Nick Somerville

Love a BT build thread. Will definitely be following along.

Not just a well sorted airframe but a superbly built and finished one too. Steve Ri is an unbelievably fine modeller!. I have closely followed his Bates Hellcat build on RCSB throughout my own build and it’s been invaluable.

“Nick, your retracts air pump is in the lost property in reception!” Thanks Ron. I will pick it next year. Was thinking of going electric anyway 😀 Pump that is.., models never!

Lovely flying of the Corsair Richard

Its a long drive to Buckminster, but so worth the effort. Fabulous flying weather and Ron and helpers managed a relaxed but well oiled flight line. Many thanks to all the organisers and to the traders who put in the effort to add interest to our weekend.

Ha ha Ron, am bringing my Fw 190 on Saturday as it has lasercut parts, balsa and paint supplied by uk companies 😀.

“Anyone coming to the show that can bring 5L of Model Technics Laser 5 Low oil Laser fuel with them” I have enough in stock Martin so could bring 5l for you. Not coming until Saturday morning as Friday weather looks poor.

More delays to my paint order so have been finalising the fuselage radio installation. With the three batteries and ignition also in place this gave me a chance to weigh everything up for the first time. There are a pair of 2500ma Powerbox liion batteries mounted either side of the engine box and a 2000ma Liion Overlander battery next to the ignition unit below the box. With the engine in place and cowl on the fuselage balances a tad forward of the C of G, which is very good news. I expect with wings in place this will bring it back a little with all the flaps and ailerons hanging back there. However, I would be surprised if with the benefit of a prop up front I shall need any more than a 1kg of lead to achieve the correct balance. So out with the scales and the total so far is 14.8 kg with just the propellor and top coat of paint to go. Result!

My pilot now seated in place. Main Instrument panel glued in place and the interior painted. I think I will add additional detail after the maiden. And it’s a wrap! The fuselage and integral tail components are all ready to paint. Just need this wet, cool and windy weather to be replaced with a last warm s spell of the year to get on with it.

Back from a week’s holiday and the canopy glue had affixed the ‘glass’ in place nicely. After a little fettling the front fixed part has been glued in place and thankfully the sliding part satisfactorily mates in place. A big relief as there is a lot of work wasted if it’s a stuff up. Time to cover all the glass up with tape in preparation for painting. The final plethora of cowl machine screws have been added and the fuselage and tail assembly has been thoroughly rubbed back with fine wire wool. Phil at Fighter Aces tells me my paint order will be arriving pretty soon now so I am hoping for a few still warm Indian summer days to get her painted.

Weather permitting I shall haul myself to Buckminster for the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. Models accompanying me will be the Stampe (Laser 180) & Sea Fury (Laser 360v). Unfortunately the Fw 190 will have to stay in the hangar as it doesn’t have a Laser engine and it certainly isn’t British.

As I am still awaiting my paint and catalyst order I have been ticking off lots or fiddly jobs. The top surfaces of the wings have had rivets burnt on and the wingtip nav lights added. Mick Reeves canopy rails have been fitted and some further scale additions made to the canopy frame. The forward fixed part is currently pegged up having glued it to the vac formed canopy with ‘canopy glue”. It will probably need several days to fully cure such is the way with that stuff. Although frustrating it’s the safest option to avoid messing. The rear windows have also been added along with the canopy cable routes. Pitot is removable and held in place with magnets as is the main antenna. Pilots head rest and harness attachment bar fitted and seat loose fitted for now. I am awaiting my pilot (a replica of ace David McCampbell who flew Minsi 3) who is on order feom Best Pilots in the states; so will save fitting the floor and seat till he arrives. The cowl chin and inter fins have been added and faired in and the many countersunk machine screws are being added. I purchased 100 from ebay but am at least 60 short so now awaiting another delivery. I have a weeks holiday coming up so hopefully I can refresh enough to face marking out and applying the rivets to the lower wing surfaces.

Bored of rivet burning I have turned to the canopy frame. My acrylic vac moulding came with an additional thin ABS moulding which had no thickness to be workable as a frame. Using pieces of two layers of G10 glued together the bars were added to the ABS. The forward area where it is fixed I built up with some thicker ABS. The rear hoop needed to have more strength and in any case the compound curve and blend to the fus negated this technique, so I used carbon tows soaked in cyano. Once sanded back it looks ok. Next I shall add some canopy rails to the fuselage from Mick Reeves Models. I am awaiting Fighteraces to get a delivery of Klasskote in my chosen colour. When it does arrive I can separate the front from the rear and paint the frames before gluing them to the acrylic moulding. Btw this is the F6F - 5 canopy style. Minsi 3 was an F6F-3 with some F6f-5 modifications; the canopy being one of them along with blisters at the rear of the cowl being deleted.

Glue dropper used for the flush rivets. Note you need to experiment with the glue mix. Too thick and they dry back like perky ‘nip’. Too thin and they flatten during drying. I found 2 parts Evo stilk / Blue bottle wood glue with some aliphatic I had (wetter) worked best.

Richard, I gave a description in the build thread for my Bates 1/5.3 Hellcat. It will be a recent entry as I only did them a week or so ago.