ram3500-RCU

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Now I lay the still assembled cowl flaps on their ring and mark where the hinges need to be. Then the hinges get mounted to the ring.

ram3500-RCU

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Now I get the cowl mounted. I tack it in place, then glue it with epoxy, with Steel Powder added of course. I use Steel Powder in all epoxy forward of the CG. This makes for a very solid cowl mount. You can pour Steel Powder and epoxy in the cowl nose of the cowl with no concern for the weight that far forward.

Note.....please see post #1622 for additional information on this phase of construction.

ram3500-RCU

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Now I'm ready to mount the flaps. To do this, I take the cowl flap mount back off the fuselage, mount the cowl to it, and tape the flaps in place, leaving a slight gap. Then they get glued to hinges. When fully set up, NOW, they get cut apart. Using a composite disk cutter in my Dremmel, the width of the cutter seams to be just the correct amount of material to remove to get them to close properly.

ram3500-RCU

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The flaps have webbing in between to cover the gap. For this, I tape the flaps together in the closed position to make sure they all lay properly. Next I make the webbing from 1/64 ply. I glue these to each flap (the bottom most flap has one on each side), cutting them into the hinges as necessary.

ram3500-RCU

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Now for the cable. This is sheathed braided steel cable the # of which escapes me. I'll post it later. I cut the sheath in sections, then run the cable through them and clamp them to each flap, still all taped together. Then each section is glued to it's flap.

ram3500-RCU

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Now back on the fuselage and each flap is tested for clearance. Adjustments are made to the pocket created by the taper on the ring, so each flap can work it's full travel without binding. I then take the assembly back off, install the cable, cut it to length and solder the end, and reinstall to work by hand for another test of clearance.

ram3500-RCU

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Now back off again for the fun stuff. I paint the inside, and for our Top Gun entry, I chose to cover each flap and webbing with Aerofoil. This way I could 'chip' the paint and it looked authentic. It also made it east to emboss the scale rivet pattern onto each flap. The pattern molded into the CARF is not correct.

ram3500-RCU

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Now install the servos and the flap assembly.

ram3500-RCU

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As with any radial engine install, you will want to baffle your engine cylinders. The full scale was baffled, and yours will need to be as well. With this baffling, this cowl flap install gives all the needed exit air you will need. Closed, your engine will come up to operating temp very fast. Be sure to open them at least 75% for taxi through landing.

I have seen video of these planes on U-Tube, equipped with the Moki 250, that are obviously overheating in flight. At least one ends very badly with a rushed landing attempt that ends in a stall and nasty nose first crash. Very sad.

ram3500-RCU

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Some of you may remeber this picture. It is one of my favorites. Really shows off the separate cowl flaps.

ram3500-RCU

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This will conclude the cowl flap tutorial for today.

This may look complicated at first, but one step at a time, it is really very easy, and quite impressive at the field.

Special thanks to Wayne Fussell for first showing me how to do operational cowl flaps on his P-47s.

BTW, this all takes me 2 or 3 evenings. Guys work at different paces, but this gives you some idea. It is really a pretty easy thing to do.

STAN-CAUSSEL

Fantastic job and Great explanations....
Thanks a lot Gary

ram3500-RCU

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Hope it helps, my friend.

IMO, this plane should have been designed this way in the first place.

ram3500-RCU

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OVER 25,000 hits to my home page!!!!!! Thank you all for looking in.

I hope you all enjoy my gallery.

I very much enjoy looking at other galleries as well. Those who have galleries, thank you for posting.

Chris Nicastro

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For the price they charge your damn skippy they should come this way! Lol

ram3500-RCU

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Very true, but after working now on what is my 4th CARF Corsair, I can tell you, the consistency in manufacture, and the quality of the parts, is second to none that I have worked with. That includes Yellow, Byron, CJ, and 3W to mention a few. I'm convinced that any part could be interchanged with the same part on any other model and it would fit. They are expensive, but they are top shelf in my book. To top that, they are great performers in the air, and in competition. I wish I could afford to build all the available CARF war birds. What a fleet that would be.

Chris Nicastro

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I agree on the newer stuff but do not take a ruler or a divider to the CARF Eurofighter! Lol when we put mine on the build table and started looking at it we found out exactly how asymmetrical that plane is. Kinda wish I had not seen that!
But your right the Corsair is awesome and Im looking forward to starting mine. Im taking notes on all the details I want to do to it.

ram3500-RCU

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yes, there is some of that on the Corsair as well. For instance, if you compare the left and right horizontal stabs, they are not identical. But part for part, you can order a new left stab, and it will fit perfectly. Don't know if there is a perfect airplane, even in full scale. I know I have never built one. But these are very high quality, and very strong for their light weight.

I have seen the 3D version of that jet with the thrust vectoring, and I was blown away be what it can do. Very cool indeed.

stivvy

Hi Gary,

A bit of head scratching here.
When you make the two rings, is one permanently attached to the cowl ?
Post 1602 shows smaller plywood 'tabs' epoxied in place, I am guessing to bolt the cowl to.
This would make removal of the cowl easier, to clear the Moki I guess ??
Could you clarify

Thanks, Steve D

ram3500-RCU

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Steve, the front rind is a guide to align the cowl to the flaps. They both stay with the fuselage. I used the tabs supplied in the kit for mounting the cowl. It slips over the outer ring and is easy to bolt on from inside the flaps when fully open. You need to do it this way to clear the Moki. Only takes seconds.

stivvy

Thanks Gary - i should have guessed that

Regards Steve D

ram3500-RCU

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Well, thank you for the question. I went back and re-read the explanation, and that part was not explained as well as it could have been. I'm sure it is more clear for everyone now.

With the cowl flap mount in place, I slid the cowl over the outer ring and positioned it leaving room for the flaps to work. I then taped it in place like that. Then, through the front (lots of room in there with no Moki in the way), I positioned the (3) plywood cowl mounting tabs that come with the kit. Next I marked where they would be and removed the cowl. Now I could drill the holes for the mounting bolts. Then I reinstalled the cowl and tacked them in place with CA. Then I added the glass reinforcement and epoxy with some Steel Powder in it for strength and weight. All that was left was to add the blind nuts to the inside of the tabs, and that was done.

ram3500-RCU

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Progress continues on the systems we are making available to other Corsair owners.

The custom stainless exhaust system...........very near to shipping out the first orders. Working around vacations and holidays.

The gun system with lights and sound. This will include the Krypton lights, gun barrels, all wiring, and the sound system with it's processor and more.......waiting on additional parts.

The Corsair scale nav and formation lighting system.......We have all the parts and are putting together the harnesses and assemblies.

We will be ready to post the catalog of pricing as soon as our cost are established on a few components we are waiting on.

The catalog will include a detailed list of everything included with each system. Thank you for your patience. This takes time.

MANFRED

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Sounds like you need to develop a web site you could probably do well selling Carf accessories. Be great if you could do a set of gear door liners and hinge covers.

ram3500-RCU

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Yea, I actually did start one a few years back. A nephew in the web business was setting it up. I had big plans for it. That was back when I was building custom Park Jets, and selling my P-38 mod kit. I wanted a site that others could post on as well, with building tips and tutorials, a nice gallery, customer projects, a feed back section, links to products I found useful, and more. Never got finished but I would get a bill from Go Daddy every year anyway. Gave up on it. May be time to give it another try.