<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">So here I am, completely entranced in the new AeroWorks P51. I should have my head examined. What a beautiful ship. AeroWorks did a great job building this warbird and we are adding the following equipment.</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">My squad buddies and I (Po Boys Prop Twisters)are working on her every night and should have this fighter in the air by the end on the month. This build is a club project with the ideaofcompeting.We have decided to replicate Sweet Revenge but are thinking about naming her Full Metal Jacket.</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">I have included a few pictures of our progress. We found out that the DA 85 (with the 1 1/4 prop extention needed for the Keleo exhaust) will mount to the pre-built firewall and give us 3/16 clearing past the cowling. I am so impressed with the workmanship of this kit. AeroWorks really stepped up to the plate on this one.

Of course we could never build this without the support and dedication of Rocky Dog (the white one) and his girlfriend Abbygail Goodnight.</div>

I thought the aeroworks p51 was an arf? Or quick build as they put it.

It is but you can order it uncovered for $300 less and do your own thang.

Progressing at a lightning pace I see.

[img]{akamaiimageforum}/upfiles/481909/Uz69740.jpg[/img]

Are you using diluted or undiluted epoxy resin?

[img]{akamaiimageforum}/upfiles/481909/Dz80690.jpg[/img]

If planning to compete in Fun Scale with this you should not sacrifice the documentation points. You win a scale contest more often than not with replication of documentation rather than piloting skillset. Fun Scale points for docs is minimal, but could determine an overall winner.

In regular classes of competition complexity and level of difficulty between static and flight scores weighs more heavily on replication of your documentation as you only have 1 opportunity for 1/2 your total score. In flight, you have at least three opportunities to average two of which for the other half of your score total. Remembering this will put much more emphasis on the finishing/detail appearance of your model for a greater score...

With that many people as a labor pool its a full time job managing who did or does what and when in order to progress to step 4,5,6...etc. This is an interesting approach not seen very often. I recall a B-25 built back in the 80's and campaigned at Top Gun and a few others since...but very few. Showing up and declaring who the designated builder is will be entertaining to say the least. Visions of a Three Stooges conflict come to mind... :^)

I found it interesting the radiator was the first area to be covered with Flite-Metal instead of the rear of the wing bottom. Looking forward to more photos as you progress. Did you weigh your components before you started construction? It would have been nice to have learned your accumulative weight as a result of adding features and details for competitive purposes.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">I started with the radiator because it was going to be the hardest to cover given the complexity of the curves and I would waste very little Flite Metal by screwing this up. I have a couple of blemishes but nothing I can&rsquo;t fix. I also made a few small panels on a piece of hardwood to practice on and it did great.</font><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">We used diluted Zpoxy finishing resin with acetone around 20%.</font><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">I have two other guys helping me with the project and we are going to start laying down FM this week. Everything has been primered, filled, and sanded and we are doing the final prep work.</font><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font></p>

<font size="3" face="Times New Roman">We are using an orbital disk sander set at 40 lbs air pressure with a 600 grit wet before priming and 1000 grit wet to get our final surface. Getting everything level and square is all done by hand.

I have completed some FM on the cowling but can't go any further until I receive the exhaust from Keleo.</font></p>

Any particular reason acetone was used to dilute your Z poxy instead of denatured alcohol?

I ask because this is the first time I recall anyone using acetone with "epoxy" because acetone's out-gas during evaporation would in all probablility melt EPS or XPS foams utilized in cores of wings and tail feathers. I mention this with respect to the readers of your thread as it relates to their personal projects...and not necessarily this specific airframe...

Your viewers may not be aware of the fact the use of acetone could effect their projects and come unglued (literally) with the resulting goo their sheeted components could contain after application of resin diluted with acetone. A 30~40% dilution of 90% denatured alcohol is typically used as it enhances the interlink of resin to cellulose of the balsa resulting in stronger bond and a greater T/C without the threat of melting EPS or XPS.

The denatured alcohol leaves no residual effect on Z-poxy with respect to its strength because the alcohol evaportates. Its more or less a flow agent used for disbursement and a how rather than how much issue as is the case with most of your project. Hope this wasn't considered a distracting post.

I more or less was taking advantage of an opportunity to prevent a future Flite-Metal customer's assumptions from creating an issue with EPS or XPS on their project. I believe this P-51 is all built up wood, at least the wing is. Are the tail feathers built up as well?

This kit is all wood build up. I don't use alcoholbecause of its ability to bond with water and I am not using the fiberglass to add strength. This is just to provide a surface to apply the FM.I have used acetone to thin Zpoxy and applied to 6MM flatfoam wings, make skid plates for my two Starmax F18 foamjets to belly in on grass, and to build the Byron foam wing and have not ever seen any effect to the foam. I am still flying my foamy electric 6MM flat foam wing in combat that is so overpowered the tail flutters at full throttle. I have had many many collisions (as we chase ribbons tied to the tails) and this once all foamy plane is now about 40% hot glue but I have never broke the wing or seen any delamination or melted foam.

I am also diluting around 15-20% which might be a factor in my success with fiberglassing foam but this is the first time I have heard of any problems. I know of two guys that have flown for Byron Originals and still fly Byron Aircraft and all use acetone to dilute with and never had any problems that I am aware of and you know how much foam they are working with. Doesn't mean what you posted isn't true, I just never heard of bonding problems or melted foam using acetone to dilute with. I do realize what ever you use to thin epoxy with will weaken its bond properties.

Great build! It would have been nice if Aeroworks had done this to start with. I would have purchased one if it wasn't covered in Monocoat. I didn't know you can buy one uncovered! I may look into that now, but would still prefer one made of glass for the fuze.

Keep up on the progress reports as it will be a great plane to watch.


Jeff

Acetone would not be as severe an issue as MEK... Most commercial foamies are molded from a different type of foam than referenced as EPS/XPS (polystyrene) recognizable as Dow's Styrofoam. That may contribute to your specific foamies resistance to acetone.

Foam has come a long way with respect to its strength as the electric modelers have proven. Byron's foam was a more complex composite than that of EPS and XPS and was female vacuum molded. This produced a smooth surface texture which readily accepted Econokote with little to no issue back-in-the-day. They were strong enough to fly with only the Econokote film without having to be glassed.

I am enjoying your assembly process and look forward to more photos.

Yeah, I would have to agree on the quality of the foam these days. Much much better and a good reasonwhy it might accept the acetone diluted epoxys. Keep the info coming Ed, its always great to have your input on these forums.Good stuff.

Fred

Hey Jeff, The workmanship on this model is really good. With the speeds this kit is flying I think I like the wood fuse better and most of the people I am hearing from all say the model could even use a little more weight. I think this one should come across the scales around 26-27 lbs but thats just a guess. IT is supposed to be around 24 lbs with the DA 50. With the addition of the solo prop, DA 85, three batteries, Keleo exhaustand the Eq I think my estimation should be pretty reasonable but we will know soon enough.

I was considering one, but was concerned that a DA-50 would not be enough. I also have a H9 150 size P-51 that I could cover with glass and go that route too. I was considering a Flight Metal or Flite Skin to cover that plane or and Aeroworks plane, but may wait to see how yours goes first



Jeff

Hey Fred,
Thanks for the link, I will be watching the build.

Hey Wayne, Thanks for the sweet prop setup. Its going to look really good on this Mustang and I can't wait to hear how it sounds in flight. I think I will start around 16 degrees and see what kind of RPM I am turning at full throttle. I will have video of the engine running with your prop this week. 

$300 less, REALLY?? This quick build sells for $1800+ covered etc... To me 1800 is a lot of money for a plane with a generic design...


NICE!!

A 50cc mustang with my own touch! hmm...

TWN... that includes the retract system...

I decided to take a break from the sanding and have a little fun so I built an engine test stand for the DA 85. I have plans on running it tomorrow afternoon. I will take some video and get it posted when I get home.

Tru Turn sent the wrong center bolt for the spinner so I had to make a sleeve to bolt the spinner on. They sent a new one that I should have by tomorrow.

I built a small box for the battery, switch, and voltage regulator.

Hey Tom, It was around $1580.00 for the uncovered kit. Comes with main and tail retracts, sliding canopy, and the two servos for the retracts. I thought it was a great deal given the quality of what I received.

Just started putting Flite Metal on the control surfaces. Man does this stuff look great. I will have pictures up later. Hey Ed. What is the best way to polish FM to a mirror surface? We used the rivit wheel on each side of the panel lines then burnished it down. It looks so real. Just getting a few control surfaces done has really kicked us into high gear.

More to come

Actually you wet sand with 400 working to 600 and let the slurry stay on the surface during the mix mess. It work hardens
the aluminum creating a petina that is a slight smokie mirror when high pumis metal polish is used. This does not take very
long to achieve.

You should have your documentation handy to create a master polished piece of glassed and primed balsa so you can then
use that as the measuring stick aka control sample for the proper degree of surface leveling before applying the polish with
the 400 then 600.

Some people continue to work their way to 200 grit. Its a matter of how OCD and how smooth you want the surface to be
when you call it a match to your documentation. Below is Terry Nitsch's BVM F-100 wing with reflection of the fuselage
markings in a very low light source image.



Our Flite-Metal Polishing Cloths contain an oxidation retardant providing excellent surface stabilization. Terry's wing as you
see it in the above photo was simply dusted off after laying in his basement all winter long before being taken to Top Gun
where he won, again. The surface reflection had not dimenished as it would without the polishing cloth application.

Joe Grice's Pretty Penny was the opposite. Pretty Penny had "0" antioxidant and continued to look like "The Real Thing"
the longer it continued to compete. Joe's F-100 was a war weary SEA airframe showing the expected neglect and abuse of
that environment.

Joe and Terry are OCD with respect to their art perfecting the illusion of scale. Flite-Metal permits par results with minimum
time and effort because it is how and not how much.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">I have been living in my shop now for the last two weeks working on this bird and have a good jump on the applying the Flite Metal. All the glassing and sanding is complete so we should be making good headway now. We have completed the Ailerons, Flaps, Rudder, one horizonal stab, and the top of the left wing.</font></p>

The FM looks great guys! Keep it up. I can't wait to see pictures of the finished product. </p>

I just finished installing the gear, doors, flaps, ailerons, and flite metal on the left wing.

New pics

Anyone know why I am having problems with my picture uploads. They are not loading as thumbnails anymore. They only load in original size so you can't zoom in on the pics

Nevermind, its fixed