Nick Somerville

This is going to be great to follow Ron. I have read heaps of threads on a variety of Corsair builds including the GS Too Flite offering. Well done for finding one btw as they are pretty rare. Be interested to know what retracts have been fitted or which you will need to get. Rotary Laser 100% but the Flat or V 360 would both be good. What is the estimated auw? There certainly is a lot of balsa and ply up at the tail end so I am sure this could be sensibly reduced. I have B Taylors plans for his 82 inch Corsair so will dig them out and get some photos of the tail end for you. Also both my Sea Fury and FW 190 are not dissimilar sizes so can also get some pics of these plans too. The Fw190 also has fabric covered elevators like the Corsair.

Wide Open Throttle Would annoy me too if someone was doing that while I was flying. Brian, you are a regular at Buckminster I believe. Could you post any details of the format of the Warbirds event if you have participated before please.

I booked in a while back but it’s a four hour drive and with the cost of diesel means it’s definitely a commitment for a good forecast only. Plan to go Friday, camping for two nights. It’s a fabulous flying site where I maidened my P47 last year. May just take the Sea Fury, unless they get the grass really short in which case I take them both.

What fun! That was hilarious watching the landings. Great effort! Makes a change to see Stampes charging around the sky like sport models. I always fly mine on light wind days and only get above 1/3 throttle if doing aerobatics.

Lower cover inner dressings added. As supplied they had three indentations in the larger part whereas documentation only shows two. Also the lower was not the correct shape. Some lightweight body filler later and they are near enough now for me. You can see that the spruce blocks I made to hold the piano wire part, has almost completely disappeared from this view. Once painted they should blend in nicely.

Used paper templates to line up the hole positions for the leg covers. The holes are drilled a just little oversize and instead of a rubber block, as previously mentioned, short lengths of fuel tubing were cut and slipped over the threads of the ‘button’ heads. This allowed for a precise levelling of the covers as well as giving some shock/bump protection. In this photo you can see the tubing under compression. Also a closer look will show the piano wire guide lightly glued in place on the lower wheel cover. Once I had checked that the lower cover was correctly aligned and sliding freely behind the upper cover, some spruce was shaped and epoxied in place over the wire to keep it firmly aligned. As I had followed the correct scale outline for the upper covers instead of a rectangular one, as shown on the plan, I had to increase the gap at the top of the covers to allow for the widening taper as the gear is deployed. Still, pretty happy with the fit as this is certainly a challenging part of getting the gear and covers installed.

Been giving some thought to the mounting of the gear/wheel covers, as the supplied collars have screws that do not reach far enough. Added to that they are some US/‘Boris’ thread size. As a work around I have rotated the collars by 180 degrees so that the threaded part is now on the underside and have re tapped them to 3mm. A bit of time perusing BoltWorld on Ebay (highly recommended) resulted in bolts and threaded hex rod sleeves of ideal sizes to allow for some adjustment. Also I like the domed top style hex heads which will look fine on the outer surface. As supplied Reversed and fitted with the threaded sleeves. The threaded sleeves nip up the clamps and there remains about 2-3mm gap between there top and the underside of the covers. I will make up some hard rubber spacers so that there is some shock absorption if the covers get knocked. I did something similar for my Sea Fury and so far it has been effective.

Some time later working through a fair bit of sandpaper The leading edges are all but done. I have a 40 odd year old Permagrit block that sticking some sandpaper to the curved grip makes for a really useful tool. The transition at the forward rake was a bit tricky but contrary to my concerns the aluminium cut back nicely. Just the tips to do and then a final sand all round and I can glass it.

One of the most satisfying of tasks I find is planing back and then sanding the leading edges. The tape is set 1/4” behind the face sheets as I had skinned over a prior 1/4” false leading edge. BTW the blue tape is Proper Job’s cheap version of the most excellent green Frog Tape. 1/5th of the cost and tbh I can’t tell the difference excepting the colour of course. At this point I have no idea how I am going to cope with sanding the profile around the aluminium inset gun barrel housings ?

With the laminated G10 and carbon fibre covers completed the retract cover portion was carefully fretted out and both the upper cover and retract access cover tidied up to provide as close a fit as possible. The wing skin could then be cut away and hardwood lugs added for the access cover. These were drilled, soaked in cyano and tapped 3mm for some suitable short mushroom topped allen bolts. The lower wheel cover portion overlaps by 4mm beneath the leg cover and will be attached to the leg close to the axle using the supplied Sierra clamps. There is 30mm of compression available in the oleo so behind the upper leg cover a short length of brass tube has been set and fixed with carbon tows in the lower part of vac formed parts supplied with the plan pack. Once both the upper and lower parts have been drilled for the three saddle clamps and accurately aligned, a length of piano wire will be fixed to the lower wheel cover to both support the top and support the top and guide it when compressed. In the last picture you can see the two upper saddle clamps marked and the rear of the parts with the inner dressings.

180 in my Taylor P47 auw 17.5lbs and has proved a perfect combination for a first warbird.

Looks great Craig. Lovely sharp lines and with the inset Proskin/g10 you have a super durable edge that better emulates an alloy skin.

For the gear leg and wheel covers I cut out of G10 two pairs of the upper and lower parts for each side. For anyone who hasn’t used this thin G10 Proskin (.6mm) it is very easy to cut out with a pair of sharp heavy duty scissors. The upper cover includes the retract access panel which will be cut away later. My intention was to lay down one set of G10 parts, add two layers of wetted out carbon cloth and then add the second set of G10 covers. Clearly with the black cloth I had no chance of lining the parts up accurately so allowed the carbon to cure with a layer of peel ply on top and all weighted down with sand bag overnight. Now trimmed up I have a clear outline and the outer layer of G10 can now be glued in place with a thin layer of epoxy and weighted down again. As expected, without the second layer of G10 the covers are just a little too thin and the cloth weave quite pronounced so hopefully the final layer should have them spot on. In the second photo you can see where I had to cut away the open end of the wheel bay to insert some props to push out the lower ski to the correct profile. I had omitted installing some temporary ribs across the area resulting in the sheeting/skin taking a flatter form.

Well my 180 powered Stampe needed some work as it was weeping a lot of fuel last time out and had two dead sticks. I had thought it was a failure of the filler valve, but once I had the cowl off to my amazement it was a tiny hole in the front of the tank. It had slid forward and rested against the exhaust which obviously had melted the plastic to make a tiny hole. Fortunately I had a spare, albeit 2oz bigger, so slotted that in and made up a clip to keep it there. As the cowl was off it seemed a good time to set the engine up on the pink stuff, since the slow run needle was accessible. I wound it in 3/4 of a turn and tried to start her up. No dice, so I put it back half a turn and she fired up. Once warmed and the plug power off I had a fast tick over but any effort to reduce the revs resulted in an immediate cut. By the time I had a reliable tick over and responsive pick up I am pretty sure the leaning of the slow run was 1/4 of a turn from the prior setting. After the recent high winds here calmer days are forecast next week so will see if all is good in the air.

So I too am going pink soon, as nearly out of the bluey stuff. Iirc both main needles and slow run needles will need leaning. That’s a cowl off at home task for my two warbirds. About how much of a turn do you think the slow run needle will need? I signed up to fly the Sea Fury at Woodspring, so I better be sure to have the 360 back on song as I will be nervous enough flying in front of a crowd for the first time.

Lower skins fitted and servo hatches cut out. The hatches are a balsa/G10 sandwich so screws wont indent when nipped up. The outline of the retract covers and gear doors have been marked on and the next job will be to cover the area with film and lay up carbon cloth for the leg and wheel covers. No inner doors on the 190 A8 so thats a lot of work saved. It’s a satisfying job sanding back all the rough overhangs of the skins to reveal the full outline of the wing. The flaps and ailerons are fitting and operating nicely for once, so that’s a relief. Just the tips to add and carve and the final piece 1/4 leading edge to fit and shape, so it won’t be long before I can have a major clear up of the benches and start thinking about the fuselage. On this top view you can just about make out the flap indicator apertures and the gear indicator exit holes.

There are some good videos on YouTube showing how to make simple wire benders.

Pretty certain the hubs are more than up to the task. As far as the tyres are concerned I have been bouncing them on the floor as hard as I can and really compressing the oleos and so far they seem ok. So I seem to have run out of reasons not to prepare the bottom skins. The template includes the access panel that will surround the retract mounts. I have inserted a pin and cut off the head at the rib nearest to the outer end of the mount and together with the centre point of the axle this will register the template. The trapezium shaped extension is just for the registration and will not be cut away. The Vailly plan was not at all right regards the shape of the leg and wheel covers and I have had to modify things using the Bentley drawings. The upper leg covers will be fixed and the wheel cover will slide under them on some form of rail when compressed. The retract bolt heads will be very tight to the covers so I have added some local 3/32 and capping strips and blended back to give a little extra room. I doubt if it will be noticeable.

Workshop is wedged as it is and I only have four models! Spent a lot of time fiddling with the 3d printed hubs and tyres. I had to mill out the centre of the inside hub and glue in a large washer with epoxy so that the wheels sits a little higher in the wells. As they are They still lightly touch the floor of the well so I laid some carbon cloth to strengthen that area. I used a contact adhesive to glue the tyres halves and epoxy for the hubs. Oil filled bronze bushes have also been glued in both sides of the hubs so they run nice and freely. Hubs sprayed with aluminium first and then matt black. Some panel pin heads glued in for the outer fixing nuts. It will be interesting to see if they will stand up to the task of supporting an estimated 30lbs model but with the price of scale hubs and tyres it’s worth a punt.

Thanks Jon. Yes c of g moved back would be a good idea as it clearly needs a bit more elevator authority on the ground to compensate for the nose over tendency. I am mot able to tweak the gear with shims as the wheels are so snug in the wells. I would have to buy 1/4” smaller sized wheels and they wouldn’t look good at all.

Had a strong tailwind gust of wind taxiing my rather tippy Taylor P47 last week and put a split in the prop. Rummaging about I found an unused APC 18x8 Wide Sport propellor I bought some time back but is as yet unused. Anyone tried one on a Laser 180 in a warbird?

Looking good. It’s always a relief to complete any close fitting scale hinged control surfaces and have free full movement. Having a removable pin is a real bonus too.

Please don’t sidetrack Jon from radials!

That 16 once tank is sure going to give a long flight time Danny! Hopefully long enough to fully enjoy the sound of a sweet four stroke glow engine and encourage further forays away from Lipo power. Looking forward to your reports on living with wet fuel again.

So the wheels I obtained along with the plan pack have 3d printed plastic hubs and rubber tyres, both in two parts. I shall paint the hubs and fit a pair of bronze bushes before assembling the tyres to the hubs, at which point I can then glue the tyre halves together. I have no experience of 3d rubber type printing compounds so if there is anyone who can recommend a suitable glue please do. I was thinking of black constructional silicon mastic as it would be pliable and tyre coloured for any gap filling..