Sea Fury 77 inch

[Martin McIntosh]

I now have a plate which fits between the servos and tank so problem solved. The six control cables to the rear end have now been fitted and everything seems fine, just a little fetteling to do on the tensions. The little man, his seat and a printed dash added. I do not propose to do anything else here because it can hardly be seen. I was hoping to get the canopy fitted tonight because the glue will take ages to set but ran out of time so settled for applying most of the first coat of fuel proofer on the fus.

Looks like I shall need a silencer extension but only have one from a 155 at the moment which may stifle the motor a bit but will do to get the cut outs done.

[Martin McIntosh]

Have now come to the fuselage radio installation which is, as expected, quite complex. 2 x Life 1800 packs fitted either side of the rud/ele servos and the 1100 retract pack in front. The 20oz tank sits under these, Velcro`d to a 1/32 ply plate. The Failover and retract switches are under a door on the right hand side. The switch and Rx shown are only temporary pending a test flight of the actual ones so the connectors will be different. Lots of wiring to tidy up here but at least I have the JR Matchbox and multi connectors fitted to the wing. This made setting up three retract servos simple. Input from the Rx plus power and output back to the tail wheel.

The canopy has been glued and screwed but unsure whether to fill round the edges or simply paint it.

 

 

[Martin McIntosh]

Having fun fitting the 5" spinner. The supplied M5 bolt was too long and was not threaded enough to cut it down but with a bit of jiggery pokery on the adapters it now fits fine. A few cut outs on the cowl have been started with openings for the exhaust and needle just needing tidying up. I am toying with opening up the cowl behind the spinner, which has large lightening holes, in the hope that I can get some airflow to the motor via the overly large prop. cut outs. Any ideas on this?

Weighed it with everything installed bar a bit more paint and it is 14.5 lb so should be no problem for the 180.

[Nick Somerville]

Martin, if it was my cowl I would cut the front out and fit something like a 10mm strip of 1mm ply around the aperture and then build up the correct profile with lightweight car body filler. That stuff sands really easily and with lots of small triangles glued around the strip it should be fairly simple to apply the right amount if it and sand back evenly around the opening . I really don’t see how else you will get the necessary cooling air to the engine. Aesthetically and for scale it would look so much better. 

 

The cowl for my Taylor P47 had no lip on it so for that I used a combination of laminated balsa strips around the opening, backed up with filler and then all sanded back. Was quite a satisfying task.

 

[Martin McIntosh]

Thanks Nick. Unfortunately I could not mould the inner facing lip on mine so it would be a major job to add one now. Anyway, I have decided to go ahead with my idea of venting the cowl behind the spinner. I have found in the past that too much air going in does not allow for expansion at the outlet and can be worse than not enough. I used to fly models with an enclosed pipe and the intake would be just 1 x 1/4". The scale intake on my Tiggy is too large so I had to increase the outlet area quite a bit.

All cowl cut outs now done and am in the process of painting it. When done I shall run up the motor and if it does not work out well I shall have a rethink.

[Martin McIntosh]

Gear and tank installation now finalised  and the motor fitted ready for a test run when the proofer has hardened. I shall then see what happens with the cowl fitted.

I also need to fully assemble it to see how far back the cg has migrated since it always seems to do so.

 

 

[Nick Somerville]

Martin, we appear to have reached a similar stage in our builds today!  As the sun was shining and the air temperature reasonable I sprayed the final clear gloss Klasskote finish to fuel proof the markings and give the shine of the example I have modelled from.  Tomorrow, if cured sufficiently, I shall assemble my virtually completed model and  will run the new  Laser 360v up for the first time to give everything a shake down.  I just have the canopy to glue in place and really that should be it.  Photos on my build pages tomorrow.

[Martin McIntosh]

I always used to spray on similar proofer but it has become too much of a pain to do now. The brushed finish does not look too bad but I am none too keen on the high gloss, authentic it may be. Weighed the cowl at 230gm and put a similar weight where it will be situated to facilitate a cg check. I should only need 120gm under the motor mount to get it correct so quite happy with that.

What I am not happy with is the fact that the elevator direction and trim have changed since I originally set up the model; also the flap speed and travel plus one u/c leg not locking down seem to have changed so I may start again from scratch. Must have done something wrong at some stage.

[Eric Robson]

Martin, if you are on Futaba check to see you are on the right model, I had Spektrum for my first 2.4 set and after many years it started playing up. I bought a set of Futaba and was caught out by the fact it would work on all models where the Spektrum would only work the designated model.

 Looking forward to seeing your Seafury completed. I have the Chiltern version to finish off.

[Nick Somerville]

11 hours ago, Martin McIntosh said:

I am none too keen on the high gloss,

You could give it a light rub all over with a Scotchbrite pad to take the edge off the shine.

[Martin McIntosh]

Nick, I may give the whole thing a coat of satin which would be the easiest and best bet before I get fuel anywhere near it but it will mean a further wait for it to harden.

Just saw the pics of yours and it looks fantastic. I particularly like the u/c.

Eric, I use JR so cannot be on the wrong memory. I probably set up the rud/ele with a servo tester which would explain a reversal but not the trim change. The leg not locking down properly was due to a lump on the ball link binding on the servo o/p arm and did not show up until the whole weight of the model was on it.

[Martin McIntosh]

More problems. I have coated the cowl, tail and fin in Rustins Satin Floor Varnish which i used thinned on everything for the first couple of coats then a full strength coat of Sadolin Gloss which  just does not look right so have started to paint the whole thing with a coat of Rustins full strength which to me looked a lot better until it came to a fus. roundel when all coats bubbled up and I was able to peel them off. Absolutely no different to the way I have done previous models but why should this differ, especially over vinyl? A little bubbling was evident on some lettering but I put this down to a reaction with the thinners. Very frustrating because I thought that I had paint jobs well and truly sussed out. Perhaps another sixty odd years of experience would help.

[Martin McIntosh]

After a marathon session I have the whole thing redone in satin which looks much better to me. I avoided putting it over the rest of the vinyl bits.

The scale sized wheels I have are a rather tight fit into the wells and could cause problems so I have ordered some slightly smaller ones from HK Global. I shall just have to wait for them.

[Martin McIntosh]

With a dryish day eventually arriving I managed a run up with the motor. I was surprised that it needed the top end richening but probably due to the rather less restricted airflow than its previous home in a Spit. cowl. Next job is to fit the cowl and find out how much extra cooling may be required.

[Martin McIntosh]

Test fitted the cowl again but the gremlins had been to work overnight as usual and a slightly warped bit at the centre was fouling the spinner. Now sorted.

Ran up the motor with only the previously shown cooling holes and it did overheat but not as much as expected so I shall make a cut outside the spinner in line with the head and add baffles. There appears to be sufficient exit area but if not I shall enlarge the exhaust cut out.

Just a quick pic of the complete model. Ignore the u/c since this requires a lot more work.

 

 

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

I think that you will find that air pressure around the carb's membrane will modify the setting, some people solder a tube onto the carb membrane cover and run a tube into the fuselage, it keeps the air pressure equal,,, here a 'luxury' model,,,,

[alan p]

I Think you will definitly have heating problems, cowl front behindspinner does need opening up for airflow . If I am wrong I stand corrected.?

[Martin McIntosh]

Paul, I know what you mean but this is a Laser 180 4st glow.

Alan, the prop cut outs on the spinner are enormous so I thought that I would just try what I said earlier. I shall now cut the cowl front beyond the spinner.

[Martin McIntosh]

Smaller wheels and the doors now fitted. I shall have to replace one retract link with a bolt on one because it pops off. With this lot added and another coat of lacquer the weight has crept up to the expected 15.5 lb and I shall still need a little in the nose.

Cowl now baffled and a hole cut in the front. Have just run up the motor again and it no longer appears to overheat.

No idea when this will be maidened because my Transit has turned up its toes. A suitable replacement is proving very hard to find.

[Martin McIntosh]

In what I hope to be the final stage I have added 180g of lead and brackets to get the dry cg spot on. Now approaching 16lb but should be OK.

Managed to get different van (£ ouch!) but may still be delayed for a few weeks due to a forthcoming major back operation pending getting my ticker to work properly. One thing after another.

[GrumpyGnome]

Just now, Martin McIntosh said:

..... but may still be delayed for a few weeks due to a forthcoming major back operation pending getting my ticker to work properly. One thing after another.

 

 

Undoubtedly better than the alternative....... good luck with the op!

[Martin McIntosh]

Thanks GG.

[Martin McIntosh]

Like you Nick I have been keen to press on so took it to the field today with no intention of flying, just to re check the motor, retracts and do a bit of taxiing round. Started up fine but the tail wheel had only come halfway down and shut itself off, so motor stopped and a check done. One main hung up a bit. Why do these sort of things not show up in the workshop? More sorting to do but the taxi trial was successful although with the wind much stronger than expected it refused to turn back downwind. Motor leaned right out and no sign of overheating so a fairly good result. The normally good patch was still a little wet and lumpy although I had a flight with my Super Aeromaster OK. First i/c one for very many months.