Gary's Brian Taylor P-47 build

[Gary Clark 1]

Thanks Danny and Ray. I am certainly not going to start questioning BT's design!

i've got the servo tray in and my plan is a rudder , elevator, tailwheel steering and tailwheel retract all being separate but placed in the location on the plan.

Made up the steering arm for the tail and got it in place

The plan calls for it to be the opposite way around to the way i have it but a snake can get there easy and it leaves a nice clear path to the tail wheel for the cables. Then i realised when it retracts the cables will probably not loosen enough. I reckon i will remove and flip it around. Listen to the advice and follow the plan Gary!!

[Chris Freeman 3]

I am watching this build as it is a great aircraft. Built one a few years ago and it flew a treat.

[Nick Somerville]

Garry, I was thinking of using just one servo for rudder and tailwheel steering. Plan is to have a short linkage from The servo to a Bellcrank and then two sets of closed loops wires running to rudder and tailwheel. The tailwheel one protected with springs. Therefore I have so far omitted the little bellcrank behind the tailwheel assembly. Is this a bad idea and not normal practice? Btw I am also planning to position rudder, tail retract, elevator and theottle servos on a row abreast also like yourself and as shown on the plan.

[Gary Clark 1]

That's a cracker chris, looks great. I really need to decide on a paint scheme for mine.

That sounds good to me Nick, there is not shortage of space so I went separate. I'd normally just do it from 1 servo but no massive reason for doing it this way

Gary

[Gary Clark 1]

Hi Guys,

Not a lot done on the P-47 but i have been sanding the primer coat off the Moth Minor. I have been sorting the control snakes for the P-47 and started using these tile cutter for the holes for the snake outers. I got them on Banggood and make a lovely neat hole in the balsa without any tearing

Just thought i'd let you guys know if it helps anyone. Parts have arrived for the tailwheel so i can carry on with that whilst sorting the rudder out.

Gary

[Ray Wood 4]

Hi Gary,

Wow they are heavy duty drills !!

I use sharpened brass tubes which were commercially available but easy to make 😄

Regards Ray

[Gary Clark 1]

Hi Ray,

Those are the what I was looking for for but those other cutters came in a load of sizes and were vey cheap.

I am still waiting on a few bits arriving but got most of the tailwheel done

I am still learning metalwork and had to make all the parts from scratch so they are a little agricultural but we all have to learn somewhere. Pretty chuffed it all works though.

The control snakes for the tailwheel are in but there isn't much clearance from the tailwheel steering brake so i will probably move it down to avoid and potential snagging.

I will get the rudder and elevator snakes in tomorrow and then probably get the formers on. I am tempted to plank/sheet the underside whilst it is on the bench so that I can sort the gear doors whilst it is pinned down. Thoughts?

Gary

[Nick Somerville]

Tailwheel looking good there Garry. I have not done much to mine as been busy making repairs on another model and making most of the fine weather. I am installing a pair of carbon pushrods for tail retract and elevator and as previously mentioned a pair of closed loops for the rudder and tailwheel steering. Won’t need the little bellcrank at the rear.
If you are going to use the fine piano wire spring method to keep the wheel centred when it is retracted (stopping it snagging the doors) I would do some tests with the position of the bellcrank and notches as the springs can easily get locked against the retract housing.

My rudder is getting closer to the final shape and lighter with each sanding session. I cut a 4mm groove with a razor saw all around the rear perimeter and glued in .6mm ply so I can achieve a sharp ding proof TE.

[Nick Somerville]

Some pics of the rudder and fin. As with my tailplane and elevators I shall add the hinge shrouds after finalising the Robart hinge holes as they will need to be a good fit.

[Gary Clark 1]

That coming along great Nick and the rudder looks great, much further down the line than mine. I still have lots of finalising to do with the tailwheel so I will bear that in mind but still waiting on bits arriving to get it completed.

I spent a lot of today sanding the second primer coat from the Moth Minor so hopefully that is almost done as my poor little hands can take much more! I only need to to finish the fuselage since the wings are stuck in Scotland at the moment and I am in Norfolk so as soon as I can get it complete I can focus on the P-47 completely.

I did manage to get a bit done and got the love handles on this big lass

As you can see, still some temporary brass tubes in the tailwheel but I wanted it in position whilst fitting everything else. There is also a former missing (13) from just forward of the tailwheel since I reckon it will get knocked whilst finalising that area but she has really filled out.

Rudder parts are glued together and ready for sanding to start. I just filled out the areas that needed it at the bottom instead of joining the whole rudder sheets that came as they would only be sanded off

All the control snakes are now in and sorted at the rear, but just some tidy up bits to do at the servo end as it looks like a snakes wedding just now. I want to sort the fuel tank position, which will probably be on the underside of the fuselage box instead of the top to align with the inverted engine better, then get the throttle and choke servos in before putting the formers at the front. Lots and lots to be getting on with!

Gary

 

Edited By Gary Clark 1 on 27/05/2020 22:43:33

[Mark Elen]

Hi Gary,

It’s good to see your build progressing. Your tail wheel looks great. Don’t worry about the ‘agricultural’ bit, the fact that it works is more important. You can finesse the looks later (or on the next one)

Keep up the good work

Cheers

Mark

[Nick Somerville]

I went with the fine piano wire in the end. Shaped a u after threading through lower binding hole and poked ends through the closed loop holes. Works a treat with no gluing required. Have epoxied the assembly in place now so no going back.

[Gary Clark 1]

That looks like a very simple but effective solution Nick, I can see that being exactly what I do! I am also going to 3d print the case around the piano wire

Gary

[Gary Clark 1]

Hi Guys,

Thank you Mark, when the final bits arrive I can tidy everything up then.

I mainly worked on the front end this afternoon and got the firewall sorted and engine mounted. I had to lose about 15mm from the bottom of the firewall to allow the muffler to clear it but still plenty left to attach to the fuselage. This is the second firewall as the first one had more holes in it than than the Bismark due to 2 shocking attempts at mounting the engine. After deciding these "lightning holes" were not required, I made a new one It was certainly amateur hour this afternoon....

I will probably shorten the exhaust tubes and fit some silicone tube so that I can use the scale exhausts for exits. The choke is a bit awkward to get to so I reckon I will just attach a piece of piano wire and let that come out a small hole on the bottom of the cow and that will be hardly noticeable on the ground and invisible in the air. I also need to cut the hole for the fuel lines and need to think about where to refuel it from...

It is my birthday tomorrow so i might ask if i can have the whole day in the garage but i already know the answer...

Gary

Edited By Gary Clark 1 on 28/05/2020 22:15:44

[Gary Clark 1]

Hi All,

I've been thinking about paint schemes and it's tough when there are so many good ones! I think I'm leaning towards one of the 56th Fighter groups razorback schemes and may copy Gabreski's details on it but not decided

What are you scale guys using for paint nowadays? I've seen a lot of guys using emulation (latex paint in the US) as it's easy to get colours made up and easy enough to spray (also cheap which appeals to my Scottish nature). I've used Tamiya acrylic paint in the past but I'd need loads of those little tubs to cover the P-47. What's the general consensus on paint?

Gary

[Nick Somerville]

Garry, I have been looking too and there is a plethora of designs shown for P47’s here: **LINK**

I asked if they can do them at a specific scale as per the BT model and no problem. No doubt there are some uk businesses that can do the same, but haven’t got around to researching that yet.

Re paint I don’t have airbrush equipment and although I know there are many modellers that use 2 pack paint it’s something I want to avoid. I have used Guild materials Chroma paint (enamel) both spray and brush versions successfully and it is very fuel resistant. Colour range a bit basic but they do an olive drab colour and really everything else on most P47 schemes use a combination of Silver, Black, red, yellow and blue; so no issue there. They also go a long way so fair on the wallet. On the BT build threads on RCSB one of the posters mentions using Spectrum paints which is the same as Guild Chroma. He used silver as an undercoat so that he coupd rub back for weathering.

[Nick Somerville]

A few pictures of progress from recent building. After gluing in the tailwheel assembly and arranging the carbon pushrods for elevator and tail retract I did some more planking. Just enough to shape the rear end and work on the tailwheel doors.

I steamed the curve for the bay doors from firm 1/8th balsa and when dry applied two layers of light glass cloth to the inside and taped it a little rear of the planked in bay area, with some thin plastic sheet in between. Left it overnight and all good. Just needs glassing on the outside and some hinges making up, though will do this after the fus is glassed.

[Gary Clark 1]

Hi Nick,

Progress looks great and it is amazing how having the planking on makes it really feel like a P-47. Gear doors have come out well also, my plan is to make glass fibre doors since I haven't done that before and that will be my plan for the main gear doors as well.

I am planning on cutting my own decals as I bought a vinyl cutter a couple of years ago for exactly this reason. I want to make paint masks so that it doesn't hide the panel detail either but i was hoping to buy some water transfers/decals of all the little bits of writing and details around the aircraft. I will look into the Flair paint as that is certainly an option.

I have the tailwheel mechanism complete but still waiting on the correct piano wire for the tailwheel so that I can get it finished off and sort the steering for it. Need that done before putting the rest of the rear formers on so they don't get damaged.

I have the fuel tank in and mounted and there is still plenty of room for a throttle servo to go in beside it somewhere. I built a cradle for the tank to sit on then mounted a piece of ply on the opposed side of 1/4 balsa for a cable tie to attach to without tearing the balsa

Simple but solid way of doing it. Just need a bit of ply in to stop it being able to shift forward or back and it is done.

Very early days but I am enjoying this build.

Gary

[Gary Clark 1]

Hi Guys,

It has been a weekend of pondering and lots of staring but few end results. I did manage to get the rudder pretty much sanded to shape

I ended up with a rather impressive pile of shavings at the end of this but didn't want to continue because I need the very rear former and skin on the fuselage before I can shape the rudder to match that, I can't skin the fuselage until I get the tailwheel mounted, I can't mount the tailwheel because I am still waiting on piano wire for it.......breathe......I can't sheet the centre area because I need to mount the wing first and don't want to do anything further forward until all that is done.......wow

So I made a start on the other wing

So you can see the dry fit of all my parts and the semi-completed wing I got with the parts. You can see the difference in the rear spar in the top wing compared to the plan and a few other minor bits here and there. The other major difference is that it has been skinned with 3/32 sheet instead of 1/16 as the plan suggests. The question now is what do i do? Copy the other wing and save myself a lot of work or cut a new set of ribs and make a new wing to match the plan? The previous builder is an excellent and very experienced builder so I don't doubt his changes are well thought, I just don't know what is best now.

What do you guys think? Advice required.

Gary

[Danny Fenton]

Hi Gary, lovely work.

My two "penneth": I think you should continue to follow the previous builders lead. It looks to me as though the rear spar has been extended? am I reading that right? It is possibly not necessary, plenty have flown without this area being strengthened, but perhaps a larger engine than normal was going to be used? It looks a sensible mod, and wont add much weight.

As for the thicker wing skins, this is common practice as the skins on Brian's designs allow no room for error, or even sanding! if you use the 3/32 you can then sand back to get things even. You really have to watch out for the starved horse look. I like to sand wing skins before they are glued to the wing, so virtually no sanding is then needed. But that relies on the underlying surface being spot on. The thicker wing skin will give you some wriggle room.

Just my thoughts, and please, I will not feel in the slightest bit offended what-ever you do.

Cheers

Danny

[Nigel R]

I'd copy what you have, too. Save the work of re-doing it. Find some nice light 3/32. It'll be slightly more resistant to handling compared to 1/16, which won't be a bad thing on a 20cc powered airframe.

[Gary Clark 1]

Hi Gents,

Thanks for that advice. I was not concerned about a starting again as I am in no rush with this project, I just want to try and get it right. You are correct danny, the biggest difference is the extended rear spar and thanks for the advice with regard to skinning.

Decision is made, I shall copy what I have and match the 2 wings.

Thanks guys

Gary

[Nick Somerville]

Garry, I am interested to know what your approach will be for the tail surface trim tabs. Do you plan to cut them away from the rudder and elevators and hinge them or will you just simulate the cut outs and add shroud and linkage details? If simulating The cut out, will you do this before or after glassing?

[Gary Clark 1]

Hi Nick,

My plan will be to simulate then and just make a shround from either litho plate or 3d printed an covered in aluminium tape or something. Will make a mechanism look alike somehow to connect to the tab. My plan is to cut out after glassing since I hate trying to glass/sand small parts.

I am making progress with the left wing and it is almost ready to sheet the top side. Still need to make the flap and aileron as well as fitting the retract. Lots to do but getting there with it. I'd love to hinge the flaps like proper Fowler flaps but I feel it may be a lot of work for little gain.

Gary

[Nick Somerville]

Yes I have seen the work that goes into Fowler flaps. Even Brian’s plan shows the use of Robart hinges. With the geometry shown though for the pivot point the movement will be a close compromise to fully modelled Fowlers.

i agree re simulating the tabs. I finished off the hinge shrouds for rudder and elevator yesterday and glassed one side of the fin and tailplane. Will also do glassing of rudder and elevators before doing the tabs. I don't have a 3d printer so guess my shrouds will be made odds and ends from scrap drawer. On David Q’s build on RCSB, he cut the sides of the tabs and simulated the hinge line. Looked very neat.