Eh, google says there is never greater than a 50% chance that it'll rain. I'm thinking it'll be on and off every once in a while.
Scale Build-Off – 140" C-47 Foamy
- Thread starter ScottyWarpNine
- Start date
Yeah, Friday looks like the best day. Working on this plane should be easy, regardless of weather. Just stand under the wing for shelter! 
ScottyWarpNine
Mostly Harmless
Never underestimate the power of Ohio weather
We're from Wisconsin, I think we can handle it!
ScottyWarpNine
Mostly Harmless
Full span.
I may be pulling an all nighter tonight. I may get some sleep if I get to a point where I'm waiting for glue to dry. Since I got off work today I'm officially on vacation. Tommorow im going to have all morning and afternoon to work on this beast, then I'm going to pack up and leave at around 5 so my camp site will be set up at Furey field by 6
Still skinning with the heavy glass at this point and mounting wings. I'm running low on epoxy resin, so I will not have enough to do the finer cloth over top. I believe the fuselage is rigid enough to be airworthy. The wings have two layers going along the leading edge, and that should be plenty. After flute fest I will probably order more epoxy if she flies, then I'll apply the finer cloth to make her nice and smooth. She's going to look pretty rough for the event.
I was surprised at how much the cloth stiffened up the fuselage, especially torsionaly.
Here is a list of things I need to do in the day remaining:
-Finish glassing portions of the fuselage. Almost done, really.
-glass outer wing panels
-glass ailerons
-glass tail stabilizers
-epoxy landing gear in place. It is only being held on right now with hot glue.
-install aileron hinges and servos
-install rudder servo and linkage in new position
-cut out battery hatch and add magnets or some other way of keeping it in place
-build up some motor mounts
-install motor/esc in pod
-attach motor cowls, probably with blocks of wood fixed to the engine pod so that I can screw the cowl on. Or maybe hot glue as a less permanent option for now. Or maybe if I'm really low on time I'll just skip the cowls for now. We'll see
-propellers
-fly?
My wife says I'm seldom the "voice of reason", but just this once...! If it ain't ready, don't risk it. If nothing else, it'll be a great static display for FTFF and will generate a lot of conversations. It would certainly suck to see it crash because you missed something simple, like gluing the aileron hinges.
ScottyWarpNine
Mostly Harmless
Very true. I'll see what I have in the morning and go from there. I got a couple of my other models prepared and I would be perfectly happy with just having the c-47 as a static model this year. I also have all week at FTFF to work on it as well in my free time, so rushing through and making mistakes Isn't necesary. I appreciate the reminder
I'm off to bed to get an early start fresh and early.
ScottyWarpNine
Mostly Harmless
I'm making the executive decision to call it quits now. It isn't ready yet and I would much rather fly and hang out with everyone at FTFF than stay at my campsite and work on this in the hope that it may fly. I fiber glassed some stuff this morning so I'm going to let that set and then load it up as is. Now I'm scrambling to get my other planes ready, but it is what it is. I should have started this project much sooner.
She will fly next year
I look forward to seeing everyone at Flite Fest and I will take lots of pictures for those who won't be there!
She will fly next year
I look forward to seeing everyone at Flite Fest and I will take lots of pictures for those who won't be there!
I'm making the executive decision to call it quits now. It isn't ready yet and I would much rather fly and hang out with everyone at FTFF than stay at my campsite and work on this in the hope that it may fly. I fiber glassed some stuff this morning so I'm going to let that set and then load it up as is. Now I'm scrambling to get my other planes ready, but it is what it is. I should have started this project much sooner.
She will fly next year
I look forward to seeing everyone at Flite Fest and I will take lots of pictures for those who won't be there!
No worries. I look forward to seeing her as a static display this year and seeing her fly next year.
Rent out space under the wings for additional build tents.
ScottyWarpNine
Mostly Harmless
Well, its been a little over two months since Flite Fest, and since I have done any work on this beast. It is starting to cool down in Ohio so my motorcycle hobby is going to be taking up less and less of my time. I think its about time to resume work on this beast.
So lets see, where did I leave off in July? I had gotten most of the wiring routed and most of the fuselage fiber glassed. I hinged the tail control surfaces, but I would like to double check that. I was about to cut out a portion of the vertical stabilizer to place a rudder servo and a direct linkage. That is probably where I will start first.
I need to finish glassing the fuselage and the wings, and then will come a lot of smoothing. I will be using a slurry of WBPU, lightweight spackle, and talc powder to coat everything and shape and sand it smooth.
My first attempt at ailerons failed. I cut them off of the wing before glassing. They warped pretty severely. If I can't salvage them I'll make some built up balsa ailerons.
And then details...
So lets see, where did I leave off in July? I had gotten most of the wiring routed and most of the fuselage fiber glassed. I hinged the tail control surfaces, but I would like to double check that. I was about to cut out a portion of the vertical stabilizer to place a rudder servo and a direct linkage. That is probably where I will start first.
I need to finish glassing the fuselage and the wings, and then will come a lot of smoothing. I will be using a slurry of WBPU, lightweight spackle, and talc powder to coat everything and shape and sand it smooth.
My first attempt at ailerons failed. I cut them off of the wing before glassing. They warped pretty severely. If I can't salvage them I'll make some built up balsa ailerons.
And then details...
ScottyWarpNine
Mostly Harmless
First update of the build off!
I ordered three Top Flite TOPQ7902 dummy radial engines. I selected these engine because the cylinder heads look similar to that of the P&W R-1830.
Here is a stock photo of the dummy engine:
And here is and R-1830:
Notice how on each cylinder, the bulges where the valve rockers are are different for intake and exhaust. One is covered in cooling fins, and the other is smooth with a prominent diagonal rib. This seems to be a characteristic of the Twin Wasp that isn't on more common Wasp dummy engines like from Williams Brothers.
You'll notice that the dummy is a single row of 9 cylinders, while the R-1830 is a double row 14 cylinder arrangement. To add depth to the dummy I am going to chop up the three dummy engines to assemble two double row engines with 13 cylinders each, with the bottom cylinder missing. I'm going to say the missing cylinder is for motor cooling purposes, but really, I didn't want to buy a fourth dummy radial just for one cylinder.
Another thing I have been thinking about is the main gear. I originally proposed 3D printing, but that lacks accuracy and strength. I could buy the Robart retracts designed for the Ziroli DC-3, but I don't have $700 burning a whole in my pocket, and frankly, they aren't super accurate when it comes to scale looks. I'm pretty handy with machine tools and a soldering iron so I'm going to attempt to build a more realistic looking set in steel and sheet tin.
So where am I going to get dimensions necessary for building gears from scratch? This is the most exciting part: I got permission from MAPS air museum to take detailed measurements of their C-47
I ordered three Top Flite TOPQ7902 dummy radial engines. I selected these engine because the cylinder heads look similar to that of the P&W R-1830.
Here is a stock photo of the dummy engine:
And here is and R-1830:
Notice how on each cylinder, the bulges where the valve rockers are are different for intake and exhaust. One is covered in cooling fins, and the other is smooth with a prominent diagonal rib. This seems to be a characteristic of the Twin Wasp that isn't on more common Wasp dummy engines like from Williams Brothers.
You'll notice that the dummy is a single row of 9 cylinders, while the R-1830 is a double row 14 cylinder arrangement. To add depth to the dummy I am going to chop up the three dummy engines to assemble two double row engines with 13 cylinders each, with the bottom cylinder missing. I'm going to say the missing cylinder is for motor cooling purposes, but really, I didn't want to buy a fourth dummy radial just for one cylinder.
Another thing I have been thinking about is the main gear. I originally proposed 3D printing, but that lacks accuracy and strength. I could buy the Robart retracts designed for the Ziroli DC-3, but I don't have $700 burning a whole in my pocket, and frankly, they aren't super accurate when it comes to scale looks. I'm pretty handy with machine tools and a soldering iron so I'm going to attempt to build a more realistic looking set in steel and sheet tin.
So where am I going to get dimensions necessary for building gears from scratch? This is the most exciting part: I got permission from MAPS air museum to take detailed measurements of their C-47
ScottyWarpNine
Mostly Harmless
I got some radials in the mail and almost immediately started chopping them up. I cut each individual cylinder off so I can arrange them in two rows of seven per engine.
The overlap should look something like this:
I tried lining up all 14 cylinders but couldn't get them to stay. I ended up with this jumbled mess, but you get the ides.
The overlap should look something like this:
I tried lining up all 14 cylinders but couldn't get them to stay. I ended up with this jumbled mess, but you get the ides.
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Nice progress man! Have you picked the colors yet. It would be cool to see "that's all, Brother" immortalized in foam.
ScottyWarpNine
Mostly Harmless
AkimboGlueGuns;235813It would be cool to see "that's all said:
smithhayward
Large Child
What's the "That's All, Brother" reference to? Please don't make us feel like outsiders, LOL
It was the C-47 that lead the D-Day invasion. The first airplane to carry the D-Day stripes in battle, and contained the first para-troopers for the assault on the German line. "That's all, Brother" references Hitler, basically saying this is it, your war is done.
smithhayward
Large Child
See, you really do learn something everyday - especially here on the FT forums! Thanks man!
Tench745
Master member
"That's All Brother" recently got some media attention because a DC-3 re-manufacturer, not realizing what plane they had, was going to use her for parts/scrap or possibly rebuild her with their turboprop conversion. Someone recognized the n-number and bought her, saving her from probable destruction.
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