Official FMS 1500mm P-47D Razorback Thread

[Grossman56]

Let the fun begin!

Feeling a bit under the weather and work is just taking it out of me. Hopefully, Schilling should be finished by next week.
Now, how about a bubble top Corsair?? (I shouldn't suggest that!)

Grossman56
(Dangerous Dan)

[davegee]

Thanks, LB. I ordered a linear servo from Amazon yesterday but it won’t be here for almost 2 weeks to test it. In the meantime, I have been printing and modifying cockpit parts and just this afternoon started modifying the oil cooler flaps and the waste gates on either side of the lower cowl area.

First of all, for a foamie P-47 flyable model, this one from FMS is tops, IMHO. I always wanted a bubbletop, too, but until James made us aware of his abilities to modify it to a bubbletop, I was resigned that the bubble top would never materialize. But it will now!

Today I modified some plastic pieces for a more scale look of the waste gates. The stock model has these pieces molded with long exhaust tubes which the real ones did not have. Plus, when you slice off these tubes with a razor knife, they are oval shape which is inaccurate. I cut some rings of brass and glued them in to these areas to give a nice round exhaust. I’ll make up some scale wastegates partially open for a more scale appearance.

Below is a pic showing three of these stock oil coolers/wastegates. The one on the left is how they come out of the box. The other two I cut off the extended exhaust stack that isn't scale to WWII P-47s (some restored P-47 DO have these stacks when they have removed the turbo superchargers and wastegates) but this will give a more accurate round exhaust port where I'll add a a scale wastegate on each side.


cheers

davegee

[jetfool]

IT'S IN THE HOUSE! Yippee! The first P-47 Bubble Top FMS 1500 in the country. Popcorn is Poppin. We need another rebuild on this forum, can't wait.

Yes, I see the BIG grin on your face, Rex

[Elbee]

davegee

I look forward to seeing your progress on both of these mods, Sir.

Best, LB

[davegee]

The next major step for the Hairless Joe build just unfolded today when the modified fuselage arrived from James in California via UPS. Came in great shape, no damage.

I do have a couple of things I would like to add to this airplane, besides making an accurate looking represntation of Hairless Joe in WWII: first, a powered openable canopy using a small linear motion servo to allow for it to open and close in a satisfactory manner. The second thing I'd like to do is have a droppable tank from the centerline of the fuselage using a servo release unit from EFlite. If that doesn't work, I'll buy one for the new droppable servos with the 1600mm P-51 Flightline model. (I'll probably eventually buy the P-51 model once I finish with Hairless Joe. Getting some experience with these droppable servos can help if and when I buy the P-51 down the road.)

Attached is a pic of James' excellent job of modifying this razorback to a bubbletop jug.

[Elbee]

Rex,

I use a fine grade metal polish called Simichrome and occasionally Mequier's Auto Glaze for tougher release agents.

A little goes a long way as you see by the date on the box.

After I polish the clear plastic with a Dremel buffing wheel, I use an ammonia glass cleaner to remove any residue paying particular attention to the inside.

Work lightly as there are different clear plastics and those all seem to react differently to pressure and the heat generated by buffing wheel.

The canopy is then clean enough to mask & paint.

The beauty of this method (IMHO) is the clear plastic is easier to keep clean from that point forward.

The clear materials being used by FlightLine one the Corsair and the Mitchell are very soft and wavy.

These are not very clear after their vacuum processing.

I have not found a good method to get very many flaws out of their canopies.

Hope this helps.

Best, LB

[jetfool]

Guys outside of water and a clean cloth do you put anything on the canopy to keep the clear windows crystal clear? With an open canopy I'm wanting to keep it clear for display.
Best Regards, Rex

[Elbee]

Trying to upload a pic. and it says php size to much to download. What am I doing wrong, never happened before.

Rex,

If the you took the picture your camera or phone might be set to a high resolution that results in a large mb file.

You can open the picture file in MS Paint, change the physical size by either pixal count or percentage and hit save.

Using percentage is easiest, I will use 25% for example.

If you downloaded the picture, you can still do the same thing, but make certain the file is a JPEG or JPG.

If it is multiple pictures that are adding up, you'll want to do this to each file in the group.

PITA actually, but we live with worldly constraints.

Best, LB

[jetfool]

Trying to upload a pic. and it says php size to much to download. What am I doing wrong, never happened before.

[davegee]

Christmas is coming early at Dave's place, or late depending on how you look at it. Pilot is coming along. Still getting the hand of the new camera. this is before the white straps...



And after, beside my "Big Boy'...



You can see the head on the spike in the background. It's interesting what a difference it makes when you add the white straps. Up until now the colors a pretty dark as I paint from the deepest crevices outward. He looks pretty good so far even though it was a rough session. I roughed up the boots by applying a watered down mahogany brown and then wiping it off, shows some of the dirt and mud that would accumulate on them. Still a ways to go , but looking good.

Grossman56
(Dangerous Dan)

Looking great, Dan! Schilling and a lot of other pilots were known to wear RAF boots (preferred) or something like it, for warmth (although the toasty cockpit of the P-47 didn't really need it) but mainly if they had to hit the silk, as they say, so that they would still have something on their feet for escape and evasion. Regular shoes would often fly off with the force of the parachute opening, and there you are trying to evade the Jerries in your stocking feet!

[Grossman56]

Christmas is coming early at Dave's place, or late depending on how you look at it. Pilot is coming along. Still getting the hand of the new camera. this is before the white straps...



And after, beside my "Big Boy'...



You can see the head on the spike in the background. It's interesting what a difference it makes when you add the white straps. Up until now the colors a pretty dark as I paint from the deepest crevices outward. He looks pretty good so far even though it was a rough session. I roughed up the boots by applying a watered down mahogany brown and then wiping it off, shows some of the dirt and mud that would accumulate on them. Still a ways to go , but looking good.

Grossman56
(Dangerous Dan)

[davegee]

Parts starting to stack up in the workshop. James has already sent the modified bubbletop fuselage to me via UPS, should be here next Wednesday. In the meantime, I'm starting to print up cockpit parts so I can start in on the cockpit once I get the fuselage in-hand. Looking forward to that.

Cheers

davegee

[davegee]

what size lipo are you guys running in the P47 , I like the functional struts but need functional bomb releases also. I am considering the FMS F-86 possibly or this

I use the 5000 mAH batteries exclusively for this airplane since 2016. They work great, provide a good CG when installed correctly in the nose.

I just bought a bomb release from E Flite. I'm waiting for it to show up in the next week or so. I plan on installing it in the belly of this latest P-47, and if that works out well, I'll put it in at least one more of my P-47s. I would also like to look into a bomb drop from the wing pylons but need to check to see I can run the wires without making a big mess cutting into the wings. f

I see Flightline will be offering one for their new P-51D model, I'll look into that, too, for future possibilities.

Davegee

[vrosi1963]

what size lipo are you guys running in the P47 , I like the functional struts but need functional bomb releases also. I am considering the FMS F-86 possibly or this

[jetfool]

Fabulous work, Davegee.
Best Regards, Rex

[vrosi1963]

The fuse is on its way back to Dave , finish work on the 3d plug next week

[davegee]

Today's assignment on the docket is making the simulated hydraulic lines for the brakes and the shrinker bars. They actually move like the real ones during gear operation but don't actually increase or shorten the strut length. Years ago, there was a company that made functional ones for large scale P-47s. I never built a jug in that larger scale, but if I did, I would have bought a pair of these beautifully designed landing gear struts.

A few hours later update: I got the detail parts of the brake lines and shrinker bars installed on my airplane. All totally scratchbuilt, going from photos of the real thing. Should improve the look from a stock model to something a little more realistic.

There are small things I can do this weekend like installing placards and nomenclature around the wings and tail, and once I get the fuselage in my hands it will be fulltime work on it until I'm ready to put the whole thing together for more testing. I'll attach a few pics of my work today. The angled metal tubes are the shrinker bars.

Like with my other P-47s, my E-Flite 1.5M P-51Ds, and my Corsair, they all have been fitted with the 3.5 inch diameter Robarts. In the photos there are spoked wheels that will be covered with hub caps on the P-47.

davegee

[davegee]

We were out of town for a couple of days and when we got back Callie's packet of vinyl transfers were in my mailbox. Although tired, I Had to put on at least a couple of them on the bottoms of the wings. My aircraft is very time specific and at the time I have "frozen" for the airplane's appearance, the left bottom wing was not painted but sported a big 55 inch diameter circle with the star inside. The right wing still had the standard 40 inch circle and star inside. There are invasion stripes on the bottom of the right wing, but none on the new, unpainted bottom of the left wing

Callie's work was again, beautiful! Lots more to do and then a LOT More to do once I get my converted bubbletop fuselage back from modifecation center in California.

Tomorrow I hope to reinstall the main landing gear and doors and start working on details like hydraulic lbrake lines and the shrinker bars that on the real airplane mechanically shortened the gear during retraction by 9 inches so it could fit in the wheel wells. Upon gear extension, the gear would increase by that same nine inches for prop clearance. Imagine, this technology was available over 80 years ago!

Cheers

davegee

I just finished the redo of the invasion stripes on the bottom of the right wing. That was a few hours' work, but I'm glad I did it. It now conforms to period photos of the real airplane on that bottom right wing. I don't know why this is different than other planes invasion stripe painting, but it could be that this wing was replaced while they were still supposed to have the invasion stripes on the bottom of the wing and fuse, and it was painted differently the second time. I don't know, just a guess.

[davegee]

Dave,

Hah!

I hear you.

On the rare occasion Tamms asks "What is that?" when referring to the models, I will begin to answer only to watch her eyes roll as I read her thought cloud, "This boy is crazy."

We are geniuses in our own minds, if nothing else.

Love your work.

Best, LB

Believe me, I get the SAME reaction at home with my wife!! It's good they keep their senses of humor or sanity being around the likes of us!! 🤣🤣🤣

[Elbee]

Like with consummate artists like you, Rex, Dan, and others, I know you guys would appreciate this change while others would think I'm a loon for doing it!

Cheers

davegee

Dave,

Hah!

I hear you.

On the rare occasion Tamms asks "What is that?" when referring to the models, I will begin to answer only to watch her eyes roll as I read her thought cloud, "This boy is crazy."

We are geniuses in our own minds, if nothing else.

Love your work.

Best, LB