naval flight officer

Some one at the local field asked me to post some photos of my P-40 build. I did not take many but these are what I do have. I welcome any and all comments. I tried a couple of different approaches to Flap and Aileron linkages mainly routing the push rods inside the wing as apposed to the out side. If any one else has any experience doing this good or bad please voice them here. I would rather know now then in a week or so when I take it flying for the first time.

Thank you for checking this out

Scott

naval flight officer

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naval flight officer

Paint

naval flight officer

Final shots assembled. Weight is around 10.5lbs according to bathroom scale. Retract tail wheel does not fully retract into body of plane so a small cut out was required in the doors. I consider it a field mod. The other option was to go sans doors somthing I have seen in photos.

naval flight officer

This should do it until it flys.

aymodeler

My Feedback: (3)

Very impressive! Although the two "scale" pilots posed with it in the last few shots look a little big

naval flight officer

Maybe the next one will fit them better.

kljenkin

The final assemby pics, especially the first one that is a close-up of the wing, looks sooooo increadable!

1) How did you get the rivets and sheet metal lines?

2) Can you explain the painting process, I assume you used an airbrush?

Thanks for sharing !!!

naval flight officer

Thank you kljenkin,

I fiberglassed the plane first then applied panel lines by masking off areas. It would be easier to show you had I taken pictures of the process but essentially most of the aluminum skin is overlapped pieces on the p-40. If you start at the front of the wing there is a section that parallels the leading edge I masked off every thing aft of that line and applied primer to build up a layer of paint even with the masking tape. When you remove the mask you get a slightly raised area that looks like an aluminum panel.
The rivets are done with a piece of brass tubing in a soldering iron. Regrettably the one I used is much bigger than a scale rivet would be but I was going for effect and not true scale. I followed the previously applied panels and burned little circles into the paint. After this application it leaves a lot of material raised. The paint kind of gets smooshed out of the way and melts with the heat. You have to sand that down so that all you have is the circle being careful not to remove the panels.
In areas where panels butt up to one another you have to use very thin chart tape. Even the thinnest 1/16 seems too wide in 1/7th scale. You can see the result of this technique in front of the cockpit.
The paint I used was model masters enamel. I used their rattle cans for the green and gray and used their smaller bottles for use in my air brush. My wife bought me a small airbrush last year and I am just now figuring out how to work it. After all of the paint and weathering was applied I went over all the surfaces and lightly sanded so that the paint looked worn it also brought a bit of the primer out from below and accented the edges of the panel lines. This has all been one large experiment. If you look around on this site and the others you will find a wealth of information on these things. I am the biggest copy cat here I am sure.

Scott

kljenkin

Perfect, thanks for the explanation. I am a Corsair fan and plan on doing my first WWII bird later this year. Well, back to the SE5a but the process you described will work on that WWI fuselage. (I am not dedicated enough to install 100's of eyelets on the SE5alike abufletcher.)

naval flight officer

I am not either...yet, maybe after I retire (not that he is). He is wicked amazing though and I look at his posts
often.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Who's retracts did you use? I'm guessing they are Robart. Where did you locate the filler valve for the air supply?

naval flight officer

The gear are Robart. The air filler valve is in the baggage compartment along with the pressure gauge and two switches for the batteries. I used heavy duty servos through out and thought having 2 4.8 volt batteries would up the power from them considering the relatively short servo arms in the wing. I'll post a picture later tonight after the kids go down. The fuel will be filled from under the cowl flaps as well as the glow battery charge jack. Again I'll post a photo tonight.
Scott

naval flight officer

Here is a photo of the tail detail showing the effect of making areas to show overlapped aluminum sheets. The other photo is of the baggage compartment. I made a door out of layered 3/4 ounce fiber glass cloth and 30 minute epoxy. As you can see the air filler and pressure gauge as well as two switches and plugs fit nicely in this place. Admittedly I miss judged the size of the door on the small size and as cramped as it is I should have made it bigger and routed the fueling line into this place as well.

DavidAgar

My Feedback: (108)

I really like the plane, but I am in love with your workbench. My wife tells me I am the onluy one in the world with such a messy work bench with beer bottles. I have now proven her wrong.....Please let us all know how well she flys. It is a good looking plane....Dave

naval flight officer

Lol. I am moving to Bremerton this winter for a couple of years and I was wondering if you know of any good clubs out that way? I have seen pictures of a few but none that look big enough for 1/4 scale birds.
I really had to look by the way for the one beer bottle. I guess it would have been easier to see with out all of the clutter every thing in its place.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

I like the way you did you switches and air fittings I want to do something similar to my Corsair and you have given me ideas. Thanks!

kljenkin

Please start a build thread for the corsair or provide a link.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

The Corsair was received about 80% built and while the quality was reasonable it needs a number of modifications. The mating surfaces of the control surfaces need improving I want to alter the way the servos were mounted and shrink their hatches. The firewall was left undrilled for the motor mount and no fuel tank was installed that will need to be addressed. The air valve and preasure gauge will need to be relocated and the wing and fuselage sheeting needs some improvements. The orginal owner was in his 90s and started the airplane on a whim and it soon got to be more than he could handle or his Mrs. would put up with. (I think it was the Mrs. who really killed the project.) His work was pretty good when you allow for the maladies of his age and the fact he had not tackled anything so complicated in many, many years. I think he had a lot guts starting it the first place and I'll be happy if I am half as active at his age. I plan on finishing other projects this summer and hope to start the Corsair this fall. When I do I'll start a thread at that time. In the meantime I need to weight the Corsair as it stands and get an idea what I want to use to power it. I was originally going to start a .60 - .90 Top Flite P51D Gold Edition kit I had purchased but I may sell that kit instead since I now have the Corsair.

It is getting about time I need do a build online anyway. Thanks for the encouragement!

Doug47

My Feedback: (24)

I know this post has been up awhile, but I just had to comment on what a beauty that is, nice work !
Also, for anyone building a .60-1.20 sized airplane that needs rotating retracts those Sierra's are impossible to beat. I have them in my P-40, and what a treat to fly off a relatively choppy grass field and never have to touch the retracts but maybe to clean grass off the tires .
They may seem expensive but by the time you add RoboStruts to anything else suddenly they aren't so expensive,considering that the Sierra's come with outstanding struts that don't spin around in their mounts during soft landings. The Sierra's do not have the 'sucked then and sucked now" history of the pathetic 90 degree Robart units with their frail construction and lousy set screw system to hold the strut.
Robart makes some great products, I own lots of their gear and love what I have but those 60 sized 90 degree rotating retracts will give anyone using them on anything over maybe 7 pounds tops, nothing but grief, and their list of fine products doesn't include those turkeys .
Doug

naval flight officer

Thanks Doug47, It was a fun build. I will second all that you say about the retracts. I have had nothing but trouble with the ROBART rotating retracts. i know from other products they do really well but these retracts are not up to snuff for anything over the weights that you mentioned. I wish they had real beveled gears instead of the system they have. It would be more scale and would take out at least one area where people experience problems. I have not had a successfull landing yet with these retracts. Anything but the softest touch down will result in the gear twisting. I'm getting tired of repainting the chin cowl.
As far flying qualities, I am happy with this model. It is heavy and you don't want to horse it around the sky. She will snap on you if pushed to far. I have also had cooling problems which led me to build baffeling for the motor. I was living in Florida until a month ago and it gets really hot in the summer. I didn't get around to flying it after the modifications so I can't tell you if what I did worked or not. I moved to Washington state and hope to not experience temperatures as hot as we had in Jacksonville.
I love the P-40 it is the most iconic aircraft of WW2. Every one knows what it is even if they don't know what it is called. This kit does a pretty good job recreating the look and feel of the original. If I could change one thing though it would be to make the kit lighter. The slab sided building method is easy and effective but I think it adds weight where other methods would not. Someone once wrote on here that they build models to fly and not to survive crashes. Of course not adding retracts and flaps would save weight as well.

Scott

bigstew60

My Feedback: (35)

The P-40 looks awsome. My dad has the ARF and loves it. Are you a P-3 nfo? I am a Super hornet WSO out in Lemoore.

Doug47

My Feedback: (24)

Then Carl, you, uh....suck . What a jewel the F-18 has the F-18 turned out to be for the Navy and Marine Corps, in all its outstanding configurations.
Seriously thank you both, Carl and Scott. I've recently retired after 30 years as an enlisted guy, I loved every minute of it (well, MOST minutes.
You guys are on Active Duty at a very tough time, with things going on that are going to develop into in future history books as what awakened and sustained our nation, or what ruined it while we watched. Know the overwhelming majority back and will back you.
You know, as military guys, or non-military patriots and followers of history I think we are drawn to things that were from times when we were underdogs. Big time. Sure, the P-40 wasn't a state of the art fighter but is it not a trip that the crate led all aircraft types in the Army Air Corps in Pacific Theatre kills? That it was still flying Fighter missions in August, 1945 ?
On the gear though guys-Those guys at Sierra are awesome, you can get the on the phone,and man, it's pretty special going flying KNOWING you'll be having zero problems out of your retracts, and that's exactly what they provide. Doug

naval flight officer

Carl,

I was an instructor TACCO at VP-30 (RAG) flying P-3s and P-8s until last month. I am heading out to the Stennis as a Shooter after I finish school here next week. My brother is an AT in one of the legacy hornet squadrons out there. His last deployment was on the Vincent.

Scott

bigstew60

My Feedback: (35)

Ok, Be safe out there on the Flight deck. It can get pretty hectic up there. I just finished a cruise on the Lincoln in august and we are starting work ups to cruise on the Reagan. I leave for shore duty a month before they pull out. Cant wait. It will also be my twilight tour.