RE: CMP Hellcat
 

Yes Horizon is the Distributor for these engines which are made by Zenoah.

Steve no pics but all I did was old school by making a long "U" with 5/32 wire that goes from one elevator half to the other half. Then silver soldering a control horn in the middle of the "U". I then cut a slot in the rear of the fuse to slide in the wire I made then using a fiberglass rod with Dubro bolt through 4/40 Ball Links at each end. That way I don't have to worry about anything coming loose that way. I then glued in the piece that I had cut out before then just puddy up the imperfections you made and it is ready for primer.

Randy

RE: CMP Hellcat
 

I think if you look back you can find many posts about the correct CG for this plane. CMP planes are notorious for recommended CG's that are too far back. I have had many of them, and I always end up farther back than the plans indicate. I have a Saito 1.20 in mine, but I would think with a gasser in the nose it would be no problem getting the nose weight up.

RE: CMP Hellcat
 

I am putting the finishing touches to mine, Saito 1.20 , glassed wings and tail surfaces, Robart retracts. I strengthened the tail and the fuse with expandable foam. You have to be careful though that you don't get too much in the tail (if you do you can drill some relief holes.) I bought several item from Dion . I still need to mount the belly tank and replace the retracts to robarts. I also just have the gear doors taped on for these pictures and i accidently have them on the outside.

RE: CMP Hellcat
 

Looks great! What did you paint yours with? Type or brand anyway. I'm glassing mine right now, well the wings and tail anyway. I'm thinking of making mine E-powered with A-123 cells. I picked up some nice retracts from a guy on e-bay. They are century jet but with aftermarket scale struts. They look very nice. I'll post a pic of them soon. However the struts dont go into the wing far enough to have very scale doors so I'll have to work on that.

I'm debating on the retractable tailwheel. I need to see what I'd have for mounting options. But I'd hate to do all this work to the rest of it to have the tail wheel look like crap.

Steve

RE: CMP Hellcat
 

gnir , is that a H9 or a CMP ??? THe gear looks like stock H9 and so do the windows and cowl ?? Looks better then the CMP

RE: CMP Hellcat
 

You can see the molded panel lines on the fuse. Would be very hard to get that out of a Hanger 9 Hellcat. The CMP Hellcat can be made to look much better then the Hangar 9 one if you put some time into it. Working on mine this weekend trying to get the wings glassed and sanded smooth. Lot's of sanding to do.

Steve

RE: CMP Hellcat
 

I repainted my CMP Hellcat also. The three color scheme really makes it look good. I just painted right over the stock paint, then used some spray can Polyurethane to make it fuel proof. It has been holding up well and is about as easy as it gets.

RE: CMP Hellcat
 

Looks good! Very interesting…what kind of paint did you use? Won’t the paint on the wings crack when the covering flexes? What about the extra weight you just added? Just curious!

And for the guy that was talking about glassing, what is the procedure for that? Does it involve removing the covering?

Thanks,
Shubova
[8D]

RE: CMP Hellcat
 

Yes it involves pulling the old covering off. I'll try to take some pics of what I'm doing.

Steve

RE: CMP Hellcat
 

Since I was going over it with Polyurethane I could use regular testors paint. I even was able to get the proper colors for the three-tone in model masters and used an airbrush to spray it. The weight added is minimal, since I used all of the stock covering. If you fiberglass the wings you will add some weight, but the plane flies fairly light so the added weight is not a problem. I can't speak for people that put some type of heavy gas engine in the nose though, since I used a Saito 1.20.

RE: CMP Hellcat
 

Forgot to mention, I have never had any problems with paint cracking when sprayed onto fabric covering. I have used everything from testors to Krylon with the matt finish Polyurethane on top with no problems.

RE: CMP Hellcat
 

The fabric covering does take paint really well. If you got a clone of the CMP like I did you'll have the plastic covering and it is junk. The paint will chip right off. Thus the glass and zpoxy treatment. I pulled all the covering off and filled in a few imperfections with balsa filler. After that dries you can sand it smooth. Make sure all the dost if off. I used .5 oz cloth as I'm not needing to add so much strength and it will keep it light. Cut the cloth to size and then set it aside. Then mix up your zpoxy and coat the surface of the wing. Now place the cloth over the wing and use a flexible card like the maxxed out credit card from buying the retract to squeegy out the excess resin and to smooth the cloth out. You dont' want any wrinkles or bubble in the cloth. Make sure the ends are soaked and then let it dry. Now you can come back a trim off the overhang of cloth and then do a light sanding to knock down the high spots. Some people will prime at this point and then sand down to find any low spots. Either way you'll need a second coat to fill in the weave and allow you to sand to a smooth finish.

This is a brief description of the process and there are better descriptions out there. You can also use other resins depending on weight allowance and materials used. If galssing direct onto foam I would use a water based polyurethane first.

I'll still post some pics once I get a chance to take some later today.

Steve

RE: CMP Hellcat
 

Here is a picture of my CMP Hellcat. It's powered by a Saito 120 with Serria retracts. It's a great flying warbird.

RE: CMP Hellcat
 

It's the CMP version. The Canopy is not stock and I tried to go cheap and bought the Hanger 9 retracts (good observation) I am in the process of changing the retracts to Robart (might be a little better) I added more panel lines to the fuse and also added panel lines to the wings using chart tape and painting over the tape with a couple coats of primer. I also added rivet details to the entire plane and even though it's sport scale I'm real happy with the added scale details. I was going to spray with enamel paint but I changed my mind and went with Tamiya paint, what a great product , no clean up and the qualty of the spray cans is very good.

RE: CMP Hellcat
 

First, you spoke of clone. I’m not sure what you are talking about. The guy that I got it from bought it from Nitro Planes. Isn’t CMP Nitro Planes? I paid $225 for the plane (NIB) and a set of Century retracts at the AMA show here in Ontario, CA
Second, I was talking to the guy that I bought it from and went to his shop. He has been building for about 30 years and has done a lot of scratch builds. I have seen his work and it’s impeccable. He told me that weight is an issue in most war birds and that a 91 engine is more than enough power for this plane.
I don’t remember his exact words but he said that even the full scale war bird have a tendency to wobble (the tail pitching back and forth) a little and when you over power it, it increases the wobble and landing problems.
Has any one tried a 91 in this plane?

Shubova
[8D]

RE: CMP Hellcat
 

a .91 two stroke is probably good as it would be close tot he 1.20 4 stroke saito. However I would look at the other people's posts in here to see what worked for them. Weight is an issue but CG is more critical and many had to add weight in the nose to balance it properly. Most would rather add useable weight in a larger engine then just dead weight.

RE: CMP Hellcat
 

Nitro Planes is a distributor, CMP is a manufacturer. Nitro planes sells some CMP, some clones. Indeed weight is always a factor for warbirds, but with this plane you need some nose weight anyway. A 1.20 or 1.25 seems just about right, and is not overpowered. I would think a .90 Four stroke on this plane would be weak. Yes, it would fly scale, but extra power can help you out of many jams that would have the plane crash with scale power. A .90 two stroke would have enough power, and has been used in magazine reviews that I have read when used with a bunch of lead in the nose, but the larger four stroke is the way to go.

RE: CMP Hellcat
 

Good stuff, Thanks
I have a OS 91 4 stroke and Saito 120 4 stroke but my feeling is the same as yours. I think I'll use the 120.

So what's benefit of glassing...strength?


Shubova
[8D]

RE: CMP Hellcat
 

I have been flying mine with a Magnum 90 4stroke for over 3 years. No problem it is not a rocket but it flies fine. We fly at 6200 ft elev too. Rich

RE: CMP Hellcat
 

hats off to him , he did a great job , cant wait to get started on mine , I have the Luke Zolner interior , canopy , gear doors ect , so I am good to go

RE: CMP Hellcat
 

Here are the pics of my wing glassing in progress. It's a bit cold in my shop and I think I need to thin out the Zpoxy on the second coats so it smooths out more.

RE: CMP Hellcat
 

Here are some pics of my retracts that will be going in the plane. I picked them up from a guy who had them in a Top Gun scale Hellcat. They look great and I hope and can make the rest of the plane do these retracts some justice. I have not built the rails for mounting them to just yet. I also have to work the running of the airlines. One of the inlets to the cylinder is right into the ply wall of the retract housing in front of the spar. The tail wheel I still need to decide on. It looks great and would be a great compliment to the plane but I have to see how well it will fit and mount without tearing too much into the plane.

Steve

RE: CMP Hellcat
 

You should never add a second coat of resin if you want to build a light plane, it's completely unnecessary and a lot of extra work.

See page 29 post #711 for the lightest and easiest epoxy resin system I know of: [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_2530290/mpage_29/key_/tm.htm]Click Here for the lightest finishing system![/link]

RE: CMP Hellcat
 

hi,he dont say what type of glass he is using on pg#29 do you know what is best.

RE: CMP Hellcat
 

Hey you learn something everyday. I looked all over for tips on using Zpoxy but I didn't look hard enough and it was in this very thread. I'll be looking for some bondo putty this afternoon once I get off work.

Steve