PSS builds - F104, Rafale, A10

The F104 progressed well through paint and into lacquer this past weekend, so that's all done and ready to fly again, short of a quick check on the C of G.  I'm hoping the small amount of lead in the front can be removed to allow her to be weight neutral after the repairs!

The little Raphael has had some work done on it, as I am waiting a large run of free time to mask then spray the remainder of the A10 parts.  The new tailplane has been top-coated, and the fins and rear flying surfaces have also had a smattering of white enamel, ready for the camo to be re-applied.

Anyway, the Raphael then.  First off, remove the jet pipes.  These just get in the way and add weight that I don't need :

One out..

I can see through now

Both out!

I used the pipes to create balsa blanking plates for the intakes, then glued them in thickened epoxy.  No pictures yet!

Whilst the dremel was still out with a cutting disc, I sliced off the fin spigot from the top of the fus, as that's not needed now either :

I made up a small radio tray, to which I mounted the servos and a switch, then stuck that in again with thickened epoxy :

Here is the new fin, made from balsa - 16g!  The old glassfibre one weighed 55g, so a decent weight saving from the rear of the aircraft.  The fin will be plug-in-able on carbon rods, so some of that weight will come back, but not much.

A small change to the A10 - both engine pods now lined with 1.5mm black ABS for smoother airflow:

So, some spraying in the garage this week as I want the A10 ready for 2 week's time!

Bwlchfest Sunday

A good time on Sunday with some great flying on the Bwlch. The Fox maiden went well in the end on her second launch, unfortunately she managed to get away from the launchers first time round before they'd pushed her much, but I landed OK on top of the hill with no damage.

After that it was all gravy!  The skies were a bit grey and with the CofG on the rearward point, I landed her after about 20 minutes.  Happy to say the brakes work well, but I had a CFIT moment and scuffed the fuselage on an access track around the tail wheel mount, and snapped an elevator linkage. 

Quite a strange failure, but at least she flew and I think it's a keeper for now.

Stop taking the piss when I'm flying!

The highlight for me was my F104 flight.  33mph with 50+ gusts, and she handled it very easily.  It was wonderful to see her on only her second flight grooving around with very axial rolls, and quick height gain when required.  As expected though, a tip tank was damaged on landing, so one flight was all she got.  I think I have a solution for the tip tanks to be easily knocked off but sturdy enough to stay on in flight - as the damaged tank is already repaired, I will try and incorporate it before the Lleyn meet.

Leave me alone!

F104 Starfighter for PSS - build complete

Stick a fork in it, it's done :

All clear-coated and ready to fly.  the pics don't do the dayglo orange justice - it really is nice and bright.

Here's a couple of pics from the weekend's spraying and detailing session

F104 Starfighter and Fouga Magister build progress - in paint

A busy weekend for me doing work in the garden and popping into the workshop to spray paint on two airframes that I want ready for April's PSSA meet.

Fouga and F104 on their backs getting the light grey underside :

The lots and lots (and lots) of masking.  I hate masking :

Rolled over, then on with the top surface dark grey :

Yet more masking.  Did I say I hate it? :

Final top colour :

But I do love peeling masking off, especially with enamel paints, as their is never any risk of it peeling off :

Done and ready for decals, panel lines, and weathering.

I had some remedial work to around the Fouga cockpit, so unfortunately she didn't get included in the top coats.  I'm nearly done with that, so she should be finished this week too.  Hurrah!

The 200th post

Well, here is the 200th post.  What to say?  Probably nothing, other than thanks for reading, and hopefully continuing to do so.  Here are some pictures instead!

F104 finishes primer stage 2

I've not mentioned her in a while, but here is the Starfighter, after fill / sand / prime / fill / sand / prime.  She's now ready for top coat, which I am very happy with for timing.

Flanker is there too, with bottom paint on and awaiting top camo.

Project's Progress

I haven't been posting recently due to not really doing a great deal on the aircraft themselves.  I have done a little more design work on the C17, but mostly last-minute tweaks to the way things go together.  I've also got some raw materials around me now, so I'm nearly ready to make the Big Start on the BGC.

The Flanker has been sat awaiting it's pilots, and I've been painting them up all week - and first thing this morning I glued them in.  That means tonight I should be able to get the cockpit on, then tomorrow mask that off and start the final primer coats.

The F104 has had a good sanding down all over, but not really progressed since the last images I put up.  If I get the time this weekend I should be able to mist some primer on to see where we're at with the quality of finish.

The Sea Hawk hasn't really been touched, but I made a decision to make the wings non-removable on the first one.  I've been wasting too much time with looking at spar solutions, I decided "sod it", and will use the remainder of my flat carbon spar material (from the Mig29) to make a one-piece spar that keep her altogether.  I'm not struggling for transport space, so it won't matter in the long run.

Other than that, I am re-organizing the indoors workshop (again), to add in another 7 foot long bench, adding in more storage racks, and making a dedicated soldering / electronics work area.  This should free up the other benches for aircraft parts.

That's about it!  More news when it happens :)

F104 bits and bobs

With the successful maiden of the F104 as a PSS machine, I decided those horrible decals and colour scheme had to go.  Lots of sanding later, and the paint is mostly gone on the fuselage, but I had a problem with the wings.

The guy who built it didn't actually put anything over the veneered panels, other than maybe some sanding sealer on the wood, then primed and painted it. Yuck.  The grain was evident when closely inspected, and that just won't do.  Time for my favourite filler!  3M red spot putty / glazing putty.

A good thin film is all that is needed - most of it will come off in sanding, so I used a plastic filler spatula to scrape it on.  Some sanding later...

There! It's mostly gone.  The surface now feels like a sheet of glass - very happy with that.  Yes I could have solarfilmed it, but that always leaves a finish that WILL peel, bubble, or lift at some point.  Horrible stuff.  Or, of course, I could have glassed it - but the hinge job on the surfaces are so good at the moment, I don't want to disturb them.

So, rolling the rocketship over sees the next job - the underside.  I've given her a good sanding, but I think I will do some more glaze puttying, and a bit of P38 on the centreline of the fuselage too.  I may also 3D print some sleek servo covers as I'm missing one and the others do even cover the servo horn.

She's pretty close to priming now - I think the this and the Flanker will be hitting the paint shop at the same time in the very near future.  At this rate, they will both be ready to fly at the end of February, and maybe a cheeky Orme visit will be lined up for that purpose!

F104 flight

I forgot to add this - the pictures from the F104's first flight as a slope soarer.  She went quite well, but maybe it was a bit gusty for her.

Anyway, some pictures :

What a lovely 'plane!

Such lovely colours on this Luftwaffe F104...guess what is arriving in the hanger shortly? ;) Yet more PSS of course!