Main gear geometry.

After doing several tests with the Hysol, it was time to put it all to work. I’ve built two of these little clamps out of circuit-board material, some K&S tubing and a rod. They grip to the strut using the screw you see in the photo.

Then came the hard part – figuring out the geometry of all this so it actually worked. Here’s a shot of what I ended up with:

Quite a bit of trial and error, but this strut works like a dream. I still have to build up the inside of the doors to a scale thickness, but that’s the easy part and I’ll work on that once the other gear is finished.

Here’s a Quicktime movie of how it all works.

Landing light installed and ready.

The landing light is all installed, working, painted and ready to go.

Click here for a Quicktime movie of it in action.

Everything you see was molded from clear plastic I’ve collected from various packaging and heat-formed over various object from around the house. The “reflector” was formed over a door knob to the workshop. The back of the light was formed over a tube with a superball on top of it. Lots of fun when it all comes together.

While waiting for the Hysol…

I decided to dive into the Easytiger P-47 ARF. Mostly finished, but will have to wait a bit because I was sent the wrong retracts (too big to fit).
Decided to use the same Saito 1.25 that was in the Cub for power. With the exception of the retracts, I think everything else is just about flight ready.

Here’s a comparison shot of 2 fuselages side-by-side. The back side of the vertical fins are lined up so you see the difference. Also, note that the Yellow fuselage does not have the cowl attached. that would add another 8 inches or so.

Here’s a comparison of the 2 wings.

Tailwheel retract mounted.

Nothing spectacular here, but the tailwheel retract is mounted. Also took the time to spray a bit of clear over the internal wood as it will be exposed to exhaust from time to time.

Also took the time to paint the inside of the main-gear wells and the trailing edge of the wing.

Wheel wells lined

Well, while I’m waiting for the Hysol to arrive, I went ahead and skinned the rest of the main-gear wells.


They’re setting up as I write this, so they’ll need trimming and a bit of filling around the edges to make it all nice and smooth.

You might also see some of the hatches in place. These are cut from .0625 aluminum sheet and will be used for the servo hatches and the 2 gear covers, one of which is in place now.