Hey All, It's great to hear some others are working on Hellcats out there. I'm in the process of building a Wing MFG Hellcat. I've been at it for about 18 months now, and it is finally starting to look like a plane. I tried glassing it as a first and it turned out pretty well. Needs some putty here and there, but I figure it's a flyer not a hanger queen, and like the originals, had a few wrinkles and dings. Anyone ever build one of these? I'll be glad to take any advice on the Wing kit. I have never seen one fly, so I'll be interested to see how well it performs...once I finish it!

Best wishes to all of you out there with your projects!!


LD

For Richard I ordered the hellcat today, the motor for the Zero is on hold for a while I think I will go with the Roto, on the hellcat what do think about a G23 in it. I have one that I traded for and never put in a plane yet. I don't know what kind of power to expect out of a G23. Thanks Rich

I just got my CMP Helcat today & looks good. Great buy off ebay shipped from CA for less than $235.00. I was going to use an OS 120 pumper but like the idea of gas as I also have a G23 new needing a home. I'd like any thoughts also. Thanks.

I think the G23 will be too heavy for this Hellcat. I had an OS 120 pumper, along with aluminum engine mounts, and mine turned out nose heavy. The G23 might work if you move both the ignition battery and the receiver battery back behind the trailing edge of the wing. The Roto 25 might work better.

mikejdad,check out the century jet retracts on e-bay.they are made for cmp hellcat

Thanks guys, I think my G23 may be on the heavy side as it's a mag engine and really isn't as powerful as a 120. I'd liked to go all gas due to the cost of glow but I already have two new OS 120 pumpers (bought for another project that has been sold) so maybe I'll forget the gas on this one. I contacted CJ and their complete retract system is $255 + $35 for a valve. Thanks ffdg, I'll check ebay for those retracts.

richard
zenoha g23 dont have ignition bat its a magneto
RE: CMP Hellcat - 2/12/2005 2:44:54 AM


Richard L.
Warbird Pilot







Posts: 3836
Joined: 7/28/2002
From: Puget Sound, WA, USA
Status: offline I think the G23 will be too heavy for this Hellcat. I had an OS 120 pumper, along with aluminum engine mounts, and mine turned out nose heavy. The G23 might work if you move both the ignition battery and the receiver battery back behind the trailing edge of the wing. The Roto 25 might work better.

It's still a relatively heavy engine, but it might work.

Randy

Love to see those pictures on you Hellcat and your P47 .

About GSP in my experience they work quite OK for me[sm=thumbup.gif], I placed the order
and 48 hours after plane was shipped to Miami where I have my box address,...
I dont think you will have any problems/...[sm=thumbup.gif]

Rgds

Richard

Like the new Wheels !!!!! What are they ?? did you finaly go with incresing the size to 4 inches ??

I finalized the retracts now I am placing the Servos, also need to place cowling...

Do you suggest Pull pull on this plane or hould I use the original system they offer..??

Wheels are Robart 4" aluminum. They don't come smaller than 4" in diameter. You can order them directly from Robart. I'm using the stock pushrods, but you can install pull-pull on the rudder.

I can post pics of what I am doing, however, this IS an ARF which means there isn't much in the way of "construction". I received my retracts for the Hellcat from Darrell at Sierra and just one word describes them - AMAZING! Although they were 250 bucks, I feel the work that went into them is worth more than the money he gets. I know some have had more than lackluster dealings with Darrell, but mine to date have been great. He is my FIRST choice for retracts due to the workmanship and quality of the product. I will post some pics later today of the retracts and the mods to fit them into the Hellcat (which in my opinion are minor). I plan on using a 4 inch Robart tire but NOT the aluminum ones that Richard is using (around 60 bucks a PIECE!!). I am also slightly wet sanding the current finish, repainting with accurate Model Master paints, applying the very nice markings included with the kit and then covering the entire model with PPG 2060 flat clear to completely fuel proof it. More later.....

randy

bossman, I sure like the idea of refinishing the colors on the Helcat. They look nice but the grey bottom and blue-purple upper are far from being even close to scale. I'm not going to start mine until I complete my H-9 Taylorcraft and my .60 size Extra both of which are on the table. I'll also wait for my retracts. The markings would look correct for the gloss all blue Helcat but not the tri-color camo scheme. Let us know the additional weight the repaint adds. Thanks, Mike J.

That is what I thought 4 Inch wheels.. Tell me somthing when modifiying the wheel Wales to fit the 4 inch tires, did you have to make any structural changes on the wing.??

Randy, if you plan to use the regular Robart 4" scale wheels, then you might want to consider ordering foam inserts for those tires. Those 4" tires are mushy and don't support very much weight, and if you take a sharp corner, they will roll of the rim.

The factory supplied decals are for the overall glossy sea blue color scheme since the star and bar decals don't have any blue background in them. The white star and bar decals look strange on the bottom of the gray wing. You can barely pick them out.

First, you must enlarge each wheel well to around 4 3/8" in diameter, like so:

Note that you will be cutting through two ribs per wheel well, so you must make two new ribs and glue them back in to strengthen up that area:

Below are some videos we recorded today. It was dim, cold, and windy. Flying conditions weren't that great so we will try again next weekend if weather permits.

* [link=http://www.whitetyphoon.com/rc/cmp_hellcat/movies/take_off.wmv]Take Off[/link] - sloppy
* [link=http://www.whitetyphoon.com/rc/cmp_hellcat/movies/simul_fly_by.wmv]Fly By[/link] - H9 Mustang on the left. Me on the right.
* [link=http://www.whitetyphoon.com/rc/cmp_hellcat/movies/simul_loops.wmv]Loop[/link] - H9 Mustang on the left. Me on the right.
* [link=http://www.whitetyphoon.com/rc/cmp_hellcat/movies/roll.wmv]Roll[/link]
* [link=http://www.whitetyphoon.com/rc/cmp_hellcat/movies/flip_inverted.wmv]Flip Inverted[/link]
* [link=http://www.whitetyphoon.com/rc/cmp_hellcat/movies/landing.wmv]Landing[/link] - sloppy

Richard,

The more and more I get into this Hellcat (and the P-47), the more I am inclined to modify several areas. I never thought about the "hollow" Robart tires being able to support the weight - maybe I will spring for the aluminum hubbed Robarts that you have....

As far as the the Hellcat's supplied paint scheme and markings - I live very close to the Chino, CA "Planes of Fame" museum that has a nice tricolor Hellcat on display. I will more than likely use that as the basis for this Hellcat. Using some old Top Flite Corsair stars and bars with the red outline as a guide, I think I will end up enlarging them to make my own stars and bars that jive with the tricolor paint scheme. I like using the Model Master paints as they are very accurate and actually, dont require a lot of paint to achieve full coverage. As stated before, the entire plane will be covered with PPG 2060 flat clear (its urethane based) to fuel proof the plane(s)....

I am still trying to decide which way to go for the cockpit - doing as much modifying as I am doing, it seems a shame to neglect the cockpit - we'll see....

As a sidenote, I went ahead and ordered the CMP Zero from Chief Aircraft as Jet Hobbies emailed me that they are out of stock of the Zero. This will bring the total CMP ARF's to 4 - the P-47, Hellcat, Zero and my beloved P-26 Peashooter. Its hard to believe - I have been a kit builder since a kid - goes to show you CAN teach an old dog new tricks!!!

You will like the aluminum Robart wheels much better. They roll so nice and they don't wobble like the cheap plastic ones. There are two types: nose wheel hubs and brake hubs. Nose wheel hubs have spokes on both sides. Brake hubs have spokes on one side and solid disk on the other. I am using nose wheel hubs on my Hellcat.

Below is a picture showing the difference between "brake hubs" and "nose wheel hubs"

A variety of star and bar decals can be found here: [link]http://www.cal-grafx.com/[/link]

Does anyone have any good ideas for getting the correct placement of the wing's leading edge dowel holes in the fuse? Also, my instructions show the dowels in the wings only 40 mm apart. Seems like they should be twice that far. Any thoughts on this? Thanks. Rusty

You will need to estimate where the holes will be by eyeballing directly from the side of the fuselage. I spaced mine much more than 40mm apart, probably around 4" apart. Each hole is basically between the fuse centerline and the outside of the fuse. I did not want the wing to be rocking.

I just received a set of rotating retracts with longer struts for my TF P-40E Gold Edition from Darrell, and the retracts turned out superb as expected. These retracts would also fit my Hellcat with 4" wheels. Darrell added more meat to the axle end of each strut, which is a plus. Unfortunately, these rotating retracts do not have any toe in, so the next step for Darrell would be to incorporate 1.5° or 2° of toe in per axle to improve ground tracking and handling. It's too late for me, but I know Darrell would make this happen for future sets. Without toe in, on landing, the wheels and axles would flex back, creating a toe out condition that would increase the tendency for the plane to nose over.