Official FMS 1500mm P-47D Razorback Thread

[jetfool]

Your riveting looks so good I"ll steal that process for my P-38. I learn something everyday useful. Thanks
Rex

[Grossman56]

Grossman56,
Your Corsair came out fantastic. What are you working on now? Flying season will be here before long. I have my Dynam B-26 hanging above workbench waiting for its turn on the bench, I have most of the 3d parts for it. Want to try to make operating bomb doors as a few others have done. Fingers crossed.
Best Regards, Rex

Hi Rex, working on my Old Crow, reassembling her after the last 'incident' She's a converted Freewing Iron Ass P51D I've had for years. She developed a nasty habit of rolling over on take off and smucking into the ground!!! Finally figured out why when I checked the A3L gyro, seems the thing was wonky when I tried setting it up again. Anyway, she ripped out her L/G which is typical and, of course, broke the pins off her left landing gear door. You can only order spare gear doors in complete packages, so needless to say, I have clamshell doors and tail wheel doors coming out of my you-know-what.
Since I have this problem, undoubtedly so do many others so I'm going into tinkercad to come up with a design that will attach to the old broken doors and make them new again!
Meanwhile, the punches from Harbor Freight got here so I'm going to start in on the P51B, got to get that pesky broken screw out of the motor mount first. Solved the problem of attaching the wing to the fuse by salvaging pieces from BBD.
Oh, then I have the retracts to replace on the Corsair....it never ends!! Fortunately , I'm working 4 days a week starting next month which will help a lot. People just don't want me to leave, but it's getting to that time. Next January I'm calling it quits, heck I'll be 73 then, ENOUGH ALREADY!
Meanwhile, the weather has been incredible out here, except for the wind, low to mid 50's and we're getting a little worried about long dry and hot summers.
As for riveting...

I Sometimes used my little 6" ruler to evenly space the 'rivets' and where there were rivets on either side of a panel line, I staggered them. After a while, I just eyeballed them as my brain had the spacing down.
As for the cowling, I used a Tee pin for a bigger diameter and the smaller ones in between. This is pretty accurate according to pictures.





It's time consuming but WOW it makes a difference.

Grossman56
(Dangerous Dan)

[jetfool]

Grossman,
Sounds like you are a valued employee, and co- workers don't want you to leave. Cherish those friendships. Also there comes a time that you need to take time for yourself and enjoy being a kid again. I just turned 70 last December. Retirement is great if you have hobbies and friends to BS with. I'm fortunate in both. My buddy is a retired DR. and now uses his fancy medical scaples and hemostats to build his rc models.
Old airplanes are hard to keep parts, but rebuilding is a job I enjoy. Guys in club bring their broke planes in trash bags hoping I can fix them. Most are the younger guys that are working and raising family and don't have time or $ to buy new.
I am going to try the rivet idea when I get to modding my FL P-38 sometime. Many projects in front of that first.
Your Corsair needs to be in contests in your region it's that good!
OLE BOB is ready for the show, can't thank you enough.
Best Regards, Rex

[vrosi1963]

the best way to get dialed in with a new plane is touch and goes, i run Dave Brown foams over the bearing supported fms 1700mm tigercat rims one of my five 1200mm eflight modified arfs , Three razors and two converted bubbles e-flight little chief 1200mm custom P47 razorback, so easy to fly , will do a foam tire conversion for the 1500mm this year when i buy a arf , the stock hard tires never impress me especially for a paved surface. i only operate off a hard surface

[jetfool]

vrosi1964,
Agree on the OEM tires. I have changed all my warbirds to Robart tires. They work better for me.

[vrosi1963]

vrosi1964,
Agree on the OEM tires. I have changed all my warbirds to Robart tires. They work better for me.

Dave Browns are the softest on the market , but you you cant leave the plane on its wheels or you will have some nice flat spots over time

[davegee]

I'm working on the wings and horizontal tail at the moment. Specifically, I'm working on the bottom side of the left wing. This was a replacenent wing for one that was battle damaged, and the plane flew a couple of missions with the entire wing unpainted as they needed it to fly missions. When time allowed, they painted the upper wing surface in the Ocean Gray and Dark Green disruptive camo pattern. The bottom of the wing was not painted and left NMF aluminum.

For this small window in time when the upper wing was repainted but the bottom of the wing left bare metal, I have been using a variety of silver paints to try and represent the new and unpainted lower wing surface. I masked off individual panels on the bottom wing surface, and used Alclad II Aluminum, Polished Aluminum, Duralumin, and a variety of silver rattlecan paints from the local Ace.

Waiting on Tamiya spray paints from Amazon. They'll be here in the next week or so. In the meantime, I work on what is available and here.

Davegee

[vrosi1963]

useful videos Republic P-47 Thunderbolt Walkaround Video. Smithsonian Museum Detailed Tour and Cockpit of P-47D Thunderbolt "Bonnie"

[davegee]

I've been working on some detail work on the trim tabs for the elevators and left wing aileron tab today. I used aluminum tubes and a slightly larger tube sanded at an angle to get the effect of a tapered, drag reducing fitting on the elevators and left aileron.

[davegee]

useful videos Republic P-47 Thunderbolt Walkaround Video. Smithsonian Museum Detailed Tour and Cockpit of P-47D Thunderbolt "Bonnie"

good source info. Thanks for posting, James.

Cheers

davegee

[Elbee]

davegee

Great detail, Sir.

Looks the part and not easy to replicate on our foamies.

Best, LB

[davegee]

davegee

Great detail, Sir.

Looks the part and not easy to replicate on our foamies.

Best, LB

Yeah, it was fun to experiment doing some extra details on this foamie that I have not attempted before.
Thanks!

Davegee

[davegee]

Completed spraying bottoms of horizontal stabs/elevators with Tamiya Medium Sea Grey. The very bottom of the fuse, plus the bottom of the right wing will also be painted Medium Sea Grey. The left wing underneath will remain NMF silver color.

James in California informed me that he is making good progress on the fuselage mod to a bubbletop, so that might be ready to be shipped back to me at the end of the month, or thereabouts. I'm really looking to seeing the results and working towards finishing the airplane for flight testing late spring or summer.

Cheers

davegee

[jetfool]

Davegee,
Looking very good. the little details add that magic touch.
Best Regards, Rex

[davegee]

Davegee,
Looking very good. the little details add that magic touch.
Best Regards, Rex

Thanks, Rex. There are some little curved actuator covers on each aileron on the bottom, sorta bean shaped that I hope to add onto each aileron. That will definitely be a scratchbuilt project to make all six (three on each aileron) of them to be the right shape and size. I'll do that before I try to spray the bottom right wing with Medium Sea Grey color. For the left wing which will remain NMF silver on the bottom side I'll just spray them silver and glue them on. Haven't tried that before, would be better to have them printed, but I can figure out the old tried and true method of scratchbuilding! My favorite wood for projects like this is to use basswood.

Howz your prep for the two planes for your trip to Toledo? What weekend is that again, in April?

Cheers

Davegee

[jetfool]

Davegee,
I made my actuator covers out of a balsa mold, stuck mold in modelers clay six times and poured epoxy. looks good after paint. To hold the balsa while craving I glued it to a toothpick so I could hold it.
I'm into the dirty wet sanding on the Phantom main parts. MESSY! Our friend has sent the R/C Geeks canopy 3d parts for the opening canopy., should arrive tomorrow. The R/C Geek is sending 2 3d pilot busts which I'll have to paint (Where -o- Where did Dan Go). Most of the small parts, landing gear covers, missiles etc. are ready for final detail and paint.
Worked on the P-47 today going over everything checking. Will assemble and take some outdoor pictures when it's nicer weather before Toledo.
The show is April 10-11 so I think I'll have everything finished in 2-3 weeks then put together my Doc's book. I have everything for them just need to put together. I think somedays I won't make it but my buddy has just finished covering his Jenny wings but assures me he will be ready for the show. He's a retired Dr. and his models are masterpieces and he works great under pressure.
Your progress so far is fantastic.
Best Regards, Rex

[Grossman56]

Hey Rex, here I am!
Send them to me if you want.

Grossman56
(Dangerous Dan)

[jetfool]

Dan,
Thanks for the offer. I think they have the oxygen masks on so just need to paint the helmet, mask and bust in his flight suit. Haven't received them yet but think I can do it. Will let you know if I fail.

Best Regards, Rex

[davegee]

Davegee,
I made my actuator covers out of a balsa mold, stuck mold in modelers clay six times and poured epoxy. looks good after paint. To hold the balsa while craving I glued it to a toothpick so I could hold it.
I'm into the dirty wet sanding on the Phantom main parts. MESSY! Our friend has sent the R/C Geeks canopy 3d parts for the opening canopy., should arrive tomorrow. The R/C Geek is sending 2 3d pilot busts which I'll have to paint (Where -o- Where did Dan Go). Most of the small parts, landing gear covers, missiles etc. are ready for final detail and paint.
Worked on the P-47 today going over everything checking. Will assemble and take some outdoor pictures when it's nicer weather before Toledo.
The show is April 10-11 so I think I'll have everything finished in 2-3 weeks then put together my Doc's book. I have everything for them just need to put together. I think somedays I won't make it but my buddy has just finished covering his Jenny wings but assures me he will be ready for the show. He's a retired Dr. and his models are masterpieces and he works great under pressure.
Your progress so far is fantastic.
Best Regards, Rex

Hi Rex: that is a great idea on the hinge covers. Is it possible to mail me the mold so I could make some of my own? Or, I couild fabricate all six out of wood that I think can get pretty close in size and shape. Still another idea, Dan do you think you could make me an STL for one of these if I provide the dimensions and shape? Let me know if you can do that, or have the time and/or interest to help out on that. Once I have an STL, I can adjust the size to correct if needed for any finetuning.

Cheers

Davegee

[jetfool]

Davegee,
Let me check my bag of P-47 parts. I usually keep everything I make with each plane.
Rex