RibTickler

Hey guys! I just picked up my first "Box o Balsa" in 10 or 12 years!, The last kit I put together was a Smith Miniplane.
Anyways I had a quick go thru the manual and plans, and to be honest I might be a smidge intimidated. The plane actually looks alot bigger on the plans than I thought it would
My questions are: do I need the motor and retracts before I start the build, or can I get them a little bit later? I also see I need to decide on what motor I want to use, can I decide that a little later or do I need to know now before I start the build? What motor do you guys recomend? I`ve never run a 4 stroke, much different than a 2 stroke?
I wanna build this baby with flaps and retracts and enough power so as not to be "laggy" ( lack of a better word ) Have suggestion on retracts? which is better the Robart or.... geez I can`t think of the other brand they mention. Oh and I`ve read a bit about wing incidence, but am not quite clear as to what this is, or how to measure it, I know there is an incidence meter but have no idea how to use it.
It`s gonna be a few days before I can/will start the building, I have to finish my little shop in my garage, I`ve got it insulated now, wired and redy for drywall, any suggestions on wood for the bench/ building table top. I know you want it as flat as possible, does a guy use say... 3/4" mdf under 3/4" plywood to try to keep it flat?

Sorry for sounding like such a newby, but it`s been along time since I`ve built a kit. The "fury" will not get flown till I can basically do anything with my p-51 pts (I`ve tossed the training stuff and have had many good flights and landings on this plane), by fall I should be redy if I can get lots of stick time. I`d like to start this kit out right and finish it right!

Thanks in advance for your help guys,
Ron

lrb75

My Feedback: (12)

Good luck with the build. Century Jet is the other brand of retracts. I personally would go with a four stroke, but either will work. Go with a OS 91 Surpass or a 91FX. The 91 Surpass will fly it fine if its not too heavy. You don't need an engine or the retracts to start your build, but you will need them when working on the wing before you install any of the gear mounts of wind sheeting. The engine you can wait until you start on the firewall, but at least make you mind up on what you want so you can put the throttle servo in the appropriate place.

alpinestar

search for workbenches on RCu, you'll find lots of ideas. A solid core door from Lowes or Home depot is a popular option and can be quite inexpensive if they have a damaged one. I use a piece of drywall over my bench for pushing pins into and its of course very cheap to replace.
I've have not built the sea fury, but have read many times over that it does require lots of nose weight to balance (but still flies nicely, again per research not first hand experience). You might take this into consideration when picking out your engine.. one of the few cases where you can use the weight up front (more power!). I've been eyeballing one of these kits for a long time & have a Saito 182 twin which would do a good job of pulling the plane around and a real good job of adding weight to the nose.
Good luck with your build! Do you plan to fiberglass it?? sounds like you're going the disance with features like flaps & retracts; might as well go all the way! I actually prefer glassing to films nonw because the finish will not lift & peel and you can pick any level of gloss or flat you choose. The quality of the finish just depends on how long you can sand until you go insane!

scratchpc7

Ron,
there are several things to be aware of when building the Sea Fury. As it has been stated above, you will end up putting a lot of nose weight to get it to balance correctly. I am currently in the finishing stages of one that I inherited already framed up. If you have to add nose weight anyways, it may as well be useful weight. If you can swing a 1.20 4C that can help out with the extra weight, and a little more oomph as well.

Do some research on here and also on RCSB; in both places you will find many answers to your questions. The main thing that you can do to help yourself is to build the tail as light as possible. If you can add a few lightening holes in the ribs for the tail that will help some.

You don't need the engine when you frame up the fuselage. You will have to know what retracts that you will be using prior to building the wing, since there are different rails for the different retracts. I have the non-scale Century Jet retracts. The struts seem great, however there is more side-to-side play in the retract body itself. I wish I had a way to tighted it, but it does not seem possible. When retracted the struts stick up higher than the wing skins. I had to make a non-scale arch to the gear doors so they would close flush.

I hope this helps.

Doug

Good luck, and add some photos on the build process.

RibTickler

Thanks for the info guys!, I`ve got my work shop done enough to start on my "Fury", Dang but I`m excited to see it come together, gotta force myself to take it slow and do a good job. I spent all day today putting up vapour barrier, drywall and my work bench....the heater I got even keeps it comfortable in there.
I`ve been searching the archives and reading everything I can on this plane, I must say it sure looks bigger than my pts mustang, and those flaps look awesome!

Tomorrow night I`ll start on something, maybe the wing maybe the fuse...what do you guys suggest? or does it matter?

I believe I jumped back into this hobby with both feet! , and man, I didn`t realize how much I missed this hobby!

Thanks guys,
Ron

bigtim

My Feedback: (13)

Ron the best advice I can give,from building 2 TF models is follow the book,it makes building easy.

get your gear first, you will need it for the build,and then when your near the end of the build decide what engine you will need for the weight your model turns out to be.

my first TF build I purchased all the parts as a package,then realized the engine I had wasn't enough for the plane I was building fortunitely I had another model that it fit into,general rule with TF models plan on using the top of the range in powerplants, they tend to build towards the heavy end of there weight range,and are so over engenered that adding extra glue or reenforcement isn't necessary,other than behind the firewall,which adds some positive nose weight while strengthening the motor mount,think light,build light,with a Top Flight.

mesaflyer

Ron,
I was wondering how you were coming along on your Sea Fury? I started one last month. Just doing some searching and found your questions/thread. This is the thread that I started. http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_7222111/tm.htm
Wasn't planning on doing a thread, but then thought I would post once in awhile. This is my second kit. Seems to be going along ok, but I am a slow builder!
Thanks,
Pete

jeffk464

I think an OS 120AX might be interesting in this plane, a brillelli 26SSR would be really interesting if you need a lot of nose weight to balance the plane.