Thanks guys!....

I am feeling more confident about this model than I ever have with any of the other kits I attempted to build. I guess although the others were failures in my eyes, (only 1 out of 4 attempts made it to flying status) I learned something and gained some skills with every attempt. I do not stress and worry over every little gap or flaw in the initial building stages any longer and consider those a reason to toss it out or give up on it. Most any mistake you make with balsa can be fixed even if it requires a trip to the local hobby store for balsa and a complete do-over. Although the goal is to build it as clean as possible the first time around, filler is a necessity and there is no getting away from it no matter how careful I am. I accept that now.

I have continued to buy and add the proper tools when and where I can. Having the right tool for the right job makes all of the difference. I've also learned that trying to stretch your #11 blades or your sandpaper through the entire build will just cause you heartache in the end. I now toss out #11 blades and sandpaper like dirty diapers rather than using them over and over and over and over. I look back at my first build and I may as well have been using a butter knife from the kitchen to try and cut and trim my balsa. I picked up the topflite woodpecker and the monokote trim tool this weekend and added those to my work bench. I have the micro planer, sanding bars, cutting matts, clamps, angles, etc. etc. but I do not have a good carving knife. I will add that to my list of must haves for any future projects. I dont know why, but I still tend to shy away from shaping large blocks of balsa like those wing tips.

Anyhow, I started breaking everything down last night and I am now in the process of trying to fill voids, finish sand, and prep the smaller control surfaces for covering. This time I plan on dividing the airframe up into smaller areas to do at a time until I know for certain and feel confident that the entire model is "monokote ready" before trying to apply any covering. I also think I will give the balsrite a try and see how it works for me.

Thanks again, and I will be certain to update this post when I've made enought progress to warrant posting new pictures.

Steve

I have sanding bars in assorted sizes with different grits of self-adhesive sand paper on them. I find this type of sandpaper to be a little more hardy and if you have multiple bars so you don't have to swap it out as often it works out to be a good value.

I'm still working behind the scenes and slowly making more progress on the P47. I finally got the wings and control surfaces filled, sanded and covered with monokote. I went with flat black instead of gloss black for the stripes. The finish turned out much better than any other planes I have tried to build but there are still many small surface flaws when you get up close. I just keep telling myself the real plane didn't have a surface smooth as glass either and it gives it character. Anyhow, here is the latest mock up picture. I'll start sanding and working on the fuselage next.

I've cussed and fought with the monokote and suddenly realized that I had once again become discouraged and told myself that I would never attempt to build another. I literally gave up and just started cutting puzzle like pieces of monokote to get the areas around the vertical fin and horizontal stabilator covered. From a few feet away and in the photos most of the blemishes and seams blend in and aren't really that noticeable, but up close I'm not that happy with it. All in all though, it's still my best results and I'm not so disappointed with it that I'm ready to give up on it. I might muster up the motivation to try and add some panel lines over the long weekend. Her are the latest pictures.

I couldn't stand it, so I went ahead and added a few Panel lines and some decals to the fuselage yesterday. They really helped pull it together. I started painting my Pilot Figure, but the paint just was not wanting to dry. It stayed very tacky and sticky so I finally had to give up and just hang it to see if the paint would ever set up.

I think I almost have an ARF now and my future efforts will be directed towards adding the mechanics that will hopefully make this thing fly, engine, servos, receiver, fuel tank, fuel lines, retract tank and plumbing, etc. etc.

Anyhow, in comparison to my other kit built planes, I am really happy with how this one is turning out. Here are a few more photos after I added a few panel lines and a few decals.

Looks great! Did you paint the cowl and other plastic parts? It looks like a real close match to the covering. What paint did you use?

Thanks aymodeler. I did paint the cowl and all of the other plastic parts. I used Rustoleum, Metallic, and the Rustoleum Camoflauge Flat Paints, Black and Green in the cans. I have some Lusterkote Clear to spray over the top to hopefully make them more fuel resistant.

On the minor imperfections just remember in a contest situation the judges don't get any closer than 15 feet. I miss the old emotes.

This is looking pretty good!!! Theres a trick for those compound curves around the stabs but I think you are real close to finding them out. I have built a number of TF kits and usually opt to cover them in aluminum Ultacote or Monocote, scuff it all with scotchbrite then paint it the way I want it. Once painted, you can go and scribe panel lines and chip leading edges and it comes out real nice. All in all a great job!

I was thinking of trying the Ultracoate like you did DeputyDog but on the airplane I have in the works I decided to use Flite Metal instead.

I'm doing a Yellow P-38 in Flite Metal. Taking awhile! Whew....

Lusterkote does not play nice with Rustolium. I found out the hard way. Mine was gloss clear and I was trying to apply a nice wet shiny coat. If you go with the flat clear and mist on very light coats you may be OK. I would do a test piece before spraying the airplane. Great looking airplane though. it's really tough to get results like that with today's Monokote

First thing is you are a true craftsmen and it shows in your build, great job... Now, I would go with Speed's advice on the LusterKote over Rustolium, although I have never tried it myself I have sprayed allot of both finishes and I can attest to the fact that the LustKote solvents are much hotter then those found in Rustolium, and that by itself is usually a recipe for disaster. You might consider setting up a couple of test coupons before going direct to that beautiful airplane of yours.

Bob

Thank you for that information!! I have not sprayed it yet and will make sure to use a test piece. I have read that Rustoleum by itself is fairly fuel resistant unless you leave the residue on for an extended period before wiping it off. I may just leave it like it is and forget about the Lusterkote.

I know there are many threads out there for weathering, but does anyone have any quick tips on how I might weather this plane directly over the monokote? I do not own an airbrush and I would like to try an add some weathering to this plane.

I bought a engine (Saito 120S) and the other parts I needed to finish this P47. On a hint from another thread I purchased the Strut assembly of of the Hangar 9 Blue Nose P51 to use in place of the Robart Robostruts, $8.99 a piece for the Hangar 9 Struts as compared to $45.00 a piece for the Robostruts and they are almost identical. You have to use a piece of brass tubing JB welded to the interior of the P51 strut so that it will fit the 3/16 landing gear wire, but other than that it works nice.

I have plumbed the Retracts, but my problem is now fitting the landing gear doors. The Robart Scale tires are too wide to fit in the narrow forward portion of the P47 Wing, and without using a 3/16 wheel collar on the inside of the wheel they will rub the scissor links on the strut assembly. WIthout the gear doors the wheel and strut just barely fit in the wing without protruding out into the airflow, but with the doors mounted I end up with a gap and they will not close all of the way. I am not sure what to do about this and need some advice. I am not sure what my options are to solve this problem.

#1 Find a tire with a smaller width so that it doesnt take up as much room and maybe not rub the scissor link without using the wheel collar as a spacer?
#2.Forget about mounting and using the gear doors and just us it without them?

What are some ideas or solutions to this problem?

Will it be okay to just let the gear door rest on the lower surface of the wing, or do I need to cut out the profile of the gear door and get it to line up with the lower surface of the wing? I know the latter would be better, look better and probably fly better but I'm not sure I have enough balsa sheeting to cut away on the forward portion of the wing without cutting it out all the way to the leading edge of the wing...

Your joking right? I looked at most of the pix and if you don't think your a very good kit builder, I'd like to know who you think is. Looks good to me. Real good.