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Nick Somerville

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Everything posted by Nick Somerville

  1. Some work on the four exhaust outlets. Also the forward part of a hot cowl air escape passage that will exit at the lower underwing oil cooler flap. The Minsi lll colour scheme I am planning has the exhaust outlets unpainted, giving a nice contrast between the dark blue and shiny aluminium. Bit like my Sea Fury. The litho needed a good blow over with a blowtorch to soften it prior to working it into the recess.
  2. Wishing you all the best Jon. I shall miss your helpful advice, knowledge and the engines. My Lasers will be treated with extra reverence henceforth!
  3. After a second attempt the carbon laminated tailwheel cover did finally cure. Following a chat with a chap at Easy Composites I am going to start using a 50:50 mix of the fast and slow EL2 hardener in future, to achieve a better balance of pot-life and curing time. Another tip from Easy Composites is that they now sell structural thixotropic epoxy adhesive similar to the very expensive Hysol. 1/3 the price so I shall be trying some out for the various in cowl fixings and will report back. Here the cover is in place. Here in the deployed position the brass mounting parts can be seem. These are epoxied to the cover and 3mm bolts fix them to the retract chassis in tapped holes. Lightweight but definitely long grass resistant. Next I need to remove the wheel yoke and reshape it from its Corsair looking iform to something resembling a F6F fork.
  4. A dry day at last so a chance to get outside to fine sand the fuselage. I am leaving the last rounding of the spine until later as it will inevitably get hangar rash if I do it now. I had a seemingly huge pile off 3”&4” 1/8 balsa of 36” & 48” lengths when I started the build. I always go over the plans and try to carefully calculate all my needs at the outset, but nevertheless this time I had come to a conclusion that I had seriously over ordered. Left to skin are the wing undersides and the belly pan. On a fresh count it seems there probably won’t be a full sheet left when I finish after all. The carbon I had laid up over 24 hrs ago seems very slow to fully cure, so perhaps a misjudgment when weighing out the proportions. It’s tricky when mixing such small quantities, even with digital micro scales. Hopefully it will harden eventually, just need to be patient.
  5. Plastic coated 50lbs wire fishing trace arrived this morning from an EBAY seller. 20m for £3.40 including crimps and postage (not everything in modelling is expensive!). With the the pair of closed loop wires threaded through the guides and the ends carefully taped together so they don’t get lost, further progress was enabled. All of the fuselage excluding the small area forward of the wing has now been sheeted. I have a small hand held Hoover steam cleaner I bought for the household some years ago and it’s ridiculously slow and totally unfit for purpose. However, for steaming sheets of balsa it’s a very useful accessory. The sheer bulk of it is now very evident and I considered listening to some whale song in the workshop as fettled away. Final job of the day was to tape down plastic sheet over the tail retract area and smear it with some wax polish. Next I wetted out some carbon cloth followed by a layer of lightweight glass cloth. Finally a layer of peel ply to soak up any excess resin and then all taped down with masking tape.
  6. Yes quite snug Paul, but cam be opened out once the skins are in place and the scale size openings are established. Fuselage went back on the jig to glue in the stab. This has been glassed and cut back smooth already as harder to do later. Epoxy and micro balloon mix on the saddle and two strips of carbon cloth on the inside to reinforce. Lower rear formers and stringers now added. Carbon push rod for elevator in place. Note guide hole in added cross member mid distance, to prevent any bowing when pushing for hard up elevator. At the rear the tail retract was mounted prior to adding stringers to ensure I had the travel to completely hide the wheel. Outer snake guides in place for rudder and tailwheel closed loops. All the above proved very straightforward but the front end between the cowl and the wing leading edge is a different story. Neither of the key 1/4” ply lower formers, although correct to the plan, fit anywhere near to the correct position. I suspect I shall need to remake these parts.
  7. Some work on the fuselage while waiting delivery on my wheels. Tank fixings sorted, tail retract and pneumatic cylinder placed, elevator and rudder servos mounted. Also the air valve and activating servo mounted. The rudder servo will be using close loops for both the rudder and tailwheel steering and so have made a sturdy bellcrank for these to take the pressure off the servo. Wheels arrived (5 1/2” Robart tyres on scale Sierra hubs) so have been able to finalise the hatch position for the inner flap servo. I have made up 1/32 balsa wheel well liners with an extra 1/32 strip around the top edge. This will provide good support for the lower skin. This leaves little left to do before I can skin the underside. Mostly checking all the rib and spar levels and checking how I am going to create access to the retracts for servicing.
  8. Wings starting to fill up now. The aileron and outer flap servos are mounted on their sides in 3d printed mounts. And the inner flap servos vertically in the same type of mount. Pneumatic lines installed along with the first servo extension lead. Once the others are in place I can neaten up with some tie back clips. Hatches will be cut after sheeting and retained with a tongue on the forward side and a small magnet at the rear. A small hole in the hatch will provide a pry point to release it. inner flap servo yet to have access sorted as waiting on delivery of wheels. Once these are in hand I can see what space is like around the wells.
  9. Using a card profile of the flap section over the plan to check hidden horn placement and hinge action. The plan showed two possible versions and I have made a compromise between them with a closer to scale action during deployment. The brass tube gives additional support to the Robart hinges where they extend 20mm from the rear spars. A little more local balsa blocking will fully secure them once they are all glued in place. Flap closed Flap at 60 degrees
  10. Nothing to see really except for the joy of a sharp blade in a razor plane. Been working on the outer flaps.
  11. Strength regained! The balsa cross piece in front of the upper spar, where I had removed so much of its thickness was to aid pressing in straight wetted out carbon tows for reinforcement. The ply mount plate for the gear was not especially good quality and with bolts close to the edges I felt it worth laminating a layer of carbon cloth on each side. I shan’t glue these in until I have the wheels in hand as I need to check how it all sits with the wing under surface. Although the lower spar is still cut through, the combination of the new spar and web along with the bridge of the retract when bolted in should be more than adequate. The webbing for the new diagonal is left over balsa carbon laminate I had made for the flap shrouds. Light and stiff. In fact all the additional parts came to about 35grms per side, which as its about on the C of G I won’t be losing sleep over.
  12. Aileron ligned up and pinned in place while the mix of epoxy and micro balloons sets the hinge arms in place. After all hardened off it was satisfying to find a friction free movement with snug fit close to the upper shroud. Mt Robart mains finally arrived last week from the states having ordered them back in October. It was the lack of stock of tail retracts that was holding things up so I deleted that from my order and four days later the mains arrived. Very nice BUT!!! So the length of the units and in particular the depth due to the cylinder meant they just don’t fit without major surgery. Here you cam see the modellers nightmare where I have had to cut out a huge amount of the ply shear web/dihedral/brace and also sand away 50% of the upper spar to leave very little strength at all. The carbon is sitting there awaiting resin and a host of other parts I have fabricated to regain the integrity such that won’t be afraid to loop the model at a decent speed. The saving grace is the wing joiner tube from where The real load originates. More pics soon which will show my solution and the size of the problem (The retracts) Oh and for the tail retract I have recently acquired a full pack of bits for a Bates 1/5 Bearcat including Sierra retracts. As the tail retract is the same for the Hellcat I shall use that, since the Bearcat will be on a shelf for a couple of years.
  13. Great maiden. 14kg is a very good weight for the model. Mine is 16kg but still not heavy for the wings area.
  14. Martin’s beautiful book on The Worlds Vintage Sailplanes was like a bible to me back in my scale glider modelling years.
  15. So true. I used to cut these parts with my fretsaw but it ate blades for a passtime and I hate it when they break when cutting. Drilling and filing is tedious but preferable. Thanks for the encouragement.
  16. Aileron hinges in the lasercut parts kit were ply and not durable enough, so 2mm glass fibre sheet has been employed. After marking out a dremel was used to drill around the shapes few drilling and then they were sanded and filed to shape. One if those tasks that you inky want to do once in a while!
  17. I have been a bit confused (usual) regards the flap construction and although the upper shroud is now in place I have made a start on the ailerons whilst the brain fathoms the flaps. Here’s one of them. Pretty straightforward but as the full size had fabric covered ailerons it’s a bit of a work around. Sheet underside for rigidity and a laminated trailing edge with carbon tow inset and a 1cms strip of G10 below. Nice and stiff. I can simulate the rib stitching and pinking strips on both sides once covered, though the upper side will be more realistic. Still to add are the reinforcements for the hinges. Below are the upper and lower wing areas with the flap shrouds. As previously mentioned this is a G10/balsa/carbon laminate to cope with the large overhang.
  18. Brilliant, clicking outside the box instead if ‘go’ sorted it. Thanks for all of the advice.
  19. I tried that but pressing go doesn’t activate a change
  20. Thanks for reply both. Martin, yes the FW190 thread is one of them but when I look at it from ‘My Activity’ there is only one page of the thread showing. The settings show activity for past 365 days and cannot be set for a longer past period. However, even at 365 days there are lots of posts not showing as I had documented the detailing and painting of the FW 190 from January to April last year. Leccyflyer: When I click on my activity it doesn’t show either my Sea Fury build or the previous P47 as it used to. Not surprising I suppose if the default settings is for 365 days. I would like to access them though.
  21. As an occasional user I confess to being rather slow in understanding changes made to the forum. I recently wanted to look back at one of my scale build threads to extract some information and photos for a fellow builder, but am now only able to see things posted to a max of 365 days ago. Is there a way to view any of my thread postings prior to this timescale and if so how.
  22. The centre section was jigged up and the outer panels were framed up and top sheeted one at a time. I do enjoy sheeting! The ailerons will be built up separately along with the flaps areas. There is a large overhang where the flaps separate and are hinged so I am sheeting this area separately with a carbon balsa laminate for rigidity.
  23. Finally back in the workshop after an enforced break due to a long overdue bathroom renovation. Although I am still waiting after two months for my retracts to be manufactured by Robart I have been kindly lent a set, which means I can get on with the wings. A 500mm x 50mm aluminium tube and phenolic sleeve are being employed for a two piece wing. The belly pan will need to be made removable for attaching them but I think prefer this to a three piece wing. I am at the stage where I am ready to sheet the top of the centre section. Once done I can frame up the rest of the wing on the board with the centre jigged up for the dihedral.
  24. Not so long ago I purchased a short kit for the Bates 1/5 Hellcat cut by Slec, who have taken on the Bellair range. Delivery after order was as ever prompt, along with a fabulous selection of strip and sheet material neatly packed that I had also ordered. Now a few weeks ago I made a start on the wings but found the centre ribs were not as per the plan. This showed 50mm holes adjacent to the spar to carry a whopping aluminium wing joiner tube and phenolic sleeve. Instead I had lightening holes of various sizes away from the spar. I called Slec and after checking their files the ribs had been cut accordingly. It was the plan that had been updated by Jerry Bates to show a two piece wing. The Slec team promptly obtained a digital copy of the later plan and recut all of the centre ribs and sent them iut at no extra charge. Thank you Slec. Brilliant service.
  25. Due to the way the control horns sit in such a tight space for the rudder and elevators I need to complete the covering, priming and hingeing of these parts early in the build. This includes glassing the stab and fin so some 48grm cloth on order from my usual eBay supplier. Rudder and elevators covered in natural Oratex and freshly simulated stitching trailed lines from a tiny glue bottle and nozzle filled with pva. Once dried back the pinking strips, from Mick Reeves, are added. Here the full size.
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