Bates 1/5.5 Sea Fury Build

[Nick Somerville]

Sorry to hear Martin. Anything specific causing problems?

[Martin McIntosh]

Well yes. The plan is for one with folding wings although only the locking up and down servos are shown, silly idea anyway. The problem I made for myself was to try and join the outer panels to the centre at the fold point instead of the normal way. Since the parts are on two plans and the join is only shown by complex sheeting to accommodate the hinge it has been difficult to get the parts aligned. I did that because the 100mm main spar stubs gave the dihedral angle which is not stated at the tips. Top sheeting all that lot is a nightmare.

[Nick Somerville]

Wing fairings completed, though not without considerable fiddling and reshaping of the rear section. As previously mentioned the plan gives virtually no detail and the shape that is shown is woefully inaccurate when comparing to  photographs of the full size. In the first photo you can see the basic framework prior to fitting the .4mm ply skin.  I had positioned the rear section too low so not a hope of shaping the skin from a single piece. After cutting both rear sides away and reshaping them I was able to use card templates to find the correct shape required before cutting the precious ply. The very front of the fillet is lightweight filler as the curve is too tight for the ply.

I have struggled to find a good underside photo of the blend from the rear of the wings to the fuselage showing the rear of the wing fillets, but this is what I have so far. The wing sits nicely against the step of the fillets so at least that is ok.

 

I posted earlier this photo of the underside blend at the front of the wing but have since realised it isn’t quite correct. I took the shape from a Bates Sea Fury build log I had seen on the RSCB site and the modeller must have chosen to bring the blend to a point just in front of the gear doors for simplicity. In fact it should continue rearward a little further with the front 1/3rd of the gear doors taking up the final part of the blend. Yet to decide if I should rework the area or leave as is.

[Martin McIntosh]

Looks fine to me, not knowing off hand what the full size is like and I am sure that any inaccuracies will go unnoticed. Waiting for the final top skin glue to dry on mine before the moment of truth.

What thickness is your fus. skin, 3/32nd?

[Nick Somerville]

12 minutes ago, Martin McIntosh said:

Looks fine to me, not knowing off hand what the full size is like and I am sure that any inaccuracies will go unnoticed. Waiting for the final top skin glue to dry on mine before the moment of truth.

What thickness is your fus. skin, 3/32nd?

All the best with those skins Martin. Yes 3/32 on all but tail feathers and ailerons which are 1/8th. Lovely consistent light sheets from SLEC. Feels a bit fragile in places but will be glassing with 45grm glass cloth instead of the usual 25grms.

[Martin McIntosh]

My 3/32 came from Balsa Cabin and as usual have not needed to trim any edges. Some are only 14g but most are 18-21g so the 14`s will be at the rear of the fus. (3x36").

[Nick Somerville]

Fuselage glassed at the weekend.  I used 48gsm from the front to 10cms from the fin and 24gsm rearward from there including the fin.
So it’s back to fettling the wings. After removing the central rib in the wheel bays, two new ones were prepared for each side and notched for the cross strips. That’s as much detail as I shall add as I don’t suppose anyone will be peering in there. Also a hinged hatch added to the rear centre section where the retract pneumatic sequencer and flap electronics are positioned. Small but strong magnets keep it firmly shut, but easy enough to drop down for servicing and also to access the flap servo/JR Matchbox battery switch.

[Nick Somerville]

Doing some fettling and detailing tasks on the wing prior to the final sanding and then glassing. Sharpened the end of some brass tube to cut holes for the guns. These are set slightly below the centre line. A short length of tube then inserted and filed to LE profile. The guns can be glued in later after painting. Also a few alterations to the radiator were needed and the rear vent added.

[Martin McIntosh]

Page not found for your pics.

[Nick Somerville]

I can see the photo Martin so not sure why it’s not showing. This is the one I added earlier if it helps.

[Martin McIntosh]

Got it now.

[Nick Somerville]

looking at the pronounced tailplane shroud. It has a double edge to it which is a bit fiddly to reproduce. For the main part I laminated 3 strips of masking tape for thickness and cut it into strips to mark out the shape. Next 3M acrylic glazing putty was smoothed against the tapes and allowed to harden overnight. After some light sanding the tape was removed. Looks ok and should pick up nicely when spraying the undercoat. The secondary line will be achieved with 1mm chart tape as per panel lines elsewhere.

[Nick Somerville]

So after a busy time glass clothing and cutting back I dusted off my panel spotting gun and have given the fuselage, wings and rudder a coat of primer. With most of the model grey, apart from some surfaces previously painted and cut back, it seemed a good time to put it together for a photo. It won’t look as good for a while as I shall be filling the many minor imperfections with red 3M acrylic putty and cutting most of the primer back. Once that is done it will be onto the panel lines, inspection panels and rivet detailing before a final coat of primer. I haven’t forgotten the cockpit cut out its just that I am awaiting a fibreglass canopy frame from ordered from VicRC across the pond. Could be a while.

[Nick Somerville]

Half an hour to spray the wings and 2 1/2 hours to sand it all of again. I supose there is method in the madness. On my last build I only used resin to lay the cloth and then used rattle can primer filler to fill any weave after sanding back. It worked out ok but used 3 cans by the time I had finished the whole model and it’s not cheap stuff. This time I followed normal practice and brushed on a flow coat after lightly cutting back the first application. For the wings I used approximately 52ml of resin on each side to lay the 48grm cloth but the flow coat required less than 20ml on each side. 

[Martin McIntosh]

For filling the weave without more resin I now use Halfords brush on grey primer mixed with a little clear dope and baby powder which does not stink like talc. It is really pointless using expensive spray cans and the only primer/filler seems to be yellow anyway.

Like yourself I am sick of looking at the wings and have had major problems with getting the flaps to fit so am now starting on the tail.

I have decided against scale hinges because my recent Chippy build took longer to do these than the rest of the model and I expect that few would notice.

On my plan the elevator parts do not align with the ribs so I am having to re draw them but I shall build in two parts as you have done.

[Nick Somerville]

Martin, I have used Dubro DUB 257 heavy duty flat hinges with removable pins for my flaps. The full size had a huge rotary hinge with a universal joint at the split. I was looking at some photos yesterday and also noticed an overlap at the split which I haven’t as yet replicated (inner flap overlaps outer). I may be able to let and blend in a strip of litho plate to add the detail but probably better to set the servos up first, otherwise they could fight against each other if not perfectly synchronised. BTW your baby talc/dope/primer sounds like proper modellers alchemy.

 

[Nick Somerville]

Preparing the cowl for painting and Metalcoat application. The front portion roughly marked out with a Sharpie and flush rivets ground out with a small burr in a Dremel. Although they look large a practice strip of Metalcoat stuck over gives the right effect. Panel lines for the opening cowl doors are doubled up 1mm chart tape and the cowl catches have been cut from some silver sticky backed vinyl and framed with chart tape. Hopefully once sprayed will give the desired effect. The tape gets removed after primer but the silver vinyl remains. 

[Nick Somerville]

The Fury has several types of raised and flush rivets in a number of sizes. At 1/5.6 it’s worth having a go at replicating these to an extent as they do give a model a certain realism. I have seen plenty of models with rivet detailing looking like a steel vessel engineered by K I Brunel, and that’s not a great look, so I had a read on some forums to learn other people’s techniques and checked to see what I had available in the workshop.

The majority of the rivets are the flush type and these, as per the cowl, I plan to burn into the primer coat with a small brass tube set into a soldering iron. The rudder and elevators, plus a few other areas have raised rivets and for these I have started using canopy glue squeezed through a fine nozzle (adapted from a football type air filler valve.) Really easy and quick to do. 10 mins to mark out the rudder and five mins applying drops on each side. Looks a bit clumsy on application, but as the glue dries back it tightens up and flatters the effort. Unlike the flush rivets this needs doing before the final primer coat and also provides the opportunity to lay in the panel line tape. Elsewhere, for the flush rivet areas its primer first then rivet detail after.

 

[Nick Somerville]

Been back on the cowl that I had sprayed a few days ago with the Oxford Blue KlassKote ordered through Phil Clark at Fighter Aces. I am using a satin catalyst for all the blue sprayed on with a Fast Mover panel spotting gun (.8mm nozzle). Markings will be airbrushed through Flightline stencils using acrylic lacquer paints and then the whole model will have a final clear gloss coat of Klasskote. Grey undercoat is cellulose primer filler from U-Pol.

 

Unfortunately I didn’t get the spray gun setting and paint mix quite right, resulting in a surface finish erring on orange peel. So I cut it back with some 600 grit and resprayed it this afternoon. Next up the Metalcoat, from Jim Reeves, which is the first time I have tried this product. I cut a few trial pieces to lay onto a variety of shapes and immediately realised it’s a tricky material to work with. It wants to wrinkle for a pastime but with care these can be mostly burnished out using the back of a teaspoon. The finish is satisfying though and it really isn’t at all expensive when compared to some other model finishing materials.

 

 

 

[Martin McIntosh]

Wow, you are really going to town with this Nick. Well done.

I have decided to do mine as a flying only model because I really cannot be bothered too much with the fine details anymore.

I have not posted for quite a while on it until I have something worthwhile to show but it will be very soon.

[Nick Somerville]

A few days of great autumn flying weather this way so not too much progress to report. The wing is all but ready for panel lines and primer but I wanted to get the tip navigation lights in first, as it should make for a better paint blend at the edges of the Metalcoat frames. The light covers are made by carefully warming some HIPS clear sheet over the gas hob and then as fast as possible taking the floppy plastic to the wing tip and forcing it over the marked area for the nav light. The actual light itself is made similarly by heating some HIPS and plunging a rounded stick into it. A dab of red and green acrylic paint inside for the colour. Adhesion of the parts courtesy of the same canopy glue used for the rivets shown previously.

 

 

[Nick Somerville]

My canopy frame from VicRC in America arrived today, thankfully avoiding interest from customs wanting a handling charge etc. I had been a bit worried that it might not be a match to the clear canopy from Phil at Fighter Aces, but my fears were washed away with a true Cinderella moment. It’s a superb moulding that would have been hard to make as well without making a mould. Not only do the canopy and frame fit together beautifully but also the frame sits on the fuselage like a glove.

 

 

Not much actual build progress to report as the autumn weather remains incredible this way. I have managed two long days of flying last weekend and have squeezed in two half days of paragliding between spells at my part time work as a potter/ceramicist. Happy days! I have marked out the wing and stuck most of the panel tape lines though. I have been using some supplied by Jim Reeves which are just a tad thicker than the 1mm chart tape I used on my P47.  Nice product to use.

 

[Nick Somerville]

I don’t know if this is common when nearing the end of a build but rather suspect it is.  I have been avoiding the workshop to get the panel line and other detailing finished and ready for spraying. and have been spending more time than I should thinking about and looking for a subject for my next build. Yesterday I had a great offer for a BT 82” Corsair short kit with accessories . It is a complex model to detail and I believe the retracts are pretty tricky to shoehorn in. Here a couple of photos from the astonishing example at Yeovilton Air Museum.  Makes my Fury look like a sport model and I wonder if I will have the commitment to see it through. Well I couldn’t refuse the offer so decision made and parts purchased. Engine? Well a Laser inevitability but which one. I am guest the model will be in the 18lbs territory so 180, 200v or 240v could all suit or even one of the flat twins when ready. I expect  Jon will have a good idea.  Well enough digression, I really should get back to the Fury.

 

[Danny Fenton]

Great choice Nick, and no different to the other scale modellers, always looking at the next build....

BTs Corsair is the most challenging, closely followed by his Mossie. But both have well documented builds on RCSB so you will be fine ? 

Cheers

Danny

[Martin McIntosh]

Best of luck with a BT build. I tried his Mossie but, like others, scrapped it halfway through because it was simply too complex and flimsy to turn into a practical model.