RE: The RCFW Hellcat Group Build
 

the 17cc is approx a 1.10ci engine totaly in the realm for this model

i have seen a lot smaller with a lot bigger engines racing


the power in these gasers would allow scale size props in addition to alot less mess

RE: The RCFW Hellcat Group Build
 

I had a Gee Bee R2 a few years back. Flying was OK including the take off. Landing was a different story. Planes that are all engine are not fun to bring home. A detailed war bird with hours and hours of work in it would not be my first choice to experiment with in this way. But to each his own, as they say.

RE: The RCFW Hellcat Group Build
 

Yes, a 26cc on a 64" plane wouldn't be for a beginner pilot or anything. For the right pilot, the RCG 26 sure is a cheap way to turn a 19 or 20" prop, though.

RE: The RCFW Hellcat Group Build
 

I had a RCGF 26cc on a 10.5 lb Edge and it was anemic. It would fall out of a loop if you weren't careful, and the best prop for it was a 17-8 if I recall correctly. I'm currently running a DLE 30 and it is night and day - almost crazy fast power. I see the 17cc has something like a 38 oz wt, which seems pretty heavy. Depends on how much nose weight would be needed. I'm not sure now big a scale prop would be (I like them too) but the 17cc was spinning something in the area of a 14x7? Not sure if that's scale or not.
Sam

RE: The RCFW Hellcat Group Build
 

hi chad , nice building threads and info as always . i live about 5 or so miles from ray and robins .

RE: The RCFW Hellcat Group Build
 

The scale prop is ~19.5 inches in diameter and I don't think there is anything you're going to stick up there that will turn that large of a three blader except MAYBE an electric power system! I'm looking at the possibility of either electric or the RCS 17cc gasser for my next Hellcat. Whatever you decide on if there is a chance of your Hellcat ending up much heavier than 10 pounds I would definitely suggest you look into the Sierra retracts and stay away from the Robart units, especially if you fly off of grass or dirt.

One of my local flying buddies is going to build a Hellcat for warbird racing and will be putting a YS 1.40 up front. To that end I have re-designed the wing slightly to take a 1/4" plywood dihedral brace so the extra weight and power of some of the engines being considered here should not be a concern.

RE: The RCFW Hellcat Group Build
 

One engine would be the RCV 120 4-stroke. It is geared, compact, and very powerful. I had a 20 X 12 2 blade on my Gee Bee R2 with that engine. It was amazing. It is perfect for war birds because it swings large props at less RPMs. Fits very nice in a 75" Mustang as well.

RE: The RCFW Hellcat Group Build
 

Hummmmmm,,, that thought I had about the ys 120ac or either the ys 110 is looking better and better now !! [sm=idea.gif]

RE: The RCFW Hellcat Group Build
 

Thanks WhiteRook and next time your in Ray & Robin's say hello to Ray and Tim for me. I've not met Ray personally but sure am glad he has decided this is a worthwhile project. Tim is an old friend from way back.

RE: The RCFW Hellcat Group Build
 

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2192/...c72a0b5b_o.jpg

Several weeks ago I was in Arizona and Igot tomeet and pester our fearless and friendly leader, Mr.Chad Veich.
Not onlydidhe buy me dinner and a big slice of pumpkin pie, butChad even let me tire-kick his Hellcat prototype!

OK, I was wearing flip-flops so I could not do much damage, buty'all can best believe thatthis is oneVERYcool airplane! http://www.rcscalebuilder.com/forum/...s/smiley32.gif</p>

After a while the paparazzi urge came over me, and so now just<font color="#810081">click here to check out the slide show!</font></p>

p.s. MAXIMIZE the slide show page for best viewing; you can also pause any image, tinker with the slide show settings, and/or click back to view the photos as I postedthem onYahoo's photo site, Flickr.com. And if you are looking at each pic on its own in the "photostream" as Flickr calls it, just look for their All Sizes link to vieweach imagein the optimal width of 1024 pixels.</p>

RE: The RCFW Hellcat Group Build
 

Thanks for the great slide show John!

RE: The RCFW Hellcat Group Build
 

Hi all
Hope everyone has had a good past week
I am back form vacation and ready to continue building
I have another goal....
get this thread on the top 15 list!!

I am going to start tonight with pics and info of what I have done so far

RE: The RCFW Hellcat Group Build
 

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This is my center section. Chad's design makes this a snap to put together. The shear web is 1/8 ply that is notched for all the formers. Once everything is tabbed together the shear web is capped with stringers top and bottom. The retract rails are also incoporated into the main spar in addition to the a short brace interlocking with the ribs. This makes life really easy. All said and done i had my center section framed up and sheeted in about 3.5 hours.

Chad will be posting detailed pics on the hellcat web page i am just providing feed back and my progress

RE: The RCFW Hellcat Group Build
 

one note on the spar tabs i have the original design i believe there is a newer design. reguardless this method is quit suficent considering i will be glassing the plane

RE: The RCFW Hellcat Group Build
 

The next step was to build the outer wing panels. I started with the right panel first. as you can see from the picture I wanted to add rockets to my plane. So after the basic frame up of the the wing and the top skin attached I designed my hard points, pylons and rockets. I felt it was better to do this before proceeding with the rest of the wing because installing hard points after the sheeting goes on would be much more difficult.

this image is the completed right wing panel

I will go into further detail in the next posts

Tighe O'Meara

RE: The RCFW Hellcat Group Build
 

opps lets try the picture again

RE: The RCFW Hellcat Group Build
 

First off I did something here that some of you will cringe at. I made my rockets out of 5/8" dowel. Heavy I know! but notice the price of the 5 pack of 12" dowels! Dont worry I did hollow them out.
Model rocket tube will work but you still have to buy or carve nose cones then finish them. I found the dowel to work well and really after all is said and done they arent bad as far as weight goes. For my project I'm ok with them. chad and i have talked about offering a kit for you guys and we will opt for something lighter. more on that later

So the scale size for the rocket is 5/8" dia and right about 9" long. this is the 5in rocket in 1/8th scale. The rest of my measurements are approxamite due to the lack of exact scale drawings that I could scale down. I used many of the pictures from Chad' Hellcat website along with various books to come up with the end product. It's close.

the other image posted is the drill jig for the rockets

RE: The RCFW Hellcat Group Build
 

After I finished drawing up the design, I then cut the dowel to length, hollowed them out and shaped the tips with a knife and a belt sander.
All the fins are laser cut 1/32 ply, as it turns out the kerf of my band saw makes a perfect, tight notch for the fins. I notched the tail of each rocket then rotated them 90 deg and put the second set of notches in. i did this first because it allows me to clock them on the drill jig so the fins are oriented correctly.

RE: The RCFW Hellcat Group Build
 

once i drilled the holes assembled all the pylons abd cut the .125 i.d. alum. tube for the bolt to pass through. Yes they are removable if I didn't metion already. After the pylons were assembled everything was sealed primed and sanded. i then finished the rockets. After everting was dry i assembeled each rocket with its pylons. i labled them all right and left 1,2 and 3. As hard as I try I know they will not all be interchangeable.

I only glued the alum. tube into the pylons there will be some final adjustmet when the plane is complete and I wanted to be able to slide the rockets into the proper alignment. The curvature of the wing is the biggest issue.

RE: The RCFW Hellcat Group Build
 

Ok now that the rockets are assembled, i will tell you about the hard points. Pretty simple really. I laid the three views over Chad's CAD file to locate the hard points ( this is also how i approximated the hole location in the rockets)
once i found the bay I simply laser cut 1/8" lite ply to the proper width. forward of the spar I laminated 1/8" balsa to those pieces and sande to the shape of the ribs. this is all done to provide a rigid mount and reduce the likley hood of damaging the skin in this area. I layed out the pattern on the hard point area and lined up my first rocket (it so happens the middle rocket is the best to start with because it falls right in line with the rib)
Now i dirilled my first hole for a 4-40 blind nut, heres where i ran into problems. I need a 2" 4-40 screw to bolt the rocket down. not as easy as you might think to find. Idid though. MCMasterCarr.com has them. i have my order in.
To finish locating the rockets i just end up making one out of thread rod.

Ok i installed the blind nut and as you can see cranked it down. If any one follows this method GLUE THE BLIND NUT IN ALSO you dont want to knock one free after you finish youjr beautiful model.
place the rocket over the blind nut and bolt it down, then locate the aft hole. drill it install the nut and move on to the next.

once you have all the hole and blind nuts in tape a piece of paper to the upper surface of the wing and pull it ofer the holes Poke the holes through the paper and fold the paper back over the wing. DO NOT REMOVE!!! tis is your template to locate the hols after the sheeting goes on.

RE: The RCFW Hellcat Group Build
 

Next I sheeted the wing. Chad will go ove this on his website there are a few tricks to be aware of. once that is complete trim the leading edge as close a possible and fold your paper back over it to locate the holes. because of the sheeating thikness the holes wil be slightly aft of the one you put in the paper. Once i found the hole i cut some little disks on the laser to put aroun the holes recessed into the sheeting. this leaves a nice crisp hole and you can fill in the outer edges with spackle. this is very similar to Chad's technique for hatches. pics in the next post

RE: The RCFW Hellcat Group Build
 

hi guys got any thing to add
news... sports.. weather...

RE: The RCFW Hellcat Group Build
 

here ar pics of the servo hatch

RE: The RCFW Hellcat Group Build
 

try this again

RE: The RCFW Hellcat Group Build
 

this is a beautiful way to make seamless hatches . Nice job chad
the servo tray builds right into the door and is very strong