Warbirds hurricane build review

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[Fenland Flyer]

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! 

[Walts]

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

[zeno]

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

What retracts and oleos are those?

[Walts]

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

[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.

Warbirds hurricane build review

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.

Warbirds hurricane build review

Warbirds hurricane build review

Warbirds hurricane build review

Walts

[zeno]

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

[Walts]

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

[Slipstream]

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

[Walts]

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

[Slipstream]

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.

[Walts]

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.

Warbirds hurricane build review

Warbirds hurricane build review

Walts

[Fenland Flyer]

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.

[Walts]

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.

[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 .

Warbirds hurricane build review

Warbirds hurricane build review

Warbirds hurricane build review

Warbirds hurricane build review

Warbirds hurricane build review

Warbirds hurricane build review

Warbirds hurricane build review

Just a bit more fine filling and sanding  before covering.

Walts

[zeno]

Looking good Walts!

Anyone know what happend to Warbird Replicas homepage?  :(

[Slipstream]

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 ?

[Walts]

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

[zeno]

Aha, yeah that one works. It links directly to You are not allowed to view links.
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http://www.ileff.freeserve.co.uk/

.
Its probably just the redirect-URL (which I had in my Bookmarks) You are not allowed to view links.
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http://http://www.warbirdsreplica.com/

Which covering method will you use?

[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

[Grahamd]

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 ?

[Walts]

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

[firefox]

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.

[jimoverbury]

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!

[Walts]

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.

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Cheers Walts

[Fenland Flyer]

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. 

[Walts]

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

[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;

Warbirds hurricane build review

Warbirds hurricane build review

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

Warbirds hurricane build review

Warbirds hurricane build review

         Wing tip lights;

Warbirds hurricane build review

Warbirds hurricane build review

Warbirds hurricane build review

Warbirds hurricane build review

   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



 



 

[Luftwoller]

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

[Walts]

Cheers mate, Got my interest back now

[Winchweight]

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