Wolflord

With you being a perfectionist Gibbs I doubt very much its twisted like a tornado.

I am liking it very much Gibbs, Awsome job. When are you going to start the 10' corsair?

Geoff

JimoCooper

I think temporarily taping the strip on is a wise thing to do...wish I had thought of that.

I'm getting ready to build a giant Corsair...It will have a 98 inch span...true 1/5 scale... I blew up a set of Brian Taylor plans...and they are Awesome...

Corsairs are just dreamy

BobH

My Feedback: (2)

Hmm I flew my TF 1/8 Corsair with out any drama or stall strips. The only things I noticed about the plane were two. 1. It would waggle its tail some in normal flights. 2. It was a little more difficult to predict the Groove on landing. Other than that the plane flew just fine and pretty normal.

NCIS

Geoff and Jim,

I am going to start on my 120" Don Smith F4U-1A Corsair as soon as I think this one is done. I will definitely start on it before it's warm enough to maiden this one. I figure I have about a month and a half left on this one. I don't go flying until it's nice outside. I'm a cold natured person and when I fly I want to be comfortable. I can't see why people fly when it is 40 degrees outside. I usually start flying in late April or early May and quit when the temperature drops below 55 degrees usually the middle of October!!!

Barry the Twister

NCIS

I finished with the stall strip on the right wing. I hope it works like the real plane's does!

Gibbs

NCIS

Now that all the messing around with the wing is done I painted the belly white. I also painted the turtle deck flat black inside the windscreen. I got my elevators recovered and re-painted. I did a better job on them this time. I also put in the air fill valve and one of the switches for the lighting system. This is a mini switch and the one for the plane will be a MPI charge switch with indicator lights. I made a template for the white markings in front of the pilot for Callie Graphics to make me a decal. She does all my graphics and is excellant with details. I didn't want to chance painting it on and screwing up the fuselage paint. Here are some pictures.

Gibbs

RCPtero

Looking good, Gibbs!

I just carved my left wing, center flap, into shape. I'm hunting for the plywood I bought and the end piece for a template so I can get ready to glue them on. I think my center flaps are going to wind up being bigger than original, but I'm much happier with it this time around. However, I still have a lot to do, so we'll see how I feel in a week!

--
Tom

NCIS

Tom,

I'm kind of intimidated with the flaps. I almost feel like just gluing them onto the trailing edge and forget about them. My plane is coming in at less than I thought and I might not even need them. Another thought would be to just use the inner flap on each side to slow it down a little and leave the middle and outer flaps solidly mounted. I'll wait to decide after seeing what you come up with. The design on the flaps is a poor one and it just doesn't seem to me that it will ever work smoothly. I wish I could give it to someone to make them work right. Other than a little more paint and putting on the decals I'm almost ready to call it finished. I am thinking that I might not even fly it with all the work I've put into it and just get a Hanger 9 Corsair to fly the crap out of. I'll hang this one from my ceiling in my shop and just admire it. The 1/4 scale Corsair and the 1/3 scale Sop With Pup will both be flyers.

Barry

NCIS

Heck with it,

I'm going to do the flaps after all but I'm not going to worry about how smooth they operate. As long as they go down and back up is all I'm after. I put in the wire rods in the inboard and outboard flaps last night and that is as far as I'm taking it as far as scale looks. I cut the notches in the ends of the middle flaps and operated them by hand. I epoxied the hinge holes shut with a mixture of microballoons and Z-Poxy so I can reposition them for a little better fit. I painted the rest of the bottom of the wing and completed my control panel. I am using magnets I got from TH's to hold the hatch cover on and it works well. I'll probably only leave the hatch cover on it for static looks and fly it without it. Same with the gear doors. I made them out of fiberglass like the balsa ones I tested my system with but I'll just take them off when I go to the field. This project/plane is more for display than flying anyway.

Gibbs

NCIS

I cant believe what I did. I was almost finished taping off the bottom off the wing so I could paint the top and WHAM I hit the left wingtip and broke part of it right off. I thought about sanding it shorter but it was a dumb idea and the plane wouldn't look right. So the perfectionist in me took the wing down into my shop and grabbed the razor saw and before you could blink it was gone. I laminated a couple pieces of balsa stock I keep on hand and sawd it to the general shape on my bandsaw. Then I epoxied it on and sanded it to shape. Then on with some resin for strngth and I went to bed. Today I sanded the excess Z-Poxy resin off and smoothed it out with 600 grit wet sandpaper. I took a picture after I painted it. I was so mad I decided to work on my friend Andy's Citabria. I'm paintin parts for him and got the dashboard done and primed the fiberglass parts. I puttied what I thought were all the pinholes left by FS's moulds but missed several tiny pinholes that would look bad. I wouldn't paint them if it were mine so I called him to tell him there would be a delay and the reason and now I have to wait 48 hours before I can fill the holes with spot putty. Same thing with the cowling. Here are some non related Corsair pictures with two related mixed in.

Gibbs

NCIS

I decided while I'm wainting for the paint to sit for a couple days on my wing that I'd finish up on some little things that needed to be done. I cut the center section out of the top of the wing from the main spar back to the TE for wires to run for my lights. It was not working with them up in the way when I put the wing on. I also finished up on the secod hatch magnet so that I could have the hatch on but yet remove it and the cross bar thats holding it in place. The cross bar is slid into notches from the bottom so the magnet doesn't just pull it out. I removed the plywood circle that protected the lights when I painted and now all thats left is to put them on with 4 more srews each and then touch up the srew heads with a small brush. Here are some pictures of what I did.

Gibbs

indycobra

Hello all.
I too am building the Top Flite GE corsair. I have had this kit for over 5 years and have recently got interested in completing it. Up till now I have only built and flown .40 size trainer planes so this is a new world to me.

When I got the kit I purchased the much criticised Robart 615 retracts. I am having a problem getting them to operate at anything under 100 psi. At 80 psi they will only lift the gear maybe half way. If I crank it up to 100 Psi they will raise and lower about 3 times. Does this sound right? Ive read posts that say they should operate at 60 psi but mine will not. Loosening the mounting srews has no effect. I made sure that the mounting rails were parallel. Should I just throw these in the trash and order some sierra retracts? I hate to spend the extra money but I will if that is what I need to do. (Pictures below showing retracts operating @ 80 psi)

Also I have read many people are mounting individual aileron servos in the wing instead of using the pushrod/bell-crank assy. I wish I would have done my homework first but I have already mounted both the pushrods and bell-cranks. If you were me would you tear this out and change to individual servos? The bell-crank/push rod system seems pretty slop free to me but if there are other advantages I would like to hear them.

Thanks for any and all help

indycobra

I just noticed that I could actually make attachments on this forum. Sorry about the way I dd it, probably the wrong way.

RCPtero

indycobra,

Welcome to the thread! This thread has a lot of good info. There is also another thread on this plane, although I don't recall the title at the moment. It's the one dealing with Mods.

Take care to build as light as possible, but not so light you weaken anything.

As for the aileron servos, I had the bell crank built in and ripped it back out to go to the individual servos. I really did not like the resistance that was in the bell crank method. It took a lot of work to move them. I think that's because of the bends in the push rods.

--
Tom

US185Damiani

Indy,
The gear operates as you found. 100 PSI is good for about 3 reliable cycles, 6 cycles if you have a very free gear. as you see when you actuate it the gear dumps air pressure each way.

I have run mine for years at about 110 PSI with no ill effects.

indycobra

Thanks for the replies.

Did the plane not fly well with the center aileron servo? Or did you just feel more comfortable with two? Did it make a noticeable difference?

At what psi will this tank Burst? At Tower Hobbies web site the tank is rated for a maximum psi of 100. Im using a small 12v pump and blowing this thing makes me nervous.

I just got my prop from horizon in today. This thing is huge. I may have went too big (16 x 8)

NCIS

What size engine are you running in yours? I'm running a Saito 1.25 Golden Knight and have a 16x8 on mine.

Gibbs

NCIS

Sorry about that. I should have enlarged the picture first. That should be OK on our engines. Have fun with the flaps!!!

Gibbs

indycobra

Saito fa125a

Yea those flaps are going to take some work. Im sure ill make them a couple of times before I do it right []

RCPtero

I'm still building, so no clue how she'd fly with the bell cranks. If you're going to change it, best do it before finishing the wing!

I'm actually working on the flaps right now. It seems to be going well now, but we'll see what the final product is.

--
Tom

joey_snaproll

My Feedback: (32)

With robart retract,well with all retracts,they should ,if you can be mounted to the rails or ply when gluing in to the wing.This will stop any chance of having uneven rails and cause twist in the retract when tighted down.The robart 615 are light compared to others so they can twist easer.Read all this some where on this warbird forum. Loosen up the mounting screws a little and cycle them see if you get more out of a 100 psi tank full.If you do then you know.

Joe

indycobra

Like I said earlier loosening the mounting screws has no effect on more gear cycles. They are really free when not pressurized. I even block sanded the rails parallel and opened the mounting holes a bit just to be sure things were not in a bind. I just thought 3-4 gear cycles @ 100psi was not normal but after some of my responses maybe it is. Ill probably regret it but im going to try to use these gear. Im still not sure about the aileron servos. Maybe im over thinking things.

NCIS where did you get that prop nut? That thing looks awesome! That golden knight is the same motor as mine is it not? Just a deluxe version.

Thanks for helping me guys, I appreciate it.

US185Damiani

indy,
If you're going to use the robo struts use 2 set screws per in a vertical line and on each side. it has much more gripping power and will preclude teh struts slipping on the wire.

andernamen

My Feedback: (3)

Indy,

I know I'm in the minority and most WWII scale fans think it would be a sacrilage, but consider outfitting the plane for retracts, but install fixed gear first. Since you've only flown trainers, you will have a learning curve to overcome. Fixed gear handles tough landings much better than retracts, especially the 615's. I'm on that curve now and would have destroyed quite a few pairs of 615's. I have a TF P-40 and Corsair, both with fixed gear. I have two pairs of Robart 615's waiting on me. Good luck with your build.

NCIS

Indy,

Don't do it!!! The fixed gear will look out of place on the Corsair. Andernamen no offence but he just need to get some more time on other planes before he flies the Corsair. I myself plan on getting a Hanger 9 Corsair ARF to beat around before flying mine. Indy as far as the flaps go I think the problem is with the instructions that tell you to drill the robart 1/8" holes 3/16" above the bottom of the TE. I epoxied mine full and re-drilled the hinges just above the bottom sheet. Now the flaps can move freely without binding on the hinges. He is a picture. Also Andy here are some pic's of the Citabria after I washed and clear coated the colored Solartex.

Gibbs