NCIS

Tom,

I will be glad to if you tell me where to buy such a sensitive scale. Do you have one and if so how much do they cost? I have never worried that much about weight. Mine all seem to fly no matter what mods I make. I just lighten them for every mod I make. There is always balsa to cut or drill out somewhere.

Thanks,

Barry

SMUGator

I dunno on the scale. I need to get one myself, so I'll do some research and let you know what I figure out. I'm thinking about a basic postal scale ot kitchen scale that calorie watchers use to measure meal portions. Maybe others on here have suggestions or ideas.

Tom

NCIS

They arrived,

I got the brass air fittings I needed to put the retracts back in. I already put the red permanent lock tite on the threads and threaded them in. I then ran a bead around the bottom of the seam to be safe. I snugged them up and now after they dry which says 24 hrs. I'll be back in business again. I hope to have the wing joined and sheeted by the end of next week. First I will make the boxes for the wheels for the gear doors. I am going to use 1/8" Plywood for strength on the boxes. I don't want the Robart hinges to come out. I'll measure where the boxes are and after the bottom is sheeted I'll cut out the holes for the doors. I will use plan protector and tape it over the wing before I cut the holes and lay up some fiberglass about 1/8" thick for the doors. The boxes will be 1/8" below the rest of the wing sheeting. I hope it works as I'm planning it. I still am not sure on the forward door. Anybody have Century Jet Retracts that they put the forward door on? Some pictures and an explanation of how you set it up would be greatly appreciated!!!!!

Thanks in advance for the help,

Gibbs

NCIS

There in,

The retracts are back in and there might be a very slow leak but I can't find it. It would take several hours for the air to leak out enough for the gear not to cycle. I'm not going to break my neck anymore over it. I removed the air guage because it wasn't very good anyway and I found it leaking at the T-Valve. It is directly hooked up to the air tank again now. Here a a couple pictures of the Lt. Doc Miller I got off ebay for only $26.00

Gibbs

SMUGator

I'll be interested to see how Doc fits in the 1/8 cockpit. I've been keeping an eye out for one to use in mine but have been a little concerned that he might be too big.

Tom

NCIS

Tom,

Someone else used the same one and it didn't fit without surgury. I can't remember who it was. He had to undress it and cut it off just below the waist . He removed the seat for more room. He also had to shave down the shoulders a little. He redressed it and when putting it in the cockpit he folded the legs back under themselves and when he posted a picture of it he looked great in the cockpit. You didn't even notice the legs were missing. You would have to look under the instrument panel to see they were not there. He put some padding in the legs so they looked real. He also had to get rid of the parachute but he left all the strapping on. It apprears as if it's under him. I'll look for the picture and post it if I can figure out which thread it was on.

Barry

NCIS

Tom,

His name was Rob Schaffer and he used the same Lt. Doc Miller I'm using. Here are the pictures of the finished pilot and cockpit.

Barry

NCIS

Tom,

I forgot to mention that the first picture was with the seat still in the cockpit and that is why he sits to high. The following pictures are after the seat was removed. I am going to try the pictures again. Maybe this time they will enlarge like there suppose to.

Barry

NCIS

Today,

I worked on finding my air leak and found out that it was one of the lines going onto one of the restrictors. That problem is solved I hope. Then I spent the rest of the day working on the wheel well wall's for the gear doors to attach to. I posted a couple pictures of them. They were shaped the same as the R-2 and R-3 ribs. I also am posting a picture of how I intend on making them actuate and from what others have said it works very well. Tomorrow I'll work on the gear door set up some more.

Gibbs

SMUGator

Doc looks good in those photos. I'm using Luke's scale cockpit, so I don't want to lose the seat. Unfortunately, I don't have any better ideas than Doc at the moment. I may buy him to get the head and accessories and then do major mods on him to get him to work with the seat. I still can't believe that no one other than Officers and Gentlemen make a decent 1/8 scale full body pilot.

Tom

NCIS

I might not remove the seat. In the first picture he looks alright to me. What do you think? Also I have scratched the method of acuating the gear doors I posted a picture of yesterday. I think there is a better way that I've seen somewhere on this thread. I post a picture if I can find it.

Barry

vasek

My Feedback: (4)

Barry, i think the high position is the correct one (with seat) see pic

V.

NCIS

vasek,

Thanks for the photo. Now I know I'm not going to have to remove the seat. The way he looks I might even be able to salvage the chute under him. Today I continued on the retract whell well walls and got the boxes done. I had to do some surgury but I got the LE walls far enough forward to use the new method of SMUGator's to actuate the gear. I like his better than the other one because everything except the hinges are on the LE walls. Here are some pictures of what I did today and of SMUGator's set up. The next step is to put a very light coat of 30 minute epoxy on the walls to make them fuel proof and to make them strong. When it's done I plan on making false ribs out of 1/16" strips on the top of the well to simulate the real thing. I am also planning on adding thin wire to simulate the hydrolic lines. I will paint the wells white like on the real Corsairs. What do you guys think of these ideas.


Gibbs

SMUGator

If you use the same type of hinging that I did, I'm afraid that you may have made your bays a bit narrow,. When my doors are closed, there is about a 1/8" gap at the hinge line that I will have to create a lip to cover. I don't think you will have enough clearance for your wheel to get past the overhang. My false ribs are about 5" apart on center which is pretty close to scale. I'm using a 3 1/2" wheel.

Tom

NCIS

SMUGator,

Mine are 3 13/16" center to center. My wheels are 3 1/4" I have to make them work or I'm all messed up. Why does the extra width change the way it works? I have to make this work. Help me out with any ideas you may have. Also where did you get your hinges and is there a part number for them? Do you have a picture of the underside of the wheel well so I can see whats under the springs for support? I know I'm asking a bunch but could really use the help.

Thanks,

Barry

SMUGator

Hi Barry,

We have the same conversation going on two threads right now, so let's concentrate here. Because I used offset hinges, my hinge attachement point on the doors travels in an arc with a radius equal to the length of the hinge arm. If you look at photos of the full-scale bird, you can see that they work the same way. There is a lip on both the inboard and outboard door openings to cover this hinge gap. You can eliminate the gap by using a non-offset hinge. Robart hingepoints like Alpinestar used on the 1/8 Mods thread are a good example of how that can be done. See here - http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5337992. Pinned nylon hinges or Nelson piano hinges might also work since the hinge line is relatively straight. I couldn't find any commercial offset hinges that suited my needs, so I built my own out of G-10 and some little nuts and bolts from Ace Hardware. Afterward, I learned that Sonictronics makes an offset door hinge that looks like it would work. It's hard to tell from their web site what size they are though - http://sonictronics.com/xcart/customer/home.php?cat=321



I think this is the picture you need of the pins. At this point, they are not fastened in place. I'll probably add a couple of little screws beneath the bit of solder on the bottom to keep them from falling out of the blocks. Let me know what other questions you have.

Tom

NCIS

Tom,

I saw that we were repeating ourselves and agree to stay where I belong on this build thread. I am going to order the Sonictronics hinges and see if they will work. I'll let you know! I think I've got it now all except how to make the glass doors when the skin won't lay over them when I glue down the skin. I am thinking of soaking that area with amonia and water and letting it sit over night with weights everywhere but at that spot and see if it will take shape. I won't glue the sheeting down until I see if it works. If it does then I can glue down the sheeting and that will be my exact gear door bubble.

Thank you,

Barry

SMUGator

Here's a good how-to on making the gear doors - http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=627478

I agree that skinning that curved area over the bays is a pain. I ended up doing one of them last night using about four 1 1/2" planks. It still didn't turn out perfect. No matter though. Once I lay-up the fiberglass doors, most of that sheeting will get cut out anyway.

Tom

cimara

Barry, Toms door retract system works great especaly if you are short on room the pick of the hinge is a Bvm hing the calaper says its .922 of an inch long .hope this helps. i also posted a pick of the hinge gap i ended up with. its .055 of an inch .I had to make new hinge mounts to get it that small If i remember correctly i moved them back inside the ply fake rib by an 1/8 of an inch but dont hold me to that .If you need that mesure ment let me know in the giant f4u forum and i ll get it for you Or pm or email me .Wish i was making the progress you are making.I still have some fine tuning to do on the door closer mech .It works great upside down but if i turn it right side up it jams [] guess i could always Roll the corsair on its back release the gear then roll back over but i ll figure it out good luck

vasek

My Feedback: (4)

Cimara, can you post some new pics more in focuss PLS? it's hard to see your hook-up

thanks,
V.

SMUGator

How are you guys cutting out the parts after you build up your fiberglass doors? That part was a real pain on my last build.

Tom

NCIS

Guy's.

Tom I was wondering how to make nice cuts also. I hope we get an answer. Tom I decided to buy those Sonic Tronic hinges that you told me about. They are the right size for both the 1/8 scale and the Giant. They are also spring loaded so they spring into the open position when the bar is released by the strut. I will still have to get them to go down. I am still using your method but I don't have to worry about the height for the doors to open, just shut. Any suggestions. Here are the hinges for the rest of you to see.

Barry

SMUGator

That spring loading feature looks nice. Depending on how big they are and how you like them, I may use those on my tailwheel doors.

Tom

kzaiser

I asked Luke over Christmas as I was in the same predicament. He (and I) used a small, thin cutoff wheel for a Dremel. My local hobby shop and Lowes sells them as a 36 pack in a camera film tube, Dremel #409. You'll need mandrel #402, too.

-Kurt

cimara

Tom I used a band saw with the finest tooth blade i could find to cut out the doors .I just took it realy slow and let the blade do the work Leave the line so you can sand off the small chips you might get .I had very few chips when i cut mine .Vasec i will post new pics as soon as a borough a cam the guys over in the giant scale all forum know i have the worst cam ever built sorry for the bad pics