DaddySam

My Feedback: (9)

I've spent some time fitting the cowl to the fuse. It still needs some work but I've built up some of the cowl to match the fuse outline and installed the 6-40 bolts and blind nuts to attach the cowl. I went overboard initially with cutting out intake holes for the fresh air, and then had to glue the pieces back together. I have a temp sensor that I'll install and check the engine temperature with the setup as it is now. I may have to enlarge the intake hole, but in either case I'll eventually cover it with screen and paint it. The rear hole for sparkplug clearance is kind of a defeat in a way. Only a quarter inch of one edge sticks out - otherwise I could have had a cowled - in engine! Maybe I'll cover the hole with a blister later, but who knows?

DaddySam

My Feedback: (9)

Ever have one of those days where you just "have" to see your plane put together? I did today, under the guise that I wanted to check the fit of the wings, fillets, landing gear, and doors. You can see the results. The fit of the wing to fuse needed some sanding of the globs of epoxy, and I'm going to glass the fuse fillets while the wing is on the fuse to make sure the fit remains close. The landing gear doors are a compromise, as I knew they would be. Hurri number 2, with the Sierra gear, should fit perfect. But for this plane, this is better than I expected. Not quite parallel while down, and not quite flush when up. But I figure that nobody will notice as it screams by in a strafing run! And I slung the plane on a fish scale while I had it together. Between 22 and 23 lbs, and hung nose down at that. I am guessing that when I add the rest of the covering and paint it should balance with just the two heavy A123 packs I'll put up front, ora bit of lead. I am still hopeful at coming in around 25-27 lbs!

wphilb

My Feedback: (10)

Can you angle the doors slightly so that the airflow forces the gear to remain up? I often see gear pulled down during flight and the forces responsible are probably both G forces and the airflow. 

DaddySam

My Feedback: (9)

Hi Whit! Good to hear from you. One of the nice things about those doors is that I can access the set screw on the door collars so I can tilt them easily. The gear is equipped with up and down locks, so I am hoping it won't get pulled down. But if that is a problem I can adjust them easily. As for the lead powder - already got it on the shelf! Thanks again !

DaddySam

My Feedback: (9)

I've been working on several things at once on the Hurri, and in the middle of it all I changed my mind as to which plane this one will model. I've attached the pix. I have a question regarding the aluminum color paint that they use on the underside of the fuse and elevators: Is there some type of grey that would do as a substitute?
Thanks
Sam

DaddySam

My Feedback: (9)

Over the last few days I've been working on getting the wing fillet done, recovering the fuse, mounting the antenna, and fiberglassing the nose. It's been years since I had to do the wing fillet on the fuse matching the wing fillet on the center section, and I thought I'd used monocote as the fillet separator. After the epoxy / microballoons mixture had dried, it was almost impossible to separate. I had visions of a once piece Hurricane! I was finally able to separate the wing and fuse, but I'm still not totally happy with the fit. A am hoping that by using Flitemetal and a black walkway paint I can camouflage the mistakes...... I also cut out the spinner openings, painted the spinner black (as well as one of the LG doors), while waiting for various bits and pieces to dry.

glazier808

My Feedback: (1)

Looking good Sam!

Casey

DaddySam

My Feedback: (9)

Thanks Casey! I've been thinking about the two blisters on the cowl, and how to make them. I decided to try to use a plastic spoon as a mold and use Blaze Glaze auto putty. I scuffed up the cowl, marked the locations, then sanded down the spoon on the sander, using a handle made of masking tape to hold onto it. Then I waxed the inside of the mold, made up a small batch of putty, and then put it on the cowl and held it in place until it hardened. I think it turned out pretty well, for my first attempt. I think I'll cover each blister and the other putty spots with half ounce cloth, just to make sure they don't fall off!

DaddySam

My Feedback: (9)

Got some work done on the Hurri before work today. I've sanded and re-primed the cowl. I've glassed the front portion of the fuse, and then sanded and primed it. I primed the wing saddle area to give me a better idea of how much more fiddling I need to do with the wing/fuse joint, and I think there is still some more to do. I then assembled the plane and did a test cg using my "vanessa" cg machine. I taped the level to the fuse crutch and balanced it slightly nose down, and just forward of the forward CG mark, because I still did not have the flaps installed and I'm sure the paint will add some weight. I put the batteries on the firewall and lead weight there too. I think I'll be able to move the batteries slightly forward if I make a shelf over the engine, and I'm sure I can add the ballast in a slurry. I used lead shot to check the weight. Once I get it finalized I'll use the steel powder. I checked the weight, at 26 lbs 10 oz. I think that even after paint I should not be much over 27 lbs. A few over my goal, but not bad. Then of course a few pix of the assembled plane....

DaddySam

My Feedback: (9)

After looking over the wing portion of the fillet I think I'm going to sand it off and start over, maybe with the Blazeglaze auto filler. I'll post some pix when I get it done.

DaddySam

My Feedback: (9)

Well I took off the fillets and tried two more times, the second time following Chad's tutorial here: http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_40...rs_406581/mpag e_1/key_/anchor/tm.htm#406581

I have to say I was very nervous trusting Johnson paste wax to release the wing from the fuse, but it did. Now we'll see if I degreased it enough to hold paint. The tail fairing is another story. I'm not competent enough to try lithoplate but I read on another thread about using lith to form the outer boundaries of the fillet and then fill the rest in with putty. So I tried that, using aluminum tape instead of lith, and the jury is still out. I used a 1/4" strip of the tape so I could make the bend around the leading edge. I may just pull it all off and use wider pieces of the aluminum and then fill the small void in the middle.
Here are the pix of the fairings. Thank you Chad for the great information you generously share!.

DaddySam

My Feedback: (9)

Well I pulled off the aluminum tape but I realized that the primer I'd shot on the fillet area left a nice line. I ended up making the tail fillets out of Flitemetal, and we'll see what they look like when I get it primed and sanded. I also have been doing "odds and ends", including trying to make a radiator innard that looked scale and would act as a venturi to pull warm air out of the fuse. So I make some balsa front and backs, put smaller holes up front and larger holes in back. Then I connected them with a piece of phenolic wing socket to simulate the oil cooler. I covered the front and back with 3M drywall sanding mesh, cutting out the circle for the oil cooler and putting it back in the wing tube at an angle. The pictures don't really show it well on the plane, but I'm hoping the overall effect will be nicer that the open radiator, and yet still work to pull air. I will add the door closers and the bracing later, as well as the vertical pieces (not sure what they are but they are spaced pretty evenly across the front of the radiator mesh. I also could not resist painting the rudder, getting used to the Clark Warpaint.
Sam

Chad Veich

My Feedback: (60)

I'm glad somebody is still getting some mileage out of the old tutorial Sam. The assembled Hurricane looks fantastic by the way. Their is light at the end of the tunnel!

DaddySam

My Feedback: (9)

Thank you Chad, for the tutorial and the kind words. I've been doing some more odds and ends. I masked off the canopy and sanded the framework. I must have three or four kinds of masking tape. I tried the autobody stuff first and ended up using the blue tape for most of it. I have had a bottle of liquid mask for decades and almost tried it. I read the instructions and when I saw that it worked best "if allowed to dry overnight" I was too impatient to try it. Maybe on something else! First coat black, then dark green. While I was spraying the black I sprayed the other half of the radiator to took a pic. Today I think I'll make the landing light and wingtip lenses, then make the cutouts in the wing.

DaddySam

My Feedback: (9)

More odds and ends today. I pulled some plastic over the wing LE to form the lenses for the landing lights. I made two for each side because with my luck I'll screw one up and after the LE has been cut the next pull won't be nearly as good. Then there was cutting into a perfectly good LE, hoping I had marked and measured for the landing light cutouts. As luck would have it, I was within spec and was able to cut out the openings with only minor repairs needed. Since the landing lights are such a prominent feature of the Hurri's wings, I figured I wanted them to light up as well as look okay. Since the bulbs might burn out I decided I needed to make the lens assembly removable. What I came up with was making a lens with it's own framework. I can then slide the lens into place, use some zap a dap a goo to hold it in, and then cover the joint with a framework made of flightmetal. If I need to replace a bulb, I'll have to cut through the flitemetal and zap a goo, replace the light, reset the lens, then touch up with paint. I could not think of any other way without having screws sticking out. And of course the test of the landing lights! I have them wired to a three way switch with the gear. Top position, lights off, gear up. Middle position, lights off, gear down. Bottom position, gear down and lights on.

DaddySam

My Feedback: (9)

This is a pic of the landing light lens installed with the Flitemetal covering the gap and framing the assembly. I may redo it with a bit wider frame.....

Brad330l

My Feedback: (1)

Wow, there is some colour going on this bird!!!!!
Well done man, looks great.

Brad

DaddySam

My Feedback: (9)

Thanks Brad. Slow and not so steady progress! I unmasked the canopy the other day and my fears were realized - the framework is too pronounced for my liking. I took the canopy for the second Hurricane and bit the bullet and used it as a mold for some plaster of Paris. I watched a video from Merlyn Graves and used a styrofoam block inside the canopy to reduce the amount of P of P. My idea is that after the P of P has dried completely I'll sand off the framework and then have a go at vacu-forming a new canopy, which I can then add the framework to out of aluminum or flightmetal. If it does not work out then I can always use the original canopy for now. Seems like there is always a new skill to learn.

DaddySam

My Feedback: (9)

I've finished the wingtip lights and landing lights, got them masked prior to priming. They are not perfect, but hopefully the next ones will be better. I have added the wing stiffeners behind the gear and the wing join covers on the top of the wing. The bottom will happen today. I had one of those moments the other day when I was bringing one of my RC buddies up to date. I was whining about having to wait for the cure time on the latex before I'd be able to fly it, and I realized I'd just arbitrarily chosen to use the Warpaint latex. I've got almost enough of my WBC to do the whole plane, so I am going to use the WBC. So instead of shooting a third or fourth coat on the tail feathers I stripped them and have recovered them - it was easier before they were mounted! I also recovered the ailerons. One of the two steps back days....

Chad Veich

My Feedback: (60)

Just FYI Sam, I've never had any luck sanding plaster. It has a very thin skin on it and once you've broken through that skin the plaster is very soft and full of voids where air was trapped. The difference in density between the surface skin and the material underneath make it nearly impossible to sand smooth. Maybe I'm just not using the right plaster or something though so I hope you have better luck. I will be interested in your selection of materials if you do!

DaddySam

My Feedback: (9)

Chad,
Thanks for that advice. I've tried sanding off the framing and I did find that the consistency was as if the plaster underneath had not hardened. I let it sit in the sun for the afternoon and it seems to have hardened again. I'll spray some primer on it to see if I can get a smooth surface. I plan on pulling a canopy of white styrene and leaving that on the mold while I pull a clear one over the styrene one. I have been working on the tail fairings. You know, sometimes a person should just follow the lead of others and do it the old fashioned way. I mixed up some epoxy and microballoons and used several thicknesses of tape to build up the edge. I smeared it around and when it started to kick I used my finger wet with denatured alcohol to smooth it out. It seems to have worked ok. Once covered primer I'll have a better idea.

DaddySam

My Feedback: (9)

Although I haven't posted in a few days I've been busy. I sanded and primed the tail fillets, and I think I'm almost there.

DaddySam

My Feedback: (9)

I primed the wings and sanded off a lot of it - more needed to be sanded.

DaddySam

My Feedback: (9)

I made the cooling duct from the front intake hole to the sides of the cylinder head. Just used balsa covered with fiberglass.

DaddySam

My Feedback: (9)

I've been communicating with Vikie at GetStencils.com. She sent a proof and I checked the sizes, made some changes, and placed the order.