Seagull Seafire artf

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

I have the Seagull P 47 and a Dle 20RA yes the 100 would be enough but not a startling performance, it would be better with a 120.

[Jon H]

52 minutes ago, Paul De Tourtoulon said:

I have the Seagull P 47 and a Dle 20RA yes the 100 would be enough but not a startling performance, it would be better with a 120.

 

Yikes, a dle 20 should turn it into a rocketship. I flew a club mates larger hangar 9 P47 on a dle 20 and it was very well powered indeed so im surprised you need so much power in yours. Did it end up heavy or are you a reno race enthusiast? 😉 

 

I have seen the SG version fly with the 100 fitted and it is plenty powerful enough. The old topflite kit was the same and they flew really well on the 100 too. 

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

There is also a Hangar 9 one with a Dle 20ra, which is nice in the air, i fitted a couple of stainless steel boat silencers on mine to quieten it down

and it also slows it down to a reasonable speed.

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

I have done a bit of measuring,there isn't a lot of difference,

                            Marutaka          Seagull

 

  Wing root /cord  360mm           390mm

 Max thickness       55mm              60mm

Tail plane thickness 8mm              10mm

Prop Cone diameter 70mm            95mm

 

Weight 4.450kilos                           ?

C of G      95mm                              110mm ?

 

There isn't a lot of difference in the rest of the plane,the engine canopy is a lot bigger on the SG kit

 

i started on cutting the holes out of the wing for the retracts reinforcing the mountings and adding 2mm lifting the retracts as they are too deep and touch the outer balsa skinning, a couple of pictures if anyone is watching, as posting them makes me do a better job with no ( hardly) any botching.

 

First a bit of ironing to make sure the film around the wheel bay is properly stuck down and then cut out with the end of a soldering iron.

Edited October 21, 2022 by Paul De Tourtoulon
why does my phone pictures turn around 90° ?

[David Ovenden]

11 hours ago, Paul De Tourtoulon said:

Still waiting to see it fly David,,,,,

Too wet and windy for flying today Paul!

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

9 hours ago, David Ovenden said:

Too wet and windy for flying today Paul!

Tell me about it, 10 days of flying at the beginning of the month now a week of wind and rain,,,

[Ron Gray]

16 hours ago, Paul De Tourtoulon said:

why does my phone pictures turn around 90°

Edit your photos first on your ‘phone, you only have to do a minor edit such as auto correct then save. The photos will then be in the same orientation when they import.

 

 

 

 

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

Thanks Ron, but phones and computers are both a work of the devil, I will get my camera out from the dust.

 

I will try here rubbish retracts,,

Edited October 22, 2022 by Paul De Tourtoulon
It worked thanks.

[jeff2wings]

22 hours ago, David Ovenden said:

I picked up an new/old stock Seagull Seafury recently and repainted it to a Dutch scheme. Also fitted electic retracts from HK and bigger wheels. Fitted with Saito 115

That an excellent looking colour scheme, what paint did you use? I'm still reworking my one but have no more silver solartex

[SiBee]

You guys are making me think I should get a Sea Fury instead of a Seafire 🤔🤔 but where from ? I’m not good enough to build one from a plan and there doesn’t seem to be any ARTF models.

[leccyflyer]

The Seagull Sea Fury is an impressive beast - I was very impressed with Danny Fenton's electric version quite a few years ago, using the A123 LiFe cells. They do pop up very occasionally on eBay and I saw one in the flesh at a local swapmeet at a knock down price earlier this year.

[Jon H]

1 hour ago, SiBee said:

I’m not good enough to build one from a plan

 

Perhaps its time to broaden your horizons?

 

There is nothing wrong with ARTF, but you will always be limited by the models offered by the various manufacturers so if you want something else, you have to build it. 

Building is a skill, no argument there, but it is one that is not impossible to learn and its immensely rewarding. With the rising costs of ARTF models building may also be more cost effective. Even if it is not cheaper as such, the cost is spread out over the build time and you are likely to end up with a better model at the end of it. 

 

It is also your model, inside and out and is completely unique. So when someone says something nice about it, you can take real pride in your work. There is also added advantage of knowing how to put it back together should you break it. 

 

At the moment i see two good choices. 

 

Grab the Seafire now to solve your immediate want for a new model. In the background, pick up a kit of some kind that is relatively straight forward to build and have a go t that. Make it a model you actually want to fly, even if it is a kit built acrowot, the kit version of the seagull challenger, or something like that.  use it as an intro to a full build to see how you feel about it. Then you can build a Sea Fury a little down the track if you feel more confident. 

 

Alternatively, kill two birds with one stone and pick up the kit build version of the seagull ARTF P47 (link). Its a model that is known to fly well, suits your engine and is relatively straightforward to build as it is basically an unassembled ARTF with all of the parts pre cut. You can then customise it as you wish with a new paint job and so on. 

 

This latter option is a little more like throwing yourself in at the deep end, but If you get stuck with building there is no shortage of assistance available here on the forum with some very skilled builders on hand to offer advice. With the winter coming and flying weather likely in short supply you could have it turned around and ready for the spring even if you only spent your normal flying hours building. Add and hour or two here and there in the evening and progress would be quite rapid.

 

If you are sure building is not for you or you are very limited on space and have nowhere to build then that is fair enough. But, if your hesitation is down to worry about not being good enough then my strong recommendation is to shelve that, buy a model, and get stuck in. 🙂 

 

 

 

[David Ovenden]

5 hours ago, jeff2wings said:

That an excellent looking colour scheme, what paint did you use? I'm still reworking my one but have no more silver solartex

It's a 1950s Dutch navy scheme (one of the option schemes in the Airfix plastic kit). Paint was 3V3 2 part paint (now discontinued) . Paul de Tourtoulon kindly let me have some of his. It sprayed and covered very nicely. 

I see you have fully sheeted your wings. Nice!

[SiBee]

3 hours ago, Jon - Laser Engines said:

 

Perhaps its time to broaden your horizons?

 

There is nothing wrong with ARTF, but you will always be limited by the models offered by the various manufacturers so if you want something else, you have to build it. 

Building is a skill, no argument there, but it is one that is not impossible to learn and its immensely rewarding. With the rising costs of ARTF models building may also be more cost effective. Even if it is not cheaper as such, the cost is spread out over the build time and you are likely to end up with a better model at the end of it. 

 

It is also your model, inside and out and is completely unique. So when someone says something nice about it, you can take real pride in your work. There is also added advantage of knowing how to put it back together should you break it. 

 

At the moment i see two good choices. 

 

Grab the Seafire now to solve your immediate want for a new model. In the background, pick up a kit of some kind that is relatively straight forward to build and have a go t that. Make it a model you actually want to fly, even if it is a kit built acrowot, the kit version of the seagull challenger, or something like that.  use it as an intro to a full build to see how you feel about it. Then you can build a Sea Fury a little down the track if you feel more confident. 

 

Alternatively, kill two birds with one stone and pick up the kit build version of the seagull ARTF P47 (link). Its a model that is known to fly well, suits your engine and is relatively straightforward to build as it is basically an unassembled ARTF with all of the parts pre cut. You can then customise it as you wish with a new paint job and so on. 

 

This latter option is a little more like throwing yourself in at the deep end, but If you get stuck with building there is no shortage of assistance available here on the forum with some very skilled builders on hand to offer advice. With the winter coming and flying weather likely in short supply you could have it turned around and ready for the spring even if you only spent your normal flying hours building. Add and hour or two here and there in the evening and progress would be quite rapid.

 

If you are sure building is not for you or you are very limited on space and have nowhere to build then that is fair enough. But, if your hesitation is down to worry about not being good enough then my strong recommendation is to shelve that, buy a model, and get stuck in. 🙂 

 

 

 

Thanks for the great advice Jon 👍

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

I reinforced the retract beams and added another 1/2 Rib in 3mm ply all glued with polyurethane glue.

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

I turned down the steel the leg adapters, 10mm / 5.5mm drilled the 10mm end out to 6mm to lighten it, the wheel axels are no longer the SG 4mm rubbish but 5mm piano wire  silver soldered 4mm washes as end stops.and Robart wheels, I had to cut out the wheel wells to clear the wheels.

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

Not much movement, is any one watching or interested ?.

 

In the plan it shows F/glass control horns, instead of that they are bolts and countersunk washers, so a rummage around in my don't ever throw away box some spare sides from a helicopter net yet crashed did the job.

[SiBee]

I haven’t got mine yet but I will be following in detail when I get it 👍

[David Ovenden]

8 hours ago, Paul De Tourtoulon said:

Not much movement, is any one watching or interested ?.

Watching and interested Paul. Good to see you are fitting decent size wheels and upgrading the retracts. Why do ARTF warbirds always come with tiny non-scale wheels?

[Richard Ashworth]

Also watching, thank you. 

Not into warbirds but have now built four increasingly difficult electric sport plane flat pack kits (all self designed electric conversions!) with a fifth, Elan 100, part built. I follow most build blogs on the site and like most forumites have learnt and taken ideas from them all. 

[Ace]

keep going 👍 usually just follow in the background unless anything constructive to add.

[Jon H]

10 hours ago, David Ovenden said:

Watching and interested Paul. Good to see you are fitting decent size wheels and upgrading the retracts. Why do ARTF warbirds always come with tiny non-scale wheels?

 

Its pathetic, and one of the quickest ways to make a warbird look stupid. It also makes them very prone to spending their whole lives with their noses in the dirt. I dont understand it myself but fortunately it seems to be gradually changing. 

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

I haven't got a proper scale drawing of the Seafire but the wheels on the real one do look small.

[J D 8]

  Not a warbird flyer [unless you count WW1 types] but watching with interest.

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

First problem, I aligned the retracts up fitted the wheels and of course now they won't close as the leading edge of the wing isn't deep

enough, so what they really need is to be raked back like the real one,,,😮