Lipo Man

The Bearcat is getting closer to being “finished”. The fuselage is fibreglassed (with water based varnish) and has a first coat of paint. I’m already flying it to get used to it - not without incident! Some issues with the takeoff dolly lead to a punctured lower wing skin (after a nose-over) but it was an easy fix, and once I’ve got to the shops to buy some more glass cloth the wings will be more robust (photos of the damage and the repair below). However - once off the trolley it flies really well. I’ve increased the size of the ailerons by about 30% over scale as rolls were soooooo slow. But it flies slowly, smoothly and has plenty of power. My clubmate Scott filmed some chase footage with his drone this afternoon so here is some air to air filming to show it in flight!

As usual the few finishing touches are taking as long as the big structural bits! Two things I was quite pleased with this afternoon. I’d intended 3d printing the front of the cowl, but my printer is playing up. Plan B - laminate strips of 6mm foam with foaming golden gorilla glue, using a paint can as a former. It was a random idea but it worked brilliantly! I’ll carve and sand to the final shape tomorrow after the glue has set. The other bits I was pleased with are the side cooling vents. They’re quite noticeable on the full size, and I need a way for warm air to exit the fuselage to cool the ESC and batteries. So I cut slits in the skin and pushed them in to mimic the full size. They look pretty good - I’ll finish them with metal self adhesive tape to mimic the full size - some seemed to have an unpainted polished panel around the vents. Last but not least, I had a go applying glass cloth to the belly cover. I used water based varnish which seemed to work well (not as stiff as with epoxy, but so much easier to do). I’d got a match pot if navy blue emulsion from Dunelm and this went onto the glass surface well - so I’ll repeat for the rest of the fuselage.

How did you get the supplied ones off? Or did you bend new wire legs?

I would never have thought of that before building your FW 190. Having done that I’m tempted, and as I was able to add those after the wing was completed I have to admit to having a little think about how I’d add retracts to this as well. Hypothetically speaking.

A trip to the field this morning and the weather was fine for a maiden. A quick taxi test on the takeoff dolly showed power on 4s was more than enough, so full throttle and full up elevator and away she went! Flight performance was as I’d hoped - the light weight and large size made for slow and realistic manoeuvres. Rolls are very slow, but elevator response is more than adequate and she is very stable and easy to fly. I flew two flights. The second was for 6 minutes with some rolls etc. and on landing the two 2200mAh 4s batteries were still at 54%, so eight minutes should be very comfortable! Next flights will push the envelope a little to test inverted, loops etc. Really pleased with how she looks in the air. The slow flight looks very realistic - given the 1.7m wingspan and only 2.5kg weight ready to fly that was what I’d hoped for! I’ve put some fibreglass onto a scrap of foam with some water based varnish I had lying around. If that works I will sand the airframe and fill the worst gaps before fibreglass and paint to finish. It will be very rough up close, but I think it will look great from a distance in the air!

The Bearcat is currently so light I’m tempted to try fibre glassing. Ideally with a water based system but epoxy if all else fails. I’m hoping to re-maiden it this weekend if I can get the FW190 take-off dolly adjusted in time. Has anyone used lightweight glass cloth with water-based varnish?

I’m flying mine with a 2200mAh 4s and no nose weight and it flies beautifully. Seems that the airframe is very tolerant of a rearward CG shift.

The moment of truth… I cut away the fuselage to allow the wing to be mounted properly, so everything is now bolted together. Putting a pair of 2600 4s batteries in the nose (they will run in parallel) allowed me to tip the plane inverted and check the CG - and it’s sitting about where I wanted it with no added nose weight. Hurrah! So - all up weight nearly RTF is 2.49Kg which (if my calculations are correct) gives a very low wing cube loading of 5.3. I think that weight is pretty low for a 1.7m wingspan warbird (albeit a belly-lander) that’s not unexpected. Should be an absolute pussy cat!

I’m hoping to make it for one day. Maybe “Six days” by DJ Shadow? Or “6 Underground” by Sneaker Pimps?

Wow. That’s a beauty!

The link worked perfectly. Thank you - this looks to be just what I needed!

This week I’ve got the fuselage exterior mostly done - which means I’ve got the first opportunity to put the big bits together to see how it’s looking. As it’s intended to be a cartoonish scale build I’m pretty pleased - and the size is exactly what I was going for. Hopefully that will give me the inspiration to push on and get it flyable! Does anyone know an easy way to make a clear canopy? 🤔

Another different colour scheme - looks great! Congratulations - that’s a beauty.

I’m not even slightly surprised that your Flitetest build is the best looking version I’ve ever seen. That is quite the inspiration!

Looks to work really well. I will almost certainly try that next time…

Had a break from this project because the retracts for me Warbird Replicas FW190 arrived in the post, so I needed time to fit them then even more time enjoying flying it! Anyway, I’ve started on the exterior skin of the big Bearcat. No plans for this - it’s a trial and error fit and trim operation so a slow process and the finish will be poor up close. However, as it’ll be in the air and moving that won’t matter. The intention is a big cheap plane that looks good in the air and doesn’t need to win any scale competition prizes close up!

A small suggestion based on my experience with the retracts in my FW190. I also saw a tendency to nose-over. Instead of raking the wheels forward I added a sliver of wood on the inside face between the wheel and the gear wire - this stopped the wheel from sliding along the wire to where the 90 degree bend where it goes from an axle to a gear leg. I noticed the wheel had much more friction when it was running against this radius - and as soon as I prevented it the nose overs stopped. Hasn’t done it since.

Right - mission accomplished for the FW190. Two flights this afternoon - took off from the retracts, flew with wheels up then lowered the gear for a pair of smooth trouble free landings. Just need to adjust the gear covers and repaint the wing lower where it’s been cut away and I think I’m 100% done. I’m still hugely impressed by this kit - everything I was hoping for has been delivered with room to spare. The build experience was straightforward and really rewarding. It’s a joy to fly and looks fantastic in the air. The retracts are icing on the cake - the feeling watching the gear go up whilst climbing away from takeoff will never grow old. I would strongly recommend one of these to anyone contemplating their first balsa warbird if and when these are in stock on the Warbird Replicas website. I genuinely can’t think of any significant improvement I could recommend to the kit.

Crikey - that looks absolutely brilliant. Hats off to you, sir. Magnificent work!

I did get the rotation on the two aborted take offs. I’ll get the file out before I fly again!

Nipped to the field as the weather radar showed about 30 minutes of clear skies between the downpours. The good news was the sun did indeed come out. The bad was that it was blowing a gale and definitely not the conditions for trying out something new and untested. However… as the FW190 had thus far been a total pussycat to fly I decided to have a go. First off - it looks great on its’ wheels. The stance just looks right. Second - even on the slightly larger wheels I’d requested it would nose-over unless I was pretty enthusiastic with the throttle and held full up elevator until it had got going. Third - I clearly hadn’t tightened the grub screws enough as on the first couple of attempts the gear was rotating making takeoff impossible. Any sensible person would at this point have gone home to make some adjustments. I, on the other hand, straightened the wheels and gave it full throttle heading into the gale! What followed was a safe take off, and a nice low pass to watch the gear going up - which it did without any issues. A few more passed gear up and down then I brought her round for a belly landing - didn’t want to risk the gear twisting sideways and ripping itself out. Flight performance isn’t massively affected - possibly a tad more nose heavy and a bit slower but certainly nothing major. Very chuffed - a hail storm just starting so home for a celebratory cuppa. one question - do people file flats on the gear wire to stop them rotating? Seems like it might be a good idea. 🤔

I’ll defo go with “just” a skid - but tail wheel shaped is a marvellous idea!

Looking pretty good on its’ smart new wheels! Just need to add a tail skid and we’re ready for a re-maiden.

Nearly done fitting the retracts. Both wings cut out and ply mounts installed. Y cable routed through the same place as the ailerons and the thin ply walls to line the wheel wells fitted with golden gorilla glue. I could probably get it flyable today if I weren’t spending most of the day campaigning for the election. Very inconveniently timed in my opinion - I’ve also got my big foam Bearcat to finish. I may write a strongly worded letter to number ten…

Just finishing fitting the retracts to my FW190 this week. I’d definitely classify myself as a newb, but the little Focke makes me look a better pilot than I am and (belly) landings are almost always very smooth. One question on the retracts - I’ve doubled up the thickness of the ply where the retract mounting screws go. Is that a bad idea? I’m wondering if longer screws make it stronger, or is it better to have short screws that can fail without causing too much collateral damage if my landing ability returns to normal?