Geoff Gardiner Posted December 28, 2023 Share Posted December 28, 2023 After a couple of years of exile (having no workshop due to house alterations) I am finally back balsa bashing! I have a few builds under my belt but this will be my first Warbirds Replicas kit and I have been looking forward to this since the postman delivered it a couple of years ago. Having cut out and labelled all the parts, I am starting with the wing – taking care to make two opposite sides. More later… 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Gardiner Posted January 1 Author Share Posted January 1 Bit more work done on the wings. I find the kids lego is great for keeping things square. Main spar and flap spars fitted. Leading edge and aileron spars fitted. The aileron spars in my kit were a bit short so I cut a packing piece from some scrap balsa and glued it to R6. Half ribs glued to R2 and R6. More later... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Gardiner Posted January 12 Author Share Posted January 12 (edited) Some more progress with the wings. Glued on the aileron servo trays and the wing dihedral braces (these needed a little trimming to fit). I have decided to use 6mm silicon rubber sheet to mount the servos on, so I have used the U/C doublers on the other side of the U/C plate to add a bit more strength and give more wood for the screws to bite into. Sheeted the upper wing surface up to R2. This will allow me good access to use clamps when joining the wings. Added the aileron horn mounts to the inside of the top sheet, with some scrap balsa to infill the gap. I then realised that they need to be flush against the inside bottom sheet. So have now removed the infill and replaced with some scrap ply. Started sheeting the bottom of the wing to R1, using the wing cradle for support. More later... Edited January 12 by Geoff Gardiner 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan S Posted January 13 Share Posted January 13 Fast work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Gardiner Posted January 14 Author Share Posted January 14 I have decided to start on the fuselage build because I am getting through the 1.5mm sheet and thought it better to have the correct size pieces for the fuselage sheeting and patch the wing if needed. Put the battery box and hatch together whilst the sides where gluing. I will add some more stringers to the hatch (from scrap wood) later in the build. Fitted the captive nuts to the wing plate. Started gluing the crutch assembly together. More later... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Gardiner Posted January 15 Author Share Posted January 15 Had a spare half hour this evening so glued on the rear assembly. I first put a chamfer on the ends of the rear side doublers. Then wrestled the other parts into place. More later... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Hazell 1 Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 Great job so far, watching closely as I have a WR P51D I must get started on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Gardiner Posted January 16 Author Share Posted January 16 Glued the balsa sides onto the ply framework today. More later... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Gardiner Posted January 19 Author Share Posted January 19 Sides are on. Fitted the balsa strips on the front underside. These needed a bit of fettling as the ply doubler was preventing them from seating fully into the cutout in the front former. More later... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RICHARD WILLS Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 Looks great so far Geoff . I am also impressed by your use of giant Lego bricks as set squares . Even more impressed by your stock of tinned food . Its nice to know that, in the event of a nuclear armageddon , at least one of our gang would last for more than a few days. Keep up the good work . Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 Yes but you may want to check your meat balls Geoff, I think they are well beyond their 'best before' date! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Gardiner Posted January 20 Author Share Posted January 20 Had me worried for a moment there Ron. You had me checking dates, as I have been feeding them to the small people! If anyone needs some beans, you can fight the children for them ( I'm more of a spaghetti hoops man ). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 At our age you just need to keep checking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Gardiner Posted January 20 Author Share Posted January 20 Bit more done today. Fitted the rear upper formers and spine. I wasn't sure what to do with the front deck spine, so decided to cut it on the diagonal to help set the angle of the instrument panel former. I didn't put glue on this part as it will probably need to come off when fitting the 3d printed instrument panel. Glued on the rear deck supports and the square balsa on the underside. More later... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Gardiner Posted January 25 Author Share Posted January 25 Fitted the magnets for the battery hatch. Put the hatch in place and drilled through the hatch and fuselage Then Finally I glued in the magnets with Cyano Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Gardiner Posted January 25 Author Share Posted January 25 My thoughts then turned to the battery box. I am going to be using the ally spinner and 4000mah batteries. From what I have read, this combo can come out nose heavy. With this in mind, I decided to lenghten the battery box as follows. I had to remove about 5mm from the sides of the original battery box as the were preventing the hatch from being slid off sideways. I had to remove the cross piece on the crutch as it was preventing the battery from sliding in. More later... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Gardiner Posted January 26 Author Share Posted January 26 3d printed some furniture for the office. Needs a bit more painting and 'weathering'. More later... 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyGnome Posted January 27 Share Posted January 27 Have you lost the P51 canopy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted January 27 Share Posted January 27 The best version, B with a Malcolm. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leccyflyer Posted January 27 Share Posted January 27 Yes indeed, Mustang III - lovely. Nice work on that cockpit Geoff.😎 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Gardiner Posted January 31 Author Share Posted January 31 A little more done: Fitted the servos into the fuselage. Then fitted the snakes. I then switched back to the wings. I had to put a slight bend on the retract legs (about 5mm) as they were hitting the spar. I also spent a bit of time making up a cardboard template before cutting balsa. More later... 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Gardiner Posted February 3 Author Share Posted February 3 Sheeting on and leading edge and wing tips fitted. More later... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan S Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 amazing progress.,... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Gardiner Posted February 5 Author Share Posted February 5 Thanks Jonathan, I try to get a little bit done each day. I have today, sanded the wing tips and leading edge. Fitted the Aileron servo covers. Then took a deep breath and cut out the wobbly bits. More later... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Gardiner Posted February 12 Author Share Posted February 12 Bit more done: Cut out the wheel wells and lined them with 1.5mm balsa. More later... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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