Scale Build-Off - Dare FW-190

[willsonman]

As "payment" for repairing a club member's wing I was given a Dare "ARF" of a FW-190. It's more like a kit than an ARF. The wings are foam core sheeted with balsa and the fuselage is mostly assembled with additional foam areas, again sheeted with balsa. Span is 56". I'll use a .32 size motor I have on a 4-cell with a 3-blade prop. I have a "micro" set of pneumatic retracts that I'll stuff in there.

No pictures yet but I have assembled the tail planes and control surfaces with their various balsa parts using TitebondII. My go-to glue of choice for wood-wood and wood-foam. I've carved out the wood to shape and glassed the surfaces with 0.5 oz cloth and WBPU. I've applied the second coat to fill the weave and need to wet sand them before I apply a filling primer layer.

Next up will be the wings. With the foam core there is much to be done. I have to melt channels into the wing for the servo wires. I'll need to cut the relief for the wheel wells and retract mounts.

I've started a 3D model of a spinner that I will have printed. It will be complete with vanes to push cooling air into the cowl. Follow along as I start another build for the building season.

 

[willsonman]

Ok, just a couple pictures. They kind of show the glass finish and the weave that needs to be filled. After a light sanding I decided to go with some auto primer to fill the remaining weave rather than more WBPU. I'll wet sand most of it back and then use chart pak tape to make some panel lines. You apply the tape and do two to three light coats of primer. Wet sand back over the tape and remove. I'll show this later.

 

[earthsciteach]

Nice! That's a nice payment for your work.

 

[willsonman]

Well, the story behind the kit is... it was gifted from a local hobby shop to the club for a raffle. The guy who won it gave it to another club member for a birthday present. He gave it to me to fix his wing. At our club meeting last night they were all laughing that its been circling through the club never being built for so long.

With the club meeting last night I did not get much done. I was able to sand down the primer and was not entirely satisfied with the finish. Still many pinholes. I added a layer of poly again as well as sanded down the other parts for a third coat to fill the weave. I think my tried and true method of talc and poly will be used to save time on the wings. These multiple coats are driving me a little batty.

 

[makattack]

Very nice! Love that all the re-gifting ended up with a master builder receiving it!

 

[willsonman]

Well thank you for the compliment. I really love details in my builds and this was such a great subject to do them on. So many great techniques I can share here I had to start it... even if it pushes off my other builds.

 

[willsonman]

Last night I was able to sand all the current parts down. First with 220 grit then with 400. All dry. This was sufficient to get the weave even so I took all the parts to the garage and put a light coat of primer on both sides. Next up will be wet sanding them all. Then I can apply some masking and do a few light coats of primer again to lock in the panel lines.

 

[earthsciteach]

Well thank you for the compliment. I really love details in my builds and this was such a great subject to do them on. So many great techniques I can share here I had to start it... even if it pushes off my other builds.

Details like 2000 pins with thread woven between them! LOL! Dude, you do some amazing stuff….

 

[xuzme720]

Details like 2000 pins with thread woven between them! LOL! Dude, you do some amazing stuff….

Wait...what? What did I miss?

 

[willsonman]

LOL, He is referring to my SE5a. The panel stitching on the fuselage was done by hand-placing over 200 (for each side) sequin pins (about 1cm long) along a line. After the pins were placed, I wove thread through them and applied glue to hold it all down. The effect is quite striking. See post # 111 of the build thread.

History/science lesson: The thing is that with this subject the peeling paint effect is not really scale. Peeled paint was a result of salty sea air. It was very frequent on Pacific front aircraft and moderately so on allied european front aircraft. This came from having to take off and land and be stored along the seashores. If you observe German aircraft this is almost never seen. They were stationed away from the coasts and only briefly saw those atmospheres during missions, if at all. Russian aircraft NEVER have this effect. Sweden never had missions extending to coast lines. Further... The panels on the J-22 were NOT METAL. They were pressure-treated plywood. Due to the lack of metal available from production from Saab (for the B-17 dive-bomber and B-18 medium bomber) this plane was a technological marvel. The mounts for the ply panels were engineered to provide great hold-down strength yet produce next to no drag. Even the engine was produce out-of-license. It was a Wasp engine but they had no license to produce it. It was (for lack of a better analogy) Chinese reverse-engineering. The aircraft sale embargoes left them without a fighter at all. It was all very rushed.

 

[willsonman]

So, even with the Wife's birthday this weekend I managed to get some work done but it was here and there so no pictures. It will be good for a "reveal post" later. I got the pieces all wet sanded with 400 grit paper. Super silky smooth and highly reflective. All the pinholes were filled so I was ready to apply my panel lines. I used reference drawings from 3-views to draw up some shapes to have the silhouette cut vinyl for masking. These pieces are for the elevator and rudder to simulate the fabric covering. I then applied 1/64" chartpak tape for panel lines. I applied small dots of titebondII at appropriate locations for domed rivets. I applied three light coats of primer to one side of each piece and have only applied one to the other side. With the cold in the garage I wanted to make sure there was a good amount of time between coats for better curing out.

Again, once the primer coats are done I will wet sand around the seams of the masking and chartpak tape to reveal crisp lines. I'll then soften them with more light wet sanding.

I hope people were not expecting this to be a quick build. These details take time and patience.

Flush rivets will be done with a soldering iron. I've substituted the tip with a piece of small copper tubing. once heated it will sear the primer and make a nice rivet and soften when I apply final paint. It will be tedious work but as you can expect... the rewards will be good.

 

[xuzme720]

LOL, He is referring to my SE5a. The panel stitching on the fuselage was done by hand-placing over 200 (for each side) sequin pins (about 1cm long) along a line. After the pins were placed, I wove thread through them and applied glue to hold it all down. The effect is quite striking. See post # 111 of the build thread.

Ah, yes. I did somehow miss that one but fantastic work! I can't wait to see this one progress! :applause:

 

[willsonman]

I think the pictures are fairly self-explanatory.

 

[Joker 53150]

Looks nice!

 

[earthsciteach]

Joshua, please come to my house and motivate me to work on my projects!

 

[willsonman]

YOU'RE HEALED!!! Hahahah. You and me both friend. Sometimes its hard on these detailed builds because you just do not see the progress fast enough to keep you motivated.

 

[xuzme720]

I don't think it's the details getting Pat down. lol I need some motivation to get an area cleared so I can build or at least finish a few things...

 

[earthsciteach]

Details? What's details? My issues are on a macro scale.

 

[xuzme720]

Mine too, brother. Mine too...

 

[willsonman]

Well, if it makes you feel any better I will need to pack up my basement shop shortly. We are having central air/heat installed in our home which requires duct work installation. So I am coming up to a holding pattern on all my modeling for the build season.