Warbirds Replicas Tempest - tips and tricks

[Ron Gray]

As per the FW190 build, any workarounds, gotchas etc please put them here for all to see.

[Ron Gray]

As per Eric's build, note that the plan is incorrect for the location of former F6:

 

 

Eric also highlights the front of the fuselage build details

 

The former F2a glues to the front of F2 to support and locate the cowl. Richard has included a a square section piece of ply to go between F1 and F2a, which is glued and screwed to both. It will have to be shortened to fit, Do not omit it as it is extra support for the motor.

The two 1/4" balsa doubles are not as deep as the ply sides, I  have glued  them level with the top.

 

 

 

 

[Ron Gray]

The plan details the laminations for the TE as a top layer of 6mm balsa, a second layer of 6mm balsa, a layer of 1.5mm ply and a final, bottom layer of 6mm balsa. the bottom layer is, in fact , 3mm balsa.

[Eric Robson]

Take care gluing the trailing edge 6mm balsa on, it looks odd with the tip deeper than the root. It is only just wide enough at the tip so start at the tip and leave the excess to trim off at the root.

[Eric Robson]

Looking at your vid Ron I also put the lower formers on first and fitted the sides before adding the top formers. Whatever one is comfortable with  

[Ron Gray]

Eric has pointed out that the root of the wings has been cut at an angle to facilitate dihedral. The centre section of the Tempest is flat, the dihedral occurs on the outboard wing panels, so you will need to square up the root with a sanding block or similar.

[leccyflyer]

Did the prototype Tempest build have that extra dihedral in there Ron?

[Eric Robson]

Looking back through the build the wing roots are vertical. Possibly a mid communication between Richard and Philip as Richard said he would get Philip to put a cut through the wing at the dihedral break so making it easy to get the cut at the right place and angle. 

Not hard to rectify but easier to do before gluing the leading and trailing edges on.

[Eric Robson]

I raised the wing on two quarter sheets from the kit and used a Perma_grit block. 

[Ron Gray]

Tonight's vid will show this 'defect'!!!

[Bucksboy]

I’ve made a start on the wings and have sanded the leading edges, I think I’ve gone too far.  I’ve ended up with sharp leading edges, the ply inner core giving the edge to sand too.  I’m not sure if I should add balsa back and re sand or will it be ok like this?

The first image shows the second wing root which is still be undergo its final sand. The blue line is what I should aim for but I’ve gone to the red line.
The plan shows what I should aim for but the red line in the second image shows more what I’ve ended up with.  The leading edge is sharp along the whole length.  Will this be a problem?

Edited May 14 by Bucksboy

[Chris Walby]

Looking good guys

[Ron Gray]

20 minutes ago, Bucksboy said:

Will this be a problem

You can always sand the ply back a bit to make it more rounded if you want to, I wouldn’t over think it as it won’t make much difference. 

[Eric Robson]

The full size Tempest had a very sharp leading edge.

Many years ago a chap in our club brought a a trainer he had built, foam veneer wings he just stuck the leading edges on and left them square, it flew OK. 

[Bucksboy]

Thanks gents, I think I’ll sand the ply core a tiny bit to give a tiny bit more of the classic leading edge shape, but they’ll be sharper than normal/ other planes I have.

[stu knowles]

I think that with the variable width leading edge, a fairly sharp L/E is inevitable, especially mid span

[Eric Robson]

Yes Stu,

Having just created enough balsa shavings to supply the local pet shop with hamster bedding for months the wing top shape is an inevitable sharp edge. The top layer would have been OK with 3mm balsa as there is very little of it left.

 

WARNING

in my attempt to flow the wing to the leading edge I have managed to break through the veneer. Not the end of the world but annoying. So take care when sanding the wing top and the bottom although as the bottom is flatter it forms better. 

I will have to stop soon as I have a hospital appointment coming up for eye injections so that is the end of modelling for the day.

[Wihtgar]

Good Luck with the eye injection Eric, my Wife has just gone off for hers. Fortunately, mine have stopped.

 

Do the leading and trailing edge closing members come separately as I can only find one wing set?

 

Nigel

[Wihtgar]

Ah, there is only a trailing edge set to fit!

[Eric Robson]

12 minutes ago, Wihtgar said:

Ah, there is only a trailing edge set to fit!

Yes that's why Ron said in the video to make sure the front laminated edge is assembled flat where it joins the wing.

[Ron Gray]

There may be an issue with the amount of balsa sheet for the curved front deck - there doesn't appear to be enough of it! The reason I think is because the laser cutting has incorporated some additional parts that take up the off cuts originally designated for the deck:

 

 

So you may have to raid your balsa stores for some more 3/32"!

 

Irrespective of this, the supplied sheet means that you will have to join the balsa before curving as it isn't wide enough to have the join on the centre spline, I'll post some photos later to explain what I mean.

[Kevin Fairgrieve]

Good catch @Ron Gray

[Ron Gray]

OK so this is the size of balsa sheet required to cover each side of the curved deck (both the fuselage top and the hatch top). So 2 of these required one of which you can cut from the sheet in the kit.

 

[Ron Gray]

And onto the next thing, shaping the wing LE which Bucksboy mentioned this a bit higher up in the thread. It is quite easy to form the wing profile extended onto the laminated balsa LE at the root and tip of the wing but it becomes nearly impossible to do this in the middle third of the wing, where the laminate dLE is at its widest. This is because the foam LE of the wing is 12mm deep but the laminated LE protrudes forwards by 25mm. At best you will end up with a very thin razor like LE in this area which, to me doesn't look right and I'm not sure if the flying performance will be affected, maybe not at all! This is what it looks like 

 

 

To try and ease this problem I have decided to cut the LE back by about 5mm at its widest point and the photo above shows that line drawn on the balsa.

 

Side by side with an unfinished one is like this and whilst it doesn't look like it in the photo I haven't lost the elliptical shape.

 

 

But what it does mean is that the profile is now to my mind much better and is an even profile throughout the length of the LE

 

 

It's up to you guys what you do, or you may prefer to wait for Richard to get back off his hols to hear his words of wisdom!

 

[Ron Gray]

Whilst looking at the wing shaping don't forget the underside too, in particular the wing has quite a bit of washout. when you glue the laminated TE to the false TE it will be perpendicular to the false TE and will need to be shaped to follow the profile of the wing. This means that the aileron part of the wing needs quite a bit planed / sanded away otherwise you will lose the washout, the amount of planing may well take you through into the ply lamination as mine has but it is very important that you do this.