Been busy with this one for a bit, finally converted it to Phlatprinter friendly plans...
Have a look see!

This is the same plan that I have featured on my web site, but I have started a new plane to prove this will work on the pp.

One Issue I had was the wing on mine twisted the wrong direction and I had to man handle it to make it flat. I believe this was because I had the wing formers upside down, and this is an area for improvement in this set of plans but was too cheap to refine the plans and reprint. Also I highly recommend that the wing is glassed or you run a fiber rod through it as it is the weakest one I have made as of yet.

Wingspan is about 38 inches, and mine will weigh about 20-21oz AUW with smaller 1100 mah A123 pack, possibly a little more as I'm going to glass the bottom of the fuse as well.

Canopy and nose cowl need to be made up from something, on mine I have chosen to vac form a cowl and canopy out of PET-G because it holds up well and looks neat. very possible to simply carve up a foam one. Attached files F6F Hellcat V31.skp (15 MB)Â

 

Here are a few pics of it cut out and assembled, don't forget too add the 3 degrees of down thrust per the original scale design! (Or else this thing will climb sharply at full throttle!)


Note the silver vac formed cowl, PET-G was formed over a pink foam carving... Pretty easy to do, much easier then glassing I think... Attached files

 

Looks very nice, tvcasualty. Thanks for the share!

 

Man I have slowed waaay down on my builds lately, but I managed to carve up a pilot last night. Since I've posted last on here, I cut in a hatch and did a bunch of fiberglasswork on the fuse. The pilot really turned out nice, and I'll have to post some pics once I've got it painted so you can see some of the details. I love working with foam, it carves and cuts up so easy!

I'm thinking how to get the wife out with me so I can get some maiden vid. 16 degrees overhear today, more snow likely this weekend... :?

I've gotta get going on that P-38, and another I've got on the back burner, because I really want to do another 109, perhaps a summer project? It's been too cold to work in the garage, and it's a mess. Not normally an issue, but when it's cold I hate going out there for any amount of time... I'm really looking forward to spring!

 

Pilot is PAINTED!!
Now if I could only figure out how to get the pp to carve out one of these guys for me...


any ideas?

BTW, before I added the paint I weighed the pilot at 2 grams.
I can't believe a vac formed pilot could be any lighter... Attached files

 

Dude! that pilot is sweet, you have some mad carving and painting skills, that's for sure.
I think that the figure could be carved with a flat printer with a very small bit (.030inch diameter ball end mill cutter) and a CAM program capable of generating true 3 axis cuts. Probably the hardest part would be to draw this little dude in a CAD system before importing him into the CAM system to generate tool paths on him. Mark has used a few programs to make 3D stuff, I think ArtCAM was one program he used.

 

That kind of plugin would be very helpful in these more advanced builds...
For both the canopy and cowl, both could have been trimmed out of foam using the CNC, from there they could either be glassed and painted, or used as molds for a simple vac forming table. Either way it would make for a great set of easily reproduced plans... and in this economy one can't have enough cheap planes (or cheap enough).

 

Painting and underside painting has begun...
A simple blue, lighter blue, white coat is airbrushed on then the details are added.
Basically all I'm doing here is printing the 3 view from sketchup to scale (the underside is not in the original file, if anyone want it give me a shout) then using a hobby knife to cut on the edges...
This step could be done with some cardboard and a 1/16 bit and using the "centerline" or "fold" cut at a depth of 110% to trace out the lines, saving a bunch of time. I did not do this this time as I had to take my pp down to allow for a painting area...

After the templates were cut the airbrushing is easy, line up the template and brush away. (if you have a spare piece of foam with a straight edge, it can be used as a mask to extend some of you lines, if you want to add more detail...)

After that initial "black" coat for the details, white was then reapplied to "soften" them up.

Next will be to add the roundels / decals, then last weather.
Attached files

 

Got her maidened over the last weekend...
Plane flies great, but is not the gentile easy flier I wanted.
Looks beautiful in the air, and i will try to get some vid up soon.

I think I am going to preform some surgery on the wing to further correct the washout, which should tone it down. As of right now, if flies like you'd expect a warbird to, with speed, and dangerously unstable, and look out for that tip stall! Almost lost her twice...

That's what i get for shot cutting the cad work -but now I know.

 

Got the Hellcat out again today, moved the CG a bit forward, and the flying was some of the best I've had yet!

Attached files

 

Yup, flys great too! COG sits about 1 inch from the LE of the wing...
One thing though, it is really fast for using a 1000KV motor. Would not make a good indoor flyer in this config... but with a 38" WS I'm not sure who would want to go that route?

I would like to dress up the canopy a bit, still needs the bracing and what nots... But I've been waiting for warmer weather so I can get back to building in my garage.

Also, I just cut the central fuse for my P-38... so progress is being made.