Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

I've also been trying to figure out the best way of ensuring that the brake hubs stay still. The hubs that come with Mick's gear have an air fitting (a really neat one BTW !), and a section of "all-thread" sticking out the rear of the hub. On the assumption that the all-thread was an anti-rotation pin (I hope that's what it's meant for [X(]), I assembled the unit with the all-thread on one side of the strut and the air fitting on the other - but then there was a substantial gap which would have allowed the brake to rotate quite a bit before coming up against a stop. I added some silicon fuel-tubing to the all-threaed to see if that would make up the difference, but it still came up a little short - so now I am using a combination of the fuel tubing and a dab of aeropoxy added to the air-fitting (not gluing the fitting to anything - just using the aeropoxy to make the part "wider") - in the pic in post 97 above (the one showing the gear door being clamped), you can actually see these fitting on the left hand side of the pic, where they have been taken off the brake and had the aeropoxy added.

Here you can see the result so far...

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

An inner gear door section was previously cut from the fuselage, but since the actual door needs to be longer than the section that's cut out, an extension needs to be glued on. I used a small piece of plywood and initially butt-glued it to the edge of the fibreglass door section, then I added a 1" fibreglass bandage on the inside of the door to make sure that the join is solid.

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

Well, I finally started working on the Hunter again over Xmas ; haven't posted anything until now because my personal PC that has the CF reader on it (for the pics from the camera) was away getting some work done on it.

Previously I posted :

Never a truer word was spoken. I thought I had the alignment set up ok, but did not. I had rotated the strut as far as I could get it to go while still getting the door to cover the rear-end of the tire, then when I recently checked the alignment again I found out that it still had a horrible amount of toe-out. In order to fix this, I'm having Tam make up some new tires for me... I previously mentioned that Mick's tires were a little on the soft side and that I might get some harder ones made - well, by also shaving a little off the thickness of the tire, I hope to also get the wheel alignment right while still allowing the gear door to close fully.

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

The gear doors were previously a major stumbling block for me, as I tried to figure out how to hinge & attach them. I finally decided to opt for a "cheat" and not do the scale approach of having 4 separate moving gear door segments. I cheated by using only 3 - the inner "clmashell" door that is attached to the fuselage, the portion that covers the tire, and then just one portion coverng the strut instead of the scale 2 portions.

I'm never going to compete in a scale competition anyway, so the loss of scale detail is unimportant to me.

Here's a few shots of the doors etc.


From left to right, the pics show:
[ul] [*] Anti-rotation sorted out (mentioned in an earlier post) by combination of Aeropoxy on the fitting and silicon tube on the threaded rod.[*] The cut-out in the wing for the retract to fit into, with a lip fitted for the strut cover door to sit in. Note that the cut-out has to be larger than the door in order to get the retract into the wing, so a "fixed" cover portion will also be added.[*] Outside of the door over the wheel, including a lip where the strut-cover door will fit. In this photo you cam also see where I have aeopoxied a ball-link to the strut leg - this is used to push / pull the strut-cover door open or closed. The position that I used was arrived at through trial and error, tack-gluing ball-links to the strut and the door and testing the geometry, then moving the links slightly until I got the behavior I wanted. (I was too lazy to bother calculating the positions.)[*] The clamshell door being contoured. Note that the "fillet" on the wing has also now been added. I found the poly-ply method suggested in the manual to be a bit awkward, so I simply made up balsa fillets and then put 3/4 oz glass over them followed by a very thin screen of bondo. As you can tell, the further I go with this project, the further I diverge from the plans [*] My "cheat" one-piece strut-cover door in place.
[/ul]

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

A few more pics of recent progress, not necessarily in chronological order. This is all "made-up" stuff, BTW, not anything that Mick suggests.

[ul][*] Pic of the strut-cover door assembly. I used two pieces of pro-skin with a 1/16" wooden structure between them for rigidity.[*] A small ply plate that lets everything work - the door hinges screw to this plate, and separate screws hold this plate into the wing - the latter is needed because I can't get the gear into the wing if the plate is glued in place - I have to add it after the retract unit is in.[*] A shot showing the door and hinge-plate in place. Note the total lack of clearance !
[/ul]

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

Next couple of gear related pics

[ul][*] The inside of the fuz, showing the offset gear door hinges I used, and the BVM air cylinder + mount (Mick shows use of a servo per side, mechanically driving the doors, but I'm a fan of air-actuated systems.[*] The nose-wheel - as supplied, this wheel has its hub completely machined out on one side (perhaps a hold-over from when Mick used nose-wheel brakes ?), with the result that the wheel could move back and forwards on the axle, with the tire rubbing against the strut. I simply made up an Aluminium spacer and glued it to the machined-out side of the hub as shown, to make the wheel stay centered.
[/ul]

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

Engine mount... the mount consists of two 1/4" plywood rails that run between two fuselage formers. The first photo here shows the forward of these two formers (the aft one is already glued into the fuselage), with the rails sitting in their slots. The gap between the two rails was way bigger than the width of my engine mount though, so I kept the same idea but just made new wider rails and a new former to suit. My new former also has "lugs" on the sides to fit into the wing-root area, so that I could glue it all the way around.

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

Back to the drop tanks. As you may recall, I didn't like the "soda-pop bottle" style of plastic parts that came withthe drop tank kits, so I elected to make my own parts. Earlier I showed pics of me making the plugs ; when it came to making the molds I realized I had none of my usual molding material around, and TAP Platsics was closed - so I improvised and made some molds out of Bondo. You can see the molds and the first parts out of them, in the enclosed pics. Not exactly top quality mold work, but the end result was something that I found to be much easier to work with than the plastic stuff. (But to each his own - others may find the plastic parts adequate).

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

I kept the rolled-polyply centrepieces from the original kit. You can see one of the brass tubes in the attached photo - there's actually one full-length brass tube in each tank that goes all the way through, as well as two smaller diameter ones that are only 1/2" or so long, and are used for anti-rotation pins. The latter have an aeropoxy blob on the end to close them off, so that the anti-rotation pins (which are removable) don't just fall through.

The drop tank will be held on the wing via a 6-32 bolt that screws in through the tank, passing through the pylon, into the blind nut that I earlier built into the wing.

Note that the pylons have been made from scratch here too, since I wanted the pylons to have the angled fore & ft edges rather than the straight up & down edges on Mick's. I simply laminated two pieces of 1/4" balsa together, then drilled through them to place brass tubes through them for the bolt and the anti rotation pins.

The last couple of photos show the assembled tanks with the removable pylons in place. The very dark resin used makes them look kinda ugly at this stage, but they will look a lot better once they have been sanded and primed, and had the guide-vanes attached to the rear of the tanks.

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

One otherthing that I did recently - the aluminium rod that is part of the actuator for the elevator was sliding around a lot while I push the stab halves on, and that kept bugging me, so I made a simple sleeve out of 2 layers of brass tube. The length of the sleev matches the interior width between the brass bushes that the aluminum rod sits in, so that it prevents any sideways motion of that rod once the actuator screw is inserted through the brass tube into the aluminum rod.

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

Some more progress on the tanks

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

More tank stuff.

Note that while many models have wing roots that are parallel to the fuselage centerline, that's not the case her, which means that aligning the drop tanks to ensure that they ar parallel needs a slightly different approach. What I did here, is use three laser-levels tha teach project a line. I set one of them on the fuselage centreline, and projected it rearwards so that I could use the centreline of the fin to ensure that the line was right down the centre. Then I clamped a laser-level to each tank side, to project a line from each of them. Then I just projected lines onto my garage door and adjusted the tanks until

(a) the distance between the lines was the same as the distance between the laser levels (ensuring that they were parallel), and

(b) the lines form the tanks were equally distant form the line that came from the centre level.

Sounds a lot more complicated that it really was - it took me longer to describe than to do.

AsiaSRC

Hello
Have you decided the color scheme?
Those days where shiny teeths was in fashion!

[img][/img]
Best Regards

Albert

HenryRG

Can I just say how very helpful and encouraging I find this thread. Please keep up the good work.


I have found your explanations and approach at some of the complications really helpful . Sometimes I am very much aware that Mick is a World Champion scale builder and that I am very definitely not!

I am contemplating fitting a small digital Hitec servo in each elevator, rather than using the indirect drive suggested with one servo. The German reviewer in Jet Power went for this mod, with obvious success. I am very much looking forward to seeing how your model flies and whether you willkeep the thrust down to design 7-8 Kg. As I see it, the tank he supplies is quite adequate for this level of power. If you go for more power, you need more fuel, which means more weight on the U/c and stress on the main spars and the elevator in higher take off and landing speeds.

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

Hi guys - thanks for the comments.

I haven't made a final decision on the color scheme yet, but I do have various options in mind. I bought aa bunch of the Corgi (?) die-cast models in different schemes, to get an idea of what they look like all-around (rather than just the side views that you typically see). I'll try to post some pics laater of the options I'm considering.

I haven't seen the review in Jet Power ... was it any good ? Anything helpful in there that I should know about ?

Sorry about the very slow progress on this build, but time for building is temporarily very scarce.

I'll try to squeeze in some time soon. Another issue that I'm facing right now is that Mick's tailpipe too long to be used as shown in the plans - he shows the forward end of it being more or less level with the split in the fuselage ; my pipe sticks a lot further forward than that; until I decide how far fore or aft I may want the engine for CG purposes though, I won't know whether I can still use the pipe as is, or how long a replacement pipe to have Tam build for me.

Later,
Gordon

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

Here's some of the info on the color schemes as requested... I picked up 5 of the Corgi models to get info on schems that I liked.. Here's the first 4:

The first one is interesting in that it is a camo scheme that still gives some nice coor contrast to help you spot the aircraft; the second is the Blue Diamonds aerobatic team; the 4th is another aeobatic team (Belgian) but which has already been used by someone else recently, so I will probably skip it; the third is kinda basic but is one that I like because it is 43 Squadron, RAF Leuchars ... a squadron that I used to shar e a base with back in the 1980's.

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

The fifth one, which is currently my favorite, is an FTS scheme. Sorry about the flash glare in these pics - I'm using a borrowed camera just now and can't get the flash to decrease or turn off...

AsiaSRC

Look into here if you haven't! some remaining flyable Hunters..
Regards
Albert

http://www.hunterflyingclub.co.uk/

http://www.hawkerhunter.co.uk/

http://www.fradu-hunters.co.uk/

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

The plans show the elevator control using a special ball connector that screws into the elevator control rod. I could find no evidence of the part in my kit, so either I didn't get it or I managed to lose it (quite possible). I elected to make up a replacement - don't know yet if I will keep it, or develop a different mechanism, but here it is for now - showing the components, then the assembly, then the whole linkage. Obviously the linkage goes completely inside the fuselage, but it's just shown on the outside in these pics for clarity.

I also made up the first part of the rudder linkage, but the pics of that came out all flash and no content, so I'll try again another time.

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

Yeah - those links have some neat pics. I've been thinking for a while about taking a flight in the Hunter from http://www.hawkerhunter.co.uk/ ... unfortunately when I'm in the UK it is usualyy for a very short time and there's no room left for a flight. Might manage it one of these days tho !

HenryRG

The Hunter Review is in Jet Power Issue No4 -2004 (Oct-Dec). The magazine is only only quarterly.

Their website is www.modellsport.de

JSF-TC

My Feedback: (2)

Hi Gordon,

There are two versions of that camo with red scheme. The other version is a camo and yellow with the same layout. They were used as TWU Instructors agressor aircraft.

I don't know the colour reference for either the red or the yellow, but my current favorite scheme for my Westbury Hunter is the camo/ yellow version.

If anyone has the colour references I would be grateful.

Picture taken from Wings of Fame Volume 20, which has a 69 page article on the Hunter, including lots of good photos from every operator. Essential reading.

Thanks

Paul

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

Yup - I've got a pic or drawing of the yellow one in one of my Hunter books - I'll see if I can find it for you.

Any idea where I can pick up a back-order copy ?

JSF-TC

My Feedback: (2)

Gordon,

Wings of Fame - The Journal of Classic Combat Aircraft

For Subscription and Back Orders

UK and World (except US and Canada)

Aerospace Publishing Ltd
PO Box 2822
London
W6 0BR
UK


for US and Canada

AIRtime Publishing Inc.
Subscription Dept
PO Box 5074
Westport
CT 06881

(203) 838-7979
(800) 359-3003



Good Luck

Paul

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

Thanks Paul - I'll try the US office tomorrow !