wulf190

My Feedback: (19)

For all of the 'cat fans out there who have been following along on our Bearcat progress, next on the board goes the Ziroli Hellcat. As it's a bird I'm particularly fond of, and as the owner (don't blush Lynn ) is such a fantastic guy to have us on board with him, I can't wait to put some glue to wood. This one will not be holding much back by way of detail and I really hope that doing a nice builder's thread for it here will be as beneficial and fun as the others have been.

As the Bearcats are now free of a building board, it would be a shame not to settle in to the lay of the land a little by not putting the plans down and getting the lay of the land a bit before doing any building. Thanks to Lynn and friends for setting up design parameters. You guys should really like what you see happening on the thread. I know guys aren't afraid to speak up (I can almost hear the words "wash-IN" still in my sleep Todd)

Keep watching. Lots to follow here.

Mike

CUB1

My Feedback: (11)

Mike,
Are you doing a built up fuse or the fiberglass fuse option?

t_burley

My Feedback: (59)

wash-in, who would have said that.
look forward to following this Mike. I really want to jump
on mine, but need to finish the other 2 big birds first [:@]

wulf190

My Feedback: (19)

All wood build for this one, another fantastic quality kit from Mace Gill at the Aeroplane Works. Two big thumbs up looking at the kit[sm=thumbup.gif][sm=thumbup.gif] . Man, Todd, I thought you would take the high road from the "I can't recall" defense. It's my goal to tempt you into doing a sneak-a-build on yours at the same time.[8D] Your SisT primer tunes should arrive shortly. Don't let your family hear you listening.[X(]. It'll be a few days on the pics while I'm focusing on Bearcat tasks. No short shrifting of attention allowed, but know that the type of tasks remaining on the Bears' will allow for creation time of the Hellcat during some stages like glassing and such, so I want to keep the efficiency running high.

Mike

t_burley

My Feedback: (59)

ya, while I would love to jump on the Hellcat now, I will wait.
once the ZP47, and Bates P40 are done, I will tackle the SisT FW.

then onto the Hellcat. By that time, I will be ready to start whittling wood
again

IFLYRC-RCU

My Feedback: (28)

Motivational pic...

Ziroli Hellcat, Brison 5.8 24-12 3 blade Mejlik flies it very well. All wood plane.
{With a 24 - 12 2 blade is WAY fast. }

Hey, it's just a "few" sticks. lol This AC was 90% built by Sean Mchale ( great guy ! ) of PA, sold to me, then finished up and reworked by me. Even at 44 lbs it flies very well.

My friend has a FG fuse Hellcat and his weight is 6 lbs less. He uses a Q 100 and it is a great combo as well. Plan on lots of nose weight. try and keep the tail light if at all possible.

Will watch your build with interest.. Have fun !

rrudytoo

My Feedback: (27)

Mike,

What fantastic timing! I just ordered a Z Hellcat shortkit from Jesse at LaserLizard and I've been trying to pick up all the info I can get on this bird. Yours will be a "must follow" series of posts. I'm looking forward to it BIG TIME!

Al

t_burley

My Feedback: (59)

glad that Hellcat from Sean is finally flying. I have known Sean for a long time. Sad to
see him sell it, but glad he did and she is flying as she should be

wulf190

My Feedback: (19)

No shortage of interest in getting going on it, especially with the pics above. I've seen Sean's build of the plane from his own pics and am impressed by it. He knows what he's doing and it shows. I see you're in Michigan too. I'm planning on invading Michigan this spring with the German planes so let's look each other up and fly some combat come warmer weather.

Rrudy, there's some kind of cosmic intervention thing going on evidently with the Spitfire and now the Hellcat too for us. Hope things have gone well with prepping the Spitfire. Should be a good season for you this spring! Let us know what you think of the L.L. kit when you get it. I suspect we'll have a good thread when we're through for reference purposes.

wulf190

My Feedback: (19)

Finally got a start...not much, but at least a first part of creation.. I was happy that the stab ribs had the little knock offs on them to build the stab flat on the board with (lower spar isn't flat on the plans when building).

M Gill

Wulf,

Thank you so much for the kind words. Keep us updates on the project!

Mace Gill
The Aeroplane Works
http://www.theaeroplaneworks.com

Ram-bro

My Feedback: (101)

Wulf, I am looking forward to your build here. I talked to Lynn about it and he is pumped also. I cant wait to see it in person cause I know Lynn wil be showing it off. How is your D9 build going?

wulf190

My Feedback: (19)

Ram, Hey great! Small world. Didn't know you guys were hooked up already. Makes me real happy to know you're with us on it . I've been real excited about the build already. The plane is such a great one to really scale out as there's just so much going on on the surface with the rivets and lines and cowl and canopy, etc. Seeing all the gear that's going into it got me going a bit more, as I can sort of envision things a bit better about the whole thing and how beautifully it will work mechanically as well. Looks like a great opportunity for us to get the Dora's together with the Hellcat this summer. After we're done painting all these things we'll get them all lined up in a circle in my driveway and take a shot.....should be about a dozen pretty awesome warbirds in there with all of our efforts of the last couple years put in there with them...right now the shot should include Hellcat, Bearcat, IMP Dora, 2 Holman FW A's, Airwold FW, TF GS F4U, Bates P40, 1/5 Spit, 1/6 ME109, 1/6 FW A model, Don Smith ME110. Should be neat. All but the Spit and the P40 and 109 need paint. Big spring painting, but should be much simplified by the similarity of many colors on the birds we're doing. The detailing is the working part, so that's gonna take lots of time...Hence the excitement to get things to an airframe stage like the rest.


Mace, no problem on the kudos. Love pumping up a good quality product like this. The Bearcats went together great.

wulf190

My Feedback: (19)

Forgot to add the pic. This is the completed, but unsanded horiz. stab of the Hellcat up next to the Bearcat stab. With the tips the Hellcat's is slightly bigger which makes sense since so was the real planes. Interesting to note the swept grain (that's in the instructions) on the Hellcat's vs. the grain on the Bearcats which is more normally sheeted. Fit was perfect for the ribs and spars.

langerl

My Feedback: (5)

Hey!

It great to see my model taking shape after all the shopping for PARTS! You all should have seen the boxes I shipped to Wulf; everything but the kitchen sink (that's probably in those boxes somewhere too....)

Howdy Ram, I didn't know you cared Maybe I'll have the Meister Dora put together for the Wulf's Great Gathering. Always happy to help out.

Thanks for all the kind words guys. And the good work too, Wulf. I hope all of you enjoy the thread as much as I will.

regards,
langerl

IFLYRC-RCU

My Feedback: (28)

Speaking of equipment.. what engine are you planning ?

wulf190

My Feedback: (19)

Brison 6.4 engine, all Hitec servos with thought to what should go where, all Airwild h.d. wiring and Cermark switches, aluminum wheels, UP air valve, Dynamic Balsa cockpit kit (nice), air operated slide canopy, Robart gear, BD airline, BVM c/f reinforcement to beefed up retract area, heavier tank box for engine mounting purposes, reinforced tail with c/f, etc. etc. Probably not much left to chance anywhere.

t_burley

My Feedback: (59)

Dear diary,

I am sitting here lonely this evening listening to my CD of
Der Reich's music. its making me think of the time I get to
start my Hellcat thread. It is too far away to build so soon.

I guess I will just goose step out to the garage and work on
the jug

wulf190

My Feedback: (19)

LOL Generally difficult to find oneself lonely while building Todd. I am most certain that you have found yourself saying "holy man, I've been concentrating on this xxxx for about how long now?!?!" as you look at the clock and realize how much time you've spent completely oblivious to what's going on beyond the end of your fingers. Such as the music is, you understand more completely the whole truth of your earlier statement of fact.....too much time on my hands!. Keep going, I'm a watcher . I'll be building this one knowing that it has to pass your inspection! Tough crowd. Tough crowd..

rrudytoo

My Feedback: (27)

In an earlier post I mentioned that I had ordered the Laser Lizard short kit of the Z Hellcat. Well, today it arrived! The laser cutting is first rate with the parts just dropping out from the sheets. Fortunately, each part is clearly marked as are the reference lines for part alignment and firewall centerline. I previously purchased a Z Stuka short kit from Jesse and my satisfaction with that offering is what led me to get the Hellcat from him, too. I am more than pleased with Jesse's work and his short kits are available for a modest price.

We are so fortunate to have so many talanted and dedicated kit cutters available to us. Mace's work is excellent and if I wanted to get a full kit, his would be at the top of my very short list. This is a win-win situation for all of us! We can chose to do as much or as little of the work and leave the rest to the professionals. Frankly, I love cutting out the parts myself but when I add in the time and materials, it's hard to beat some of the commercial offerings.

Okay, Mike. Back over to you. Let's see your bird come to life!

Al

wulf190

My Feedback: (19)

Waiting on the wood stock needed to proceed and after that, it should be pretty seamless to the finish...order's on it's way now.

wulf190

My Feedback: (19)

Plans are on the table! Went to start the first wing construction yesterday and got snagged on the very first part! Hopefully no harbinger of the build to come, but I suspect not.[8D]


Lynn and I talked extensively (mostly cause I'm a flip-flopper--thanks for the patience Lynn) about which way to go..one piece or panels. As storage no issue, decided one piece, then as I got the kit parts together and on the plans realized that about every intention of the kit parts and the builder's manual is dedicated to the panels, so I looked over the tube insert design real well, and found many more advantages to the design as it's pretty bulletproof it appears, the tube inserting into the thick maple block at it's base and routed through all the ply inner ribs. It's not going to go anywhere. Further, I thought of my beloved, or dxxxed, Spit wing and it's center section destruction causing a whole new wing to be built and said, "maybe panels are in fact the right way"......so panels it is! The wing can be removed as one piece anyway, so it seems almost counter-intuitive now to join them, especially as the tube is like a weapon in the kit box! If it doesn't get used here, I've had some septic issues I'll save it for in the backyard....it's like that.

That done....finally a bit of wing later while the glue is drying on the Bears.

Mike

Todd Jackson

My Feedback: (6)

I have the fiberglass fuse and it is nice to take the panels off and leave her on the mains.Good luck its looking good already and the Bearcats too.

Todd

hellcat56

My Feedback: (21)

Tood
Good looking Cat I like the TEETH
Todd
What engine are you running in your hellcat and are you happy with the engine, do you know anyone else who has a Z hellcat and what engine are they running
I have the fiberglass fuse and will be starting on the wing soon
Thanks
Lawrence Harville
Hurst texas near Dallas-

Here is a picture of my now departed 80 in Cat

wulf190

My Feedback: (19)

Todd and Lawrence, Excellent looking birds! Lawrence, funny you put that picture up, as it's one of the ones we looked over real good in the beginning to scout out schemes and detail levels, and said, like that one! Since, have been evaluating benefits of different color schemes and setups. Not a permanent decision yet.

I got the first parts laid out on the board yesterday for the wing center section and had to do some fiddling with the rib slots to get them tight and fitting properly, but minimal again. There will be a bunch of reinforcement done to the the retract bays which I got a start on last night and will continue today. I'll get some pics up so you guys can check out the techniques involved. Should be a nice setup in there.

One thing of note is that the kit seems a little more complete than the Bearcats did in that there's a builder's manual and wood is included for some items that it wasn't included for in the Bearcat kits, like shear webs, and servo mount wood. We'll see how much sheeting is in there for the planking and wing sheeting jobs. Both of the previous kits were short by enough to have to go out and get extra. I'm ready for however it works out with lots of extra wood on hand[8D] again now.

I love how the wing ribs are already drilled for the wires and air lines on this one! Can keep the Forstner bits in the case this time..