BsSmith:

Please read my postings on this plane in the Warbirds forum....The CG is wrong as marked in the instruction book.....If I were you,I'd start with 4-1/2" on the center wing chord..might save a plane( Wing chord is 17")...mine was very tail heavy,and the second flight was more decent,but still tail heavy....have a few videos of the flights on here and will look them up and give you the info on how to get them.....Good Luck............

PS: Guns are from Dbalsa,and are 1/10 scale..anything else is too big............nuff said

I don't want a huge engine in mine. Would an OS 1.20 AX fly it in a docile manner?

Ed Furche (Texas)

I don't want to use any larger than a 1.20 OS AX in mine. Will that be enough to fly it scale like??

I am trying to find info on the operation of the bomb trapeze. Was this lost on bomb delivery? If not, how was it retracted back up into the upright position? Any internet confimation on this you can link me to?

In the modeling world, I suppose one wouldn't have to make it functional as our fiberglass, foam or whatever else you make your dummy model bombs out of don't go through the blast of air coming through the models prop, right?



Thanks!

"I don't want a huge engine in mine. Would an OS 1.20 AX fly it in a docile manner? "

Ed Furche (Texas)

My own opinion , NO it will probably take off , have no power if you get into trouble , its that simple .
I have seen the original CMP planes in the same size on 4 stroke 120 to 125 , slow and squrly , CMP then updates its new planes in the same size with 140 thru 180 suggestions .

Mr Smith ... you are another Tom Peirce in the making. I salute you! Great stuff!!!

ldm,
thr 120ax is a 2 stroke not a 4 sroke

Oh sorry about that , you should be good

Well, a small update...

The interior for the plane is almost done, and I should have it by next week. I decided to skip the panel lines and rivets, this plane is just to fly and I will save them for another build. However, I am still doing the scale exaust and radial engine. I am doing the bomb drop and trapese, and since I only have an 8 channel radio, I will use a basic stamp and a special servo to reel it back up.

The interior is done, and I have the fuselage. The inerior looks great, there are pictures at the bottom. But, there isn't much room in the plane to put stuff in anymore. There are only three servos that need to be put in the fuselage, and I see a place those. The light electronics can be put on the foward balsa sheet (the other side of the cockpit floor). I see no room for the air tank and servo for the retracts though, so I will probably have to cut into the wing and put the entire retract system in there. I'll just have to be careful not to take out too much of the wing structure.

PS [link=http://www.dbalsa.com]Here[/link] is a link to the Dynamic Balsa website. This interior will be available as a kit shortly.

no way to place the air tank on a tray in the aft fuse behind the rear gunner ?I know I am going to have the same problem as I want the cockpit kits installed in mine when I recieve it in a few days.

No, there isn't enough room between the rear gunner floor and the bottom of the compartment to get the tank back there. I found a spot in the wing that it will fit in though, right behind the center flap servo. I'll just have to run the pushrod around it. The servo bay for the bomb drop and retracts will be on the other side of the main spar, between the wheel bays. Since I can't drill into the spar, I'll run all the air tubing and bomb cables under it through the center plastic piece. The air fill will be under the bomb.

could you post some pics of your installation?

The air tank? Yes, I will once I get more done with it. I have the section of wing cut out now, but I'm still strengthening it. The flap servo does have to be moved around a little, but it will be an extremely easy fix.

Rudder and elevator servo installation:

I did find a place for these between the cockpit floors. There is enough room for both of them when they're placed sideways and the servo mount glues to the floor supports. So, looking at this, I cut out a rough rectangle in 1/4" aircraft ply. A little overkill, but it's all I have. After that, I cut out the holes for the servos, they don't look great, but they work. after I checked to see that everything fit, I glued the block into it's spot. It still needs some fillets on the other side, but it will work.

Also, here is a pic of the cut out compartment. Due to a space issue, I need to move the servo to the back of the compartment and the tank to the front. Easy enough.

The next thing I'll be working on is the installation of the engine. I've never worked with a gas engine before, but I'm guessing that it has to sit on a plywood box, right? The instructions for the engine don't say much about installation. Both sides of the mounting standoffs accept a screw, so does this mean I have to put all-thread in the firewall and screw them to that? Do I have to keep the reciever away from the electronic ignition? Also, has anybody ever worked with an RCGF 26cc engine? Is it any good?

QUESTIONS...

HOW DID YOU MAKE THE HALF ROUND DIHEDRAL "COVERS"???

HOW DID YOU KEEP FROM GETTING GLUE/EPOXY ON THE PAINTED SURFACES WHILE ASSEMBLING THE WING TIPS TO THE MAIN SECTION?

HOW DID YOU PUT PRESSURE ON THE WHEEL WELL COVERS WHILE THE GLUE WAS SETTING UP?

I HAVE BUILT MANY SCALE MODELS, AND THESE ITEMS ALWAYS GIVE ME TROUBLE.'

THANKS FOR YOUR ANSWERS

I haven't made the dihedral covers yet, but I think I will use 1/16" balsa to make them later.

While glueing the wing together? I don't have to worry about that, because I'll use the dihedral covers to cover up the glue.

I didin't put pressure on the covers, I just set them in there.

This is my first scale model, so I'm pretty much wingin' this build.

Your Welcome

HOW DID YOU MAKE THE HALF ROUND DIHEDRAL "COVERS"???

HOW DID YOU KEEP FROM GETTING GLUE/EPOXY ON THE PAINTED SURFACES WHILE ASSEMBLING THE WING TIPS TO THE MAIN SECTION?

You can use the lighest blue version of the painters tape , you dont let the glue dry ,
1)test the tape on a descrete part of the bottom wing to make sure you wont pull paint
2)Use the best quality "low stick /low pull "trim tape -usually light blue .
3)place the tape in place along the glue line , apply the glue , join the wings , squeeze the wings , the glue pops out on the wings , peel back the tape , glue is gone , now add the pressure needed to hold wings as they dry in place .

HOW DID YOU PUT PRESSURE ON THE WHEEL WELL COVERS WHILE THE GLUE WAS SETTING UP?
1)Gravity lol , place the wheels flat , test fit your covers , apply your 5 min expoxy to wheel , use small tweezed or grab on outer ring of hub and drop in place , if you all thumbs , use the tweezers to apply the hub

I HAVE BUILT MANY SCALE MODELS, AND THESE ITEMS ALWAYS GIVE ME TROUBLE.'

Always have a wet rag handy , alcohal works great but it will remove many paints , so most of the time I just keep a damp wet rag handy for errors and a tub of Walmart Pure and gentle Baby wipes , there cheap , work great and keep your hand clean as well

THANKS FOR YOUR ANSWERS

Well impressed with progress on everyone Dauntless...

I must say though was surprised at the G of C comment.. I put an SC 120 Four Stroke in mine and she balanced spot on what the instructions said... and flew ok too..

Before I decided to put the airtank in the bomb on mine I did look at locating the air tank in the centre section of the wing in between the Ribs, tucked away and think this is where I would have put it had I not gone for the Static bomb. There was no mechanism on my bomb release..It was just modelled on the real thing and made to look like it worked. My Bomb and mechanism was fixed.

Must agree though its a smart kit. Might get another one to do and change th marking etc this time...

Wayne

Regarding the dihedral covers: i asm going to cut the curved portion from a block of balsa, sand to shape, then put wax paper on joint, and add flat 1/16 balsa strips laid on top of each other, glue in between, remove and, then sand to a half round. then paint before glueing to the wing panels.
I built a Meister Dauntless in the 80's and it had the half round covers, but don't remember how he (or I) did it...

Any better ideas???


Ideas for all: Can take film removed for retracts and wing servo covers to Home Depot and have 2 small cans of paint mixed, for reapir and painting any other parts that need it.

Have you discovered the PRE-VAL disposal spray cans at Home Depot. Great!!!

Ed

thanks for the reply.

Another one. I am trimming the wheel well covers,and there are very brittle... Could I heat them in an oven just enought to soften them?

Did you have this problem? Ready to mount them ,,, sure would like a repy asap.

Thanks, Ed

I've had problems seating my wheel well plastic peices as well. I've noticed that some of the lower sheeting isn't guled down to the lower aspect of the rib all the way. It seems like it may be off 2-3mm in some spots. This building inaccuracy causes a different shape to the bottom wing surface/wheel well cut out angle such that the plastic pieces don't fit worth a damn. I'm stuck there a little and wondering how I'm gonna correct this. Yes it DOES take a LOT of pressure to seat them and even then they aren't seated very well.

Anyone got any good homemade bomb drop release mechanism ideas? I have had one of the Hobby Lobby release mechanisms and the plastic molding is so inaccurate and poor that the entire thing is a peice of junk. I'm not going there. I've been thinking I'd like to make something up with some good plywood and a sliding mechansim if possible.

Still no answers on how the real trapeze mechanism worked? Was is dropped with the bomb and lost or was it retracted back up somehow? A spring, some hydraulics???

Thanks!

I doubt it left with the bomb as it would not clear the prop,that was it's purpose to swing the bomb past the prop arc in a 90 degree dive.

Point taken, but I want to know HOW IT WORKED, mechanically, not it's purpose.

KMP sells bomb releases with a scale bomb, and there are bomb releases at my LHS, so I'll use one of those.

As for the pivot arm, I know it reeled back up in the full scale one, or it would have caused drag and banged the deck on landing. I'm not sure how it reeled up though, I'm guessing hydraulics. I'm going to use a basic stamp and a servo connected to a winch on mine. A spring would work better, one designed to drop under the bombs weight and stay when not, but the bomb would have to be heavy for that, and a heavy bomb can do serious damage if it hits somebody.