Seagull Seafire artf

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

I through it together this morning, only the pilot and cockpit to put in place, 4 Kilos 400, and the balance point is at 12.5cm "maybe" a 100 grams for the first flight although there will be 300 grams of fuel in it, any thoughts ?.

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

No pictures as I am ashamed to say that for once I am not painting the decoration on it 🤐 anyway the cockpit isn't the right one, not forgetting it isn't very scale.,,,

 

On second thoughts,,,

 

Stick the SX336 on the bottom of the wing before the roundels and the 'Royal Navy and 105 ones also before the roundels, or you will end up like me a bit squeezed up.

 

Not the original pilot, and a perfectly balanced APC 14x 8 for the Saito.

Edited November 20, 2022 by Paul De Tourtoulon
second thoughts.

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

I saw somewhere that you could give your model a mat finish using wire wool and / or wet and dry, You Can't, it's a complete waste of time, I will wet and dry it to key in the mat varnish.

[Ron Gray]

Try Scotch Brite or a pan scourer, it does work but does take some time and you have to remember that you are scratching the surface!

Edited November 21, 2022 by Ron Gray

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

A real rubbish finish, so I sprayed it with a mat varnish yesterday with my new 100€ 220v compressor ad 2 spray guns with it a really good buy,

and what a difference !🥳

 

compressor kit,

https://www.manomano.fr/p/kit-compresseur-airbrush-professionnel-avec-2-pistolets-731105?model_id=731103

[Ron Gray]

Looks a lot better now!

[Jon H]

Dont go too mad. Most carrier aircraft had gloss paintwork as it was easier to wash the salt off them. 

[Ace]

Looking much nicer after the rub down 👍

[David Ovenden]

Nice work Paul. What matt varnish did you use in the end?

[Eric Robson]

1 hour ago, Jon - Laser Engines said:

Dont go too mad. Most carrier aircraft had gloss paintwork as it was easier to wash the salt off them. 

I went to Fighteraces for the paint for my Seafury and asked Phil for matt, he told me to use the satin as the carrier aircraft were not matt.

As the Seafury's were post war I am not sure that the Seafire's would be gloss. A few months operating from a carrier would take the shine off them.

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

Yes I agree Eric, sitting on a sea sprayed deck I am sure that it would be mat in a couple of days if not hours,

Plenty left if you need some David.

Edited November 22, 2022 by Paul De Tourtoulon
Got the varnish next to Leclerc

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

All thrown together the cowling is now touching the cone for some morbid reason so a 3mm aluminium spacer was made up, balance point 12.5mm,,

I will be running the engine in the garden with an APC 14 x 8 prop as I don't want to fiddle with it on the model field in front of my admirers,,🤣

 as they expect me to give it a flick or two and take off with my usual big-headedness,,,🥳

[Ron Gray]

Looking good Paul.

[Ace]

Followed the saga - hopefully the swan fly's as good as it looks 🤞

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

I roughly worked out that my 12cm back balance point came to 'around' 35% of the cord, so I am going with the 10 cm

on the plan it is 9cm and I read 'somewhere that it was 11cm, and with loads of lead at J Perkins they announce 4 kilos,  maybe the Fairies believe them but not me, so tomorrow "Lead"  and 250 grams of fuel in the tank with some engine running for the neighbours,,,

[David Ovenden]

We should get my Seafury and your Seafire flying at the same time. The 2 Saitos would sound good together.

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

Rough maths, 10cm = 26% good enough for me, now for the lead,,,

[leccyflyer]

Very nice - love that colour scheme with the big red spinner. 🙂

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

It should be black, maybe I will change it later on.

Taped and elastics holding the piece of triangular balsa on the balance point, a couple of buckets no 100€ balancer for me 🤣

a tape measure ( 160 grams ) to compensate for half a tank of fuel and 310 grams of lead to get it right, announced weight 4 kilos, but nearer the 5 kilos,,

 

 

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

Not Einstein's work or Salvador Dali but it does the job, all steel with a 130g lead sandwich easy to remove a bit at a time if needed.

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

Well that was an anti climax, a couple of clicks here and there for the trim, it is slightly nose heavy but really fly's well so other than reducing the servo throws not much to say except a real Helicopter landed on the model field, and did a couple of low passes after taking off.

 

 It's in the background spinning up,,

[Ron Gray]

Good to hear it went well Paul.

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

Thanks Ron the Saito 100 with the OS .70 surpass silencer is perfect, performance and sound.

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

My  one pot polyurethane is coming off of the bottom of the engine cowling end the centre of the wing, so I will clean the bottom off revarnish it with 2 pot polyurethane and matt it down with wet and dry, still looking for a cheap 75/100 Laser to fiddle with.

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

My Saito 100 has been throwing props when starting and even warm translating from a fast idle to about 5.000 rpm,

I shimmed the cylinder with 0.3mm aluminium printing plate, it did the job,  2 tanks and both times dead stick landings as I was having so much fun, I also plugged in the second electric retract to canal 7 with a '20' servo delay mixed with canal 5 to make them retract like a real plane.