Connery

Well, I have finally started on my next kit, the 63" Top Flite P-47. I have been doing a lot of research on here and the web trying to find all the trick and traps of building this kit. Since I had previously built a 1/72 scale model of "Dallas Blonde" I decided on that color scheme. I really like the look of the "Checkertail Clan" planes, and didn't want to do "Big Stud" or some of the others that everyone seem to do.

A little history of "Dallas Blonde"

This was a P-47D Razorback that was flown by Lt. Donald Kearns of the 319th FS, which was part of the 325th FG. The 319th was based out of Foggia Main Airdrome in Italy and flew P-47's between Dec. 14, 1943 and May 15, 1944 at which time they converted to P-51's. During the time that the 319th was flying the P-47, Lt. Kearns shot down three enemy planes while flying in "Dallas Blonde"

I will be posting pictures as soon as I can, but I will be building this kit with as much scale detail that I can, but I know the limitations of the Top Flite kit. I will be powering this with a Saito FA-100 FS and do plan on using retracts, but I haven't decided on which retracts YET.

I went back and forth whether to build it straight out of the box and get it done quickly or do scale hinging on the control surfaces, panel lines, etc. I came real close to the quick way since it is the smaller of the P-47 kits out there, but I decided to do it up right so that I can make the next one....probably a Ziroli...even better.

This is not my first warbird kit, but it will be the first one that I finish. My very first kit 20 years ago was a Top Flite red box P-51B. I was 19 and my dad had bought it and lost interest before he even started. I got the airframe complete, but lost interest myself before it was ready to fly and traded it to the guy that ran the local hobby shop for an RC car and radio.

Connery

Here's a few pics of the start of the stab

Connery

Well, here is the completed stab....minus the lite ply shrouds to cover the hinge line gap. Oh and the rod that will connect the two elevators. I'm thinking a carbon fiber rod if I can find one with a small enough diameter. I'm also thinking of hiding the elevator horn in the base of the rudder, but I don't know if it will work yet.

Connery

Sheesh!!! What a week! Every night when I came home and TRIED to do some work on on the P-47, the wife had other things for me to do. Then this weekend I had to teach a motorcycle safety class, so it wasn't until late this Sunday afternoon that I was able to finally finish the vert stab and rudder. The only thing I still need to do is cover the hinge line gap with lite ply. Although I'm not sure what thickness I should use. I have some 1/16th I though I'd use, but it seems too thick. What is everyone else using?

Connery

Well, I made some more progress last night. Got started on the fuselage and got as far as getting one of the precut side sheets in place. After soaking it down with windex, I pinned and clamped it in place until it dried. After that it went on very easily.

Connery

Made some more progress this weekend. Got the upper part of the fuselage completed and the tail feathers attached. Also got the hinge line shrouds in place. I think they turned out pretty good. Now on to the lower part of the fuselage.

Connery

More progress tonight. I ran into the same problem as some others have where the wing saddle crutches were about an 1/8" too long and former F5B wouldn't fit into place. I just trimed off a little of the crutch to get everything to line up.

Connery

I've pretty much completed the fuselage. Took me a few days to figure out exactly how I needed to make the elevator joiner tube and control horn. The only thing I have to do to the aft end of the fuselage is the last balse block to close in the very end. But I'm going to hold off until I decide how I'm going to make the bulge on the lower part of the rudder like the full scale has.

In the last pic you can see the joiner tube and control horn I fabricated for the elevators. When I do final assembly, I will swap the aluminum tube for a carbon fiber one.

Connery

I am planning on building the ailerons where they function like the full size and I've been searching every for some pix of the aileron hinge tabs on the full size and just recently found one

I also found a very good scan of the Vargas artwork that was used for the nose art on "Dallas Blonde"

timothy thompson

My Feedback: (1)

hi nice build! keep the weight down and it will fly great reinforce the gear mounts i used cj gear and like them they will not hold up on long grass i fly off asphalt. use a saito 80 pleny of power

Connery

I went with the Saito 100 because of all the scale detailing that I plan on doing. Should provide plenty of power.

Connery

More progress tonight. Finally got the fuselage done. Now on to the wing.

jmodguy

My Feedback: (4)

Connery,
Not fair... you work way too fast!
I have been going at the same plane for @ 4 months now. Check out the link if you're interested in putting the main gear in the scale location. Easy mod to do. I'm also using a retract tailwheel.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/Advi...2844758/tm.htm

Jeff

SBR_RV

great, i havent seen a build thread on this model yet. im planning on building one soon, i will also try to make it more detailed.

Connery

Jeff,

I had been following that thread and was very impressed by your mod to the wings for the more scale-like landing gear location. I have been seriously considering doing the same with mine ever since. I plan on using the Century Jet retracts since they have been reinforced so they won't bend like the older ones. I also considered using a retractable tailwheel, but with everyone saying how heavy the tail of this plane is already, I just went with the stock setup to save weight. I also changed the tailwheel to a pull-pull along with the rudder.

Flak

My Feedback: (1)

Connery,
Your P-47 looks GREAT! I hope she flies just as well. I have noticed the P-47 wants to float on landings when the flaps are used. I like your work. By the way, I still have my T/F Red Box P-51B that is autographed by General Chuck Yeager. She has flaps and Rom Air retracts. I miss flying her sometimes. She now flies 24/7 in the corner of my living room, providing escort for B-25's of the 345th "Air Apaches" on a bombing mission on Japanese Battle Ships as depicted in a Robert Taylor painting hanging on the wall next to her. Good luck.

"Keep 'Em Flying"
Flak

jmodguy

My Feedback: (4)

SBR_J
The model builds pretty straight forward so it would be a re-hash of the pics in the instruction manual. The interesting part is when you "change things". Need lots of ref material and a bit more patience! This is actually the prototype for my giant TF Jug....

Connery,
Im using Robart 550RS with robostruts so should be plenty strong for this plane. Should be in this week sometime - I'm all goose pimply in anticipation.....

Jeff

Connery

I too am doing all the mods on this one to get ready to build the next one. Which will probably be either a Yellow or the larger Ziroli from plans.

SBR_RV

keep up the work, its coming along very quick.

Connery

Thanks SBR, I'm kinda at a stopping point since I don't have the retracts yet. I'm actually considering just building this one with fixed gear just so I can get it done and in the air, but I probably won't.

Scott G

I went with the 1.00 on my Top-Flite Sea Fury. At sea level it offers plenty of power for fast flight on a 15x6.

scott.

Shihtzutan

I built my TF P-47 a few years ago and it's one of my favorites! It big enough to hide anything you want, including a fully coweled Satio 1.50! Here's a few pics of some things to hide. Cowel screws, fueler, charge jack, switches, etc. I will enentually build another one with all the tricks I have since learned. I still haven't quite figured out how to make the gear doors and wheel covers. You will find that the gear up position is a problem becasue it already doesn't want to retract flush. Next time I think I'm going to modify the wing ribs slightly so I get a deeper wheel well. Let me know what you come up with!

Connery

Shihtzutan,

Great job on the hidden access for the switch and fueler in the pics. As far as the landing gear goes, I think I'm going to follow jmodguy's example and change the wing spars so that landing gear retracts in a more scale like fashion. Thanks for posting the pics.

SBR_RV

do you have any pics of the gear folded up and a shot of the radio bay?
thanks

Connery

Well, I finally got tired of waiting on retracts, so I started working out the structural changes that I needed to do to the wings. The TF kit has non-scale gear locations and I wanted to change it to be more scale. Moving the gear location further back towards the middle of the wing basically cuts the main spar in half. So to enable the gear to be moved, I decided to cut out the main spar between ribs W1 and W4. I then created two new spar locations fore and aft of the landing gear well and ran them from rib W1 out to W6. The should provide plenty of strength for the wing and enable the scale landing gear location.

The picture shows my progress so far in the redesigning of the spar structure. The only thing not in place is the upper (wing is built upside down) fore and aft spars. So far nothing is glued, just pressed into place to verify fit and alignment.