GWS ME/BF109 warbird attempt

[Ededge2002]

As you may or may not know I'm not much of a "scale" flyer. Sure I try to make my planes look like they could be real on some TV cartoon but it ends there...

Then I received this kit. Its a little foamy warbird that has a good reputation for being a nice flyer.  I opened the box and.....  its all some dark gray that to me is no scale representation of any paint scheme I found in my search. There are a selection of decals for a few schemes two of which I hate and two I'm not to fond of.
The "scale" panel lines molded into the foam are HUGE and in one decision I chose to sand them and the paint away and this is where I am now.

[sihinch]

And what does it look like?! 

[Ededge2002]

I will post a picture of it later. I went on a 1/2hour search for my filler and came up empty...  its all packed away till I cool off from that frustration.

To the gnomes that hide all my crap..  I will find you and I WILL kill you.

[Gregor77]

Better look good Ed. I have mine done like the ones used in Africa. Looks like a leopard.

[Ededge2002]

Greg did you do anything with the panel lines?  If they are "scale" in full size they must be 3" wide cracks..  so ugly. I ain't goin out like that.
Do you do anything to fill or stiffen the foam to make it last?  I'm considering glassing with very light cloth or some use craft paper /tissue paper and polyurethane.  I know there will be some weight gain but it would be a lot more durable finish than just the foam.

[sihinch]

I put carbon rods in mine, everywhere!  Any surfact longer than 3" got a carbon rod stuck in it! 

[Ededge2002]

here is the after I freaked out sanded the majority of the paint off and filled the ugly panel lines with filler photo.  I have since sanded the filler off and added a very light second coat over the rough areas in preparation for glassing in some form or other. 

I did sort of feel like a lady shaving her eyebrows off just to draw them back in at this stage

[Gregor77]

Ok. Looks good. Put the stickers on and you are done. Lots of late ww2 planes looked lik that when they ran out of paint. Very scale Ed.

[piker]

Are you finger painting?   

[Ededge2002]

Did a bit on the 109 last night.  Enlarged the battery bay so the 6s packs will fit and joined the fuse half's. Then filled the seam and some filler spots. Removed and filled the side scoop and exhaust stacks just to simplify the glassing. I plan to rework those pieces to be nicer anyhow then a very light coat of the water based polyurethane.

106g(3.7oz) wing and fuse no control  surfaces

[Ededge2002]

Ok Ok it sat long enough.  I did finish the tissue paper and polyurethane "glassing" without a lot of weight gain.  Then I painted it and it gained some more weight...  All up is now 180g(6.3oz) with two wing servos installed.  I figure about 2oz in paint and glassing the airframe.  a little heavier than I wanted but still lighter than the plane I used the same power system in previously.  Should have good power.  It is after all a warbird and they are normally more moderately powered.

I plan on doing some detailing and weathering still once I have the remaining equipment installed.

[Ededge2002]

I installed the equipment and got everything set up.  As previously noted the power system and equipment was removed from an OLD Formosa.  A tried and true set up that I flew on 3s750's and FM. 
Maiden flight all was going well with a little trim here and there till about 2 minutes into the flight when bob. bob. bob. bob I was having momentary loss of bind and rebind.  I circled the field in very out of control trying to get it down for a landing...  I clipped a tree about 20' up on approach into my small flying area.  The plane spun clipping a couple branches and landed with a foam plop on the ground.  Broken stab, wing and a couple cracks in the fuse.  Nothing a GWS warbird hasn't been through before! I think it took 15 minutes to get all repaired.

Testing revealed that the 4 servos and 150W of power going through the thunderbird 9 esc was at fault.  I could get it to repeat the lose and rebind cycle on the bench with some stick wiggling..  I set it up and test flew it again with a cc10 amp bec and all was fine.

[Ededge2002]

After proving it flies I added the scale details and stickers.

With a ultra fine point sharpie I re drew all those panel lines I had filled. Then sprayed a little gray mist in areas then a little black "war wounds" to help conceal the previous damage.  A quick scrub with some 2000 grit sandpaper and it was ready to gain some stickers!  I quickly scrubbed the stickers with the sandpaper to remove some of the gloss ( it didn't do much they are still sort of shiny).

I'm very happy with how it turned out.  I wish it was a little more durable as the tissue didn't add a lot of toughness to it but it was also quite light.  It did make the paint smoother and not have that painted foam bubbles look to it.

PS:  I do still have the air intake duct to install as the first one I made I stepped on minutes before it was installed.


OH and I also installed a 20amp esc that seems to cope with the 4 servos and 150watts much better.

[thehaze]

Ok why is it hovering above the carpet? It's freaking me out.... 

[Ededge2002]

Its not hovering. Did you inhale?