Scale Plans built P-51

[Red Raider]

Here's a pic after I put the formers in place.



One of the issues with plans like this is that the pieces cut from the template sheet don't always fit the plans. Or my cutting is really lousy. I had to sand off some of the formers and add some balsa to one of them to even out the edges.

 

[Red Raider]

Here's a shot of the process of putting the sheeting over the formers. Took about 2 hours to do the whole thing

 

[Red Raider]

The next thing to do (I think) is to cut the front of the former F1. If you enlarge the pic, you can see the line that I've drawn. After I cut it out, then I can finish the sides. I've got a plan for how to do this. I ran out of glue and energy all at the same time.

 

[Red Raider]

BTW - I didn't get to work in the shop much today, because I spent so much time FLYING!!! An absolutely beautiful day, temp around 73 and a pleasant south wind at ZERO. Now, tomorrow is supposed to be a high in the 40s with a 30-35 mile an hour wind gusting to 40!!! What the crap?!?! Oh, well it's February on the south plains. At least I don't live in Boston

 

[wesley.]

Where do yall fly?

 

[Red Raider]

Where do yall fly?

We fly at the old Abernathy municipal airport. We were flying there while it was still an active airport, beginning back in '06. Today it's closed and we share it with a truck driving school. Works great for all of us.



This was just a picture of the flying stands, but you can kinda see a little bit of the field.

 

[yakken]

How do you fly with all that stuff in the way[emoji12]

 

[Red Raider]

Man, I'm telling you, it's tough!! I think there's a barn off the north end about 4-5 miles away. The old hangars are really close - 1/2 mile south and 1/4 mile the other side of the runway. Really, there's no power lines, no trees, no towers, no roads - nothing, but lots of sky. Believe it or not the Johnson grass will get about 3-4 feet high during the summer if we have a little rain and there are some guys that manage to hit it.

 

[Red Raider]

I went home for lunch and couldn't resist going out to the shop for a few minutes. I had been thinking about cutting the cowl loose and couldn't figure out what else I needed to do before I did. So, I grabbed my flexible flush cut saw and started sawing. 5 minutes later, I had the cowl in hand with a nice clean cut. Comes off and goes back into place just as if I'd planned it that way. Geez!!! WOW!!!

Now, all I have to do is finish the sheeting on the sides, glue the joints from the inside, put some rails in for it to sit on, build hold down brackets in the nose, a couple of dowels in the back to secure it F3b, sand it smooth, shape the front intake. . . . . You get the idea - there's still a lot of work to do. BUT, this is the most difficult part of the build, and I am now 99.94% sure of success and completion of the project. After this stage, there is nothing that isn't classic building techniques.

 

[Red Raider]

Well, stink!! When I got home from work and celebrating my little girl'so 35th birthday, I went out to the shop to admire my handiwork. How can this be?? It's got a 3/4 inch twist in it. I think that when I started, I had the right idea. Start in the middle and work putting on pieces, first one side then the other. All the way to the edges. I finished one side then started at the center and did the other. Hence the twist. Pulling the stringers tight against each other where the curve is more acute in the front than in the rear caused the problem. I hope you guys are learning something from my mistakes.

The fix - I cut the stringers loose from the back edge, I think it's Fe, and twisted the frame a little further than straight. I held it in place with one hand and CA'd the heck out of it with the other. When I finally got my fingers unstuck, it appeared to be straight. A little trimming here and there and now it fits better.