All the layups are now completed.

So, next I use my formica templates to start cutting out parts needed to fabricate my tail feathers, cowl rings, and wing mounting blocks.

In the foreground are the P-47 stab, elevators, vertical fin and rudder (at the time this picture was taken,these two parts are already assembled and sanded to an airfoiled shape), and the wing mounting plywood blocks.

In the middle are the same parts for the "Red Baron" P-51(thus the odd, scaleshapeto the fin and rudder).

In the background are the same parts (minus the vertical fin which is already molded into the fuse) for the P-39. You might notice that the rudder has peculiar strips glued to the sides. After it is sanded, it will have these raised ridges that will be covered with SolarTex. This is another scale touch, and will simulate the scale fabric-covered rudder as on the full-sized P-39.

Thanks for the tip on using a roller to apply epoxy to the glass cloth! I used this method to fill the weave with epoxy on fiberglassing my Sea Fury today. It worked perfect!! Thanks Ollie!!

Outstanding, Casey! Good to know that this method works well forfiberglassing wings, too. Thanks for the feedback. How long until we see your big, beautiful beast fly?

I'm hoping it will be flying soon. It's alot of work building a kit and i have this problem where everything has to be perfect so it takes me forever to get a plane done. It's coming along nicely though. All I have left to do is paint, engine installation, and radio installation. I'm looking forward to see it flying!

Hey ollie did u get my PM?

Sorry, Spencer.Returned back to work Friday,and have alot of family and home improvement stuff going on, so I'm a bit overextended at the moment. PM me your number andI should be ableto give you a call this weekend to answer any questions you still have.

It has been a while there Ollie since your last post. Any update on the project?

I see you are back to work.
I may only get 1 week off for Spring break, but my last day of school is June 11th. Not that I am counting or anything

Yeah, back to work . . . had Open House tonight, so a ton of prep getting my classroom ready for that over the last week and a half since coming back on-track; and just put in hardwood floors in the house during the last week, too. So I've been busy! Not alot of time to work on the planes.

I have sanded and "airfoiled" most all the tail surfaces for each of the three planes, but that has been all I've had time to accomplish. Ihope to get a little moredone this weekend or next. Glad to know there is still interest, so I will be sure to keep you posted as I progress.

Thanks Jake,

Ollie

By the way, Jake:

With that full summer off, you know that we are all waiting to see what your next bigbuild thread will be! (hint, hint, hint)

An He100 perhaps?

See what you get for bragging about all that time off!

Well, it's been awhile, but I'm back. I have a little break between school years; but, still have much going on. (And the wife is off with me, too, so there is a constant stream of "Honey-do's".) So, we'll see how much I can get done on theTrinity-build.

I built a vacuum forming machine and my buddy Steve came over and helped me break it in, yesterday and today. We burned through alot of plastic until we figured out what worked best . . . there are ALOT of variables to deal with here! We were only getting one usable canopy out of every four attempts.

This is the vacuum former in action making a .40-sized Bearcat canopy. (Yes, Loren Shaw . . . if you are reading this, I said .40 sized Bearcat! I already have the mold for the cowls, too!) And yes folks, I know that a Bearcat has nothing to do with my P-39, P-47, and P-51 of my Trinity build, but please indulge me.</p>

Pictured belowwas one of the lesser successful attempts made Thursday night. Well, at least now I have a protective cover for my plug, so it doesn't suffer from "hanger rash!"

But,

Wait for it . . .

Success!

Steve came over again thisafternoon (Friday). Here's the canopy plug for Steve's .40-sized warbird racer, the Japanese Raiden. (Andhe brough the nearly-completed fuselage plug for meto inspect, too. It's gonnalook good for such a stubby, fat little plane! He does great work!)

But, here's where we reallyburned thru some plastic!

Yeeeeaaaahhh . . . we only need ONE protective cover for the plug!

I didn't take pictures of the really bad ones; but trust me, there were plenty of them! We finally discovered that we were overheating the plastic and letting it sag way too much. This caused exessive webbing. We found that you only want to let the plastic sag to about the volume of the plug you are molding. We kept hearing others say, "Let it sag more than you think it can." I guess we just have a lot more tolerance for sagginess than most. (Insert jokes about our bodiesHERE.) Upon reflection, we estimate we were letting it sag to about 3 times the volume of our plug. Below is a picture of me letting the plastic still sag a bit too much:

But, once you know what your mistakes are . . .

. . . reasonable success!

(I can live with the webbing in the back; it's gonna get cut away, anyway.)

Less sagging = even better success

This one looked downright professional!

And this one, was better still! That's 3 for 3! Nowthat's more like it.

Ummm, Tommy . . .Steve and Igot to play with new fabricating equipment. (Successfully, I mightadd.) What did you get
to do today?

So, Teddy Bear . . . how was wiping up all that baby spit-up today?

There's just something so rewarding about knowing nothing about vacuum forming . . . taking a chance and building a vacu-former, anyway. . . andthen havingthat risk rewarded, with near-professional results! I'm pretty happy right now! So friends, thanks for indulging me on thisside-bar. I hope it was still interesting;and I'll try to get some work done on the planes that this thread is actually supposed to be about.

But, to tie it together and bring it back around to <u>that</u> focus, behind the Raiden canopy (in the picture below) is my P-51, still in the mold . . . upside-down in that plane cradle, just as I left it almost two months ago.

And "yes" Tom . .. I know you get to work on the REAL, full-scalethings!

And "yes" Teddy Bear . . I know that "Baby Bear" is the joy of your life, and even something as sucky as having to repeatedly wipe up spit-up is far better than most anything else Icould be doing.

I was just giving you both a hard time!
I just saw the latest post in the racing forum about SAM's August 1st race, and I'm just trying to get warmed up for the next
round of smack-talk!
Let the games begin!

Iron Dog Thanks for letting me play with the new vacuum former!! Congratulations on the professional results!!!!! I see p-39, p-47, Macchi 202, p-51 canopies, and various canopies in the near future!!!!
.....I have a smaller frame and found a stash of some thinner clear plastic and some white abs that we can experiment with in the near future...
Steve

I'm looking forward to it, Steve!

I went to Lowes today and bought some more frame material; so we can make more frames, if need be, too. Thanks again for your help.

Only found about 2 hours today to clean the workshop and do just a little work on planes.

I managed to cut out the slots for the tail feathers in the fuses of both the P-39 and the P-47.I had problems with the incidence angles on my previous P-39s made from this plug and mold, so I thought I'd try something different on this new one. Somehow, I managed to take most of the positive incidence out of the wing saddle of the plug, so all my P-39s have had to be shimmed in order to fly favorably. For this one, I changed the tail incidence angle, and want to see if that will make the characteristics more like the original P-39 that did so well for meracing in the Bronze classfor 4 years. With luck, it will also reduce some induced drag so it will even better handle the higher speeds of Silver and Gold classes, as well. If it works, I will rework the plug, changing the angle on thestab permanently and make new production molds.

Time will tell.

Spent a 3-hour shift at the SAMs' Fireworks Booth yesterday. Knew from past experience that business is slow this farbefore the 4th of July, so I took some sanding bars andthe elevators of my P-39 and P-47, as well as the stabs.Only had 3 customersthroughout those3 hours, so even with all the yacking to Bigwood and Jim Lichtenberg,I managed toget some sanding done. Finish sanded all 4 elevators,as well as the stab for the P-47.(The P-51's elevators, vertical fin, and rudder were finished about a month ago, but didn't get far onits stab.)

Had to go in to work today for the second time this week (some vacation!), lots of appointments, and other conflicts, so not getting much done. But, still got the rudder of the P-39 finish-sanded today.All that is left is to finish airfoiling the stabs on the P-39 and P-51 beforethe sanding of all the tail feathers for all three planes is completed.

Finished the verylast of the sanding of the tail feathers ofall 3 planes,the other day. I then cut the openings in the fuse for the horizontal stabs in both the P-47 and P-39, and for the vertical fin in the P-47, as well (beings this design does not have the vertical fin integrated into the mold).


Today, on the P-39, I:<ul>[*]Installed the engine mount;[*]Cut holes through the firewall for fuel &amp; ventlines, and for the throttle linkage;[*]Installed and plumbed the fuel system;[*]Made a new cowl ring template to reflect the changes I've made to how I prefer to mount my engines, now (to starboard at 135 degrees);[*]Glued in the plywood wing-mount blocks (both front and back);[*]And installed the 1/4" wing dowels into the leading edge of my wing.[/list]On the P-47, I only managed to glue in the plywood wing-mount blocks (both front and back).

Sorry, no time for pictures It's all I can do right now to get out into the garage and just manage to get any building done!

Sounds good Ollie: Any of these possibly racing in August?

Did you get my PM about the Heinkel plans? Check your inbox.

Jake,

No possibility of them racing in August. I am too far behind where I need to be to get them done by then, beings I gotalmost nomodeling done this break, and Igo back to work Wednesday. And unfortunately, I won't even be able to attendthe August "Tres Kahunas" race. It kills me to have to forfeit when I amwithin 1 pointof the Silver Championship, but I have other commitments. ("You're welcome, Sergio!" )

Iplan onhaving my two P-39s done, and racing them in the Trashman Classic, though.

The P-47 will likely be close behind; and, the P-51 will likely be last.

I did receive your PM, and I'd be happy to copy the Heinkel He100plans for you. I will get that done next time I am running errands likely on Monday. I'll be in touch as soon as I have a copy in-hand for you.And Jake, my friend.. . you <u>do</u> plan on a build thread for us all to enjoy, right?!

Ollie