maukaonyx

Hey fellas, where are the guys with the Modeltech P-47's? I bought one a year ago and when our flying season in 08 started to slow down, I assembled my Jug. Almost done, I just need to put in the radio gear in the fuse. I fooled with some nose art the last couple days. Took me awhile to find some nice decals on eBay, buy a couple sheets, choose one subject, and then put up a fake name on the nose too. I like the scale effect, but don't need absolute authenticity. I hand painted the name with a paint pen, and Sharpie. I'll clear coat over that to fuel proof the decal and name. There's an OS 91 Surpass II (pumped version) in the nose. I installed larger CMP mechanical retracts and will dress up the struts with Robart covers and landing gear doors. I have the 7ch Futaba 2.4 to guide her, so there won't be a silly antenna hanging out. Lotsa FUN! Happy New Year to all. Jon

maukaonyx

No interest huh? Or no Modeltech P-47s have survived this long? Production probably ended about a year ago not long after I got mine, which likely accounts for the lack of interest.

In any event, haha, I still want to share, so here are the latest pics of mine. I just about finished it with installation of the radio, and adding the main landing gear doors this week. I decided against any fancy struts, and just kept it simple. Had to think a lot about how to attach the gear doors to the struts since the large screws and clips provided by Modeltech would hit the strut channels in the wing. After thinking of using wire, metal straps, silicon glue, etc, I came up on simplicity which usually works best. Check out the photos...I used the smallest zip ties I have to hold the doors to the struts, and I used fuel tubing cut in half lengthwise as little spacers and shock absorbers between the doors and the struts. After I added the black Monokote on the doors, the black zip ties almost disappear.





Here are some other pics of the finished plane. I actually still need to clear coat the cowl so that the nose art is fuel proof, and I need to paint the rear rim, and the main gear wheel wells (they are still basic white yogurt container bottoms). I am thinking of getting some aluminum tube to fashion simple 50 cal barrels on each wing.









Oh yeah, I know the red stripe on the bottom of the wing is not scale. Modeltech put it on for orientation, and they did not have any black stripes on the bottom of the wing. I added the five other black stripes per documentation that I found, and left the red on there. I can cover it in black if I find the red stripe doesn't help me in the air.

Thanks for looking! Jon

G-Pete

...just wondering why they made these ailerons so large....

have a good maiden flight ->

happy landings
G-Pete

Kmot

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maukaonyx: You did a good job. It looks great!

Do a SEARCH and you will find lots of posts and threads on the Modeltech P-47. Quite a long running one, too.

Mine is still unfinished.

dan4466

My Feedback: (68)

maukaonyx: Looks great. Very nice job on the cowl. How is the covering? When I bought mine not to long after they came out, the covering was terrible. I thought I had heard they changed it. It was so bad I decided to attempt my first recovering job. Had a Magnum .91 inverted and it ran great. Ended up selling it to finance another project. Was a great plane though.

Kmot- yours looks beautiful like every other plane you post a pic of.

maukaonyx

Kmot, thanks for the compliment which means lots from a good modeler like yourself, as evidenced by your planes! Hey, we must have got our nose art decals from the same place. I bought two sheets, and one has the same lady (less call name) that you put on your P-47. I almost put the same decal on mine! I like your Robart struts a lot! As well as the panel lines. You must be going electric, with your dummy engine set so far in the cowl? With glow, I decided to make my own fake dummy, haha, to keep it thin so my O.S 91 would not be a complicated install. Real nice plane you have there...get her going! Oh by the way, I have read all the threads on this plane, but just wanted to get something fresh going.

Dan, I bought my plane just over a year ago, and it has the Monokote on it, done pretty nice. I had heard there was lower quality covering on it initially, and made sure when I got it from Chief that it was the newer version. Thanks for the compliment too!

I just today bought some green zinc chromate by Testors and am going to paint the wheel wells with that now. The fun continues. Hope it flies as great as it looks! Jon

maukaonyx

A pic to show the green zinc chromate I brushed onto the wheel wells. Wish I could spray it in there to hide any bare wood! Oh, well, good enough! Jon

Kmot

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maukaonyx, thanks for the compliments.

I made my own nose art and logo. It's actually been 4 1/2 years since I did those. The radial engine will be covering up a Magnum FS-91 four stroke engine. The cut out at the botton of the radiator is for the cylinder head of the Magnum.

maukaonyx

Wow, Kmot, that is something then, that I got the same gal on another sheet of decals. You really did awesome on the nose art. Well, I can claim having wrote the name with paint pens, but sure could not create the decal. Is yours a waterslide decal or vinyl? Mine is waterslide on clear backing, so the art takes on the silver of the plane rather than popping like on white backing. Next time I will either put the decals on a white plane (not many warbirds like that), or order new decals on white backing. Our planes are about the same power then, since my OS 91 Surpass and your Magnum 91 FS are about the same engines. Cool job on the dummy engine! I can see your threshhold of pain is higher than mine, haha...I cannot go to the depth of detail that you do. I like to do enough to get an effect though. I Appreciate your responses. I wish some more guys would jump in, especially some who have also had air time with their Modeltech P-47's. Jon

Kmot

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Jon, for the nose art I knew I wanted a Vargas girl. So I searched the internet and found one I liked and the picture was large enough to work with. I experimented with some various materials and found that Avery brand clear inkjet labels worked well for making stickers. So I simply resized the Vargas girl and then printed it on the 8x11 clear label sticker sheet made by Avery. Then I applied it to the solver background on the cowling. Same for the logo, I made it and then sized it to what I wanted and then printed it out. After applying the stickers I sprayed the entire cowling with satin clear coating.

I believe there are now some newer materials on the market for making stickers and they are supposed to be pretty good. It's fun to experiement and make your own.

Tip: Don't waste an entire sheet for one image. Make a file folder for all your images, and then when ready use Word or any other program where you can insert the images onto a single page. Save that page and then prrint it. That way you maximize the use of a single sheet of sticker material.

maukaonyx

I added a couple details to the plane the last few days. Today I made the machine guns out of white flexible control rod tubing. I just cut them to length, rounded the tips, sprayed them, and CA'd them on. The hard part was locating them on the leading edge of the wing, and drilling the holes! The other addition is the vents just behind the cowl. The ones in the ARF are too long, so I shortened them quite a bit and glued em on after removing Monokote on the fuse. Good fun. Jon

Kmot

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The guns barrels look great!

maukaonyx

Thanks! I initially was going to use aluminum tubing, but didn't have any at home. Then I decided that the aluminum could bend easily while this nylon tubing just boings back! Worked out well. Jon

maukaonyx

Close up shot of the guns.

maukaonyx

Ok, I promise these will the last photos for a while. I basically completed the P-47! We had decent weather the last few days, not quite 55F, but it was close enough to 60F that I went ahead and spray painted the cowl (clear coat) and the wheel hubs (silver). It just isn't going to get warmer for a long time here. Or drier for the PNW. Now that I think of it, there probably is one more detail to do...make an antenna and mount it. It was supposed to be a plastic piece in the ARF but it was missing from my box. Anyway, I also got the OS 91 Surpass II with pump started yesterday, and need to tweak the engine a little with a tach. All I need next is decent weather and the nuts to maiden Lady Luck! Thanks for the interest. Hope the pics are enjoyed. I will take more out at the field someday. Jon

Kmot

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You have every right to be proud. The plane looks great! Post some outdoor shots when you get a chance.

Have you only started your engine once?? Man, I would seriously consider running a couple tanks through it before you actually maiden this bird....

maukaonyx

Thanks for the concern, but it's a used engine and has likely been broken in. It looks newish though, and I will run it in more before flying for sure. Jon

Asanders

Looks awesome. I flew mine for several years. NEver had a problem. I originally used an OS 91 4 stroke. Sounded good and flew very well. I needed the engine in another plane so I took it out. Later I put the OS 2 stroke 90 in it. Man it was a rocket. I ended up putting the 4 stroke back in and flew it until about a year ago. I also used Spring air retracts in it as the original mechanicals were pretty flimsy and I find it much easier to install air retracts over mechanicals. ( I am lazy) It left my hanger ina trade some other stuff. I do miss it.
Alan

alanc

looks great, but one question, why, in that HUGE cowl, did you sidewind the fourstroke??

maukaonyx

Hi Alanc. It was a tradeoff. I could mount the engine inverted and it would be totally enclosed. I would however still need to hang the muffler totally outside the cowl, and I would still need a large exhaust/vent hole in the cowl. I elected to mount the engine sideways so I would have easy access to the glow plug for starting and changing, AND have the muffler totally enclosed in the cowl. Six or one half dozen the other. To me I got a cleaner look and easier access to the glow plug. To each his own! Good flying to you. Jon

maukaonyx

ASanders, I am glad yours flew very well with the same engine I have in mine! That's very encouraging. I will soon find out for myself how I like that engine and plane combo! I put in larger mechanical retracts than the stock ones. It is my first try with retracts and they work well on the ground anyway. Mine are from AKM and they are 3/16" wire instead of the 5/32" stock stuff. Lots more substantial. I would have loved LADOs but maybe in a future project! Thanks for the compliment and input. Jon

maukaonyx

Hi folks! I FINALLY got the nice weather and the cajones to maiden my Modeltech P-47 yesterday!!! One word to describe the event...EXHILIARATING!! It was a double maiden day. My friend maidened his brand new H9 Spitfire. Conditions were great...70F, light wind (5-10mph), freshly mowed runway, and just the two of us to help each other out and witness the events. I went up first since my OS 91 Surpass II (w/pump) was running first and better than his new Magnum 91FS. I had just enough up elevator travel to hold the tail down for taxiing on our sod runway. I taxied it the day before and it was harder with the grass about an inch taller on the runway. Luckily yesterday the field was fresh cut. Once in the air, I had to put in about 10 clicks up elevator, 5 left aileron, and a few left rudder. As to elevator, it turns out making the top surface of the stabilizer and elevator level to each other at the hinge line. My CG is right at the recommended point, as I recall. With the trims set, I took a few laps before deciding to try the retracts. They went up on cue and the Jug looked great. I played around with various throttle speeds and made high, medium, then low passes. Just awesome! This plane flies like a solid low wing sport plane. I did not notice any bad habits. Rolls were pretty axial, loops were like the plane was on rails. The Jug flies just great. Due to that up trim for level upright flight, it needed noticeable down to hold inverted, but the plane stays solid inverted too. The first landing was as good as I land my CG Ultimate and Excelleron 50. I just managed my sink rate with throttle (always kept some on, never went to low idle) and the Jug settled in without anything weird happening, such as tip stalls, waffling, etc. She just came in like a champ and I gently flared for touchdown on the mains first. Quickly I fed in up and kept the tail down so that she would not nose over in the grass. Mission 1 accomplished, WHEW, big sigh of relief, and grins that won't quit. My second flight was about the same, except my take off was ugly as I tried to manage letting go of the full up required to taxi, then transitioning to less up and more throttle as I kept the plane in the middle of the runway. It will come with more flights. It is trickier than my other tail draggers since the Jug has the main wheels sitting right under the leading edge when the plane is at rest. For my other tail draggers, the main wheels sit about an inch or two in front of the leading edge. Gosh it was a great day and I am still reliving the highs! Here are a few pics out at the field. Jon

PS: While it would be neat to have flaps on this plane, this Jug sure lands fine without them! Also, it's too bad this model is not available anymore.
PPS: I will try to get vids taken of my Jug in flight to share with you later. Here is a YouTube link of a short vid of the plane idling: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvOMD...layer_embedded

Hope you Enjoy!

In the truck, ready for unloading at the field:


All set up in the pits:



Setting on the runway for Kodak moments:





With my buddy's new H9 Spitfire:

Kmot

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Awesome. Congratulations! [sm=thumbup.gif]

maukaonyx

Hardly anybody has this plane and it is not sold anymore, but heck I will post a vid of some flights I made yesterday with it. Just a great flying plane. Too bad I can't take off worth beans with it. I need more stick time on it to get better at letting go of elevator gradually as the throttle increases and the tail lifts off.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZaDg3qIViA[/youtube]

Next is a vid from yesterday's flying too, with my P-47 flying with my bud's VQ ME-108, and my son's Extra 300 for some time warp mix-up, haha.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBwcwZGgzhw[/youtube]

funflyerf4

My Feedback: (6)

I still have mine, I guess it is what 6 or 7 yrs old since they first came out.I have a satio 100 in mine and spring air retracts.It still flys great.I might even take it down from the cieling this year and fly it again.