liam_irish

Hi everyone,

My name is Liam and I am just beginning my latest project - a Ziroli F6F Hellcat. I haven't been able to build for the last few years because I was in graduate school and trying to get my career going. Now that I have finally secured my first job, I have a bit of money and time after work in which I don't have to study. That equals building!!

Most of my prior building experience was with 40-60 sized kits, so this Hellcat is the first larger scale building task I have undertaken (and the first one without instructions!!) I figured this forum would be a great place to share my progress, and hopefully more knowledgeable people could warn me before I make a catastrophic mistake (or maybe just offer some helpful advice so that I can complete this build successfully).

I hope you enjoy the photos, and please forgive me in advance for my lack of experience and the many simple questions I will ask!

I completed the crutch and have temporarily put the formers in place, but no glue yet. Still need to finish off sanding the rear of the crutch to fit the last two formers on. Next will be the inner and outer wing saddle, then some stringers. It is already beginning to take shape!

Also, I have read that installing carbon fiber cloth and rods near the rear of the fuse is a good idea. Can anyone give me some information on how to do this or where to learn?

Liam

carlbecker

My Feedback: (3)

You might want to check www.rcscalebuilder.com for more info.

OldScaleGuy

My Feedback: (2)

There is actually another thread in this forum on a Z Hellcat build that has a lot of useful information. A Z Hellcat is my next project after I get the project finished I am working on so I will be watching this closely. Good luck.
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_37..._1/key_/tm.htm

liam_irish

A bit of a snag in my Hellcat project. I glued up the crutch, got most of the formers in place, and got the inner wing saddles in place. I thought I followed the plans perfectly, but it looks like I might have made an error. Former F1 tilts down slightly for down thrust, and the angle is fixed where it meets the inner wing saddles. My problem is that when F1 is flush with the fronts of the inner wing saddles and at the correct down thrust angle, it does not make contact with the front of the crutch. To me, it just doesn't stand to reason that F1 wouldn't contact and be securely glued to the crutch.

A little help would be appreciated here. Have I screwed it up? Do I start over? Or is F1 secured without contacting the front of the crutch? If so, how?

The photos illustrate the gap between the front of the crutch and F1 when I am holding it in place.

Thanks a million!

Liam

liam_irish

Solution! Wulf190 who is also building a Hellcat helped me out:

"No snag Liam....you're in good shape. The crutch becomes kind of useless once the whole structures together-it's not at all a main bearer of F1, which has plenty of mounting area to the tank box and the outer ply formers once they go on. My experience was close to being the same as yours thru that part. I think you're right about the way that part goes together though--kind of incongruous that it doesn't go clean thru F1."

A big thanks to Wulf190! His thread has been very useful in my build so far. You can check out his thread at:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_37...tm.htm#6474862

liam_irish

Made some more progress on the fuse. Got all the pushrod tubes in, and finally got all the stringers glued in. It's really starting to take a 3 dimensional shape now!!! I will begin sheeting in a few days . . . after I learn how!!