Hawker Fury Mk1 Replica, K1930 (OO-HFU)

[Andy Sephton 1]

Having test flown the full-size aircraft back in 2001, I had to be doing this one for Danny's project. I've built a 150% Veron rubber powered free flight model (27" span) to test the markings but this one, the 60" RC version, will not be started until October.

My plan is to have the model ready for BMFA Flying Only competition next year, so it needs to be flying in the Spring. I'm hoping it'll be good for the new 5kg class, which I'm promoting at the moment. Accordingly, there will be little in the way of scale detail as anything that can't be seen with the model in the air will not be worth fitting. The aim is to make it as light and as simple as I can, within reason.

I'm planning on fitting a Laser 70 as a power plant and control will be by my newly acquired FrSky radio system. The rest will develop as the build goes on....

Pics to follow when I can find them.

[Danny Fenton]

Thanks Andy great to have you onboard, I am sure we will learn a great deal about building in lightness. It will be interesting to also see the different ends of the spectrum, as you all know I have a little trouble stopping adding detail I should seek therapy......

Cheers

Danny

[Andy Sephton 1]

Thanks for the kind words Danny.

You asked for a modelling CV, so here goes. I built my first model in 1958 and have never given up. I've flown FF ever since, but I unsuccessfully dabbled in Cl from around 1963 - 1972, I equally unsuccessfully dabbled in SC radio from 1969 - 1976, when I bought my first proportional set. I was a confirmed radio flyer from then until 1985 when I discovered FF Scale. That held my main interest until getting back into RC in 2005, when I lived on Old Warden airfield. I gained a 'BMFA 'B' certificate, but I've not yet used it in anger.

I've had a lot of competition success in FF Scale, so it's time to branch out into RC. I also have an agreement to settle with Pete McDermott. He got me into judging RC scale back in the late 80's. He judged FF at the time and we made an agreement that if he made and competed a FF Scale Model then I would do the same in RC. Well, a few years ago (about 5 if I remember right) Pete won the FF Scale Nats with a superb model of a DH4. Given that, a will to get back into serious RC flying and a recent friendship with Danny, joining his group build of the Fury was too good to miss.

Danny also asked for a picture of the subject aircraft, so here it is. Apparently, the chequerboard marking on the elevator are wrong and the colour of the fuselage markings should be silver and black rather than white and black. However, that's the subject aircraft for the model, so that's what I'll be endeavouring to copy.

[McG 6969]

Hi Andy,

As Danny stated, great to have you on board in the Fury Classroom.

As I had no confirmation, did you receive the pictures of K1930 that I sent you by e-mail?

Cheers

Chris

Edited By McG 6969 on 27/08/2018 20:58:36

[Andy Sephton 1]

I did Chris, many thanks indeed. I thought I'd sent a reply, apols if you never received it.

[McG 6969]

No probs whatsoever, Andy.

Please note that the checkers on silver instead of white came from 'one' opinion only.

Robert Landuyt, the owner, seems a bit like Danny F regarding 'details', hence I would wonder if such an expensive 'replica' - when you have a look at the Kestrel restoration, just to name that part - could be that 'wrong' just with the background colour of the checkers...

Maybe some other/different analyses of the same squadron might give the correct answer?

Good hunt, young man.

Cheers

Chris

[Andy Sephton 1]

When it comes down to it, Chris, it doesn't really matter what the 'authentic' colour is. The full-size I'm modelling has black and white checkers, so that's what'll go on the model. Outside of that, it would be nice to bottom out the truth of the matter, so lets open it out to all. In fact, I'll put it in my BMFA News column this month, lets see what happens....

[Andy Sephton 1]

I'm a couple of days late on starting this one, but I only returned to the UK yesterday following a 19 day holiday in the USA.

Laying down of the fuselage sides has commenced and in answer to questions on Danny's thread, the fit of the laser cut parts compared to the plan was good. I'm using Deluxe Materials Aliphatic Resin as an adhesive. it dries pretty quickly, it's relatively light, it sands well. and the final joint has some flexibility. I try to avoid cyano as it wicks into the wood creating a hard point which can lead to premature breakage, it's brittle, it's heavy (see point one) it's hard to sand and it's difficult to break a joint for re-setting. Don't get me wrong on this, it's a super glue (pun intended) for certain applications, I just don't use it for basic model building.

I'm now taking 'five' to cut some 3/16" x 3/16" strips from some 3/16" sheet. I'll report again later when I have something to write about....

[Martyn K]

Looking forward to following this one as well Andy

[McG 6969]

The same here, Andy.

... subscribed already.

Cheers

Chris

[Andy Sephton 1]

 

Stripping commenced by marking the ends of the sheet wood so I know from which stock the strips came from. One line was 10.9 lb/cu ft wood, 2 lines 8.0 lb/cu ft, and 3 lines 15lb/cu ft, giving me medium, soft and hard strips respectively. The scrap wood from the fuselage side pieces were marked with 4 and 5 lines respectively:

The guide on the band saw was set using some scrap wood and a test cut made. That being satisfactory, I cut four strips off each of the stock pieces and as many as I could manage off the scrap wood:

The strips had a bit of flash on the edges, but that was quickly tidied by pulling it through some fine sandpaper.

The fuselage side was then laid down using medium strip for the longerons and uprights and soft for the diagonals. My technique is to cut the wood slightly oversize, then sand the end free-hand with a sanding block to get the right size. I then make an exact copy for fuselage side 2. For the adhesive, I squirt a small amount into a small tub and apply it with some scrap wood cut to a chisel end:

Fuselage basic side one is now complete and drying. Sticks for side two are adjacent:

Tools used are in the following shot. They form my basic construction tool kit; I didn't use all of them in the above modelling:

From top left and moving clockwise: Razor plane, gluepot and applicator, Perma-Grit sanding block, Mitre-block, pins, Junior hacksaw with fine toothed blade, fine sandpaper, pencil and fine marking pen, balsa knife, blades for knife, oil stone for sharpening blades, Deluxe Materials Aliphatic Resin adhesive, all resting on a WH Smith's cutting mat. The model plan was protected with the polythene sheet that wrapped the laser cut wood pack!

That's all for today, fuselage side two should be added tomorrow over the top of side one.

Edited By Andy Sephton 1 on 03/10/2018 18:23:03

[Andy Sephton 1]

It's time for a lunchtime update! I laid down fuselage side two last night, so it was dry this morning and could be removed from the board. I then sanded the edges to make sure both sides were identical, and split them using an extended blade on the knife. The centre joint on the sheet part of the fuselage was covered with clear tape to prevent adhesion. The inside faces were then identified and clearly marked:

The ply formers were then cut from the ply sheet, which initially proved to be a bit of a challenge. Enter the next tool, a Swann-Morton Craft Knife:

I was quite pleased with the dry fit of the fuselage, but gluing the sides together will have to wait until I've sourced some hardwood for the engine-plate bearers as the holes in the formers may need to be changed. The building board is now free, so the next job will be to start the basic empennage construction.

[Martyn K]

Looking good Andy

It looks smaller than I expected unless your mug holds half a gallon of coffee

Martyn

[Andy Sephton 1]

Thanks for the kind words Martyn......and the answer is yes on both counts!

PS: you'll see a lot of that mug, or similar, in subsequent posts.

[Andy Sephton 1]

Scant progress today, owing to having to go to Cambridge to pick up my new specs. As it happens it turned out to be a good use of time as now, I CAN SEE!

I've added to the suite of tools with a steel straight edge, some engineers squares and a tapered, curved sanding block. I use the latter to clean the inside edges of curved laser cut parts.

Next job was to cut slots for the hinges in the fin and rudder core sheets. As luck would have it, I found a pack of period hinges in my stash. The last Scale RC model I built was in 1983, which means the hinges are at least 35 years old .... but that fits with the period of the plan, so it's all worked out just fine!

I've not started the tailplane yet, but I have done some preparation as the plan only shows half of the tailplane. I copied the plan twice onto A3 sheets. One sheet was inverted, cut to match the other sheet, taped with clear tape and rubbed with light oil to make it transparent. There's cling film both below the plan and above to protect the building board and tailplane respectively. Back in the day, it was recommended to use paraffin, but not having any to hand, light oil worked just as well. I've placed the tailplane and elevator cores on top of the plan to show a good correlation.

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

I love reading builds with the Balsa Cabin pins being used.

You make that curved sanding block, or buy it Andy ?

[Andy Sephton 1]

Posted by john stones 1 on 05/10/2018 17:40:01:

I love reading builds with the Balsa Cabin pins being used.

You make that curved sanding block, or buy it Andy ?

Sorry to disappoint, John, but the pins came from the Czech Republic via Flitehook,

I picked up the sanding stick in the USA. It was $5.95 from Fourmost: http://www.fourmostproducts.com/our-products/construction-tools/

[Danny Fenton]

I assumed Balsa cabin pins too, my pink ones came from them never have stock of yellow though

[McG 6969]

... here are some yellow ones, just for you , Danny.

Graupner stuff, about half the price of my Vicomte 1916 kit for a hundred of them, but I just 'had' to buy them... ... great bits anyhow.

Cheers

Chris

[Andy Sephton 1]

I was stuck in a BMFA Scale technical Committee meeting all day yesterday, so little got done in the workshop - yes, I know, my choice, so it was self inflicted! What I can report, though, is that Light Scale will be on the BMFA Scale Competition programme next year. The models will be limited to 5kg max weight without fuel or flight batteries and the competition will be flown to flying only rules.

Today, on the other hand, produced some progress to the model. I managed to lay down one side of the tailplane and elevators, minus the riblets:

And following that, I roughly cut the engine plate bearers with a band saw. Looking at the plan, it appears that former 3 has not allowed for the thickness of the 1/16" ply doubler that rests along the fuselage side. I've noted it in red on the left side of the former in the following. Obviously, the allowance will have to be made on both sides.

...Onwards and upwards!!

[Danny Fenton]

Hi Andy, sorry I disagree, the doubler ends against F3 not alongside.

Cheers

Danny

[Andy Sephton 1]

Danny's right - my mistake. The plan is correct!

[onetenor]

Just had a little Google K5674 has B/W suares ( colour pic ) and another mnus No in B/W pic appears to be the same but silver in B/W is hard to tell in grey scale. Not spent long on it but I Googled Kestrel biplane squadron markings.. There seems to be more on the page if anyone cares to look.

Good hunting John

[Andy Sephton 1]

Time to introduce some more tools:

From the top, a Black and Dekker machine vice, a curved sanding tool from Perma-Grit (this one has two grades on one tool. They've stopped doing that so you now have to buy two tools to get the same functions. Notwithstanding, they come highly recommended), jewellers tweezers (more on that later), and a 6" steel ruler (the 24" version was getting a bit cumbersome!

I was introduced to jewellers tweezers when buying a ring for the wife. The designer picked up the stones with one of these and handed them to us to look at. There's a rather neat locking device that can be actuated by the forefinger or thumb to lock or unlock the tweezers jaws. With their one-handed operation and soft grip, I find them ideal for small balsa parts ... on this model, I used them to apply adhesive to, and position, the riblets in the tailplane.

If you google 'Jewellers locking tweezers' you should find them for less than £4.00 a pair on the net.

Edited By Andy Sephton 1 on 08/10/2018 13:43:20

[Andy Sephton 1]

Progress has been a bit slow over the past few days, but I've managed to get back on it this morning. Side two of the tailplane progresses:

And I've procured a 14oz tank from SLEC that fits the tank bay perfectly!