Warbirds Replicas P51 Mustang

[Bob Cotsford]

Posted by Jonathan Sharland on 14/09/2020 09:29:24:

Paul

When you say soak, what exactly are you doing. ( sorry for the newbie questions).

It's what it says on the tin, soaking the balsa strip in warm water for 15 minutes or so. How long is a matter of practise as it depends on how dense the wood is, and how thick. It softens the bond between the wood fibres allowing the wood to be bent further than it could be if left dry. If held in the desired curve or shape while it dries out it takes on a set reducing the stresses in the final structure. For harder/more dense woods or larger sections (as in full size boat building) steaming is substituted for soaking.

Don't know about Youtube tutorials, do a Google search for 'basic aeromodelling books' and get started building up a library.  Don't worry about the age of some of the books that come up, techniques haven't altered that much where selecting, cutting and joining balsa wood is concerned except where the types and brand names of glues is concerned.  For that type 'glues' into the search box above.

Edited By Bob Cotsford on 14/09/2020 15:45:01

[RICHARD WILLS]

As Bob implies , Its not an exact science . Unlike Airfix Kits , Balsa models , even when laser cut can only be as good as the wood and the chap putting it together . Wood varies tremendously , so nine pieces will bend beautifully and the tenth will snap like a twig .

The good news is , as it's only wood and not some irreplaceable little item , it can always be replaced , spliced , joined , filled and repaired . A kit like this will bring a variety of little challenges , but also , it will provide experience and ultimately, confidence . The other thing is , we are going to cover it and paint it so the whole thing , warts and all will be in wrap , and at that point , the newbie and old hand will reach parity .

It is worth buying a few sheets of nice balsa to keep in stock , so that if you do make a mess , you have spares resource and also you can experiment with soaking and bending the wood .

The most fascinating thing is just wetting one side and then allowing the wood to bend on its own , After about ten minutes , you can quite often increase that bend way beyond your expectation .

The old hands know all this and think nothing of it , but that is one of the beauties of wood.

[RICHARD WILLS]

BTW everyone , if you look at another thread on this forum titled Brian Taylor P51 , you can see the rather tricky area of the flaps . The super scale builder Danny Fenton is doing the honours , but you can see how there is not a simple solution when you have to combine keeping the wing section as intended , with washout , but at the same time making the flap look real .

[Jonathan S]

Richard I have a good LHS Mantra models that has a good stock of balsa. I am not too afraid of making a few mistakes but thought its easier to ask a question than make an assumption and find i made a stupid mistake. ,

I am reading the Spitfire build blogs as they are full of gems.

Does anybody have any book recommendations?

[Paul Johnson 4]

A small bit more progress and bug squashing.

Motor fitted to battery box, please remember however you decide to fit this to the box you allow for the protruding screws/bolts and make sure there is nothing that the battery can suffer a puncture from.

Next the fixing tabs have been glued into place, when fixing allow a little inclination inwards as the cowl tapers forward. Otherwise you will have to get the files out...

Whilst that was drying the cockpit panel was removed, the production sets will have a perforated section to allow for those deciding to fit the 3D printed instruments. If not you can just glue a picture of a set of instruments here.

As mine is a prototype I have removed what will be needed.

The 3D panel will require a little trimming and 2 small cut outs added to fit in place.

As you can see this is an aircraft that just cannot wait to be doing big lazy loops...

[leccyflyer]

Nice instrument panel, with a good deep cut away. My other Mustangs all had to have most of the panel chopped off to fit above the flat cockpit floor.

[Ron Gray]

Something I have found, with nice instrument panels is that once the canopy is on they can hardy be seen! Therefore fixing them at a slight angle gives a better view and the angle is hardly noticeable.

[Paul Johnson 4]

Hi Jonathan,

It will pay big dividends to spend a little time browsing these forums, it can be daunting searching them to begin with but there is a real wealth of experience shared from some very talented modelers.

[Jonathan S]

Paul,

Thanks for all the advise and help. I have purchased David Boddingtons book as back ground reading and downloaded a copy of Model Aeroplane Building sketch by sketch.

Its learning the tricks of the trade and the best way to do things thats going to catch us newbies out. But as Richard says thats going to be the fun bit learning something new and making a few mistakes. Its mostly wood so it can be re-cut / replaced etc if it goes wrong...

Jon

[Graham Davies 3]

Don't worry Jonathan, Richard's kits go together very well and there is nothing that you won't be able to figure out when you have the project in front of you. I got very inspired by reading the threads from start to finish. Some of these can be off-putting, but not the Warbirds threads as everyone's attitudes is so relaxed; 'it'll be fine, don't worry'!

I have not built a 'full fat' warbird, but built a 55" Tempest. from start to maiden took me 4 weeks, and I don't feel that I hurried. Whilst many others' models look far better than mine, I still smile when I look at my Tempest. She looks great and flies really well.

Graham

[Nigel Dell]

Jonathan

where about are you?

I am in Bagshot so was thinking if your LHS is who I think it is we are fairly local if you need any help.

cheers

Nige.

[Jonathan S]

Nigel,

Thanks for the offer, my local club is Maidenhead rc.

[Nigel Dell]

I am only 13 miles from Maidenhead so if you need help it is close enough for me to pop over or I can give you my number if you prefer as we don’t know what is coming again regarding COVID. I have been doing this for more years than I care to remember and no question is daft only the one that is not asked! You will enjoy the builds I am sure.

[Paul Johnson 4]

Posted by Graham Davies 3 on 15/09/2020 11:32:55:

I have not built a 'full fat' warbird, but built a 55" Tempest. from start to maiden took me 4 weeks, and I don't feel that I hurried.

Graham

4 Weeks!!! Okay where the inflation valve and foot pump??

[RICHARD WILLS]

Why did you take your wife's hand bag to the field Graham ?

Holding it hostage ?

[Paul Johnson 4]

Well

That was good.... just spent 30 mins typing up and adding pictures... moved the mouse and it lost the lot

[Ron Gray]

Moral of the story, create your post in another app then copy and paste into here!

[Paul Johnson 4]

Lesson learnt .... split the post

Well rear decking done.

This had it's issues but these have been amended for the production kits.

Time to consider the mounting of the servos and pilot.

The original seat shown previously was a full seat this has been changed to a half height as it went all the way to the wing surface leaving little room for the control snakes and flap servo mounting.

It is also a lot lighter.

[Paul Johnson 4]

Also couldn't decide on what wheels to choose....

So many to choose from......

[Paul Johnson 4]

Pilot mounting checked for height and glued in place..

More later but pooch is by the door with her legs crossed.... TTFN

[Ron Gray]

Wheels are the wrong colour and let the dog in.

[Paul Johnson 4]

Hi Gents

Just thought, if you go looking for the pilot floor in the box, it isn't there its a piece of scrap 3mm liteply out of my scrap box.

Okay servos and snakes...

there is plenty of scrap left from the laser cutting in the box. I suggest this piece as it is a harder ply and makes for a better material to put screws in. I find it's all to easy to over do it and strip the screw out by overtightening it.

Obviously you will need to adjust this to your servos you have chosen and where you wish to fit them, I have always tried to keep as much forward of the C of G as possible.

I made a small frame and added a small brace in between.

[Paul Johnson 4]

For those who decide on the B variant I decided to make sure the canopy was flush with the razor back so I cut the surround off of the rear cockpit former, this was fiddley as it's very thin, and glued this to create a shelf for the canopy rather than glue this on top of the razorback.

You will also notice I didn't put the cockpit side infill out far enough so had to pack it .

As has been previously mentioned...... it's only wood and you can modify the little errors easily.

[Graham Davies 3]

Posted by Paul Johnson 4 on 19/09/2020 14:44:46:

Posted by Graham Davies 3 on 15/09/2020 11:32:55:

I have not built a 'full fat' warbird, but built a 55" Tempest. from start to maiden took me 4 weeks, and I don't feel that I hurried.

Graham

4 Weeks!!! Okay where the inflation valve and foot pump??

I don't know what happened Paul. All of a sudden, it was finished! I've spent the time since carefully re-kitting it though...

[Graham Davies 3]

Posted by RICHARD WILLS on 19/09/2020 14:48:54:

Why did you take your wife's hand bag to the field Graham ?

Holding it hostage ?

It suited the frock I was wearing better than my own handbag, as it happened.

One must make sure one looks lovely on the flight line...