cold_reboot

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I took delivery today of a box of balsa/ply (Balsa USA) to go with the Skyshark FW190A-8 plans that were delivered last week, a second box with all the hardware from Tower including the German markings decals, and a third box containing the Deft Sanding Sealer and Polycrylic. The 1/2 oz cloth is in route, as are the cowl, canopy, gun hood, blisters, from Skyshark. First point of contention, UPS needs to stop using rabid dogs to load packages, one end of the box from Tower was so mangled it looked like a dog had chewed it up, which they repaired by simply wrapping about 14 layers of packing tape around it to hold it together. Luckily Tower bags the smaller items so they don't fall out, inventory proved everything accounted for. Number two, the box containing the Deft Sanding Sealer and Polycrylic must have been in a delivery truck that was in a major accident after the dog attacked the driver once it became bored with my box. I say this because one side of the Sealer can had a severe ding (one flat side on a round can) in it at the top near the lid, if it hadn't been for the 4 steel clips holding the lid on it would have completely come off during shipping. As it were, only a few teaspoons had escaped it's can and melted a nice chunk of now slimy, melted foam packing peanuts to the side of the can. I need to go get my Bachelors degree, get job at UPS work my way up the ranks then fire everyone that handles packages this way. I know that Driver had to have had a major headache with the Lacquer Sealer fumes filling his truck all day. Good goin UPS...u fail. Why don't you just have your driver take a dump in my yard before he leaves and put the icing on the cake.

Ok, rant over. I'll be cutting my own parts from start to finish, thank Grey Beard for that one, couldn't help myself after he posted his scratch build in the Vegas Snow post. My wife doesn't know you and already doesn't like you because this will be plane #7. Oh, engine, I picked up a Brand new O.S. 91SII FS (The one with the new carb) at the LHS for this plane...it was cheap..I payed $129 cash for it since I had a $100 dollar gift certificate from my mother in law for christmas. Couldn't pass it up at only $30 more than a Magnum. I haven't gotten any work done as of yet other than inventorying everything and didn't have a camera after getting it all organized. I'll snap a pic before I start cutting parts this weekend.

Also I haven't decided on a paint scheme and am looking for suggestions.

mistermnkim

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hey good luck with the build! ill be following along. also i do feel your pain with the ups deal, when i was in college i worked for ups as a part timer. about 90 % of ups is made up of part time workers and believe me packages are crushed all the time.

cold_reboot

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Alright, started on the Skyshark FW190A-8 this evening after taking the little woman and kids shopping. After cutting the parts and assembling them dry, I became a little nervous that I may be in over my head. However, after laying the plans out and pinning the assembly to the board it turned out better than I had anticipated. I only had to make very small adjustments to the leading edge on the left side to square it up.

cold_reboot

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Wow, that was a little big...lets try again.


At this point I'm starting to feel a little better about cutting all of this myself.


A lot of pins, right? I'm pretty retentive about flat surfaces....it's always easier than fixing a twist.


Cut the jig tabs from the Leading and Trailing edges and cut the sheeting, sanding it flat to the Leading and Trailing edges. At this point, I've lost track of time, but feel much better about what I've gotten myself into. I think I'm going to really enjoy scratch building.

cold_reboot

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Ok, so their all big, can't be said I'm trying to hide anything (like my mistakes)

cold_reboot

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Only got a little work done this evening on account of my wife calling me out of the hangar because the kids power wheels truck would only go in reverse. So I had to tear that apart and fix it. I managed to get all of the elevator parts cut after getting all of the horiz. stab. skinned and sanded, so it's finished at least. You can see some of the elevator ribs.




Not much work done, should get to more of it tomorrow. Hope to have the tail done and start on the wings.

RCKen

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Thread moved to the RC Warbirds and Warplanes forum.

Ken

bigtim

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looking forward to this build, I have a Me109G from Skyshark I am thinking of starting after my FW190A8 build is finished either that or a TF Dora your work looks clean so far keep up the good work.

by the way if you hit the reply button in the upper R.hand corner of the posting box, you can load photos as thumbnails that enlarge when clicked, instead of the full size photos your getting,at least most of the time it works.

cold_reboot

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I asked RCKen last night and he pointed me in the right direction on how to upload photo's the other way. They'll be thumbnailed from this point forward, either that or this thread was going to be murder on the dial up users. Thanks for the comment Tim. I emailed Mike at Skyshark and asked if the 109E would be back. He said if the interest was there on the ones already released it likely would be as well. At this point I'd take a E/F/G since there just aren't any 60 size ME kits to be had. I looked at the TF Dora ...but the prices those kits are going for now a days....wish Top Flite would bring them back, or better yet, release a ME109 kit.

bigtim

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I couldn't agree more, I have a couple of the TF dora kits, one I got for a fair price, the other I paid out the nose for,if they came out with a ARF my kits would be worthless to anyone but me,which is fine I just want to build em any way.

funny thing is I have sent several requests to TF,at least 5, with no response, about coming out with a Me109 kit,at least now Skyshark is offering there basic short kit,for some of these models, then you can shop around for the wood and accessories that suit your budget.

cold_reboot

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I got in a few hours of work this afternoon, not as much as I'd like, but if I spend too much time with balsa my wife might get jealous and cut off my hobby allowance. I didn't get to the Vertical Stab like I wanted to but the Horizontal Stab and Elevator are done with the exception of shaping the balsa. Anyway, on with the illustrations.
Edit: I'd also like to add that I used the scroll saw the little woman got me for christmas for the first time today cutting the curved "end caps" on the elevators and stab. I asked for the saw specifically for cutting plane parts due to the many curves these things consist of. Having it now I don't think I could be without it, best $99 dollar tool in the entire shop and will definitely make life much much easier.

cold_reboot

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I got another brown box today from UPS, this one was treated a little more fairly. I was nervous the fiberglass cowl was going to be in a few pieces but all is well (Skyshark packed it very well). Took a quick pic of all the parts. FG Cowl (great looking cowl), ABS parts (thick/sturdy and looks great), canopy and the scale three blade spinner. All from Skyshark. Should be able to get back to work on the plane tomorrow.

cold_reboot

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Only got minimal work done this afternoon. I got the tips shaved down and sanded...for the most part. Minimal fine tune sanding left to do...my retentive side coming out again. My wife laughs at me hanging a picture or something, says I'm too much of a perfectionist. I've now put my sweat and blood into the build, watch your finger tips around razor planes kids, hopefully I can skip the "tears" part. I'm not going for the hat-trick. While waiting for the glue to dry on the elevators, I went ahead and cut the vertical stab parts out. A little behind where I thought I would be (not like I need to hurry), figured I would have had the tail done by now and moved on to the wings, but I didn't work on it at all yesterday. After eyeballing the horizontal stab yesterday it looked like it had the most minute of twists. Living in Texas has it's good points and bad points. It was so humid here a few mornings last week (and about 64 degrees at dawn) you'd think it had rained the night before everything was so wet. I think the excessive humidity may have gotten to the horizontal stab. Laying it on the build board confirmed there was a very (very) minor twist. I gave it a good misting on both sides with a water/alcohol mix yesterday, clamped it to the board, and left it to dry until today. I did this before shaping the horizontal stab ends because at their original thickness, they held the stab off of the board. After allowing it to dry completely for 24 hours it looks perfectly straight and level. Only one pic today, should start picking up toward the weekend. Wing time!

cold_reboot

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Horizontal Stab is completely finished/sanded/bled on. Also got the Rudder built and sanded, its finished as well. If anyone ever steals my plane the police can do DNA swabs. Just about the time I started thinking about cutting the Aileron parts the wife called and sounded the dinner bell. Will get started on the wings tomorrow!

cold_reboot

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A few schemes I've located. The one with the Salmon colored background was piloted by Oberstlt. Krebs. Dortmund and is in the lead as my favorite so far. I also like the simplicity of Moritz's scheme and Helmut Johne's as well. Feel free to cast a vote or post a pic of your favorite.

cold_reboot

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"Black 1" flown by Otto Kittel (4th highest scoring German ace) on the eastern front, Kittel was killed in this plane in aerial combat on February 14th 1945. This picture was listed as a FW190A-9?, but the information I've found advises "Black 1" was a FW190A-8.

Edit: Does anyone know of an effective way to re-create the fan behind the prop on the FW?

wulf190

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Here's how a few different ones look on models, including a couple close to your selects....

Mike

cold_reboot

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I like the "Black 3" and "Red 23"

Edit: Came home real quick to get some dinner, plan on getting a good bit done tonight if possible. Aileron parts are cut out, one is already assembled waiting for final shaping/sanding. Plan on cutting the wing parts thereafter. If it's not too late by that time I may go ahead and rough out the first wing half. Pictures to follow.

cold_reboot

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Both Ailerons are now complete. I got some of the wing rib templates cut and transferred to the sheets, but haven't started cutting any parts yet. Should get to that meat tomorrow.

cold_reboot

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Got back to work on the wing today and got a good bit of parts cut. Skyshark lasers in some ovals for weight reduction, but since I don't have a laser I just cut in some triangles (since it's the strongest geometric shape). They may not be as pretty as laser cutting, but we're going for weight reduction not symetrical triangles that will never be seen again unless I re-kit it at 60mph. Pics of what I've assembled so far. The short top spar is just some scrap I had left over and used it in dry assembly to ensure fit.

cold_reboot

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Work continues. With the exception of cutting out the wing tip and a small piece of leading edge, the left wing is pretty much framed. In the first pic I had to assemble the bell crank a little differently. If assembled as intended, the crank sits right on the bellcrank mount. Not only can you not move it, but you can't get a clevis on it either. So i just flipped the brass to the underside of the bellcrank against the mount with a washer on top. Everything else was pretty standard. I did put some extra stock on the inside of the aileron spar to give the hinges more bite. Again, the top spars are just there during dry assembly to ensure fit and aid in rib placement.

cold_reboot

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Not a whole lot of progress the last few days, such is life during the work week. I edge glued the sheets for the wing and left them under the cutting mat to keep them flat so I could get the top of the wing sheeted. I'm aware that a lot of you probably use this method, but as a first attempt..... I absolutely hated it. There was no way I was going to get that sheet to fit the leading edge. Luckily I left myself room for error, and error I did...repeatedly. Couldn't get the leading edge to fit no matter how much I cut, recut, sanded, and re-sanded. I won't be using this method again....ever. It might work a little better for me if I'd tried it on a wing that didn't have that many changing angles on the leading edge. I salvaged as much of the four edge glued sheets as I could and cobled them together to sheet the leading edge back to the spar...so it resembles a patchwork quilt my grandma woulda made. Hasn't been sanded yet, so it'll look a little better after that step. Luckily I have a lot of 1/16th sheeting that I already had on hand. Thankfully I'm glassing this one.

wulf190

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Could just use some tracing paper sheets taped together and laid on top to draw a template for the sheets, and then join and cut the sheets on the building board to get them close first, no? Cutting them to fit while putting them on seems like it would cause a lot of headaches. []

cold_reboot

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Thats the thing... I did make a template, but paper being more maliable than balsa, it had no problem conforming to the wing. The sheeting, after cut out, was a different story. It was where the leading edge changed its angle twice, along with the taper of the wing. It just wasn't lying down/meeting the LE to my satisfaction. So, I scrapped it. You can actually see it crumpeled over in the top left part of the picture...haha. I'll stick with the one sheet at a time applied to the wing...as the saying go's, if it's not broke...don't fix it.

cold_reboot

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Got some more work done today. Cut out the retract plates and got them mounted in the wing, glassed the underside of the top sheeting where the wheel sits (3/4 oz and epoxy). Also cut and fit the Aileron servo mount plate. Got the landing gear assembled and 7/16ths robostruts cut to length. Using Robart scale wheels and thinking I may use epoxy and a syringe to re-create the bolt pattern of the FW wheel, then paint it, haven't decided yet. Still haven't final sanded the wing, waiting to get the bottom sheeting on, which I've started. Bottom of the wing needs one more sheet on the TE, but decided to go ahead and get the retract area cut out and build the wheel and strut wells. It's roughed in, but not final yet. Installed the retract to make sure the clearances were good. Ended up taking a little more out of the front of the wheel well toward the leading edge than I needed for clearance. I'll cut the covers for the strut/wheel before I decide if I need to close the well a little in that area.