bigtim

My Feedback: (13)

for the saddle fairing and connection I went with a couple of different sizes of tri-stock to make the base of the fairing some 3/4" and 1/2", I got some really light weight balsa since this is for shaping not strength the plywood will provide that and to keep the weight down.

after back cutting the tri-stock(slicing the rear of the wood to be more flexable) I med CA'd it into place only one minor mishap where I tried to flex the wood a little too much where there wasn't a slice but its minor and will sand out when I begin shaping the fairing and filling the little flaws.

I then glued some sheeting to the extended area to the rear of the saddle most of it will be sanded off but I wanted some light weight wood rather than filler,there is also a low spot in that area but I want to get some of the rough sanding done before I add any more wood to the area,and trim off the rear area begind the wing where the saddle blends into the fuse.

all for now more to come
BT

bigtim

My Feedback: (13)

I for got to add in my last post when I had installed the plywood saddles I scored the ply with a razor so I could contour the saddle to the fuseallowing a nice smooth transition to the fuse sides, when I sheet the bottom of the fuse tomorrow it will become clearer as to why Ii did it this way.

so I ended up making another filler layer to take some more of the up the space to the rear of the saddle a wedge of 1/8" sheeting,I could have just used some 1/4" balsa but the thiner 1/8 layers allwed me to step it back off the edge requireing less of the dreaded sanding and dust.
sanded these layers to shape removing alot of the wood with 80grit paper, it makes short work of the light weight balsa.

I also trimmed the rear area so it returned to the fuse and filled any voids with small pieces of balsa.

when I was fairly satisfied with the shaping that I had done I used some of this filler I have had good results with,its a wood filler from Minwax and when its dry the stuff is quite hard to the touch but sands really smooth and its light,I used it on my P-47 and was happy with the results so again its being used here.

one thing I did was to add some water to it to loosen it up,slowly mixing it in so the filler was creamy, I found when smoothing it out with my finger it would really stick to everything, and was stiff to use strait out of the can.

the first layer is on now I will do a couple of sand backs and refills so I get a nice gradual taper to the fuse so far its looking good and I am happy with the results.

Baldeagle

My Feedback: (7)

Tim The fillets look good. It's going to be a nice bird when your done. Rich

bigtim

My Feedback: (13)

moving forward is half the battle the wing fit looks pretty good now,not quite as good as I would have liked but there's some room for adjustment.

I also glued the tail feathers into there place with epoxy now I can sheet the top of the fuse and work out the fillet at the rudder there is some blending of the fuse into the tail that I will work on tonight,some progress pics.

bigtim

My Feedback: (13)

a little more details on the elevator and rudder.

before I glued the elevator in place I installed 2- 1/16 plywood crutches at the elevator saddle area, after I was satisfied with the proper incedence of 2o indicated on the plan sheet, these were included in the parts in the kit,so I made my usual copy of them.
it was obvious that the balsa slab side sheeting was not enough to support the tail structure alone, since I had eleminated the major chunk of wood that formed the bottom of the rudder structure these were definatly going to be structural.

I then test fit the rudder and slowly cut away the exess sheeting that I had left on it, to slide over the elevator and fit in the fuse nice and strait.
I wanted full contact between the elevator and rudder sheeting for maximum strength, when I glued the rudder in place.

another thing I added a while ago, was the hard balsa support across the fuse where the leading edge would attach to, this doubled as a push rod attachment point as well, and had been installed just in front of former#10.

I had some 1" balsa block scrap left over, its pretty soft and quite light, so I felt it would be a good candidate for my Rudder LE fillet.

going to the plans with some tracing paper, I made a copy of the fillet, using 77 spray adhesive, I glued the tracing to some stiff cardboard for my template,after some tweeking I was satisfied with the fit of the template, and traced the shape on my balsa block, again with the handy scroll saw I cut the part out,some minor sanding and in it went,I decided to use tite bond for this glue up since I was going to do some sanding to shape the wood,its what I used for the wing fillets and it really makes the sand back work much less labor intensive than CA.

I then installed fuse former #9 its a small half fuse former that would have broken off had I put it in prior to now,its all drying up now I will shape the fillet later tonight or tomorrow depending on how quickly the titebond drys its pretty cold here, not like the midwest, but still pretty chilly.

bigtim

My Feedback: (13)

more work on the tail area blending it to the fuse to prep for sheeting.

so I rough sanded the solid balsa fillet at the vert stab so that it was a even shape to each side of the rudder fairly close to the widest point on the V.stab.

to blend the rudder into the fuse I first made 2 pieces of sheeting from 3/32 balsa fitting it around the elevator,and into the notch at the rear of the fuse, a small piece of balsa was used as a crutch to allow the pieces to match the fuse sides just behind the H.stab at the elevator,this area would have been taken up by a solid balsa block that I would have had to sand to shape.

I pre sanded the edge facing upward, and back, about a inch in, so there was a transition since it would need to be sanded to blend with the rudder I would do this after installation.

carefully glueing it in place with med CA so it would make a tight sandwich and help lock it into the fuse,and making a smooth transition from the tail area to the rudder.

I then made a special piece of tri-stock cut to wrap at the rudder base, and make a first support area for the forward portion where the rudder blends into the fuse area towards the front.

after installing this piece I began building up the forward area a layer of 1/8 balsa at former #10 did the trick,but what I noticed was a dimple in the side where the transition was off,after adding a few pieces of filler and some sanding,and my rear area is ready to go,it looks a little frankenstein like with the patchwork of balsa pieces but a small amount of filler will blend everything together smoothly.

I made a small step 3/16 back, at former #10 so the sheeting at the rear of the fuse will have a perch to glue to,quite the misson of sanding and filling space with balsa but its a really strong set up.

I eliminated a sizeable portion of wood from the rear of the fuse,which was my goal, a large area of the lower portion of the rudder is also solid wood that would have needed some major carving and sanding to achieve the proper shape.

bigtim

My Feedback: (13)

so tonight I went on a bit of a mission,with a glass of N.Cal wine and the T.V. on for some white noise I began the sheeting process.

first was to make the upper fuse sheeting.
the Royal way was to do some patchwork of fitting of pieces, and planking to form the fuse skin,well I was having none of that.
I wanted to do a one piece upper skin for ease and to keep it all light and tidy not having to add any extra glue and unnecessary sanding.

so my process was to slowly fit the 3/32x4x36 balsa into a generaly accurate shape that I was going to need for the job, first identifying the forward areas and cutting the wood out, as if I was making a template.
then working towards the tail, making sure to allow for some extra wood that I could bend and work into the shape I needed, the extra wood I could sand off later, most notably at the cockpit area.

a section where I made a small mistake, and I had to make a correction in my building, was where there was no perch at the seam between the fuse sides and my new pieces,the plans don't show where its needed but there is a adendum in the instructions I over looked that goes over this.
I simply used the razor saw to notch the formers, and some 1/4 balsa, that I also made notches into, so it keyd in and supported the sheeting, just a small retrofit job.

so once I was satisfied with the fit, I glued the strait edge of the sheets together with med CA making sure the wood was nice and tight then working from front to back I applied glue on any formers and supports that would touch the sheeting for better holding power.

when I got to the rear of the cockpit area there is quite a bit of a compound curve.
what I did for this was to install a piece of balsa at the spine from former #8 to former #10, so I would have something to glue the seam to and add a little support there.

then using a 50-50% mix of denatured alcohol and water in a spray bottle, I moistened the sheeting and it soon became pliable enough to wrap around the curve.
I then sliced the sheeting at my spine as strait as I could using some flexable balsa as a guide.

for the other side I repeated this procedure untill I came to the rear spine seam, for this I simply applied a liberal amount of CA to the formers on that side, and with a exacto trimmed the wood to fit, funny thing is the water and alc. works like a kicker on the CA so while holding the sheeting in place I applied a small bit to the area I was holding and it stuck in place.

having CA all over my fingers was a little bit of a bugger, the sanding bar came in handy,good luck getting any finger prints from me

bigtim

My Feedback: (13)

so now that i have the top of the fuse sheeted I needed to blend the tailand sheeting together after checking my model example and some of my docs. I decided to add some small pieces of light balsa to fill and blend the fuse sheeting to the tail,just a couple of strategically placed pieces of 3/32 balsa sanded back to contour to the tail.

I then smeared some of my filler into any of the little voids, to buff the area out,so far I am pleased with the general look and will do a small amount of detail sanding after the filler is dry, after that another round of filling and some fine sanding to prep for glassing later.

bigtim

My Feedback: (13)

next comes the sheeting on the bottom of the fuse, I went to the LHS and got some 3x36x1/8 balsa sheeting for the bottom,the reason for the extra thickness was that I intend on doing some shaping and sanding at the corners of the fuse, and where the wing meets the rear of the fuse there was a significant lip on the bottom.

the small amount of weight added by the thicker sheeting is a minor trade off for the extra strength the thicker wood provides as well.

one thing that I will also correct is the tail wheel recess,the cut out that Royal has on there kit provided pieces are over sized I allowed the sheeting to hang over this area so I could reduce and reshape the hole to a more accurate scale opening,any exess wood I will trim back to the proper size once I am satisfied with the opening, more on this later.

another modification I did to the wing saddle, now that its in position,was to trim it back where the tail wheel retract cylinder is, just some extra wood there in the way that I felt I didn't need,the forward area I will leave alone.

bigtim

My Feedback: (13)

another thing I had to do was sand the large pieces of balsa stock at the corners so they were even and strait before sheeting the bottom, the formers are a little off that come with the kit, and since I copied them, and not the plans, my formers and there notches were a bit off as well, it took some eye balling and some sand bar work to line the bottom of the fuse so it had the correct shape but after some dusty work it looks OK.

tomorrow I will go over the fuse with some heavy, and progressivly lighter sandpaper, in the daylight to shape the fuse, and wing connection corectly hopefully with some decent results.

7aso

My Feedback: (27)

Tim, I have a question for you. Since you are making copy of the original parts to preserve the kit, how would you go about tackling a piece like this?

It's from one of the bottom-side fuselage pieces from my Royal Oscar. You would have to get the contour and shape almost exactly.

LDM

My Feedback: (15)

Tim looks like your trying to keep things of ahead of the CG as much as possible , that is good!!!! .
I am doing the same , took 25% of the wing filet as my max cord just for simple refferance only and I am trying to keep it all my fuse servos ahead of that point

bigtim

My Feedback: (13)

depending on the position of the block, I would try to replace the wood with a former and stringer set up,for sheeting.

is the block part of the tail saddle? if it is then a balsa and plywood sandwich would do for a replacement saddle,using the block from the kit, and the plans to reference the saddle position, from the former just forward of the tail to the end of the fuse, if that makes sense.

then allow the fuse stringers to extend all the way to the projected end of the fuse instead of stopping where the block would begin, if I had a set of plans I could be more specific I do have a Royal Zero Junior kit but I am not sure if there construction tecnique is the same,using a solid lower block at the tail, I will look though.

if its unavoidable using the solid block, then laminate a couple of pieces together to duplicate the origonal piece,I used Titebond glue for laminating balsa since it sands the best,clamping the wood to avoid any warping, and then make a copy.

its what I had to do on the area forward of the leading edge since I didn't want to totally redo the wing to fuse connection,having built mine now I think I could have pulled it off with some thought on a sturdy remedy, but I took the easy way out and made a copy of the piece provided in the kit.

I don't know the const. tecnique used with the Oscar, on the FW the block is part of the vert.stab on top of the elevator,the lower part of the fuse is relativly hollow, and has a slab sided const. with stringers along the bottom of the fuse, I did add another former for the retractable tail wheel,that I trial and error fitted into position,I actually made 2 of them because the first was a mess and was too small.

its one of those areas where I built up to a problem area and worked it out on the fly, since these kits are kind of funny the way there put together instead of using formers and stringers, there is solid balsa blocks.

bigtim

My Feedback: (13)

if you do end up having to copy the piece then a dremmel scroll saw works great for rough cutting the parts out, if you have to do it by hand then a cheap little coping saw the ones with the small thin blade works great for balsa,the saw is shaped kind of like a big "D" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coping_saw .

the part looks fairly strait forward actually to reproduce lay the piece from the kit on the flat side, and trace the outline onto your block of wood, first cut the 2 curved sections out then carefully sand the rounded portion into the block using a sanding bar to shape it referencing the origonal as you go.

this is how I would go about replicating the part if you end up going that direction

bigtim

My Feedback: (13)

after looking at the plans and referencing the CG I was pleased to find out that most of the servos are at, or slightly forward, of the CG recomended by Royal this was purely accidental but light in the rear, and weight forward is my goal,my only exeption was the TW retract.

7aso

My Feedback: (27)

It's the tail saddle.

I was going to use a solid block and make a trace of the original and sand to shape, that was my original outline. I like the sandwhich talk.

bigtim

My Feedback: (13)

this is the way the saddle is set up on the FW, a balsa piece doubles the slab sides where the V.stab sits, after sanding the area so the stab sits level and the recomended incidense was correct I glued in a 1/16 plywood piece that goes from former #10 just forward of the rudder connection to the end of the fuse it makes a strong seat for the elevator to glue to.

I dont know the Oscar that well but if there is no retract needed, then I would think either way, a block shaped to fit, or a built up area would be fine, the main reason I decided to build up the area was for weight savings in the tail area, and I was concerned with the retract mech. having enough room with the block in the way,which ended up not being a factor, and the extra weight I was adding to the tail by using a retractable tail wheel.

I am sure that making the rudder hollow instead of a solid block of hard balsa saved me a few grams, the TW adds .8oz not including the wheel so its fairly light

bigtim

My Feedback: (13)

since I was going to do the retractable TW, I decided the hole in the fuse that Royal has on there plans and fuse slab sides was way to big and not the right shape.

my model example shows this as well as the photo docs I have, so a little wood work was in order for this area,I am also considering using a larger tail wheel also, but I haven't chosen one yet so my great planes TW will do for now, like I have stated many times this is no scale master piece but there are some areas that need to be done at least close for looks.

I have left some overhang of the bottom sheeting and with some carefull shaping I made some filler pieces for the fuse sides, that I CA'd into place to eliminate the huge half moon shaped areas.

after this was done I used some more of the 1/8 balsa scrap to form the final little piece of the fuse sheeting, and with a rolled up piece of 80grit paper, I slowly sanded the opening to my likeing.

when I fit the rudder in place I noticed It needed a little on the bottom to blend with the fuse properly a small bit of wood was added and sanded to shape so there was a smooth transition another correction I had to make on the fly,I am not sure if this is the final tweaking of the area but its very close to the final shape, if I decide to use a larger wheel then I may need to adjust the hole slightly, by opening it up a bit.

I also did a little more shaping of the fuse sheeting a slow sandpaper massage that will take a few sessions to complete, not a process I want to rush I am just looking at my photos and working out the contours as I see them.

bigtim

My Feedback: (13)

another area I needed to finish was the hinge slot location for the gun hood/access hatch to finish the sheeting there.

I took some scrap light ply and fit it in behind the gun tray area,using some 1/16 balsa pieces on each end of the scrap ply,so I could make a slot for the hun hood hinges to slip into when I am ready to glue them in place, and secure the hood permanently.

the piece of ply also served as a support for the sheeting in the top of the sun shade for the inst. pannel in the cockpit area.

I also cut the hood to length,using a razor saw, and dremmeled out the area where the guns will stick through, the area is pretty thick but my small sanding drum trimmed the recesses quickly,my plan is to use a latch very simmilar to ampeaters FW190 hood to secure it, its a slick way to hold it down,using the guns for the latch, I had the idea of something close but his was a clean looking install so I thought I would copy his method,credit where credit is due.

being alot smaller than a 1/5 scale it will have to be alot smaller and lighter, but the idea will be about the same.

the sides will be trimmed when I get closer to the finish line so I can get the proper lines, but I wanted to get the length cut to fit it to the fuse, it is a quality part and is a big improvement over the kit provided method of shaping solid blocks for the gun blisters.

I like the ability to hide all the switches and air fittings under it as well

LDM

My Feedback: (15)

Tim looks fantastic !!! good job , you may want to take a look at the size of the tail wheel , it may need to be bigger .I am struggleing with the same thing , the wheel when retracted(as I am sure you know and I am certaintly not trying to tell you something you dont know ) on the Fw190 is not fully concealed .I just asked the Fw190 (Evil) expert in my opinion about the size of the wheels in another post on RCU . ON my 70" Fw190 , it would appear that 2.25 was about correct , but I am going with 1& 3/4 but have adjusted the wheel so that its more prevelant when retracted .

bigtim

My Feedback: (13)

yea the TW I have is a little on the dinky side it works for a Top Flight model but for the FW its not nearly scale I am thinking a 1 3/4 would have a better scale look to it as well, my only problem is the narrow area I need to fit it into the diamiter would be no problem but the width of the wheel is about at the max,I may have to get a foam wheel which is slender but has the right size.

if you look at photo #3 in post # 168 the wheel is retracted the contrast is so dark you can barely see the wheel,I will post some fixed photos just for you buddy

the recomended cylinder for the Robart unit is the 1" throw for full retraction, so by using the smaller cylinder the 1/2"throw it retracts up into the fuse just enough,when I get the larger wheel I may dish out the wheel well just a little bit more, part of that sanding process of shaping the fuse, will be a gradual move to the finish line.

bigtim

My Feedback: (13)

so I just couldn't let this one rest, I needed some more CA so I headed up to the LHS before the playoffs started HeHe and bought some Dubro 1 3/4 wheels for the TW.

this is where I had to do some sculpting the wheel is OK for the space but didn't fit the axel on the Robart retract, first I cut a small piece of brass tubing as a sleeve, it worked perfect so the wheel rolled nice and smooth on the wire with no play.

my next problem was the hub was too thick and I couldn't get the collar on the end of the axel that I had trimmed to fit the opening and the other TW.

so out comes the dremmel moto tool, the side facing inward was fairly close I did some minor shaving so there was no extra plastic in the way, on the outside where the collar would sit there is a big knob of plastic in the center that was totally in the way, the dremmel made short work of this and I sanded any areas where the plastic was uneven with some 120 paper.

my only gripe about the dubro wheels,other tan having to mod the hub, was that there is a huge DUBRO stamped on the sidewall of the wheel, this will have to go and I already started sanding it off,after its done a little tire cleaner works well for the scratches on the rubber.

a definate improvement in looks over the smaller wheel, and is the recomended size from the plans, I was worried that it wouldn't fit in the narrow space when retracted, but not to worry,I also have a spare since they come in sets.

LDM

My Feedback: (15)

yep , looking great my friend , now that looks scale !!!! .!!!!

Ramstein44

My Feedback: (157)

Hello all.

Just curious, does this kit come with decals or are people making the designs from the plans and painting them on??

bigtim

My Feedback: (13)

my kit that I am making a copy of, came with a full set of decals, when I need graphics, I will send the sheets off to www.getstencils.com for them to copy for a combo of stencils and dry transfers, so I can keep the origonal graphics with the kit.

I am not going to go exactly the same scheme as the Royal model, so I may have some added graphics to order, if you need some decals/stencils then vickie can do some for you after she has made a copy of mine,if she doesn't have them allready on file, when I talked to Gary Sibert before he sold getstencils he didn't have a set of these particular graphics on file.

I would think any suitable size crosses and markings would do in a pinch,if you don't have them handy, but since I have the decals, I will have them as a example to copy.

I plan on painting a large part of the plane,including the logos/insignias, but some of the graphics need to be dry transfer because of there detailed nature.