Nice tri-color paint job. Like me, you used decals that are made for a late war overall glossy sea blue Hellcat (note the lack of the dark blue roundel in the star and bar decal).

Very true. I was thinking I may go for a much more scale look in my next model. As I was researching I noticed many inconsitencies in this model, so I decided not to worry about it. PLUS!!! ... and this is important too... I think I'll be able to see the model better painted this way. The ole eyes just arent' what they used to be.

I could take painting lesosns from you. You F6 looks great!

Tom

Hi all
just got my Hellcat from E-bay for USD 85 !!! plus USD 50 freight. Looking good !!
Also got the CJ gears and a OS-FS 120 pumped for it.

Questions:
What brand and size of tires are you all using ?
What hartwodd blocks are you using the the retracts ?

Pete

I was using Robart 3" diamond tread scale wheels, but I enlarged the wheel wells and used Robart 4" wheels with 8-spoke aluminum hubs.

I used my own hard maple blocks for the retract mounts.

Pietro,
I also bought an ebay hellcat for $82.99 USD. I have not received it yet, as the auction only ended this week. What do you think of the quality?

I used 3 3/4" robart scale wheels (just the one with plastic hubs). They still required quite a bit of cutting to fit them in. I used the stock blocks that were provided for the retracts. I should have cut them down a bit more to get the retracts to sit in the wing a little deeper.

When you all installed the retracts, did you have to cut away the front part of the pre-installed rail (U-Shape) to make room for the retract body to move forward towards the leading edge of the wing ?
If I dont cut it away I would need to install the retract with higher mounting blocks.


Somehow I feel it takes away rididness from the mounting rails on which to put the retract hardwood blocks.

Any suggestions on how to re-inforce the entire area ?

Sbaugz
the quality of the kit is great. What is not great is the paint job on the wing. The gray paint chips just running my nails over it. I will re-paint the plane once all installs are done.

Pete

Pietro, I just installed the Century Jet retracts in mine last night. I did need to cut out the forward part of the U shaped rail you speak of in addition to a chunk of the spar using the wood mounting blocks supplied with the kit. Remember that the installed retracts are very rigid and will take the place of the lost structure. I did go to Home Depot and get some 1" long screws to make sure the retracts are very well secured. I'm not going to fabricate new gear doors just now, but I think this installation is set deep enough into the wing that some scale gear doors woudl fit nicely (scale gear doors have a hump in the center).

We shall see. More about the final results and discussion about the maiden flight some time tomorrow!

Tom

Hi Tom
I also installed one retract yesterday. I cut my own Hardwood block from maple which are maybe 3/32 less high than the included blocks. I actually bit into the wood to see which one is harder )
I am also using 3 1/2 inch tires and had to extend the wheel well to accommodate the larger wheel. I am also thinking of creating a balsa sheet ring to insert into the wheel opening for additional strengh. Will try this during the weekend probably. Anyway, the retract sits low enough in the wing that only the topside of the struts are a bit above the wing surface. This also provides me the opportunity to slightly tilt the retracts forward with shims if I have a nose over problem.
Let me know how your maiden went.

Pietro

Those who bought from ebay for around $80, those are NOT CMP ARF. It's a CMP copy. Probably worse than CMP.
It's very deceiving.

I got one from E-Bay. I must say though the I am quite pleased with the quality. The fuselage is very stable, the glass thick enough. Plywood formers every 3 inch or so. All lasercut wood parts. Of course there is always a lot to improve...but that goes for all ARF's.
I am interested if anybody out there has flown a CMP copy yet. That is the real acid test.

Pietro

I pretty sure we have the same plane, and my opinion is most people would not be pleased with this arf.
I'll be honest, this arf is just OK.
I paid $130 shipped to my door and it's not worth more than that.
I've never seen CMP Hellcat, but I think this arf's fuselage F/G is not thick enough.
Plywood former was not 3 inch apart but more like 5-6 inch aprt. The plywood were all too thin and flexible.
The servo tray plywood was cracking off of fuselage. Need to put lots of epoxy and f/g cloth.
The only thing I like about this arf so far is, excellent covering and great looks.
Hopefully I can add "flies great" in the list.

I've been very satisified with mine. Been flying it quite a bit for the past couple of months. No unusual wear and tear, nothing coming loose. Didn't have to re-enforce the servo trays or bulkheads. I did add a bead of epoxy around the edge of the firewall on the inside, but that's something I do on all my ARFs. Mine is the same plane GiantScalePlanes.com sells.

I've seen another F6F on ebay that looks about the same except the pictures show different decals then came with mine. Mine are satin finish and the pictures I saw of the other plane appear to be glossy. Glossy decals and satin finish plane do not go well together. The other plane is pictured with a large white arrow decal on the tail. Arrows did not come with my kit.

I paid $127.50 not including shipping, which was another $35. GiantScalePlanes sells it for $199 before shipping. Was it worth it? Sure was. Go to a LHS and ask for a 120 sized fiberglass warbird with sheeted built up wings and tail, flaps, solarex painted finish and see if they can get you one for under $200. I think it unlikely in the extreme. Better yet buy a wood kit the same size, assemble it, cover it, paint it, buy the hardware and take a look at the tab...Under $200? No way. Not even going to consider the cost of labor to assemble such a nice plane.

As far as the fiberglass goes, if it holds up to flight and ground handling it's thick enough for me. I've put mine through some hard landings and extreme gyrations in flight and it's holding up just fine.

Just my $.02

Well, I "flew my Hellcat Sat. It wasn't pretty at all. Most unstable aircraft I've ever tried to control. Managed to land without much damage. Don't know what I'm gonna do about it. I'm going to move the CG way forward, maybe try a different prop (a 15 x 8 versus the 16 x 6 I was using?).

My dry weight was only 11 lbs. My CG was set about exactly in the center of the recommended range. The plane was so squirrly when I took off, and it took so much effort to fly, that I forgot to raise gear and flaps until after 1/2 way through the flight. Cleaning up the flight controls helped only minimally. I recommend do NOT take off with flaps. Let it build up lot of speed before lifting off. Lift off gently. Hold slight right rudder.

As for flying heavy... I don't think it was all that heavy really. Maybe mine should be heavier! Mine flew as though it were tailess. Unstable in all 3 axis. And slow. Maybe mine is too slow? I think I'll recommend a higher pitch prop. I used a 16 x 6. I'm moving to at least a 15 x 8. I read a lot of people using the graupner 3-blade 15 x 8 and being pretty happy with that setup. I need to use some 2-bladed props for now.

So.. more weight... faster prop... CG futher forward... take off no flaps. Hope that helps. Anyone have any other ideas?

Most of us warbird pilots never take off with flaps. I don't think it's a good idea to do so.

Here is a video showing my take off: [link=http://www.warbirdobsession.com/cmp_hellcat/movies/take_off.wmv]CMP F6F Take Off[/link] (pretty stable)

I'd say you have too much prop (diameter). My Saito 1.20 turns an APC 15X8 at about 10K. I have not heard of anyone running a Graupner 15X8 on a 1.20, the equivelent to the APC 15X8 is a 14X7 three blade. My plane was very fast, and needed the controls to be tamed down a bit. It will be slower if I run it with the three blade prop though. I set my CG towards the front with the gear down, and about the middle with them up. I actually had to move the battery back some to achieve the right CG. I would not recommend taking off with flaps, especially on a maiden flight. It seems to be a good way to crash though. Flaps help a bit on landing, but you shouldn't need them on take off.

Put a different prop on it, leave the flaps alone until landing, make sure the CG is in the front of the range with gear down, and you should find it to be a good flying plane. Also, make sure you have enough throw to get it trimmed out. An untrimmed plane can feel like a handful too. More weight is never a good thing. Only add weight to balance, and even then only as a last resort. I have never heard of a case where a plane flew bad just because it was too light (other than a windy day).

I hear ya. I was shocked having worked so much to get the setup just right. There was some wind, but the wind doesn't explain how badly out of control that plane was flying. Again, I think I must have been flying it too slow. I mean, it looked slow... very slow. But even with full throttle, it flew slow and like it was tip stalling the whole time. I'll set it up again with a faster prop and let you know what happens. We're expecting rain this weekend (thankfully! LOL) so it may be a couple weeks before "final" results are in LOL.

So... NO flaps, faster prop, recheck CG.

Richard. Video looked perfect. My plane looked NOTHING like that in flight. Again.. the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced I did not get the speed up fast enough. Your plane looks liek it really accelerated once airborne. Very nice. Gives me somethign to emmulate.

Thanks. I would try a 15x8 prop as others have suggested. My plane was swinging a Graupner 15x8 two bladed prop, and it had plenty of speed even though the plane was a whole pound heavier than yours. Light planes tend to fly better than heavy planes.

I gotta hand it to you, Richard L, On every one of your videos that I've seen, you have the retract rates pegged perfectly. The way they retract slowly and one behind the other is pure art. I played the F6F video about 4 times just so I could see the gear go up.


Mike

Thanks Mike. On most of my warbirds, including this CMP Hellcat, I use Century Jet 4-way variable air control valve. It allows me to "precisely" set the retract rates, both up and down, for each retract. I was using the Robart version, but since I had to tee the air lines together, which ever retract had the least friction would go up first, usually way too fast. Once it was completely up, then the other one would go up. With the CJ unit, both would go up independently of each other.

Thanks for the details. I'll copy your technique if you don't mind. Have you thought about a tailwheel retract for your F6F, or is the fuselage not strong enough back there?

Mike

iiiat
is you plane the CMP or one of the copies sold on e-Bay ?
..which starts to worry me because I got a $80 copy

Pietro

I dont know if there is a copy of the Hellcat , I know there is of the P40 and the Spit and the Zero

I would love to put a retractable tailwheel back there, but I'm too lazy to do it. Plus, I can't seem to find enough spare time nowadays.

I think you have something else wrong. I'm running a 16x6 Master Airscrew Classic on a Magnum 120. No speed issues at all. I agreee flaps should not be used on take off for a maiden flight, but I have done several with no problems. My plane weighs 12lb empty, fixed gear with a 1400mah battery and the received secured to the rear edge of the servo tray. With no additional weight the CG balanced right in the middle of the recommended range.

If your CG is spot on (with the gear down!), check the horzontal stab incidence on each side to make sure they are the same. It's possible to get them crooked since they install only with the single aluminum tube and no alignment pin. Check your wing for warps. Make sure your flaps are even both extended and retracted. Also check for slop in the flaps.

Sounds like it a motor problem and/or CG issue. With 34mm flap travel my plane will crawl around at or under 1/4 throttle. It is very stable and predictable.