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

[t01ga]

I gotta thank whomever came up with the red fuel filler cap. I found an old fuel filter from my wife's old focus. I used a small pipe cutter and an old rc plane axle to replicate a fuel cap that doubles as an handle to remove the battery cover.

This tiny little mod does give more character to the plane.

[Ole-Timer]

Thanks t01ga!

I started with a piece that looks like part of a rivet but isn't -- domed top with a "tube" underneath. I have several in a parts bin and I have no idea what they are or where they came from. I soldered in a length of brass bolt and cut off to length. On the cap, I made the cross-piece from basswood and attached with Loctite superglue gel. This is great stuff and works in places that even my good hobby CA does not. The threaded part is retained with a piece of threaded aluminum spacer, cut to short length.

As for cutting holes in foam, I think I have a better way than shown in an earlier post. Start with aluminum tubing of the desired diameter. Use a brand new No. 11 blade and sharpen the inside by "slicing" while rotating the tubing. Do NOT "test" the sharpness of the tube when you're done (ask me how I know). Brass tubing is harder to sharpen, but stays sharp longer obviously. Rotate the sharpened tube into the foam and you will get a perfect hole nearly every time.

That was MrSmoothie

[t01ga]

Most grateful to MrSmoothie.

By the way if you are looking for a touch up paint these two are almost perfect match. I have gone a little overboard with weathering towards the nose which needed a re-paint. I have put some comparison photos where you can see the match

[apmech1]

But you can't fly the whole flight with the gear down. It looks weird. The time with the gear down is quite short compared to the rest of the flight. That's why I always balance with gear up. During take off and landing, I'm on the sticks with heavy input anyways, so that's not the time I'm terribly worried about the proper balance with the gear down. I always scratch my head a bit when I see people fly the bulk of the flight with the gear down. Sometimes, it's these same people who adhere to the "scale" code. Real planes lift the gear as soon as they leave the ground and don't put them down again till they are on final.

This is just a way for me test out where I like my cg. If I take off and bring the gear up and it flies bad, i will drop the gear to get cg to land, then add 1 weight. Test it again. If it is still unacceptable I will ad the second weight.

I get a 9mm rearward shift in cg when I retract the the gear. I am at 98mm w/gear down, 107mm with gear up.

I too like to pull up the gear almost immediately normally. I leave the gear down for a bit on my maidens/post overhaul. I try to get it trimmed and get to know its tendancies before I retract a rearward swinging gear. If it seems tail heavy on takeoff, i definately wouldn't retract the gear...

I also normally drop my flaps to 1/2 and drop the gear when I'm 1/2 through my downwind leg. I turn base then as I roll out on final I go to full flaps. I agree it does look wierd seing a plane fling the entire flight with gears down. We have retracts for a reason. ;)

[MrSmoothie]

In case anybody missed my hatch lift / gas cap, here are the pics again. A lot of ways to skin this cat, but the idea is here. I wrote some details about mine in an earlier post. Speaking of "posts", I've since discovered aluminum post screws at the local hardware (also on amazon.com) which are perfect for making these. I've since used them on other models, even if they don't have gas caps -- I kind of hate the dreaded "tape pull". You can also see where I epoxied some magnets inside the hatch to hold the four wing attach screws, as I can only fit this model into my Maxima wing-off. I only use hex-head socket screws (much easier to put in or out when you have to do it every trip to the field), and have switched to longer screws than those supplied with the model, once I realized how few threads were actually making it into the imbedded nuts.

[MikeT]

That's pretty slick.

Mike

[Elbee]

Here's a shot of the prop hub with the new paint.

DWL, What paint is it, Hmm? I really like the prop hub, detail. Best, LB

[Aros]

Nice Brad and MrSmoothie!

[downwindleg]

DWL, What paint is it, Hmm? I really like the prop hub, detail. Best, LB

Hey Elbee, it's a paint called Alclad II that is used to resemble chrome on plastic models. To get the chrome look you have to make the surface super smooth and put a coat or two of gloss black as a base.. I used something like Krylon but it wouldn't stick to the stock silver very well so I wound up sanding it down to the white plastic base. I didn't go for super smooth as I was looking more for the polished aluminum look rather than chrome. After the black is looking pretty glossy, like Darth Vader's helmet, and dry you mist on a layer or two of the Alclad. It's pretty amazing to watch it flash off and get polished looking right before your eyes.:Cool: I didn't want to run it through my airbrush so used the rattle can version. Here's a couple of pics. I did a test on the gloss black paint cap to see what it looked like. The alclad is on the right of picture. Hope that helps. It's allot of trouble for one little hub but I totally associate the shiny hub with the Corsair and Hellcat and many other radials. The stock silver paint just wasn't doing it for me. I found out about this from a buddy in Connecticut that built a Yellow P-38 for me. He used this process on the nose of his P-38 to resemble polished aluminum. Apparently in Europe, the gun noses of the bare metal P-38s were polished to resemble recon noses to fool the enemy. It was often mistaken by modelers and artists looking at black and white pictures from the war for the color blue hence allot of blue P-38 noses.;)

[Pheonix]

I used a Xicoy CG meter to balance my birds. Believe me this set-up is the best for balancing planes. It is a little on the upper end price wise, but it takes out the balancing guess work.

[apmech1]

I used a Xicoy CG meter to balance my birds. Believe me this set-up is the best for balancing planes. It is a little on the upper end price wise, but it takes out the balancing guess work.

Yeah the rulers busted on my great planes cg meter. I use 3 food scales to calculate my cg. If you do this method you must ensure you model is at an attitude that will be neutral when flying straight and level. I pick an arbitrary datum line (lI pick the wing leading edge at the wing root). Measure the distance from the datum line to each wheel (arm). Multiply the weight x arm = moment. Add all moments together. The divide the sum of the moments by the sum.of the weights. That number will give you the cgs distance from your datum line. That's how we do it on full scale planes as well.
You can also figure out your lateral cg as well. Use centerline as datum. Tail wheel / nose wheel weight is not needed because their moment will always be zero becuase distance to centerline is zero.
you will also have your models total weight.

You can also calculate the exact amount of weight and the exact postion you need if your cg is off.

I can imagine that the xicoy is very accurate due to it basically doing the same steps from above.

[Elbee]

Hey Elbee, it's a paint called Alclad II that is used to resemble chrome on plastic models. To get the chrome look you have to make the surface super smooth and put a coat or two of gloss black as a base.. I used something like Krylon but it wouldn't stick to the stock silver very well so I wound up sanding it down to the white plastic base. I didn't go for super smooth as I was looking more for the polished aluminum look rather than chrome. After the black is looking pretty glossy, like Darth Vader's helmet, and dry you mist on a layer or two of the Alclad. It's pretty amazing to watch it flash off and get polished looking right before your eyes.:Cool: I didn't want to run it through my airbrush so used the rattle can version. Here's a couple of pics. I did a test on the gloss black paint cap to see what it looked like. The alclad is on the right of picture. Hope that helps. It's allot of trouble for one little hub but I totally associate the shiny hub with the Corsair and Hellcat and many other radials. The stock silver paint just wasn't doing it for me. I found out about this from a buddy in Connecticut that built a Yellow P-38 for me. He used this process on the nose of his P-38 to resemble polished aluminum. Apparently in Europe, the gun noses of the bare metal P-38s were polished to resemble recon noses to fool the enemy. It was often mistaken by modelers and artists looking at black and white pictures from the war for the color blue hence allot of blue P-38 noses.;)

DWL, Thank you. Very impressive work.:) I have read about the Alclad paints here and online, you've convinced me to give it a go. Did you add a gloss clear final coat? Best, LB

[thisguy65]

Which one would you say is easier to fly. Corsair or 1600 Spitfire?


I’m about to pull the trigger but have never flown a Corsair. What I fly fine are Eflite f-16, viper, p47 1.2m. T-28 1.2m

I do have the 1600 Spitfire and have flown it 4 times I do love that plane.

[dkalwishky]

I have and fly both. I would give a slight edge to the Corsair simply because it has a wider landing gear stance and is a little easier in ground handling when there is a crosswind.

[thisguy65]

Thank you sir!

[downwindleg]

DWL, Thank you. Very impressive work.:) I have read about the Alclad paints here and online, you've convinced me to give it a go. Did you add a gloss clear final coat? Best, LB

Thanks LB. I did not use a gloss clear final coat. I don't think it was recommended.

[Alpha]

I have and fly both. I would give a slight edge to the Corsair simply because it has a wider landing gear stance and is a little easier in ground handling when there is a crosswind.

I'd agree, the Corsair's wider gear stance gives an edge on ground handling and landing without scraping wing tips.

[downwindleg]

DWL, Thank you. Very impressive work.:) I have read about the Alclad paints here and online, you've convinced me to give it a go. Did you add a gloss clear final coat? Best, LB

Hey LB, I would just add one more piece of advice to you and anyone else trying this system. I wound up doing the paint scheme a second time after realizing, to my horror,:Scared:that I left a fingerprint on one side of the hub. Wound up stripping the hub back down to plastic and starting over. So, I've learned to go heavy on the gloss black base ie. several coats and light ie.one coat on the Allclad. The more coats you add, the less polished it looks. The gloss black base is critical to the polished look.

[thisguy65]

What is everyone using for rates? Hoping to maiden mine Friday. Low book rates? I’m on grass and the elevator looks like it has a lot of authority with minimum movement.

any tips, tricks? Elevator to flap mix?

With warbirds I’ll pin the tail down and roll throttle in slowly, relax the elevator and let the tail come up. Continue to roll power in and lift off

[downwindleg]

What is everyone using for rates? Hoping to maiden mine Friday. Low book rates? I’m on grass and the elevator looks like it has a lot of authority with minimum movement.

any tips, tricks? Elevator to flap mix?

With warbirds I’ll pin the tail down and roll throttle in slowly, relax the elevator and let the tail come up. Continue to roll power in and lift off

I actually hold full up rather than down on the elevator to maintain tail wheel control and avoid noseovers. As I roll in power, I usually hold some right rudder to overcome prop torque and keep a straight track while slowly relaxing the elevator to let the tail come up and just be on the mains. Then lift off slowly as you gain speed and altitude, raise the flaps and the gear for some serious fun.:Cool: