Master Series He 115 scratch build

[Whit Armstrong]

I wanted to make a (cool looking) German warbird that I know wouldn't be made by Flite Test any time soon.
Here it is:

The He 115

I'm modelling it off of these balsa plans, and with a little cad wizardry I'll have some formers and skins!

 

[Ryan O.]

What are you planning to make the landing gear struts out of?

 

[Whit Armstrong]

What are you planning to make the landing gear struts out of?

I'll probably end up using wooden dowels. If you have a suggestion please tell me, since this is my first scratch build.

 

[Whit Armstrong]

Getting some cad work done in inkscape.

 

[Whit Armstrong]

I wanted to make a (cool looking) German warbird that I know wouldn't be made by Flite Test any time soon.
Here it is:

The He 115

View attachment 182236


I'm modelling it off of these balsa plans, and with a little cad wizardry I'll have some formers and skins! View attachment 182237

I forgot to mention, it's a torpedo bomber.

 

[Ryan O.]

I'll probably end up using wooden dowels. If you have a suggestion please tell me, since this is my first scratch build.

I'd use metal if possible, but if you are using wood make sure to build in weak points so you don't break all the dowels every hard landing

 

[Whit Armstrong]

I'd use metal if possible, but if you are using wood make sure to build in weak points so you don't break all the dowels every hard landing

I was going to use the same metal as the FT landing gear wire, but that looked too thin and it is way to hard to cut/bend. If I can I might use carbon fiber. I never really thought about the weakness of wood.

Thanks!

 

[Whit Armstrong]

Formers are done. Made sure to leave room at the bottom for the torpedo

 

[Whit Armstrong]

Now I have to put these formers on my dad's mac ( I run Linux) so I can Fusion 360/Meshmixer up some skins.

 

[Flyingshark]

He 115... Isn't that one of the planes designed for the carrier Graf Zeppelin that never got built? Or am I mixing this up with another torpedo bomber?

 

[Whit Armstrong]

He 115... Isn't that one of the planes designed for the carrier Graf Zeppelin that never got built? Or am I mixing this up with another torpedo bomber?

I'ts a standalone torpedo bomber. It was actually very successful in its role at the beginning of ww2 (from what i've read). I'm not sure how it fared in the 40s, as it was designed in 1937 though.

 

[Flyingshark]

I'ts a standalone torpedo bomber. It was actually very successful in its role at the beginning of ww2 (from what i've read). I'm not sure how it fared in the 40s, as it was designed in 1937 though.

Oh, cool! <insert googling> Turns out the torpedo bomber for the aircraft carrier was the Fieseler Fi 167.

 

[Ryan O.]

I was going to use the same metal as the FT landing gear wire, but that looked too thin and it is way to hard to cut/bend. If I can I might use carbon fiber. I never really thought about the weakness of wood.

Thanks!

Oh yeah, bending the wire is a pain. If you just make the attatchmeny point for the dowels to the floats, or the dowels to the fuselage weak and removable you'll likely end up saving the airframe. Same if you overbuild the attatchment points amd leave the dowels thinner.

 

[The Hangar]

Great project - I'll be following!

 

[Whit Armstrong]

I just realized that I need to resize the plane to fit power pack c (which I designed for) Doh!

 

[Whit Armstrong]

Working on fuselage:

 

[Whit Armstrong]

This part of internal structure is done.

 

[Whit Armstrong]

Now the main internal structure is completely done. While I wait for a chance to get going with the skins, I'll start on the wings. I think i'm going to do them like regular FT wings (with the ridges) for extra lift (I can barely fly the simple cub) , but there will be an option to do master series wings too.

some of the formers will go right on the edge where the box gets bigger, so there is no marker there.

 

[Whit Armstrong]

Oh yeah, bending the wire is a pain. If you just make the attatchmeny point for the dowels to the floats, or the dowels to the fuselage weak and removable you'll likely end up saving the airframe. Same if you overbuild the attatchment points amd leave the dowels thinner.

i saw your Il-2 build (awesome) and wanted to know how you designed the skins. Did you use cad, or trace a piece of paper and scan it?

 

[Whit Armstrong]

Now the main internal structure is completely done. While I wait for a chance to get going with the skins, I'll start on the wings. I think i'm going to do them like regular FT wings (with the ridges) for extra lift (I can barely fly the simple cub) , but there will be an option to do master series wings too.

View attachment 182291


some of the formers will go right on the edge where the box gets bigger, so there is no marker there.

I actually don't think that i'll use regular wing style. Believe it or not, the master series style would fit better on the page.