Vailly FW 190 1/4.5 (Nick Somerville)

[Nick Somerville]

 

Well that used up some balsa! 4 sheets of 48” x 100mm and one 36” length for each side; all 3/32. I shall reset one side at a time in the washout jig, prop in as many places as possible below and then glue with white Gorilla glue and weigh down with sandbags and magazines.

[Nick Somerville]

 

Hopefully enough weight to ensure a good contact.

[Martin McIntosh]

I use kiln dried block paving sand in large bags such as the ones supplied with oven cleaner. Works great with an even weight.

[Nick Somerville]

You’re right Martin. Sand bags are best, unfortunately not enough dry sand at home so a combination sandbags I had, wife’s magazines, and some of those block pavers to boot. Anyway it’s all stuck down nicely, both sides done.
Looking forward now to getting into adding all the bits and bobs inside the wings as its a part of the build I especially enjoy. I made the same mistake as per my Sea Fury flaps and drilled the clevis hole 2mm instead of 1.5mm in the flap horns. Sorted the same way by buying a pair of the scale looking Intairco clevis’s from Jeff at Zedjet. They attach through a 3mm hole so lovely and snug after a redrill. 

He also had some very nice servo mounts so I added four to my order for the aileron and flap servos. I don’t mind making these normally but recently when inspecting an aileron servo on my P47 with a suspect gear tooth issue, it turned out to be a partial failure of the servo mount that I thought I had made well enough. Great service from Jeff at Zedjet btw. 

 

[Nick Somerville]

 

Here the T.E behind the flaps have had two lengths of carbon tows wetted out with white Gorilla glue and the 1/8th strip resting behind was then added on top, clamped and then a few hours later sanded/feathered back to the carbon. 

 

 

holes for the hinges drilled downwards at an angle to miss the lower spar, hough the middle hinge had to be a little straighter so that is doesn’t foul the clevis and pushrod to the servo.

[Nick Somerville]

 

A few more tasks ticked iff working towards skinning the wing underside. Paper servo wire tubes fitted and the servo mounts and hatches sorted.

 

Also the canons/20mm guns needed some thought. I opted to make these from alloy tube with a M5 nylon bolt glued in the end. They fit through a larger short length of alloy tube which will be sanded back to the LE profile once the final front section of 1/4” balsa is fitted. An angled balsa block with a pronged t nut has been fitted to the inside of the inner spruce spar. When screwed in the guns are firm but have a little flex to mitigate against minor knocks. A further brass tube has been fitted inside the barrels to give the correct scale 20mm aperture of 4.4mm

 

 

[Nick Somerville]

 

Having a go at making a functional flap position indicator. The photo and text above speaks for itself but modelling the device calls for a fair but of fettling. As the view hole in the top skin reveals the wing skin thickness a small piece if G10 will need to be let in to the top skin to give the same effect. A bit of trial and error appears to have things in order, but until a hole is made I shan’t know for sure.  I am actually amazed that the pilot would be able to see the display clearly. Those Luftwaffe boys obviously had 20:20 vision!

 

[Nick Somerville]

 

Having a go at making a functional flap position indicator. The photo and text above speaks for itself but modelling the device calls for a fair but of fettling. As the view hole in the top skin reveals the wing skin thickness a small piece if G10 will need to be let in to the top skin to give the same effect. A bit of trial and error appears to have things in order, but until a hole is made I shan’t know for sure.  I am actually amazed that the pilot would be able to see the display clearly. Those Luftwaffe boys obviously had 20:20 vision!

 

[Nick Somerville]

I have some Mick Reeves pinked rib tapes and a sq M of Oratex for the ailerons, elevators and rudder. I have never used Oratex before, only Solartex, so would appreciate any advice re ensuring it stays put. Do I need to apply adhesive to the frames? I read somewhere that the fabric even has to have an adhesive added but surely it comes with an adhesive already applied; otherwise why so pricey?  I have some heat activated fabric glue which I am sure is like Balsaloc, would that do?

[Nick Somerville]

Aperture cut through wing skin for the flap indicator and G10 inset, looks ok so just need to work out a way to add the numerals for degrees of deflection.

 

 

Also working on the scale aileron linkage. Plan pack came with some ABS plastic mouldings but I think I will try them in litho as if the paint chips around them the white will be all wrong.

 

[Nick Somerville]

Rib tapes arrived from Mick Reeves Models.  I watched Danny Fenton’s video on rib stitching but cutting up bits of fine cord just wasn’t for me and I went down the white glue route to simulate them. Scouring the web for close up photos of the rib tapes and stitching showed that most ailerons had the stitches running along the ribs. I think the elevators and rudder are across though. The glue was applied with a small shaped stick and after a bit of practise A fairly even appearance was achieved. Tapes were then cut to length, tacked at the ends and then all over heat and a cloth did the rest.

 

[Nick Somerville]

Been working on the landing gear indicator.

 

 

I had thought  it was going to be simple but due to it’s position being underneath the retract some head scratching was required. In the end I decided on a small bellcrank mounted to the retract with a fine piano wire connected to the rear of the piston. The piston moves just enough to deploy the indicator that is made from a nylon snake inner. Painted red it should look okay. Now lets see if I can replicate the setup for the other side.

 

 

[Nick Somerville]

So the wheels I obtained along with the plan pack have 3d printed plastic hubs and  rubber tyres, both in two parts. I shall paint the hubs and fit a pair of bronze bushes before assembling the tyres to the hubs, at which point I can then glue the tyre halves together. I have no experience of 3d rubber type printing compounds so if there is anyone who can recommend a suitable glue please do. I was thinking of black constructional silicon mastic as it would be pliable and tyre coloured for any gap filling..

 

 

 

 

 

[Nick Somerville]

So the wheels I obtained along with the plan pack have 3d printed plastic hubs and  rubber tyres, both in two parts. I shall paint the hubs and fit a pair of bronze bushes before assembling the tyres to the hubs, at which point I can then glue the tyre halves together. I have no experience of 3d rubber type printing compounds so if there is anyone who can recommend a suitable glue please do. I was thinking of black constructional silicon mastic as it would be pliable and tyre coloured for any gap filling..

 

 

 

 

 

[Trevor]

I’ve got no experience of those wheels Nick, but maybe the repair compound sold for (black plastic) car bumpers would work?

 

Trevor

[Jon H]

Its looking awesome. 

 

If you ever build a bigger one Nick i have found an engine for it on ebay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/275274032320?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649 ?

 

 

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

I’m struggling to find many similarities to a  Merlin (see the EBay description!)

[Nick Somerville]

On 30/05/2022 at 09:00, Jon - Laser Engines said:

f you ever build a bigger one Nick i

Workshop is wedged as it is and I only have four models!

 

Spent a lot of time fiddling with the 3d printed hubs and tyres. I had to mill out the centre of the inside hub and glue in a large washer with epoxy so that the wheels sits a little higher in the wells. As they are They still lightly touch the floor of the well so I laid some carbon cloth to strengthen that area. I used a contact adhesive to glue the tyres halves and epoxy for the hubs. Oil filled bronze bushes have also been glued in both sides of the hubs so they run nice and freely. Hubs sprayed with aluminium first and then matt black. Some panel pin heads glued in for the outer fixing nuts. It will be interesting to see if they will stand up to the task of supporting an estimated 30lbs model but with the price of scale hubs and tyres it’s worth a punt. 

 

 

 

[GrumpyGnome]

Do you think it's worth the risk ?  Biggest shock will be on landing, which would be a bad time to stress test them..... they do look good though!

[Nick Somerville]

20 minutes ago, GrumpyGnome said:

Do you think it's worth the risk ?

Pretty certain the hubs are more than up to the task. As far as the tyres are concerned I have been bouncing them on the floor as hard as I can and really compressing the oleos and so far they seem ok.

 

So I seem to have run out of reasons not to prepare  the bottom skins. The template includes the access panel that will surround the retract mounts. I have inserted a pin and cut off the head at the rib nearest to the outer end of the mount and together with the centre point of the axle this will register the template. The trapezium shaped extension is just for the registration and will not be cut away.

 

The Vailly plan was not at all right regards the shape of the leg and wheel covers and I have had to modify things using the Bentley drawings. The upper leg covers will be fixed and the wheel cover will slide under them on some form of rail when compressed.

 

The retract bolt heads will be very tight to the covers so I have added some local 3/32 and capping strips and blended back to give a little extra room. I doubt if it will be noticeable.

 

 

[Nick Somerville]

Lower skins fitted and servo hatches cut out. The hatches are a balsa/G10 sandwich so screws wont indent when nipped up. The outline of the retract covers and gear doors have been marked on and the next job will be to cover the area with film and lay up carbon cloth for the leg and wheel covers. No inner doors on the 190 A8 so thats a lot of work saved.
 

It’s a satisfying job sanding back all the rough overhangs of the skins to reveal the full outline of the wing. The flaps and ailerons are fitting and operating nicely for once, so that’s a relief. Just the tips to add and carve and the final piece 1/4 leading edge to fit and shape, so it won’t be long before I can have a major clear up of the benches and start thinking about the fuselage.

 

 

 

On this top view you can just about make out the flap indicator apertures and the gear indicator exit holes.

[Colin Carpenter]

Really excellent work Nick ! Regards Colin ( 1 Angel down last week ). ?

[Nick Somerville]

For the gear leg and wheel covers I cut out of G10 two pairs of the upper and lower parts for each side. For anyone who hasn’t used this thin G10 Proskin (.6mm) it is very easy to cut out with a pair of sharp heavy duty scissors.  The upper cover includes the retract access panel which will be cut away later.  My intention was to lay down one set of G10 parts, add two layers of wetted out carbon cloth and then add the second set of G10 covers. Clearly with the black cloth I had no chance of lining the parts up accurately so allowed the carbon to cure with a layer of peel ply on top and all weighted down with sand bag overnight. 
 

Now trimmed up I have a clear outline and the outer layer of G10 can now be glued in place with a thin layer of epoxy and weighted down again. As expected, without the second layer of G10 the covers are just a little too thin and the cloth weave quite pronounced so hopefully the final layer should have them spot on.

 

In the second photo you can see where I had to cut away the open end of the wheel bay to insert some props to push out the lower ski to the correct profile. I had omitted installing some temporary ribs across the area resulting in the sheeting/skin taking a flatter form. 

 

 

 

 

[Nick Somerville]

With the laminated G10 and carbon fibre covers completed the retract cover portion was carefully fretted out and both the upper cover and retract access cover tidied up to provide as close a fit as possible. The wing skin could then be cut away and hardwood lugs added for the access cover. These were drilled, soaked in cyano and tapped 3mm for some suitable short mushroom topped allen bolts.

 

 

The lower wheel cover portion overlaps by 4mm beneath the leg cover and will be attached to the leg close to the axle using the supplied Sierra clamps. There is 30mm of compression available in the oleo so behind the upper leg cover a short length of brass tube has been set and fixed with carbon tows in the lower part of vac formed parts supplied with the plan pack. Once both the upper and lower parts have been drilled for the three saddle clamps and accurately  aligned, a length of piano wire will be fixed to the lower wheel cover to both support the top and support the top and guide it when compressed.

 

 

 

In the last picture you can see the two upper saddle clamps marked and the rear of the parts with the inner dressings. 

[Nick Somerville]

 

One of the most satisfying of tasks I find is planing back and then sanding the leading edges. The tape is set 1/4” behind the face sheets as I had skinned over a prior 1/4” false leading edge. BTW the blue tape is Proper Job’s cheap version of the most excellent green Frog Tape. 1/5th of the cost and tbh I can’t tell the difference excepting the colour of course. 
 

At this point I have no idea how  I am going to cope with sanding the profile around the aluminium inset gun barrel housings ?