Official FMS 1500mm P-47D Razorback Thread

[jetfool]

Davegee,

I like the dull finish so far. I'll wait until I have the white and decals before I decide if I want a polished effect. Do you think this time period they had time to polish, they were flying almost every day. A clear coat of poly would give a shiny effect

[jetfool]

Davegee,

How wide did you make your stripes on the tail and wings. Also,
how far in from the wing tips and tail tips did you start the white paint. I know they used 24" wide on the nose.
Going to order Callies decals- what scale did you order from her if you remember? !/8, 1/9. 1/10 ?
Would you post a picture of your strut retraction on your landing gear. I have it in my mind, but a picture would re-assure this old brain.
I said in the beginning I'd have a million questions

Best Regards, Rex

[davegee]

Fantastic, Rex! I was thinking, you have a possible option regarding finish on your airplane. Most warbirds have a dull finish on them. But for the top aces and their diligent crew chiefs and ground crews, sometimes they took a personal interest in their pilot’s aircraft and getting that extra couple knots of speed that might make the difference between life and death for their pilot. I’m talking about polishing the aircraft, giving it a brighter sheen than the average jug on the ramp.

Totally up to you if you want to have a slightly smoother and brighter finish on your airplane, or not. Just thought I’d throw that out for discussion.

cheers

davegee

[jetfool]

Thanks, Elbee. Came out better than I expected. Now the next 90% of finishing begins.

Best Regards, Rex

[Elbee]

jetfool

Beautiful paint finish, Rex.

Lookin' so good.

Best, LB

[jetfool]

I have finally sprayed the OD and now I'll check tomorrow to see if any touchup is needed. Less than a month to get to this point, seems longer. May need to spray some grey to blend in the wavey camouflage on Lucky from my pictures. After a day or two I will spray the white stripes on nose and tail.
Hope some of you are enjoying seeing this. Rex

[davegee]

After a hot cholate I masked the wheel wells and resprayed the yellow chromate. Still drying. Then decided to line the landing light hole with alum. tape. Used a broom handle to stretch the tape then a small artists ball to form it in the depression. After trimming I will add a wheat bulb for the light, wiggly eyes castrated for the lens and a .010" styrene flange around the lens. I think it will look OK.
I also put the pylon fillers in place, if I want the pylons two magnets hold these on. Don't think anyone will see the differance.

nice option if you want to demonstrate or even do some flights with the pylons and bombs, even though this particular airplane series did not have them developed yet for combat. I didn't find any noticeable issues with the pylons and bombs for flying.

Regarding the bazooka rocket tubes, these are thinner and I found some wonky issues as the foam tubes did bend some under the airloads. Just be careful if you try to fly with those tubes on. Lots of drag, obviously.

[jetfool]

After a hot cholate I masked the wheel wells and resprayed the yellow chromate. Still drying. Then decided to line the landing light hole with alum. tape. Used a broom handle to stretch the tape then a small artists ball to form it in the depression. After trimming I will add a wheat bulb for the light, wiggly eyes castrated for the lens and a .010" styrene flange around the lens. I think it will look OK.
I also put the pylon fillers in place, if I want the pylons two magnets hold these on. Don't think anyone will see the differance.

[davegee]

Thanks Guys. Just got home from indoor flying. 24 planes at one time in a HS gym brought a lot of mid-airs, no damage to any of these small planes. They are tough little buggars. Headed home 4pm and its only 11' out. Ready to continue on the P-47 saga.

Rex

We made it to 19 degrees by my thermometer in Cody today. Almost tried taking the dogs out for a walk but still to cold for them. We're supposed to be delivered a little out of this ice box later in the week. We missed by one degree reaching the "balmy" temps Elbee is enjoying at his home!

Cheers

Davegee

[jetfool]

Thanks Guys. Just got home from indoor flying. 24 planes at one time in a HS gym brought a lot of mid-airs, no damage to any of these small planes. They are tough little buggars. Headed home 4pm and its only 11' out. Ready to continue on the P-47 saga.

Rex

[Elbee]

jetfool

Nice work, Rex.

It's a toasty +20^o F on my front porch.

Best, LB

[davegee]

Sprayed the grey paint on the lower fuselage and wings last night. This morning it looks beautiful. Very little Latex paint was used for a good covering.



Hope everyone is staying warm, temps. here around -0.

Best Regards, Rex

Looking Very Sharp, Rex!! Nice job made easier and better with proper prepping of the foam.

I took a short video and a still of my tail wheel setup. It takes so much memory to post any video, I couldn't send the video. But this is what I have so far. Let me know if you need more. One reason for the ballpoint pen spring idea, is that the tailwheel servo can't handle much resistance from the spring when it closes. It very easily can get bound up and maybe the tail wheel won't even come out, which is a bummer for landing. Not a terrible amount of damage to the closed tail wheel doors, but some sanding and a repaint.

Get a spring from wherever that is pretty loose and does the job. Will take some experimentation, but you'll be happy you did, over the OEM FMS setup, which is laughable, IMHO. Notice how the gear doors are splayed out properly, maybe not as much as the real thing, but definitely better than just hanging straight down.

Cheers

Davegee

[Grossman56]

Looks good Rex, -1 here in Cody.

[jetfool]

Sprayed the grey paint on the lower fuselage and wings last night. This morning it looks beautiful. Very little Latex paint was used for a good covering.



Hope everyone is staying warm, temps. here around -0.

Best Regards, Rex

[jetfool]

Elbee,
Might be what I'm looking for. I can always use springs.
How is the B-25 coming along?

Thanks, Rex

[Elbee]

https://www.amazon.com/Extension-Beesini-Assortment-Different-Individual/dp/B0CXJMNDDL?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ShXR3zhvF7A2TT19mlAEplMx1mS4aq5LIFAsIURRLYRqrA4OlpcnvnAZrrNsF5ar94EN78T3Gf11DLtK0WZo7H8PQAYiiaCHnaYEAPyrvHhnPWYi_jBo-eGKISwhNGo92n2hvUMApAN58UeTZqFxJvDHzbQOkpNs1P7HcyG_fU9dp54wwpN2h5YmzcFMLk8z5klZJg8IZB1JvXxRH3QiyxBw8gFgW-PXf_vCNp_FLQc.XwyjqIqekxZ_IlMR6F4gXyuoGe1kZclxzzPtFxsgsvQ&dib_tag=se&keywords=small+extension+springs&qid=1737237180&sr=8-3

Rex,

Might take a look at these.

Best, LB

[jetfool]

Davegee,
I'll try the pen spring again. If you have a picture that would be great. I used to take springs out of old typewriters, many different sizes, but my stash and finding typewriters are long gone.

Best Regards, Rex

[davegee]

Davegee,
I'm going to use your remedy. I bought some springs from local store but they are to stiff. Probably look at McMaster- Karr for the correct tension. Ball point pen springs are not long enough but have less tension than what I bought. The joy of making things work right.
A picture of yours would be great

Best Regards, Rex

Hi Rex: there are a variety of things that could work. In most cases for me, I used ballpoint pen springs and gently stretched them out to the proper length. You can bend the ends of the spring with a needlenose pliars so that it will hook onto the small stanchions on each door on the inside.Ideally, when open the doors should splay out pretty far like the real ones do. It will take some trial and error, and adjustment from time to time. But I have found that they work pretty well, certainly more scale movement than the ridiculous arrangement FMS came up with where the tail wheel doors sashay back and forth on the groud when it is taxiing and turning. I guess it works, but not satisfactory look to me.

Cheers

Davegee

[jetfool]

Davegee,
I'm going to use your remedy. I bought some springs from local store but they are to stiff. Probably look at McMaster- Karr for the correct tension. Ball point pen springs are not long enough but have less tension than what I bought. The joy of making things work right.
A picture of yours would be great

Best Regards, Rex

[davegee]

Davegee,

Ran down to my man cave and added the handles. I added the tail jack support yesterday and then I decided to spray the wheel wells and strut covers yellow chromate. Just adding the toothpicks (flat) really stands out for the handles. I beveled the inside of the turbo charger doors to look thinner from the outside. Just looks better to me

Best Regards, Rex

Looks great, Rex. The yellow zinc chromate for the wheel wells and inner gear doors is correct. I don't know why FMS had them green zinc chromate, but that is incorrect.

The intercooler doors on the sides of the fuselage that modulate open and closed during flight, depending on cooling needs for the compressed intake air back to the carburetor were air-to-air heat exchangers that normally would not have any exhaust streaks coming out from them. I've seen modelers incorrectly have streaks coming out of them like gun exhaust or the waste gates behind the cowl of the airplane. I'd recommend not trying to "embellish" them in any way with exhaust streaks coming out of the intercooler doors.

Do you have a plan worked out for more correctly making the tail wheel doors so that they aren't set up per the incorrect way FMS designed and made the retraction/extension mechanism? There is an easy fix; let me know what your plans are and if you have any questions.

Keep up the great work!

Cheers

Davegee