1/5.5 Dornier Do335

[Phil Clark]

This project has been in storage since last Autumn, but following the recently completion of 1 of 3 projects currently underway, it's now seeing some attention. The part built airframe arrived in the workshop from a customer in Spain & as this is my all time favourite WW2 aircraft, to say I'm looking forward to getting stuck in is an understatement

This is a 1/5.5 scale Engel Modellbau Dornier 335. Overall length is 100" with a wingspan of 98.5". To give an idea of scale, that's a 92" Wildcat below it, and an 83" FW 190A above it, so it's one BIG lump of an aeroplane.

[Phil Clark]

As can be seen, it's been part built but has languished gathering dust for several years until we were asked to complete it ready to fly.

Much of the basic construction is complete, and wings, stabs & all control surfaces are glassed and in 1st coat primer. Engines have been installed along with the long extension shaft for the rear prop. Rear engine is a standard ZG45, as is the front at present, but this is being changed out to a twin spark 3W 85 following the success of Evan Quiros over in Texas who has built & flown one of these on the exact same set-up.

[Phil Clark]

The main deviation from the stock kit is that this is to be built as the 2 seat 'trainer' 335 with the 2nd cockpit. The turtle deck has already been added, but there is no canopy or framing, plus a 2nd cockpit tub will be required and detailed.

Only a handful of full-size 2 seaters were ever completed and flown, so this is the likely final colour scheme.

[Phil Clark]

Retracts will be the Engel supplied units & struts from HAWE in Germany. Radio will comprise a PowerBox Royal RRS with a mix of Hi-Tec digital & Futaba servos.

Current work is concentrated on all flying surfaces. The glass cloth had been applied a little prematurely as servo boxes and control horns hadn't been installed. Primer had also be applied before the 2nd coat of resin had been applied to fill the weave of the cloth, so a lot of surface prep work is going to be required before we're anywhere close a good surface ready for surface detailing.

Both cockpit tubs will be detailed out with both canopied side hinged as per the original. Functional gear doors will be filled on all 3 corners.

Phil

[andywynn]

Nice Cant wait for the build thread..

[Phil Clark]

As per the tail surfaces, the wings hadn't been particularly well finished prior to glassing, and the glassing itself was pretty poor, so a lot of work has been required with 3M surface stopper, high build primer & a lot of block sanding to get the wing surfaces 'flat'.

[Phil Clark]

Wings ready for some surface detail.................

[Phil Clark]

Surface detailing on the wings.............

1/64" chart tape panel lines & 2 layers of self adhesive aluminium foil tape for all access hatches.

Followed by multiple coats of cellulose primer over the tapes to build up a paint thickness that will leave a prominent groove once the tapes are removed. I flat back with a dry 600 grade flatting pad between coats to remove some of the paint build up over the tape to aid easy removal later on.

3 coats applied so far.......1-2 more should do it.

[Phil Clark]

After the final couple of coats of primer over the tapes.......the whole let is flatted down to 600 and the tapes removed before another flat back to remove the 'edge' build up of paint to just leave the shallow groove...........

Just the flaps & ailerons to receive the same treatment & that's the wings complete ready to start looking at gear doors.

[Phil Clark]

It's been a long time since an update in the 335.......plenty of small jobs ticking along in the back ground whilst the Corsair is being finished (correcting an profile error in the 2nd turtle deck, internal rudder linkages x 2, stab fixings & gear doors)......but the main task completed has been the mounting of the front cowl and the conversion of the front end from ZG45 power to the new 3W 85........

The original firewall had to be removed and moved rearwards before the new removable engine box could be added (has to be removable to gain access to throttle/choke servos plus the canister muffler which are all behind the firewall). Exposed cowl mountings are unacceptable on a scale model, so these are once again all internal and accessed through the front of the cowl. Before anyone comments, yes the spinner is meant to be heavily off-set towards the top of the cowl.......the annular radiator of the full-size is much larger on the bottom than it is on the top. Note also the scale duct behind the spinner plus the opening to supply cooling air to the cylinder head.

With the Corsair a matter of days from completion, this will be my main project for the remainder of the year, so progress reports should be a little more frequent.

[Dave Parry]

What can one say!! A thing of beauty, Phil you are a very talented man.

[Karl mander]

Hi Phil

I must echo Dave's comment that it is a work of art and your craftsmanship is superb .

Could you please tell me how long the rear prop shaft is( I can see the flange in image 93) and where it's bearings are positioned .

Thanks

Karl

[Phil Clark]

Hi Karl

The overall shaft including the anti-vibration coupling at the engine end, and the driver at the rear end is appox 1100mm (difficult to get an exact measurement with it installed in the model)

There are 3 bearings, one at either end and a 3rd just off centre closer to the front.

This is an Engel Modellbau shaft and has been well proven in years of flying....it is however spec'd specifically for a ZG45.......they have instructed me NOT to change to engine to a bigger one as they cannot guarantee the integrity of the shaft/coulings when subjected to more power and higher percussive forces.

Phil

[Phil Clark]

Closed loop linkages for the upper & lower rudders.......silver soldered st/st & piano wire torque rods running in brass tubes in ply mounts.

Small hatches are built into the rear fuz to gain access for both installation & final hook up/servicing.

[Phil Clark]

The large access door on the left rear side of the fuz has been cut out for rear muffler & drive shaft access, but this door is meant to be screwed back in place which will bring back some rigidity to the rear fuz. We've been requested to have this door hinged to be a little more scale and to give easy access to rear engine plumbing etc.....without the time consuming job of 10-12 small screws. With the door only hinged and locked shut with a couple of hatch catches, this side of the fuz remains pretty flexible, so 2 new internal stiffening plates have been added.....the upper one also acts as the mount for the upper rudder servo.

[Phil Clark]

The nose gear doors are supplied as a simple moulding, so as a 2nd inner skin is needed, this was laid uo on the outside of the supplied moulding after a coat of PVA release.

[Phil Clark]

After much trial and error with card templates, a suitable off-set hinge was produced that puts the door in the required open position with no binding before 4 were produced in 2mm carbon plate. Pivot holes are bushed in brass tube with M2.5 cap head bolts washers & nylocs for pivots.

Internal structure is added in liteply before the inner skin was added the fretted out. Horns are also added for air ram actuation.

[Karl mander]

Phil

She's a work of art ,when do you guess it'll be finished and flying?

Karl

[Phil Clark]

I hope to have the bulk of the building complete by Christmas. there is still a lot of internal work to do.....it sounds like a big model at around 100" square, but it's very slim and there Is a lot of kit to be fitted into a very small space so it's taking a lot of planning time.

I also have 2 full depth fully detailed cockpit to do which will consumer at least 100 hours, plus as we've converted to the 2 seater, I have the vacform tooling to produce for the rear canopy which required the initial glassed foam/balse plug, a female mould, then a poured resin vacform tool. Once thats done, both canopies are to the side hinged as per the full-size. The main leg & inner clam shell doors are to be done then it's all the surface detail. There is a lot to be added to the glass fuz as it's only basically detailed in the original mouldings.

I'm not anticipating completion until well into the springs..........as for flying, this is destined for a customer in Spain, so I guess we'll have to be happy with some video, though I will be setting everything up on my TX and doing all the usual ground based checks (and having a bit of a drive about!!) prior to packing it into it's crate for it's trip down to Spain.

Phil

[Phil Clark]

Removable mount bracket for the rear canister muffler complete.