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Dom Smith F7F-3 Tigercat


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things are going slow at the moment the fuselage is flipped over having glued on the support pegs accurately cut to the same size and the whole half assembly glue on the board and checked several times for alignment at this stage it is very fragile hence building slowly only 7 formers to fit then the planking can begin on this side , above the wing mount crutches a hatch is formed then will be cutaway but before the that can happen servo position has to be thought through also placement of the rx. lipos and esc will be in the nacelles, I have bonded in a ribbon of carbon fibre along the inside of the fin leading edge as its a high fin there is a risk of breaking it and the tape weighs very little. a few pics

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... allow me to answer you the same as you did on my Dog's build thread...

"Good stuff, Martian".

But indeed it looks still a bit 'fragile' so far... indecision

Keep up the slow tempo at the moment, I'm doing exactly the same with my tricky bits. It's not a race anyway...

Cheers

Chris

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I have been making steady progress but have now run into the China crisis unable to get any light or medium balsa and have very little of the size I need left for tailplane fuselage covering and wing covering I have plenty to make the wing ribs. Still leaves me plenty of time to work out the retracts and furnish the cockpit.

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Hi Martian, this balsa situation is a right pain I have the parts for a Brian Taylor Tempest and most of the balsa but I don't know if I have enough. I don't know if you are near to a Hobby Craft store you may be able to get some there I think they saw this coming as their prices were a lot higher than Slec and Balsa Cabin. Hope you are well

Eric.

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Hi Eric first yes I'm well enough 😎 thanks.yes we have a Hobby craft store in town if they have any it will be four times the price according to their site , I'm going to ring Whitchurch models tomorrow see if they can help ,I could kick myself for not getting some earlier before the panic set in ah well .

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Thanks for the posts Martian, really good to see such speedy progress and interesting detail to solving problems during the build that I would have never thought of.

I know its frustrating with the balsa situation and as I don't need any at this time don't appreciate how long the delays actually are and as you say there are the wings to do. The U/C which again will be really interesting to see progress and more problem solving master class (IMO) and from experience things are never quite as easy as you initially think.

Keep the photos comming

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A call to Martin of Whitchurch Models encouraged me to make a 56 mile round trip to pay a visit and restock my balsa pile he had plenty well did 😎 it's a bit less now but he assured me he has reserve stocks . Whitchurch models is an old style model shop with a huge stock of all things modelling Martin is a super chap who is a flier and builder himself of many years his shop serves in excess of 20 model clubs within a 2 hour drive and a member of Shawbury club and Sleap club . It was a real pleasure to visit mid in a sweet shop comes to mind. Anyway the Tiger is progressing I will pop some pics on later.

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There is something quite magical about building a plane this way as I put on the planks the skin grows under your hands and the plane seems to grow out of the building board and I'm sanding it smooth it feels so graceful I'm really enjoying this build pis to date

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Really taking shape now Martian, lovely sleek lines. I see what you mean about Hobby Craft £5 for a sheet of 3/32x4x36 . I used to live in what is now Telford and I was in a group , we used to play at RAF Shawbury, Do they still have a Vampire gate guardian there?. I also went to an air show at Sleap that was back in the 1960's

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Thanks Eric I managed to get about £100 worth should be enough with what I have already. No no Vampire at the gate it's a helicopter now the type escapes me right now . The air show s at Sleep were fantastic at one a Vulcan did a display unforgettable ,also Weston Park air show with a Harrier did a display flattened the fencing , an memories I used to go to so many.What was your group ?

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Hi Martian, we were called The Trebletone's played around the west Midlands and Wales, the we took on a bass player and became the Trebletone 4. We used to carry a full size Lowrie Holiday organ and Leslie speaker around with us getting up the stairs at Wem town hall was quite a challenge . The best gigs were at the sergeants mess at Donnington cheap booze duty free fags and a good meal . The first time at Sleap air show we were just getting out of the car as a Lightning came past just under the speed of sound nothing to hear till it passed and then went vertical, I thought we would have to get my father in law some clean underwear, the noise was deafening.

Just bought another twin kit today now that the Ju88 is almost ready to fly, it is an Aerotech Mosquito bran new in box 71" span, so plenty to go at for the winter. 

Edited By Eric Robson on 30/10/2020 16:23:00

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Hi Eric I can't remember the bands it would be about 1966/67 that I used to go to Wem TownHall the Music Hall in Shrewsbury, I was with the ATC and stationed on camp at East Anglia home of the Lightning defense sqd.

a 71 " Mossie sounds great.thats a rare find apparently a real builders kit so enjoy.

Back to the Tigercat

one side is completely planked plus some areas sheeted it's cut free from the board and support pegs removed not much planking left on the other side so far it weighs in at 12.3oz,saw cuts made down the hatch line but not cutting it free until fully sanded and filler coat added and sanded back down to highlight any problems so far no twists or weird bends so am happy. just waiting for a profile gauge so I can make support jigs to better handle the fuselage (I can be a bit more energetic sanding) meanwhile I will start the tailplane and rudder tomorrow. below pics to date

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I'm not sure what your question is exactly, if it's the structure then the plan doesn't zoom in clearly enough to see much detail but it looks to be half ribs either side of a sheet (3/32"?) core with a heavier LE tapered to match the rear of the fin. On my La7 I used rectangles for the ribs and sanded them to a taper once the structure was complete. Pity it doesn't seem to show a proper cross section anywhere.

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Hi Bob if you click on pic it opens in a viewer then you can zoom in . If you look you will see a gap indicating the separation of the fin and rudder but that doesn't marry up with the hinge line of the ply it suggests a wedge shape between the fin post and rudder leading edge .

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Yes, I tried that before but it doesn't have the resolution to enlarge the text clearly. Depending where the hinge line is it may be they way the draftsman has tried to show hinge shrouds. It would be nice to see a cross section to clarify whether there is a large gap (which I doubt) or whether the dotted line indicates the rear of the rudder leading edge which falls behind the line of the shroud.

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Looking at the section on the tailplane sheet I'd say the dotted line is in fact the rear extent of the hinge shroud and the solid lines are the structural components with the rudder leading edge being a large radius fitting within the ply shrouds. "hinge line of the ply" - predictive text at play or am I missing something?

Edited By Bob Cotsford on 04/11/2020 15:22:09

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