1/6.78 Scale Hawker Typhoon

[Ededge2002]

I have some led fixtures/lenses from a construction road sigh we scrapped at work. I saved a bunch as they would be ideal for this use. I will post a picture tomorrow and if you want some just let me know.

Keep up the work Colin its been a long battle but you will reign in the end.

[wollins]

Thanks Ed, I appreciate that.

Colin

P.S. Yeah those led fixtures/lenses might come in handy the way I'm botching up this build of late.   

[Ededge2002]

I took a few pictures to show the reflectors.  If they are what you need let me know.  I used a couple of amber LED's to show the pattern that they produce as the sigh was full of them.  they are 17mm dia and 12mm tall.  I used a bench grinder to square off one side and it had little effect on the light produced.  I have about a hundred of them so if anyone else wants a few i could bring them out to the field or next meeting.  The photos with the led on were taken at a much reduced voltage as it upset the camera.

[wollins]

Damn ... that's exactly waht I was looking for!  I eventually had to buy a couple of Maglites just to get the lenses and them suckers are not cheap.    Anyway I've already installed mine but I'd love to snag a couple of those of you if you don't mind for future projects! I've got a feeling that I'll be running lights in a lot of my projects going forwrd ... they just look too cool.

One of the things I really like about yours is unlike the ones from the Maglites they're obviously extremely strong if you could grind them down with your grinder!   

Colin 

[Ededge2002]

mine are solid plastic.  the shine of the back of the plastic becomes the reflector!  They are from one of those traffic signs you see blinking for hours on end in constructions zones.  This one was hit by a truck and totaled so I scavenged a couple of fixtures but there were THOUSANDS of led's lol.  Your more than welcome to some and anyone lese that would like some as well!  I plan on one day doing a night flyer and these would be ideal!!

[wollins]

As promised here are some pics of my landing lights install for this bird.

Colin

[wollins]

Progress is being made ... albeit painfully slowly.     Here are my nav lights all installed along with lens.  Yes I know they're not quite scale in terms of shape or positioning (as in the full size in last pic) but they're not done yet! I promise you they'll be perfect before they're really done.   

Some pictures attached of my homemade vacum bagging system to make the lens. This "system" consists of a heat gun held in a bench vise and a form glued to a stick.    Mix in some oven mitts, blend in some vice grips so I could hold and pull the plastic and you end up with a pair of great looking lens. (IMHO of course)

Ok, enough of lights ... onto the cannons! 

Colin 

[piker]

Nice work!  Keep moving ahead... I'm trying to do the same...

[wollins]

Well the cannons are proving to be straightforward yet a bit tricky!     Since they are relatively large (7.5 inches of protrudence forward of leading edge) I decided to make them utilize a "break away" attachment method.  The last thing I want is to have them snag in some situation (nose over etc) and rip my wing to bits at their attachment points!     That would surely suck.

So what I decided to do was use rare earth magnets to secure them to the wings.  However they had to be "seated" somewhat so that they would have a solid attachment as opposed to just being "stuck on" to the wing. So I made some PVC attachment "bases" for them to sit in. These bases have about a quarter of an inch of a "lip" which is just enough to hold them a little more securely than if they were just stuck to magnets ... but yet not too secure to prevent them from "breaking away". I hope the pics make this a little clearer. 

Pic #1:  These are the materials to make the cannons ... really just some plastic piping that I "hoarded" from some project around the house. (I think?)

Pic #2: One of the magnets and its base.

Pic #3: The magnet seated into its base.

Pic #4: The magnet/base seated and glued into the cannons' PVC base, which in turn will be glued into the wing itself. (The distance between the magnet and the edge of the PVC piping is what i was referring earlier to as the "lip". )

Pic #5: Plastic cannon with its magnet base glued in.  This will mate to the PVC wing base.

Pic #6: Three done! Main body of cannon made up from a hardwood dowel.  These were hand turned (my kingdom for tools ... lathe, band saw, scroll saw etc etc etc!)  These were a PITA to get done ... tried my best to get them true.

Stay tuned ... there's a lot more to these cannons ... seemed simple at first ... but is anything really simple in this hobby? Next up is attaching their "tips", filling, priming and painting them and the final install.  (Not looking forward to allignment and spacing issues with their final install!)

Colin 

P.S It just occurred to me that I might be boring you guys to death with all this "detail" ... I know some would say that I never really showed how I actually built/put the plane together but to me that's boring cause its somewhat routine with this type of kit.  If I had to sheet and glass the plane etc (the guy had already done that) or if it were a balsa build that would be interesting.   However the sanding, attaching parts, painting etc in this case was pretty straigforward and as such not worth posting IMHO.

In this kind of a kit I believe the devil is in the details as they say ... so I think the interesting parts are when builders show how they figure out issues/challenges in a build and come up with/fabricate solutions.  But that's just me ... so let me know if there are too much details is this case.         

[piker]

The devil IS in the details, and so is the interest     Those not interested can choose to skip over, but those of us who are passionate about building enjoy the detailed descriptions that you guys are providing.

Michael mentoned to me the other day that he feels people are most interested in the convertion details.  Details like motor, esc, and battery selection and mouting.  Although I feel he's correct in a lot of cases, I feel a lot of people are interested in the construction and detailing details as well.  Afterall, once you know how to select a motor and bolt it to the front of a plane, you start to look toward other aspects of the hobby with interest.

keep up the great work, Colin!

[wollins]

Michael mentoned to me the other day that he feels people are most interested in the convertion details. 

That may well be true cause sometimes I feel as if its only you and a few other die hards are looking at this one!     Anyway I love details trivial or otherwise so I'm just gonna soldier on!    On that note got a little more stuff done today ... "turned" out some muzzle tips (used my Dremel jig in place of a lathe) and did some test fitting.

Colin.

P.S. Weird how the top and front shots seems to show the cannons splayed outwards which is not the case in reality.  The left and right shots seem to show how it really is a little better.

[Wingnutz]

Colin,
I'm sure there are more lurkers following your thread than you realize. For inexperienced (at building, not at lurking) lurkers like me, the knowledge and level of skill demonstrated by many of the experienced builders is intimidating...I don't have much to contribute at this level except applause! Keep up the posts!

[battlestu]

add me to the list of lurkers... keep the the posts coming 

[wollins]

I appreciate that "lurkers"!     So I just found the clearest pic of the full sized cannons to date ... I knew there was more work to be done! 

Colin

[Ededge2002]

Details take time.  Lots of it!

No one saw me lurking here did they??