1/4 scale Sea Fury

[David Jones]

Plywood plates were then fitted to carry the tail wheel servo and the electronic air valves.

[David Jones]

I’ve made up a service panel which will carry the Weetronics switch panel, air filler valve, pressure gauge and ignition warning light. This will be situated in the top of the fuselage between formers 1 and 2 and will be accessed by a hatch. The hatch has been made up by laminating sheets of glass cloth on top of the fuselage to get the required shape. The hatch was then cut out and the fuselage sheeting was cut to suit.

[David Jones]

The hatch cover has now been hinged and fitted and the service panel installed. I’ve lined the opening at the front and rear to tidy it up and also provide a fixing point for any charging sockets that may be added in the future. The Weetronics receiver was then mounted on a ply plate and fitted in the fuselage, retained by 2 x M3 bolts into captive T nuts.

[David Jones]

I’ve left fitting the tail plane and fin for as long as possible because, once they are fitted, I’ll struggle to manhandle the fuselage in my limited space. However, the time had come where I couldn’t put it off any longer. Alan came over to give me a lift and add an extra pair of eyes to ensure everything was lined up. With the weather being as it has been, working on the model outside was a non starter, so we had to fit the tail feathers to the fuselage in the house.

Wing seats for the front half of the tail plane were made up from 3/8” balsa and glued to the fuselage. The ply tongue was epoxied into the tail plane, which was then fixed to the fuselage with 30 minute epoxy on the wing seats and the lower half of the ply tongue where it fits flush against the tail wheel former. Once satisfied that all was square and the 2 degrees of positive incidence was correct, the assembly was left to set.

The fin was then added, being epoxied to the top half of the ply plate which fits flush with the spar inside the fin and at the bottom of the leading edge which had a slot cut out to locate on the top longeron. With the rest of the lower stringers glued to the stern post, the assembly was checked for alignment and left to set.

[David Jones]

The remaining gaps between the tail plane and the fuselage and fin were then filled with 3/8” balsa epoxied into position, and the remainder of the 1/8” sheeting was added. The tail wheel bay was cut out, as was the hatch for the rudder servo bay.

[David Jones]

The dorsal fin has also been made up from soft balsa and added.

[David Jones]

I've been in the process of giving the fuselage it's second coat of epoxy resin and, while the resin has been curing, I've turned my attention to the main undercarriage doors. Although the doors are cut as per the plan, I think they are too close to the underside of the wing at the top and, should the sprung leg travel too far, say on a heavy landing, then I fear the top of the door may well penetrate the wing skin. As a result, I will leave the uppermost doors off at this time.

[David Jones]

The hinged doors will eventually be operated by air rams

[David Jones]

The doors for the tail wheel were then cut to size and fitted, using brass piano hinge.

[David Jones]

The rudder servo was then fitted and a hatch cover made up.

[David Jones]

That pretty much completes my input to this project, the last remaining job to do was to see the model fully assembled for a photo opportunity in the back garden. It will now be handed over to Tony and Paul for for final finishing and painting. I trust they will keep us updated during the finishing process.

[Alan Cantwell 1131]

Its a beast Dave, and nicely done, as usual,

[Dave Kellett]

Fantastic build thread and brilliant photo's.
This is helping me no end with my Sea Fury build.
What has happened to this one?? has it been finished (painted) ?? and flown yet?? it would be great to see it.

[David Jones]

Hi Dave, thanks for the kind compliments. The model is owned by Tony Hooper, when I finished my input to the project last year it was handed over to Paul at Kingfisher Aviation for finishing. I was told then that it would be a project for this year, hence the time lag. When I spoke to Tony at Haydock he told me it was ready for painting, so I'm assuming it's not far off being ready to go. I'm looking forward to seeing it myself.

[tony hooper]

Pleased to say that the Sea Fury has now been painted - excellent job by Tim Simmonds. Now have to do all the radio programming and it should be ready for test flying later this year. Some pics attached.

[Rob Crawford]

superb!

[Dave Parry]

Beautiful, hat off to all who has been involved in the building it, another stunner for the shows.