Lipo Man

What type of foamboard did you use? The Hobbycraft stuff or something more exotic?

Wow - that is on a whole other level to mine. Brilliant work! Will have to try something like that further down the road - thanks for the inspiration!

I know that adding yet another option into the mix is entirely unhelpful, vis a vis the herding of cats here. However, as the possibility of a twin has been well and truly broached I can't help noticing that the Douglas A26 Invader is a very handsome beast and not often modelled? Some very nice schemes as well. Just saying - my preference is still for a bigger than FW190 single engine but very much open to other possibilities!

Looks like another excellent flier. There’s a trend emerging here…

I built a TN Hunter last year - my first balsa build attempt (FW190 was the second). I have never really been comfortable flying it - which was one of the reasons I was (unnecessarily) so nervous for the FW190 maiden. After having so much fun with the 190 I decided to revisit the Hunter yesterday and see if a smaller battery (and therefore reduced weight) would help. Switching down from a 2200 3s to a 1300 3s transformed how it flew - but WOT is really straining the pack and flight duration was two and a half minutes. It looked great on a slow flyby, but the FW190 I also flew was much more fun in the air. I would definitely consider an EDF after the success with the Focke, but that market is quite well catered for with the TN kits in various sizes. I’d love to do something bigger than the 190 next, but obviously the majority will prevail. I’ll continue to follow with interest!

Realised at the field this afternoon it was the first time I’d taken more balsa models than foam. Had a few great flights and finally got comfortable flying the TN Hunter (after switching today to a much lighter battery). As ever the Warbird Replicas Focke was flown the most, but all three were great despite the wind!

For reference I’m getting six minutes of scale type flying from a 2200Mah 4s so you’ll have plenty of flight time on those batteries! (Motor is a generic 4250 size can 800kv and a 12x8 APC prop).

For anyone wanting a Betty Bomber, there is a solution - but you’d have to switch to foamboard. I’m a huge fan of a father/son group of modellers in the US, Steve and Jack Niezgoda. Jack started designing foamboard models as a teenager, and has a real talent. They did a Betty Bomber that looked good and flew really well - the plans are a free download on their website. You can find it at: https://www.13thsquadron.com/g4m-betty-bomber.html

I was so excited at the thought of actual real life RETRACTABLE wheels I totally forgot there’s a wheel at the back. Honestly I’d be happy with a little stick, but I’m new to all this.

Well that doesn’t look too tricky. I suspect even a newcomer like me will cope - with a sensible measure twice, cut once approach. Only question from me - for those of us flying off rough strips is there any scope to upsize the wheel diameter further, or are we maxed out in the space at that size?

I'm flying mine at about 80mm with the standard control surface throws. I'm not a very experienced pilot but like that I'm finding it very user friendly. Good luck!

And to think I get nervous hand launching over a flat field! Chucking your new pride and joy off a cliff over the sea must be an additional level of scary! Beautiful looking model - congrats!

A bit chilly and breezy here today but very flyable. As well as my new Warbird Replicas FW190 (quickly becoming my default first plane in the car) I was experimenting with my homemade EDF - the “Flat Gnat”. Slowly shifting the CG rearward and it’s getting better. Only remaining thing to address is the wierd reaction to rudder input. I’m going to drop the throw way down to see if that helps.

Very much looking forward to fitting these to my own little Focker, and it’s fascinating to see the design process. Looks like the use of CAD adds the precision my build skills can’t manage!

Have finally got back to the Bearcat, and all the fuselage skins are roughly cut out. I will fine tune them to fit more precisely when I glue them in place, but I need to sort out the wing/fuselage fixing method first. It’s looking pretty big, but the motor is huge so I’m not currently worried.

Mine also has quite a few “wrinkles”. Has only had positive comments at the flying club, and no one has noticed the things I keep seeing! I think yours looks brilliant.

Love the spinner in particular. Lovely job!

I had stopped adding any more weathering on my FW190, but you’ve inspired me to try doing some rivets. I’ll have a go next week - fingers crossed! As you say, I can always paint over if I mess it up. Come to think of it, the bottom of the wing will need painting anyway once the retracts modification is ready to go, so nothing to lose there!

Final piece of the jigsaw on this build - I decided to gather my thoughts in a video review. Not done one of these before, and there was a lot of annoying background wind noise, but production values aside it's an accurate reflection of my thoughts about the kit - its' design, the build experience and of course how it performs in the air. It's quite long, so if you just want the highlights - I think it nailed the brief almost perfectly. I'm impressed!

Finally got some video of the FW190 flying in a "finished" state - paint and decals all done, canopy fitted etc. It was very gusty so not ideal conditions but I'm getting comfortable with the plane so the wind wasn't a major problem, except for the wind noise on the camera phone. Resolution isn't brilliant but it's proof of flight at least!

I may do the same. Everything is just taped up temporarily at the moment, and I’m going for cartoon scale only. I’ll try another balsa bird when I’m ready to do something fancy again! This build is only intended to have a short lifespan, as I may need the motor for something else if the Warbird Replicas factory puts another shift in…

Starting to skin the fuselage in the “Flitetest” style. Material is 6mm insulation foam, and it’s going to be pretty rough! Hoping it will look OK in the air some distance away…

Here’s a thought for all cheapskate modellers (the best sort!). Wouldn’t it be great to create a shared spreadsheet that matches common scale colours to the closest off the shelf emulsion match? It’d be a valuable service to ghetto scale modellers everywhere!

Ah yes. A good point well made. It’s 1/6th obviously, as the good lord intended. I made it to go in my FW190…

Structure for the fuselage is underway. It’s big… Formers are 9mm insulation foam from B&Q, and the skin will be 6mm thickness of the same stuff. The central box structure feels very stiff - I’m going to cut some holes in the rear half to help with the CG. It feels strong enough that I think I can afford to lose some material. The orange in the photo is for scale - we’d run out of bananas…