Building Alp's F4U Corsair

[Troutbum24]

Just got into the RC hobby a few months ago and love building the DTFB planes. Currently have built 2 tiny trainers and the simple soarer. Anyhow I really like war-birds and found Alp's corsair model to be awesome. Currently everything is built out of DTFB except the main fuselage which I made out of Elmer's foam board since DTFB isn't long enough. I might re-cut the formers out of Elmer's board to make it a bit more sturdy especially since the last three or four formers seem a bit flimsy. I picked up some nice satin navy blueish paint last night. Did a test coat on the Elmer's FB and it seems you might not need to apply polyurathane to it since the paper coat is so heavy.
Anyhow here is a little bit of my progress.


Fuselage seemed pretty straight forward and simple to build. I was having a rough time for a few days thinking the plans were wrong (I thought the cutout hole for the wing was upside down) but then I realized that the center portion of the fuselage cutout was actually the top of the plane and not the bottom of the plane. I guess I thought that due to having only built FT planes, and lack of building experience. I love this hobby and definitely have a lot to learn!
My one question for anyone who has built this plane is about the center portion of the wing. I feel like it may have been labeled incorrectly. It seems to me that the leading edge of the plane should be a double bevel cut. However the way I see it it has a double bevel cut on top of the wing spar. View photo for clarification.

 

[Babyface249]

where did you find/get the plans for the corsair? I'd like to build one to replace my Dynam corsair.

 

[Troutbum24]

where did you find/get the plans for the corsair? I'd like to build one to replace my Dynam corsair.

Go to post #300
heres the link to page 1 of Alp's Build http://forum.flitetest.com/showthread.php?16244-F4U-Black-Corsair

 

[SP0NZ]

If you need to print tiled plans, I would highly recommend getting the v1.0 plans that I reworked for Alp. You can get them from his build thread (see previous post) or from my plans index (see link in my signature below).

 

[Troutbum24]

Well here's a few updated photos. Been busy lately, and when I get home from work my garage is usually to hot for me to want to sit out there and roast whilst working on a plane. Between last night and this morning before it got to hot I was able to shape a cowl from 1" pink foam and mount it with three rare earth magnets, mount motor on power pod and secure it in place, build up servo extensions for aileron servos and glue those in place and install control horns/wires. I probably did another thing or two but cant remember.

I think my next efforts will be on building up a steerable tail wheel and landing gear on front wings. Originally I was just going to make her a belly lander but taking off and landing is more than half the fun!

 

[Flynn]

Looks great! Thanks for posting! /popcorn

 

[Troutbum24]

Got a little more work done slowly but surely. Have landing gear and covered the first half. In hindsight, I wish I would have covered it from reverse direction starting at the tail so the overlap joints on posterboard were a bit more aerodynamic. Oh well this is only my third plane build.. learn something new every time.

 

[Troutbum24]

also check out this thread I just found in reguards to making a battery hatch. http://forum.flitetest.com/showthread.php?25406-FT-Spitfire-with-the-Battery-hatch-mod
I'm not even sure if there is room for a battery above the wing, I'll have to take a look when I get home if I think its possible.

 

[SKuhn68]

Troutbum24, Hey the Corsair looks great, I just noticed a huge gap in your posting to this thread. Did you get sidetracked? Is the plane finished, and is there anything you would do differently if you were to build another? I only ask because a buddy and I are building this bird simultaneously. We have just finished making templates out of the full size plans and are ready to start cutting foam and building in the next couple days. I am a bit concerned as there doesn't seem to be a real build page, not one that walks you thru step by step anyway. Would love to hear from you. Take care!
Scotty68

 

[Troutbum24]

Yes I did finish it, sorry. Never updated this page. Theread aye be pics of my plane over on Alp's thread. check it out http://forum.flitetest.com/showthread.php?16244-F4U-Black-Corsair&p=240452&viewfull=1#post240452 It is one of my longest living planes and still flies today! I painted her and she looks good so I fly her carefully.
She now has a canopy and I swapped out the DT 750 motor for a NTM 28-26 2200 KV motor. still swinging a 12x6 prop
Ill update you on possible improvements tomorrow. gotta hit the sack

 

[Troutbum24]

is there anything you would do differently if you were to build another? I only ask because a buddy and I are building this bird simultaneously. We have just finished making templates out of the full size plans and are ready to start cutting foam and building in the next couple days. I am a bit concerned as there doesn't seem to be a real build page, not one that walks you thru step by step anyway. Would love to hear from you. Take care!
Scotty68

Skuhn68, have you built any of the flite test builds? I'm assuming so, if you have I'm sure you will do fine. There are a few things that are different and you just need to think about and practice doing before gluing (for me it was putting together the wing) also the plans in my opinion were incorrect on the wing as you can see in one of my previous posts. Make sure you smear glue over all control surface hinges. My cowling cover I made of pink foam from home depot, I cut it out, sanded it and the fiber glassed it using resin and cloth and sanded again. I think I did two coats of resin to fill in all of the voids.. I then put 3 magnets on the back to attach it to the plane. I found that was main piece that I wrecked during landings my plane always seemed to nose over at the last second, so fiber glassing it made it much stronger.
On my plane my battery is stuffed in below the power pod and then wedged with a piece of foam of each side of the battery. Although that works I dislike it terribly and highly recommend cutting in a battery hatch on the top side just behind the motor. I've been meaning to video myself making one, but have not got around to it yet. It's really pretty easy.
If you have any questions feel free to respond here or contact me via email. Faster response on email

 

[jpot1]

Would love to see a battery hatch mod on this build. I figured I was doomed with the curved fuse.

 

[SKuhn68]

Skuhn68, have you built any of the flite test builds? I'm assuming so, if you have I'm sure you will do fine. There are a few things that are different and you just need to think about and practice doing before gluing (for me it was putting together the wing) also the plans in my opinion were incorrect on the wing as you can see in one of my previous posts. Make sure you smear glue over all control surface hinges. My cowling cover I made of pink foam from home depot, I cut it out, sanded it and the fiber glassed it using resin and cloth and sanded again. I think I did two coats of resin to fill in all of the voids.. I then put 3 magnets on the back to attach it to the plane. I found that was main piece that I wrecked during landings my plane always seemed to nose over at the last second, so fiber glassing it made it much stronger.
On my plane my battery is stuffed in below the power pod and then wedged with a piece of foam of each side of the battery. Although that works I dislike it terribly and highly recommend cutting in a battery hatch on the top side just behind the motor. I've been meaning to video myself making one, but have not got around to it yet. It's really pretty easy.
If you have any questions feel free to respond here or contact me via email. Faster response on email

Troutbum, Nice to hear back from you, sorry it took so long for me to respond. I still have not started the build yet as things have come up. I was wondering though, what are you using to power this monster? I am sure I do not have anything big enough in my collection.
SKuhn68

 

[Troutbum24]

Originally powered with a dt750 on 30 amp ESC on a 3S 2200 Lipo. But I swapped motors and went to a NTM prop drive 28-26 1200 kv.

 

[jpot1]

I use a Turnigy d2836/8 1100kv motor with a big 10x6 prop. 2200 3s with 30a esc. This is by far my largest DTFB plane but flies nicely on this combo.