Wednesday, October 16, 2013

She has a heart!

Got the motor mounted last night.  It's an old Electrifly Ammo with a gear box on it that came out of an old foamie Great Planes F6F Hellcat warbird.  I think they were also used in the Corsairs of the same make.  Not sure if it the perfect motor for this plane, but weight wise both planes are similar and this combination on a 3s battery pulled the Hellcat around the skies like it was on rails.  I should have plenty of power with this little thing, and there is still more than enough room for a 2500 3s battery.  Besides, I had it sitting around and free is always good.

As you can see, I mounted the firewall then cut carbon fiber standoffs so I could set the down and side thrust.  Worked out perfectly.


Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Slow progress on the fuselagee

Not much to report these days although I am still making slow but steady progress on the fuselage.  This build is a bit slower than usual mainly because it's my first bi-plane and first scale subject with this much 'potential' detail.  I've been methodical in my approach - sort of a glue one piece, research the next 10 pieces, then glue another piece.  I've already made some minor mistakes, and I'm still scratching my head on a few other decisions, but the more I look at it the more I figure it out.  Doing lots of research on other WWI builds out on the Net also helps.

I'm getting to the point of deciding what to cover it with.  I'm leaning towards Sig Koverall.  Although it may be overkill and a little on the heavy side for this airframe, I like the toughness of it over thinner tissue like coverings mainly due to my flying location.  Tall grasses and weeds have been known to put a whole in my Monokote covering on one of my gliders, so I want to make sure it's tough.  Plus, I just like the look of Koverall and I already have some in stock!