Topic: Warbirds hurricane build review

Looking good Shoddy,  how about some pics when it's finished ?  Let us know how it flies.

I dont mean to hijack the thread, but a quick question.

Do you have a recommended C og G measurement ?

I was going to aim for a third of the way back from the wing leading edge, but if you have a measurement which the plane flies well on, I'd love to hear it.

Decided to paint the top coat before its maiden flight, as oil from the engine will fetch off the primer and make it a mess and make it harder to do the top coat at a later date.  Hope I'm not tempting fate  O0

Maiden should be next weekend !

Shoddy,

I don't have the figure to hand but I balanced it as per the drawing - I believe Richard recommends moving it a bit further back but I'm not sure how much.  Try it as per the drawing to start, it will change again if you repaint it anyway.

Steve

PS  Don't worry about hijacking - it keeps the thread alive !

Shoddy,

           What happend to the first flight?

           Hope it went O.K.

Rowdy

Hi Rowdy,

You beat me to it.  Test flight was last Tuesday 28th December.  It flew like it was on Rails.  No problems at all.  It was a bit windy, but the hurricane handled it perfectly.  The wind was so strong that the landing was at jogging pace on about 1/4 throttle.

I think the all up weight of mine has finished at 9Ibs with the 6 ounces of lead that I had to add to get the right C of G. Which I think is a bit too much for a model of this size.  But maybe it adds to the presence when in the air.  It certainly helped with the wind 

Motor is an SC 61 2-Stroke, and I'm using a 3 Blade Master Airscrew 13 x 6.  I just had to have a 3 blade.  I thought it might struggle, but instead it gave a very convincing performance.  Here's the finsihed plane after its maiden.  The plane seems so easy to fly.  It was very sensitive on the Elevator, but a bit of fine tuning on the transmitter has sorted that.







Now I know it flies, the next stage is to fit some Retracts.  Went to Inwoods the other day, and they wanted 80 odd quid for some spring airs    Apparently I need the large set, and now they have new fittigns and so are more expensive.  Think I'll go back to warbirds replica's and get the set from there.  I managed to create a Sliding Canopy, which was also worth it.  I just stick a pin behind it during flight to stop it blowing off in the slipstream.  I saw this project as a start into Scale Modelling, and I've learnt loads.

Its taken me a year to build.  In that time I've had to move house etc, and its been a case of a few hours a week tinkering with it in my dads garage.  But its been worth it.  The guides on this very website are what motiviated me to get it finsihed, and was a priceless tool when I was getting completely stuck, so thank you all.  I'm looking forward to some more flights in calmer conditions.  I can see all those low passes and victory rolls now  O0

The novelty of building something and then watching fly never wears off.  Third time now, here's to a few more !

Hi Shoddy,

Great to hear of the successsful flight. O0 O0

That is a really nice finish you have on that plane, what paints did you use ? and also are the decals from warbirds or did you mask them up yourself??

Also did you use a sevo for each aileron or did you manage to use the kit method.

Thanks for the reply

A Happy New Year and enjoyable flying

Rowdy

I used Flair Spectrum, Dark Earth, Matt Green and Duck Egg Blue (I think they're the names).  I brush painted them on, and then airbrushed the outlines to soften them up (only got a little airbrush at the moment).  I was a bit dissapointed with the colour, to me they was very toyish, I even started another thread on this forum about darkening the colours.  But after brushing on some Polyurethane Matt Varnish (Wiko's finest) the colours dulled down quite a lot.  I'm now 99% happy with the outcome.  As a note, I glassed the wing, and engine bay.  I then used tissue and sanding sealer for the front end all the way along the cockpit sides to where the stringers start.  I then used solar span covering to cover over the stringers and tail feathers (or rather my Dad did as I was away  8)

The main decals are from warbirds and came with the kit.  However I followed instructions in the kit for applying grey primer, adding the registration letters, doing the camo colours and then removing the registration letters.  This left a nice grey set of registration markings.

The Polish insignia, German Kill marking and the 303 Squadron badge I downloaded as images from the internet.  I then sized these and printed them onto a CD Label.  Cut this out and added it to the plane, then varnished over with polyurethane.  I'm not sure how long they'll last, but it seemed a good idea, and was certainly cheaper than paying £20 for specialist vinyl paper  O0

Yes, I used a servo for each aileron.  I followed the method earlier in this guide.  A lot easier !

Also shopping after a 4 stroke (maybe a 91) so I can hide it away in the cowling.  It'll never end... 

Hi all,
      I didn’t see the point in starting a new thread for another Warbirds Hurricane, So after checking with Slipstream (some time ago) I thought I’d post my efforts here. I don’t intend to do the whole build thing again as it would be pretty pointless, having already been covered by Slip.
So what I was going to do was just show  any different  methods I have used that may be of interest to others.

The first thing I have done differently on reading the advise of others is to  add as many lightening holes to the tail surfaces as possible. Then I built them as per plan but with 1/16th x 1/8th false ribs and 1/8th L.E. sheeting to allow me to try and get a better profile.





The tail surfaces where covered with  Sig coverall, applied with Balsaloc, ironed taut then given a couple of coats of dope. This caused me some problems as when I applied the dope it dissolved the Balsaloc and the covering started sagging! I got it taut again and fixed it with cyno around the seams before re-doping………Well it was my first attempt with this stuff.





Walts 

The three wing panels were assembled as per the instructions, although I opted to prepare the dihedral braces and their  slots in the panels first, so they could be epoxyed into the wing as it was all joined together.



I also opted to use  separate aileron  servos. After marking out and removing the skin i used  a bent piece of 10 gauge wire heated over a small gas soldering iron to first melt nice straight sides down into the wing, then gauge out the middle block. Then lined  the box with 1/16th ply.








I used slips (I think)  idea to run the servo leads through the slots intended for the torque rods, just extending them across the centre section.
Holes were melted straight through into the boxes before the aileron  facing was glued to the wing .The extension leads were laid in and the slots filled with ¼” balsa. I know it means they can’t be removed but I didn’t fancy trying to get a tube all the way through the wing, and everything was tested before being sealed in.



Walts   

I bought the mechanical retract set with the model, but noticed that in order to get the retract servo between the wheels the units had been moved well out into the wing panels.
I don’t have a problem with why it was designed this way. It was obviously the easiest way to  present easily installed retracts. But I wanted to fit mine in the scale position, so I phoned Richard at Warbirds with the view to exchanging the mechanical’s for a set of air’s that wouldn’t require the servo to be mounted between the wheels. But during our conversation Richard gave me a very good idea of how to mount the servo inverted  on the top of the wing that would still allow me to fit the wheels in the scale position. He was happy to exchange the set if I wanted but we both felt the mechanical retracts were a better option for this model.
So the first thing I did was to eyeball  the position of the full size retracts  and the shape of the well’s and draw a plan on  tracing paper, also including the position of the retract units  so it could be transferred to the centre section and double checked with the components to make sure it would work before I started cutting. The rest of the installation is pretty much self explanatory from the pic's.





















I might shorten the Oleo legs and fit larger wheels, not sure yet. Just the door covers to go after this and the wheels to track up and file slots in the pins.

Walts

Great series of pictures, interesting to see how you did it.  My Hurri is due a major overhaul this winter, and retracts have been the weak point so far after 2 years.  My problem is using the wire legs and eurokit retracts, the legs bend, and after continual straightening I have lots of slop in the retracts.  After seeing what you've achieved I'm tempted to build another and use oleo's (after completing my 190, plus the Pica Spitfire of course....)

Cant wait to see how yours flies, mine flies very well, the extra weight seems to help rather than hinder.  I've flown in winds that ground other people.  But with the weight of mine, the more headwind to land into...the better.

watching with intrest! 

Hi FF,
    Glad to hear your Hurri is still flying well after two years! that instills a lot of confidence in the design
I glued the LE's onto the wing last night, and shaped them up this morning plus rough shaped the tips and glued them on. The fus is all built apart from the stringers, but i think I'll see the wing through to completion before final assembly. I'm working on a couple of other ideas I'd like to incorporate in to this model so progress might be a bit slow.
BTW oleo's are even more unforgiving than wire legs as they are not designed to take any forward/backward movement. Therefore all the stress is transfered directly to the pin and the plate! I'll have to be extremely carefull with the landings

Walts

Wow, looking good... Makes me want to build another Warbird Replica model

What retracts and oleos are those?

Hello Zeno,
         The units are the ones supplied by Warbirds now, the Unitract light 'deluxe' versions. Which basically means they have a light weight sq. section ali push rod. Unitract's  web site says they are suitable for oleo's up to 13mm Dia.
The oleo's i used came from Motors & Rotors and are the Eurokit version with a max 11mm Dia. and are 130mm long to the axle.
Take care,
Walts

I decided one of the things I’d like to try with this model was working landing lights. So after getting hold of  a set of lights complete with a r/c switch that plugs into the receiver I melted a small hole through from the L/E to the retract recess then fed the lights through the top of the wing into the wheel well and out to the front of the wing.
The L/E was then glued on and a slot carefully cut in it to allow the light to be tapped out the way while the L/E was planed and sanded to shape.



Next two reflectors were made, the lights fitted in to them and the reflectors cyno’ed into the L/E.
Then two lenses were  moulded from flat clear plastic masked off screw detail added and the frame painted, they are only held in place with a bit of sticky tape at the mo’ hence the gap. They well be fitted once the wing is covered.







Walts

.. You got to be kidding me!? Amazing!   

Thanks Zeno for the encouragement, it helps keep things going
Its a bit slow at the mo' messing with the rad and trying to fair it in to the fus/wing.

Walts

Hi Walts,

looking good.  what engine are you planning on using ?  I put in an ASP 62 FS but at 10lbs + it could do with a bit more oomph ! Wish I had stuck a 90 in it now.

Steve

Steve,
     I intend to put my RCV90sp in it that I'm giving a good run in my Thunderbolt at the mo. I'm hoping it will fit completely in the cowl providing i can give it adequate cooling. Is yours still flying well?

Cheers Walts

It flies well but I very rarely fly it these days. I put it up for sale but no takers. It's something I keep for windy days - it flies better then, take offs are a bit of a struggle when it's calm.

Cheers Steve,
              It's good to hear it's still a good flyer
I decided to revisit the tail surfaces, originally I didn’t know whether it would be worth adding rib tapes at this scale but thought I’d give it a go in the end.
Having not done this before I decided to add small white glue blobs, allow them to dry and then cut 2mm strips of Solartex and iron them on. The whole surface was then given  another coat of dope to help blend in the tapes. My camera isn’t good enough to capture this sort of detail but I was quite pleased with the results for a first effort.
I had a bit of a dilemma trying to decide whether to take the tapes  over the tail plane l/e sheeting . But from what I can work out from photo’s  it appears the tapes do go over the l/e but are then covered with another layer of fabric (not sure) which makes them virtually invisible. So I decided to just take mine up to it.  Hopefully once the paint is on the tapes will look quite subtle and blend in well.





Walts

Quality stuff Walts.  Great idea making the back end as light as possible with all the holes.  Wish I had done that!

Any thoughts how you're going to finish the rest of the model?

I glassed the wings and front end of the fuse, then used solarspan from the rear of the cockpit (where the stringers start) and tail surfaces.  It all painted up a treat.  In hind sight I wish I had used film on the wing, especially after seeing how well the solarspan painted.  Mind you, the wing was never going to be light, not being 3 piece and a very thick centre section.

Seeing your Hurri come to life, I'm tempted to build another!

Watching with interest,

FF.

Hi FF,
     As i bought 10yds of Sig koverall from the States i was thinking of using that on the rear fus and the wings, either doped on or i might try the poly C I've had for some time. The front fus i might just tissue & dope. I should try glassing, its something I've never attempted but as i say I've got 10yds of koverall to use up
I'm going to stick with the wing now right up to the primer stage as i reckon most of the work left to do is going to be here

Walts.

I built the radiator, laid a bit of tracing paper on the wing with the wing fitted to the fus, placed the rad in position then  marked the outline on to the tracing paper to give a pattern for the fillet between the rad & fus. The fillet was then cut and glued to the wing and shaped to flow in to the fus. I needed to get a finish on the rad before it could be fitted so that I could get to the awkward bits.
I was hoping to get away without having to cut out the vent flap, I intended to just show it as a panel line later, but unfortunately  either by making the rad too big or putting the u/c bay just that little bit too far back the wing fixing screw ended up too far inside the rad, so I had to cut through the finish and add the vent flap. Next job was to fill all the joints and sand into a reasonable flowing shape on to the wing .















Just a bit more fine filling and sanding  before covering.

Walts

Looking good Walts!

Anyone know what happend to Warbird Replicas homepage?  :(

Nice radiator Walts, on mine I hinged the flap to get access to the wing bolt and had a pice of 1mm piano wire as 'struts so I could position it part open or fully closed.

Any idea how much weight was saved with the cutouts on the tail feathers ?

Hi Slip,
     A third of the weight of the blanks was saved with the lightening holes, i remember weighing before & after but cant remember the exact figures. But obviously more weight was added in the scaling of the finished tail surfaces.
Zeno I'm not sure what you mean The home page is still available through the banner link here
Not much done lately as i was in London last week, but I'm back on it now, just covering the wings.

Cheers Walts

Aha, yeah that one works. It links directly to http://www.ileff.freeserve.co.uk/.
Its probably just the redirect-URL (which I had in my Bookmarks) http://http://www.warbirdsreplica.com/

Which covering method will you use?

Well i found yet another excuse not to try glassing in the fact that i had 10yds of Sig Koverall and a bottle of Poly C sitting on the shelf to be used up. It's my first time trying this combo too, I've only just started it and to be honest I'm a little worried but its in the early stages at the mo so I'll let you know the out come either way

Walts

Well i found yet another excuse not to try glassing in the fact that i had 10yds of Sig Koverall and a bottle of Poly C sitting on the shelf to be used up. It's my first time trying this combo too, I've only just started it and to be honest I'm a little worried but its in the early stages at the mo so I'll let you know the out come either way

Walts

whats the worry ?

Well i read all the Poly C threads before i tried it, I put the coats on as thin as possible but after only 4 coats I've noticed the veneer has got groves running in it. I wouldn't say its rippled it's not that bad but the groves are going to need some sort of filler coat as even a full 10 coats of Poly C wont fill them. They weren't there before i covered the wing but i suppose they could be fine splits in the grain that have sunken in under the covering. I didn't seal the veneer first as i didn't want to risk cellulose seeping through and melting the core, plus I'd read that you don't need to do this to use Poly C.
Any advise more than welcome.

Walts

If you mix poly C with Polycel no sanding filler it make a good lightweight filler, I mix it so it is like a thick cream and paint it on; sands off easily too.

Hello Chaps, very glad I stumbled across this forum as my Hurricane is on order from Warbirds.  I'm also relieved to hear about the weight people have had to put up front as I am fitting a Saito 100TI (the V twin) into mine and the beast weighs 1kg (2.2lb)....for those that want to know, yes it sounds fantastic - just like my old Triumph Bonneville on open pipes...or like a V12 firing on two!

Hi all,
    Firefox thanks for the tip, i think I've pretty much sorted out the wing now, I'll post some updated pic's soon, just working on the surface detail.

These oleo legs LOOK identical to the Eurokit ones I've used on my Hurricane, mine were the 130mm version. Thought it might be worth posting if others are considering using them. This is a very good price.

      http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Internally-Sprung-Oleo-Legs_W0QQitemZ290070346176QQihZ019QQcategoryZ19164QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Cheers Walts

I brought a set of those legs from the same chap on eBay.  I gather he makes them himself.  I can vouch that they are excellent quality, hopefully going to fit them into my SkyShark FW190, but early indications are that they are too thick to fit into the Spring Air mountings I have. 

Hi FF,
     I meant to add that it might be worth checking the Dia. first. The ones i have are 13mm at the widest part and fit the Unitract deluxe light weight units perfectly. I got my oleo's from Motors & Rotors and was offered various dia. legs at the same length so this prompted me to check the units first. They were a tad more expensive at around £31 a pair +pp.

Walts

Hi all,
    Finally got around my problems with the wing, I used Firefox's idea with the light weight filler and Polyc mix
Here's some updated pic's of the wing, I used single layer Ali tape for all raised panels and 1/64th nail tape for panel lines, wider tape to simulate the flap hinge line, and Ali tape on plastic for the wing joiners & u/c bay stiffeners.
I'm really disappointed that my camera is just not up to the job and doesn't show all the detail well. I took the effort to cut tiny little squares of masking tape to represent hinges on the flap line and the same thing for the shell ejector shoots but just can't capture this detail with this crap camera :(

The first pic's show how rough the wing was and the Ali tape raised panels;





     This pic, although a bit blurry does reflect the inset panel lines a bit........you just got to squint





         Wing tip lights;









   The doors are just laid on at the moment, they need some more work and I've got to work out how to fit them. Then it's back on to the fus to bring it up to this stage.

Cheers Walts



 



 

Wow. Absolutely awesome. Another great builder to add to my notify list lol. Keep up the good work...Guy

Cheers mate, Got my interest back now

Great stuff. How do you attach the sprung oleos to your retract unit?