cpt nj

cpt nj

You like that dontcha?

dhal22

that's a lot of work, for sure.

warbirdmustang

My Feedback: (21)

You were thinking" I need a hell of a bunch of double spaced rivits so I better get after it"!LOL! Great job, and the plane is really taking shape!

cpt nj

Howdy Bryan, I hope to be sheeting those big beautiful wings this week ,and the good news is that the rivet lines are not doubled on the wings.I am working on the leading edges which are made of balsa, the rear will be routed out in the center to fit a carbon fiber tube. the plans didn't call for this but I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea since I added 19" to the wing.

Happy flying NJ

ram3500-RCU

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Sounds like you are on the right track. Looks good.

warbirdmustang

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I'm definately going to have to get with you when I start mine, to pick your brain of "construction notes" so I don't have to refigure all this stuff out!LOL!

cpt nj

Not a problem I would glad to help you there was definitly a learning curve to working with extruded foam. There are some things Iv'e learned about foam ,it Expands and cotracts to heat and cold. The foam will swell if your glass and resin isn't thick enough, and have extreme changes in temperature. You'll end up with a un sightly seams.

cpt nj

Iv'e found two historical refrences on this particular airplane flown by Lt John Drover and crew 14 of VPB-21.The fisrt is PBMMariner in action by squadron/signal publications, the second is a book called The fighting flying boat by Richard A Hoffman. In the later reference there is a detailed account of this bird in the Pacific theater. They would send two lumbering giants on low level bombing runs, from 500' to 50' above the trees tops over the China coast, at the whopping speed of 200 to 230 nots. As the giants flew up the coast line thet saw what appeared to be a soft target, a Japaneese ship sitting idle inthe middle of a lagoon, which turned out to be a decoy to bait the planes into their doom.
Whant happened next ? buy the book. It's really informative from the begining devlopment thru the war and after.

cpt nj

heres some reference pics I used during the construction phase.

John in Boston

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ARUP

Lurking! Keep up the great work!!!!

vallawyer

There was a guy who had one of these years ago, he used to fly it at lots of shows, and it had Estes rockets for takeoff assistance, it was impressive.

cpt nj

Thanks for the photo and the complement John .

John in Boston

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You're very welcome!   Your model is tremendous!   

cpt nj

Every body have a great 4th of July, maybe get some flying in, lots of flying.
Happy flying NJ

retransit

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O.K., I couldn't risist commenting when I saw the thread. I hate to say it but I started Keith Sparks design about five years ago and have yet to finish it. I'm feeling the urge with the sight of your PBM cpt nj.

I've got both books you mentioned and I even have the Revell kit of the plastic PBM.

The fuse is completed and the wings are cut. I have to finish my Concept Fleet rebuild (ASP 4.00 radial powered) first, then I think it's way past due for the PBM.

Your detail looks great. I like the cable across the bow. Nice touch.


Bob

cpt nj

Well my sheeting came but it was the wrong size still waiting ........ so in the mean time I needed a new float plane to play with,had some old floats and a wing. Two and a half weeks later this is what I come up with . Please excuse it's not quite a warbird.

cpt nj

let's try this one more time.

Ichy

Looks like you're ready for Boca!

cpt nj

Hey Bob ,I don't know if this helps but I feel likeI'll never finish. Iv'e put her away for months just because I was getting burnt out. What I tell my friends who ask when she'll fly ? When shes ready . Be glad to share ideas with you and thanks for posting. NJ

cpt nj

Bryan heres a picture of a negative templet i used to cut my outer wing panels. the templet was mounted on one end and the other end of the hot wire was anchored to a single pivioting point, here check out this you tube video. YouTube - Hotwire demonstration

warbirdmustang

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Too cool! I'd never thought of cutting foam wings in that manner, but it looks like it works very well indeed! Did you cut your wings from pink foam or white foam? I've got several projects on the bench in front of this one, but I'm chomping at the bit to have a go at building her!

cpt nj

Bryan its pink got it at the home depot store ,the problem is the wing cord is 3 inches at its widest point so I had to laminate two 2 inch pieces together with 3M77 the weighted down over night, From what I understand they can only make extruded foam 2 inches thick. The plans calls for white expanded bead foam but the extruded is rated a 22lbs per square inch .The difference in weight is slight, I'm right on track with a projected weight of 18 to 19 pounds at flight time.
P.S The reason for the 3M77 is that your hot wire wont get snagged like it would on epoxy, but after the cut and before you sheet seperate the two halfs and then apply epoxy drops randomly ,reposition the two halfs together and weight down in their cradle.

warbirdmustang

My Feedback: (21)

I've never hot wire cut anything but white foam. I bought a sheet here locally from Century Jet Models, 4x8x4" thick, and it made several wings for a buddy and me. That's been a while, but I'm thinking it was somewhat costly through them, maybe I can get the white foam somewhere else, or do like you did and just use the pink from Home Depot, I know they have it! That foam cutting technique is pretty awesome, I would have never thought of doing it that way, but obviously it works well! Keep us posted on your progress!