Arsenal VG-33 C1

Fluburtur

Cardboard Boy
Enough teasing in other threads, now is time to make one dedicated for this one!

First, a bit of history of this airplane.
In 1937, the French air ministery wanted a light single seat fighter after realising in 1936 during the Spanish civil war that the french aviation wasn't really up to date. They published the wanted specifications, many companies were interested including L'arsenal de l'aéronautique or Caudron-Renault (which made the C.714, will probably make one in the future as well)

It was decided to build the airplane out of wood to save on strategic materials but as it turned out, it was a bad decision because the woods needed weren't cultivated anymore and it would make the logistic very complicated, however that also meant that subassemblies of the aircraft could be made in wood workshop and there were plenty of peoples skilled in that kind of work back then
The first prototype flew in april 1939 and could reach 558kph at 5200 meters and had a maximum altitude of 9000 meters.
In may 1940, 40 airframes were done and awaiting to be finished with 167 more being unfinished. Around 19 finished aircrafts including prototypes were made.

It didn't participate in combat because of the armistice and the German invasion so no one knows how it would have worked in combat operations but estimations can be made.
It was less armed than the BF109 but was faster and more maneuverable than the contemporary D.520 which would have made it very dangerous in the hands of an experienced pilot (my war thunder experiences confirms that, I love that plane)
Because of the wooden construction it could have been similar to the Yak 3.

In conclusions it is a nice aircraft and I could have included it in last year's build challenge because it fits the criteria.


Anyways, I decided to build one but this time I went into a more complex approach that folded cardboard or even wire cut foam.
I made a 3d model of the airplane that I plan on 3d printing in order to make plaster molds to either make molded foam models or fiberglass ones, apparently special equipment is needed for molded EPP or EPO so it most likely will be fiberglass.

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I was a bit impatient so I printed a scaled down version of the full model, I will make it into a proper "desk plane" later.
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The first few prototypes will probably have 3d printed bodies and wire cut foam wings, I am not done with the 3d model yet so im far from making it proper for RC use.

I plan to make molds in order to make them easy to make because I want to sell RC planes and start my own little company, I also plan on sending one to the FT guys but don't tell them.
 

Fluburtur

Cardboard Boy
I finished making a desk version of it!
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The model isn't perfect yet, needs to do a lot of trimming so I will fix it then post it here.
 

Fluburtur

Cardboard Boy
Heh thanks, idk when that will come but probably not more than a few months. Anyone knows about the prop thrust angle for that kind of planes?
 

Fluburtur

Cardboard Boy
I printed the stand to hold the plane, looks really nice!

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I gave this one to the adoptive son of my uncle, he does small models so he will paint it nicely. He was very happy when I gave him.
 

Fluburtur

Cardboard Boy
I started making the templates for the foam wings that will be used on the prototypes, I plan on making them this weekend.

This is the template I will use to cut the foam blanks in order to cut the wings.
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Same template but with the rounded wingtip, I will have to make myself a better vertical cutter to cut the wingtips to the shape.
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And the airfoil templates, root is a modified Eppler 205 and tip is a standard one. There is some major size difference between them so it will be a bit tricky to cut.
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After that I guess I will have to start working on the fuselage, that will be fun too and by that I mean hard.
 

DMC RC

DMC RC
Awesome stuff! I plan, once I'm done with my P-51H (a redesigned MM Mustang), to build a Mighty Mini sized VG 33 that uses similar electronics than the 2 MM warbirds currently. The minis really appeal to me because of their durability and their overall fun factor.

Good luck with the build. I will keep my eye on it. Vive la France!
(I found out about the '33 through grinding the French tech tree in War Thunder and fell in love with it's flying characteristics and play style. not to mention the stellar looks. :D)

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Fluburtur

Cardboard Boy
I got one wing done, clearly not my best work but I was a bit rusty and wings that taper a lot like that are hard to make.

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I cut the shape of the tip with a cutter and sanded it, overall it didn't turn out too bad. Some fiber tape will make it aerodynamic enough.
 

Fluburtur

Cardboard Boy
Got both wings mostly done!
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I need to add spars and ailerons but I will do that later, when I start making the fuselage because the wings will slot into the fuselage, I haven't started working on that yet but it shouldn't take much longer.
 

Fluburtur

Cardboard Boy
Would you care for a slice of plane?
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Well good, because I printed parts of the fuselage as a test to see the size of the aircraft and see how well the wings fit!
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Those parts fit really well, there is some gap but that can be solved with a little foam lining in the wing pockets.
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Those parts probably won't be used in the flying proto exept maybe the lower ones so I guess it's 10 hours of print time wasted but at least it looks very nice and im happy with those.
 

Fluburtur

Cardboard Boy
This project is still not dead but I spent the last few weeks thinking to myself "I should work on that" but not doing it, well that's over! I started working on the actual 3d printed prototype and printed part of the hatch to get a feel of the size.
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The detail is nice but I will make the hatch a bit wider, I will try to get more pieces done soon but it will take forever to print.