Roguedog

Chin,

Be careful reheating those control surfaces. Once I was trying to shrink some red monokote on a sweet stik that I put on to loose and it put a nasty warp in the balsa and of course it still would not shrink down the way I wanted.. Might want to use a little heat to peal it back off then try again with new instead of trying to cook the loose covering into submission.
Bryan

ChinookRC

Cook into submission is a great term! Had me laughing. Icrank up my iron in increments to 350F and it's always a huge relief when problems disappear. When they don't the air dryer comes out and that what usually gets me into trouble. I'll pull it all off and redo the bad one. I just checked for warping on the thin TEs and all seems well.

Another note is that if I did it again I would either skip the trim tabs (they don't look good when the covering is stretched over them) or cover them separately and glue them on after. But then you'd need to add a frame around them on the ailerons/elevators for the the cover to attach to.

ChinookRC

Going off topic completely, after every post I got in the habit of noting the number of thread views. I was curious to see if anyone would be watching my progress. So I plugged the numbers into Excel and came up with a strange result. In the 76 days since Jan 1, 2012 I posted 36 days and recorded total views on those days. The daily average number of thread views is 67 with a standard deviation of 4. The total number of views growth is almost perfectly linear, with a slight tapering off with my recent reduction in number of posts. It's a strange result.

ChinookRC

Finished covering the fin and stab. My Czech/Russian shaving blades are doing a good job of trimming straight lines without catching or wandering too much.

Chad Veich

My Feedback: (60)

It's looking very nice Chinook. Here is some inspiration if you need some. Pictures were taken by me at last year's Planes of Fame airshow in Chino, California. Nothing sounds better than a Bearcat at full song except for three Bearcats at full song!

ChinookRC

Those are awesome Chad - thanks for the pick-me-up. Sure wish you had a .60 size Bearcat in your list of upcoming designs.

The fuselage is half covered and should be done today.

ChinookRC

Hi Dionysus... I was wondering about the canopy, Sent you a PM back then but it fell off my radar since then.

ChinookRC

Finished covering the fuse except for the areas to be done in Flitemetal around the exhaust. Got prepared to cover the wing but realized that my ailerons weren't shaped to match the washout I'd sanded into the ends of the wing so I had to rip the cover off those, sand them down and recover. Not a bad thing as I was going to re-do those anyway.

I had a hard time on the fuse behind the canopy where the curves run in two directions. Without a helper around, or a proper way to hold the fuse down while stretching the Ultracote, I had to depend on managing the wrinkles which worked pretty well running the iron between 300 and 350F, but not perfectly. This is why I don't enjoy finishing work after 3 months of work, 5 minutes of ironing (ironing!) can mar the finished product. Knowing this means my motiviation is dropping to a low. But it's nice to see the lines and curves really pop out.

Learned that I need to run the woodpecker over any Ultracote that I know will be covered by a second layer to avoid bubbles. This happened in the strip above the wing saddle so I had to poke them out after covering.

If (when) I get a place with a proper workshop I'll switch to glassing. I think I'll prefer sanding to ironing, and you never hear people complain about wrinkles. I'm wondering how messy it really is... In preparation for that day, and to paint the cowl, I picked up a small air compressor on sale today, and ordered an Iwata airbrush online. I don't want to repeat the brushed cowl result I have sitting on the Corsair.

Chad Veich

My Feedback: (60)

You're quite welcome Chinook, glad you like them. I will be headed back to Chino for the 2012 air show the first weekend in May. It's mecca for anybody who likes warbirds. You can see my pics from the last two years at the links below if you're interested. Your Bearcat is really starting to shape up, won't be long now! I don't think you will regret moving to a glass and painted finish though. Glassing is a lot of messy grunt work but there is nothing hard about it, just time consuming. The results are definitely worth the effort though. I'd love to design up a Bearcat eventually but it is quite a ways down on a very long list! If only there were more hours in the day. In order to scratch my Bearcat itch in the meantime I've got an ESM arf waiting on the shelf that will be bashed into something a bit more scale. Hope to get to that one later this year.

Chino 2010
http://s23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...%20AIR%20SHOW/

Chino 2011
http://s23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...OW/CAS%202011/

ChinookRC

The Chino Air Show looks great. If I didn't already have Hawaii booked for April I'd be talking her into going to California again - maybe next year. I went to the Palm Springs air museum this summer and that got me started in RC modeling a few weeks later. Six months and a lot of money later I'm finishing my second kit. It's like having a second full-time job, but I love the learning curve and the way it picks up on my interests as a kid and university student.

Finished covering the bottom of the wing today - uneventful. I'm wondering how to handle painting the interior strut/wheel wood.

I read this how-to on making canopy molds (frames?) with plaster of paris and am thinking of doing one up before I start painting the canopy frame, probably this weekend. It seems cheap and simple.

Rick Barker

Just stumbled across your postings on your Bearcat electric conversion.  Believe me, this is a real godsend, as I have have looking for help in the conversion and it seems there are very few out there.   The amount of detail you are posting is fantastic.  Keep up the good work.

ChinookRC

Rick hope you find some useful information. I hadn't thought of people converting nitro TF Bearcats to electric but certainly the latter part of the thread would be helpful in those cases, especially the CG findings with the electric power system installed. Good luck!

I've been careful to note my mistakes and I should add that my motor mount geometry and placement is off. I definitely have 3deg right thrust, but I'm missing the 3deg down. And then I forgot to shift the mount 2-3mm to the left and up so that the end of the shaft/prop is centered. So I'll have to cut it off and make some adjustments. I might also shorten it another few mm so the motor doesn't hit the dummy radial. Depends on the clearance between the prop and the cowl.

stewpot59

My Feedback: (1)

Thanks again for getting me motivated again. Mine would still be gathering dust in a corner half built if you hadn't started this forum.
I finally finished mine today.
Here is the final product.

Chad Veich

My Feedback: (60)

Great work stewpot! I have a 71 inch ESM Bearcat ARF that is going to be refinished in Gulfhawk colors. On a sad note, the Full size Bearcat in my last picture posted above was lost this past Thursday along with well known warbird pilot Howard Pardue. I had the pleasure of seeing him perform in the Bearcat as well as several other warbirds and he was truly among the best in the world. RIP Mr. Pardue.

ChinookRC

Looks great Stewpot and congrats on getting it done! Great motivation for me to get through the final slog of finishing it up. Wish I had the skills to make it look as good as yours!

Sad to hear about the loss of a great pilot. He looks great flying the cat in this Reno race.

acdii

I ran across this kit today at a swap meet, the guy was asking $200 for it.

stewpot59

My Feedback: (1)

Thanks guys. It only took me 3 years.
I'm pretty happy with the results. It weighs in at 8 lbs 4 0z.

Very sad news about Howard Pardue. He was a fixture at Reno ever since I could remember.

ChinookRC

I think I paid $200 (plus shipping) for mine also. Considering the price of current TF kits I didn't think it was too bad. Even the decals were still good after up to 30 years.

Butch Cassity

thanks for the post helped me a lot now I can finish my plane thank you

4570jackjack

My Feedback: (74)

sworks72

hello ChinookRC,
many compliments for your Bearcat, I'm still looking for a kit like your, but Ifear that it's quite impossible for me from Italy...
Would you be so kind to send to me a copy of the scanned manual?Ican't understand why Ican't open the link of the Top Flite manual in your 3d...

thank you very much!!!

ChinookRC

Hi... send me a PM and I'll send you the files by email.

smithcreek

My Feedback: (25)

Stewpot, is your gear the articulated gear? Is it the one that has a video of it working? Your plane looks great, good luck when you fly it!

stewpot59

My Feedback: (1)

Thank you. I am very happy how it turned out. It is the same articulated gear that I have in the video. Once I get off my rear end I will add a video of it operating on the plane itself.

RSA_Flyer

Hi ChinookRC

I've been reading through you thread with intrest , I've just bought a NIB plane off a older gent here in South Africa . Looks like a really nice kit , please continue posting updates on your build.