Projects and Building Tips

Jim Davis: Latest Build—Sig Four-Star 40

Hey guys, Just wanted to show you all a few photos of my finished Four-Star 40 I built from a kit. It took quite a while but finally finished it! The pilot is the one I made and sent out pictures of last couple weeks ago (see pilot article below). The motor is a new OS 46 AX11 and has yet to be run. Can't wait!!

SPECIFICATIONS:

Wing Span: 59.75 in. (1518 mm)

Wing Area: 604 in. (39 dm.)

Length: 47 in. (1194 mm)

Flying Weight: 4.75 lbs. (2150 g)

Radio Required: 4-Channel

Engines: .40 - .45 (6.5 - 7.5 cm.) 2-Stroke

.40 - .50 (6.5 - 8.2 cm.) 4-Stroke

David Spradlin: My first scratch build, Al Clark's "Mysterion"

I saw an article in the January 2015 edition of the AMA Model Aviation Magazine about this aircraft and decided to build it.

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Jim Davis: Build your own pilot figure!

Jim Davis sent us his project building, a pilot for his new airplane build. Check out his pictures from a balsa framework, to wrapping with cotton and thread to form the shape that you want, to covering with plaster/bondo, to shaping a pilot figure, to base painting, to detail painting! Now a handsome daring pilot! If you have any questions contact Jim Davis at the below link.

Contact Jim

Virgil Kee: Wintertime Jollies!

Check out the FMS J3 Cub 40.5" that I have received! I needed something a little larger than the micros.

Robert Yanacek: First Build!

Our newest member recently purchased and built his first radio controlled aircraft—an E-flite model of a Boeing/Stearman N2S. His build went quite easily as it was a "Bind and Fly" kit that did not require the installation of a receiver, servos, motor, or ESC. Regardless, Robert was amazed that despite his lack of experience, he was able to assemble and bind the airplane to his Spektrum DX6e transmitter by following the instructions in slightly more than an hour! With the build complete, he plans to detail his airplane by removing the incorrect pre-painted Army-style tail stripes, and adding scale details including a more accurate propeller, fuel lines, pitot tube, and rigging on the wings and empennage.  

SPECIFICATIONS:

Wing Span: 44.2 in. (1130 mm)

Wing Area: 643 in. (41.5 sq dm.)

Length: 33.5 in. (830 mm)

Flying Weight: 3.2 lbs. (1450 g)

Radio Required: 4-Channel

Engine: 15-Size, 850 kv Brushless Outrunner Motor

Boeing/Stearman N2S-4 Pilot and Cockpit Detailing!

The E-flite N2S kit came with one only pilot, who ironically looked like a World War II Japanese pilot. In addition, the pilot figure included with the kit looked entirely too small, so I decided that he had to go! I purchased two scale Freewing P-51 pilots—one to serve as the flight instructor in the front cockpit, while the second would sit in the rear cockpit as the student naval aviation cadet. As the pilot figures came painted as USAAF aviators, I repainted both using multi-surface acrylic khaki to match the color of the cotton navy flight suit of the era. One figure was then painted with a standard khaki cloth flying helmet, while the second was painted using a dark brown color to simulate a navy leather flying helmet. The goggles and strap on both figures were painted a light shade of gray and the lens frames and metal hardware were painted dark gray. Finally, the goggle lenses of both pilots were painted a dark green color, and once dried, a coat of clear Elmer's glue was applied to provide a glassy look and some depth. No work was needed to detail the earphone covers, Mae-West, parachute harness, or buckles on either figure. The only detailing necessary for the cockpit area was painting the cockpit edge combing. This was accomplished by simply taping off the area with painter's tape and applying black paint to the combing.

Boeing/Stearman N2S-4 Engine and Propeller Detailing!

In examining the 11X7 propeller provided with the kit I decided that it looked nothing like either the wood or the metal propellers used on the N2S. After some Internet searching, I discovered a perfect replacement—an 11X7 propeller and a propeller hub made by FMS for their Waco YMF-5 biplane. After purchasing this propeller and hub I tried it on the motor and quickly discovered that the spacer molded onto the back side of the hub was far too long for the length of the motor shaft. To remedy this I removed the propeller spacer that came with the kit and replaced it with a tight fitting rubber washer of the same diameter. Using a razor saw I then removed about 1/2-inch of the spacer that was molded into the back half of the hub. These minor modifications did the trick and permitted the propeller and hub to fit to the length of the motor shaft. Using enamel spray paint, I painted the entire front and the center rear section of the propeller metallic aluminum, along with the propeller hub. I then painted red, yellow, and blue stripes on the tips of both sides of the propeller—extending the blue on the rear of the propeller per the Navy regulations of the period. The extended blue area on the rear of the propeller covered the natural metal color of propeller in order to prevent dazzle in the eyes of the pilot. Once finished, I applied a coat of clear satin, added scale Hamilton Standard decals to the propeller blades as well as a custom set of propeller specification decals. The radial engine that comes with the plane is very accurate representation of the Continental R-670-5 seven-cylinder engine, but was in need of some detailing. Using acrylic paint I painted the crankcase light gray, the cylinder heads and oil line fittings a very dark shade of gray, the oil plug a metallic brass color, and the exhaust collector stacks rusty brown. Using metallic silver, I painted the oil lines and the prominent bolt heads on the front of the engine. The remainder of the engine, including the rocker arm covers were left in its molded black plastic color. I completed the painting by adding orange-red bands at the base of each cylinder. To finish the engine, I removed the molded spark plugs and wires and replaced them with 1-milimeter diameter crimp tubes into which I inserted lengths of 20-gauge wire, then applied a custom decal engine data-plate to the lower side of the crankcase. Following completion of the engine I realized that the model was completely lacking an exhaust stack, which I easily resolved by adding a short length of 1/4-inch tubing—painted a rusty brown—to the starboard side of the fuselage in the appropriate location.

Boeing/Stearman N2S-4 Pitot Tube and Crew Access Detailing!

Moving to the wing I fashioned a pitot tube from 1/16-inch aluminum tubing, then attached two pieces of 20-gauge wire to the pitot tube using a single 1-milimeter diameter crimp tube. At the lower end of each wire I affixed a 0.8-milimeter diameter crimp tube as the joint where the tubing attached to the lower wing. The entire assembly was then mounted to the outboard side of the port wing strut using two thin strips that were cut from aluminum tape. Using the same aluminum tape, I cut very thin strips and applied them to the leading, trailing, and outboard edges of the black colored walkways on the lower wing. After completing this, I added a small servicing walkway on the top of the fuselage, just aft of the engine using a piece of black monokote which was lightly sanded to dull the finish and outlined with thin strips of aluminum tape. This walkway was provided to permit ground crewmen a reinforced area to stand upon while filling the fuel tank located in the upper wing. The final piece of crew access detailing involved adding small step pegs on both sides of forward edge of the landing gear fairings. These were used by ground crewmen to access the servicing walkway while fueling the aircraft. The steps were fashioned by using 1/16-inch aluminum tubing, flattening the front edges, and gluing them at a slightly oblique angle to the longitudinal axis of the aircraft. Following installation, the pegs were painted black.