Official FMS 1500mm P-47D Razorback Thread

[davegee]

Spent a good part of the day doing some painting of the turbo supercharger hood and that area. Applied several nomenclature vinyl transfers from Callie. Installed the plumbing and sway braces for the drop tank. Pretty happy with the way things are turning out so far. Supposed to be snowy here all day tomorrow so I think I'll be spending a lot of time working on what I can. Callie's decal package should be coming soon. I can do a lot on this thing before they arrive.

Cheers

Davegee

[f4u ausie]

Looking awsome as usual... Look fward to that pik. Infront of that awsome mountain

[davegee]

Thanks, f4u aussie. I’m hoping to wrap up this project in the next couple of weeks, then off to the field for some pics and resuming flying again!

cheers

davegee

[Elbee]

[QUOTE=davegee;n397160] Pretty happy.....so far.

DG, Then I suppose that will have to do. Lookin' good...real good. Best. LB

[jetfool]

Davegee,

Looking FANTASTIC!

I haven't purchased a 3-D printer yet. Looking at the new Prusa Mini + Looks like it has many new features, $450 doesn't look like too bad of a deal. Maybe Elbee can give me his thoughts as I will be a beginner on using one and want to get the best bang for my buck.

Best Regards, Rex

[Elbee]

Davegee,

I haven't purchased a 3-D printer yet. Looking at the new Prusa Mini + Looks like it has many new features, $450 doesn't look like too bad of a deal. Maybe Elbee can give me his thoughts as I will be a beginner on using one and want to get the best bang for my buck.

Best Regards, Rex

Well Rex,

I am a Prusa Fanboy; however, a Prusa is all I have ever owned.

I did my due diligence before making the initial purchase and I bought the i3 Mk3 kit in the Fall of 2018.

Any issues I have had were/are always self-inflicted.

My maintenance after 4+ years was to replace all the linear bearings, add the Mk3S Upgrade kit, add a new LCD screen (Black background), add a 'Satin" print sheet which is smooth versus my original textured sheet, but I print with either depending on the print design.

My printer was printing great, so I did not install the upgrade until the Mk3 firmware updates no longer supported new features for the Mk3 alone.

That was last year.

When the Prusa Mini was introduced I thought about getting one as a second printer and teaching 'she whose authority exceeds my rank' how to do her own prints.

I had just bought the Mk3S upgrade which improved the filament sensor by light-years and when I asked Tamms if would use the Prusa Mini, she looked at me like I had just run over her foot

I know davegee has had some WiFi issues and USB with his Mini, but I cannot imagine those can not be easily sorted.

I have thought about upgrading to a Mk4 just for the the new awesome Extruder design, 32 bit processor, and Input-Shaper features.

These features seriously provide faster printing and smoother extrusion control, BUT a properly setup reliable printer is all I require and the Mk3S Conversion has given me that.

Bigger is not always better. Most of my larger prints are larger in "Z" (height) not in surface area.

If I was looking again, the Mini would be what I need, but the Mk4 would be what I would want.

Make sense.

The key is 'reliability' as I spend my time tinkering with the designs, and I don't want to have to tinker with a printer, too.

I will close this by saying, a printer enclosure is a must IMHO.

I used 2 IKEA "Lack" end tables 22 x 22 x 18 by, added Plexiglas to the sides, and printed all the attachment hardware.

There are STLs and instructions on the Prusa website.

This little addition keeps temperatures consistent and your printer pristine.

That is my $00.02 USD worth.

Best, Steve

[jetfool]

Thanks, Elbee. The MINI+ should do everything my ability can handle and the H.S. uses them in class so I should have good advice from their teacher if I run into problems. Thanks for the advice on building an enclosure, thought I would have to buy one for it. Any extra's that you recommend at my time of purchase would be appreciated. I am looking forward to making projects for a lot of my models. You and many others here have opened my eyes to a new tool I can hardly wait to use.

Now back to Dave's P-47

[davegee]

Thanks, Elbee. The MINI+ should do everything my ability can handle and the H.S. uses them in class so I should have good advice from their teacher if I run into problems. Thanks for the advice on building an enclosure, thought I would have to buy one for it. Any extra's that you recommend at my time of purchase would be appreciated. I am looking forward to making projects for a lot of my models. You and many others here have opened my eyes to a new tool I can hardly wait to use.

Now back to Dave's P-47

Thanks for the above comments on the Prusa printers. Although I still have an unresolved software issue, I am confident that it will be fixed when I have the time to address it. When it does print, the quality is first class. I printed several of Elbee's Corsair wheel parts and I think they came out as well as can be expected. The problem with mine has never been the printing itself, but the inability for my printer to recognize certain G Code language. It simply doesn't show up on the screen when I plug in the USB drive with the G codes on it. We have played with the G code string and sometimes it then recognizes it. That is the last hurdle that I have with it, and as I say, I expect to be printing parts on a regular basis later this year. I agree with Elbee that the Prusa is really a great printer (not that I have a lot of experience with other brands) but I think it will work for me. I think you are making a good choice, Rex.

Back to the P-47, Penrod and Sam. I just got Callie's graphics in the mail today, and am working on applying them to the plane. I'll attach a pic of one side of the fuse that I just finished. Her stuff really worked out great for this project. Lots more to do, but one by one, I'm knocking down these necessary steps.

Cheers

Davegee

[davegee]

In a flurry of activity the past few days, I just pretty much finished up the Penrod and Sam redo this afternoon. From here, I'll find areas that I want to make minor changes or upgrades to, which is pretty much a given, for warbird lovers.

I'm attaching a few pics of various parts of the plane I have been working on. For one, I needed to repaint all the wheel wells in yellow zinc chromate versus what the model came in. I think that maybe one of the other production lines (Evansville, IN) might have used green zinc chromate in some parts, but this should be pretty accurate for Republic Long Island planes, which this is a one. Did some details on the landing gear like brake lines, decals, etc. Still have to add the scale "shrinker bars" that on the real airplane retracted the main landing gear by 9 inches during retraction to make it fit within the wheel wells. It was purely mechanical and kept Republic from having to put longer landing gear and bigger wings on the airplane had they not come up with this ingenious device.

We have about 5 inches of snow on the ground in a storm that moved out a few hours ago, so I"ll have to wait until next week to do some flying on the airplane after the snow melts.

I'm really happy with how this plane came out. Even better would be a model made of fiberglass or carbon fiber over foam, but then the price goes up considerably! This will do.



Cheers

Have a good weekend, everybody!

Davegee

[Elbee]

davegee Outstanding. Best, LB

[davegee]

Thanks, it is a fun project and I learned about Minwax!!

[davegee]

I found some scrap aluminum tubing 3/32" diameter versus the 1/16 inch I used for my other airplanes. It was close enough, and the steel wire that I had in my shop which was slightly too big to fit in the 1/16 inch tube fits fine in the slightly larger one. This piece of detail I did is called the "shrinker bar." It was hooked to the main wheel area below the oleo strut and the other end to structure at the top of the gear mount. Its purpose was to mechanically shorten the main gear during gear retraction by 9 inches. This allowed the gear to be tucked into the wells without having to build a bigger airplane without this feature. It was strictly a mechanical device and worked beautifully with this airplane (conversely, when the gear was extended, the shrinker bar allowed the gear to extend that same 9 inches). I have a closeup pic showing the left main gear. You can see an angled tubular strut, which is the shrinker bar. Coming out of the bottom of the shrinker tube is a steel wire that slides up and down inside the shrinker tube. This wire is attached to the gear below the compressible oleo strut on the gear tube. Now, mine is not functional for a little foamie model like this, but when the gear does compress on landing, takeoff, or taxiing, the little rod moves up and down inside the shrinker tube. I like playing with arcane but important details even with foamies.

Another pic shows the V3 1700mm Corsair prop hub in front of the airplane where the smaller stock hub is presently installed. I plan on flying with the stock hub at least one flight before I put the larger, more scale prop on. I have dozens of flights with this larger prop attached to my other P-47s, and it works, looks, and sounds great. I was turned onto this idea by f4u aussie who had already had successful flights with his planes. As long as you are careful, there is no need to have a prop strike with the bigger propeller.

Cheers

davegee

[jetfool]

Davegee,

Looks GREAT. Everything you've done has turned it into a miniature real P-47. Glad you tried the poly-clear. Have fun with your squadron of 47s this summer.

Best Regards, Rex

[davegee]

Davegee,

Looks GREAT. Everything you've done has turned it into a miniature real P-47. Glad you tried the poly-clear. Have fun with your squadron of 47s this summer.

Best Regards, Rex

Thanks, Rex. I am hoping the snow will melt enough this upcoming week to do some test flights on Penrod and Sam. It is probably going to be a gooey mess trying to make the dirt road out to the field for a few days, but maybe I'll get lucky and get to fly. Will post pics when I do. I might bring the big prop with me for the second flight if the first one goes well. I have to change out the prop shaft which is bigger to handle the bigger prop, but it is only 4 screws to remove/replace the old one for the new. Will have to remove the cowling which has three tiny screws to access it, though first. We'll see. In the seven flights I have on it so far, just a couple were needed to get it dialed in, more or less. The last 5 flights went pretty well and it is flying as it should.

Cheers

davegee

[davegee]

I took my new FMS P-47D "off the line" on January 30 in the default paint scheme that came out of the box. This morning, I had my first flight with its new look as Penrod and Sam. So, that was a lot of work crammed into three weeks, but I'm happy with the results. Would be Much easier if we could get planes without all the stickers to make the paint schemes that we want, but that's a whole other subject.

Plane flew just as it did before I took it apart for the redo project. I kept the stock prop on it for at least this flight, and that flight went well enough today that I am removing it in favor of the larger, more scale looking FMS Corsair V3 prop, which is on my other jugs, too.

Also took my B-2 up today, first time since last fall. A little rusty on directional steering on takeoff, but once it was in the air, it was really a beautiful spectacle to see. Landing went reasonably well, and I'll start putting it back in my flying rotation of my planes as we start approaching spring in the next several weeks.

This redo on the FMS P-47 changed it from a famous plane flown in the Pacific Theater in WWiI, to one flown by Major Bob Johnson of the 56th Fighter Group. I stated in earlier posts that he flew this airplane for a brief time, scoring his 26th and 27th kills before completing his combat tour shortly before D-Day 1944.

I'll post some photos I took at the field this morning. You can see some additional detail on the engine cowl area, and on the landing gear you can see the slanted rod that is supposed to be the shrinker bar that shortened the strut to allow the gear to to fit in the wheel wells upon gear retraction. Close in on the right wing you can see the gun camera port. Out of the picture further in towards the wing root is the oval ram air cockpit ventilation port. I did add some scale looking brake lines to the struts, too.

Cheers

Davegee

[davegee]

Here is the P-47 with the larger Corsair V3 prop. I am going to try and fly it with the new prop on it soon, possibly tomorrow morning if the weather is favorable. I'll report back how it goes.

Cheers


Davegee

[Elbee]

davegee I am quickly running out of superlatives for your work, Sir. Bravo Zulu. She is a beautiful thing. Best, LB

[davegee]

davegee I am quickly running out of superlatives for your work, Sir. Bravo Zulu. She is a beautiful thing. Best, LB

Thanks so much, Elbee, I appreciate your kind words. I have mostly shied away from NMF paint schemes in the past in favor of camo colors. I think my favorites are the ones used on just a handful of airplanes in the 56th FG in the summer of 1944 as the first bubbletop P-47s (-25 versions) started to make their way to at least the top brass initially, and then eventually to the rest of the pilots. The RAF Ocean Grey and the RAF Dark Green pattern was very cool and I have used it a bunch of times. However, once I decided to make this particular airplane paint scheme of Bob Johnson's I almost immediately loved this new look (for me.)

I've only got the first flight on the new paint job, but I found it was very easy to recognize its attitude while flying today. It really looks great if I do say so myself, and of course, FMS built a very nice version of the P-47 that flies great and looks great. It has a few head scratchers like "why in the heck did they put springs on the tail wheel gear doors so that when it taxies on the ground, the tail wheel doors move in concert with the tail wheel movement?" That was all easily remedied by removing that nonsense and just stringing a small spring from a ballpoint pen across the doors which splayed them out and works perfectly for a snappy retraction and extension of the tail wheel. Not that I'm complaining. They did a really good job overall, and it flies almost as good as my Flightline Corsair, which is probably my best flying foamie prop warbird in my fleet. I'm looking forward to spring and warmer temps to fly all my stuff!

Cheers

Davegee

[MikeT]

Had mine out the other day after it sitting for a few years. Great flyer.

Mike

[davegee]

I posted some pics on "What did you fly today" area, but I'll post a few I took here showing the more scale V3 Corsair prop.

Cheers

Davegee