1/4 scale Sea Fury

[Phil Clark]

Coming together nicely Dave.....looks good

P

[Dave Jones]

Looking good David! Btw what glue did you use to fix the sheeting on? Thick/slow cyno?

Dave.

[Alan Cantwell 1131]

Jonesys down at Catton at the moment, be back tonight, might ring him later, see how they are getting on, if i do, i will ask him for you

[Alan Cantwell 1131]

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[Alan Cantwell 1131]

Just talked to the man, lads are having a great time at Catton,this is the glue he uses, i think he buys it by the box off ebay, ive used it, good adhesion,

[Dave Jones]

Thanks Alan, I will get hold of some and give it a try, looks like the colour of Aliphatic glue, thanks for your help,

Dave.

[Alan Cantwell 1131]

It is indeed aliphatic

[David Jones]

Staying with the centre section, sub ribs were added to the flap recesses to support the 1/16” ply liners, which were then glued in place.

[David Jones]

The underside of the centre section was sheeted with 2mm Liteply from the rear spar to the trailing edge between the flap recesses. The trailing edge was then sanded to shape.

[David Jones]

The undersides of the outer panels were then fully sheeted, the servo bays cut out and the wing tips added. The tips are made up the same way as the elevator tips. A 1/16” ply core is laminated with 1 /2” soft balsa strips and sanded to shape.

[David Jones]

I’d thought about how to hinge the ailerons. The plan shows an elaborate bottom hinge method, using a full length piano wire “hinge” through bushes in each rib. I didn’t fancy this approach, especially on such a large aileron, and I wasn’t sold on top hinging them which, I believe, is more true to scale. I decided to keep things simple and hinge the ailerons along the centre with five large Robart hinges that will locate into full depth hard balsa blocks in both the wing panel and aileron. This meant I had to make up new ribs for the ailerons, the ribs supplied with the kit being discarded.

The aileron bottom sheet supplied with the kit was used. The new ribs were glued in place against a 1/8” balsa false leading edge. The support blocks for the hinges and control horn were also added.

[David Jones]

This assembly was then faced off with a 3/8” balsa leading edge. Holes were drilled for the hinges and, once satisfied that all was in line, the top sheeting was added. The leading edge was then sanded to shape and rounded off.

[David Jones]

All that remained then was to add the shrouds. These were made up from 1/32” ply strips which were glued into rebates cut into the balsa sheeting. A ply plate will be recessed into the underside of the aileron to act as a hard point for the control horn. All I have to do now is repeat this procedure for the other wing panel.

[David Jones]

The second aileron has now been made up and the bottom of the centre section has been sheeted with 2mm Liteply between the front and rear spars. The wing was then assembled and the trailing edges were blended in and sanded off to a round edge. The D box of the centre section will be sheeted with 1/8” balsa once the wing fixing dowels have been fitted. Before I do that I want to cut out for the undercarriage. That will be a job for next week.

[David Jones]

The centre section lower sheeting has now been cut out for the wheel wells. Further trimming will be required at the u/c leg mounting points to allow full access to the fixing bolts. This area will then be covered with removable hatches.

I’ve also sheeted the outer parts of the D box and sanded the leading edges to shape to blend in with the outer panels. Next job will be to offer the centre section up to the fuselage to fix in the forward mounting dowels.

[MalcolmDouglasPorter]

Nice stuff Dave. I will need to have a more detailed look through to snatch some ideas?

[David Jones]

You're more than welcome Malcolm, but I can't take all the credit on this particular project. I've pinched some of Phil Clarke's methods from a previous build (with his permission of course) which he did several years back. Jonesey.

[Alan Cantwell 1131]

Had hold of all the tailplane, fin and rudder today, lovely work, bit good, is our jonesay

[David Jones]

The next job was to start to mount the centre section to the fuselage. I’ve replaced the 3/8” wooden dowel pegs with 12mm aluminium tubing. This should be stronger and more durable. It was tack glued in place and the wing was offered up to the fuselage, once satisfied that all was aligned, the “dowels” were fixed in situ and supported by 1/2” square hardwood bearers top and bottom.

[David Jones]

Now that the leading edge dowels were fixed, I could finish sheeting the D box. Before gluing the sheeting on, I made up dummy radiator grills for the carburettor and oil cooler intakes. These were simply made from aluminium mesh glued to 1/32” ply painted matt black, and then glued to the inner balsa spars.