Very glad to hear it Greg and when you get ready to jump back into the bigger stuff there will be no better airframe than the Ziroli Jug. It's about the only airplane that might fly as good as a Hellcat!

My issue with flying the bigger stuff is a convenient flying location. If we hadn't lost our club field, I probably never would have stopped for so long. I did find a distraction in the meanwhile though. I restored a '68 GTO. Finished it a year ago this month.
But I knew all along that the flying bug would bite again.... It's like Malaria...it never really goes away....lol.

By the way, if anyone reading this has one of Chad's short kits and is interested in letting it go, pm me. I may be interested. Hard to find a Hellcat kit in this size.

From this...

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...pskuhhwi7x.jpg

...to this in just four short short years! Almost there now.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...ps7hwvjljc.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...pskeewfy2e.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...psk2ncwbye.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...psbhgodvcc.jpg

looks great chad

andy

Yep, as usual. :)

Thanks Andy and Greg for the kind words. I'll get some better pics out in the sunshine when it's all finished. It can't be seen in these pics but the surface details really "pop" on the yellow finish. Very happy with the results thus far.

Paint and weathering completed and final installation of engine/electronics is underway. We hope to be flying both airplanes at the One Eighth Air Force event in two weeks. Fingers crossed!


http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...psxv2lw5q1.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...ps1narjovd.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...psuwslbo3b.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...psgy7pwzce.jpg

they look stunning together would look superb in the air together if you could pull that off

andy

Awesome. Looking forward to the flight report.

Chad, you should call yourself the Skittles Air Force. Looking good.

Thanks Andy and we are certainly going to try and get some good flight photos of both birds together.


Thanks Steve. I think the yellow bird is going to be somewhere around 3/4-1 pound lighter than the red one so we have high expectations.

How about the "Skittles Navy" instead Ram? :) For the "purists" out there who are watching please know that I have a third Hellcat about 3/4 finished and it is going to be finished in a more traditional blue scheme.

My brother's Hellcat got it first two flights this past weekend and flies great. Better than my prototype in fact! Have not put it on a scale yet but, based on the way it flies, I'm guessing it is at least a half pound lighter than my bird. It also has a couple of degrees of right thrust that were added by the original builder for racing purposes. While my airplane is pretty well behaved on the ground this one seems to be a bit better still. It also requires less rudder input on the vertical up lines. If anyone is still building you might consider adding the right thrust. Still a couple of details to add but, for all intents and purposes, this one is a wrap.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...psw29djhot.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...ps8psvqggg.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...pstvzixeq1.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...psuoup13xf.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...psvqyqfwzi.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...psn2oeajxm.jpg

Congratulations! It looks great in the air.

Wow!! they look great in the air and on the ground as well!!
Decidedly I have to learn how to "dirt" models.

Regards from Spain

Here ya go Greg!

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...lcat-Short-Kit

I was actually in 'semi-negotiations' with the seller for that one before he posted it. Oh well...I really did not need another kit in my basement anyway.

Ah well, if you ever do decide that you would like a kit Greg you "know a guy" so it's no problem. Take care brother!

Well, hold the phone Chad. That may not be the one I was looking at. We're still talking. Thanks my man!

Hi Bill, slowly getting back to normal but still having a hard time with being on the computer for very long. I will do my best to answer your questions above but there is MUCH more that needs to be said about the functioning of the gear doors. I will add more info as I am able on the methods I used to make the gear doors operate.

1.) How do you attach the wheel covers to the struts?

I attached the gear doors to the struts using hardwood collars that I laser cut. The collars are simply glued to the struts and then the gear doors are screwed to the collars so that they can be removed for maintenance. I think these days I would probably consider a 3d printed collar rather than the wood which has a tendency to split. I would be happy to make up one type or the other for you.

Attachment 2261881

The next thing that has to be considered is how to attach the gear doors to the collars in such a way as to allow the doors to fit accurately within the wheel openings and flush to the wing surface. I did this by deliberately making the collars too short to reach the gear doors and then filled the space with a blob of epoxy mixed with micro balloons. Once the collars are glued to the struts they were put in the fully retracted position, a blob of the epoxy/micro balloon mixture was applied to the collars, and then the gear doors were carefully set into position and the mixture allowed to dry. Oh yeah, Vaseline was applied to the inside of the gear doors as well to prevent them being glued in place. Once dry, the gear doors are popped free and the excess glue mixture cleaned up to look presentable. The end result is collars that perfectly match the curve of the gear doors and are precisely the right length to hold the gear doors exactly where they need to be.

Attachment 2261882
Attachment 2261883

2.) How is the small plane # panel at the top of each landing gear attached? Is it attached to the strut, or attached to the LE of the wing and hinged with a CA hinge? For either method how is it actuated to fold flush to the underside of the wing when the landing gear is fully retracted?

The upper gear doors are hinged with a pin hinge of some sort and is attached to part W16 on my airplane. I originally had them spring loaded in the closed position but have found that the slip stream holds them closed nearly as well. My airplane has one that still has a spring and the other has no spring and I don't notice any difference.

Attachment 2261884
Attachment 2261885
Attachment 2261886

I'll be back with more later but please post any questions if you have them.

hay Chad I'm glad I got the plans from you I will start on this one after the other 2 planes I'm building it will be my weekend flyer and a really awesome plane at the field
I've got a rcgf 15 that I'm going to use I think it will be a great match

Will look forward to your build and I am sure the RCGF 15 will be more than ample for the Hellcat. Be sure to keep us posted when you get started.