kevin b Posted November 23, 2020 Share Posted November 23, 2020 As part of a long term project I am putting together a Grumman F6F Hellcat. The intention is not necessarily to complete the build. It is more a "proof of concept". This was the starting point along with the plan. The fuselage slotted together very nicely, as did the tail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Cotsford Posted November 23, 2020 Share Posted November 23, 2020 Kevin, is there some reasoning behind staining the wood other than highlighting the various components for photographic purposes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin b Posted November 23, 2020 Author Share Posted November 23, 2020 No Bob. As you say it is for photographic purposes (and also to remind me which bits were laser cut !) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin b Posted November 27, 2020 Author Share Posted November 27, 2020 The next stage was the wing centre section (actually at the same time while waiting for glue to dry). The motor mount is for electric power. The fuselage was then sheeted and a bit more work on the tail. the wings came out nice as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin b Posted December 4, 2020 Author Share Posted December 4, 2020 There we are ! All built up. This is as far as I want to take it. It needs filling and sanding, then covering. If anyone fancies finishing it off let me know. a small donation towards the balsa costs would be appreciated (and I mean small !). Unfortunately it would have to be collect only from just North of Harrogate. Anybody interested pm me. P.S. Retracts are not included. Right, on with the next one. A Little Stinker (for electric). Edited By kevin b on 04/12/2020 20:00:31 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Cotsford Posted December 5, 2020 Share Posted December 5, 2020 That came together quickly! Is it the .60 size version? Hard to tell from the box pic! Edited By Bob Cotsford on 05/12/2020 11:35:45 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin b Posted December 5, 2020 Author Share Posted December 5, 2020 Yes Bob it is for 60 to 90 size engines. I did cheat a bit. It actually took me about 2 weeks to build it. I was surprised as to how quickly it went together and not as heavy as I expected at this stage of the build. The difficult part was sorting out for retracts. The original kit wasn't fitted with them (must have been an early one). However when I had done that a friend in America sent me over a plan revision, which was in later versions !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel R Posted December 5, 2020 Share Posted December 5, 2020 Wow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel R Posted December 5, 2020 Share Posted December 5, 2020 Are you part of the effort to put together laser cut files for all the old royal scale designs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin b Posted December 5, 2020 Author Share Posted December 5, 2020 Nigel. My interest is Marutaka and MK kits. The Marutaka kits were sold in the U.S. as Royal kits, but Royal did their "own thing" as well. Most of Royal kits can be obtained in the U.S. as laser cut kits from various sources. However you only get the wood and a plan and they are expensive for what you get. Particularly when you add in the cost of a cowl and canopy (If you can find them). I am finding that due to the weather where I live being very unpredictable I am not able to fly as much as I thought (in retirement), so I am spending a lot of time building. However though I am improving my skills, nice accurate scale models are not my forte. I am good at the "nuts and bolts" side of things though, so thought I would "reverse engineer" some of my kit collection. To that end I have been doing research and made friends with a few people in the U.S., who have been and are most helpful. Laser cutting and vacuum forming are now no longer mysteries to me, though I have a lot to learn about CAD. Next up is the Little Stinker for electric power. That one should be easier (no mouldings, but lots of wings) and shouldn't take long to complete. Edited By kevin b on 05/12/2020 12:23:35 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwain Dibley. Posted December 5, 2020 Share Posted December 5, 2020 I am impressed with the Ultra-neatness of the whole thing, Well Done Kevin B. D.D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin b Posted December 5, 2020 Author Share Posted December 5, 2020 Thanks Dwain. However it is still a little rough around the edges as they are at this stage of build. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ovenden Posted December 5, 2020 Share Posted December 5, 2020 Kevin, Lovely job on the Hellcat. Are you thinking of tackling the Marutaka "Big Scale" Cessna L-19 BirdDog (1/5th scale) as a future project? Edited By David Ovenden on 05/12/2020 18:01:44 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin b Posted December 5, 2020 Author Share Posted December 5, 2020 Posted by David Ovenden on 05/12/2020 18:00:14: Kevin, Lovely job on the Hellcat. Are you thinking of tackling the Marutaka "Big Scale" Cessna L-19 BirdDog (1/5th scale) as a future project? Edited By David Ovenden on 05/12/2020 18:01:44 It's on the list. P.M. me if you want it higher on there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ovenden Posted December 5, 2020 Share Posted December 5, 2020 Kevin, I actually have a Bird Dog kit waiting to be built! It would be most interesting if you did your build before I get round to building mine. If you need any details or info from the kit, let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel R Posted December 5, 2020 Share Posted December 5, 2020 Let me know if you change your mind about couriering the airframe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin b Posted December 6, 2020 Author Share Posted December 6, 2020 David. Thanks for the offer. I will be working with a kit from my own collection. Nigel. I won't be shipping the kit as it has now been sold. The problem is that it would cost more to ship than it is worth due to the size. It is ridiculous. A box 1200 x 500 x 500 weighing 15kg costs about £12.00 to send. One at 1400 x 500 x 500 weighing 5kg costs over £30.00. Edited By kevin b on 06/12/2020 11:07:00 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Cotsford Posted December 6, 2020 Share Posted December 6, 2020 If you considered it worth less than the £30 courier fee then I think you must be undervaluing your work and the cost of materials Kevin! I'd have happily paid more than that for a project to complete - if I could find space for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel R Posted December 7, 2020 Share Posted December 7, 2020 quite so, bob value is in the eye of the purchaser, if I can mangle an expression Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin b Posted December 7, 2020 Author Share Posted December 7, 2020 Thanks for the kind words Bob. Nigel is right regarding value. I am doing this for the pleasure of doing it. The reward is knowledge and improving my skills. The aeroplanes are great fun, but how many do you need ? There are thousands of model plans freely available to print out these days, but still a lot of people prefer to build from kits. I would like to make some of the old, no longer available kits available again (in a stripped down form), so that these people have access to them. I know many are already available, but a lot of them are overpriced for what you actually get and then you might have to pay large shipping costs as well. This is a long term project and in the meantime I will be building airframes from quite a few "prototype" kits. Some of them already have potential owners and I will continue to offer others here on the forum. I have recently retired and this project was part of my retirement planning. All is good. The next one may already be spoken for, but the one after might have 2 motors. Edited By kevin b on 07/12/2020 19:06:14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martyn K Posted December 7, 2020 Share Posted December 7, 2020 What retracts are you using? I need some twist and turn affordable retracts for a 60 sized corsair. Martyn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin b Posted December 8, 2020 Author Share Posted December 8, 2020 I spent some considerable time sourcing landing gear at a reasonable price. I ended up using FMS retracts and modified some (excellent) Chinese oleos. Unfortunately the FMS units have not been available over here for over 12 months. I got the oleos from here **LINK** I did have to do some modifications (easy lathe work) to make them fit the retracts. These appear to be the same size of retracts, but I haven't bought from this seller. **LINK** Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martyn K Posted December 8, 2020 Share Posted December 8, 2020 I have used Ali express in the past without problem. Those look to be very good value. Worth a punt I think. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin b Posted December 8, 2020 Author Share Posted December 8, 2020 Martyn. P.M. sent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin b Posted February 13, 2021 Author Share Posted February 13, 2021 Ok. Time for the next one. This time it's a biplane, "Little Stinker". Again a 60 size model. This one might take a little longer as there are 2 sets of wings to build (and cover !). When I showed the kit to our club instructor his eyes lit up and he gave me an engine to put in it. I think this one could be spoken for ! First job was to frame up the fuselage. Now that was tricky, no parallel lines and it didn't want to go on the jig either. By the way, this time I am using purple. ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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