Official FMS 1500mm P-47D Razorback Thread

[davegee]

Looks great, Rex. I can see just looking down the length of your fuse that you have done a nice job prepping it for paint. Should really turn out great when you paint it.

Cheers

Davegee

[Elbee]

jetfool..

Really great work, Rex. Yeppers, it can difficult to find a place to stop. You go until it feels right and then move to the next part. That works for me anyway. Best, LB

[jetfool]

Thanks guys.
I need to finish wet sand the hatch to get it like the fus.. Wings are in the final sanding prep also.
Yes, I will get to a point where I say "THATS ENOUGH", but it is fun seeing this go past just being a factory model, you guys understand. Thanks for starting me on this journey over 2 yrs. ago with my Corsair.

Best Regards, Rex

[jetfool]

THAT'S Enough!

Added the tail bumper jack and I think that's all the mods on the fuselage and wings. I still need to detail the cockpit but after an Alcohol rub down (maybe a beer also) I will start painting the grey paint on the undersides.

Davegee, Did you paint your gear struts with steel paint or not? Looking to find a decal for the struts also. Forgot, I want to add the shortening retraction on the gear too.

Every time I sit and think about it I find more things to add. Anyone else have this problem?

Best Regards, Rex

[davegee]

THAT'S Enough!

Added the tail bumper jack and I think that's all the mods on the fuselage and wings. I still need to detail the cockpit but after an Alcohol rub down (maybe a beer also) I will start painting the grey paint on the undersides.

Davegee, Did you paint your gear struts with steel paint or not? Looking to find a decal for the struts also. Forgot, I want to add the shortening retraction on the gear too.

Every time I sit and think about it I find more things to add. Anyone else have this problem?

Best Regards, Rex

Hi Rex: sounds like things are really coming alonig. I have one more minor suggestion, totally up to you if you want to do it or not, but the FMS P-47 has three small (3) rectangular depressions in the foam, two on the left side of the fuse between the cockpit and the wing, and one on the right side of the fuse, again between the cockpit and the wing.

These were pull out spring-loaded handles to get up to the cockpit from the wing. The usual way of getting up to the cockpit was to get behind the flap, pull on the closest of the two handles that are flush to the fuselage, and both come out around 90 degrees. You use this as a hand hold then once you are up on the wing, grab onto the next one and you are near the cockpit. Although not used nearly as much, there is one pull out handle on the right fuse if you wanted to get up to the plane that way. I would guess maintenance personnel used the right side handle, but the pilots used the left side, maybe alluding to how people mount a horse to ride.

I used a little piece of wood like a toothpick or somehing, cut it so it fit flush to the depression in the foam, glue it in, and you're done. I bet few rc builders do that. On my larger models for competition. I had these handles springloaded so that when you pulled on them, they came out just like the real thing. I didn't bother with a foamie,but it looks more finished or complete that way, IMHO.

I'll attach a couple pics on my I Wanted Wings P-47 for demonstration. Just thought I'd bring that up for consideration before you start priming and painting.

I did not paint my struts steel color, I just left them the silver color that they came installed on the airplane. I found a few decals from books to copy, cut out, and print. Not the best, but they are what was on the plane. I don't know if Callie has any or she could certainly make some if you have a decal from a book or plastic model sheet that she could blow up and you could stick them on your gear strut.

The "shrinker bars" that I think you are alluding to can be made easily with a 1/16 inch diameter rod and glued or fastened to the back of the strut and ensuring that it doesn't interfere with the operation of the main gear. It was a fascinating subject for me, again showing how marvelous the engineers at Republic were in designing the gear to "shrink" 9 inches to fit in the gear wells on retraction, and "grow" by that same amount on extension so they had the proper prop clearance for landing!

Also, I found a couple of pics from the memory locker on my computer. They are of my 1/6 scale P-47M Lorene that I flew in some competitions around 2005 timeframe before I donated it to the Evergreen Museum In McMinnville, OR. The other pics show detail I scratchuilt into one of the wings for demonstration purposes. Everything, bullets, guns, feeder cassettes, etc., were scratchuilt, with openable breaches where they load the guns on the ground. I think each gun had about 25 parts I had to make and then glue together. On hte photo of the plane landing, you can see that the cowl flaps are open. I made up a servo-operated system to be able to open/close the cowl flaps as needed. On this day as I remember, it was a Very hot June day and I kept them open for the landing, too to help keep the Brison-Sachs 4.5 cu. in gas motor from getting too hot.

Cheers

Davegee

[jetfool]

Davegee,
Thanks for the handle idea, I'll add them, simple to do. Will add the retraction struts too.
I remember reading and seeing the photos of your P-47 in the magazine's. I drooled over how clever it was and thought of trying that on my Yellow P-47 but never got the courage. The FMS P-47 for a foamy really allows a lot of detail to be added and has been making the cold 0-degree days go by instead of watching TV and looking out the window. LOL
After spraying the grey on I'll let it set for a few days to cure out and harden before the OD paint. Need to order Callie's decals and a Spitfire mirror from Motion RC and maybe have this done and back together by mid Feb.

If FL ever makes a 1600 bubble-top P-47, that's the P-47M I want to paint.

Best Regards, Rex

[davegee]

Yeah, an easy little addition, the boarding handles, being that they took the trouble to put those handhold depressions in all their P-47 kits. You can point those out to inquisitive observers as to “how you get into a P-47? “Actually, I’ve seen videos of people climbing up from the front of the airplane grabbing onto one of the machine gun tubes then putting a foot on the main gear tire, then shimmying up onto the wing.

You’ll have a beauty of a Jug when you get done with it!

Cheers

davegee

[jetfool]

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

[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

[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,
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'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

[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]

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

Thanks, Rex

[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

[Grossman56]

Looks good Rex, -1 here in Cody.

[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

[Elbee]

jetfool

Nice work, Rex.

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

Best, LB

[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

[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