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holy ++++!!! that engine is amazing! i was just at a great flight museum looking at a nice C-47 and thought of yours!
btw, does she have a name?
btw, does she have a name?
Scale Build-Off – 140" C-47 Foamy
- Thread starter ScottyWarpNine
- Start date
ScottyWarpNine
Mostly Harmless
Not really a name per say, but she'll be modeled after "That's all, brother" , the c-47 that lead the D-Day invasion.
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i see.
ScottyWarpNine
Mostly Harmless
I messed up big time...
...How am I supposed to make the rest of the plane look this good?
...How am I supposed to make the rest of the plane look this good?
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true, but I'm sure you'll get it.
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hows the plane building going?
ScottyWarpNine
Mostly Harmless
Anybody have any experience with body fillers?
My only experience with Bondo was grinding out and filling a rust hole on a Honda Accord. I liked the properties of the stuff. It was hard, yet easy to sand. It was easy to shape and carve to match contours.
I need to do a lot of sanding, then a lot more fiberglass work, then a lot more sanding, then a lot of filling, then a LOT more sanding. I've looked at body fillers mainly from 3M and bondo. There are a few varieties available on aircrat spruce, amazon, autozone, etc. My biggest issue is weight. I'm not sure how much (volume) I will end up using, but a gallon of filler is typically around 10 pounds it seems. My past estimates have put this bird at around 35lbs. I'd like to keep it at that or lower, because I believe my motors are sightly under powered when compared to the ~40cc engines called for in the plans. For the record, the plan also says the plane should weigh anywhere from 35 to even 50lbs.
I'm wondering if I could potentially add microballoons or another low mass additive to the filler to reduce density.
My only experience with Bondo was grinding out and filling a rust hole on a Honda Accord. I liked the properties of the stuff. It was hard, yet easy to sand. It was easy to shape and carve to match contours.
I need to do a lot of sanding, then a lot more fiberglass work, then a lot more sanding, then a lot of filling, then a LOT more sanding. I've looked at body fillers mainly from 3M and bondo. There are a few varieties available on aircrat spruce, amazon, autozone, etc. My biggest issue is weight. I'm not sure how much (volume) I will end up using, but a gallon of filler is typically around 10 pounds it seems. My past estimates have put this bird at around 35lbs. I'd like to keep it at that or lower, because I believe my motors are sightly under powered when compared to the ~40cc engines called for in the plans. For the record, the plan also says the plane should weigh anywhere from 35 to even 50lbs.
I'm wondering if I could potentially add microballoons or another low mass additive to the filler to reduce density.
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have you considered spray foam? you could sculpt it and then cut it to size once it dried.
I can't really comment on weight, but on vehicles I prefer Evercoat Rage Ultra over all the other bondo brands. It's very strong, sets up quickly, and is very easy to sand.
Scotty what about using foam beads as the weight saver? I can't see how you would easily mix anything with bondo but you could do a test. You could use the lightweight mix of foambeads and maybe epoxy to do the big fills and then use bondo for the visible surfaces that you need to carve/sand. Again I think you should test any mixer first before committing to your wonderful model.
Bondo + foam = melted pile of mess. Bondo, like polyester resins, will eat foam. Usually bondo is used as a skim filler over top of glassed surfaces. Because of the weight, its just not an ideal material. My suggestion would be DAP lightweight spackle to fill in those voids. It fills easy, dries relatively fast, sands fast, and easily seals with WBPU. Once done you can then do a finish coat of lightweight glass and epoxy.
I'm with Wilsonman, lightweight spackle works very well and is super easy to sand.
ScottyWarpNine
Mostly Harmless
Lightweight Spackle it is. I just picked some up yesterday, hopefully this week I will have some time to get the big bird down and start smoothing.
FYI, I usually thin my spackle down with a tiny amount of water. Doing that, it really flows well into all the tiny holes in foam or fiberglass weave. It doesn't build up well when you need a thicker application, but for a skim coat it's great.
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Hey, how much did the 3D printing metal cost? Thanks,
Leo
Leo
ScottyWarpNine
Mostly Harmless
Didn't do that yet. I have a fixed gear built so I'm gonna try to get the plane done before i worry about retracts.
I've been playing around a bit with the spackle and it is fantastic to use for this application. I'll try watering it down a bit in the future. For now I need to bring the bird down and do some fiberglass work. I need to clear a work space in my basement though, and lay down a drop cloth to protect the floor from epoxy. I'm still chipping off drops of hardened epoxy from the garage floor.
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Sounds good!
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How is it coming???
