Has anyone built and/or flown the Taylor 64" Hellcat? What retracts did you use? Will the Robart 615s work? Did you add flaps? How was the fiberglass fuse? Did it need much prep work? What engine did you use? How much did it weigh? How much scale detail did you put into it? Is the outline scale or semi-scale? Where did you get the scale documentation (three views)? How did it fly? How was the slow speed handling? How was it on the landing approach? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Hello,
I was just navigating that I came across this page...
I built a few years ago the BT 64" Grumman Hellcat. The plan according to Mr. Taylor was drawn from direct measurements of the actual plane that is preserved at a museum in the city of Southampton in the United Kingdom. It has a fixed landing gear and no flaps. In regarding scale details the plan has plenty of information and the fiberglass cowl is of an F6F 5 Hellcat. Unitracts International in the UK sells air retracts for the model.
I think the airfoil is very close to the NACA 23015 in overall with the exception of the leading edge which I would say is more rounded. The wing also has washout of course. With the NACA 23015 and the NACA 23009 in the tips of the wing it would make an even more attractive wing but I think that the scale is too small ...
I have not flown mine yet and at present I am trying to put some detail on it. I will try to post some pictures...I am not the person in the picture...He is a mate from the Club.

Apologies for my English!

Regards,

Mario Franco.

Hi Kirk,

Glad to see you are back on this one. Or are you starting all over again? I have not built the Taylor Hellcat but good friend and Masters/Top Gun competitor Bob Frey built one a few years back and used the glass fuse. Bob's was about 14 pounds (yikes!) and, as I recall, was powered by an Enya 1.20 four stroker. Unfortunately some sort of aileron failure cost Bob the airplane before he got too many flights on it but he was very complimentary of the way it handled. The only negative thing I heard him say was that it was a bit elevator sensitive. Bob is no beginner so I must assume he had the CG in the right place but maybe moving it forward a bit more would have helped. As it was meant to be a competition airplane Bob's bird had all the bells and whistles including flaps and retracts. (I think Century Jet) I acquired a set of Taylor's plans shortly after I finished designing my own 1/8 scale Hellcat and from what I can tell Taylor's is as close to exact scale as you are likely to get. Certainly better than my own efforts which were never intended to be anything but sport scale. I am using the Robart 615s in my Hellcat, and also had them in my TF P-40, and they worked fine for me. I'm sure they would go in the Taylor airplane but I don't know how much re-engineering would have to be done. Both my Hellcat and P-40 were less than 10.5 pounds though and I would not use the Robart gear on anything much heavier than that or if you plan to fly off of anything other than smooth surfaces. I know that does not address most of your questions but maybe is of some interest. A relatively bad picture of Bob's Hellcat is on the Klass Kote web site and I've re-posted it below.

I have one and I can say the glass work is very nice. I am planning to add retracts if I ever get around to building it, looking at the plans there would be room for them. I am not sure of the flaps as the full scale had a very complicated arrangment. I was planning for just retracts.

Hope this helps.

Dave

Dave,

I am adding the flaps to my #2 Hellcat build and if you simplify the hinging they are not too complicated and still look pretty scale. A bit fiddly to get it all lined up but worth the effort.

Chad,

I don't know when or if I will get to the Taylor Hellcat but I have seriously thought about adding your wing to the Talor fuse. Your Hellcat is very impressive.

Dave

Thanks Dave for the compliment. My wing uses a slightly different airfoil than the Taylor and I'm not sure how it would fit the saddle molded into the glass fuselage. I'd have to compare my plans and the Taylor plans I guess. I'd be happy to provide you with a PDF of my wing plan showing the flap installation though. I'm sure it could be adapted to the Taylor wing. Come to think of it don't the Taylor plans show the flap installation as well?

Chad,

I would have to check when I get home. It has been awhile since I have looked at the plans.

Hello,
The Taylor plans do not show any flaps installation whatsoever.
They only show scrap views showing demarcation lines of the flaps (above and under) and some flap details (scale cut outs for hinges, access panels, ...).
These plans were drawn in 1973.

Regards.

Built one of these several years ago. It weighed almost 13 lbs. Lost it when one gear wouldn't extend and I slowed it too much trying to get it down. I had a set of Spring Air-Rhom hybrids in it and you can't resrtict the air on spring airs going down and expect them to work every time. the plane flew well, but I didn't get near the flight time I should have for all the effort I put into it.

Hi Guys!

Last year I bought the BT Hellcat which was partially framed. The last kit I completed had instructions so to say the least, I'm a bit confused on a few items.

1. How in the world do the curved pieces on the fuselage mount under the wing? Are they glued to the bottom side of the wing? See photo "wing bottom"

I have many more questions but wanted to get the ball rolling and get involved with this forum.

Thanks guys!
dave

Okay, one of our club members helped me out a bit. I now understand that "U/C" was an old reference to the landing gear. I am putting in retracts so I will need to beef up the wing center section differently from the plans. His advise was to sheet the wing and then construct the bottom fuse pieces (belly pan) and glue to the wing.

Do any of you with completed wings please post a photo showing the belly pan on the wing?

Here are some pictures,

Thank you for posting the photos MarioJuan, these make sense! Meanwhile, I have been building up the horizontal stab and elevator. I'm hoping to be operational by the summer.