CONSTRUCTION ADVISOR

Joe is on hold and will not be accepting questions at this time.

Joe Huntley
 
 
Page 9 Questions 169-216, click links or browse page.
Question 193 Flying metal replica of Zero ? Question 205 Air tank installation ?
Question 194 L-4's and L-5's kits or plans ? Question 206 P-40 CG location ?
Question 195 Canopy attachment methods ? Question 207 Wheel wells ?
Question 196 Royal bomber kits ? Question 208 Changing scale and construction ?
Question 197 Rib stitching methods ? Question 209 Top flite P-40 3 blade prop ?
Question 198 Fiberglassing control surfaces ? Question 210 Plastic construction parts ?
Question 199 Scale cockpit kits ? Question 211 Scale prop for Hangar 9 Corsair ?
Question 200 Foam core wing servo installation ? Question 212 Siren for Stuka ?
Question 201 All aluminum P-51 ? Question 213 Small piano type hinges ?
Question 202 Cutting flaps in completed wing ? Question 214 C-123 Provider plans or kit ?
Question 203 Perfect wing fillets ? Question 215 Gear door closing systems ?
Question 204 Canopy for Flightglass P-51 ? Question 216 Top flite P-47 help ?
 

Question 193: "Hello Joe- I stumbled onto your wonderful webpage and found several builders of your club(?) that have beautiful Zero models. I want to build a flying replica (about 30' wingspan) of this airplane. I have built several all metal RV's in the past. My problem is finding some good, detailed plans for this project. It seems there are very few accurate details available...especially from Japan. I guess they think it's still a first class fighter. Can you give me some leads on whom to contact for drawings, details or just advice on building this airplane? I probably could offset it from some model plans if it was necessary.
Please help me if you can by asking around to the ones that know (if you aren't one of them) or giving me email addresses of those that might help. Thanks a million for your help. Jim "

Joe: "Jim I would Probably Start with Nick Zirolis Zero plans as he usually does some fairly scale planes. http://www.ziroliplans.com/a6m5-doss.html His planes work great for enlarging and staying structurally strong due to al the longitudal stringers he uses in the fuse. Another resource would be J aircraft.com http://www.j-aircraft.com/ it is a website dedicated to Japanese aircraft with message boards and research stuff. other than that thats about all the help I can give you on japanese stuff"

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Readers Comments: " Joe, I have really enjoyed reading your articles. I especially enjoy your techniques on glassing with Deft products. One small technical error in your terminology has caused several people to ask unnecessary questions and be confused about some of the products you use. Deft Clear Wood Finish is a lacquer not a Polyurethane. Calling it a lacquer based Poly U is incorrect. It is a nitrocellulose lacquer and has nothing to do with Polyurethane.(They both are types of varnishes) Deft does have a Polyurethane product called Defthane. I have use both these products and have enjoyed both of them, but they are totally a different product. I am not trying to dis you or anything, I just want you to realize that Polyurethane is not lacquer based. Thanks again for your articles and knowledge with warbirds, I can't wait to try some of your techniques. Sincerely, Steve"

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Question 194: "Sir: I was a Field Arty. Liaison Pilot, 21 mos. in the So. Pac. Flying L-4H's and a rebuilt wrecked L-5 (my personal plane). I have ample pictures of both planes but would like to buy scale models RC's and personalize them the same as the originals I flew. I have found them in 7 ft. models but must have something smaller, say, 3-4 feet max. I also find plans at $68.00 - too high! Do you know any source of plans or models that meet my admittedly narrow needs? If so, I would be most grateful for your help. Thank you very much. (I was a 1st Lt. for WW II, and was in the Nat'l. Guard during Korea, but was a Major by then so stayed at home 'tho other unit went overseas; all Captains or lower.) "

Joe: "Hmm not sure on that small of a plane but the one I know about is from Model airplane news http://www.modelairplanenews.com/plan/fsp0401a.asp its a 55" ws sport version and electric but shouldnt be hard to convert. I would also try RCM Plans http://www.rcmmagazine.com/e/env/0001KgBz8kRloIUTU41P3v1/store/store-plans.html?link=/store/store-plans-alpha.html If I remember correctly they used to have a nice scale version. the only other thing I can think of would be to get a larger scale and just shrink it down. I know Roy Vaillencourt has a very nice L5 Joseph Huntley''

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Question 195: "joe i have the great planes p40e warhawk and i,am too the point were i,am putting on the canopy and hinges for the flaps what is the best way to do this and also a good way to paint the canopy, also i brought bob dively i 126 cockpit kit and i don"t know how to fit inyo the cockpit aera. i been building for about 4years now , so i hope you can help me with this. thank you. bob"

Joe: "Hi Bob not sure how to explain it all but will do my best. For the canopy you need to slowly trim it down until it is close to fitting and then using some 180 grit sandpaper sand it to its final fit. Now some guys use canopy glue to glue their canopies on but I like to use paintable silicone kinda like you get for bathrooms. The reason being once glued it is a pain to remove but with the silicone you can just slide your hobby knife between the sheet and plane and just slice it off easy. As for your cockpit kit you are going to have to build it in sections IE right wall then left wall etc and mount them in the plane a piece at a time. for the flap hinges you can use any number of method for that. With a plane that small CA hinges will work or you can use small hingepints (directions usually on the package) to hinge them. Hope this helps. Joseph Huntley"

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Question 196: "joe iwould like to build a bomber so what do you thank of hobbie barn kits MARUAKA are they easy to build and dose everything come in the kit . i don,t want a large wingspan that why i was looking at hobbiebarn thank you for your time an information. bon "

Joe: "Bon if I remember correctly the Maruka kits are the old royal kits. I am not for sure on that but thats what I have heard. I have never seen one but there are a lot of people building them. as for contents I would imagine they have the standard kit stuff like all the wood you need plus a bunch of abs parts for cowls etc and some hardwood and hardware. leaving you to purchase fuel tanks pushrods engines and wheels, Joseph Huntley"

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Question 197: "Whats the best way to do rib stiching?? Im building a Mick Reeves 1/4 scale Sopwith Camel and could use some help. Whats the best way to do documentation? What are the judges looking for? And awhile back you help me figure out how to do the slip flaps on a BF109(Dave Platt) you mention a book that would help me on it. You even sent me pics of your Hurricane. (It was some kind of building technique book...the article also showed how to make a corsair wings fold and how to do the linkage) Can you please tell me the name of the book and where I can get it? Thanks, Jim"

Joe: "Hi Jim well lets start wit Rib Stitching. I have not gone that far with detailing WWI planes yet But dont dismay I have my fav ref site for techniques I will share with you. It is call the Cub Den http://geocities.com/cubmanky/main.html he has a lot of good how to's and some very detailed instructions on rib stitching and pinking tapes.

As for the book I mentioned it is called "Control Systems by Jim Newman" Air age puts it out and you can get it through Model Airplane News. Most Hobby shops sell those how to books that model airplane news puts out just ask your local he can prob order it for you mine was like 7 bucks. it is silver cover with pictures of torque tube system on the front.

As for documentation the best way is to get it all ready before you begin to build :0) but there are several ways to do it mostly it is trial and error. By that I mean you can get everything organized and think its good but after a scale event the judges find flaws so you fix it for the next time and ya keep doing it that way until the judges stop nitpicking it. but as for the best way to start with your docs the scale masters has a general guide with examples to go by. you can find it here http://www.scalemasters.org/docs/index.html Also we have a discussion going on rcscalebuilder http://www.rcscalebuilder.com/forum/forum_topics.asp?FID=21 there are several major competitors like jeff whitney, pat mc curry and earl aune that give their inputs it would be the place to get it right from the guys that have used their docs to their advantage Joseph Huntley"

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Question 198: "Hey Joe, I am fiberglassing a TF giant P-51 using your metho, .do I fiberglass control surfaces? do I need to leave more of a gap for the fiberglassing to wrap around these areas? thanks Mike "

Joe: "Hi Mike no I dont glass the control surfaces as they were fabric and I want the fabric look. Also I have never tried it thinking that the fabric flexes some that with clear on top it may have a tendency to crack. as for the gap I usually dont cover or finish my control surfaces until everything is glassed to make sure the height etc is all matched but you shouldnt have to leave a gap anyways because it will just move the TE of the control surface back a hair Joseph Huntley"

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Question 199: "hello there Joe, My name is Allen House, I'm building a Vailly 1/5 Hawker Typhoon. I have a cockpit kit from Dynamic Balsa, and a pilot from Blue box Hobbies. Where can I find a scale English seat harness for my model? Thanks for your time, Allen."

Joe: "Hi Allen I dont know of any seat harnesses out there. the best advice I can give is to find all the reference pics you can and make your own a good material for that would be either shoelaces or that streatchy you can get in the fabric department dont know what they call it but its white and abt 1/8" wide "

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Question 200: "I was directed to your website from rcuniverse.com with a question pertaining to servo installations in foam core wings. I am building a Ziroli 94" P40E Kittyhawk and have foam core wings that are already obeche covered. I have never built a foam-core wing plane before and cannot figure out how I will run the servo leads to the servos. Do i just cut a channel out of the wing for the leads and fill it back in once they are placed? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated."

Joe: "Hi Ben Sorry cant help you here but i dont touch foam for me its a pain to work with and i have found that all built up planes are alighter than composite and foam. But my friend Todd Burley can probably help you out here. Hes currently working on a PCM 109 and works with foam a lot. You can see his thread here http://www.rcscalebuilder.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=464&PN=1 in it he shows his construction and i am almost positive he has pics of him doing his servo trays in the foam wing. You can also contact him from there for more questions Joseph Huntley"

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Question 201: "In the early '80's I received informaton from Gary K Lavarack regarding an "All Aluminum 1/4 relica scale P 51 D. The company was called 1/4 Scale Warbirds. Do you know where I might get in touch with Mr. Lavarack or the company these may have gone to. Any help would be greatly appreciated!Edward"

Joe: "Sorry Edward I havent heard of them, but maybe one of our readers has and will see this and let me know the info so I can post it here for you"

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Question 202: "Hi Joe, I just bought a partial built Ziroli Corsair. The wing is about 85% complete with no flaps. Can I make it have flaps now. Just the top is sheeted. Also I would like to make the cockpit full size. Any ideas to that? Noticed on the tail assembly that the elevators is not lined up to each other on each side. And they are already glued and set. What should I do about that? The rudder is also not squared to the elevators but I know how to fix that. What type of retracts would you recommend? And last but not least, how should I finish it off? (ex) glass or covertite , colors. Will be putting in a G62 . Hope that will be good. Thanks Jim Halpin"

Joe: "Hi Jim yea you can still do the flaps it will just be a liitle more of a hassle cutting through the ribs but the good part is that they will already be partially built. as for the cockpit I would make sure fuse built and sheeted then get in there with a dremel and start grinding away some of the former in the cocklpit area. as for the tail assembly you weill have to remove it and redo the alognment or cut the connection off and hook each elev half up to servos seperate which a lot of people do. I am not totally sure on the corsair I think it might depend on the version whether it was metal or fabric covered I would sheet the whole thing and glass and paint it if it was up to me. then use solartex for doing the control surfaces but you would just need to check your documentation as i am not too familiar with the corsair having no interest in building one i just never researched it much. Joseph Huntley"

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Question 203: "Hey Joe, I would love to see some info on making the perfect wing fillet and saddle for a good fit between wing and fuse. Thanks Mark"

Joe: "Mark The one I know of that has done an excellent job lately documenting his build is Tom Pierce. Heres a link to his wing fairing article http://www.renderwurx.com/rc/SBD/html/building/finwingas.htm Joseph Huntley"

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Question 204: "Hi Joe. I picked up an old, incomplete Fliteglass P51 at a yard sale. It's missing the canopy, bottom half of the 2 piece nose section and the under wing air scoop. I think I can make the scoop & nose section myself. Any ideas what I can do about the canopy? Any idea if a canopy from another kit would fit? I'd love to get this plane in the air so any help/advice is most appreciated!
Thanks,"

Joe: "Hi Jim, I would measure the kit fuse length and width and wing length and for chord then look around at some of available plans out there and find one close and use that. You can also take the measurements and a couple pic and post on RcScalebuilder.com and RCUniverse and see if someone can identify the kit for you, Joseph Huntley "

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Question 205: "Hi Joe I've got a 1/7th scale MkIX (Top flite gold edition) spitfire and have just got round to installing the air tank for the retracts. Have you got a quick and easy way of securing the tank in the fuse. Space is a bit of a premium in the spit. Thanks in advance Dave"

Joe: "Hi David a quick way to do it is to use some silicone and silicone it in place. I usually do that cause its quick and easy and works pretty well. Joseph Huntley"

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Question 206: "Joe I enjoy reading your articles they have helped me lot. Right now I am re building a broken P40 Warhawk It has a 60" wing span the problem is I can not find any info on where the CG is, if you could help I would appreciate it thank you."

Joe: "Brian Scale Aero has an online CG calculator thats pretty good just input a few numbers and bam you have your cg starting point http://scaleaero.com/CG_Calculator.htm
Joseph Huntley"

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Question 207: "Joe, I'm building my first plane and was wondering if it is necessary to close in the wheel wells on the wing for planes fitted with retracts? What will happen if they are not? Thanks, Andrew"

Joe: "Andrew I would try to close it in as best you can. there are a few "cheap" easy ways to do it. go get you some posterboard then make a strip as wide as your well is deep then just roll it up a little and drop it in the well and let it expand then just glue in place. another method is to use some 1/16 balsa and make a ring with that with the grain running top to bottom of your wheel well and glue that in place. The reason you want to close the well off is so that when flying you dont get a lot of drag with the air rushing into the wing. another reason is all the dirt dust grass what have you on take off and landing will blow inside the wing and could get built up on your control surfaces causeing problems in flight. Joseph Huntley"

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Question 208: "Hello Joe, I came across some plans for a Grumman E-2C Hawkeye. Since I had worked for Grumman in the 70's and 80's I thought that this would be a good plane to build. The scale of the plane is 1/12 at a wing span of 60". Could you please tell me what must be done to increase the overall scale to 1/6th, and what is required to actually create an airframe that is truly sturdy and light? Thanks, Lew "

Joe: "Hi Lew believe it or not I just finished a new tutorial on this on my website. You can find it on this page
http://home.mchsi.com/~jahuntley/modelling101.html I am going to be designing one hopefully soon as there is a guy on rcscalebuilder.com that just posted his grandad has several grumman drawings direct from grumman themself from back in the 70's so I waiting on a copy. you can see the thread here and possibly ask for a copy for your reference
http://www.rcscalebuilder.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1124&TPN=1 Just be sure and find what the actual ws was and divide by 6 to get a more accurate scale size for it. Joseph Huntley"

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Question 209: "Im finishing up Topflight P-40, and would like to use a more scale spinner and prop for flying. Is there a manufacturer out ther that has these items? I also would like to know if the Topflight spinner that is availabe would work with a 3 bladed prop for flight? Just one more question, what would be the right size prop (3 blade) if I am putting a Supertiger .60 in the warhawk. Thank you in advance.

Joe: "hi robert, as far as manufacturers for scale spinners I cant help you there as I dont know the sources for small stuff. if there is one avail at top flight yes it should be able to be used for flying and I would recommend a 10x8 as a starting point for your prop size with that engine Joseph Huntley"

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Question 210: "I seem to remember a post of yours giving a site where various minature plastic products are sold... tubing, channels and such....could you please drop me a note as to who it is.... also, i am looking for a source for brass tubing, alum. sheeting (thin) and such... thanks a lot! johnny "

Joe: "Johnny the site I believe was the Plastistruct home page http://www.plastruct.com/ as for brass tubing sheets etc I goto my local hardware store they have a better variety and cheaper than your LHS Joseph Huntley"

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Question 211: "Joe, Any help would be greatly appreciated. I just got a Hangar 9 Corsair. I just finished putting it together. I am looking for a scale 3 blade propeller and some tips to "dress it up". This is going into our game-room. Richard Riverside, California"

Joe: "Richard I am not sure of the size but the only static that I know of off hand would be for the top flight models http://www.top-flite.com/accys/topq7908.html you might start there and check the scale sizes to see if they match or not. as for dressing it up just check your research to see what needs to be fixed up from what the static kit has."

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Question 212: "Hello, I don't know if you're the right person to answer my question. I'm building the Zirolli Stuka. But I want to have the famous Stuka siren on it. The Stuka siren was a mechanical siren feeded by a small propellor who stands on the weelleg.
The feeding is not a problem at all. The system of the siren is one. Can you say me how I can do it, or is it better with a electrical siren? Thanks WWII greets from Mathieu off Belgium"

Joe: "Sorry for the delay Mathieu been a little busy. the product I reommend is called the air screamer you can find them here http://www.i4cproducts.com/ the speed of the diving plane makes it sound like a stuka. matter of fact thats what it was designed for then you can make the littke prop on the LG fairing for good looks Joseph Huntley US Scale Masters Midwest Regional Manager"

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Question 213: "Hello Joe, If you would be so kind, I'd like to get an address, phone number for someone that stocks small piano type hinges. I've seen Pat McCurry use these on his 109's. He says this was the design of the full scale airplane. My canopy is already finished, but I'd do the hinging over to get a scale type hinge. Thanks again for your help. John."

Joe: "John the best place to get those and other cool stuff is nelson hobbies http://www.nelsonhobby.com/ but he closed til after the holiday as he went to texas and was gonna do the scale masters qualifier but jerry has the hinges you looking for. Joseph Huntley"

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Question 214: "Hi, I am searching for a r/c C-123 Provider made by Fairchild. My father was shot down in one during the Vietnam war and today he is still missing. Thus the reason for wanting to build one.Can someone help me?Alan"

Joe: "Alan the only person I know does one is Dan Palmer http://www.mag-web.com/rc-modeler/palmer/product.html . Joseph Huntley"

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Question 215: "I am building a Vailly 1/5th scale Typhoon. Can you give me some ideas on installing a door closing system for the inner wheel well doors. (air, servo, mechanical?) My retracts are air operated. Also, do you know of any scale 3 blade flying prop (24x10 - Brisson 5.8) thanks,Wayne "

Joe: "Hi Wayne not sure on the typhoon but the jet guys have really good door sequencing and closing stuff if I have something that i want to trick out cool with the gear doors I goto the jet guys so check with century jet and others on their gear door sequencing stuff. you can also do normal door closing by installing feeler whires so as your gear come up the strut hits the wires which pull the doors closed. also for an assortment of 3 and 4 blade flying props try Desert Aircraft they have a huge selection of large 2,3 and 4 blade props http://www.desertaircraft.com/"

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Question 216: "Joe I'm building the Top Flite P-47 giant scale plane for my buddy. It's in honor of his dad who flew one in WW II. This is my first giant warbird to build and it's been going great, but( and of course there is always a but) I'm at the point of doing the flaps, and I'm a little scared. The booklet doesn't seem to explain it to well or it might, and I just can't understand it, again this my first warbird to build. Can you offer me any help or sites that could help. Thanks Wes "

Joe: "Wes I would say go to http://www.rcscalebuilder.com it is the number 1 site for help on construction. Of course thats after this site but the reason I like to point people there is because hundreds of SCALE modellers use that site and there are thousands of construction photos showing what you need to be able to see to understand including on your flaps. Joe"

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