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BadSplice -> Jemco P-47 Razorback (1/29/2011 10:58 PM)
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I was recently given this kit by a friend in my flying club. We were talking about building, and ARFs vs Kits, and I was saying that at this point in my career, I have plenty of planes to fly, and I am much more interested in building a nice scale kit than assembling another ARF. So he offered me a Jemco .40 sized P-47 kit he had, (made in 1979 and designed by Jim Meister according to the plans) and I am totally stoked to be getting started on it. This kit is interestingly designed. It has a built up fuse, and foam core wings (new for me) and almost none of it is to be built over the plans. I had the plans scanned anyway, and I will refer to the computer screen for most of what I need. Any templates that were meant to be cut out of the plans will be traced from the copies and printed out. I also set up my camera in such a way as to capture parts straight on, and against a grid for scale, and shot in all the die cut plywood pieces, and the ends of the foam core blanks. My goal is to record enough info to be able to reproduce parts or even build the whole plane again. (the one snag in that being all the molded plastic goodies that go with it) As far as I can tell, all the parts are accounted for and in good shape, with the exception of the cowl. Over the years it has deformed some, and has an odd depression molded into both sides from heat and/or pressure. I have never done it before, but I am considering making it into a plug, so that I can then make a female mold from that to produce a new cowl out of fiberglass. Its just such a detailed part. Perhaps I will start with one of the simpler parts. The kit includes the parts for making 2 1000lb bombs and a center drop tank, the pylons for the bombs, the razorback, and a turbocharger (yeah?) exit on the bottom rear of the fuse. Also the clear canopy, which is pristine. It provides in the plans for scale opening supercharger exits on the sides which I plan to do, a scale exhaust exit at the rear of the fuse I do not, a sliding canopy I am not sure about yet, and I'm toying with making the cowl flaps operate. In the instructions, it says that the prototype flew well, even at 9 1/2 lbs, but I think I can do a lot of scale detail and still keep it well under that with modern materials and hardware. I have a Zero of about the same size that weighs 7 1/2 lbs, and it handles great. So far, I have inventoried and marked all the parts, removed all the die cut parts from their frames, and traced out everything that cant be copied off the plans. (just as a note, I checked several of the parts against the original plans, and they fit perfectly, so I have confidence I can reproduce accurately from them) I debated building up a cradle to set the fuse frame on during assembly, but since I will not need it long, and only for this, I opted to use "mini sawhorses" made out of taped together CD cases... Since my table is flat, and the CD cases all the same, it actually sits very flat and straight. I have gotten as far now as attaching all the fuse formers to the frame. F-1 is epoxied on, 2-9 are tacked on with CA, and 10 is wood glued, with some balsa added to it for the hinge to bite into later. I just wanted to get this thread going, since it is a fairly rare kit. (I looked, and hardly found any info on it) If anyone wants to chime in with their experience and comments please feel free :) This is my first real build thread. I have put together and repaired quite a few ARFs, and I have built a Great Planes Spirit 100 sailplane kit, and most of an old IM products CAP 21 kit. I fancy myself a decent craftsman, and don't foresee having too much trouble with this kit, but I hope to learn a lot doing it. Some pics so far
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