Murat Kece 1 Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 Lovely What a handsome colour scheme.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leccyflyer Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 A few days ago, with the first of those reaching completion I got down the largely repaired fuselage of my Balsacraft Hurricane and set to adding that to the repair tasks. I was going to just keep the Hurricane as original, with the wing for a hatch, but ultimately decided to fabricate a battery hatch, so set to with the scalpel and razor saw to try to create a hatch without unduly interfering with the main crutch assembly, which I have managed to do. My stock of Mega inrunner motors has depleted, to the extent that after using my last 22/30-3 in the Spitfire I've only got a Mega 22/20-3 left, which isn't really suitable for the Hurricane. So I plumped for a 4 Max PP 3660- 1106kV inrunner,- excellent service from George, ordered yesterday, delivered this morning, fitted this afternoon. Easy as its' a drop in replacement for the Magnetic Mayhem and should given ample performance on a 10x5" prop and a 3s1p 3300mah pack. That pack will fit nicely into the large battery bay, well forward and the ESC sits in the upper bay, which is cooled by the functional exhausts that I formed from thick heatshrink many years ago. They kept the Mag Mayhem cool so should be fine for the brushless replacement. If the balancing demands a 3s1p 4200mah pack, there is sufficient room for that instead. To replace the 8x4" prop and ABS spinner I looked through my stocks and found the rear of a nice aluminium Aeronaut spinner which is the perfect size, has an integral 5mm prop adaptor built in and uses a white plastic cone from some packaging to fair in the front of the spinner - I hope that's going to be okay. We'll see when I balance it and the prop assembly. I have the option of 3D printing a spinner cone if that doesn't work. It's not really the right shape for the Hurricane Mk 1. I've taken out the dorky Balsacraft pilot and replaced him with a 3D printed pilot bust - the canopy had yellowed as if the old pilot was a 60 a day man, but I was able to make a plaster of Paris mould that I'll be able to use to form a new canopy. I'll also add a new cockpit floor a little deeper in the fuselage, leaving room for an instrument panel and gunsight. The hatch needs a few magnets to retain, then I need to add some tape strips to simulate the rear fuselage stringers, before I recover the fuselage with 38um laminating film ready for painting. This is going to be a cheap and cheerful hand launch belly land fun fighter in the spirit of Pete Nicholson's original Model Designs plan packs, so I'm not going mad on the scale details, no retracts and no flaps as I already have those on my other Hurricanes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Robson Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 Just as the light nights are close this happens. I've never been happy with this VQ Hurricane it's very heavy 63" span 10.5lb weight originally flew with a 90 fs i converted it to electric. On Saturday after a few nose overs it took off loads of power but way out of trim , got round the first circuit and possibly slowed it up to much as it turned it fell from the sky. If I can loose some weight from the airframe I will rebuild it. I think the sheeting on the wings is oak the outer panel alone weighs a pound . 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
extra slim Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 11 minutes ago, Eric Robson said: Just as the light nights are close this happens. I've never been happy with this VQ Hurricane it's very heavy 63" span 10.5lb weight originally flew with a 90 fs i converted it to electric. On Saturday after a few nose overs it took off loads of power but way out of trim , got round the first circuit and possibly slowed it up to much as it turned it fell from the sky. If I can loose some weight from the airframe I will rebuild it. I think the sheeting on the wings is oak the outer panel alone weighs a pound . Must admit, I am slightly disappointed by the lack of scale crash photo's. The very least, I would have expected is the pile of bits to be in a field in the south of England, maybe some scorch marks!, flames etc hahahaha. Building lightness is an art, one which not all can perform well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Robson Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 20 minutes ago, extra slim said: Must admit, I am slightly disappointed by the lack of scale crash photo's. The very least, I would have expected is the pile of bits to be in a field in the south of England, maybe some scorch marks!, flames etc hahahaha. Building lightness is an art, one which not all can perform well. Is this what you're looking for 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leccyflyer Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 Bad luck Eric, that's not a nice sight. Could you do the same job that you did on your Spitfire, replacing some of that heavy structure with depron? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Davies 3 Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 Blimey Eric, that's a proper job. At 10.5 pounds for 63, I'm not sure I'd bother. As my depron spit is 8.5 for 74, I'd be tempted to start again Graham Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Robson Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 46 minutes ago, Graham Davies 3 said: Blimey Eric, that's a proper job. At 10.5 pounds for 63, I'm not sure I'd bother. As my depron spit is 8.5 for 74, I'd be tempted to start again Graham Hi Graham, The problem with the Hurricane is mainly the sheeting on the outer wing panel I removed the underside sheeting and took large sections from the top, this has brought the weight down to half of what it was, if I can save some more weight then I will do the same to the rest of the wing as it is undamaged. The flaps and spars are very heavy which is all behind the c of g. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Robson Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 1 hour ago, leccyflyer said: Bad luck Eric, that's not a nice sight. Could you do the same job that you did on your Spitfire, replacing some of that heavy structure with depron? Hi Brian, The crash scene is my depron Spitfire, it hit the electric cable at the edge of the field. It flew again just over a week later. This is the post crash photo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Davies 3 Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 28 minutes ago, Eric Robson said: Hi Graham, The problem with the Hurricane is mainly the sheeting on the outer wing panel I removed the underside sheeting and took large sections from the top, this has brought the weight down to half of what it was, if I can save some more weight then I will do the same to the rest of the wing as it is undamaged. The flaps and spars are very heavy which is all behind the c of g. There's no substitute for lightness! I'm sure you'll have it back and better than ever Graham Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
extra slim Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 wow, fantastic and fast repair of the depron spit.. The poor old hurricane I'm sure will rise again, less heftily hopefully. Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leccyflyer Posted February 27 Share Posted February 27 This weekend saw completion to active service of two of my Dark Nights Fix Up projects and I couldn't be more pleased with how they turned out. The Balsacraft Spitfire refinish as a Spitfire PRXIX has been covered earlier and had her maiden flight on Saturday, which was perfect - the model is wonderfully stable, has a decent turn of speed and good vertical performance and looks smashing in the air. Flying pals Derek and Steve captured some lovely images on Saturday and Sunday, as seen below - thanks gents. 👍😎 The Durafly Spitfire Mk 24 to Seafire Mk XVII conversion hasn't had any in progress pictures included in the thread, so I'll put some in here. The swapmeet bargain was a bit beaten up, I don't particularly like the latest Mk of Spitfire but was somewhat surprised how well she flew, as quite an early Durafly model. I had to do something with the finish though and get rid of that horrid FMS pilot. I much prefer how these late mark Spits look in FAA colours and set to to make it a little more like a Seafire. That involved removing two of the cannons and cannon blisters, then 3D printing an arrestor hook and adding a fairing around that from litho plate. I wasn't keen to split the rudder, so plead artistic licence on that. New cockpit interior and 3D printed pilot figure and eventually decided to replace the Durafly servos and do away with the flaps. After some deliberation I patched up the worst of the dings in the foam and then covered the model with EzeTissue and water based EzeDope, before painting with appropriately thinned B & Q acrylic emulsion paint, Cut vinyl national markings and serials done with my Silhouette Cameo, prior to adding some relief to the canyon-esque panel lines with a light grey water soluble pencil and a final blow over with satin WBPU applied by airbrush. I think the Seafire XVII looks so much better than the Spitfire Mk 24 and yes, I know the wing is more like a Seafire Mk47, but there's no massive five bladed prop or contra rotating set up here. Remaiden of the Seafire was unfortunately cut short on Saturday by tipping up in the moss and breaking a blade off the four bladed prop. However on Sunday a drama free handlaunch was followed by a very comfortable flight and again the model looked lovely in the air, admirably captured by Steve. I'm really pleased with how both of these have turned out and added another couple of Spitfires to active service - you can never have too many Spitfires! 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leccyflyer Posted February 28 Share Posted February 28 (edited) Yesterday I broke out the home made vac-former and made a new canopy for the BC Hurricane, as the old one suggested the pilot was an 80 Capstan Full Strength a day man. First pull didn't work as the slightly thick PETG never really got hot enough with my covering heat gun. Second pull used some slightly thinner 0.5mm PETG and the extra heat from the Black and Decker heat gun was much better, the vacuum caught straight away and dragged the floppy plastic down really nicely onto the Plaster of Paris mould for a perfect canopy. Today I finally got the simulated rear fuselage stringers onto the Balsacraft Hurricane refurb. It's only been about fifteen years since I added that to my to do list. Fineline masking tape proved too thin to make an impression, since my intention is to cover over the fuselage with tissue prior to painting. Some experimentation suggested that duct tape left a tangible ridge and we'll see how that goes. The silver duct tape is probably a bit thinner and more subtle, but I'm hoping that the olive drab tape will create more of an effect. I put the correct number of stringers in for a Hurricane Mk 1, but I'm starting to think that maybe less would have been more, in terms of the overall effect. We'll see how it turns out. Edited February 28 by leccyflyer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leccyflyer Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 Got the base colours applied to the Hurricane fix up and I'm happy with how it has turned out with EzeTissue applied over the tape stringers. Paints are brush applied B & Q sample pots, well thinned and the Dark Green has come out a nice satin, whilst the Dark Earth -which I'd used on a previous Hurricane - turned out to be matt. I'll be masking to apply some painted roundels and squadron codes, plus a few wee waterslide decals, so, once the minor weathering is completed, the model will receive a dust coat of WBPU to equalise the finish. I was partly diverted by making a replacement wing for my pal Bob's wee 16" span VMC Hurricane, kitted out with Volantex gear, which had an unfortunate meeting with the windsock a few weeks ago, and which he'd very kindly passed on to me. Luckily he'd retained the scrap balsa from which the wing ribs had been laser cut, so I was able to quickly knock up a replacement wing, cover it with 38um laminating film and use the original paints to restore the wee Hurricane to flying condition. I just need to replace the markings, which I'll do with some laser printed waterslides. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leccyflyer Posted April 10 Share Posted April 10 Well the Hurricane fix up is finally completed. Applying the markings by airbrush and CNC cut vinyl masks took forever, with six colours and three mist coats of each, cleaning the brush between each coat. I'm quite pleased with the results, which worked fine with just a few wee glitches. With that done I set to with adding some panel lines, using my favoured method of HB pencil, accentuated with light grey water soluble artist's pencil prior to a little light weathering with pencil dust applied with the fingers and some localised aluminium dry brushing. Finally locked all that in place with a mist coat of matt WBPU varnish applied with the airbrush. Got the model all dialled into the transmitter today, added the radio antenna wire, set the control throws and sorted the velcro seatbelt for the 3s1p 3200mah pack. Add the prop and spinner for a final check of CG and with the battery in place and secured that is spot on, as per the plan, with no additional ballast needed. Just need the weather for a maiden flight now -and the bench is clear. 😎 8 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leccyflyer Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 After setting the Flair Beaufighter aside last summer, to build a few vintage models for Pontefract, then moving onto the Balsacraft Spitfire and Hurricane featured above and ultimately the Warbirds Replica's FW190. I recently got back onto the Beaufighter and she's now having the top coat added from B & Q sample pots, having been primed with the Halfords primer recommended by Ron. I made a schoolboy error there though, in not realising that the grey base colour, compared to the white base colour of my pain samples would result in a significantly darker shade when dry. It looked perfect when painted on and wet, but always dries to a darker colour and that wouldn't do at all. I hope that I've rescued it with the addition of a little bit of white to the final coat, to tone it down a bit. I thin the paints with water and a dash of Floetrol additive, which is supposed to promote paint flow to suppress and smooth out the brush marks. I must say that I'm very impressed with the big mop brushes that I got from Lidl a couple of months back, which made painting the wing under surfaces a very smooth operation. Before priming I used a combination of 1.5mm Model Technics trim tape and, when that had run out, 1mm Tamiya fine line masking tape, to mark out the panel lines. Then gave the model two coats of primer. They are pretty subtle, but I'm hoping that when they have a little bit of coloured pencil lead rubbed into them that they will give the desired effect. I've used my Revell 1/32nd scale Beaufighter for guidance in marking out selected panel lines. Other wee jobs included 3D printing a pair of very squashed Bristol Hercules dummy engines for inside the nacelles, plus adding some glass fibre reinforcement to the inside front of the ABS cowls, just in case they are the first bit to contact the ground when landing - I made the nacelles out of pink foam, covered in glasscloth and with a ply keel to take the landing loads, but an ounce of prevention on the cowls won't hurt. The nacelles and cowls are more appropriately sized than the very slim versions supplied as ABS mouldings with the Flair kit. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RICHARD WILLS Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 You've really been busy Brian . I really like your finishing and attention to detail . I think you also remind us of how many great kits are no longer available . The Model Design range was quite rightly cherished by all that built and flew them . The Flair Beaufighter and 110 were also great semi scale twin kits . I guess that they would have been more popular if we had got lipos a little earlier . Going back to your finish . I think you really nailed the Hurricane . It looks like it came straight from your favourite film . All you need is a little Trevor Howard in a white flying overall . 😉 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leccyflyer Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 "It's Air Vice Marshal Can't Park, Sir!" Thanks for the kind words - I'm much happier with the Hurricane in her new incarnation, even though it's taken over twenty years for the repairs and refinishing to happen. I loved all of my Balsacraft warbirds and though we managed to get them to perform well with modified hot buggy motors, extra cooling and extra NiCds, they fly even better with brushless and lipos. I was re-reading an old RCM&E at breakfast and good old Nigel Hawes was featuring some of the Model Designs/ Balsacraft fun fighters and commenting on how much better they were with lipos, Unfortunately he also fell for that old myth that the Ripmax ARTFs were the same kits, produced as ARTFs, even mentioning that the Ripmax Messerschmitt Me109 was a remake of the Model Designs kit. The thing is that Model Designs never had an Me109, nor did they have a P-51 to turn into the Ripmax Mustang in the first place and the structure and general build of the Balsacraft Spitfire and Ripmax Spitfire are fundamentally different. It's a myth- they are not the same models. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RICHARD WILLS Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 Yes, I totally agree with all of the above Brian . The Model Designs Spitfire was a little jewel when finished nicely ( I have the plan still) . The Ripmax Spit is definitely built to a price and has none of the elegance . However , in the air ,it's a success . So I suppose that's where Model Designs failed and Ripmax won . Sad in a way as I met Pete the designer at Sandown Show when he was independent and admired his designs and passion . I often wondered why Slec just remade the Bearcat . Did Ripmax own the rights to the others ? The other similar designer is Ron Daniels who did an equally beautiful little Tempest of about 48" . Again , small runs but adored by those who bought and built them . https://hawkertempest.se/index.php/models/rcmodel-in-detail/286-christer-landberg-1-10-9-scale-tempest-mk-v-ron-daniels In England I liked the simplicity of Ian Peacocks stuff but it was , as you know never available in Kit form , just a plan . The tricky parts of canopy and cowl really are a necessity in my book . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leccyflyer Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 Ron Daniels! Now there's a name I haven't heard in many a year - I remember his lovely wee Tempest kit and Bob Partington flying it at Chester Roodee Electric Fly In, twenty odd years ago. Pete Nicholson was one of my favourite designers in those early electric flight days and I have quite a few of his designs in the fleet. The Bearcat was the first one that I flew, but I have the Sea Fury and sp400 FW190 in their original Model Designs plan pack format. All of the three Ripmax leccy funfighters fly superbly, but there are a few compromises to scale integrity - the original cowl on the Spitfire is an abomination. The closely related Haikong Spitfire cowl is much nicer. My prolific builder pal Jim Jamieson has just finished an Ian Peacock inspired Messerschmitt Me109, from the plan that I lent him a few weeks ago. I printed his a couple of the very distinctive Bf109E spinners from Tom Hunt's STL files and had hoped to see it this weekend, before the weather scuppered our club BBQ and scale competition. I'm sure that it will be brilliant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RICHARD WILLS Posted August 26 Share Posted August 26 I'd like to see a picture of the Peacock 109 . Ive still got the plan somewhere . Two of my friends in the club have the Ripmax 109 , P51 and MD Sea Fury . All fly well as you say. The 48" size use to be popular even before electric , perhaps because they could stay in one piece and go in the car plus a 40FP 2 stroke was what most could afford . The only problem with the size now , is that modern retracts dont really work well . Wing loading becomes too high and they are a bit too skittish when landing or handling ground bumps .The other issue is that on designs like the MD Spitfire , the spar is where the wheels go . Some days though , they are exactly what you want . Fun to build and paint .Simple to operate . Just whip it out of the car and lob it up . ("Don't just stand there , get one up !") 😁 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Robson Posted August 26 Share Posted August 26 Maiden flight of my Warbirds Replicas Yak 9 today. This is a light night's bad weather fix up. Strong wind but it handled better than an Acrowot which was also flying today, a delight to fly. Well done Richard. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RICHARD WILLS Posted August 26 Share Posted August 26 They use to be as common as muck . Ive still got mine and fly it (now electric ) . Also marked as white 5 in these pictures . Not much danger of anyone wanting a Yak or La7 thanks to Mr Rootin Tootin Pootin 🤐 Shame really, as they were both firm favourites with their operators . 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leccyflyer Posted August 26 Share Posted August 26 45 minutes ago, RICHARD WILLS said: I'd like to see a picture of the Peacock 109 . Ive still got the plan somewhere . Two of my friends in the club have the Ripmax 109 , P51 and MD Sea Fury . All fly well as you say. The 48" size use to be popular even before electric , perhaps because they could stay in one piece and go in the car plus a 40FP 2 stroke was what most could afford . The only problem with the size now , is that modern retracts dont really work well . Wing loading becomes too high and they are a bit too skittish when landing or handling ground bumps .The other issue is that on designs like the MD Spitfire , the spar is where the wheels go . Some days though , they are exactly what you want . Fun to build and paint .Simple to operate . Just whip it out of the car and lob it up . ("Don't just stand there , get one up !") 😁 I think the extra 6" or so between the ~ 42" (Cambrian Fun Fighter) and the 48" (Ripmax, Balsacraft, Model Designs) makes a huge difference in the usability of the model, particularly with regards to the ground handling - it's most noticeable with foamies, with the difference between the 1100mm fighters and the 1.2m versions of the same aeroplanes, that 100mm makes a big difference in the volume, wing loading, the size of the wheels, the spread of the U/C and the handling. Plus you can still easily fit three 48" span warbirds in the back of a Mondeo estate, fully rigged, I'll be sure to grab some snaps of JIm's Me109 when I get the chance - not on the maiden flight though, I've embargoed shooting on Jim's maiden flights after jinxing a couple of his models 😮 I also plan to move my second hand Balsacraft Spitfire up in the queue for these fix-ups, as it does have retracts fitted and I'm keen to see how they work out. Still undecided on which scheme to go for with that model - I have a bit of a hankering to model the Spitfire protoype, but that will probably be easier from scratch and maybe the Flite Test might make a suitable platform for the required mods. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrew exton Posted August 26 Share Posted August 26 Richard’s yak one I didn’t buy & wish I did would still buy one though despite mr wats his name , still got a Ron daniels kit stashed deep in the store somewhere , suppose I should build more instead of adding to the stash 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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