A-10 Wet start damage.

Last summer I had an unfortunate wet start that caused and engine nacelle fire and did considerable damage in just a few seconds. It started me thinking about some kind of heat protection for the paper thin fiberglass nacelles. I looked at various materials that are intended for this purpose but weight was an issue as the nacelles are way back of the c of g.

 As you can see by this picture the damage was significant.
This damage as mentioned took only about 8 seconds. The fire was quickly ( not quickly enough) put out with the CO-2 extinguisher but
with no barrier between the glass and the flame it was too late.

 I first decided to paint the interior of the nacelle with a high heat tolerant paint (header paint) to seal the fiberglass so the heat reflective sheet would bond better to the surface.

The "Reflect a gold " sticky back sheet comes in either 12 x 12 or 12 x 24 inch sheets and is very flexible .
  Capable of handling continual temperatures up to 850°F
   Adhesive protected by a release liner rated up to 325°F

 This is intended to give momentary protection to the fiberglass but it would not be affective if the fire was not extinguished right away.

The weight gain was less than an ounce per nacelle as compared to about 8 oz each for the heavier insulating material.

 



It is easy to measure and cut the sheets and with a little patience the install is quickly accomplished.

These heat insulating products can be found on the Duralite Flight Systems web site
www.duraliteflightsystems.com under accessories heat reflective products.

F4U-D Corsair on final

The Corsair had another good season of flying. Here seen on final just before touch down in Vernon BC at the BC Scale masters event. This winter I am planning to add the wing pylons with bomb drops for some fun. Also need to baffle the engine to get it to run cooler.

Here is one just after lift off with the gear starting to rotate and retract.

Avanti S test plane for Jeti Telemetry transmitter system

My next task is to get up to speed on a new transmitter system. New to me that is. I have chosen the Jeti system for its unbelievable versatility and its advanced telemetry. You might wonder why telemetry is needed for a model RC plane. First let me state that it isn't essential. Having said that you can pilot a full size aircraft without telemetry as well but would you want to?
These models are expensive and a great deal of work goes into building them, so why not have as much information available to you as possible.
Here is what I would like to have annunciated to me while I am flying either when I command the plane to perform a certain maneuver such as a landing or on  demand like when I am about to enter an aerobatic maneuver like a roll or loop etc. and would like to have my air speed above a certain level.
The system can give me this. What I am personally looking for is the following while the plane is in the air.
-airspeed every few seconds when my gear is down and my flaps are down for landing.
-confirmation that I have put my switch into the gear down position or up position.
-confirmation that I have put my flaps into either the take off position or landing position
-amount of fuel remaining in the system either in % or ml.
-exhaust gas temperature
-stall warning
-over speed warning

 Jeti DC-16 Transmitter.

 Avanti S test plane

A few more pictures before I move on to other projects

Some realizm shots for fun.

Had a chance to get the plane out on the tarmac at the airport in front of the Sea King hangar. Some talented photographers from a club here in Victoria did some interesting shots of the plane.
Here are some of their pictures

Had a chance to show 703 at the Victoria Museum open house and a professional photographer offer her service if she could photograph the plane. Here is what she did. Pretty cool work.

Summer Fun

Out of the Hangar Deck and into the sun. With just a couple of small details left to finish until I start stage 2 the rigging in the fall,  I decided to have a look at the Zipper in the light of day. It will be on display this summer at a few events here in Victoria. As you can see it is very hard to photograph because of the polished aluminum. If anyone out there is a professional photographer and would like to have a try at it let me know.  There are a couple of small errors that I will fix next winter but for now I need a break and it is time to start practicing for the scale competitions with my F4U Corsair.

                                           It is not a Starfighter but as far as WW-II fighters go it is pretty hard to beat. ;-)

Painting Completed

Progress has been slow but can now see some headway. Painting is now done as you can see by these three pictures. By far the hardest was the Canadian Ensign on the tail. Kind of wished I opted out for the new flag instead, much easier.

Some little details such as the mirrors I decided to make. They are made from thin plastic sheet stock. Also with the help of Jon Harwood we made the temperature probe. Two transducers to go and the little fragile bits are done.

I am busy trying to put on the nomenclature but having trouble getting a clear image of where they all go. I will not be putting all of them on as there are just too many and I do not want the plane to look like a wall of graffiti.

This is a bit of a grey area as some countries such as Germany and Denmark put markings on in places where the Americans and Canadians did not.

If you have any questions or comments please feel free to make them.

It was a nice day on Sunday so I decided that before I take the plane apart for the next bit of painting, I thought I would roll the F-104 out for a look in the sun. If you are thinking that it is big ..... yes it is! 

I will update after the last bit of painting. There are also a few more decals to put on after the painting and then it's time to reassemble the F-104.

Detailing The Wings

The wings are getting closer to completion with the roundels now painted. Next is the lettering and a little subtle weathering.

I will start painting the markings on the fuse this weekend if the weather permits. Once that is done I will finish the lettering ( nomenclature) and then put it away for the flying season. It will be used for a couple of displays this summer and next fall I will start the rigging of the plane. 

Cockpit and Little External Details

I must admit I am not very fond of doing the cockpits and find them to be a tedious task at best but important in the overall result. I am not finished the cockpit yet but you can get the idea from these two photos.  

You can also see that I have some of the rub on decals on the fuse. These are from Tailormade decals in Germany and are very nice but do require time and patience as they are very fragile until they are on and clear coated.

On the F104 the canopy extends back behind the pilots seat and therefore I need to have something under the canopy to simulate the real aircraft's structure.

You can see that I have built a curved cover with the same look as the full size but needed to simulate the raised battleship type rivets. To do this I take a syringe and some thixotropic epoxy glue and placed a small dot of it in the pre-marked positions and then painted it flat black.

These two pictures show the external temperature probe that sits on the lower starboard side of the forward fuselage. I take no credit for the finished part that you see as a friend of mine Jon Harwood used his $400,000 CNC router and some very expensive software to create this little part that would rest on the end of your finger. We will use the same method for the two transducers for the AOA and the stick shaker.

Before I put any more of the decals on the model and then find out that the paint mask covers them ( the problem is when you remove the mask it tends to remove the decal as well) so I will forge ahead with the painting of the RCAF 703 as these are the largest of the painted decals on the fuse.

The roundels that go on the wing are large but there is very little decals on the wings to interfere with. Now I need to wait for a warmer day to roll the plane outside and start the 4 colour paint process.

F-104 Details .... All 16 Pages Worth

Detailing the Zipper with rub on nomenclature that has been sent for the F-104 ..... All 16 pages! I will be at it for a long time.

Dustin Buescher's Skymster F 104

Here's a great preview of the "Zipper" in action.

Zipper Wings

It is now time to paint the huge wings. J. The RCAF Zippers of this era had white top surfaces and a grey/green colour bottom surface. It is the same colour used on the nose cone and a couple of other places on the plane.

I put a little piece of Flight Metal on the inner part of the leading and training edge flap to make it a bit more realistic looking. The same is done on the aileron.

Canopy Access

Since the canopy on the full size aircraft was not hydraulically operated I have decided to use a simple piano wire to hold it down for flight. For static and to gain access to the electronics bay the nose cone slides off and then the wire is pulled back releasing the canopy.

Once the canopy is released it can be rotated to the side but some resistance is needed to hold it up and to give it the proper feel when rotating so I have just used a spare air cylinder to add resistance. It is not connected to any air supply just friction holds the canopy in place.

Canopy Installation

While I am waiting for the nomenclature to arrive I have decided to start on the modifications to the canopy to make it functional and scale as well. First I needed to cut the forward part off the aft part. A fine Zona saw does this nicely if you take your time. I have masked the Plexiglas to protect it from me! LOL

The real canopy used a type of, for lack of better word, piano hinge. This is easy as far as  hinging goes and I happen to have a nice little piano hinge to do this.

I have decided to use a simple piano wire (in keeping with the piano theme) to lock the canopy in place. Instead of being pneumatically operated it will just be manual like the real F-104.

Since the full scale canopy was not hydraulically operated but operated by a strong arm, I will do likewise. OK, maybe not a strong arm in my case but strong fingers. :-)

Satisfied with the operation of the hinge I needed to cut off the extra material on the flange or return lip that is on the canopy and frame from ½ “ inch to about ¼ “and the same around the forward wind screen lip. To support the canopy I needed to make a canopy frame that is the same as the full size one used.

I will try to copy it as close as possible by using brass tubes soldiered together and bonded to the canopy. Once I have installed this I will mask the Plexiglas and paint the whole thing flat black.

Here's a picture of the instrument panel that I am going to install. More details added to this F-104 but it will be worth it in the long run. Check out the video below too!