Monster sized Fock-Wulf FW-42

[Tench745]

yer gonna need a bigger boat...

I got a gallon and a half epoxy kit to work on my sailboat years ago. I'll tell you what, it takes you a long time to use it up when you mix 3/4oz at a time for little planes.

 

[rockyboy]

Epoxy test. Glued up one of the floats for my Simple Scout for a test piece. If I get the mix wrong or this stuff doesn't cure right it's a lot easier to replace a float than one of the canards.

 

[PsyBorg]

That looks all wood grainy now. Almost like a tiger maple. COOL!!

 

[Ray K]

Two FPV gun turrets a VTX, a PDB,with OSD from the pdb

I bet you love alphabet soup. Sure you're not CIA?

 

[Ray K]

Rocky, I was doing a little reading on the FW-42, and it said it was originally designed as taildragger. Makes sense given the time frame of Focke's design.

 

[rockyboy]

I don't see how the heck this thing would have been a tail dragger... somebody must have been drinking pretty heavily for that to sound like a good idea.

 

[Ray K]

I don't see how the heck this thing would have been a tail dragger... somebody must have been drinking pretty heavily for that to sound like a good idea.

You're probably right. I was just thinking that the design was initiated in the 1920s, and about most of the bombers from the era. Think Stuka et al. Doesn't really matter since they never got closer than a mock-up.

 

[PsyBorg]

I bet you love alphabet soup. Sure you're not CIA?

OCD yes CIA NEVER.

You forget.. I was Navy.. you know them and all their acronyms.

 

[Ray K]

OCD yes CIA NEVER.

You forget.. I was Navy.. you know them and all their acronyms.

S'matter, don't like baggy suits? And yeah, the Air Force is almost as bad.

 

[PsyBorg]

Haha I was offended when the F.A.A. rep showed up to tell us they were gonna rob us in an off the rack suit... Its just poor taste to tell someone you are robbing them in an ill fitted suit. Even the lowliest wise guys wear tailored suits when doing that. Besides I prefer more earth toned suits then straight black. Even standard issue pinstripe in blue is better.

Rather wear them itchy winter dress blues then what the gov'ment boys wear.

 

[Ray K]

Haha I was offended when the F.A.A. rep showed up to tell us they were gonna rob us in an off the rack suit... Its just poor taste to tell someone you are robbing them in an ill fitted suit. Even the lowliest wise guys wear tailored suits when doing that. Besides I prefer more earth toned suits then straight black. Even standard issue pinstripe in blue is better.

Rather wear them itchy winter dress blues then what the gov'ment boys wear.

LOL - yeah, in Nam, I thought we looked sharper in our flight suits than those guys. They'd come into ops with their long faces and baggy suits, always wanting something that was likely to get us killed. Needless to say, they weren't terribly popular.

 

[rockyboy]

So the epoxy cured up nicely on the float, and tonight I mixed up a bigger batch and tackled the first of the canards.



When I get a little more time in the shop I'll finish up the other canard, the rest of the float, and the canard control surfaces.

I also got the CNC files prepared for the wing hotwire templates, and a pair of 36" carbon fiber wing tubes arrived. Still thinking about the best way to install them.

 

[Ketchup]

I would NEVER have enough patience to do this, I would just chuck the unfinished fuselage or the wing and try to “fly” it.

 

[rockyboy]

Both the canards have a layer of 1/4 oz fiberglass, just need to glass the ends and the control surfaces.


Tonight was time to cut the hot wire templates out for the main wing


Thoughts below on attacking the next phase of the beast.

 

[PsyBorg]

You getting psyched up with this yet now that it is starting to go together yet? Those Canards are big enough to be wings for a decent size plane themselves. How you planning to launch this big boy? FT style off the top of a speeding golf cart?

 

[rockyboy]

It's feeling good to have some visible progress, but I've got a case of the butterflies about this main wing still. Going to need to spend some time building jigs and a longer hot wire bow to handle the wing sections. And noodling on the fuselage spars / framework too. Doing an internal plywood frame is feeling like a lot of weight to me, so I'm thinking of getting the wing built and then start adding up weights of various power plants and see how much I think I can afford to put into the internal frame.

The takeoff plan is rolling on it's own wheels - probably going to do fixed landing gear rather than deal with the complexity of my first set of retracts. And I really don't want / can't afford to pay for quality/heavy duty robarts for this project either.

 

[Michael9865]

You getting psyched up with this yet now that it is starting to go together yet? Those Canards are big enough to be wings for a decent size plane themselves. How you planning to launch this big boy? FT style off the top of a speeding golf cart?

The takeoff plan is rolling on it's own wheels - probably going to do fixed landing gear rather than deal with the complexity of my first set of retracts. And I really don't want / can't afford to pay for quality/heavy duty robarts for this project either.

But isn't a "speeding golf cart" the approved launching method for big experimental model aircraft?

 

[rockyboy]

But isn't a "speeding golf cart" the approved launching method for big experimental model aircraft?

Traditional.... yes.

Approved.... not so sure about that. The failure rate seems a little high to me

 

[ItMightFly]

Those are canards?! WOW!! Those are about the size of a full scale airplanes canard!

Nice job! Can't wait to see the final result!

Although the failure of launch off of a golf cart may be highly probable, it is the ideal FT launching method for anything big. But, you know, if you want it to fly again... I suppose, maybe you could do it your way...

 

[Fluburtur]

A foam glassed fuselage could do the job, then you could remove the foam and use balsa formers to have it hold its shape like the bigger fiberglass birds.