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Warbird Replicas FW190 newbie build (or possibly some wellingtons)


Lipo Man
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51 minutes ago, Ron Gray said:

Yep, that's the one I show in my videos.

It's belting stuff and I was very impressed when using it to glasscloth my Flair Beaufighter wing last year. Really nice to use and a completely stress free clean-up, compared to that horrid polyester stuff or conventional epoxy finishing resin.

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Back building today. A couple of bits of pine (?) glued on the servo box covers allow you to screw the servos into place - and remove and replace them if you have problems. Control rods then bent and fitted and everything tested - seems great!

It was my first time pinning hinges - but it’s quick and easy. I drilled a 2mm dole and pushed through bits of wooden cocktail sticks with PVA wood glue. 
Last but not least I glued the horizontal stabiliser in place. Again PVA wood glue and some clothes pegs to close up the thin pieces on the top (with some scrap to take the place (temporarily) if the fin. 
No reason not to fit the motor tomorrow - getting pretty close!

 

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Motor and ESC soldered and installed - which gives me the first opportunity to assess CG. With a 2600 4s battery the CG is about 10mm too far back - but that’s without a prop or the spinner (which I need to drill out to fit this motor). There’s a chance I could maybe get it to balance with those added - if not I’ll add a little nose weight (and maybe later invest in some bigger batteries?). I’ll be quite intimidated for the maiden - this is much heavier than anything I’ve ever flown before. 
 

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Mine has 3600 batteries and is just on the c of g, don't worry about flying it, get the c of g right and add weight as needed, 

My first flight was from a hand launch from a helper, it flew straight away steady as a rock and only needed a little trim, 

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I fastened the canopy with 4 small screws with the intention of adding some detail later, it needs a pilot at least for those low passes but I thought I would have some flying time first as I don't want to add to much weight. The only pilot I have that is suitable is quite heavy. 

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A quick thought on servo placement. I’ve copied Richard’s prototype and used some scrap ply to add crossmembers under the plastic gun cover. I positioned them just far back enough that the rearmost crossmember overlaps with the cross part of the main fuselage crutch. The former above braces that part of the crutch so you get some extra rigidity “for free” - ie no added weight. 
 

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Well we’re getting very close to having something flyable. Motor is cogging which will be my very dodgy soldering on the ESC but otherwise everything is working. For once I’m going to spend the time finishing all the small jobs and double checking rather than my usual routine of gaffer taping all the loose bits and giving it maximum send. That’s maturity, that is. Better late than never…

 

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Electronics fitted and working. Hinges pinned. It’s technically flyable now, but the weather is somewhat unsuitable for a maiden so time to try painting. My scheme uses three principal colours - light blue underneath and up the fuselage sides, grey and grey/green upper surfaces. First coat of the blue is done and some sample patches of the upper colours. I think the green is too green, and the grey is maybe a bit too blue and pale. However I’m matching to a phone screen so who knows? The paint is very easy to apply - quick too!

 

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First sight of the three main colours together. I wasn’t happy with the green - I thought it was too dark and too “pine forest” rather than a grey green. Also the grey was too close to the pale blue used underneath and on the fuselage sides. So - a trip back to B&Q to get a darker grey, and then I mixed the lighter grey with the green. I doubt it’s very accurate but it’s going to have to do for me!

 

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Looks great so far . 

Can I make some suggestions , which you dont have to follow ?

The edges of the camo look better soft , so take the darker colour using it very dry , lightly stipple the demarcation between the two greens . 

Secondly , by the time the FW190 turned up , the paint jobs were much more blended , so the light blue sides would be softened with blotches of the darker colours , (try a piece of sponge , picking a dry paint from paint on a card ) .

Lastly , the wing fairings would always be dark like the wing , not light like the fuselage . 

If you do the above and then have go at panel lines and weathering , it will all come together nicely . 

On the other hand it will still look fine with just the decals on . Your choice . 

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23 minutes ago, RICHARD WILLS said:

Looks great so far . 

Can I make some suggestions , which you dont have to follow ?

The edges of the camo look better soft , so take the darker colour using it very dry , lightly stipple the demarcation between the two greens . 

Secondly , by the time the FW190 turned up , the paint jobs were much more blended , so the light blue sides would be softened with blotches of the darker colours , (try a piece of sponge , picking a dry paint from paint on a card ) .

Lastly , the wing fairings would always be dark like the wing , not light like the fuselage . 

If you do the above and then have go at panel lines and weathering , it will all come together nicely . 

On the other hand it will still look fine with just the decals on . Your choice . 

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My plan is to get the bulk of the colour on with brushes then do the sponge technique to add the “blobs” and soften the edges. Plan is to maiden as soon as weather cooperates but spend the odd evening here and there gradually adding weathering, panel lines etc. afterwards.
I’ve never done this before so I’ll learn as I go, and your advice is massively helpful!

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I think that's the perfect plan David . If possible , I will usually do the same now . ie fly it as soon as poss and complete the paintjob after . 

I also have been in the habit of leaving off spinners and expensive props and even canopies . Makes  no difference to the test flight but it means there is less to damage and also I can enjoy taking my time over cockpit detail etc after the "drama " is over . 

I have had to test fly some of my friends warbirds over the years (goodness knows why they leave it to me !) , and some have every rivet and fancy detail added and it makes me nervous , but you can see it would give them a heart attack at that stage . In the bare flesh , they wouldn't be half as scared . 

(The model , not the pilot , lets be reasonable here ) 

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Actually leaving off the spinner is a good suggestion. My motor shaft is 8mm so I need to drill it out, and I don’t have access to a pillar drill so a bit wary of doing it “by hand”. I’ll fly without it for now to buy myself some time…

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Prop reamer will do it . Or just keep going up in drill sizes . The existing hole will keep it centred anyway . 

Thats how I did mine . Pillar drill would be difficult due to profile hard to hold . 

https://wheelspinmodels.co.uk/i/253223/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAh8OtBhCQARIsAIkWb680mjgbZA8Yxs6fB6dcYvt4GFt5J-zSPKnmXcOmTyZ8UcpQgHTpCoUaAmcmEALw_wcB

 

Money well spent for the future 

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Well I had some time today to work on the FW190. I started experimenting with using a sponge to paint - softening the edges of the camo. I also drilled out the spinner and used some 8mm washers to space it to work with an APC prop. Oh - also painted the canopy. 
Slightly concerned that with the model weighted to balance at the correct CG position I’ve come in a little over budget, weight-wise. RTF is 1,954g - that’s 4lb 5oz in old money. Quite a bit more than Richard’s prototype, which I think was 4lb. Not sure how that happened but I’m definitely a beginner, so not entirely surprising. Just need to build a dolly and fix the ESC (motor isn’t spinning if the prop is attached) and I can go flying. 
 

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Last bit of bare brown paper needs painting before the maiden - mainly for the purposes of waterproofing! The yellow I’ve got for the nose and tail doesn’t cover very well so I’ll put a couple of coats of some off-white I found in the shed on as undercoat. Scheme I’ve chosen is very colourful - the intention is that it’ll help with orientation. 
 

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