vfrank59

if you guys have not done it yet, I have the standard ,carb throttle arm, with two nuts holding it tight. My arm came loose while running the engine on the ground. Make sure to apply Loctite to the nuts.

Vern

ram3500-RCU

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Good tip Vern. Thanks.

ram3500-RCU

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Got the gear parts back from Darrel today. Sent out on Friday, got back on the following Tuesday. Thank you Darrel for the very quick turn around. Good job buddy.

They look very good. You can see what we sent out, and what we got back, in these pictures.

They look like new parts, arms, pins, and all. No charge, and Darrel paid the shipping back.

ram3500-RCU

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Here is a video of the wings working with the newly installed pivot cover. A couple pictures of the spring that holds it shut. I think Brian did a good job on this.

Also notice the difference the new hinge on the front makes. No more tiny hatch is needed. Thank you again Darrel.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNXwyPFBXBY

Now on to the paint shop, hopefully tomorrow, if I get home from work soon enough.

littledevile420

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pretty cool

vfrank59

Well, My 3 postal scales came in today. I used the postal scales, I got 3 off Ebay, total price 100 bucks, they will handle 55 lbs each. I did the math for weight and balance.

The Sling machine, I built last week, confirmed that it works excellent.

Anyway, after all the math, it matched the 10 dollar sling machine, within 4 oz.

I still need to add 5.5 lbs of lead. but at least I feel better about it.

Time to get off the Pot and schedule the Maiden for next week!

Think i will donate the postal scales to the flying club. They can use them for something.

Vern

ram3500-RCU

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Some time you will have to try our 'Steel Powder', instead of lead.

Thanks for sharing the sling experience. I'm sure it will help others.

vfrank59

Sent you a PM for some steel powder.

Vern

ram3500-RCU

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Got the shipment from Meister of Aerofoil and Liquid Masking Film. Thanks Dino for the very fast service, as usual.

With #1 at the paint shop, attention shifts to #2, and getting ready for the return of the electric gear from Down & Locked. The lighting system will go in the outside wing panels first. Hope to have a few pictures soon.

White I, Big Hog, will be back in our respective shops by next week end, so it is a very busy September for both of us.

ram3500-RCU

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On a somber note, my thoughts are with the family and friends of Jimmy Leeward, owner and pilot of the historic P-51 known as Galloping Ghost, as well as the other victims and their families. We all mourn their tragic loss. I hope the NTSB is able to get to the bottom of the cause, which appears, from at least one picture I have seen, to have stemmed from mechanical failure on the airframe.

Off topic, I know, but war bird related just the same.

ram3500-RCU

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The painting is under way on the Hog. Here are some pictures of #1 in the paint shop. I was surprised, but the white was actually the more difficult color to match up without some custom blending.

we will experiment with some fading techniques on the top of the fuselage and other surfaces.

I was happy that, even with three good coats of paint on her (enough to cover the different colors like the silver and the natural aluminum), all the molded-in detail is still clearly visible.

Some mistakes in the factory surface detail will be easy to sand out and reinstall in the aluminum on #2, and then paint over.

Seeing her like this, it is hard to believe she was flying just a couple weeks ago..

vfrank59

Look Good !!

ram3500-RCU

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Thanks vfrank59.

I intend to post the paint selections we made for the ANA colors, as we matched them up with stock automotive colors, but I left the notes in the paint shop. I'll post them tomorrow for your consideration. As stated, the white (Insignia White) was the biggest challenge. Turned out that a Mercedes color was the one we settled on.

ram3500-RCU

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For those interested in lighting, here is where we ordered our system for airframe #2.

www.electrodynam.com/store/SunVis.html

Scott Prossen recommended them, and they do have a nice selection of equipment for us modelers.

We have colored lenses for the formation lights, top and bottom, so most of the bulbs will be just a bright white. We have plans to light the guns and a couple circuit boards will control the 'firing' of them. I've got an idea on how to make them puff smoke trails as they fire as well. That will take some more thought.[8D] I think it would be pretty cool though.

ram3500-RCU

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The scheme on ours will be the White I BIG HOG, as I mentioned.

Here are some things I have uncovered. There are two colors of the dark blue (top of the wings and fuselage), the intermediate blue (bottom of the outer wings, the rudder (not the vertical stab), and the fuselage sides, and insignia white (the bottom of the center wing section including inside the gear bays, the bottom of the fuselage, the bottom of the tail. Also interesting is that there was a black #1 on the bottom of the nose of the cowl. BIG HOG was the only one to use this location. The spinner was red. Much weathering was present as this unit, once in action, flew constantly. I'll also depict the (4) repaired bullet holes on the left side from when one of his own men shot at him accidentally.

I have not decided whether we will use the red outline around the stars and bars. I've seen it pictured both ways in drawings, but it is very hard to tell from black and white pictures. I do know that the red was dropped in Sept. of 1943, and these guys flew from Oct. 43 to I think Feb. of 44. Were there new planes painted that way, and if so, would they have over painted the red to conform? Their leader was not necessarily a conformist, but I just don't know. I want the paint to be as correct as we can make it. For this reason, weathering WILL be done. Much more so on the primary airframe, #2.

Any thoughts or info you may have will be very welcomed.

More later.

ram3500-RCU

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Spent a couple hours in the paint shop with our painter and our teem owner. We tweaked the colors with some custom mixing to bring them in. I don't think the camera does them justice without natural lighting, but here is what we have. The darker color on the tail is the ANA 606 Sea Blue. What was on the fuselage was way off IMO. I also had him add some black to the color for the ANA 608 Intermediate Blue. This is not picked up by the camera very well. It actually looks extremely close to the chip.

Here are the colors for Big Hog.

ANA 601 - Insignia White - bottom of fuselage, center wing section including inside the gear bays and the inside of the doors, and the underside of the tail planes and elevators

ANA 606 - semi gloss Sea Blue - top and upper sides of the fuselage and the vertical stab

ANA 607 - Non-Specular Sea Blue - top of the wings, tail planes, and elevators

ANA 608 - Intermediate Blue - fuselage sides, bottom of the outer wing panels, the rudder

The color adjustments we made tonight will be implimented tomorrow together with the rest of the painting. I also experimented with some paint fading techniques that look good. We will definitely have it back in our shops Friday for the reassembly and further detailing. Let the weathering commence.

ram3500-RCU

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I'm pumped!!!!!

I left it semi gloss for better adhesion of the graphics and nomenclature.

ram3500-RCU

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More of BIG HOG. We will do some paint fading effects to the top surfaces. After the markings are on, I'll get her shine toned down and get into the weathering and distressing. This is going to be fun.

ram3500-RCU

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Mitch, at Down and Locked, has his electric conversion done on the Sierra gear for #2 (both main and tail gear), and will be shipping it back to us tomorrow. Then I'll be posting some pictures as soon as it comes back.

We will install the gear in the wing, do all the installation of the outer panels and folding mechanism, and then remove it to send down to Mitch so he can convert that as well. He told me today he would shoot for a week and a half turn around on that.

All Day Dan

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Gary, how did you achieve the camouflage effect with out any overspray? It looks great from here. Dan.

ram3500-RCU

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Good question Dan. We masked off each color, then went back with an airbrush to blend the colors. We got a much more in scale color seem that way.

ram3500-RCU

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Another shot of the masking.

ram3500-RCU

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Here you can see the white is masked off for the dark blue, then (after we adjusted the color), the dark blue was masked off for the Intermediate Blue.

ram3500-RCU

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BTW, automotive paints were used, with hardener added. $$ but I like the results, and the detail in the molded parts shows through nicely. We used no primer. Chipping the paint where I covered her with aluminum should expose the metal nicely.

She comes 'home' from the paint shop Tomorrow.

ram3500-RCU

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Guys, thought I would share this with you. It is an example of the wonderful research work the owner of our teem is doing behind the scenes to help us get the appearance correct on BIG HOG. This is only a tiny fraction of the information he has uncovered.

"Gary, Two of the many Amazon books I recently ordered came in today. Contained
therein is a photo of Corsair #36 VF-17 landing on Bunker Hill. The photo credit is
National Archives. The photo caption reads:
"(Left) F4U-1 No. 36 landing long on board Bunker Hill. VF-17 Corsairs were heading
toward the South Pacific and combat, 14 September 1943. Note the Red surround to the
national insignia. (National Archives)"
The photo is B/W, but you can clearly see the border on the rear fuse insignia and it
isn't a blue border. The red paint pigment apparently comes off as a lighter B/W color
under the light conditions of the photo, similar to the spinner color in the Big Hog
photo in your DVD.
The caption relates accurately to the info in Blackburn's book. The new F4u-1 corsairs
arrived by August 2o, were loaded on Bunker Hill. A shakedown cruise for Bunker Hill and
VF-17 was conducted in the gulf, then they returned to Norfolk, then they shoved off for
San Diego and the Pacific. This is more evidence that VF-17 retained the February three
color plane paint scheme with the Red insignia border after the September effective date
for the use of the blue border. The question is: What color was the border on November
11 or so when the Big Hog photo was taken with the patched bullet holes?
My research continues."

Part of our quest is to determine if the red boarder around the stars and bars are correct for the period of this plane's history we are modeling.
Dom is a down right ferret at finding history on this plane and the VF-17 in general. We are grateful for his contribution to the project.

The exact locations and shapes for the color changes on the airplane are a result in large part of his research.