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Balsacraft Fw190A


Gary Binnie
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Today was a day of fiddling with small parts!

 

Fitted the rudder and elevator servo rails and servos.

 

Made up lead ballast plates and drilled to be secured by the motor mount bolts.

 

Next step will probably be the aileron servos and the upper wing skins.

 

1. Servo bearer wood is provided in the kit but I didn't use it, I like to select a thickness that will bring the servo arm level with the pushrod. I cut these bearers out of a piece of unidentified sheet in my stock which I think is obeche. Rear rail not glued in at this stage.

 

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2. The plan shows Z bends at the servos and adjustable clevises at the rear end, I've reversed that arrangement to save weight at the tail.

 

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3. Cutting out lead trim weights, 170 grammes in all which will be too much (hopefully!). I salvaged a large sheet of lead flashing that was being thrown away when our gas boiler was replaced last year (different make of boiler, different flue). About 1.5 mm thick and cuts very easily with scissors.

 

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4. Not the best photo but it shows the stack of weights secured by the upper motor mount bolts. After drilling the lower holes there was enough clearance to fit bolts which is a better idea than self tapping screws, more secure and no sharp points to damage the battery (this is the front of the battery box).

 

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Bumper Sunday edition!

 

To work out the aileron servo installation I would need working radio so installed the ESC and receiver this morning.

 

Spent some time looking for a battery that I can use just for this model but didn't have much luck. I have a battery that will probably do.

 

Currently weighing up options for fixing the aileron servos, I am leaning towards simply gluing them in against the complexity of making a hatch and screw mount system.

 

Photos:

 

1. To save expense I needed to rob the receiver from another model and I picked on my Alfa Spitfire. It has been glued together a few times but still flies well, it is 15 years old. It used to have retracts but I removed them to reduce the wing loading (it would flick in tight turns).

 

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2. The excitement of adding a new model memory to the transmitter! Bench testing the electronics and reprogramming the ESC from glider use.

 

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3. I added a ply plate across two formers to act as a mount for the ESC, the receiver is the same length as the distance between the fuselage members so it fitted in nicely sideways with no modification. Two short extension leads were added for aileron connection to the wing. It could have been installed further forward to help the CG position but it would be a lot more difficult to remove in the future (firmware updates, fault or robbing for another model).

 

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4. Another view of the ESC.

 

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5. I use this battery in my A-10, it fits and is mostly in front of the CG.

 

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6. A battery that ends at the ruler would be better but I'm struggling to find one.

 

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7. On to the ailerons, I made a couple of 1 mm ply plates to reinforce the area, made taped together for symmetry. 

 

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8. I'm leaning towards gluing the servos in, if they need to be replaced I could cut a hole in the top skin and break them out or Dremel them to dust (I've done this with glider wing servos that were epoxied in by a previous owner). I have at least glued the ply plates in. For easy replacement in a glider wing (flap servo gears can strip if landed with the flaps down) I would run extra cable extension out to the servo and loop the spare length so that the plug is accessible.

 

The original arrangement for this model and the others in the range is a central single servo running a snake.   

 

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Thought I would show how competition glider servos are fixed, no reason why this method couldn't be used on a sport or scale model.

 

1. The black frame (plastic or reinforced Nylon) is glued to the inner wing skin, the servo is attached to it by two small wedges held by screws. Some of these frames have a bearing to help take loads off the servo shaft.

 

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2. These rudder and elevator servos are screwed into CNC cut wood frames that glue to the inner skin. The aperture covers can be colour coded or transparent acetate as I've done here, it allows quick and easy checking for problems/pre-flight security.

 

1911406680_Picture037.thumb.jpg.3a21f636c3fb548a3aae42ef76d7309e.jpg.

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Plodding along, looks like a grim week ahead weatherwise.

 

I've made one upper wing skin and marked the aileron outlines for easier cutting out later.

 

1. Pushing pins through to find the aileron cut lines.

 

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2. Easy peasy aileron outline.

 

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3. Was trying to remember how I made the wing skins and looked at the plan again which is cluttered with ribs and spars so I just turned the wing over and copied it!

 

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Had a choice today, fit the first upper wing skin or make a second skin, second skin it was!

 

Spent some time sanding any lumps and bumps, high spots etc on the wing structure so that the skins sit evenly with no stress points anywhere.

 

Sanded the false leading edges down more to match the rib profiles, the actual leading edge stock in the kit is just wide enough to do the job.

 

Secured the aileron servos (CA) and wiring, functionally checked the system.

 

Fairly sure that I can fit the upper skins now (will have one last read of the instructions and glance at the plan).

 

1. Checking the leading edge strip after sanding down the false leading edges, strip is just taped on here for effect, will check this again before gluing the skins on, at the very worst I could cut new stock.

 

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2. Checking that the aileron servos and extensions are good.

 

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3. Wing ready for the upper skins (I hope!). Remembered to add the servo horn screws.

 

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Cheers Nick,

 

    I've been blogging builds for about 15 years, there are a load more on RC Groups (list of builds a couple of posts down the page) and one on RC Scalebuilder (Brian Taylor Spitfire which I think was copied and continued on RC Groups).

 

Two more on the BARCS forums, Multiplex Arriba restoration and Chris Foss Phase Four and 5 plus odd mumblings about gliders!

 

I try to find the middle ground with text, not too much detail but enough to clarify something that might puzzle a newcomer to the hobby and if I make a mistake I own up!

 

I was a professional gliding instructor for five years where I learned to assume maximum intelligence/minimum knowledge from a wide spectrum of people that I taught.

 

The photos are actually taken with a lowly iPhone 5S, they sync automatically to my laptop hard drive over Wifi ready to add to forum posts after a little bit of editing (usually cropping out irrelevant parts of an image). I used to use an Olympus E-410 DSLR and spent ages adjusting F stops, focus, shutter speeds etc and it would get covered in balsa dust. One day I tried the iPhone, no messing and pretty good images and it is very convenient, never looked back!

 

Photography is a hobby (that I combine with astronomy), I'm old enough to have developed photos with an enlarger and chemicals, still have the three plastic trays (developer, fixer, rinse). I treated myself to a Canon 6D Mk II when I retired, I use it for 'grip and grin' photos at competition prize givings, it's lucky that I never win anything!! 

 

The Moon, a composite of frames taken from a one minute MP4 video using the Canon at the prime focus (eyepiece tube without eyepiece) of my 150 mm F8 reflector telescope.

 

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Lunchtime update.

 

There were two small jobs to do before adding the upper skins; opening the finger grip holes and marking the wing bolt hole. Another very small but important job was cutting a small hole for the aileron servo lead.

 

With a 'one shot manoeuvre' like this I get all the tools needed together and do a dry run.

 

I used aliphatic glue as it dries slower than the PVA I use (longer working time).

 

1. Cutting the finger holes, this could have been done later but would have been difficult.

 

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2. Getting tools together for the job. As a servo horn is now sticking out of the bottom of the wing it has to be elevated, to allow the pegs to grip underneath it had to be elevated even more. Scrap MDF at the root and tip. I marked the rib locations on the trailing and leading edges for peg positioning, if pegs were used between the ribs the sheeting could bow inwards or even split.

 

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3. Going for it! All the pegs and clamps have load spreaders to prevent denting of the sheet, the small clothes line pegs have rubber faces which stops them slipping (very cheap at Tesco's!). I did add weights along the spar but noticed the wing bending so I quickly took them off!

 

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4, 5 and 6. A washout jig is provided. Washout is where the angle of incidence (line between the leading edge and trailing edge of the wing section against a datum) is deliberately decreased to reduce the angle of attack (angle that the relative airflow meets the wing) at the tip. This should ensure that the wing root stalls before the tip giving benign (or at least better!) handling. 

 

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By yesterday evening I had both upper skins fitted and left everything to dry thoroughly overnight.

 

The sheeting went well, if I was ultra picky the centre join line is not quite central, because of the curved aerofoil section and dihedral the centre butt lines have to be very slightly concave which I found difficult to get right.

 

This morning I trimmed the sheeting back to the false leading edge and sanded it flush then added the leading edge.

 

The instructions suggest gluing the wing tip blocks on at this stage then carving the whole wing to shape, I leave fitting the wing tips until after the aerofoil shaping as they make planing and sanding the leading edges spanwise difficult.

 

1. Sheeted wing after trimming and sanding. I'm working on an old beach towel now to reduce 'hangar rash' and it also collects sanding dust that can be shaken off outside.

 

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2. Adding the leading edge. Trapping the wing vertically between two household objects leaves both hands free and downwards pressure can be applied when adding the tape.

 

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Pushed on.

 

Leading and trailing edges planed and rough sanded.

 

A small trim at the trailing edge had the wing sitting properly in the fuselage for the first time.

 

If I get bored I could tackle various jobs like cutting the ailerons out or fitting the wing tips but I think I ought to concentrate on the tail end to get a better idea of the balance point then I can add the forward fuselage sheeting (which is needed before adding the wing fairings). 'Chicken and the egg'!

 

I'm probably a little over half-way through the build, no rush as I've still got two finished models built in the lockdowns that haven't flown yet. 

 

1. Quite a lot of planing and sanding needed at the trailing edge, I don't understand why they didn't provide triangular stock here, even if it was oversize it would have cut the work down.

 

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2. Adding masking tape to the wing sheeting protects it from the sanding block and also gives an indication that it's time to go steady and switch to a finer sandpaper.

 

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3. First try at fitting the wing to the fuselage, the cross hatched area needed to be trimmed off (shown on the plan).

 

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4. Drops in nicely now, sheet is added to the wing to fair this in.

 

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5. Nice fit at the front as well, there aren't many kits where the position of the wing dowel and hole are decided for you.

 

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6. Pretty good fit at the wing joint, there will be a fairing here eventually.

 

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7. A brief trip to the garden to blow the dust off.

 

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Note to self: The wing tips have to be fitted before the ailerons are cut out!

 

To the tail end, the tailplane and elevators are simple slabs of balsa, I will at least sand the elevators to a tapered section. The Fw190 has aerodynamic balance sections at the outboard end of each elevator which could be arranged for a more scale look.

 

I looked for the elevator joiner in the kit but found just a straight piece of wire, lol!

 

Hinging has never been my favourite job, probably because there isn't  an easy way to do it (apart from tape).

 

I like to use Kavan or Robart pinned hinges, my tools are a mixture of Du-Bro and Robart.

 

Can do a post on the process if anyone would be interested, would probably take about 10 photos.

 

In this photo the Kavan hinge type that I am using is with the kit supplied 'bendy plastic' item.

 

U, LU and RU are Upper, Left Upper, Right Upper. Although the parts are symmetrical small building inaccuracies will make them handed causing fun and games at final assembly!

 

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Think I've had enough of sanding for this week, must do something different tomorrow!

 

There is enough airframe now to have a look at the weight and balance.

 

Current weight with 3S 3000 lipo is 1,060 grammes (37.5 oz), all up flying weight according to the box lid was 1,370 grammes (48 oz).

 

Current balance point is 120 mm aft of datum, plan advises 95 mm.

 

The uncarved wing tips were included, the uncarved rudder was also used so some weight will come off the rear end. The prop is a 10 x 5 APC stolen off another model and slightly undersize. Wing root fairings and wing bolt/nut missing.

 

Not a million miles away, a more compact battery would help move the CG forward, as will a larger prop and a spinner. 

 

I still need to concentrate on the rear end, get the rudder shaped and fit the control linkages.

 

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Erm...I didn't do anything different today!

 

Weather was good enough to do some balsa dust creation in the garden.

 

Wing tips added and rough sanded.

 

Wing root fairing die-cut parts popped out of their sheets and cleaned up, not much wood left in the box now.

 

1. To ease my tennis elbow I used my disc sander in the garden to remove a large amount of material from the wing tips and rudder, have to be careful not to go too far. I use a 320 grit disc which helps to control the cut. The sander is one of my favourite tools, ply formers can be made with square sides in a jiffy. This is the latest version of it,  I took the belt and drive off as it was too vicious for aeromodelling, it also made it a lot quieter.  

 

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2. Sanded parts.

 

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3 and 4. The wing tips have a ply core, this makes the tips handed right and left and it's not mentioned in the instructions but the core should be lined up with the leading and trailing edges, it would be very easy to glue the tips on with the lower surfaces flush. Chris Foss uses this method with his plan built gliders.

 

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5. Tip glued on, not too much left to sand.

 

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6. This is the lower surface, trailing edge.

 

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7. Mostly sanded to section.

 

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8. The ply is just visible.

 

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9. The same 1/64" ply sheet has two wing seat faces.

 

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10. Six sheets of 3/32" balsa has the die-cut parts for the wing root fairings. Pencil numbered before popping them out.

 

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11. Wing root fairing parts, I had an odd number of B25s which took a while to solve, one on the floor!

 

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Seventh straight day of working on this model, I really, really must do something different next week!

 

I'm supposed to be working on the tail but I was drawn back to the wing, it's all progress.

 

Wing tips sanded.

 

Hole drilled for wing bolt attachment.

 

T nut fitted.

 

1. Opened up the upper wing sheeting covering the dowel hole, a very nice fit.

 

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2. I marked the centre of the former to line up the centre of the wing before drilling the bolt hole. As an extra check I measured from each wing tip to the centre of the fuselage at the rudder hinge line, both equal distances. Drilled through the wing to the nut plate.

 

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3 and 4. 'T' nuts are often thicker than the plates that they sit in and the prongs will pop through. A simple fix for a neater job is to make the plate thicker, I made a Liteply plate and glued it to backside of the mount. I ran the supplied Nylon bolt through the nut and it was very tight making me wonder if the nut or bolt were odd threads, 2BA is very similar to M5. Ran a steel M5 bolt through it and it was good so I found another Nylon bolt that wasn't such a tight fit. A small detail but would have caused frustration at the flying field.

 

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5. Opened up the hole to 6.4 mm (1/4") and popped the nut in with a splash of epoxy, a G clamp is a good way of seating them (using ply and hardwood load spreaders to avoid damage).

 

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6. Job done, threading the bolt in shows whether the nut has cocked in the hole, if it has it can be corrected before the epoxy sets.

 

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  • 2 months later...

Been two months since I worked on this due to a motorbike project and finishing the F-15.

 

The first challenge was finding it all!

 

I'd had a PM about CG position uncertainty, the instructions say 75 mm, the plan says 95 mm and my calculations say 113 mm! I checked it again and it seems to be about right, I can add lead to the battery for the first flights then remove it if needed.

 

Thought I would tighten the motor mount bolts and add the rest of the stringers and sheet the front of the fuselage but the nuts wouldn't tighten, obviously not M3 probably some weird BA or BSF size from my bits box! Ordered a packet of 50 M3 stiff nuts.

 

Another thing to do was check the direction of motor rotation, I could programme the ESC but it's easier just to swap the cables over. Plugged the battery in, turned the transmitter on, nothing. I had bought another transmitter, same make but lower spec/value for foamies and sport models, I transferred the model memories over but the receivers have to be rebound, luckily the receiver was still accessible. The motor turned the right way so no need to do anything.

 

Will probably cut the ailerons out next while I wait for the nuts.

 

1. Problem with switching between builds is remembering what stage you're at, I usually pencil line through completed steps on paper instructions but I don't have any for this kit, just the PDF.  Read the instructions again and scribbled down some notes for jobs to do.

 

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2. There is plenty of room to tape extra lead to the battery if needed.

 

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3. A slight mystery is the upper fuselage stringers, they're not shown in the instruction scrap views or on the plan. I'm assuming that they come together in a 'V' at the front former as there is a cut out there the right size. Not glued in yet just in case I change my mind! Supposed to be two gun troughs in this area, might well leave them off.

 

20220611_161530679_iOS.thumb.jpg.ae666a7d0e06a45b82bd494be84f9ee9.jpg  

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Still waiting for M3 nuts so I cut out the ailerons and faced them today.

 

Also been working on a DIY transmitter tray.

 

1. I had made pin holes from the inside to mark the cut lines before the upper wing skin was fitted. Popped a couple of pins in and taped a steel rule along them (to stop it slipping) then made the first cut.

 

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2. The cut lines pass over two Liteply ribs and through the block and ply core wing tip, used my razor saw to cut through these. Probably time I bought a new blade for it as it took a while.

 

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3. Same idea with the chordwise cut, many light cuts across the grain with a scalpel.

 

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4. The plan was to cut the ailerons out in the middle of the space provided which pretty much worked, yay!

 

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5. Using the pin method again the ailerons were quickly trimmed.

 

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6. Some trimming needed at the spanwise cut, I usually face this area and the end of the aileron with balsa or thin ply, it's not called for in the instructions or plan.

 

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7. Trimming the wing cut out.

 

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8. Nice!

 

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9. After sanding the wing and aileron are faced with 1/8" balsa which is then sanded at an angle to allow movement. A very clever idea used in the Aeronaut A-10 is to use trailing edge stock for the facings, no sanding required.

 

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10. Tipped the wing up on to its leading edge and wedged lightly between two batteries to add the facing, can press down fairly hard while applying the masking tape.

 

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Another day of tinkering in the garden (with my sun hat on!).

 

Have just about finished the forward fuselage sheeting, just the top to go.

 

1. Six rectangles of sheet are provided for the nose section, no particular way of doing it is mentioned in the instructions so I thought I would glue to the centre longeron and let that dry and then curl the sheets round (in theory!).

 

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2. Adding the upper sheets, each sheet shares the longeron.

 

20220616_112540065_iOS.thumb.jpg.37f0c83bdbb6ac4732d5104c265dc4b6.jpg

 

3. While allowing things to dry I decided it was time to tackle a small but annoying problem. I have been using CIS (now Javis) Velo-set PVA and Aliphatic for over 10 years now, recently they changed the bottle design with a spout that when cut has a large hole in it and the glue 'splurges' out everywhere. The old, narrow, nicely controllable, nothing wrong with it, spout is the bottle on the right. Spent a while cleaning one of these old bottles out to use for PVA, I'm happy now! I did try to swap the spouts over, different threads of course, nothing's ever easy!!

 

20220616_122737572_iOS.thumb.jpg.3772a129b29d0d2578f05243a2795eb1.jpg

 

4. Could have done with three hands for this job, leaving to dry overnight.

 

20220616_144939038_iOS.thumb.jpg.cb887eaba3b06984e5ce5505e3259a11.jpg

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Early finish today, I started early (06:00) and it's just too hot to continue (will be fun reading this in December!).

 

Completed the forward fuselage sheeting.

 

Sanded the aileron facings.

 

1. Just this piece on the bottom to add this morning.

 

20220617_065657905_iOS.thumb.jpg.489dd0b4d172798809056afbd00c44a4.jpg

 

2. The balsa was reluctant to take on the curvature so I soaked it in water and wrapped it round my pencil holder (retired tea caddy).

 

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3. Like a bought one!

 

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4. Trimmed the upper sheeting back and sanded a flat surface, checking every now and then with a steel rule straight edge.

 

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5. Adding the top strip, I rarely use pins but I had the urge here!

 

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6. Sanded back to the front former and rough shaped.

 

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7. The cowl is almost a perfect fit, awesome!

 

20220617_132019639_iOS.thumb.jpg.a7de48d89fc02f1095d7920db68e6100.jpg

 

8. Sanding the aileron and aileron bay facings. It's very easy to make a mistake here, I did it with a Phase 6 build.

 

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9. If the sanding block is canted relative to the aerofoil surface the facing will be too narrow and with a thin sanding block or file dips can appear.

 

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10. If the aileron is sanded at the same time and in its place then dips will be less likely to form. Some Chris Foss designs have a trailing edge shaped extension glued on to the rear balsa face of foam wings to make the centre section, I use the same technique for that. This wing is being held off the bench by thick balsa packers to protect the servo horn.

 

20220617_123310711_iOS.thumb.jpg.f8738f62c789b4c0272417dfc25919d2.jpg

 

11. Root facings to add and a bit more sanding but they're mostly there.

 

20220617_123322320_iOS.thumb.jpg.eaa87597c24ae17b4e1463e91b36e41f.jpg

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Cheers John, I was probably overdoing it in the heat.

 

Some light tinkering in the shed today.

 

Started the wing root fairings.

 

Faced one aileron and sanded its hinge face.

 

1. Parts needed for the wing root fairings, die-cut 2.5 mm balsa sheet, die-cut 0.4 mm ply seats and routed Liteply formers. 

 

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2. Checking the wing seat fit, pretty good, just slightly over length.

 

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3. Checking with the wing fitted, again pretty good.

 

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4. Protecting the wing with iron-on film backing to prevent sticking the fuselage to it accidentally.

 

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5. The ply wing seats were glued to the inner fuselage frames only then the wing was fitted followed by 'Superphatic' applied with a paint brush to the outer join line. Added F6B Liteply former.

 

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6. I glued the balsa parts together, adding one at a time, slightly leaned over so that they fitted into the undercut of the fuselage side. The vast majority of this wood will be carved and sanded off.

 

20220618_144926454_iOS.thumb.jpg.82806c027d421e630c4544d3ea6f4b9a.jpg 

 

7.  For interest I tackled this job on my Brian Taylor Spitfire not so long ago, it uses curved sheet mainly instead of block, not the easiest part of the build but then none of it is!!

 

20201023_150201403_iOS.thumb.jpg.fd86c4a72b346cec2b4f91b1b1c7b150.jpg

 

8. Back to the Fw 190, the leading edge of the ailerons need to be sanded at an angle to allow down travel (they are top hinged with tape). I drew a pencil line for a guide.

 

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9. I hinged it with masking tape to check the travel available, instructions say 1/2" or 12.5 mm total which doesn't seem a lot but there should be more than enough here. I need to sand back the aileron face at the tip as shown on the plan.

 

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10. I faced the aileron inboard end with 1 mm ply after sanding the leading edge. I usually place a scrap of 1 mm ply in the gap on final assembly for clearance.

 

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Edited by Gary Binnie
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