Well the weather has put a damper on my ability to finish painting my Kellogg TBM Avenger, so I guess that means it's onto the next project:
I picked up an F7F Tigercat from Giant Scale Twins last summer. It is essentially a complete kit. Fiberglass fuse with vertical stab (pre-installed bulkheads), fiberglass nacelles and cowls. All the wood required to complete the airframe (formers, stock balsa, firewalls, gear mounts, leading and trailing edges and sheeting. Wings and horizontal stab are foam core and pre-cut spars are also included. There is also an extensive hardware package including the wing joiner hardware. Also nice is that each hardware pack comes with its own insert with drawings, measurements, photos and further detailed instructions on how to properly install the hardware. When I ordered my kit, Jim, the owner of Giant Scale Twins, also threw in a cockpit kit (very detailed) and dummy radial engines. Hardware is also available for the gear door mounting. I think he's running a holiday sale right now, too, so check out his website and the other planes he offers (P-51H, F-82, Aero Commander).
Anyway, the kit also comes with a very nice, easy to follow set of instructions in the form of a 38 page booklet. Lots of good reference photos that Jim took during the contruction of his own F7F, as well as drawings and a 3-view. Also, Jim highlights critical parameters and hints and tricks based on the contruction of his prototype and other follow-up F7F planes he's constructed. But perhaps most importantly, Jim provides you with his phone number and email address, and he stresses that you call or write to him if questions arise. I have already called Jim once to get some clarification before I started construction, and Jim picked up the phone right away and was happy to chat for as long as it took to answer ALL my questions. Excellent support!
Also worth mentioning is that Mike Brown and Rich Jennings did a recent review of the kit for High Flight magazine, and a video of their maiden flight is also on YouTube.
Link to video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjeYr...layer_embedded
So below are some photos of the kit contents. I also picked up the Robart gear for this model (also available through Jim), as well as some wheels.
Some specs on the plane:
1/5 scale, 116" wingspan
102" length
projected weight range: 45-55 lbs
Engines: G-62's or larger
I'm using twin DLE-111's, so that should be quite enough power!
I'm starting this the horizontal stab this weekend. Everything is layed out, and I just need to start adding epoxy.
I hope to accomplish as much as I can on the F7F this winter, but this might be a protracted project, so don't expect daily updates until the maiden! I'll do my best to keep it moving forward and keep updating the thread, though
Regards,
Noah