Chad Veich

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No additional test flights to report on yet. The last couple of days has seen some much needed cooler weather but has, unfortunately, been accompanied by high wind. Looks like it could last right through the weekend too. Anyway, I'm working on getting set up for production and will be laser cutting the first test kit tomorrow. I should have a solid idea on the pricing very soon as well. With any luck we could be ready for production within the next week or so. Stay tuned...

John,
For obvious reasons the drone Hellcats were not always well maintained as far as the paint was concerned. I will weather my model to some extent but I'm hoping mine looks a bit more like the ones in the links below!

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/j...3USBHR1951.jpg
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/j...Dronec1950.jpg

aerowoof

Chad,
meant to ask what size prop and rpm you have on the .61 and what is your elevation?

JohnMcGowan

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Chad, got a question..on the second link in your above post, the red F6 has some kind of different wingtips that Ive never seen before. Got any info on those and why they are that way ?
Also, shoot me an email with appx prices on what your kit's gonna cost please, if you have time.
Did you and Jerry hook up at the flying field? I was wondering if he made it since he ran thru all our rain down here, he may have rusted and stuck together or something!??[sm=spinnyeyes.gif] We love ya JER!!!
John

Chad Veich

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No pictures or video today but I did log flight #2 and everything worked perfectly. I'm very, very happy with the airplane at this point. The only changes between flights 1 and 2 were some minor adjustments to the tailwheel and I took out 1oz of nose weight. I still think I'm plenty far forward on the CG but the airplane really grooves well where it's at so I may just leave it alone. One nice thing for you grass flyers, the Hellcat has absolutely no tendency to go over on its' nose. I would have logged flight #3 except that the engine backfired on start up and spun off the prop, nut, and prop washer. Unfortunately, 30 minutes of searching failed to locate the prop washer and I did not have a spare in the flight box. Hope to have it out again on Saturday and then I will probably tear it down and start the finish work.

I'm using a 12x7 APC on the Hellcat right now but may try a 13x5 or 13x6 just for the heck of it. I've not checked RPM, I'll try and remember to do that next time I fly. I am in the Phoenix area, elevation about 1100' ASL. It was about 95 degrees today and the Hellcat still performed very well.


John,
The strange wing tips were apparently used to dispense flares to simulate jet exhaust when testing the (then) new Sidewinder air-to-air missile. Apparently the old R-2800 up front didn't generate enough heat to attract the Sidewinders! The source of the that information, and the pictures as well, can be found at the link below which also includes other interesting tidbits about drone Hellcats.

http://warbirdinformationexchange.or...assed+hellcats

Jerry and I did not meet up yesterday as I called off flying due to the high winds. I did talk to him on the phone and he sounded OK so at least his jaw is not rusted shut or anything! Our club is having an electric fly-in this weekend that he should be attending so I'll probably run into him some time in the next few days.

biggles2008

Hi Chad ,
I was looking at the plan of my hellcat and did not see any sign of where
the CG should be, How did you decide where to put it for your test flight.


                                                                                                                       Thanks Bryan

tailskid

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Chad and the gang flew the bird again today; I got some pics of the noisy end, note the toe-in...

EJWash1

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?????

EJWash

tailskid

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Careful viewing of the first picture will show a slight amount of toe-in on the landing gears.

Chad Veich

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A great day today! (And a looong one as well) First up, thanks to Jerry (tailskid) for coming out and shooting some pictures as well as some video. Hopefully between him and I we will figure out how to get the video edited and posted online somewhere. Flights 3,4, and 5 were logged today and the airplane just keeps getting better. We were fighting a cross wind today so now I get to do some ding repair on the wing tips though!

Good friend and flying buddy Bob Frey put flight number four on the Hellcat at my request. For those that may not know Bob he is a well respected scale competitor who has placed in the top standings at the highest levels of scale competition including the Masters and Top Gun. Bob's specialty is warbirds and I think he has probably flown more different types than most folks so I value his input and thank him for taking time out of his day to come flying. Bob has agreed to write up a pirep on the Hellcat and I have asked him not to pull any punches. As soon as I get it from him I will post it here in its' entirety. Judging by the smile on his face though I think it will be a positive report!

The second half of the day today was spent laser cutting and substantial progress was made on the first three kits. These are all spoken for already but I am very close to being ready to take orders. Pricing will be posted on the web site as soon as I have it nailed down which should be some time by mid-week next week. I'll post it here as soon as it is available. The prototype Hellcat will start coming apart Monday morning in preparation for finish and detail work. I'd like to have it done for our 1/8 Air Force fly-in the last weekend of October but that may be pushing it. Onward and upward!

Chad Veich

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Bryan,

I put the CG at about 29% of the total area for my test flights. On my Hellcat that works out to be 5 inches back from the leading edge at the center of the wing and about 2 3/32" back at the tip rib. Your Hellcat should be pretty much the same. I removed 1 oz from the nose after the first flight but I have not checked to see how much further aft that moved the CG point. I will probably put the ounce of nose weight back in the airplane as I do the finish work as it seemed a bit more solid feeling with the original CG. There is always an exception to every rule but, generally speaking, most monoplanes of conventional layout will CG somewhere between 25% and 33% of the total wing area. In other words, 25-33% of the total wing area in front of the CG. With warbirds I generally start somewhere around 27% just to be safe and move back from there to find the "sweet" spot. With the Hellcat I felt comfortable starting a little further aft for a couple of reasons. One, it has a huge horizontal stabilizer which generally equates to a more aft CG as long as the tail moment isn't too short. Two, I knew that it would be nose heavy with the gear down and especially so with a full tank of fuel. I knew if it got at all twitchy with the gear up all I needed to do was put the gear back down again! Be certain you balance your Hellcat with the gear retracted as it causes a substantial change in CG.

deatonbt

Bryan,

I sent a PM about a MicrosoftExcel spreadsheet that can calculate CG based on measurements of the wingthat I have. I pulled it of the internet from a site that Ican't find anymore. It can doone, two,andthreepanel wings. The Hellcat being a one panel wing.I haven't used it on an airplane that I have flown,but Iam using itfor a plane that I am building. I did send it to a companyto get a two panel foam wing cut because it doesa good job of describing the wing. I am going at my first attempt to build from scratch. I am goingwith an all sheeted foam wing and fuselage to make it easier.

Also, here is a website that can.
http://www.geistware.com/rcmodeling/cg_calc.htm#cg

Brian

tailskid

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I don't know what is taking Chad so long to finish this plane...heck I just completed TWO Hellcats this afternoon![sm=shades_smile.gif]

Chad Veich

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I have updated the web site to reflect pricing on the semi-kit and some of the accessories. I'm not quite ready to take orders yet but I would like to have some indication of how many kits to plan for. Please visit the orderering information page below and if you are interested please drop me an email at [email protected] (there is also a link on the page) and I will add you to the contact list. I would very much like to start the group build some time around the beginning of November so I will be working diligently to get kits made and shipped ASAP.

http://www.hellcat.cwvmodels.com/order.html

Please note that the quoted price is an introductory one and may increase if production costs rise beyond what I have estimated. I will, however, honor this price for everyone who would like to build with the group and purchases a kit prior to the end of October. Thanks a bunch and look for pictures of the kit parts to be posted tomorrow evening.

Chad Veich

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I have begun the process of disassembling the prototype so that I can do the detail and finish work. My first order of business is to identify which details I want to add. Along with the panel lines, hatches, and rivets I have decided on the following items:

Radio antenna


Tail antenna


Wing tip lights and pitot tube


Dummy radial


Canopy sliding track (not functional, sorry)


Gear doors and that exhaust dump gate in the middle of the belly pan.


Instrument panel


Pilot bust and head rest


Upper and lower exhaust exits and the drop tank


As my airplane will represent an unarmed drone aircraft I won't be doing gun barrels or a gun site but will be happy to help with those areas for the guys who want them.

cold_reboot

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I know what I want for Christmas

Chad Veich

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Santa is listening!



As a point of interest I have discovered that my gear legs are in fact too long for scale. Doh!

The 3-view drawings I used show the gear legs fully extended as if in flight and I made that my length with the strut compressed. This is a substantial difference on the Hellcat as the gear legs have a great amount of travel to absorb those hard carrier landings. At any rate this is good news for several reasons. One, it means we may actually be able to move back up to a closer to scale tire size. It also means good things for the ground handling as well as the fact that the Sierra retracts for the H9 Hellcat may be perfect as is with no need for a custom strut.

Chad Veich

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Almost forgot, I will also be doing a vacuum formed hub for the Robart wheels to better represent those of the later versions of the Hellcat.



For Jerry and anyone else interested, below are links to some great walkaround pictorials of various Hellcats. This is where most of the above pictures were found.

http://www.primeportal.net/hangar/ma...6f-5k_hellcat/
http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.co...at/walk172.htm
http://www.cybermodeler.com/aircraft/f6f/f6f_walk.shtml

Chad Veich

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The promised pics of the laser cut parts, or at least about 90% of them anyway. Still waiting on some material for the last of it.

Wizard61

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Chad,

Good news regarding the Sierra retracts and the strut length. The lazer parts look great. Please put me down for one of the short kits. I have not been following for the last couple of weeks because of work commitments. I am tuned back in now.

Regards,

James

cold_reboot

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The mass of missing material in some of those outboard wing ribs probably aren't going to get along very well with my ham fists.

JohnMcGowan

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For some weird reason I got unsubscribed to this thread, but Im back and watching now
All the parts you show looks great Chad, and as a added bonus to me, the in-laws are having to replace their rear glass storm door, so I asked them what are their plans to do with the old glass, they were going to let the garbage truck pick it up, so I've now got a good solid flat building surface to build this puppy on. I wonder if I can build a crooked fuse on that?? HAHAHHA
Later guys,... THANKS CHAD!!!!
Oh, and Jerry, I can see you you worked your tail off on your two hellcats
John

Chad Veich

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You are on the list James and much appreciated. I'll drop you an email about the Ki-61 as well.

Cold reboot, the ribs are all from 1/8" light ply so they are not as fragile as you might imagine. It's the balsa ribs in the tail that you will need to be wary of!

Below is the pilot report written by Bob Frey that I promised to share in post #184. Again I'd like to thank Bob for taking the time to not only come out and fly the Hellcat but also for writing down his opinions. And no, I didn't have to pay Bob or bribe him in any way for the kind words you are about to read! (I promise) Now where is Jerry with that video?

[color=#0033CC]>>Thanks Chad, for giving me the opportunity to fly your new Hellcat, As you know it reminds me a great deal of my old Taylor that I had a few years ago so I was eager to get the feel of it.

Overall, I would have to say your new design is better than the one I had, primarily because it is much lighter. Mine was about 14 pounds and yours at a little over 10 just makes everything better. I don't see you adding more than 1/2 pound with paint and final detailing, so it should retain all of it's good habits once that's done. Also, mine had a very sensitive elevator for some reason, and I noticed right away yours did not.

I was impressed with the ground handling even with the moderate direct crosswind we had Saturday. The rudder definitely has good authority and we where able to make relatively straight takeoffs and landings. Among WWII fighters, I've found Hellcats are typically moderately good on ground handling. Not the best but definitely not the worst. So for an absolute scale Hellcat yours is just fine.

The OS 61 has adequate power at this weight and I was really surprised how fast the ship is in level flight. I was able to do a relatively big loop too, with a full power shallow dive entry. But if I was going to do one this size, I'd probably opt for a mild 90 2 stroke. This probably has more to do with my particular style of flying which is fast and open. Actually the 60 would probably be fine for most modelers.

This airplane really grooves nicely in the air. I could detect no pitch or roll issues at all and rolls are very little work to keep straight. Top rudder banked low passes are really impressive. There's no doubting it's a Hellcat.

I agree with some of the little changes you're planning that we talked about, like shortening the landing gear just a bit and replumbing the tank.

You should be very proud of your accomplishment, and I wish you the best of luck with it. From what I saw when you brought it to the last One Eighth meeting, there is a lot of guys interested in it. Bottom line, I'd give your Hellcat as it stands now a solid 9 on a scale from 1 to 10. The one point I'm knocking off is mainly for absence of flaps. Those would make the ship a near perfect Hellcat. The other big thing wrong with it is it's yours, not mine. But thanks again for letting me fly it.

cold_reboot

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Oh, then I wouldn't worry about the lite ply then. As far as the test pilots input, why don't you just add flaps as an optional part of the build, include them on the plans and give instruction like a Top Flite. Leave it up to the builder to add them or not. I like flaps, adds a sense of scale realism.

EJWash1

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Email sent to be put on the short kit list.

EJWash

Wizard61

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Looking forward to it Chad.

Thanks,

James