I think mine were long enough. Keep in mind, the blind nut purtrudes into the firewall a ways, so the screw doesn't need to actually go past the back of the firewall.

I had my Maiden flight a couple of weeks ago. The plane flew great. It was a bit faster than I thought it would be, but I'm not complaining. I'm running a Saito 1.20 with a 15 X 8 APC Prop. I have a Graupner 14 X 7 3-blade that I'm going to try next. I finally got a chance to finish up some of the details, including the cockpit and gear doors. I'll post some photos of the complete plane when I get it all back together. Here's a couple showing some of the details and the gear doors before painting.

Mine were long enough. You don't want the bolts to go past the back of the firewall anyway. Otherwise, they will rub against the front of the fuel tank.

Thanks Gentlemen:

Traditionally, I tighten the bolt down with the Blind nut attached, which allows the blind nut to grab and penetrate into the wood. And then grind or cut off the excess.

With this situation, how did you get the blind nut to set into the wood?

Thanks again,

Oriole

Easy, use longer bolts to set the blind nuts, and use the supplied bolts to mount the engine mount.

Hot Rod Todd ,
Nice Hellcat.... any more pictures of it? wow nice paint and details...
I have a H9 Corsair I am putting together but I am already thinking of another warbird to get...
Hellcat looks great...
toss up for me SkyShark R/C AVENGER or Hellcat or FW190?!?!?

This plane flys great, and can look pretty good with a few added details. I repainted mine using Testors paint, then coated it with Polyurethane. I think it turned out pretty nice. Made the gear doors myself, and they seem to work pretty well. Since I live in Iowa, I'll be waiting a while to get some more flights in. Check out some photos.

I just bought one of EBAY and the cowl has a messed up paint job on top left and right side and the instructions do not have the throws or C?G info any help will be greatly appreciate it!

Jeffrey

NICE looking aeroplane, Hot Rod!

JLS191 - I'm surprised you don't have the same manual as everyone else, it has the control throws and CG recommendations in the back. Giantscale planes has it available as a PDF file, but for some reason it didn't work. I don't have my manual with me right now, but I'm sure someone can give you what is recommended. With a Saito 1.20 in my plane I actually had to move the battery back a bit to get the CG where I wanted. about the middle of the range with gear up, and towards the front of the range with it down. Here's a couple more photos.

Hot Rod Todd
What paint did you use ? Spray Can ? What exact color.
It looks great
Pete

Beautiful paint job! Why did you elect to put the readio switch out in the open?

Radio switch, glow plug remote, retract valve, they are all fairly exposed. I wasn't really going for a high level of scale. Look at the tail wheel and the tail feather controls and you see other things that could be improved. I knew this would be a good flyer, so I was more after a plane that looked good but was easy to use day to day.

As for the paint, I used testors spray can for the intermediate blue. The darker blue is called sea blue, and only comes in the bottles from testors. I had to thin it and spray it on with a gun. The white is just rustoleum white, but the polyurethane topcoat darkens it up a bit. Decals are from Major decals, and it takes two sets to get four of the large stars with bars. The paint was applied right over the original, and seemed to stick very well. The polyurethane is minwax (NOT water based) and is very fuel resistant.

Fellas, there's another thread on the CMP F6F that says some online hobby shops are selling cheap knock-offs of the CMPro F6F through Ebay. Word to the wise.


Mike

This aircraft begs for a more scale retractable tailwheel. Anybody tried it yet?

I was holding out for the new monster Hangar 9 P-47, but being and ex-Navy man myself, I decided I must add this to my collection of Navy / USMC fighters instead.


Mike

Here's the link: http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_31..._3/key_/tm.htm

Switches and all it still looks great! I shot Minwax spray polyurathane on mine and it seems to be holding up well. The only thing I noticed was that my low tack painters masking tape lifted some of it off. I taped parts off during assy to keep glue off and took the tape off within an hour.

I'm just about done building mine. Weather permitting, maiden could be this weekend. And I did install a Robart retratable tailwheel in the forward scale position. I'll try to attach photos of the install in a day or two if anyone is interested. The small plastic Robart tailwheel I used (part # 122) has several drawbacks: 1. All plastic, 2. very limited steering travel as designed, 3. even the tailwheel retainer (a small collet at the top of the tailwheel wire that prevents the wire from fallin out after tha aircraft leaves the graound) is plastic and fell off in my hand while installign the assy. Benefits are: 1. looks great, 2. helps balance cg.

The steering issue is created when the tailwheel is in the retracted position. If the steering pushrod were to continue to move in this position, the throw is very restricted (1/4" both ways?). Limiting the pushrod throw to this short distance would mean the tailwheel only turns a few degrees when lowered. My solution was to dial in as much steering as I wanted, then to TURN OFF the dedicated tailwheel steering servo when retracts were in the up position. I made a very simple and elegant switch by zip-tieing 1.5" of fuel tubing to the top of the retract servo arm. The tubing rotates with the retract servo. I threaded a piece of wire through the fuel tubing and soldered the end to a 1/2" piece of brass tubing, then inserted the brass tubing halfway into the fuel tubing. This made up the movable part of the switch. Then I simply screwed a long screw into the servo mounting tray such that, when the retract servo was in the fully gear down position, the brass tubing sticking out of the fuel tubing made positive contact with the long screw sticking up out of the servo mounting tray. This setup has benefits: 1. It's light. 2. contact is made throughout the last several degrees of retract servo travel (5 degrees or so). 3. contact is very positive and resistant to vibration, 4. Minor adjustments to the retract servo trim can be made without substantially affecting the tailwheel steering switch. 5. the flexing fuel tubing does not put the retract servo in a bind. Oh.. and lastly... the wire ends are soldered to the center wire (+ positive lead) of the tailwheel steering servo. This effectively turns the tailwheel steering servo on and off.

The retract servo itself is a standard HiTec servo (HD-325 I think). I use this one servo to actually lift and lower the tailwheel and to engage and disengage tailwheel steering. I have not yet decided if I'll use this same servo to throw the air valve on my Century Jet mains (scheduled to arrive tomorrow).

Yes, VERY interested! Please post photos, the more the better. I have been wondering how I could install a scale retract tail wheel and your project sounds like the answer.

The plastic is a concern though. If you had it to do again, would you use a different assembly?


Mike

Yes I would absolutely use a different assy. In fact, I'm certain I still will in the long run. I don't expect this Robart tailwheel to last very long. I just got lazy after researching the mains so much! LOL

Cool. I'll take some photos and try to post them tonight. If it turns out that this Robart assembly is the best bet, you can just do what I did.

Now... what's the best bet for a scaleish 3-bladed prop? I'll be using a 2-blade for break-in and maiden.

What engine will you use?

Mine Flys with SAITO 1.50 and using a Graupner 3 Blade 15 X 8 looks nice and flys great, and the Sound
AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, is something Special ...!!!!

Got any photos?

First photo shows my F6 waiting for mains to arrrive. Also shows scale tailwheel location.
2nd photo shows closeup of tailwheel installation. Very straightforward. Glued in a platform of light ply with balsa reinforcing (unseen in photo) above. A better view of the retract mechanism can be found here http://www.robart.com/retracts/tailmech.aspx
3rd photo shows homemade switch to turn of tailwheel steering when retracted.

I think the tailwheel model 122 I used here is way too lightweight for this size model. I'll be looking for an upgrade. Still, in a hobby that's all about things "I like".. I like it! LOL

Took a photo of the pilot too. Too blurry to post. Inexpesive and perfect size from Hobby Lobby International. See "Garry" here http://www.hobby-lobby.com/pilots.htm for $6.20

I'm using an ASP 1.20.