Who wants a Warbird Replics Hurricane?

[David Davis]

I'm leaning towards a scheme with half of the underside in black to provide a good contrast with the camouflaged upper services.

[Jon H]

I did mine like that. Here is a photo of it swooping to attack the hun!

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Richard Wills 2]

I am almost decided on the black/white underside, loved it ever since the airfix kit I did when I was a kid.

I am going to need a new motor for this one, so Jon a bit of advise if you see this. I know you recommend an 80, but our strip is not very big. It is 40m long, and when the grass has grown can be 2ft below the grass height. Will an 80 be enough to reach take off speed in say 30m? I normally use half flap for takeoff on the VQ artf, but that has an OS 91 surpass which is only just enough. No chance of scale take offs and landings I'm afraid for me.

[David Davis]

Andrew for the extra weight of a servo you could even drop the bombs!

[SteveC]

Excellant news that we have the 10! Well done David for your efforts!

Steve

[Jon H]

Posted by Richard Wills 2 on 16/01/2017 09:59:35:

I am almost decided on the black/white underside, loved it ever since the airfix kit I did when I was a kid.

I am going to need a new motor for this one, so Jon a bit of advise if you see this. I know you recommend an 80, but our strip is not very big. It is 40m long, and when the grass has grown can be 2ft below the grass height. Will an 80 be enough to reach take off speed in say 30m? I normally use half flap for takeoff on the VQ artf, but that has an OS 91 surpass which is only just enough. No chance of scale take offs and landings I'm afraid for me.

I think the 80 will still be ok as its frankly not far behind the OS91, but you will have to prop it for power not for looks. On my maiden i used a 14x6 apc as this is the run in prop for the engine anyway and i wanted guaranteed power. The model lept into the air far sooner than i expected and climbed rapidly once up. Now i have switched to the 14x7 3 blade my takeoff performance, and performance overall has been noticeably reduced but i still think 30m is easily doable. My strip is 70m long (i think) and even doing 'scale' takeoffs i doubt i use more than half of it, even with the less efficient prop and wet grass. Next time i fly it (if it ever stops raining) i will mark out 30m and see how we get on.

[Keiran Arnold]

I'm thinking of the Shuttleworth Sea Hurricane scheme (might not add a hook though) Hmm then again

[David Davis]

Does anyone know of a good website with images of Hurricane colour schemes? I used to have a book called, "Flying Colours," which had lots of colour schemes for a wide variety of aircraft, but that seems to have gone missing in the move to France.

[Jon H]

I have this book **LINK** and it not only gives a number of options to choose from you also get some history on how they got there and how random the colours were as the people doing the painting often had different interpretations of the regs.

There is a Hurricane specific version of this book but its 35 quid which seems a touch excessive.

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[David Davis]

Just a note to say though we have reached the target of ten modellers prepared to buy a Warbirds Replica Hawker Hurricane kit, there is space for a few more, so if you would like a 60" Hawker Hurricane kit for about £140-£150 please let me know on this thread.

[Rob Ashley]

Hi David,

Yes I am interested and am willing to pay a deposit to secure a kit too. Please add me to the list

Best Rob

[David Davis]

OK Rob. I'll add you to the list

[Goose is the real hero]

Hi David,

After exchanging some emails with Richard last night he pointed me in the direction of this thread.

Sign me up! Also willing to pay a deposit if required.

Rob

[David Davis]

Duly noted Robert. That makes twelve of us.

I will make up a list of all of those who have stated that they will buy a Warbirds Replica Hurricane at the end of the week.

Richard has assured me that there is no need for us to send him a deposit.

Just be ready with the flexible friends when the time's right!

[Don Fry]

I an leaning to doing mine in Yugoslavian colours. Bit different. Wikipedia has a photo.

[Glynn]

Hello
Let me introduce myself to this thread.
I'm Glynn and I produce the vinyl graphics for Richards WarbirdReplicas aircraft.
I am a model flyer, currently making a one off Chipmunk from a set of foam wings Richard had in his loft. What it will have is a Custom set of Decals,as you guy's know Richard will go the extra mile to ensure you chap's get the model you want and so will I. So I can produce a set of decals of an individual aircraft to make your Hurricane unique. All I need is pictures of the aircraft or pointers to it on the internet and I will do the rest. You can contact me through the warbirdreplicas.co.uk web site or PM me on here.

[David Davis]

Thank you Glynn.

Just a reminder to everyone that Richard Wills will be producing a batch of Hurricane kits which will be available in March.

These are builders' kits and not ARTFs so you have to glue all of the components together and finish the model yourself as well as installing your radio and engine or electric motor. However, as the kits feature foam wings they are not a bad choice for a competent pilot as a first builders' kit provided that you have an experienced builder to help you out. If you can fly a low-wing ARTF, why not give one of Richard's kits a go?

[Jon H]

If anyone fits a Laser (there is no obligation to do so) I can give full details of the required modifications needed for positioning the fuel tank. Its really not difficult and works perfectly in my model

[David Davis]

I'll be fitting a Laser 80 in mine so would be grateful for your help.

This will also be my first model with a retractable undercarriage so I'll be grateful for any help from more experienced builders in this matter too.

[Jon H]

I can send you photos of what I did with mine when the time comes. the only tricky bit is cutting out the area of the wing under the fuselage to give sufficient clearance for the tank while still leaving the wing strong enough round the dowels. I used thin ply edging to put back the strength I removed by cutting out the foam. it worked very well. I also added a cooling tunnel and a few other nice bits as well.

as for retracts, if it looks too good to be true it probably is. get a good quality set of air or electric and a nice set of oleos.

I say oleos as they are ultimately the best option, but if your landings are...ehem...rather hard, oleos might not be the best choice.

If you are able to land every time in a nice 3 point attitude the impact with the ground goes up the oleo leg and is absorbed by the spring. If you have wire legs, this force has nowhere to go and with the drag force of the aircraft touching down the leg bends back. Due to the arc the leg follows when it does this it actually gets longer and combined with the in damped force of landing it pings the model back into the air. I'm sure we have all seen models bounce in this way.

However, if you don't land in the nice 3 point attitude the landing forces on an oleo have nowhere to go and because an oleo is very rigid something will break. it could be the mounts, the oleo mount pin, the wing, whatever. the moral is, something will break. If however you 'plant' a model with wire legs they will bend and that is likely to be the end of it.

So to summarise, Oleos will reward nice landings and takeoffs by being smooth and sturdy with landing loads absorbed by the springs. ground handling will be improved as the oleos are stiffer than the wire legs and wont be flopping about. However, they are much less forgiving of naff landings and rough treatment than a wire leg but a wire leg could turn a good landing into a bad one because they are all floppy and don't damp the landing impact in the right way.

I went through this whole thing with my original warbirds hurricane and it taught me that I could either take the easy route with wire legs and learn nothing, or the harder route with oleos and become a better pilot. I went for the latter as having my hurricane on is nose after each flight with wire legs was really irritating, even if it meant a few repairs while I got the hang of landing with oleos

 

 

Edited By Jon Harper - Laser Engines on 21/01/2017 23:36:37

[David Davis]

That's interesting Jon. My next model is a Flair Harvard fitted with oleos on a fixed undercarriage rather than retracts. I will be able to practice my low wing flying, (and landing) with this model prior to the Hurricane..

[Chris Walby]

Thanks Jon, I had not really thought of it much as my assumption was that wire is cheap/non scale (like my Speed Air) and Oleo's were for more scale look and better suspension (no down side)!

My BH Hurricane has 4mm to 5mm pins between the electric retract & Oleo that are mild steel (what I could find at the time!) with the result that they tend to bend if its a pants landing! Good news is that nothing gets broken, just a tweak to get them straight rather than retracts ripped from wings.

Better to have a known weak point that does not result in major damage than it all ending in major repairs

[Jon H]

As it was a in WWII the Harvard will be an excellent intro to the hurricane and will teach you quite a lot. I would expect the Harvard to actually be a bit trickier than the Hurricane in some respects as its thin wing will be less tolerant of high angles of attack at takeoff/landing. If you can fly the Harvard well then the hurricane will be no problem.

Chris, using the pins as you mention does give a margin of safety but some retracts don't use the pins and instead clamp the top of the leg. this method is really secure but unforgiving. My YT retracts all use this method and I do like it.