be, but they are good enough for me and should be good enough for my dad. I started off following the recipes recommended by Klass Kote on their website. I sprayed the bottom gray color first and then the tan color, but to me it looks too brown. In the photos I have for references, the color should be more of a sand color, but maybe that is just this brown color after it has faded some. Maybe someone out there knows more about it than I do and can speak up and let me know. Next i sprayed the light green, once again following the recipe off the website. But as I mixed the color, it looked too dark for me so i deviated from the recipe some and ended up with what is shown. Probably too light, but once again oh well... I sprayed the dark green last, and same as before I deviated from the recipe and ended up with something a little too dark for my eyes. But don't take this as a complaint, I am happy with how it turned out, just wish I knew more to know how "off" I am from the real thing. Anyway, overall I have to say using the Klass Kote was a positive experience and would recommend it.
Posted on: 7/13/2010 10:50 PM by Author "VoughtF4U"
in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9863608
RE: Ziroli Skyraider Build
Cockpit time! My dad like's to have scale looking cockpits, while I usually paint the inside of my canopy silver. I decided I better keep him happy by making up a decent cockpit. I also figured since I bought a good looking pilot he needed a decent place to sit. So, for two weekends in a row, me a my two little boys spent some craft time together. My wife loved it, the boys loved it and I was rewarded with a decent looking pit. The boys spent their time making sparkling cards for their grandmothers, not to mention a huge mess, and I borrowed some of their beads and plastic junkets to glue onto balsa and plastic sheeting. For the instrument panel i just found some instruments on the internet, printed them on photo paper and cut them out. I then took some plastic sheeting, cut it into squares, carved a hole in it and glued it on top of the photo instruments. as you can see, some of them were not lined up very good and I had some glue running all over the place, but I blame that on trying to assist the kids with their projects at the same time. I then took beads and plastic pieces and glued them in various positions to simulate levers, dials and other cockpit things. I painted them and the end result is a cockpit with beads and plastic things. Oh well, looks good enough when you put the pilot in with it, he covers most of everything up. Oh, and it looks even better when you close the canopy... and stand 10 feet away, looking into the sun... Anyway, it was a fun project and some good family time.
Posted on: 7/13/2010 10:35 PM by Author "VoughtF4U"
in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9863570
RE: Ziroli Skyraider Build
A little more sheeting and lots of sanding later I finally got to put everything together out on the front lawn to see what it all looked like. In the first picture you can see how I mounted the gear if you really strain your eyes. Basically I mounted a hardwood block to a good piece of 1/4-inch AC ply. I then sunk a metal tube into the hardwood block which the struts were then attached to. The struts I am using on my Dad's Skyraider were from an old Gee Bee that didn't make it through the last flying season. They should be plenty strong to support the 100" Skyraider. I haven't weighed them yet but I am not going crazy on adding detailing or anything so they shouldn't be real heavy. One thing about the finishing on these Skyraiders. I am not going crazy on the fiberglassing to get a mirror smooth finish like some people do. All full scale Skyraiders I have seen are dented and beat up pretty good. The ones flying the skies of Vietnam were probably beat up even worse. So I am basically just sanding the sheeting until it is smooth enough and then laying down the fiberglass. I am not using filler to smooth out low spots or anything. Once the glass is on, I will hit it with some primer, sand that lightly and then spray the colors. Some may think this is crude and poor workmanship, but I justify it in my mind as adding a scale appearance. I use .75oz cloth andbrush on miniwax water based polycrylic polyurethane floor finish. I prefer this method over the epoxy finish for several reasons. The smell isn't as bad and the cleanup is pretty easy since it is water based. Unfortunately I lost all the pictures of the glassing so nothing to show here.
Posted on: 7/13/2010 10:24 PM by Author "VoughtF4U"
in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9863535
RE: Ziroli Skyraider Build
Once the fuselage was all framed out, I slowly started adding the sheeting. My work was still taking up a huge amount of time and most of my free time was spent trying to keep my two little boys occupied. I would basically add one piece of sheeting to each side a night. I used good old fashioned wood glue for this. I usually use CA but have found that i get in too big of a hurry when sheeting with CA. I also came downstairs one afternoon to find my boys playing with one of the fuselages. I could only imagine what they had done to it since they have helped me "work" on planes in the past. I had to laugh when my youngest said "look daddy, it's a Vader Raider".
Posted on: 7/13/2010 10:08 PM by Author "VoughtF4U"
in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9863491
RE: Ziroli Skyraider Build
Time to add the stringers and make sure everything is straight and line up properly. I use a laser line level and several bubble levels to make sure everything is line up correctly. With each new build I find myself getting better at certain things. I am also slowly accumulating better tools with each build to build straighter planes. The laser line level is one of those tools. Both the fuselages were framed out straight as could be and gave me a good starting point for adding the sheeting. About this time I also won an auction on EBay for an F-15 pilot from Dragon. I'll be adding him to the cockpit of my dad's plane just because his club mate's are more critical of things like scale details and such. He flies out in Missouri while I fly in East Tennsessee where you are good to go as long as you can put an orange "T" sticker on your plane. This is about the time when my wife started giving me dirty looks and started wondering what I was really doing in the basement when my two little boys accused me of playing with dolls in the basement.
Posted on: 7/13/2010 9:52 PM by Author "VoughtF4U"
in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9863461
RE: Ziroli Skyraider Build
Moving on to the fuselage! This is were the laser cut kit shined. Everything on the fuselage lined up pretty good and all the pieces fit together without much adjustment. My hand cut kit I did fit pretty good but I needed to adjust a few things to get the stringers to line up and get everything straight. I couldn't help but put everything together just to pretend I had a Skyraider. Unfortunately about this time was when my work schedule got hectic and I had to take an extended break from building the Skyraiders. The only thing special to note in these pictures is the green tape. This is Scotch 3M brand #2060 "Masking tape for hard-to-stick surfaces". This stuff is awesome for holding balsa wood together even if it has lots of sanding dust on it. unfortunately Lowes and Home Depot in my area quit carrying it. I haven't tried the green "frog tape" to see if it works the same. The other blue and tan masking tapes hold just long enough for you to walk away for the night when gluing pieces together. The green stuff will hold if it sticks initially. Another thing to note here is the mounting of the horizontal stab. I wish I had given it some more thought at this stage of the build so that I could make sure I had a good solid mount. Ziroli plans and instructions basically have you build the fuselage than then hack a hole in it to slide the H-stab through and glue it in. These is a little more to it than that, but that is about how I felt about it after it was done. Once again Barry (DBSpit) has a much better way of adding the tail to his Skyraider and I really wish he had done his before I had built mine because I would have copied his method. Sure my tail is solid, but it probably weighs more than necessary. I really should have given it some more thought before sheeting the fuselage.
Posted on: 7/13/2010 9:44 PM by Author "VoughtF4U"
in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9863445
RE: Ziroli Skyraider Build
Pictures of the tail. Nothing special here. The control horns were mounted the same way as the ailerons in the previous post. If I did it again i would have gone ahead and connected the elevator halves with a tube and mounted a single pushrod to it using a brass tab soldered to the rod. Barry (DBSpit) over on RCScalebuilder has an excellent post on building a Skyraider and has some great pictures of how to do this. I almost posted this thread there but didn't want to embarass myself with a thread next to his. The last picture shows that the tail of this thing is almost as big as a .40 sized Spitfire.
Posted on: 7/13/2010 9:30 PM by Author "VoughtF4U"
in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9863408
RE: Ziroli Skyraider Build
Next three pictures show the ailerons and the mounts for the control horns I am using. I use the Dubro large scale plastic control horns. I make an interior mounting base for the control horn that is tied into two ribs and glued to the bottom sheeting. Then I will glue the top of the control horn base plate to the insde of the aileron on the mounting plate. Then when the top sheeting goes on the ailerons, you can't see the top mounting plate. I have never had any problems with this style of mounting once I learned to glue the plate on really good. I did have one that popped off when I tried bolting the control horn to the aileron and had to cut the shetting apart to get the mounting plate lined back up. The last picture shows the bottom of the aileron with a piece of plywood in the hole keep the balsa sheeting from crushing when tightening the bolts. I wanted to make internal pushrods on the elevators but choose to do the elevator control horns the same as the ailerons. -Scott-
Posted on: 7/13/2010 8:31 PM by Author "VoughtF4U"
in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9863290
RE: Ziroli Skyraider Build
Next three pictures show the wings after sheeting. You can see the open area for the aileron servo and the holes for the wing pylon mounts. Second picture shows the flap hinges. Simple but work pretty good. Once again the laser cut kit gave me fits with the light ply they used for the flap hinges coming out of the wing. I broke several of these off before I finished. I had to do some hacking to cut them out and replace them with higher quality wood. Third picture just shows the hole the flap servo goes into. For the hatch cover it will have a thin plywood base that goes in the hole first and then a bals cap over the plywood so that it can easily be sanded flat with the rest of the wing.
Posted on: 7/13/2010 8:24 PM by Author "VoughtF4U"
in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9863279
RE: Ziroli Skyraider Build
Next set of pictures include the aileron servo mount and the various wing pictures. The aileron servos will be mounted flush to the bottom of the wing with the servo arms hanging out in the breeze. Not very scale like but simple. The flap servos will be mounted internally under a hatch with an internal pushrod that goes out through theback of the trailing edge. The second picture shows the plywood mounts I installed for the main wing pylons. Hard to make them out, but they are the wood running vertical in the picture. They spread the load across three ribs and should give good support. The pylons themselves will be mounted using blind nuts and bolts that screw up through the middle of the pylon. The centerline pylon and the two big wing pylons will be made so that they can drop stuff. The outer 12 wing pylons will just be screwed on with non-dropable ordinance. The third and fourth picture shows the outer wing panels and the mounting strips I used for the small pylons. These pylons will just be screwed to the plywood using wood screws and glue. Nothing fancy.
Posted on: 7/13/2010 8:18 PM by Author "VoughtF4U"
in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9863268
RE: Ziroli Skyraider Build
Quick picture of the wing joint for the three piece wing. Second picture shows a little more of the wing joint. One thing I will admit to is that I am a sloppy builder. Everythign comes out straight in the end, but the inside doesn't look pretty and probably weighs more than it should. Third picture shows some detail of the gear mount area. The laser cut kit had light ply included for the ribs that would support the gear mounts. No way was I using those. I made some new ribs out of 3 or 5 layer AC ply. Can't remember which I used. I also use gorilla glue or Elmer's pro bond glue when I can find it to add some strength to stressed joints. My dad doesn't like retracts so the gear will be mounted to a 1/4-inch ply plate that will have the same hole pattern as a set of robart rotating retracts. That way if he ever decided to put retracts in, all he has to do is un-bolt the plate and put the retracts in. The gear doors will not be cut out, but will be marked so I know where to cut if I need to add retracts to his. Fourth picture is of the wing mount block. My neighbors were putting in a new hardwood floor so I went over a couple of times and took their small scrap pieces. This block is flush with the bottom of the wing and then I filled in the space above it with a good sized balsa block to keep from having any crush issues. Also note the rib that the wing mount is attached to. The laser cutter included light ply again, probably okay, but I chose to replace it with a better 3 ply rib with a 5 ply doubler.
Posted on: 7/13/2010 8:10 PM by Author "VoughtF4U"
in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9863247
RE: Ziroli Skyraider Build
I built the two wings first. The kit I cut myself went together pretty good. I had a few small areas that needed sanding or adjusting but nothing major. The second wing I put together was from the laser cut kit. The cuts were very nice and the pieces looked good, but a lot of the pieces needed some major adjustment. When I hand cut my kit, I would mark the inner rib and the outer ribs for the spars, then line everything up and mark the rest of the spar cuts in a straight line. The laser cut kit cut everything as it was copied from the drawing. Most everything was cut right, but a few pieces were either copied wrong or drawn wrong on the original. I don't know, but I ended up cutting a couple of ribs out for the laser cut wing on my own. No biggie, but it was a little frustrating at times. One other thing I did not like about the laser cut kit was that the plywood that runs the length of the inner wing section between the spars was light ply. It should be okay, but on the kit I cut myself I used good 5 layer aircraft ply. My dad will get the stronger AC ply wing, and I will keep the lower grade light ply myself. A couple of the pictures show the wing bones lined up with a .40-.60 sized Bearcat ARF from DymondRC, which was later sold by Lanier I think. Huge difference in size on these two.
Posted on: 7/13/2010 7:54 PM by Author "VoughtF4U"
in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9863208
Ziroli Skyraider Build
I figured I would try and contribute a little to the forum. This will be a short thread to post some pictures of my build of two Ziroli Skyraiders. It started about three years ago with lots of breaks due to my job and family needs. I have one just about done and the second is a little behind. I'll try and upload all my pictures over the next couple of days. It all started when a fellow club member owed me some money. Instead of paying me he gave me a set of plans, the cowl and a canopy. I had enough wood to cut one kit of my own. I wanted to build my dad one too, so I ordered a second laser cut kit to save some time (or so I thought). I then placed a wood order and ordered a second cowl and canopy to give me enough to finish both planes and I was off on my three year adventure. The last two pictures are of what I was hoping would be the two end products. -Scott-
Posted on: 7/13/2010 4:35 PM by Author "VoughtF4U"
in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9862802
RE: ESM F4U Build
Can one of you guys measure and post the inner diameter of the cowling and what the depth is from the firewall to the front edge of the cowling? Thanks...
Posted on: 4/30/2010 5:29 PM by Author "VoughtF4U"
in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9700865
RE: SHOW YOUR DETAILED ARF WARBIRDS
Here is a CMP .40-.60 Spitfire I am working on. The cowling is kind of a Mk. V trop, but I am doing the paint job up to be a Mk. Vb. I tore all the covering off, filled in the gaps with 1/16" balsa sheeting to have a fully sheeted model. I then added the teardrop blisters for the cannons on the wing, a wing fillet and the oil cooler and radiator to the bottom. I also added the extended cannons to the wing. The rudder and elevators are fully sheeted, but I sanded uot some depressions to simulate the sagged fabric and didn't fill the weave of the cloth in so it looks fabric covered. Then the plane was glassed using .75oz cloth and minwax water based polycrylic. It is primered with cheapie Walmart rattle can primer and will be painted with krylon rattle can spray paint. The colors are a little off but it will be close enough. I added aluminum tape to simulate the raised panels and hatches and will sand off some of the paint to simulate wear and tear and chipping on these. After painting, I will be drawing on the panel lines with pencil and weathering it. It will get a clear coating of oil based polyurethane when finished. Fun three week project for my dad...
Posted on: 3/30/2008 10:14 PM by Author "VoughtF4U"
in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7308541
RE: Rauch airliner model
Does anyone have Rauch's website address or contact info? I am really interested in his DC-8 but want to see some pics or get a catalog. Thanks!
Posted on: 1/23/2008 9:46 PM by Author "VoughtF4U"
in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6959405
RE: Dymond F8F Bearcat ARF
I liked the part about only adding a couple of ounces to the nose to get it to balance, even with their smaller engine they used in the review. I have a Magnum .91 4-stroke with aluminum spinner and I still had to add about 30 pennies to the very front rim of the cowl to get it to balance. That is with the servos as far forward in the fuse as possible, the throttle servo mounted to the front of the firewall and the battery right behind the firewall. Oh, I guess all that heavy weight 1/16" balsa sheeting I added to the horizontal stab was my problem with the CG placement... [8|] This plane has been fun to fly, but don't drop it or flip it on landing. My fiberglass is cracked all over and my canopy shattered from a gentle flip over in grass on landing. I've noticed Tower is advertising the same bearcat but it is being sold as a Lanier product. A heck of a lot cheaper too. I just hope Lanier made some design changes first!!!
Posted on: 1/10/2008 10:08 PM by Author "VoughtF4U"
in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6888175
RE: 2008 New Airplanes
What ever happened to the Sukhoi? I have been waiting for someone, anyone, to release a kit or at least a set of plans (with an available cowl and canopy) for a Sukhoi 26/29/31. Something for 80-100cc woudl be great! Thanks...
Posted on: 12/28/2007 1:48 PM by Author "VoughtF4U"
in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - 3D & Aerobatic"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6816539
RE: laser lizard and smith B-17
I bought a Ziroli Skyraider short kit from Jesse towards the end of the summer. The kit was shipped quickly and arrived before he said it should be there. I have finished building the wing and am currently working on the fuselage. So far I have had a few discrepencies with the wing but am completely happy with what I have received. The descrepencies were minor, a couple of missing pieces that were buried in the plans and not obvious. A few of the nothces for the ribs were not cut in the right places or weren't the right depth. I matched the ribs to the plans and most showed they were cut exactly as drawn on the plans, meaning the plans were drawn wrong. There was one or two notches that didn't match up with the plans though, but the notch was only off by about 1/8". All-in-all I am completely satisfied with what I got and will definitely buy from him again. For the missing pieces, I just cut them from the scrap left over from the kit he sent, took all of about five minutes or so. For the notches that weren't in the right spot I just sand them or trimmed them. So the mistakes from the plans or from the kit cost me a total of about 10 minutes on my build time and $0.00 worth or wood. His cutting and wood selection are just as good or better than several of the other kit cutters I have used. Oh, and another plus was I didn't have to wait months for a kit that the cutter promised was in stock and then have to fight to get my money back when i finally got frustrated with the whole ordeal like another cutter I tried using.
Posted on: 12/11/2007 9:17 PM by Author "VoughtF4U"
in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6745157
RE: Dymond F8F Bearcat ARF
I agree with some of the above. It is a nice looking model on the outside. I just got back from doing a first flight on it today. Flew very nice with the Magnum .91 4-cycle. Landings were a little hot but well behaved. I did have it nose over on the second flight and the bottom half of the cowl basically came apart in the grass. All the outer gel coat/epoxy basically flaked and cracked right off the inner cloth. Very weak cowl. The second diassappointment came when i pulled the wing off and the left front wing dowel stayed in the fuselage. The wing fit in general was poor, I had to trim the back of the wing to fit and getting the wing bolt to actually line up with the blind nuts in the fuselage was a pain. Another issue I had was with the included hardware. I threw out most of it but used the included control horns. My dad teased me not to, and now I have to tell him he was right. My son lightly bumped the aileron and the horn shattered. Very brittle and I wouldn't trust them to fly with. Luckily he did that before the maiden and I changed them out with the Great Planes version that has the bolt completely through the surface. Unfortunately, the aileron wood is too soft and I noticed the hole had enlarged from my two flghts today so I will be drilling these and adding a hardwood dowel base. My modified H-stab held up very well. I stripped the covering and sheeted both sides with 1/16" balsa and used a dremel to enlarge the slot in the fuselage. Very strong now and I won't have to worry about flutter. Those that strop the covering off the stab will quickly see why they are fluttering, there isn't enough wood in there for anything other than holding the shape while on the ground. Its nice to have a Bearcat, but there is definitely some room for improvement especially for the price. When his one is gone, it will not be replaced by another Dymond Bearcat. The black looks good in the air, but orientaion can be confusing. I added some white invasions stripes to the bottom only to aid in flight.
Posted on: 9/23/2007 12:29 AM by Author "VoughtF4U"
in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6402343
RE: Pilatus PC12
Greg, Just wanted to post a thank you for your work on the plans. I will definitely eventually build one, but probably not in time to offer any suggestions for improvements for you. The PC12 has been a favorite of mine for some time. The only suggestion I would have right now is to put a "revision #" on your drawings if you change anything else on them. That way you and the rest of us can keep track of which drawing to work from. Good luck on yours and keep this thread going! Thanks again, -Scott-
Posted on: 2/28/2007 4:08 PM by Author "VoughtF4U"
in the forum "RC Scale Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5489521
RE: Big P-39 is Back on the Bench
Terry, The P-39 looks great. What did you use to glue the hinges and magnets to the fiberglass. I have tried different epoxies, polyurethane glue and several other adhesives. They all seem to hold alright until they suddenly pop free. Any ideas? Thanks
Posted on: 2/18/2007 9:21 PM by Author "VoughtF4U"
in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5438730
RE: Dymond F8F Bearcat ARF
Oh, and a couple of quick questions for those that have these flying. Did you guys use any of the included hardware? I will normally use some of the included hardware that comes with most ARFs, but was wondering about the control horns in particular. I have used Dubro and other styles of the bolt for the control horns, but have never seen these kind with the plastic triangle molded to it already. All the bolt styles I am used to actually bolt through the surface, not like these that have the plastic triangle screwed to the surface. I guess I am a little worried about the plastc around the bolt fracturing and having the bolt work itself loose.
Posted on: 1/12/2007 11:57 PM by Author "VoughtF4U"
in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5256792
RE: Dymond F8F Bearcat ARF
LDM, since I have a CMP and the Bearcats sitting on the bench right next to each other right now, and I have built several other CMP kits for my dad, I feel like I can comment. So far I prefer the CMP birds. For the size, the Bearcat fiberglass fuselage feels really heavy, yet it "oil cans" much easier than the CMP. I can pick up a finished CMP fuselage and not feel like I am popping the sides in. I just got done ripping the cvering off the tail surfaces of the Bearcats tonight to strengthen them. They are put together very well, but I just think they are under designed. All the parts fit very nice and seem to all be glued together well, but I just don't think there is enough wood in them to have the proper strength. Same thing with the cowls, the CMP are failrly sturdy and hold their shape, the one for the Bearcat is pretty flexible and isn't in the right shape if it is sitting on the bench by itself. The big plus for the Bearcat is it is about the only Bearcat ARF out there unless you spend more on the Thunder Tiger one and it is more "scale" then the CMP birds are. The Bearcat looks like a bearcat even if it does vary some from true scale, verse the CMP birds that are kind of stand off scale sort of like the real one. Liek the P-47 I am building, looks kinda like a P-47, but the canopy is way off scale. I mean, if you are making a mold for a canopy for a P-47, why not make it look right to begin with? In the end, I feel the CMP birds are a little better value, but not enough better to make me pass on the Bearcats. If you have to have a Bearcat, this one works.
Posted on: 1/12/2007 11:53 PM by Author "VoughtF4U"
in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5256767
RE: Dymond F8F Bearcat ARF
Well, I finally got some pictures of the Black Bearcat. I am slowly working on these while I finish off a CMP P-47 with a 72 inch wingspan. First two pictures are of one pieced together out of the box, with and without the flash. Next picture is how it comes in the box. The two wings are packaged on top of the H-stab and elevators. Next pic is a shot of the inside. Next two shots are of the fuselage sitting on the CMP P-47. Now remember that there is about $30 difference in the price of these, so that kind of explains my reaction in an earlier post. Next pic is of the wing sitting on the CMP P-47. Please excuse the messy shop, I am slowly getting everything put away from moving recently. I can't tell you how nice it is to be in a heated basement shop instead of a drafty garage corner in the middle of winter. More pictures as I go along.
Posted on: 1/11/2007 10:51 PM by Author "VoughtF4U"
in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5251361
RE: Dymond F8F Bearcat ARF
Came home from work today to a small box on the porch. After seeing it was shipped from DymondRC I thought surely that can't be two Bearcat ARFs. I had to laugh a bit after I opened up the boxes. I guess I have been building big airplanes for too long. These things are a lot smaller than I thought they would be. Makes me wonder why they charged me $40 to ship a box half the size and weight that other companies would only charge about $10 for. I looked everything over and it all appears to be there and nothing was damaged. My fuselage paint has some defects, couple of scratches and some orange peel but nothing to really gripe about. The wings and the rest of the parts look good. Fuselage is a little heavy, but the wings are light. The cowl is a little deformed but will resume its normal shape once it is mounted. I am scratching my idea of the Spring airs, they would be over kill. Will stick with mechanicals. Will still probably put flaps on one of them. Also plan to dress up the exhaust areas some. All in all I think they will turn out pretty good. I am really looking forward to building these little Bearcats. It will be nice to have a plane I can leave the wing on when i take it to a from the field. I'll try and post some pictures as I put them together since no one has posted pics of the black ones yet.
Posted on: 1/10/2007 7:57 PM by Author "VoughtF4U"
in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5244709
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