CARF F4U-1 Corsair build thread
01-17-2017, 02:53 PM
#3427
01-23-2017, 11:56 AM
#3431
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: porter, TX
Posts: 42
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
What can I do?
01-23-2017, 03:16 PM
#3432
I have been waiting on the stainless steel screws I use for the canopy since early December. Just got them Saturday. Got ones one size too big. I'm very frustrated as well. the ones I have been sending out are the same size as the ones molded into the CARF frame. That way a guy didn't have to install every one. I am building one now and am dropping down one size. I do have that size on hand. I want to see how it looks before sending them out. I think it may even look better, as the CARF molded ones are a little big. Problem is, to use them, a builder will need to fill the frame and sand it smooth and essentially start over with all the screws. What do you think? It might look better, but is it practical. Otherwise I just work on getting the ones I have always used, the ones that match the frame. I ordered some from another source and if they come soon as I expect, mute point I guess.
Anyway, not to worry. I'll get your kit and several others out as soon as I get this all sorted out. You are not alone. Sorry for your wait. I'm doing what I can. Not enough hours in the day. Got virtually nothing over the week end dealing with family things.
Here is my # and feel free to use it anytime. I am on eastern daylight time in the US if anyone needs to call. 330-605-0314
My email is [email protected]
Please don't rely on RCU for communication. Love this site, but it is unreliable for communicating.
Last edited by ram3500-RCU; 01-23-2017 at 03:22 PM.
01-25-2017, 05:58 PM
#3439
Here are some pictures showing how I do aluminum. Here I am applying HVAC tape to a cowl section retainer with Aerofoil already applied to the panels on either side. Tape is applied as a mask for the aluminum to overlap onto. Aluminum is hard to unstick from itself. Overlay on tape. Very easy to remove and acts as a guide for your knife as you cut the panel. I do most adjacent panels essentially the same way.
01-28-2017, 09:09 AM
#3442
We choose to still use air on the main gear doors. The cylinders can be located in such a way to look very scale. Our air system is completely housed in the wing center section and is a "closed" system. No disconnects and a minimum of connection to leak. We use no air in the fuselage.
We have experimented with electric in the form of servos on other planes. The problem with gear doors and electric is that the door must have constant pressure to hold it shut. Not good for a servo that wants to find a "neutral" and is always working to get there. We burned up some expensive servos learning this important lesson. One time it was at The Toledo show. We were demonstrating our electric gear (with experimental electric gear doors) and smoke began to pour from the fuselage. A servo had melted down and came close to causing a very serious fire right in the middle of the show floor! We abandoned attempts to do electric gear doors with servos after that episode.
Not to say that it can't be done or that a door actuator won't be available at some point. Hope it is, but for now, we just use air. It provides the constant pressure that we need, and being the only function on our planes that use air, the tanks go a long way.
I have discussed this with Mitch at Down and Locked on occasion, and he has some very good ideas for devices that would do the job and still retain a scale appearance, but right now he has higher priorities with his new line of gear and even aircraft. I am hopeful he will revisit this in the near future.
A simple setup. But still looking more full scale like with the cylinders.
This is a more scale arrangement on one of our competition builds.(prior to weathering and other details)
My dream is to have an electric device that still looks like this.
Both work fine.
www.downandlocked.com
Last edited by ram3500-RCU; 01-28-2017 at 11:48 AM.
02-02-2017, 09:08 PM
#3446
Before I attatch the cowl for the painting process, I add our 'Steel Powder' to the bowl. I know from experience that she will require 4 to 4.5lbs of weight in the nose. The farther forward you get this weight, the less you will need, so we fill the bowl of the cowl with all we can.
I mix the powder in with the 20min epoxy and monitor the mix on a scale so I know how much I am adding to the nose.
The mix has a self-leveling quality so it is simply poured into the prepared cowl bowl.
What didn't fit in the cowl was poured into the nose between the exhaust cutouts.
After the epoxy cures a little grinding will smooth out the lines around the opening.
I mix the powder in with the 20min epoxy and monitor the mix on a scale so I know how much I am adding to the nose.
The mix has a self-leveling quality so it is simply poured into the prepared cowl bowl.
What didn't fit in the cowl was poured into the nose between the exhaust cutouts.
After the epoxy cures a little grinding will smooth out the lines around the opening.
02-10-2017, 07:30 PM
#3449
After years of painting planes on stands, I finally got around to making a way to hang them and easily rotate them without worrying about the new paint.
I used cables, some 1/2" copper pipe I had laying around, and then made a fixture for the front that bolts in using the engine bolts. I can pull the pipe out of where the stab spar ges and easily rotate the fuselage.
I used cables, some 1/2" copper pipe I had laying around, and then made a fixture for the front that bolts in using the engine bolts. I can pull the pipe out of where the stab spar ges and easily rotate the fuselage.