Just for show......

Thanks Richard, CJ retracts with Robart wheels so there's a little weight there. Still have quite a bit of setup to do, as a matter of fact I haven't even run the engine on the plane yet, but I'll ensure CG is right on. Too may Zeros at the field now not to have a good flying Hellcat.

Andy

Looking good Andy!!! Best of luck with the maiden flight!!!
John

Looks great! Please say what dummy radial you used?

I just got a CMP Hellcat knock off , just curious if we are all adding tail weight , why not create an area to mount two servos rear of the cg behind /above the wing mounting area ?
Standard Futaba servos are 1.2oz , two needed for the tail so that is 2.4 oz , add ply rails and expozy and your up to 3.4 oz rear of the CG without adding non functional weight ...is this a sound idea ????

Mounted the servo's in the tray designed into the plane. Didn't need to add or move any weight. I have the battery on the CG point.

>iiiat Engine is an idea I borrowed from Richard L., it's a picture, printed out and glued to balsa.

LDM.... Would avoid putting any weight in tail of airplane. I had to mount batt. behind firewall because of tailwheel I used, but otherwise plane seems like it wuold balance just fine wtih 4 stroker in nose.

Andy

Thanks Andy , was not sure if the plane was coming out nose heavy from the post

I checked Sierra's website. No mention of retracts that will fit the hellcat.

Randy, I would already have bought the CMP Corsair but I've heard time and again that the fiberglass fuselage is junk. In your opinion, is the KMP better?

I'm a Navy / Marie Corps warbird guy (the one contradiction to that is the H9 81" P-47 ARF which I'm anxiously awaiting), so I love the F6F and the F4Us. But I can't find a giant - scale F4U.

Mike

Either give them a call or send them an e-mail. They do make them for this plane.

Man, never thought I'd be saying this but I'm joining the ARF brotherhood! lol Got this thing or something close to it for my birthday, I can't throw it away that would make my wife sad. Appears I got the copy, so it looks different in some ways. Anyway I'm going to take the band saw to the wing and the fuselage to get a better look. Corsairjock you are correct in your observations.
When I get to this thing I'll start my own thread but here is what I have figured out. Full scale dimensions:

Span: 42' 10"
Length: 33' 6"

The model has a fuselage length of about 50", so 33' 6" = 402" / 8 = 50.25"! The model is 1/8 scale, that makes the true wingspan for this model 64.25". Cutting the needed material out of the center section would fix the gear location and the dihedral. I was going to move the gear, but this would be much harder to do. Chopping the wing on my band saw is much easier! The cockpit is also off, it's not long enough, so I'm cutting the fuselage in that area one inch back and fitting my own scale canopy. They say the plane weighs 4500g (9lbs 14oz), that's not bad for a plane with a 65" wing. Some were complaining that it floated to much, so I'll fix that! lol

Of course, drop tank and two 1,000 lb bombs are in order along with scale molded gear covers and 4" wheels. Pulled the covering off the wing and will be sanding the fuselage so that I can glass and paint it.

I'll post the mods when I gather all the needed equipment to finish her.

Got some great looking birds in here, thanks for the inspiration!

ARF's rule! yea!

Dion

Dion I got the same one on ebay , not bad at all , are you going to modify the airlerons to scale size ? I think the real ones were larger and deeper into the wing

Yea, it's the ebay one. I am going to install scale ailerons and hinging just because it's easy and looks cool. Also it will allow me to hide the push-rod.
I wanted to chop the wing to see how it looks so I cut the flap trailing edge off with the wire.

Then measured in 2 7/8" and cut the wing on my band-saw. This will put you at the second ply rib.

Next I cleaned off the Ply center section rib and glued it back on to the wing. I saved the dowel supports in the leading edge and re-installed them.

I cut 5 3/4" off the aluminum joiner tube.

More to come...

Some more so you can see the gear location now with the scale size gear doors:

Very nice Luke. I can't wait to see the plane when it's all done. Are you going to do scale 4-piece flaps also?

Thanks Richard, yea I'm going to have the 4 flaps, not to worried about those though as far as scale appearance goes. The Hellcat had some very complex flaps but just having them split should look cool. Here is a drawing for anyone that wants the doors, I'm vacuum forming a scale set but if you want to make your own you can use this drawing. It's set up to use 4" tires.

Luke , very very cool . Are you still selling corsiar interiors I get questions all the time for your contact info (after they see my corsair interior knowing my cave man skills lol , they know the kit had to be nice

Luke, you have the expertise and the equipment to produce a scale canopy for this plane. Will you be making one (or 100)?

lol! Thanks How many you need? I plan on slightly modifying the fuselage, it'll be easy to do but if you don't want to I'm sure the canopy would still fit. It would just sit forward a bit more. I'll keep you all posted as I get all the molds made for these mods.


Thanks Bro! You did fine work! I can make some more Corsair interiors, I don't have any at the moment. For a short time I may set up a buy it now on my site for a limited production run, how about that?

Next is the drop tank....

I'd like a pair of those gear doors.
How much for a set?
Dom

Hi Woody, I'm not sure yet, I'm still making all this stuff for my plane. I do have 2 extra sets of gear doors though, I'm working on the drop tank now. When my Robostruts get here I'll get the doors figured out. The small doors on the top should be made out of 1/16" ply, so those are not included on my doors.

Dion

Got the drop tank installation almost done, I've got an appointment so I'll just post what I have for now. First the basic pieces. I glued the pylon together and opened the top completely and the bottom about 1/4" and inserted a balsa plug.

I attached the pylon and then drilled 2 1/8" holes, inserted 1/8 dowel and cut one off flush. Also I have a 1/8" piece of ply on the inside.

I used 1/8" soft copper wire to make the front supports, backed those up with a small piece of LT ply and some balsa.


Drilled the holes in the belly and installed it.

It will not be dropable but it will be easily removable. I still need to finish the installation and add the straps and some other details, I'll do that later on tonight.

Dion

I only need one or two for my own plane. LOL.

Looks wonderful Luke!! I pm'ed you earlier today
Now go for that appt so you wont be late!! LOL

I'm drooling! If you decide to start mass producing those gear doors, I'm in line for a set too!! They're awesome. I'm heading now to Ebay to lookup vacuform machines. I gotta get in on this.