ianober

My Feedback: (12)

Thomas, I sent them a 1/48th scale decal sheet and one of the color 3 views from Spruce Bothers. There was still a lot of back and forth to get things right but they eventually got it. I couple of the stencils were not exactly right but I am remaking them on my vinyl cutter after scanning the decal sheet in Corel Draw. If you need some stencils and they "say" they cant help you out let me know and I should be able to make some up for you. Below are some pics of the process I am doing.

The first pic is the scan of the decal sheet, the second is the solid letter and the third is the drop shadow. In the last one you can see the overall effect, not finished, but you get the idea.

invertmast

My Feedback: (23)

ok.. thats what i had planned on doing as well, but even then they said it was to small. Either way, the YA project is on hold, as the $$$ i had set aside for it, is now having to be used to replace my eurosport..

ianober

My Feedback: (12)

Yeah, I heard about the wreck, sorry to hear that Thomas, I am sure you'll have one in the air in no time though. Bummer the 18 has to wait because of it though.

invertmast

My Feedback: (23)

yea.. crap happens.. ohh well.. I'm more ticked off to the fact that i HAVE to buy a ES Evolution b/c the "new" eurosport isn't available here in the US anymore (even though no mention of this is made on the comp-arf website). blahh.. oh well

ianober

My Feedback: (12)

Ok, I got some more work done on the 18 tonight. I am replacing all the cylinders as I said before and they arrived some time ago from Airpower. Good looking units and seem very solid. Since the center gear door on the nose was hinged on the wrong side I had to re-hinge it to the other side in its proper location as well as the cylinder mount. I also needed to make a little mount for the cylinder in order to give the door a little more leverage to hold the door shut tight. I made it out of some PC board I have laying around, much like the stuff control horns are made out of. I got them all set up and ready for operation.

extra 300

My Feedback: (3)

Ian,

Any improvement on the lighting system installation?

Regards,
Dany

dubd

Team Fei Bao WT*?

Sundownee

My Feedback: (30)

Hi, I went to their site, I also have the Fei Bao F18F, but I didn't see it listed their, but they do have some of Fei bao planes, did you select the one from sky master?

Paul

ianober

My Feedback: (12)

Paul, the lighting package is the same as the Yellow F-18 but Dan just scales it down a little to fit the Fei Bao. Ask Dan and he will get you all that you need.

On to some progress. I got almost all of the cylinders for the doors back in and fit. I made a few changes to enable me to take better mechanical advantage of the cylinders. I made some fittings to help with this and also added some spacer blocks on the bulkhead to give a better angle for the cylinders. Here are some pics.

ianober

My Feedback: (12)

Ok, more work done. Slowly but surely. I remounted the gear door cylinder for the large gear doors. I didn't feel the stock location gave the maximum amount of torque on the door and I wanted to make sure this baby stayed shut.

I added a 1/8th inch ply plate between the center formers to give a place for the cylinder to mount to then I took some 90 degree aluminum and sliced a sliver off to make a cylinder mount. The cylinder mount is then screwed to the ply plate to hold the cylinder in place. Works pretty good and gives the door a better angle that is closer to scale when in the fully open position.

I have also gotten a coat of primer on the verticals and filled a bunch of pin holes with some spot putty and rubbed them back. Ready for another coat of primer and then burn in some rivets baby!!!!

jetnuno

Hi Ian

Your job really looks great. Thank you for sending me the file in vectorial format. I am going to the print shop to make some decal masks to restore the original looks on my scratched Diamond Backs F18F.

The paint is slightley scratched as well as some decals. When you can, please send me the other files.

Also I want to make some panel lines and would like to know the best technic to do it. I have tried with a dremel disk grinder (operanting by hand) but it does not work the way I want

Any suggestions

Keep up the good work

Nuno

ianober

My Feedback: (12)

Nuno, for panel lines I usually use 1/64th inch ChartPak graphic tape to make them. Basically all you do is draw your panel line with a pencil, then lay the tape over the line. Spray about 3-4 coats of primer over the tape. When it dries, sand it back until you see the tape and then peel off the tape and voila, you have a panel line. Here is a link to some of the tape:

[link]http://www.marlenewatson.com/chartpak_graphic_tape.htm[/link]

I sent you 2 files already, the "Diamondbacks" lettering and the nose numbers, what other files do you need?

ddennison

My Feedback: (15)

Ian,
I did s similar modification but placed the air cylinder directly to the door (about an inch from the hinge line) for max torque during closure. This is the way it has worked well on my Tam F18 on this BIG main door.

Good luck,
DD

ianober

My Feedback: (12)

I thought about that too but the geometry didn't work out with the size cylinder I have. I was thinking of swapping cylinders for more stroke but after getting this all setup and seeing it function I was satisfied with the outcome. But you're right, moving it farther out would give me much better leverage.

ddennison

My Feedback: (15)

I was just worried about the strength of the hinge against that big door. I considered adding some gusseting or reinforcment out onto the inner side for the door skin or with something glued into the door (trough in inner skin and butted against outer skin).

Fortunately the position of your cylinder and the line of action looks pretty good!

MY FB F18F is basically ready and waiting for me to call jet cat for a new 160SX - I am just hoping the bugs are worked out of that motor...

You might also want to check the cross pin on the main landign gear struts above and below the knee. I drilled mine and 4-40 thorugh bolted so they can't spin (happend on my other F18...)

Dave

ianober

My Feedback: (12)

Thanks Dave, before I put the gear in for good I am going to completely break down the gear for every nut and bolt and check it all. I will make parts as necessary to beef them up if I have to as I want this plane to be a flyer!! Everything will have locktite applied to it and such and I will document all my findings and mods in here but thanks a bunch for the heads up on the pins. I think I am also going to rework the springs in the landing gear to try and get a better stance from the plane on the ground.

ddennison

My Feedback: (15)

I used Tam's retracts with FB struts and wheels/brakes. and had to do some refitting.
Despite shortetning the main struts about an 1/8" (had to with Tam's retracts as the main gear sits a little lower than the stock retract) I still had to block the nose gear down (a block between the plate and the gear) about 1/4" to get a nice 1-2degree nose up with full weight on the gear. My nose strut has a nice stiff spring - barely compresses under about 8 lbs. Tam's direct nose gear sterring was a must for me..

I also found one inner wheel bearing that had a retaining ring that looked sheared and I had to replace it -glad I checked though..

Dave

ianober

My Feedback: (12)

Good call Dave. I want the direct drive steering as well but to save money I think I am going to retrofit Sean Reitmeyers direct drive system like I did on my F-15. It works great and is easy to apply to the existing retract. I just have to make sure I have the right amount of clearance, especially with the full size cockpit and what not.

jetnuno

Hi Ian

Thank you for your efforts in making the files for me.

I don't if it is too much work, but if it is please let me know if it is possible to do it my self. I also need decals from the .pdf file you have sent me:

White losangles in sticker number 42. The losangles are:
Big losangle: width: 24mm
height: 35mm

Small losangle: width: 16mm
height: 25mm

Sticker number 40 - Front red losangles stripe

Total width of the strip: 26mm
White strip: 18 mm with 2 red stripes in the border of 4mm each

Red losangle width: 14mm
Red losangle height: 25mm

Stcker number 3 - "102"

numbers height - 35mm
total width - 74mm


Regards

Nuno

ianober

My Feedback: (12)

Sorry Nuno, I wont be doing anymore decal work without compensation. It takes a fair amount of time to do them and that is time I take away from working on my projects and spending with my family. I already sent you the files for the "102" that goes on the nose and for the "DIAMONDBACK" lettering that goes on the flaps. Any more work will cost you, sorry.

jetnuno

Ok fair enough...

Can you please let me know what program do I need to do it and the general procedure.

Thanks once again

ianober

My Feedback: (12)

Any program that will do vectored drawings i.e. (Corel Draw, Adobe Illustrator). If you don't know much about vectoring then you need to do some research.

ianober

My Feedback: (12)

Ok, I got a bit more done this weekend. I moved on to the wing strake position lights. The stock locations are way too large and in the wrong position so I filled the old indentations with some filler and marked out where the new ones will be located. I used my 48th scale plastic model to get the position as close as I could. Next I am working on figuring out how I am going to mount the lights in the strake, that will be coming next.

ianober

My Feedback: (12)

Ok, I got the strake lights in and working tonight. They took a little doing but turned out to be much simpler than I thought. I started by using some Flite-Metal to make a false panel around where the lights will be. I referenced my plastic model for some rough sizing and rough measurements and then stuck that baby in place. Later I am going to press some rivets in place but you can see the rough idea in one of the pics below.

Next I had to find some way to mount the lights and the lenses in their place. I went for a simple straight forward method of using a basic box structure and gluing the light to the box and then gluing the box in place under the lenses. The lenses were trimmed to size and some CA was carefully wicked around the edges to secure them in place. If I ever need to change a light then I can just pop the structure off and pull it out. I also lined the box structure with some Flite-Metal to give a little more reflection to the lights.

ianober

My Feedback: (12)

And here is a shot of the lights on and finished!