Richard L.

My Feedback: (24)

A 1400 mAH or 1800 mAH Rx receiver pack is pretty heavy and could do the trick if you place it against the firewall.

Richard L.

My Feedback: (24)

Root Chord: 13 1/4"
Tip Chord: 6
Wingspan: 53 3/8"

Wing Area = 1/2* (6 + 13 1/4) * 53 3/8 = 513.7 in sq (3.568 ft sq)

Wing Loading = (6.5 lbs * 16) / 3.568 = 29 oz/sq ft

Richard L.

My Feedback: (24)

JR 1400 mAH Rx battery pack: 4.9 oz
JR 1500 mAH Rx battery pack: 6.8 oz

Richard L.

My Feedback: (24)

One more idea to add "usable" nose weight:

Stock nylon engine mounts: 1.9 oz
Magnum aluminum engine mounts: 4.7 oz

av8r4aa

My Feedback: (82)

Those are all good ideas.
Gives me some more ammo to correct this tail heavy plane!

It will be interesting to get this F8F in the air.
Those little fighters are the best looking warbird

Richard L.

My Feedback: (24)

I have full confidence that this plane will get off the ground just fine. I'm also sure that I won't need to add dead weight to the nose.

Finally got my pull-pulls hooked up. I took a Dremel with a sanding drum and ground out the areas on the wood former where the cables will be touching and sanded those areas smooth. As a result, I didn't have to cross the cables.

av8r4aa

My Feedback: (82)

Great job Richard,
Could you please snap a pic of the exit of the cables from the fuse.
I need a ball park area to start.
what size pull pull servo arm did you use?

Richard L.

My Feedback: (24)

Attached is a pic showing the cable exit on the right side of the fuse. The cable is rubbing slight on the rear of the exit hole, so I would move the hole rearward, probaby to the middle of the rear stab chord. Also, I made the mistake of installing the control horn slightly too low on the rudder, hence my exit holes ended up too close to the top of the rear stab. There is a block of wood in the rudder for the control horn. You want to mount the control horn as high as possible on that block of wood.

You want to use the longest servo arm that would fit without touching the elevator servo arm because the rudder will need a lot of throw.

Richard L.

My Feedback: (24)

I got the engine mounted. According to the instructions, the engine requires 2 degrees of right thrust. This can be achieved by placing washers underneath the left engine mount. I used a total of four flat metal washers, two on each mounting bolt for the left mount. I mounted the engine 1/8" to the left of the vertical centerline so that the prop shaft would exit the cowl through the middle. The instructions didn't mention anything about down thrust, so I lined up the crankshaft with the horizontal centerline.

Richard L.

My Feedback: (24)

I just ran across two big black plastic washers in one of the plastic bags, probably used to provide engine right thrust. I will use these instead of flat metal washers.

SBR_RV

looks good and should fly good to.

Big Daddy-RCU

My Feedback: (5)

RICH- nice work so far! Great Pics.!
The two big black plastic washers are for the wing mounting srcews.
Did your Bearcat come with the horizontal centerlines allready drawn on the front of the Fuse??
Mine did not, I`ll have to measure for the center lines.
My wing is done and finished with Great Planes retracts, had to sand down the center brace in the wing where the retract servo tray glues to so the servo could sit lower.
Used 2-1/2" wheels and opened the wheel wells just a little.
Will start on the fuse and stab next.

TLH101

My Feedback: (90)

Here's a calculator to help determine how far off-center to get you thrust. Pretty handy little calculator.
http://www.lcrcc.net/offset_calc.htm

Richard L.

My Feedback: (24)

Looks like I will need to go back to using metal washers underneath the left engine mounts.

My Bearcat did not come with any lines drawn on the front of the fuse. I also had to measure and draw the center lines.

Richard L.

My Feedback: (24)

Thanks Terry. That's a handy calculator. I also ended up with 4.1mm offset by taking the tangent of 2-degree and multiplied by 118mm but thought 4.1mm was a little bit too much.

hgiles

My Feedback: (4)

What is this 'right thrust' you speak of? What are the consequences of not using it? Sounds like it is achieved by mounting the engine out of square.

Richard L.

My Feedback: (24)

If you go to this link that Terry provided, you will be able to see a picture of right thrust: [link]http://www.lcrcc.net/offset_calc.htm[/link]

It is the engine thrust angle relative to the fuse. Almost all warbirds have right thrust to counteract the torque from the engine. Otherwise the plane will want to veer left all the time. Most ARF's except this one have right thrust built into the firewall. If you stand this plane on its firewall, you will see that the fuse is pretty much straight up and down (doesn't tilt to the left or right). Hence washers must be placed between the firewall and the left engine mount to angle the engine to the right to give right thrust.

Richard L.

My Feedback: (24)

I got the wheel wells glassed and painted. I also installed Dave Brown 3.25" diameter low profile light wheels.

sbaugz

My Feedback: (37)

Looks nice Richard.

So, I take it you aren't using the supplied plastic wheel well inserts that came with the kit? What did you use to "glass and paint" the wheelwells? I was thinking of using light fiberglass cloth and epoxy. I am somewhat worried about how weak the wooden mounts for the retracts appear. I had a VQ Macchi plane that had the wooden retract mounts blow out through the top of the wing on a soft landing.

I am using the stock size wheels, so I will probably use the supplied plastic wheel inserts.

Richard L.

My Feedback: (24)

I'm not using the supplied plastic wheel well inserts because they can't take 3 1/4" diameter wheels. I used 5 oz fiberglass cloth and 20-minute finish cure epoxy to glass the wheel wells, followed by two coats of Model Masters acrylic paint. I also reinforced and glassed the retract mounts.

Richard L.

My Feedback: (24)

Got the fuel tank mounted. I decided to go with Hayes 12-oz tank to make installation a little easier and to get some more flight time. She is getting close to completion.

sbaugz

My Feedback: (37)

anyone put the decals on yet? Anyone have any guides or pictures that might show proper placement of them?

bear9236

My Feedback: (1)

Here ya go.

sbaugz

My Feedback: (37)

that'll work. How about any wing pics showing where the wing decals go? Thanks.

Richard L.

My Feedback: (24)

Here is a picture taken from Testors 1/48th scale kit: