Warbird Contest 2010 - House of Balsa FW 190

[Forge]

Guys,

This is my official entry for the 2010 warbird build contest. I am constructing a house of balsa FW 190 kit that came from Santa this year.

It looks like a pretty nice kit, that is spec'ed for a gas engine. Of course, I am converting to electric. If anyone has built or converted one of these planes and has any suggestions please chime in.

Here's some shots of the kit contents and the start of my frame out.

Have a great weekend.

Thanks!

Forge

[offtom]

Nice looking kit and a good start on the build.

[Bill G]

Nice to see these old kits being built. Bless those who had successful flight with 2ch control (read box art).
I Still have the desire to build yet another 190, especially since you can never run out of paint schemes for them. I've looked over this kit countless times at their site. Nice to see one being built here.

They definitely go "stand off scale" on the nose, and I can't blame them, as a scale 190 nose loves lead. I built their stand off scale Texan and relocated the batt compartment to the upper front, to reduce ballast. There's always the option of adding the gun blisters and building the A5-A8 versions, as they had a 6" longer nose than the A0-A5 versions, on the full scale plane.

[Forge]

Bill,

Thanks for the note. Not sure about just 2 CH either. I don't really know how well that would go?

I plan on adding rudder control to mine, in addition to ailerons and elevator. I will also attempt to add retracts, if I can fit them in. I am a glutton for punishment. We'll see.

Are you saying this bird will be tail heavy? I wasn't planning on deviating too far from the kit plans. Have you built this bird? Any suggestions are welcome. I am still trying to figure out how to modify battery access. The plans call for a screw in hatch below the original gas motor and I may just use that set up. Either that or customize a top hatch.

I've gotten the fuselage frame mostly done and it seems to be going together fairly easily...so far.

Thanks!

Forge

[Stevephoon]

Hi Forge,

Nice to see you join in on the fun. I've often looked at the House Of Balsa kits as well. How would you compare this kit to the MM/Laser Arts P-51? Same quality of cuts, plans and parts?

Thanks is advance in helping me on my P-51 build! I'm sure the questions will be coming soon.

Steve

[texasclouds]

cool kit! i'd consider taking some meat out of the rear fuselage and tail to help get the CG with your lighter motor/battery. is this all laser cut?

[Forge]

Guys,

Sorry for the delayed response, been traveling for work most of this past week.

Tex, this kit is mostly laser cut, but some of it is blocks that will need to be cut and shaped to form.

Stevephoon, this kit is different from other kits I've built, the fuselage is a couple of larger pieces, whereas the MM kit is a lot of interlocking pieces. The MM P-51 is one of the better kits out there in my opinion, although this looks to be a nice kit too.

It's nice to get back to building this weekend. Here's the latest updates to the build. Cut out a number of 1" circles to try to lighten the fuse up, but not sure it is worth it. All those holes only add up to about 3 grams of fat. A lot of cutting for not much reduction.

It does go together fairly nicely, and the kit has fairly good instructions. I may put the fuselage to the side for a couple of days, and start on the wings. I thought I had a pilot on hand, but didn't. With this kit, you need to build up the canopy, then attach it to the fuselage. After that you then shape the front cowl area to fit into the canopy area. I need my pilot to finish up the canopy first.

I also modified the hatch area for my battery set up. This plane is kitted for a gas engine so the hatch plans call for a bind nut and screw. I decided to opt for a magnet hatch so that it will make battery access easier and quicker. Don't mind the epoxy mess on the inside of my hatch, I had to redo my magnets when I wasn't happy with the first fit.

Hope to start on my wings later this week. Here's a few photos of the latest updates.

Have a great week. By the way it was a great flying night this evening in CT. The wind died down right before sunset and I got out for only a second flight on my e-flite sea fury. That is an excellent ARF by the way. I set mine up with retracts and she flies beautifully.

Forge

[capn chaos]

Forge,
Great progress. The kit does look well thought out though it's obvious it was drawn as a nitro powered plane. Construction looks a lot like an older ARF (nitro) ME 109 that I converted to electric awhile back.

"It's nice to get back to building this weekend. Here's the latest updates to the build. Cut out a number of 1" circles to try to lighten the fuse up, but not sure it is worth it. All those holes only add up to about 3 grams of fat. A lot of cutting for not much reduction".
Its always worth it. Save it where you can even if you think grams arent important eventully you've saved and ounce and beyond. JMO

CC

[Forge]

Capn,

The plans and instructions are very nice. Good detail and the plans match the laser cut parts right on. I will keep lightening it up where I can.

Thanks!

Forge

[Stevephoon]

Forge,

Nice progress! You are very right on saying the MM kits have a lot of interlocking pieces. I keep thinking of 3D puzzels while working on my P-51.

Where do you like to get pilots from, or do you build them yourself? I've been thinking of getting one for my P-51. Did you add one to yours?

Also, what Motor/ESC/Prop/Batt are you planning on using. I can't quite see the motor numbers in the pic. I always like to see what other people are using.

Steve

[Bill G]

Originally Posted by Forge

Bill,

Thanks for the note. Not sure about just 2 CH either. I don't really know how well that would go?

I plan on adding rudder control to mine, in addition to ailerons and elevator. I will also attempt to add retracts, if I can fit them in. I am a glutton for punishment. We'll see.

Are you saying this bird will be tail heavy? I wasn't planning on deviating too far from the kit plans. Have you built this bird? Any suggestions are welcome. I am still trying to figure out how to modify battery access. The plans call for a screw in hatch below the original gas motor and I may just use that set up. Either that or customize a top hatch.

I've gotten the fuselage frame mostly done and it seems to be going together fairly easily...so far.

Thanks!

Forge

I haven't built it, but it may not be tail heavy, given the long nose cheat. It may be easy to shorten it a bit, and add a bit of lead, if you're a scale fan.
The GP10 retracts would be nice for the plane also.

I was just looking at the built-up front end and all the sculpting required, and then saw this comment:
"this will need some serious shaping"
Looks like you have your sculpting work cut out for you. If you enjoy sculpting like I do, it shouldn't be too bad. Definitely real building, when you have to shape some of the areas by hand.

[Forge]

Guys,

Hope everyone's Holiday was great!

Here's the latest update to my build. Got my pilot in and painted him up. Not quite Luftwaffe scale, but okay for my standards. Painted the cockpit area and mounted some dials for the control area. The kit comes with the top half as a plastic mold instead of a balsa build out, kind of cheatin, but it will keep it lighter. I am staying to their plans.

Expoyed the canopy in place and then mounted it to the top half of the fuse. It was a beautiful day for carving so I shaped out the cowl area with my Emerson knife, then sanded it to shape. Starting to look like a fuselage.

I couldn't help myself, even put the spinner on for some fun. A little big but the smallest 3-bladed spinner I could find was 2", would love to find a 1 1/2" spinner for 3 blades.

Be well. Thanks!

Forge

[Stevephoon]

Forge,

Looking good! That's a lot of balsa dust! Both you and Sky have been carving and sanding. Great minds must think alike! Your pilot looks great. Your paint job is very good. I just ordered a pilot for my P-51 as well. I hope I can get him to look half as good as yours!

Keep up the good work!

Steve

[Forge]

Guys,

Well, it’s been a few months since my last post, and I am still out here. You know sometimes you just hit that wall and can’t get past it for a while. That’s where my head’s been at for the last 2+ months. I am customizing retracts for this plane and I just couldn’t get past the first wing for a while now. I have been doing a fair amount of flying in my off time too.

Anyway, I hope to push on through now. Here’s my latest updates….had one wing on the bench for months with one retract in place now I finally got the second one in place and have started to finish out the wings. As you can see I had to customize cut outs for each wheel and reinforce a couple of ribs. Not the cleanest build but it suits me so far. We’ll see how it holds up on landings…hopefully

The plans call for one aileron servo, with a heavy wire linkage that is supplied. After weighing the linkage, which comes in at 19 grams (vs 9 grams for an HS55 servo), I am going to customize the plans and add outboard servo to drive each aileron separately. This will still save me some weight overall. I will also be adding in some wing sheeting once I route my aileron servos for more strength.

I have been watching some of the other builds going on and I see some good work in progress. Keep up the builds and good flying!

Forge

[MS_in_NY]

Originally Posted by Forge

Guys,

Well, it’s been a few months since my last post, and I am still out here. You know sometimes you just hit that wall and can’t get past it for a while. That’s where my head’s been at for the last 2+ months. I am customizing retracts for this plane and I just couldn’t get past the first wing for a while now. I have been doing a fair amount of flying in my off time too.


Forge

Glad I'm not the only one. Can't seem to get past the mounts for the battery, esc, and tail servos in the forward fuse of the Pup. Once I clear that hurdle I can get back to the stuff I like doing, building structures like the rear half of the fuse and the wings. That's one reason I picked a bipe for this build, lots of wing.

Those retracts are looking good. Are they metal or plastic? Who makes them?

........Mike

[texasclouds]

hey man, it looks good. do you have a good enough radio to program endpoints for two gear servos?

[Forge]

Hey Guys, thanks for the compliments.

MS, the retracts are Great Planes GP .10, they have a plastic housing, but are pretty tough. I've used them on some other builds and they work fairly well, more durable than some of the micro GWS retracts I've used. ...Good luck on your Pup.

Texas, yes I have a DX7 and have used the TX to program separate endpoints on my Eflite SeaFury retract setup. They are the best performing retract set up that I've used. Just typing out the response, I'm thinking that I may have to go with 2 retract servos if I can fit all the gear into the fuse. we'll see.

Thanks!

Forge

[offtom]

Welcome back to the fray.

Walls are always a bad thing to run into, but I'm glad to see you climbed right over and kept going.

[Forge]

Okay, maybe I can enter this plane in the 2011 Warbird contest...maybe.

It's been too long since my last post. A lot of frustration trying to get my retracts to work smoothly. I got some mechanical Great Planes retracts totally installed, with two HS 55 servos, but they never worked smoothly. Just too fast, binding, slamming shut...I couldn't take it. I ripped them out after a lot of contemplation and installed self contained electric retracts from e-flite. About an ounce heaver than my original set up, but oh so smooth.

I hope it is all worth it in the end and this plane flies ok. It is going to come in a bit heavy, but I am determined to make it go up.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the photos.

Not much flying lately, soooo much snow and wind...and cold.

Be well.

Forge

[Bill G]

You can always try the good ol' bellcrank servo relocator. I used them in a Guillows Dauntless, where there was little space between the wheels when retracted. It uses only 1 servo, and allows the servo to be moved from directly between the wheels.

Not sure what your planned detail scheme is, but I have a number of left over decals of both sticker and waterslide types, from both 190s and other Luftwaffe planes of similar scale.

[Forge]

Bill,

Thanks for the suggestion. I like the idea of the bellcranks...nice.

I am just settling on a paint scheme, I think it will be something along the lines of the attached file. Appreciate the offer for decals, the kit is pretty good and came with an assortment of markings. s

Have a great day. thanks!

Forge

[Forge]

A couple of updates to my build. Nothing major, but I have been enjoying myself in little bursts.

Installed rudder and elevator servos. Did a test balancing of the plane and found it is way nose heavy, I pushed the rudder and elevator servos as far back as possible, and will get my battery as far back over the wing as possible too.

Did a little covering on the easy parts as a warm up and started prepping wing fillets. Hope to finish the fillets this weekend and start covering the wings and fuse...moving in the right direction.

Hopefully this bird will be ready to go up with the spring thaw. We'll see.

Thanks

Forge

[scigs30]

Looks great, what covering are you using?

[Forge]

scigs30,

I a had a role of Monokote, Dove gray laying around. I will paint the top half camo. Monokote is a bit heavy for this model, but I like the way it handles when covering.

See this is your first post. Nice to meet you.

Thanks,

Forge

[scigs30]

I kind of like the looks of this plane and the other stand off scales from HOB. Just wondering, would it be tough to replace the top with sheeted balsa? It looks like I would have to a former or two. I also love Monokote and the way it handles. You are right, this is my first post, I guess I can post my last two builds somewhere on this forum.