@Gregor77 that ship will need a foghorn!!

Hey @Gregor77 ,

Wow!  This is SO funky!  I love the polyurethane foam floatation!! Can you describe the RC equipment? Can't wait to see it at Toogood Pond so I can chase it with my Robbe Gemini Hydroplane! 

Congrats on a great find.  What did you move out of your basement to make room for it??  Or are YOU sleeping in the garage?!

Cheers!

Andy

The firewall on this plane was flexing after a pancake landing on a very windy day a week ago.  There were no cracks but the plywood layers started to flex and separate.  The perimeter was still attached properly to the fuse.

steps
1- remove the motor and cowl to expose the firewall.  Put masking tape around the fuselage side.
2- apply vaseline inside the motor mount nuts so the epoxy will not stick. I used a toothpick. Photo 68
3- cut fibreglass a little larger than the size of the fuselage/firewall
4- apply 5 minute epoxy to the raw plywood firewall.  I used a brush.
5- drop the fibreglass cloth onto the epoxy and press down. Photo 69
6- add epoxy to the surface of the cloth to properly soak it. Photo 70.  In hindsight I should have thinned it with about 15% denatured alcohol.  Will do so next crash repair.
7- when the epoxy had started to set up but was still flexible (approx 10 minutes) I used a pair of scissors to cut the cloth to the shape of the fuse.  Also used an X-Acto knife to cut out the lightning/vent holes. Photo 72.
Note: I did not cut out two of the lightning holes because they are under the nose weights screwed onto the firewall.  They block the vents and preferred to keep it strong.  One of the weights is shown in the picture.

Letting it cure overnight before re-assembling the motor/cowl/esc.

Frank



Total time of the repair was 20 minutes.

Sadly if the company bumped up the kit a bit and made a proper arf, it would have done very well.  I gave Tuc Ho a model of this plane and it flew very well.  now Eflite came out with a larger scale version, but this is a nice size for a backyard fighter. oh yes the old park zone model, I think Piker has the last one on the planet after the front wing joint failed and caused most to dart in the ground.

For those interested, Dave figured out how to get all stabilization surfaces working correctly, with Corona brand servos. If you're using servos that rotate in a different orientation, then this may not work.

1. The port servo (left side from the back) must be plugged into the Elevator pins on the black box gyro stabilizer. The other servo starboard (right side from the back) is plugged into the Rudder pins. The steering servo is placed on a Y-connector with the rudder servo, preferably before the black box is plugged in; the Y-connector plugs into the receiver.

2. The rudder-vaters must have the servo outputs forward to the front of the plane, and the pushrods connected to the servo-arms oriented away from the rudder-vaters. See photos.

3. The black box gyro-stabilizer cannot be upside down. It must be facing up (pins and switches and pots up), pins to the rear of the aircraft. If mounted upside-down, or pins forward, the stabilization will not work with the V-tail or the nose-wheel steering.

4. The black box can be mounted with Velcro, on the plywood shelf, just behind the battery area (former F3).

5. The transmitter is set at normal; no V-tail setting, or anything. In my transmitter, the elevator function is reversed.

6. The black box stabilization direction switches are all down, except V-Tail and aileron.

7. The pots are set at approx. 40%.

Adjust dual rates as it suits the pilot.

Spitfire pilot in an FW-190- No problem.
It is a scale version of the FW-190 Farber landed in Wales in 1942 when he defected.  The Pembrey incident.
It was definitely flown by a Spitfire pilot then to get it to a location where it could be tested.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1qA0wAwFsw

Frank
(with a pound of salt please!)

I will bring soft drinks for the BBQ for everyone

It's been a while, I know! Even the forum is warning me that I'm posting on an old topic!

Anyway, I did get back to this build. I've now mounted all of the servos. I've started doing the pre-shading and, I'm not sure if this is sacrilege, but I've mounted an old spitfire pilot in the cockpit.

Next steps are to pick a suitable motor and I'm going to mount it.

Well something followed me home. Another project for too good pond. Built out west, it's a fantasy build according to Frank. Let's see if I can spice it up a bit. Might use the hull and redo the top in plywood and not balsa. A few magnets and some more details. I think the Rc equipment is from the 70's. 🤣. Mike the owner was thrilled to see it go to a good home. Sophia was happy with the strawberry Icecream his wife provided. It was a great day.

Sorry. Missed all the fun. Sophia and I did a road trip to get something for too good pond. 🫢