zeno

It looks really nice!
Two quick ones
What retracts are those?
Do you take off from a grass field?

Cubano8

Thanks

virtualvictum

Thanks. Yes I do take off from a grass field exclusively. No paved runway at our field. She has plenty of power to take off and so far no tendency to flip on landings. The retracts you see in the picture are only temporary as they are not 90 degree rotaters as they should be. They are there simply to get air time on it before the real ones come in. The brand is Hobbico and they are less than 20 dollars a set. I have three sets of these in various planes and they work great even off grass provided you come in decent and not really hot or hard. If you do the struts have a tendency to snap. This is ok though because it does not hurt the retract mount in the wing. The strut simply takes all the force and snaps. I think it is designed that way but I could be wrong. I am not sure what brand of 90 degree retracts will be coming but I bought them from A. K. Models at the same time I purchased the plane, he was just out at the time. From dimensions given on his website they should simply drop right in. Let me know if you have any more questions.

zeno

The rotating retracts om AK's webpage looks like the World Models ones. And I've heard good things about them.
I'm gonna order a similar setup soon, both plane and retracts. Thinking of putting an ASP 70 4-stroke in front. Should pull this one around I think
Many thanks for the answers. And please keep us updated when you get the new retracts.

frisco2022

My Feedback: (16)

Hey virtualvictum thank you so much on the advice on the c.g., I read threads on other cmp aircraft and thay all said the c.g. was way off and I thought that I was going to be a test pilot. I have the rotating retracts for the aircraft and they are a pain. First of all they come straight, and about 7-8 inches long. You will need a dreml tool to cut them to length, you will need the adjustable axles to make them work. Although the strut is 5mm thick, and there is no adjustable axle that fits 5mm. I had to find a 5mm drill bit to to drill out the hole so it will fit. It seems the control arm actuator has to travel a distance of about five miles for full up lock and full down lock, I have mine as close as I can, but we will see. And they seem very stiff, my retrct servo has a tough time bringing them up and down, I am worried once there is air loads on them if they will even work. I have not flown it yet, hopefully it will be ok.

virtualvictum

I know what you mean about setting up the retracts. They were a pain. Linkages need to be pretty well spot on or they will not work. I set the ones in the plane up to work with the struts out of the gear since they do not rotate. We will see what needs to be done when the real ones are in. I believe the weak point to be the bellcrank mount. I glued the crap out of mine but we will see how well they hold up. So far they are good but I am not retracting the gear. Depending on your field it can get a bit bouncy because there is no oleo strut to soak up any small bumps. I think VQ makes a set of oleos that work for these but I am not sure. If they do you can simply replace the strut with the VQ strut and it should look better too. Get out there and fly that sucker it looks really good in the air. Good luck with the maiden.

frisco2022

My Feedback: (16)

well I flew the plane a couple of days ago, you were right on with the c.g. I even had to add weight in the nose to make it balanced. The plane flew awsome, it was extremely pitch sensitive though. The only horrible thing is that I made a perfect landing but the wheels were so small as soon as it hit the grass it broke the great and split the mounting blocks in half. I was so pissed because I could not ask for a better landing. The plane is great but the landing gear sucks.

zeno

When you say mountingblocks, do you mean the plastic on the retracts or the wood in the wings? ... Need to know what to beef up if/when I get one
Glad to hear that it flies well!

frisco2022

My Feedback: (16)

The actual wood mounting blocks, it was a clean break. After further inspection the retract housing busted too, I have to order new retracts now, all from a good landing. If it does it again I am done with it.

virtualvictum

Glad you got to fly her Bajzer. Sorry about the landing even though it was a good one. I reinforced the crap out of mine. I used the mounting blocks for the fixed gear and cut them in half long way. These are the blocks that have been sanded to the proper wing angle. You should have them in your bag with the wood stuff. After cutting these in half I simply slid one half under each retract mount under the wing. I will post a pic so you can see. Coat the crap out of it with epoxy and you are done. I am sorry if I forgot to mention that it is VERY sensitive in pitch. Definitely go with the rates for the elevator. I also found the ailerons to be a little slow for me. It rolls very scale but I like it faster than most. Other than that she lands nicely at that balance point wouldn't you agree? Any bad habits that you saw? I didn't see any but maybe you did. If so what were they? I will post a pic in a few minutes. Good luck and do not give up on it because it is awesome in the air.

virtualvictum

Ok here is the pics to explain what I said. You can make your own mounts out of whatever you want. I just used the kit blocks because they were quicker to use. I still had to slightly sand the blocks to fit just right but not much.

frisco2022

My Feedback: (16)

I really appreciate your help, it is really frustrating but hey it is part of the hobby. I will try that because I basically have to do it all over again. Unfortunately AK is all out of the retracts I need. So much for that, I guess I will have to wait. But the plane does looks fantastic in the air. It hauls with the 61 I have in it, although I cannot add full power on takeoff because the tail is small. And yes you were right on with the C.G.

Larry S

My Feedback: (6)

Well guys,
I'm about to finish up my CMP Corsair and so far, so good. I read where someone said the CG should be 3" from the leading edge. The specs say 80 to 85 mm which is 3 1/4" back. I balanced mine today and had to add 14 ounces to the nose but I'm running an OS AX 46 that I had in my late Pica Corsair, and the engine flew that plane great. Anyway, I had balanced my Corsair without the battery pack installed and I installed that as far front as possible so that should get very close to the 3" CG.
As for the landing gear blocks, I installed solid blocks instead of the ply ones you get with the kit. Also I reinforced the firewall. The only problem I had was when I was drilling out for the wing bolt holes, the ply that was glued to the fiberglass fuse broke loose but I expoxied that back in with a 1/4 ply plate so that I could tap 1/4 hold down holes. I did not use any of the metric hardware, all american thread.
I had to go check my plane and someone here was right, the machine guns are located in the wrong area. As for the kit, I was happy with it. Maybe it's not scale but close enough for a fun fly plane. I"m not into arfs but this one is to replace my Jemco Corsair that I lost a couple of weeks ago. Well, time to go back and see what I can do to replace those machine guns.
Larry

LDM

My Feedback: (15)

Larry is the 14oz of weight final ? if so may I suggest moving some of the servos forward in the fuse , build a bettery box if possibe on the firewall and install your battery there . That is almost a pound and I would hate to see you add that much to this size plane .
The CMPs smaller planes have a reputation of being squarly in the air .

Larry S

My Feedback: (6)

LDM,
I believe the 14 oz will be about right to set the CG at 3 to 3 1/4 back from the leading edge. I do have the battery up on the firewall but like I said, I had balanced the plane without the battery in it so that will make a difference. I'll balance it again today and see where I'm at. I know what you're saying about adding weight, I hate to do it in any plane but I don't see any other way. As for moving the servos, that may be an option but I'll give it a try before doing that. As for the gun placement, I was up early today and fixed that little problem, I airbrushed the original guns out and added guns where they were suppose to be and weathered them, looks good.
Normally on warbirds I use a 4 stroke engine just for the added weight but on this one I had a new OS 46 that I used on a Jemco Corsair and I know how that few. On the Jemco, I had more power then I needed and only flew about half throttle so I'm hoping on this one the engine will be about right. The Jemco weigh out at 7 1/4 pounds, I haven't weigh this one yet, waiting for one small part from Tower to have it completed. Should be ready to fly tomorrow or even maybe today.
Well off to out club float fly.
Larry

PS. I also added the Vortac bomb drop.

zeno

Larry, I think the 46 AX will pull that Corsair around just fine.
I finally got my CMP Corsair this week. Installing World Models rotating retracts in it now.
Will probably open up the wheel wells and put on some larger wheels. But I'm gonna give the ones I got with the kit a go first.

Btw you said you removed the existing guns with an airbrush. What colors (brand and perhaps number) did you use?

Good luck on the maiden!

Larry S

My Feedback: (6)

Zeno,
best way to let ya know what I did was show you a pic. The paint I used was Warbird Colors I mixed to try to get a good match. Should have added some brighter blue to it, but I'm satisified. The plane came out at 7 and 3/4 pounds and I needed every bit of that weight to balance it out at 3 1/4 inches. As soon as this wind lets up a bit, out to give it it's first flight.
Larry
After looking at the pic, I see I could have went with a grey instead of blue. Tomorrow mornings project.
OK, done. Grey added and looks better. Plane on charger hoping to fly today if wind lets up.

zeno

Looks good.
I'm struggling with the damn rotating retracts now.
If anyone got a nice guide on how to set those up, please post

Larry S

My Feedback: (6)

Zeno,
wish I could help, did not go with retracts. To much a pain in the ass, really didn't find a good retract that would work with this plane and I wanted a plane that I didn't have to fool with in case of those occasional hard landings. Good luck with those retracts, post a picture after you get them installed.
Also on my Corsair, I went with 3/16 wire gear with Robart oleo struts.
Larry

zeno

Finally got the retracts installed and working. I will keep a close eye on these ones though...
I'm installing the enginemounts at the moment and it got me thinking. How did you guys cut to let the air out from the cowl?
Cause I've had enough trouble with engines overheating... And it looks like CMP haven't thought much of this, there is no "air-channel" to let the hot air out.

flyingwarbird

My Feedback: (1)

Hey zeno, what retracts are those that you are using. I agree the retracts are a pain! I bought some from airborne models and they are too short. I haven't started building yet, just waiting for the retracts. Good luck!

zeno

The retracts I've installed are made by World Models http://www.theworldmodels.com/. They're a bit flimsy when down, but I believe this can be fixed with some glue and a thin piece of cardboard
But I'm gonna test them as they come just to see. I am also gonna use the Dubro wheel axle-thingy on the wires since they would otherwise be too short (perhaps this is a fix for your retracts as well?). Also I'm filing pieces of the wire flat, where the mountingscrews make contact, also adding some Loctite, this should help.
Posting a picture of the "wheel axle-thingy" I'm talking about

Larry S

My Feedback: (6)

Well, today was the big day. Good news and bad news. First, the good news. On the first take off with controls set on low rate, the roll out was very nose heavy, in other words the nose was about to dig in. So I brought the plane back, switched to high rate and gave it another try using elevator to keep it straight. Couldn't have had a better take off, very straight and smooth without hardly any right rudder. Once airborne, the only trim it needed was up elevator and it flew on rails, no trim to any other control surface.
Now the bad news, I throttled back on down wind, made my turn over a large stand of trees (forest preserve) and it cork screwed in the trees. First, I usually never go that far out but I wanted room to bring the plane in straight so I went out over the trees. The best we could come up with was "I got hit". lol That excuse doesn't hold water with our group anymore. Seriously, what we do believe happened was that we had a fairly strong wind blowing directly towards those trees. As the plane got over and past those trees, it stalled. The wind was being diverted up and over the trees and as the plane slowed during the turn, it dropped out of the sky. Pilot error. I know that with a West wind, you'll have problems with the trees on the East side of our field, so don't go out that far and second, I fly other warbirds and you keep power on till it about reaches the runway. I still think I got shot down. Damn, I hate to admit I goof.
Now for some more good news. The plane will fly again. After going throught all those branches, the only damage was to the leading edge of one wing and the plastic fake motor cracked. That's it, easy fix except I have to mix some paint to match the finish.
What saved my butt was, first I had reinforced the cowling with another layor of fiberglass and I let the epoxy run to the nose of the cowling while setting up. The cowl was scratched up but not broke and the reinforcement I made to the landing gear blocks worked also, both gears where still as straight as it was when I took off
OK, reports on here say this plane is real squirrelly. Not so, but it is touchy, just the way I like them to be. Very little rudder and aileron is needed and very little elevator is needed also. If you have a radio that can be set to dual rates, set the low rate throws to the low side of the specs on the directions and set the throws on high rate to the high side of the specs on the directions using at least 50 expo. Use no more then what the directions say.
I did get a good flight out of it and can't wait to fly it again just as soon as I get it repaired. At least now I know what NOT to do.
I have a Jemco Hellcat, less wing span and over two pounds more weight and that actually flies better in the wind. That plane you can throttle down and not stall it as easily as this Corsair.
Larry

PS. Cooling. I have my engine inverted and I cut out an area roughly twice the size of the opening I have in my dummy engine starting just in front of the glow plug back to about where the cowl fits the fuse. I flew today with no cooling problem. A good rule of thumb for me, have twice the exit area as you have to intake over the engine, if possible.

zeno

I'm very glad to hear that the plane came back to you fully fixable! You really got me scared there...
Gonna reinforce that cowl tonight!

zeno

A quick question.
The manual tells you that you should measure 125mm between the firewall and the propwasher. Where you guys able to maintain this length?
Cause I just finished reinforcing my cowl and now when I put it on and measure I get 130mm from the firewall and to the opening of the cowl, which will leave somewhere around 135mm for prop clearance.... I should have measured before going nuts with epoxy [&o]