FTFC20 SBD Dauntless-5 designed by Fidget
- Thread starter Fidget
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Slowpoke51
New member
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Fidget
Active member
I was looking around the forum today. I didn't realize that @unrauv passed away in the spring. Also found in this post that he had plans for an SBD Dauntless. It's a little different than what I'm planning, but will be handy to refer to. And I wanted to put the info here in case comes across this thread at some point but wants to see all of the options out there.
Fidget
Active member
I've been focusing on my Rascal CNC build, but have been thinking about this some. I ordered carbon fiber tow from ACP Composites. They had the breadth of sizes that I wanted to try, and their prices were not far off from ordering things one by one on eBay. I also got some of their EZ Lam 30 minute epoxy.
I tried 3k tow for reinforcing a control surface. I used foam safe CA for this trial as Joshua Orchard suggested. The idea is to use this on the dive brakes that will have all of those little holes in them. I free handed this, but the idea would be for there to be 2 holes in each of the U's. I added the piece along the trailing edge as it would easily bend left to right without it. I think it still needs another straight piece near the hinge side.
Overall I'm happy with it, although I put it in "dry" and then dripped CA on it. Next time I would wet it and then push it in. I'm hopeful that would keep it from having that horse hair look, which I assume is from fibers that I broke while pushing it in.
I tried 3k tow for reinforcing a control surface. I used foam safe CA for this trial as Joshua Orchard suggested. The idea is to use this on the dive brakes that will have all of those little holes in them. I free handed this, but the idea would be for there to be 2 holes in each of the U's. I added the piece along the trailing edge as it would easily bend left to right without it. I think it still needs another straight piece near the hinge side.
Overall I'm happy with it, although I put it in "dry" and then dripped CA on it. Next time I would wet it and then push it in. I'm hopeful that would keep it from having that horse hair look, which I assume is from fibers that I broke while pushing it in.
Fidget
Active member
It's been even longer than I realized since I posted. I've given up on the semi-symmetrical wing and adapted the FT Mustang wing. Now it's too thin to house the landing gear, and the clock is ticking. Also need to finish a fuselage design. Without being good at 3D modeling, I've been able to make formers but not be happy with how to design the skins. So I think I'm going back to a boxy fuse design. It will likely look like the SBD version of the FT Mustang.
Hobbyking has the VQ Models version back in stock, & I'm debating buying one of those for a more detailed model. (Link)
Hobbyking has the VQ Models version back in stock, & I'm debating buying one of those for a more detailed model. (Link)
Fidget
Active member
No, I ran out of patience for making the rounded fuselage that it needed. Between that and the mechanics of getting the flaps, dive brakes, and bomb drop designed I decided to come back to it sometime when I have more experience.
ThatsALotOfPlanes
Active member
I know how discouraging rounded fuselages can be, I designed an F4F early this year and it took a lot of head-scratching. I used posterboard over a series of formers. I actually started the design process for the skin by taking copy paper and using trial and error to get a rough idea of the shapes and dimensions before transferring it to posterboard for another round of trial and error. I wrote myself little notes on changes I needed to make along the way to help remember everything. After I was happy with the rough shape, I took all the pieces I had made and scanned them with a copier, and then traced them into Inkscape (which is a fantastic program for simple plane design). The final design wasn't perfectly perfect, but it was pretty good. One issue I had was the posterboard bowed outward a little, so I used 5 or 6 rings of posterboard to minimize their length so the bowing wasn't as noticeable.
The rear posterboard hasn't been put on yet so the rearmost formers are visible. The front formers are attached to a box fuselage on the inside, and the rear is designed like the FT P-47. On top of the wing, the bottom edge of the posterboard pieces bowed outwards a lot because they aren't a full tube, so I put a few pieces on each side that push into the wing and act as an anchor.
Basically, as soon as I simplified to the process by doing trial and error in real life instead of on a computer, it all worked surprisingly well.
Good luck if you continue this project!
Sam
The rear posterboard hasn't been put on yet so the rearmost formers are visible. The front formers are attached to a box fuselage on the inside, and the rear is designed like the FT P-47. On top of the wing, the bottom edge of the posterboard pieces bowed outwards a lot because they aren't a full tube, so I put a few pieces on each side that push into the wing and act as an anchor.
Basically, as soon as I simplified to the process by doing trial and error in real life instead of on a computer, it all worked surprisingly well.
Good luck if you continue this project!
Sam
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mackaiver
Elite member
also try just making a flying version then making flaps and airbrakes.
Fidget
Active member
Thanks, @mackaiver & @ThatsALotOfPlanes ! Maybe I'll give it another go sooner than later.
cdfigueredo
Elite member
H chicos. He estado trabajando en el mismo avion pero esta vez estoy usando espuma y depron. Todavía estoy trabajando en el.
Hi, guys. I've been working on the same plane but this time I'm using foam and depron. I'm still working on it.
https://forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/sbd-dauntless-from-scratch-scale-looking.63864/
Hi, guys. I've been working on the same plane but this time I'm using foam and depron. I'm still working on it.
https://forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/sbd-dauntless-from-scratch-scale-looking.63864/
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Fidget
Active member
Gracias por esta noticia. No habia visto su proyecto. Que maravilloso!
cdfigueredo
Elite member
It is a work in progress! good spanish by the way.
