Official FlightLine F4U-1A Corsair 1600mm (63") Wingspan

[Elbee]

Happy belated my dear friend Elbee! If I could look 1/3 as good as you at 70 I would be over the moon. You are one of the treasures of this little corner of the Interwebs. May you have at least 25 more trips around the Sun in good health with lots of laughs. And I can help with the laughs if you continue to chart my professional RC crashing career.

I thank you, good Sir, but you'd needed to have "started out" half as good-lookin' if my math serves.

Taking a hiatus from the bench. Summer is now officially here and it's hotter than blue blazes which also brings us the Texas Hairdryer winds.

A good time to clean up the hanger, UGH, and finish the paintwork/weathering on the Corsair, YEA!

I also noticed a ding on my Phantom which had to be from last Fall to repair; which made me think I should do another F-4 in our McConnell AFB West Gate Guard USAF Bu No ⁶⁶⁰271 of the 127th TFS 184 FG K^sANG Jayhawks livery.
I have that pesky Tomcat (not really pesky) I cannot wait to do. I pushed the "BUY" button the Mitchell, so I have at least another 25 years worth of projects.

Best, LB

[Aros]

Happy belated my dear friend Elbee! If I could look 1/3 as good as you at 70 I would be over the moon. You are one of the treasures of this little corner of the Interwebs. May you have at least 25 more trips around the Sun in good health with lots of laughs. And I can help with the laughs if you continue to chart my professional RC crashing career.

[Elbee]

Grossman56

[Grossman56]

Yep, I hear you, next month I'll be celebrating the 20th anniversary of my 50th birthday as well!
To quote Gus MacCrae in Lonesome Dove, "It ain't about dying Woodrow, it's about livin'."
I try to live with that in mind. I run across some young kids with attitude occasionally and remind them of the two constants of the universe:
1) I'll never be your age again, and
2) If you're lucky, you WILL be mine...If you're lucky!

Sometimes a good fart is as good as sex!

Grossman56

[Elbee]

Hugh Wiedman, "Hah, Feliz cumpleaños!!" I think I got that once in Matamoras and was told to rub Tequila on it from the inside.

Yeppers, "She who must be obeyed" has a bit-o-drill sergeant in her and I mean no disrespect to DI's past or present. It's the way she looks at me sometimes...:fearful: mmu-uh, but I digress.

Thank you, Hugh and it's you and all the rest that teach me, too.

Y'all are fearless and I just cant help but play along.

Best, LB

[Hugh Wiedman]

[USER="2297"]

yesterday was my #70

she's a bit chubby, but she's cute.

Well Happy 70th! :partying_face: You really don't look a day over 69! Obviously your CO keeps you young and vibrant!

Who says you can't teach old dogs new tricks, as with each of your incredibly creative modifications, you're definitely teaching a few of us Old Dogs new tricks! (Bet you thought I was going to call you an Old Dog-no such luck)

And don't worry about it being a little heavy, has plenty of power and the extra weight will make it more stable in funky winds.

In the vernacular of everyone here (except me of course-have enough trouble with English) Felix Compleanos. :champagne:

[Evan D]

Yes, Happy Birthday. Big milestone!

[Pappy 883]

Happy Birthday LB !
Just to say thanks for all your skills. At our age I've come to enjoy a good "toot" in public, and the horrified looks. Its entertaining.

I wouldn't worry about 8.87. Of my 3 modified FL Corsairs most are pushing 11ibs.wet w/CG @ 95mm

enjoy ,...joe h.

[jetfool]

Happy Birthday!
You are young at heart Elbee and all the help you have given me and others is appreciated. Can’t wait to start a winter project and see where that takes us.
Best Regards, Rex

[Elbee]

rifleman_btx Aros, there are times in one's life where a thing seems to take on a life of it's own once it is begun.

One such moment began for me when I volunteered to print the OEM IP STL file for Callie Graphics when the Flightline Corsair was first introduced.

She needed to rearrange some instruments to better match the OEM STL. I resized the OEM IP to better fit the cockpit width, too, as I recall.

That quickly led to honoring a few requests to print the IPs for others and my decision not to do that anymore.

I did offer up a design for the stationary "Open Cowl Flaps" and posted those to the forum.

Don't know if anyone picked up on that then. The design was solid, but someone asked if I thought 'functional cowl flaps' would work and I thot "Yeppers" and posted a picture of a newer design.

My point is, when I finally finished construction of my F/a-18C, I went straight away to the Corsair.

I'd been thinking for months about 'what" to do, but not about 'how' to do it and so the project began at the Corsair's Nose and moved slowly to it's Tail.

You all know the rest, pretty much.

This might sound trite or patronizing but seriously I would not have gotten to this point with the project without your encouragement and that of the community at large.

Life Happens and there are times when life was taking all my free time and BY THE WAY, what is up with that?!

I'm suppose to be enjoying my "Golden Years" or some such nonsense.

I took some time off to celebrate a couple-three birthdays from mid-June until yesterday, and yes, yesterday was my #70...I know, right...I look amazing, feel great, and hardly ever toot in public.

All by the Grace of the "Big-Guy" is all I can figure.

Next up are a few details, paint walkways, add a spine formation light, Callie stencils, some weathering to blend it all, things like that.

As for the first check flight, soon after that I can assure you all. I weighed her and I was surprised at 8.87 lbs dry, which is heavier than I was expecting.

I wanted 8.5 dry worst case, so there you have it, she's a bit chubby, but she's cute.

My best regards to you and yours, as always,
LB

[rifleman_btx]

Definitely something to behold

[Aros]

Elbee I went through the entire PDF last night and I am just floored with the level of time, talent and skill that went into that labor of love. What a masterpiece!

[Elbee]

f4u ausie,

I thank you, Sir and your thoughts are greatly appreciated.

The time is a gift; the rest is a labor of love.

Best, LB

ps: there's a lot to digest, i.e., endure in all those pics, I know.

[f4u ausie]

Well after some 200 odd pics, ( looked thru) can i simply give CREDIT all and sundry great job ,,lb.. im only 5 or 6 years into this,, but the time and energy( based on those 200 pics and end result) awsome.. a credit to time and patience( did i forget skill):partying_face:

[paladin]

I fell victim to the weak landing gear strut on a hard landing a few weeks ago. It broke right where the 3mm pin goes through that activates the rotation. I ordered a set of replacements. I only needed the left one, but got the right one too, just in case. Anyway, after receiving them, the strut looked different to me. Sure enough, a magnet would not stick to the old strut. Seems to be aluminum. But the magnet stuck like glue to the new ones. It seems the material is a much harder steel than on the original. Has an official improvement been made? I actually ordered some drill rod to attempt making my own struts, but now I'm just going to see how these hold up.

unfortunately, there are stainless steels that are not magnetic.

[didier n]

I fell victim to the weak landing gear strut on a hard landing a few weeks ago. It broke right where the 3mm pin goes through that activates the rotation. I ordered a set of replacements. I only needed the left one, but got the right one too, just in case. Anyway, after receiving them, the strut looked different to me. Sure enough, a magnet would not stick to the old strut. Seems to be aluminum. But the magnet stuck like glue to the new ones. It seems the material is a much harder steel than on the original. Has an official improvement been made? I actually ordered some drill rod to attempt making my own struts, but now I'm just going to see how these hold up.

Let's hope it is an improvement, time will tell

[vonJaerschky]

Hi you all,

It has probably been asked before, but i'm not keen on going trough all the pages again, but is there already an ( aftermarket?) replacement or fix for the weak LG ?
Really a shame on such a nice plane...

I fell victim to the weak landing gear strut on a hard landing a few weeks ago. It broke right where the 3mm pin goes through that activates the rotation. I ordered a set of replacements. I only needed the left one, but got the right one too, just in case. Anyway, after receiving them, the strut looked different to me. Sure enough, a magnet would not stick to the old strut. Seems to be aluminum. But the magnet stuck like glue to the new ones. It seems the material is a much harder steel than on the original. Has an official improvement been made? I actually ordered some drill rod to attempt making my own struts, but now I'm just going to see how these hold up.

[f4u ausie]

Surprised myself( downloaded it) lots to disect,, thnx lb for your hard work.. (again) looking forward to going thru it all,, and no dought finding more reason to b impressed... what an aircraft,,, deserving of all the attention it gets 5789 posts and still strong

[jetfool]

Downloaded your PDF to my computer for future reference. Thanks Elbee! Plan to add the Cowl Flaps this winter on mine. Rex

[Elbee]

FlightLine Corsair Build (.PDF)


Corsair Connoisseurs,

Attached is a PDF of all the photos I took of my build. There is a section of duplicates and I apologize, seems there was a file within the file.

Special thanks to Aros for finding a way to get it posted to this thread.

If you take the time to go through it all, you will see how many things were done and pretty much how I did those.

I added myriad 3D printed parts of my own design, as well as, modified 3D designs of the P&W Engine by 3DLabGang and the WW2 USN Pilot by Max Grueter.

If you have questions about how I did certain things let me know and I'll try to answer in as few a words as possible.

As we all know, life happens so I want to thank everyone who encouraged me along the way as there were many distractions.

So, in no particular order and with fear of leaving someone out THANK YOU: Aros, Hugh Wiedman, f4u ausie, Grossman56, Pappy 883, davegee, jetfool, SanExup, Peajay5 and EVERYONE else.

Best regards, LB