rogerk

Anyone build one? Am starting with a .25 size foam combat kit and plans for starters.
Roger

Ed_Moorman

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I've got a buddy who had some Wildcat time just after WW II in radar training (he mostly flew Dauntlesses for the Marines during the war). He is in the planning stages of a Wild Catfish for us. (He builds scale and odd planes, I build fun fly and ARFs and I fly all of them.)

-I bought the MAN 57" span Wildcat plans that he will modify for floats.
-We'll probaboy put a .61 in it to make up for the extra weight and drag and use Falcon Trading Co floats. The thing had 5 struts on each float!
-We have looked the plans over, as well as all the photos and drawings we can find and we are going to use the final version of the Catfish, the one with the added tip fins on the stab and the ventral fin.
-We aren't planning to make working rudders on the little fins.
-I think he's planning to make it 1-piece since the floats attach to the wings in places and the fuselage in places. Plug in wings would add a good bit more weight.
-He will probably use an airfoil he developed that is semi-symmetrical and thicker than scale, but flies really well.

Right now he is finishing up a Bellanca A-200 Airbus on floats and has to do some mods and finishing up on an L-19 "Sea Dog" and my Macchi MC72, but I think the Catfish is behind those.

Drop us an e-mail and I'll keep you up or our progress.

rogerk

Cheese Ed i purchased all the f4f-3 plans i could find too, and dont need them no more, so are FS.
but yes dont do without the fins, are required and love all the struts.
Who is your friend? maby we could all share ideas and experiences.
see how my smaller model flys 1st, then to a 100" glass with retracts in the floats is my goal.
Roger ama 24313

Ed_Moorman

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It'll have to be through me since he doesn't have a computer. He's in his 80s. Flew Dauntlesses and later Corsairs in WW II in the Corps. He flew over on MacArthru's side. I didn't even know they had Marines over there. In Korea, he flew AD Skyraiders.

Drop me a line at my home e-mail and I'll keep you up on our progress. We are still designing now.
He is talking about a balsa cowl.
Due to the struts, it may have to be a 1-piece plane. Maybe plug in wings.
The airfoil on the MAN plane is fairly thin so we'll probably go to his semi airfoil. We have had 2 planes with it, a Douglas A-17 and a Vultee A-35 Vengeance, both from his plans and it flies well. I think you need good lift on a float plane or lots of power.
We won't make working rudders on the little fins-too much trouble.

E-mail: [email protected]

JimCasey

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Here ae some wildcat-fish images I found on the 'net.

rogerk

Thanks for the pics Jim, i was missing the float wheels, kinda small but do help.
Roger

JimCasey

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The float wheels are "Beaching gear". Intrepid aviator lands in the bay and taxis up to the beach. Then some swabbie has to jump in the water and affix the beaching gear so then the plane can be dragged up the ramp onto dry land. At the Navy aviation museum in Penacola, the BIG flying boats are on correspondingly BIG beaching gear, which is carefully supplied with appropriate floatation so it will float at about the same level as the attachment points. I'd rather attach the beaching gear to a wildcatfish than to the Marlin!
(photo downloaded from the Navy Museum website)

Ed_Moorman

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We are also using those pictures.

Here are some of a 1/72 scale model in color I found. The float angle appears to be wrong, but you can see the strut arrangement really well.

There is also one of it taking off.

Notice in some photos the addition of a ventral fin, probably after flight testing.

[link=http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/Gal2/1801-1900/Gal1857_Wildcat_Azurdia/gal1857.htm]Link to 1/72 model[/link]

Ed_Moorman

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Flaps is pretty heavy into the design revisions to the MAN 57" span plans. We still plan on using our airfoil instead of the thin one on the plans. We are also going to install flaps.

He found a fiberglass cowl and canopy from one of the fiberglass places that fit the plans.

We have a Thunder Tiger .61 and a Bisson Pitts muffler for it. If we need weight up front, we have both a Magnum 1.08 and a heavier OS 1.08 available.

I have ordered 36" Niagara Custom Model Products (Canada) foam core floats. From the side view drawing, the floats are nearly as long as the fuselage. In our case the fuselage is 38" so 36 seems fine. The Niagara floats are rounded on top and V botton so they will look pretty much like the scale Edo floats.

Here is a photo of Flaps and the Northrop A-17A he used the airfoil on. It is an aerobatic scale plane. (That's what I want the Wild Catfish to be.) Does outsides, snaps, spins, but with flaps down, it lands nice and slowly. It is a little touchy with flaps up. 68" span, Magnum 1.08 power so it's fast and it's also groovy. I have always been a proponent of using a larger, heavier engine rather than adding lead. If you have to add weight, make it useful weight.

rogerk

Here is the .25 size i started from. Its a one pice model and using my plastic edo floats.
Roger

Ed_Moorman

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Here's an update on our Catfish that "Flaps" Laffert is building.

The plane is covered in Coverite and wil be primed and painted. In the photos you can see the ventral fin and the 2 tip fins that were on the final version of the plane.

On the bottom of the wing you can see the aileron and flap servo cutouts. We are using split flaps. The rudder and other controls were fabric covered in the full scale so Flaps built them with a 1/8 balsa center with ribs on both sides, then covered then with Coverite for the scale look.

The Niagara foam floats just came in I picked those because they have a rounded top and a V bottom like the scale Edo floats. Flaps plans to mount the water rudder servo in the big belly pan and run the control cable down the long diagonal strut.

There are hard points in the wing made from 1/4 ply that is keyed into 1/8 ply ribs. The front and rear belly pan bulkheads are 1/8 ply. There is a 1/8 ply keel with 1/4 ply hard points keyed into it for strut mounting. The struts will be from music wire with balsa covering for a scale look.

Right now we are planning on a Thunder Tiger .61 with a Bisson muffler, but we installed a large, adjustable Great Planes motor mount so if we need nose weight, we can switch to a Magnum 1.08.

Ed_Moorman

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Wild Catfish update:

The basic airframe is done, covered with Coverite and painted. The cowl and canopy are done, but the pilot needs work. The Thunder Tiger .61 is installed, side mounted with a Bisson Pitts muffler. The radio is installed and controls are hooked up. We do have split flaps to help on landings.

The floats, Niagara foam float kits, are sheeted, but not yet covered. We plan using a Goldenrod pushrod from a servo in the belly pan to a water rudder on 1 float.

The next part of the project is making the mounting struts for the floats. There are 5 on each side. The wing and fuselage construction is such that the struts will all be on the wing and fuselage belly pan so we won't have to detach any to take the wing off.

We haven't done a balance yet, but I still have the Magnum 1.08 available if we need nose weight. We have 2 of these big guys and have 1 in another tail heavy 60 size plane. Works just great. My buddy hates to over power, while I always do it. You can always pull the stick back.

I'll get some photos this weekend for posting. Looks like we'll be testing in less than a month.

Ed_Moorman

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Wild Catfish photos.

The struts are in progress. The balsa strips on the front and rear of the floats and the dowels are holding them in place so we can get the correct strut length. We are using solder lugs on the ends of 1/8 and 5/32 wire which will be balsa covered later.

Kmot

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Hi Ed. Wow, that Wild Catish looks great on floats! In all the years I was building models as a kid and looking though books I don't recall ever seeing one before. Nice work!

-Tom

Ed_Moorman

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We are finished except for a few items. It floats. We'll test fly in a couple of weeks.

JimCasey

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Ed,
Looking at the craftsmanship you and Flaps have, I can only say "I'm not worthy!"
That's really cool. Beautiful job.

Maybe it's the photograph, but it looks to be rigged with the tail significantly higher than the Catfish Photos I pulled off the net. I'm sure you checked, but it'd be good if it will rotate for takeoff.

Ed_Moorman

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I'll have Flaps check it again, but he says it is 2 degrees positive. I am also planning to use about 10 degrees of flaps for take off.

NOT A WHEEL HACK

Nice bird Ed :

Now ! You have captured what I had in mind when I started thinking about building a water bird , like the SeaCat I am building now. I took a liking to these types of planes when I realized how much fun it would be to build something like yours , since there are quite a few that can be considered. I really like the fin style accents and the short stout full sized belly it has , it makes it that much more interesting. Judging by the design , that plane was a real cargo holder , set to be flown around lakes and such for very practical reasons. Because there are lots of design types that can be fitted with floats , I decided that if I build one I would like to find something that has a double wing , shaped like some sort of fancy pants Pitts . Great job.

Brian

khelsea

Ed, Do you have a link to Niagra Custom Model Products? Tnx, Lanny

Kmot

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If anyone wants to fly the Wildcatfish, there is an outstanding model of it available in RealFlight r/c flight simulator.

JimCasey

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Ed, it's been over 3 years since you posted about this. Did it fly?