kc Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 There are so few British kitmakers now it seems amazing that there are two companies making very similar designs! At least these well respected designs are still available. Don't we really want new designs or at least a variety of designs though? But with such similar names modellers will become confused so I agree with David Pearce a name change is required. A very distinct identity will help. An explanation on the website would help too. It's great to see the build details here on Modelflying but putting them on the Funfighters website would help potential customers and builders. Even just a link would be OK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martyn K Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Posted by IanN on 26/01/2015 12:46:39: that it said "Light Blue" on the lid I was seriously dischuffed to find it was nothing of the sort - as evidenced by the rather garish - almost neon - patch you can see under the tail. I hoped it would dry lighter than it went on but no such luck..... I think that is possibly needs a white undercoat/primer. Martyn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanN Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Yep, it's due a sanding back and spray over with something lighter. At those prices that's the last time I'll be trusting that brand's colour descriptions without having seen some other evidence first, that's for sure. One example of it NOT doing "exactly what it says on the tin" Edit: ah, just realised, you're saying it needed a primer or undercoat before I sprayed it, yes? I did try that on some scrap - admittedly after the event - and whilst it made a small difference it was till nowhere near what you'd call "light" blue Edited By IanN on 26/01/2015 15:49:45 Edited By IanN on 26/01/2015 15:50:23 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daren Graham - Cambria Funfighters Posted January 26, 2015 Author Share Posted January 26, 2015 Hi, KC, You Have made many valid points. I am but one man with a lot to do it seems. The name however will at least for now, stay. I've grown up with this name and am quite proud to be part of it. If you want confusion type funfighter into Google Maybe me and Steve should sue everyone to stop them calling their models Funfighters. I'm sure our respective businesses must have some sort of established right to the name. .... Seriously though it isnt just a case of changing names. There's all sorts of legal stuff involved that prevents this. I just would make you all aware that It's not a massive international concern just yet and things take time. Suggestions are always welcome though. Daren. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daren Graham - Cambria Funfighters Posted January 26, 2015 Author Share Posted January 26, 2015 Ian, Try using Humbrol colours. They're designed to be the correct colours for model aircraft. If you need bigger quantities then pour off the oil, dont stir it and mix the ball of colour with cellulose dope. You'll get three times the amount of paint. You must use fuel proofer though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daren Graham - Cambria Funfighters Posted January 26, 2015 Author Share Posted January 26, 2015 I am developing more designs though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Wood Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Posted by kc on 26/01/2015 13:29:28: There are so few British kitmakers now it seems amazing that there are two companies making very similar designs! At least these well respected designs are still available. Don't we really want new designs or at least a variety of designs though? But with such similar names modellers will become confused so I agree with David Pearce a name change is required. A very distinct identity will help. An explanation on the website would help too. It's great to see the build details here on Modelflying but putting them on the Funfighters website would help potential customers and builders. Even just a link would be OK The five designs already available plus one in development is surely a good start. Good variety of fighter designs too. Edited By Richard Wood on 26/01/2015 16:59:06 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanN Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Posted by Daren Graham - Cambria Funfighters on 26/01/2015 16:23:05: I am developing more designs though. Oooooooooh ......... a Typhoon and a P47 please Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daren Graham - Cambria Funfighters Posted January 26, 2015 Author Share Posted January 26, 2015 I like the idea of a P40. I have the outline. P47 would be nice but the frontal area would be very draggy on a model this size. Hmm food for thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanN Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Posted by Daren Graham - Cambria Funfighters on 26/01/2015 18:23:43: P47 would be nice but the frontal area would be very draggy on a model this size. Hmm food for thought. Well, for your Reno racing purposes perhaps so, but for general "Funfighter" sports flying surely not too much worse than the FW190? Agree P40 would be nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daren Graham - Cambria Funfighters Posted January 26, 2015 Author Share Posted January 26, 2015 Ok so back to building. We finished last time, allowing the glue to dry overnight after creating the front box section of the fuz. Now we have the job of avoiding the dreaded banana fuselage. Remember last time I mentioned getting the longerons accurately cut to length? Well this is why. I actually cut the chamfer into the longerons before gluing to the sides as it is easier to get them accurate. Cut the tail post to length accurately now as this will set the incidence of the tail, If you have done this part right all you have to do is bring both sides together at the rear, with the tail post butted to the end of the longerons and vertical, then hit it with cyano and you've got a well aligned fuz. Once this is done, add formers 7+8 to line up with the marks you made on the fuz sides earlier. I am doing all I can here to keep the tail end light as there is no engine up front on this model. That is part of the reason the tail post looks too far forward the other reason is that as part of the wing redesign the fuz is about 5mm too long and should be trimmed after the top sides are fitted as you will see in a moment. I set former 6 to the front of its oversized slot. This allowed me to effectively move the cockpit position forwards and shorten the tail without changing the appearance too much. This may not sound like much of a saving in weight but in actual fact, by the time both sides, and the former move forwards and later the nose is 5mm longer this will make a reasonably significant difference. Next add the tail block, some sanding is required for an accurate fit. If you want to add the tail wheel, it is bound and glued to this block. Now is the time to add the 4.5mm cross piece behind F7. The instructions then ask you to add the bottom sheeting using the supplied 2mm sheet. I will change the instructions to suit, but this should now be cut from 2.5mm scrap left over from the fuz side sheet. Next, glue a small piece of scrap to the front of the tail post to take the upper fuz sides. Now with a sanding block or razor plane, chamfer the bottom edge of the upper sides to sit flat on the lower sides when glued on the angle. With a sharp razor plane it is an easy job to plane down the top sides to almost former level. Use a long sanding block to finish. Again here I used thinned white glue and tack glued with cyano to hold until the white glue dries. Again, for weight saving at the rear, I've used a light weight control snake (This is fine for PSS). Don't use this for a powered Funfighter though eh !! It's time to dry fit the elevator snake outer. I dry fitted the fin and tail to get it lined up, then removed these and drilled at an acute angle to go through the fuz side and also former 8. The snake can then run freely. Leave the snake long enough to got right up to the firewall, as depending on the balance point you may need to put the servo up front. Ok, before you can remove the dry fitted stuff, glue on the spine (part 14) as this needs to butt up to the front of the fin. Remove all of the tail and pushrod outer now and add a piece of scrap in the slot where the fin goes. and some 2.5 scrap over the tail post to match the sides. This piece of scrap will support the sides whilst sanding and shaping the fuselage. You can now take a razor plane or sanding block to the spine. I'll leave it there until next time. Thanks for your interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daren Graham - Cambria Funfighters Posted January 26, 2015 Author Share Posted January 26, 2015 You may well be right Ian. A forty sized one would compliment the Zero. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Edwards 2 Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Hi Daren,Brilliant thread, and great to see some new blood and enthusiasm in the kit market.Fabulous idea for the PSS conversion too ! I've tried other kits for PSS and it's always pot luck if they go well off the slope or not. Some basic conversion instructions to build a proven slope model is a great idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Concorde Speedbird Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Thank you for clarifying. The Cambrian kits are excellent (I'm building a 55" Spitfire from them) and your's look great. The more kit manufacturers the better! The cutting looks excellent, you have clearly produced an excellent kit. I would get one if I didn't have too many planes as it is! A request from me would be to have an option on the FW190 kit to build it as the shorter nosed, radial engined A mark because I think it looks much better than the D. It wouldn't be too hard to do apart from the cowl which would have to be different. A F8F Bearcat funfighter would be even better... I'll stop pestering you! You are doing a fine job. CS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martyn K Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 A reminder for those following this that 'Fun-Fighter' range/type was one of those selected for the 2015 Mass Build. There is inspiration to build if it was ever needed Martyn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daren Graham - Cambria Funfighters Posted January 27, 2015 Author Share Posted January 27, 2015 Well Speedbird, There's nothing to stop you building the nose a little shorter, and a radial cowl is simple enough to create. I havent looked but make sure there's enough room for the fuel tank. This is the beauty of kits. You can change and adapt to suit your taste quite easily. There's a challenge for you, to adapt one for the mass build. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daren Graham - Cambria Funfighters Posted January 27, 2015 Author Share Posted January 27, 2015 Thanks for your comments Scott, I know this is your thing so it's good to hear some positive remarks on the subject. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daren Graham - Cambria Funfighters Posted January 28, 2015 Author Share Posted January 28, 2015 Right then, Work to do. For a short while we need to deviate from the instructions. They currently tell you at this point to fix the tail and fin. Unfortunately doing this will put them in the way.and then fit the doubler to the firewall. The doubler is not necessary so we can leave that out. Also the next part asks you to fit the tank bay floor, Which, as we dont need a tank is where I intend to put the elevator servo to get as much weight as possible up front. I'm using a Futaba 148 servo for this purpose. A servo so reliable that i'm happy to just build it in and leave it there. Notice that although I intend to put the rx battery in the engine bay, I have left enough room to move it back under the servo if necessary. We need to install the control snake now, 'permanenlty'. The controls on this model aren't under much strain, so I'm happy to use this lightweight setup and build it in. Make sure that the snake is well supported though to reduce slop in the controls. There will be three of the support blocks eventually but I dont want to foul the aileron servo so I'll fit the rest later on. I have added some extra support for the servo rails as well so it will stay put. Next thing on the list (we're back to the instructions now) is indeed to fit the tank bay floor and the triangular fillet behind the firwall. With triangular fillet I always find it best to shave off the top of the triangle. Invariably the corner joint to which it is being fixed, has some glue however small the amount in the join, where it has squeezed out. The fillet will now clear this glue and the joint will be a better one using less glue. The instructions now detail the engine mounting so we can skip this part and start fitting the fuselage top sides. I chamfered the bottom of thes sides to compensate for the angle in relation to the fuz sides and glued the cockpit end to the rear sections with cyano, and then using white glue with cyano tacks on the formers. This procedure makes for a fast strong joint. As with the rear end you sand the sides flush to the formers and add the top decking which protrudes forwards over the firewall and becomes the top of the cowling. The cowling is built up now and is made from several thick balsa blocks that preformed to the required angles. It is pretty self explanitary if you look at the plan. These are then carved to the 109's distinctive nose shape which I will describe next time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daren Graham - Cambria Funfighters Posted January 28, 2015 Author Share Posted January 28, 2015 Sorry I forgot the pictures of the cowl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daren Graham - Cambria Funfighters Posted January 29, 2015 Author Share Posted January 29, 2015 Has this thread been moved? or not? Can you all still see it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Jones Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 We can still see it, people don't have to respond to every post.................. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daren Graham - Cambria Funfighters Posted January 29, 2015 Author Share Posted January 29, 2015 It's just the moderator said he was moving it but it still shows as being in the same place so confusion is setting in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daren Graham - Cambria Funfighters Posted February 10, 2015 Author Share Posted February 10, 2015 HI all, for those interested, the first Reno 300 meeting this year is on 29th of March, near Ivinghoe Beacon. I'd be greatful if anyone wishing to come and have a go could either PM me or email [email protected] as numbers are limited to 20 for this meet due to parking at the field. The 109 build is continuing but I haven't had much time to put it on recently. The wings are half glassed at this stage but the resin takes ages to go off which has also delayed things. These are looking to come in at 9oz finished weight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Meade Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Any details on the Reno 300 please? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daren Graham - Cambria Funfighters Posted February 10, 2015 Author Share Posted February 10, 2015 I put all the bits on the scales unsanded, including metalwork and rx battery. The only thing to add is receiver, glass for the wings and paint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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