Fairey Firefly MK5 from Vance Mosher plan

I finally got my flap hinges done.
Thanks to smt-rc.com in the Netherlands, I can now proceed with the build of my Firefly.



I'm still quite a bit behind.....

Kjell

Kjell,

Are those arms fibreglass? I made mine from brass as per the plan. If they are glass then I guess you are going to use carbon tube rather than brass. I'll be interested in seeing how they handle the load.

They're made from fibreglass.
I still plan to use the brass tube, so the arms do need a slight modification to prevent them from slipping.
I'll solder a piece of brass into to brass tube. This piece goes into the slot I will make in the glss fibre arms.
If you see what I mean...

//K

A little more progress this weekend. The wing is now fully glassed with 25g cloth and resin. This just leaves the ailerons, elevator and flaps to cover. Hopefully I'll get these done during the week.

I managed to get the flap to wing trailing edge closed by 'adjusting' the trailing edge ribs. This involved just putting a small vertical slit in each rib about 20mm from the trailing edge and gluing it back holding the wing sheeting down. It would appear that I didn't get the trailing ribs set properly when I built the wing. The trailing edge only had to go down by 3 - 5mm. I don't know how I managed that as everything was jigged to prevent this sort of thing. Well, at least its sorted now. I'll try and get some photos tomorrow after the epoxy is fully cured to show what I mean. I would have tried to photograph it tonight but that would have meant me going near the glass skin and I would have then started fiddling with it, which would have probably ruined the finish. Its taken all my patience not to go near it tonight to see if its ok!

The plan is to get the airframe into primer, fit it out with the radio, set up the controls and do a test flight in its very raw state. The canopy and rear observer canopy will be held on with tape. Once that's done then its full steam ahead on the detailing and finishing. hopefully in about 6 weeks time. Another set of bicycle clips required!!

Bit of fun last night. Designed the spinner plug in Fusion 360 then printed it on my 3D printer. Took 12 hours to print but the result this morning is pretty impressive. It is hollow, 3mm wall thickness, with a flange around the base to help keep the form. A fine sanding took most of the ridges off from the print layers. I was going to make the plug the traditional way with foam and spinning it up in my pillar drill and sanding to shape. Then I had the lightbulb moment and thought about printing it.

I'm thinking about either painting the plug then molding from it or trying something new. I've read lots of articles about putting the printed item in a container with acetone on a tissue and letting the acetone fumes "melt' the surface to give a very smooth surface. I may try that. What do you think?

The small ridge near the base where the spinner backing plate goes is the cut line. I've made the plug slightly bigger so that when I mold the spinner I can trim it back accurately to this cut line.





The rest of today will be to glass the remaining items which are the flying surfaces. Hopefully by the end of today the whole airframe will be glassed.

I have heard of the acetone trick but never used it. Hard to imagine it would be smoother than careful sanding.

There is now an 'ironing' process where the hot print nozzle without any filament feed is run slowly over the surface to flatten the print ridges but of course it only works on a flat surface.

One day when I have discovered how to print a spinner with prop cut outs my aim is to simply print a fully working one.

Thanks Q, I haven't used a spinner that I've printed as I don't trust the integrity of the join between filaments. Designing with the prop cut out is not too difficult. I know some model planes are completely made from printed arts, but my experience is that printed objects are fragile. Perhaps its just me not having the printer set properly.

Well best laid plans etc.. Got all the parts out ready to glass and realised that I hadn't finished the tail fin. The leading edge needed fairing to the fuselage. Used some blue foam and 1/16" balsa sheeting to keep it light. So that took most of the time I had available today. Still need some filling and sanding but very close. Really must learn to get my wood joints more like Pauls so I can use less filler!!

BEFORE


AFTER

Looks great to me Ralph! nothing wrong with a (little) bit of filler.
Are you going to scribe panel lines into the finished surface?

Yes Paul, panels lines and rivets! Can't wait to do the rivets!!

Progress again this weekend. The whole airframe and control surfaces are now glassed with epoxy and 25g/m2 glass cloth. Much more rigid and less susceptible to hanger rash.

While I was waiting for the epoxy to dry I assembled the two wing 'tanks'. These carry radar so not really tanks as such. They are made from vacuum formed clear acetate moldings which are joined down the middle and glued together. The join was then filled with car filler, smoothed over and I put a coat of primer over the top. Very fiddly but came out OK. Still got a few marks to clean up but close enough.



I primered the fuselage / wing fairing to see how much filler would be needed. Turns out not a lot, so quite pleased.

Looking very good Ralph even in close up

Silky smooth Ralph !

Superb work Ralph!