I finally completed my Four Star 40 build.

Here are the Specs.

Wings clipped one bay.
Rounded wingtips added.
Wing fully sheeted.
Air retracts, Robart 605s, Dave Brown wheels
Fuselage covered with .007" fiberglass sheet G10 (FliteSkin).
Vertical stabilizer and rudder re-designed based on Bruce Tharp's Venture 60.
Dubro tailwheel
Cut down canopy.
Fully tapered control surfaces skinned with .007" G10.
Fiberglass cowl from home made mold.
Two aileron servos.
DIY wingtip nav lights, strobe on fuse and two landing lights.
OS50SX
Spektrum AR7000 receiver
Golden Rod control rods for rudder and elevator.
Auto Air automotive poly paints with waterbase polyurethane clearcoat.
All up weight dry, 7lbs 2.8 oz.

Scott

That's one highly modified FourStar! Looks great!
When's the maiden?

Yes give report!!! can you send more info about your choice of paint ? Is it fuel resistant? I am doing a extra 300 build, fibertglass fuse and all and about to the point to start painting. Not sure what motor to out on it. how did you prep the monocoat ? great job on that plane!!!!

No plastic coverings were used in this plane.
The paints are automotive airbrushing paints (Auto Air brand). I used red metalic, gold flake, opaic white and translucent black. These paints require a reducer (actually two, one formulated for the metalics, and one for the translucent) They are not fuel proof and need to be clearcoated. Ideally you would use an automotive two part clearcoat but the cost of the smallest quantity would be in the neighborhood of $80, so I use exterior water based polyurethane paint from the hardware store. The metalic gold was the most expensive at around $16 for 4 oz followed by the red at about $14. The black and white were around $11. Not the cheapest way to paint. I used a small HVLP spray gun and an Aztec airbrush. I used the transparent black to create a fade on the red. I think I should have used more reducer to get a finer transition. This was definately not the cheapest way to paint.
The clearcoat is fuel resistant so the plane will need to be cleaned of fuel within an hour or two.

I hope to maiden this weekend. It just started raining and it's predicted to be off and on all week. I built this plane for a couple of reasons. First, my former (and much more stock) 4 * crashed from reversed ailerons after getting my radio back from repairs (forgot to reverse the servo). Second, I lost confidence in my previous radio (Polk) and I fly at a very busy field so I got a DX7 and wanted a plane to put it in and get used to before putting it in my TF Spitfire. Third, I figured if I set it up with retracts and if it was a bit on the heavier side, it would be good practice for heavier wingloads of scale warbirds. Finally, I just gotta do things different. I'll keep you posted on the maiden.

Scott

Looks awesome Scott! [sm=thumbs_up.gif]

Scott , please do keep us posted I have a plane that looks like a 4* 120 fiberglass that I am thinking of building and adding flaps to just to play with and am going to put a zenoah g20 on. thats some good info . did you glass the whole plane? how did you do that?

Gee scott, you go through all that trouble and then put a 2 stroke on it.


Looks nice, can't wait to see it at the field.

When is the next Spit sortie?

Well, I'm a wee bit short on $ right now and I already had the 50SX. But I may need to lay up a new cowl because I've been eyeing an RCV 58CD which should fit real nice.

I hope to have it down at the field this weekend so I can put the new radio through its paces.
The two big reasons for the 4 * is an everyday flier and to get used to the Spektrum before putting it in the Spitfire.

The Spit will get back on the bench this month for a touch up on the paint and a replacement of one radiator and some work on the tailwheel for a bit more scale look. I hope to have it flying around about New Years, then take it down to the AMA convention.

The $ I have is going toward my next build, an electric conversion Top Flite P-51B. I just picked up the motor, an E-flite 110.

Scott

Awesome build Scott. I'm planning on getting to my 4*60 and have Robarts that I was thinking of adding to the plane. Do you have any pics or steps/tips/lessons learned you could supply of your retract installation.

Thanks!

Very nice, Scott. Your rationale for the mods are pretty much the same I have been thinking about. I need to hone my building skills, never mind my flying skills, before I start in on my collection of Royal warbirds. My plans were to sacrifice a couple of BTE Venture 60 kits for my ultra-mod ideas. I did not want a 4 Star. There are so many 4 Star threads here, you know. I do not want to show up at the field with yet another plane just like everyone else. But then obstacles started appearing. Bruce Tharpe discontinued the Venture 60. I have managed to find two, but both came at a premium and more finds are less likely. Before someone asks, my Venture 60 kits are not for sale. A 4 Star 40 would be a little less expensive to bash on. Obviously, it is time to change my plans.

Again, very nice plane, Scott. Part of my original plan was to not just bash the kit. One of my inner voices (the one that gets me into trouble) is nagging me to BASH the kit. You have raised the bar. I have much work to do. :-)

- Jan

Of course, the proof will be in the air. But so far, I'm pretty happy with the way it came out. I would say my weak spot on this was the paint job. It doesn't show up as much in the low res photos, but I definately had some blemishes. I had a couple of sags in the paint and in the clearcoat. I set the wing on some blocks before the paint had fully cured that left some marks, and some imperfectly corrected mask bleeds. On the other hand, I learned a lot too. I painted the wings first, then the fuselage. The fuselage came out better on both the masking and on the fade. I'm still no airbrush expert!

For the gears, I added ply doublers to the two ribs that support the rails forward of the spar. I cut the rails from maple. I also added ribbletts forward of the spar on both sides of the wheel well. To be honest, I don't recall exactly how I figured the forward rake and the angles of the rails. I do recall having to make small adjustments as I installed the rails. Also, a fair amount of the work was done after I had sheeted the wing. It would have been much easier if I had made the decission before hand. The same goes for running the nav lights. I had to pick up a long drill bit at harbor freight and drill through the wingtip and all the ribs one bay past the retract. Then I drilled through the other ribs from within the retract and wheel well. The holes lined up well enough that I was able to use the inner part of the original plastic pushrods to fish the wires through. The gear doors were fairly simple as the wing is constant from root to tip. I taped some ultracoat over the wing and layed up several layers of fiberglass large enough to cover the wheel wells and retracts. I then cut the gear doors and hatch covers for the retracts for a good close fit that matches the curvature of the wing.

I had heard a lot of good things about the Venture, and would have considered one if they were still available. One of the most noticable differences between it and the 4 * is the redesign of the tail. I copied the basic shape of the vertical stab and rudder from it, but did not lower the horizontal stab and elevators.

I considered buying a cowl as I believe that there is one available from one of the third party fiberglass parts suppliers. But I decided to try and make my own mold. It was mostly successful. I have a mold and could make more cowls if needed, but my plug was destroyed in the process (it wasn't polished well enough or waxed well enough and stuck in the mold. It was made from balsa blocks, so I just chunked it out of the mold.

The use of G10 was another experiment I wanted to try before committing to using it on a scale build. I really like working with the stuff. You get razor sharp trailing edges and a surface that's ready to prime without all that filling and sanding and filling and sanding and sanding and sanding then filling and sanding you have to do with a traditional glass covering. The biggest drawback is the price of the stuff, but it saves a lot of filling and sanding and sanding...
I plan on using it to cover at least the wings tail surfaces and control surfaces on my upcoming P-51 build.

Scott