Ziroli 92" P-47

[selleri]

Hmm, one year and two days(30.Nov. 2007) since I started building the Jug, where has the time gone.

Time waits for no man or something like that...  It had to come to this, time to glue some bigger parts together, like the empennage.
First up was squaring the fuselage off, the fuselage crutch is handy here to check the lines. The elevator is supposed to have 0-1/2 positive angle, we can check that by measuring the height of the LE and TE, 0-1.6mm(1/16"). Don't quote me on that angle as I don't remember it but the 1.6mm number is correct.  

Point of no return, notice strategically placed tissue in case of leaks.


The vertical stabilizer is almost hovering over the fuselage so I decided to do something about it, beginning with this.


The back end is starting to take some room, got to be careful next time I need to flip it around. Epoxy and milled fibers were used for gluing.


Balsa blocks on either side of the one I had already added.


Getting there...


Few layers of balsa, some glue, then some cutting and sanding to get a rough shape.


Some lightweight filler.


Starting to look better, still some sanding to do.


Few dials and gauges for the pilot.


I ordered some charting tape from Fighter Aces to simulate the join on the full size sheeting, a phone call later Phil had somehow managed to get my CC number and couple of days later I got a small envelope delivered through my mail slot. The tape is only 1/64" wide or 0.4mm wide.

Not much material.


Steady hand is needed to apply it.


Here we see it on one elevator half.


Next up, spray some filler over the tape, few runs might be needed.


Then the filler is sanded away until the tape appears again, here we are almost done.


Here the tape has been removed.


Some colour on the elevator.


Up close and personal, remember that the vertical line is just about 0.4mm(or 1/64") wide.


Here it is in all its glory out in the parent unit garage, everything sanded and ready for action, notice my new electric oven bought this morning.


The cloth is cut with a sharp model knife and a metal ruler.


One action picture just to keep you excited, notice the gloves, essentials when working with strong chemicals. I mixed just over half a cup each time and had a small left over


And here it is post operation, a little bit wet but that was soon mended.


Some filler on the fuselage, next job is sanding it all off.   :?


After putting all that filler on I needed to get it off again... brilliant!


Changed the tip of my soldering iron.


And some time later one of my elevators looked something like that.

[billscottni]

excellent work

[mario]

good joob :clap:

[erwan]

Great Job

Have you think about electronic ignition for your titan? I use it and start motor is really so easy.

[andrew wallace]

amazing bit of work  :clap:  :clap:

[selleri]

Thanks guys!

Erwan though I didn't show it I've got a spring starter on the back, they've been nice to me over the years on other engines so digits crossed!

[andrew wallace]

I like the idea of that just like a cox .049 engine :lol:  I've been hit so many times by zenoah 62 I don't like using it  :shock: once you got it going it stayed going it was just getting it started  :?

[selleri]

In my experience they like to be WET but not too wet, lol.

It can be a fine line!

[selleri]

16.February 2008

I've started to ponder over the wing and the next steps.
Notice the nice Cyparis I picked up at Cosford back in 2006
Bought the first bits for this build back in 2004 so if all goes on according to plan it will be a five year(yeah right) project when finished.


Here the shims are flat while the ribs are glued to the bottom spars.


The wing will be split outboard of the flaps so W8 was doubled. Next two pictures show the the wing tube holes more clearly.


Moving along.


Here the shims have been put on their edge and we can glue in the leading edge spar, top spars and some more sticks and stuff.


Better get the angle of the root rib correct.


And here we are today.


And here we are after today, I also started the other wing half but that is just copy/paste work so no picture of that part.


Starting to look like something


Bottom of the wings has been sheeted.


Bigger flaps might be needed.   :lol:


Oho, what happened here?   :shock:


I wonder if these nice little rings have something to do with it?  :wink:


The wing tube was bought from Ralf Petrausch Modellbautechnik. Pretty impressive stuff from them


The wingbolt goes through the balsa block on its way to the fuselage.


The flap actuation rib and blocks for the hinges.


Rolled up paper was used for servo wire guide, thin CA keeps it solid where needed.


Dowels were used for anti-rotation with a bit of plywood for holding power.


Decided to go with tongues.


Voila! Only thing missing is a bit of balsa to box in the tongue.


Caps for the wing tubes.


Attached.


Flaps.


Top wing sheeting.


And the LE, you might notice that there is plywood under the balsa on the center section.

[selleri]

I've started to work on detailing the fuselage, 1/64" panel line tape from Fighteraces as was used on the empennage.




Getting there!


Decided it was time to plug the hole round back.


Bit of filler, sanding, painting and we have this.


The dashboard, well, it's not white anymore.


One of the flaps is covered.


Almost done with the wings. One aileron left to finish, aileron hinges, wingtips, servo installation and who knows I might even manage that and glassing before Xmas.


Notice the curve in the ailerons, we'll get to that in a couple of years!


The wing has been joined... not getting any smaller.


Wingtips cut from a 3"x1" balsa. Currently the wing is weighing in at 2.6 kg(5.73 lbs) so the wing + fuselage is 5.2 kg (11.46lbs)


Nothing big happening, wingtips have been cleaned up and servo hatches for the ailerons made up, plus a lot of sanding and filling.


Always fun when you can assemble the major parts for the first time  


The wing center join was glassed.


Started to lay up the cloth for the gear doors.


Carbon tows.


More fiberglass cloth.


Started to glass the wingtips, used a tad of a grey colour pigment.


Well I was a bit closer to the suggested daily dosage of the pigment today.


I began by placing a brown parcel tape on the center section to keep from having a single large wing tomorrow.


Then I applied some filler(P38) to the wing end, maybe a tad too much here but I got away with it, I hope.   :lol:


Then I pressed the wing end home, allowing the filler to squeeze out.



Then I removed most of the filler that squeezed out. Tomorrow I should have a nice clean edge at the join.


Red circles show where the filler had grabbed the tape a bit. Better stick to better known brands in the future me thinks.


Here we see how the filler has spread out, besides giving a neater seam it also makes the panel more solid when attached.


Voila, nearly invisible seam, well it will be when I've blendid it in and filled in the area around the joining tab.


I offered the wing to the fuselage tonight, I was rather pleased with fit even if I say so myself.


I'll also need to fasten the wing to something.


Hard to believe it's been two years already, so a good day to mate the wing and fuselage and do some drilling.


Starting to look the look.


Threaded inserts were used for the wing bolts.


Time to do some cutting on the bellypan, made a W2 rib for a rough outline.


Tada...


...well almost, had to add a bit of material on the other side.   :oops:

[selleri]

Now it was time to "damage" my wing by cutting out the wheely bits. Thunderbolts had retracts that shortened when retracted, about 10" IIRC but as my retracts don't do that I'll settle for a slightly different wheel covers.

On big sister this looks something like this, the scale isn't correct for me but the shape is all I want so I refrenced this drawing while marking out the area on the fiberglass I layed up earlier. The lower part shows how I cut the wing to get the retract into it before continuing.


Here the fiberglass layup is in place and I've started to mark it.


After a bit of work I had the  retract cover cut out, I'll keep it in one piece for now at least. Next I fastened it place at cut around it for a flush fit.


Here are the markings before cutting the wing skin.


I'm pretty pleased. I'll do something to finish the area around the retract base before going to the filler/primer stage.Now to repeat for the other side.


Now both wheel covers have been made.


Another large milestone(5.Dec.2008), here the Jug is standing on its own legs for the first time.

[erwan]

The spring starter have a great function, the pope have the same on ih tractor, but the avantage of electornique ignition, is more power (200 to 400 rpm ) and for idle, less vibration. But an accu is necessary.

[selleri]

We'll see what happens.  

8.February 2009

I had put some filler primer on the wings over the holidays and I sanded it off tonight.


I needed to remove about 2mm(~5/64") from the retract bearers so the gearleg would clear the wingskin.



Fun, fun and more fun, putty, water, soap, sandpaper, sanding blocks, sanding sponges and more muscle movements than I care to remember... and I'm not even finished yet... Fred where are you when I need you?

The wing seems to be having a bad case of the measles...


Last days, and some late nights, have been enjoyed in the comfort of the palace...  well okay garage.

Time to do something on the wheelcovers.


Primer!


I didn't quite manage to wet the carbon tows thin enough so a light skim of putty was put on top.   :oops:


More sanding.


Fitted to the wing and trimmed down.


One coat of primer makes the world spin around... although that might be the solvents.


Sanded with 800 wet to find any dings, managed to find one.


All this sanding and it's still this big!


Great already making a mess of that beautiful primer, started to lay down tape to build up some of the panel lines.


Putty!


And sanding, and filling, and sanding, and priming, and sanding... well you get the picture.


Priming...


Sanding...


Progress!  


Been a bit busy but burned few rivets the other day.

[selleri]

Well as I was hooked on this jet malarky stuff by a good mate not much happened for quite some time so we return to the project on the 26.March 2011.


I'm going to do my best to get some colour onto the Jug over the next months. There are few areas that I'm not particularly happy with and need to fix to make it presentable. I assembled the whole lot today to get inspirational vibes and see if my wing was still as big as I'd remembered when assembled...   it is!  

The plane is 8 kg(17.6lbs) as it is today with the retracts installed.




Einar trying to skip town with the surfboard!




Wingtip and LE got the sandpaper treatment.






The old aileron was too low in the middle.




Got my decals and masks for from Ralle so I'm running out of excuses!





And just for fun, picture taken with a 150 year old camera and processed on the spot(in the trunk/boot of a Yaris) at a fly-in earlier this month. Process involving cyanide, silver and lot of other "nice" chemicals! I'm kneeling to the far right.

Photo: Hordur Geirsson copyrighted 2011

Things are starting to pick up again.

[selleri]

1.January 2012

Bellypan attached.


Flaps


Not going full out(Fowler on the big bird) in the scale department.


The full size has the hinge below and back on the aileron but a more tradional method is used here.


Getting closer to the paint stage.


As you can maybe see that hinging method for the aileron isn't going to work due to the curve on the top side, so that is being changed to a more center hinged method. Hopefully some more pictures soon, work and life interfearing and all that.  




Got new shoes for the Thunderbolt, Du-Bro 5.5" via Ziroli, not the most scale like but for $35 each I can't complain!




Wing fairings en route.


"Interior" shoot.




Might be okay.


Working on adding some of the more prominent features.


Need something to fill up the cowling...


Bit by bit we are getting there!


Baby steps.




Hmmm, maybe I need smaller "screws"!    :?:


No worries, the glue is just a temp solution.


Vroooommmm, Vroooooooommmmm...




Floating nut (full size riveted plate nuts) from my mates full size drawer.






The dummy is getting settled in, still need to make the "lip" that seperates the engine from the turbocharger intake.


Leading edge and wingtip finally got their date with cloth and epoxy.


Bellypan looking good.


One of the new ailerons.


Stumbled upon this one through another forum on the other side of the pond(Irish sea?), should do for the front until I manage a date with a lathe and some stock.


The retracts are being fine tuned with the gear doors.




Turbocharger intake.