Question 121: "I have a Conachen 138" Lancaster kit and have purchased Century Jet Retracts and am looking for wheels that at least look close to scale. any thoughts. as I have not recieved the gear yet I am not sure how big they need to be.
Thanks, Dan "

Jeff: "Hi Dan…I have that same plane. Just got started on it about a month ago. I have the CJM gear as well. I am using 6 inch CB Associate wheels. They are close in appearance. For the closest scale, I think you would be looking at something like a pair of Mosquito wheels from Glennis…but that’s pricey. The CB wheels are fairly close, other than having too small a hub. Keep me posted on your progress. I have a thread going on the RCU warbirds forum for mine if you want to check in from time to time. Good Luck with her."

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Question 122: "I am planning on building a 1/8 scale horten 2ho 29 flying wing and have been searching for a couple of foam wing cutters. Is it possible that you can recommend some good foam cutting services in the usa.. thanks, wayne"

Jeff: "I would recommend Dynamic Blasa as a source. To be honest, that is the only commercial source I am aware of. I have seen his standard and custom cores, and they are all worthy. Check them out at http://www.dbalsa.com/ He can custm cut just about anything you need. Jeff"

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Question 123: "Jeff, is there one site where I can find all large scale RC that are made in kits? also who makes a B-24? thanks"

Jeff: "Hi Joe….off hand, there is not a “one stop” site that I can think of that links all kits available for large RC. Sorry. As for a B-24, the 2 most obtainable options are the American Eagle B-24 kit http://www.flyrcmodels.com/ or a plane built from Palmer plans. Jeff"

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Question 124: "Hi, Jeff, I just found your site while doing an intense Web Search. I sure hope you can help me out. I'm trying to find a Spinner for my P-40. The model is an AMH Models 93" W/S. I have a 3.7 C.I. Sachs engine mounted. The spinner I need has a 6 5/8ths inch backplate. ether cut for 3 bladed 20-10 or uncut. Spinner mounts with screws to backplate. I'm sure you know what I mean. I have found plenty of sites offering a P-51 style but I must have a true pointed P-40 style. Any help you can give will be greatly appreciated needless to say. Donn "

Jeff: "Hi Don….check with www.ziroliplans.com His P-40 is a 94 inch span, and I believe his spinner will fit your plane. That is the only place I know to get a true pointy P-40 spinner of that size. Hope it works out. Jeff"

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Question 125: "Hello my name is Randy, I have been looking for p-38 models and have found few places that have any. Most I have found was profiles and I want the full scale look. I came across your site and I am impressed by the planes I have seen. I was looking for a P-38 or P-38 Lightning kit around 70 to 80 inch wingspan. I found some plans for the lightning that I can have printed to my scale I choose. I was hoping you could point me in the right direction for a kit. But if I had to I will scratch build one instead. Thanks for any help you can give Again I love the work you all have done...... They are beautiful ''

Jeff: "Hi Randy…and thanks for the kind words. You have a few options on the P-38 you are looking for. Royal, now Martuka Models, offers a P-38 in a 73 inch span. Try doing a search on RCUniverse for information on this kit. Also, there are 2 pretty good ARF’s out there in the 83 inch span range. One is from KMP models, and can be easily located on RCUniverse as well. The other ARF, and of better quality, is the ARF from VQ models. You can find info on this on RCUniverse, and RCWarbirds had a detailed review of the VQ P-38. It was done by George Lumpkin. I am not sure if it is still on the site or not. If it is not, just send George Lumpkin (aka twinman) a note. He can tell you all you want to know about the VQ P-38. I think this plane would be your best bet for time and money concerns. Good Luck….Jeff"

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Question 126: "hi jeff I was wondering if you could help me. I live in Great britain and have found it incredibly difficult to find a large scale R/C b17 flying fortress. I have been to all my local hobby clubs and still no joy. I have seen several kits on the internet mainly in the U.S. but they all require wood carving skills or epoxy or fibreglass skills. Now i have to confess to the whole building of large scale models i am a novice (get me on an airfix kit though and im gr8 lol). However i would love to have a large scale B-17f Flying fortress (almost assembled kit e.g. fuselage needs glue and paint)retractable gear w/brakes opening bomb bay doors and a radio reciever so its practically ready to fly.I would be very grateful If you could tell me somewhere thats sells any of these parts (alone or together) especialy an almost assembled b-17 (in europe or U.S.A.) thanx. lee"

Jeff: "Hi Lee.....well, I am afraid I do not know of such an animal. About the closest thing that I can think of that meets your needs is the American Eagle B-17 kit. True it is a fiberglass body, but requires little work to fit the few formers in the fuse. The wings are foam core, and will require a fair amount of work to finish, mount nacelles, gear, fuel tanks, etc. However, it is the closest thing I can point you to. The rest are all wood built up. The guy that was laying up the Robart P-38 all glass kits was going to do a large all composite B-17, but it is a dead project as far as I know. Sorry I could not be of more help. Does Gordon Nichols of the UK still have the big B-17 molds from Memphis Belle? You may check with him. Jeff"

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Question 127: "Hi Jeff, I am writing on behalf of a club mate of mine, who would like some help in finding a cockpit canopy for his latest project.It is 130" span Corsair not quite the same size as your own aircraft, but he has built his own 7 cylinder 220cc radial engine to suit, some pictures to follow. Can you help? Thanks. Howard"

Jeff: "Hi Howard...I do not know of a source for your friends canopy needs. I have a canopy for a 120 inch Corsair, but it may be too small for a 130 inch. Outside of that, I'm afraid I'm not of much help to you. He may have to make a mold. If you do a review of Merlyn Graves 12 foot Ki-100 here on RCWarbirds, he goes thru the process he uses to make a canopy mold, and how to pull. It looks to be time consuming, but fairly easy to do. I wish your friend good luck on his project. Jeff"

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Question 128: "Hi I'm starting the contruction of a DH mosquito from enlarged BT plans from 81inches to 120inches, and was wondering what size wood I should use for the wing. Such as ribs size and spars size."

Jeff: "FYI, Holman offers 124 inch plans for sale. But, if you want to enlarge, I recommend 1/8 aircraft ply for structural ribs and 3/16 balsa for all others. 1/2x3/8 hardwood would be good for spars. Good Luck. Jeff"

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Question 129: "Hi there Jeff. My name’s Paul and I live in Belgium. I red all your articles and found most of them very interesting. Here’s one question that’s been bugging me for days. What airplane should I choose knowing that it would be my first giant scale model. A Zero, a Corsair, a P-51, a P-47 or a Spitfire. I want to hold the wingspan range within 100’’. I’m looking for something that’s not too hard to build or to fly but something that still would be challenging. Any clue? "

Jeff: "Hello from across the pond. As for your question, the answer is two-fold. For great flight, with a little easier build, I recommend a Ziroli Zero. For great flight, with a little more building difficulty (not much), I would recommend the Ziroli P-47. Both are great airplanes and easy to fly. The P-47 is just a little more involved than a Zero. Good Luck. Jeff"

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Question 130: "Jeff, I was looking through some old Southern Scale warbirds Journals and ran across a photo of your 120 inch wingspan TBF Avenger from Ziroli. However I can not find these plans from Ziroli. How did you come by them and how can I please get a set of these plans. I Really want to give these plans to an old master builder that is currently sharing his knowledge of building scale warbirds with an young new comer. He has built almost all of Ziroli's plans, and we just finished a joint project of a Don Smith Mosquito. Please help me out if you can. Thanks, Brian"

Jeff: "Hi Brian….actually, my TBF is from a set of Walter Otzell .60 size plans enlarged 200 percent. That gave me a span of 124 inches. Walter Otzell plans can be bought thru any of the many full scale warbird magazines, thru a company called “Scale RC Plans”. As of my talk with Ziroli in Toledo 2004, there are no current plans to release the TBF any time soon. Mine is still flying great after 3 years on the circuit. Good Luck….Jeff"

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Question 131: "Jeff, I just read your overview of the build of your Huge Corsair - very nice looking plane, and a great job to you for the build. I have a question for you regarding scaling up plans and then building the plane. Are there any books that you are aware of that I could read to learn on how to select the right materials when I scale up a set of plans and then build that plane? My concern is that I have a couple of sets of plans that I would like to scale up, and am in no hurry to do so but when I do get to the point of building those planes I am concerned that the materials originally called for in the plans won't be appropriate for the larger size plane. How do I know what is appropriate? Are there books on this sort of thing? Is it experience, or is there is a magic genie I need to find? Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated. Regards, Ken"

Jeff: "Hi Ken…thx for the kind words on the Corsair. She is fun to fly. From my experience, there are no books that speak to material selection, but that does not mean they do not exist, I am just not aware of any. For me, it is all based on 20 years of building experience. Having built kits and plans for planes ranging from 80 to 120 inch span, you get a feel, using different designers, of what will work and what the minimum sizes can be. In the early days, I overbuilt structure in many cases, adding unnecessary weight, but the bigger they are, the more weigh they can carry. Also, I personally prefer a bit heavier plane over really light ones. If it is a warbird, it should fly like one, solid with plenty of wind penetration. I do not concern myself with an extra 10 pounds. The Corsair came out a bit heavy at 90 pounds (I was shooting for 75 RTF), but it carries the weight well, and flies superb. So, I think experience is the key. I’ll be happy to help you on a model by model basis to help build your experience level. Jeff"

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Question 132: "Hi Jeff, loved the video of the flight... first time out after the markings were applied. On that take-off was the elevator too much down trim or was the plane a little tail heavy, or just sensitive elevator? I'm currently building a Ziroli F4U enlarged to 112" would that husky fit in my 12.5" cowl? I enlarged it enough for an RCS radial but frankly have commited as yet. I have the Canopy problem solved and Lee Robinson is working on the landing gear. I thought the cowl would be easy, thought I could have a wood shop turn out a solid wood chunk shaped on a lathe and then I could make a plug off of it. Wrong... can't find a lathe to go that big. Thinking of using various layers of stryofoam hot-wired, any ideas? As I scaled up different things I find the size of the wheels (mains) should be 6.75" providing that the full-size uses 30". I can find those spendy wheels by Glennis but they come in only 6.5 or 7.0. It looks like either size could fit but wonder which would look more "right" when it was sitting there?
Anway thank you for any advice. Mike "

Jeff: "Hi Mike…actually, there was a 15-20 mph crosswind that day, which is why the tail is waggling so much. I took off on high rates to make sure I had “a little extra for mother”, and switched to low rates in flight. I have found low rate elevator setting to be plenty effective. I would never do a first flight with low rate settings…asking for doom. I had to fly that day as this was the certification flight, and the inspector does not have a lot of free time. As for the cowl, you could always make it out of wood. You could make a one-off styro plug and lay up a cowl. Bob Sealy made my cowl for me. He does the glass work for American Eagle kits. I would go with the 7 inch wheels before 6 inch. You can get good, low cost 7 inch wheels from C&B Associates. They will easily carry a 50 pound plane. Good luck with your bentwing. Jeff"

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Question 133: "Jeff, I was looking at the FW-190 you built, and the comments said you used these paints. I am finishing a Platt FW. Do you have any advice about using and then overcoating these paints? How far will they cover, and did you thin your's before spraying? Any tips would be appreciated. My plan is to base coat TF aluminum, spray the MM, then clear flat with Chevron. Thanks,
Roger"

Jeff: "Hi Roger, I have used the MM paints for quite some time for German warbirds. I find they cover quite nicely with less paint. There is a lot of pigment in the paint. As an example, my 110 inch FW needed 2.5 cans of the light grey to cover the bottom of the wing, entirely, this was with the pre-mixed can. I typically use the 4 oz. rattle cans. If you use the small 1.5 oz bottles, just thin about 10-15% and it will cover about the same amount. I like it. I typically clear coat with Krylon non-yellowing clear. Good Luck. Jeff Regards Jeff Quesenberry"

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Question 134: "Jeff, I saw the pictures of your 124” TBF Avenger and I was curious about the plans you built it from. Where would I be able to get a copy of the Otzell plans and does anyone cut a kit for for these plans right now? I am interested in building a TBF avenger in a wingspan of around 86” as I feel this is a good size but unfortunately everything I have seen is larger or smaller. I am aware of the skyshark kit now available but I was hoping to build something a bit bigger than 72”. I have a copy of Bob Holman’s plans which is right around the scale I want but I wasn’t overly impressed with the pans and there were some scale errors notably the tail section. I guess I want the world but such is life as a scale R/C modeler. Would scaling down the Otzell plans be overly challenging if I wanted to get something around 86” span? Thanks for your patience, Jonathan"

Jeff: "Hi Jonathan, first of all, let me tell you that the Walter Otzell plans are of a plane with a 60.75 inch wingspan. I bought these thru one of the full scale warbird magazines that advertises scale RC plans. The plans are really scale, but they show fixed gear, and so you have to figure out retract selection and placement. The plans required a bit of changing to make a 124 inch plane, but I think if you were to only scale these plans from 60.75 to 86 inches, you could use most of the structure as laid out on the plans. You would be looking at enlarging the plans about 40-42%. While I like the Otzell plans, and they are pretty scale, I think I would see if I could drum up some Skyshark plans and enlarge those, may be worth looking in to. The Otzell plans are of an outdated building technique, albeit no difficult, where the Skyshark are a little more up to date. May at least be worth comparing. Best of luck with your “Turkey”….Jeff Regards Jeff Quesenberry"

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Question 135: "Hi. I'm considering building an f4u corsair this winter. I was wondering if you are familiar with the Conachen kit. On his web site it appears to be of high quality. Any information you have would be helpful. Thanks, Jim"

Jeff: "Hi Jim, I have seen this kit both built and inbuilt. I also have the Conachen Lancaster.. The corsair kit, as most of his kits, is descent. While not the best, it is way better than the CJM, and a bit lighter. The glass work is pretty good, but the foam/wood parts are average. My Lancaster had the balsa separate from the foam panel. When I tried to glue it back down, I found the balsa to be so hard, it would not form properly to the wing. I am sure this is why it delaminated. I have a friend in Colorado that is flying one, and it flies very well and is pretty good scale outline. The plane was derived from Don Smith plans. The only problem was that the center glass was deformed from sun and heat. This may be from the thin glass or lack of structure. It looked bad, but did not hinder the good flight. He loves the plane. I think you could put one together in about 8-100 hours, so that is a lot of time saved. I would give it an overall 6-7 out of 10. Given my choice, I would build the Ziroli with the glass fuse. Good Luck, Jeff"

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Question 136: "Hi Jeff, Do you have, or have you seen a modification to Ziroli Corsair plans that allow for a three piece wing? Thanks, Jim"

Jeff: "I have seen 3 piece wings done. Some use tubes and some the Byron type aluminum spades (available from Sig) like the Byron kits. I know with the spades, you can just bolt the channels to the main spar (and the rear spar) center section and plug in the wing panels. However, I do not have any drawings that speak to it. You may post the question on the warbird forum in RCUniverse. I know it has been talked about several times there. Jeff "

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Question 137: "Hi, I just wanted to ask you what you thought of the standard of Don Smith plans. We are looking for a plan of the FW 190 A, and wonder which is , in your opinion the better plan; the Vailly Aviation plan or the Don Smith Plan ? I would value your opinion. Sincerely Ken"

Jeff: "Hi Ken, Paul forwarded your e-mail to me to see if I can help. I have actually owned both a Don Smith and a Vailly FW190 (as well as an American Eagle). All flew pretty much the same, but the task is building. The Vailly and the Don Smith are both pretty scale, but I think the Don Smith is a little more so, but I am no expert. The 2 planes, as you may know, build very differently. The Vailly seems to lack detail in the plans, maybe due to the glass fuse that is available. But with his wing plan, Vailly tells you to achieve 2 degrees of washout, but does not tell you how to get there or how to lay this out. He leaves it up o you to figure out and do. In the end, I think the Don Smith is a little easier to work with and comes out lighter. My only problem with Don Smith plans, is the 2 piece clam shell fuse construction from the old control line days. I am not that versed in this building method, so a person may find this a bit challenging. But if you can overcome that, his plans are very neat and clean. I’ll just throw in the thought of looking at the American Eagle kit. If you can work with foam, it is the quickest way to go. You could always put a wood wing on it as well. Good Luck. Jeff"

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Question 138: "Jeff, I'm thinking of getting a hellcat from Jerry Bates as my first warbird. Do you know how hard it is to build and what the construction is like? I have had some building experience and have flown for some number of years with sport planes. Would you recommened this plane for me? Thanks for your time."

Jeff: "That's a tough question. I think Bates plans are pretty good and easy to build. They are a little messy with all of the scale detail he puts on the plans, but the construction is straight forward, especially on the Hellcat. I built one of these a few years back, and as I recall, the fuse builds similar to a top flight gold edition kit. That is, you build and sheet the fuse top half, add the stab and rudder, then flip it over and build up the fuse bottom and sheet. The wing is of conventional building with washout. I believe Bob Holman may even sell a glass fuse for the Hellcat. In short, I would say if you have built a Top Flite kit or 2, you should have no problem, but it actually depends on your building experience and skill level. I wouldn't let it scare you off. Good Luck. Jeff "

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Question 139: "I'm building a Byron corsair. I want to put a G-62 with a B&B mount and Pitts style muffler. Any idea on what modifications are needed to F-1 and F-2? Thanks, Jim"

Jeff: "Hi Jim, I hade this same set-up. I made no modification to F2. For the firewall, I glued in a piece of ½ inch play to the back side of the from lip in the nose of the plane and glassed it in. Never broke out, even when the plane spun straight in. This set-up should do fine."

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Question 140: "Hi Jeff, looking at P51s on the rcwarbirds.com page, I noticed Top Flight, Nosen, and other p51s but no mention of World Model P51 GS. I have one and also purchased an OS 1.6 for it. I am reluctant to finishing it cause it looks like that may not be the best engine for it???? A while back I read a couple articles on the World Model p51 but now I can't find any. Any help or comments will be appreciated, thank you, in advance for your time"

Jeff: "Hi Dick, I am afraid I am not at all familiar with the WM P-51. I have never flown nor seen one in person. I would suggest doing a search on RCUniverse. I know there are a lot of discussion threads on the WM P-51. Also, you may try contacting Richard Lee here thru RCWarbirds as the ARF advisor. He is pretty knowledgeable in the ARF field. Best of Luck….Jeff"

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Question 141: "Hey Jeff, I recently converted a TF P-40E into a P-40B but i can't find the right shaped spinner to suit it. It needs to be 4" in diameter and be able to take a 3 bladed prop. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks, Brendon. Ps. I love what you're doing, it's helping 100's of modellers, keep up the good work."

Jeff: "Hi Brendon, thx for the kind words. You may have difficulty finding something exact. You best bet may be to talk with Gene Barton of Barton Machining. I believe he does/used to do, a P-40B spinner for a Holman/Bates P-40. It is a little bigger, but he may be able to help. Other than that, you may have to go with the Top Flite spinner. Good Luck. Jeff"

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Question 142: "Jeff I recently picked up the 1977 Bud Nosen P51 kit (102"). The drawings show no right or down thrust on the firewall. The drawings also show that a a Dubro prop dive is used , that is no longer availabe. Do you know of a tried and proven combination for the propeller, engine, and firewall angle. Most important is staying in a straight line for the take-off run. Michael Emilio"

Jeff: "Hi Michael, from my experience, engine offset is more a set-up of preference, rather than a requirement. You will get arguments to either side, but I, personally, have never run any up/down or left/right thrust in any of my engine/firewall set-ups in 15+ years of scratch building. I have never found the need to apply/use it. If you do want to use it, the requirement would be to add right thrust to the engine to offset torque. The bigger the engine/prop, the more torque (pulling A/C to the left), thus the more (right) offset that is required to counter-act it. If you find you plane tending to balloon up, or wanting to climb during decent in to landing, you would want to shim the engine to set the thrust line angle (pointing) down a degree or two. All of these can be set with simple washers added being the engine mount. As for the Nosen P-51, engines in these planes vary from a G-62 to a Quadra 100 or more. My Nosen P-51, at 30
pounds, flies great with a G-62. More common is a 4.2 or a 5.8 cu.in. engine. The Quadra 100 is also popular. All will work fine. The G-62 will be good up to 40 pounds, but the closer you get to that weight, the more you want to lean toward a 4.2 or 5.8 engine. They fly really well. Good luck....Jeff"

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Question 143: "I need detail on how to make the gear doors on my Corsair open and close with out using pneumatics or servos. I have seen someone use springs and rods; but forgot how to. Please email me with details. Thanks. "

Jeff: "Hi Robert, I do not have much experience with gear doors. I ususally prefer to leave them off for simplicity. However, check this post in RCU for some ideas:
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_1671250/mpage_6/tm.htm
Then, I recommend doing a search on RCUniverse for more info. I have seen a few posts there on Corsair gear doors. Sorry I couldn;t be of much help. Jeff "

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Question 144: "Hi Jeff, I'm breaking into giant warbirds with a TF 1/5 P-47 and a G-62. Looking ahead to the future, it looks like a lot of plans (ziroli, meister, vally and such) are designed around 70cc to 80cc. Am I thinking straight or out to lunch? I'm looking at getting a ZDZ80RV to use in some ziroli designs in the future. I like the narrow dimension on it rather than a fat side mounted carb that would stick out on a narrow fuse. Or is there another engine better suited. It'll be a little while before I'll be able to get another engine. Edwin "

Jeff: "Hi Edwin, you are correct in your thinking. I would say that a 4.4 (75CC) is the average engine you will find people install in the designs you mention. The only thing I would say, is that, when looking at 3W, ZDZ, etc., keep in mind that these are light weight engines that were, pretty much, designed around aerobatic aircraft and made to be light. Most warbirds tend to require nose weight due to their short nose moment (lets face it, it's tuff to compensate for a PW-R2800 under the hood). I use these engines myself, and what i would offer is this: If you plane to use one of the light weight engines on the market, pay close attention to the amount of weight that you are putting in the back end of the plane. With the light weight engines, you will just end up needing a bunch of lead in the nose if you create an overly heavy tail. On my 1/3 scale Corsair, I had purchased and planned to install the ZDZ210B2. This engine weighs only 10 pounds. I overbuilt the tail and found that the tail was a bit heavy. Even after reworking the rudder and elevators, I wtill had a beefy tail. I ended up installing a Husky2 40 twin that weighed 18 pounds. I still needed 17 pounds of lead in the nose to balance. With the ZDZ210, I would have needed 25-26 pounds of lead. IF I am going to add nose weight, I prefer it be as much powerplant as possible before I go to dead weight lead. As for best suited engine, that is realy a matter of taste. I think Zenoah makes for nicely weighted, reasonably priced, good running engines. But, as you say, they tend to be bulky. I run Zenoah, 3W, ZDZ, Sachs, Husky, and Quadra in the planes I have. I like them all, so what ever you like, go with that. Bigger is better...good luck. Jeff "

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