n8622t

My Feedback: (8)

Thanks Sess...I forgot about that post, it looks great Did you buy the spinner from Troybuilt?

Idigbo

Had my Raiden out a few times now without issue, although I had a retract hang up one time. Turned out a thread had stripped on the cylinder pushrod. On take off one leg was reluctant to retract, unusual as they have been very reliable up to now. Got it away eventually though by cycling them inverted but there was obviously a problem since it wouldn't come down again. Tried a few touch and goes to bounce it free, to no avail so had to belly it in on the grass. Deliberately kept the motor running as I definately didn't want to overshoot onto the tarmac and I at least would have chance to go round. As it happened it used very little of the grass coming in on flaps. Prop sacrificed but had fears for the flap servos. More by luck than good judgement, the flaps were whipped away the second the Raiden met the grass so the gear train survived, you can hear the flap 'half way' beep in the vid.

Ian.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Dl0ni5wf3A&feature=BFa&list=UUmFaiuRn3dMFLqRYrtPKMTA&lf=plcp[/youtube]

Sessholvlaru

That was a nice piece of flying there, you fly that warbird like a warbird should be flown. Dare I say your landing was better than the Corsairs!

Sessholvlaru

I got my tailwheel door working properly. I cross drilled a threaded rod through the bottom tailwheel arms at just the right spot and made a small pushrod that I can adjust. I used two small gear door hinges (I think Ian used the same) and it works great. Now I can get in there with some styrene sheet and make it look like the real deal.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgeQVZEPJUg[/youtube]

n8622t

My Feedback: (8)

Great save Ian...and great flight as well. Sorry about the gear hang up and hope you got it figured out

Sessholvlaru

I've been doing a bunch of brainstorming and experimenting with how to do some scale-looking exhaust stacks but I haven't come up with anything. I tried reshaping some copper tubing, messing with plastic, etc but to no avail. The main problem is the the front end of the fuse does not taper inward as drastically where the cowl flaps begin as the real plane so you can't really have the stacks run behind the cowl. At this point I am taking another look at the stacks ESM gives you. They are mostly flat with just the last 1/3 open and round to slide under the cowl. They are not the correct shape (round instead of elliptical/rectangular) but I think I can reshape them.

Sessholvlaru

And just to reiterate because I find it remarkable, here is how perfectly the stock G62 muffler fits in the cowl. At at least two spots it comes within 1/8-inch of the cowl wall.

n8622t

My Feedback: (8)

Hope my Fuji 64 fits as well....sess where did you get the spinner if you dont mind me asking?

n8622t

My Feedback: (8)

Which engine is Idigbo using?

Idigbo

My Raiden has a stock Z62 with a standard exhaust, running a 22 x 10 Menz. Like Sess says, the motor and exhaust is a perfect fit for the model. Sess, apart from the bling red colour, are there any differences between your motor and my standard job?

Ian.

n8622t

My Feedback: (8)

Thanks Ian....62cc looks like the ticket.....did the extra weight of the engine help on the cg balance?

Idigbo

Mine balanced with no ballast, its a bit nose heavy at the moment, so I'll either make a lighter spinner backplate or move the batteries back a bit. Flies great as is, but needs a fair bit of down elevator when inverted.

Ian.

Sessholvlaru

Mine is an electronic ignition conversion, i.e. it's no longer a magneto engine. It's supposed to make the G62 much easier to start. Not sure if performance would be any different.

Sessholvlaru

With this site acting up so much posting is becoming a chore...

I dressed up my tailwheel some with some styrene sheet. I love this stuff, you can make anything out of it. As you can see this isn't exact, and it really can't be anyway. The real Raiden had a castering tailwheel and the fork on the ESM Raiden is not the right shape. I guess this is close enough for now.

Sessholvlaru

$200 Glennis wheels? Hah!

The stock ESM rubber/plastic wheels that came with my e-retracts are actually really close to the scale size, but obviously the hubs are nowhere close to realistic. I decided to change that.

Again, back to my trusty Styrene sheet. Two layers per wheel side, thicker to fill the gap between the center hub and outer rim (1st pic), and another to simulate the brake assembly on the real Raiden (2nd/3rd pic). On the real plane the brakes and gear doors pretty much cover 90% of the wheel, so there isn't really much detail to emulate except the 12 bolts on the outer rim.

I painted the inner rim silver first, then painted the outer disc the underside color to get a crisp paint line. Then I glued on the outer disc and finish painted.

Another note. There is a ton of contradicting info on what color the gear doors/struts/inner wheelwells on the Raiden were. Although I thought it would have been cool looking, research indicates that the Raiden did not have the inner doors and wheelwells painted in aotake, that metallic blue/green anti-corrosion paint. They were indeed painted the same color as the underside of the plane.

Note that the Planes of Fame Raiden is not painted the correct color, but you get the idea.

Total investment? About 7 bucks.

n8622t

My Feedback: (8)

Sess I have been holding back on the retract questions to give you time to try them and see what you think they are like...are they to your liking and how fast are they...I am really considering these over an air operated set. Sierra is supposed to be building them and Lenny at Shindinmachine could definitely build them, but these are very interesting.

n8622t

My Feedback: (8)

$7...im in They look great

Sessholvlaru

Go one page back here and you'll see I have posted a video of them. They are incredibly slow, however TBM has upgrade boards coming soon that speed them up to about 10 seconds (scale retraction). I already have mine backordered. You basically have the option of buying the slow Gen 1's (what I have) and waiting for the upgrade boards or waiting for the Gen 2 retracts with the new boards already installed. I did not want to wait.

Otherwise they are beautifully machined, have no slop and are heavy duty. I stuck with the ESM retracts because I don't feel like messing with air retracts anymore. I had swapped out the KMP air retracts in my Sea Fury with E-flite electrics and have never regretted it.

n8622t

My Feedback: (8)

Thanks Sess....sounds like the tbm b25 video...they took about 55 sec to cycle one direction. I'm in no hurry since the Raiden is in its box. Thanks for the info and the good job of sharing that you are doing

Sessholvlaru

I usually never use the included wheelwell linings since they tend to not look very scale. On my KMP Sea Fury I just left them out to fit a larger wheel.

Since I am trying to push my scale boundaries with this plane I made some wheelwells from styrene. They went in fairly quickly, just minor trimming is required. The retract servo leads are underneath the wheelwell "floor." I will likely go back in here and add some more detail later. I still need to refine and smooth the joints a bit as well.

Since I went with all hidden linkages I figured I would hide the hatch screws too by simply not using them. I used canopy glue to hold on the tailwheel access hatch in place so I decided to try that trick on the hatches. I never use screws on canopies, only this glue, and have never lost a canopy so I know this is good stuff.

Idigbo

Nice job. You can't beat a nice smooth wing with no linkages and stuff hanging out. Its getting closer now,

Ian.

Sessholvlaru

Thanks Ian.

I got my cockpit today courtesy of VQ and am already working on it.

The cockpit of the Raiden was painted Mitsubishi interior green. Because of the rarity of the plane this color is reported as ranging from a pale green to an olive drab-ish color. My research indicates that the color was actually closer to an olive drab, but lighter. The closest match around is Testors Model Master Medium Green.

Sessholvlaru

More work on the cockpit. I plan on weathering it with dry brushing and the like, but for the really worn areas I laid down some aluminum duct tape that I can steel wool down to after it is painted.

Sessholvlaru

More cockpit progress. After the base coat I went in with red, black and gray to detail all of the buttons and switches. My research indicated that the entire cockpit was green including the instrument panel.

I scratched through the paint in the areas I had put the aluminum duct tape. More detail was done with a silver marker. I then went over all of the nooks and crannies with a charcoal pencil and smudged it around with my finger.

I am going to work on the rear cockpit/radio box area next, then do the instrument panel (which I already filled with resin per Ty's suggestion).

I think the cockpit is coming out pretty good so far, a nice kit.

Sessholvlaru

Here is another view. There are a few knobs and levers that are not included in the cockpit kit but need to be there. These two are probably flaps and gear?