RE: Giant Scale Twins F7F Tigercat
So a little more work done on the F7F, but not as much as I hoped due to the holiday.
I finished the stab and elevators, fully sheeted and ready for fitting to the fuse and then fiberglass, so I moved on to the main wing sections.
Started with the center sections. Wrapped the leading and trailing edges in balsa, then use a razor plane followed by 80 grit paper to rough sand them to match the airfoil contours (ready to accept the sheeting). I also added some of 3/32 balsa strips that cover the servo wire tunnels, and installed the upper and lower hardwood spars (1/2 x1/4).
With the center sections wrapped in balsa, I did the same with the outer wing panels, and added the wing tips, too. The balsa on the outer panels has been razor planed and rough sanded, too (except the right wing tip balsa block). Shaping the leading, trailing and wing tips generated two full garbage bags of shavings. What a mess. As you can see in the photos, I don't have a work shop, just a downstairs family room, so I have to clean up regularly before my wife see what really goes on downstairs!
I also made up the wing joiners. These will be set into the inner and outer panels once all the spars are in place. Alignment will be verified with the cores weighted down on the bottom shucks. Once alignment is OK, they will be epoxied into the wings.
The next step will be to layout the firewalls and dry-fit the nacelles. With the nacelles in place, I can then trace their outline on the bottom of the inner wing panels. Once those I are drawn, I can then mark the cutouts for the flaps, as well as layout and cut the foam for servos mounts. When I get all that done, I can cut cut the flaps, wrap the trailing edges with balsa and then get the wing sheeted.
It's still moving along fast, I have only spent three afternoons working on the kit so far, and the wing is already taking shape. I'm starting to like working with foam core wings!
Be in touch again soon.
Noah