1/6 B-26B Marauder

[Phil Clark]

The 'wash' has been applied to the complete airframe over the last few days, with sections being clear coated (Klass Kote satin with a flatting powder added to give a flat matt finish) as and when ready and when spraying space allows. The wash has been applied as a dirty black/brown on the grey surfaces, with a combination of a black/brown and a sandy olive on the O/D surfaces. We tried the 'Meths' technique, but this no effet what so ever??

Other than 1 side of the fuselage, the clear coat is now complete (last section to be completed later today)

The 4 different shades of silver plus a wash have picked out the 'aluminium' side of the horizontal stab nicely................

[Phil Clark]

Whereas the wash on the wings, stab & fin has been applied and worked chord wise, the wash on the fuselage has been applied 'around' it's diameter.........this is because most dirt and grime collects on the ground and the streaking effect is caused as dirt is washed around the fuselage by rainwater etc.........a dirty line is often present along the underside centreline where runs and drips collect.............

[Mike Booth]

Wow...scale.

[Mike Booth]

Meths works fine on good old cellulose based paints Phil.
Hard to come by these days.

[Phil Clark]

Other than the primer, we haven't use any cellulose........so that's probably why then!!!!

Phil

[Phil Clark]

A close up of the area around on of the scale exhaust showing the effect achieved by the chipped paint, wash and exhaust residue...........

[Phil Clark]

Thats us done...........all together outside for the 1st time, complete with static Curtis Electric 4 blade props...............

[Phil Clark]

Next stop.......Denver Colorado (via Gatwick!!)

[Ross Bathie]

Thats a great looking model Phil, I dont know how you can part with it given the amount of work you have put in.

[Phil Clark]

Been back about a week from my trip over to Colorado to help out with the B-26.......happy to report the model arrived with no damage what so ever, just a shame it got stuck in US customs for a week so I got there on the same day the crate was delivered to the new owner.

As I'm a mode 2 JR flier and the new owner mode 1 Futaba, all I was able to do set-up wide in the UK was centre all the servos on an old 35mhz Futaba system.......the detailed set-up and programming was done over there (in a marquee at Warbirds over the Rockies!!!). The guy who'd been given the test flight duties is also a JR man, so we were completely reliant on another couple of Futaba fliers to sort out the TX side of things whilst we sorted the model out.........not easy as these 2 guys were friend/family of the owner and were also helping out at the event (which is organised by the owner!!)...so we got an hour here, an hour there.

To cut a long story short, after 4 days of set-up, we were 95% there apart from a faulty retract & gear door electronic sequencer. As we were up at almost 6,000ft about an hour north of Denver, we opted not to fly due to excess drag with the gear down and 6 doors open........with the thin air at that altitude, it's best to play safe.

So, best we could manage after a reasonable amount of set-up time on the two Zenoah 80's was a bit of a taxi about to check the steering and the operation of the brakes.................

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdkzHaJRWZ8

More news as and when I get it from the US

Phil

[Alan Cantwell 1131]

Has it flown yet Phil? new guy must have been on touch??? after watching it grow, it would be nice to have a follow up

[Phil Clark]

No....he's currenty in the middle of a Denver Colorado 'winter'..............hence there ain't much flying going on

[stewart clifford]

Has Colorado crawled out of winter yet? he must be itching to fly this beast.

[Phil Clark]

No news so far....

[Phil Clark]

Had news a couple of days ago that the B-26 has finally emerged from it's winter hibernation and is currently being prep'd for test flights................I'll report back when I hear more.

Phil

[Phil Clark]

The B-26 has had a slight 'change of location' and is now hangered in Texas with a friend of the owner. It was felt that the lower elevation (600ft ASL rather than 6,000 just outside Denver in Colorado) would be of help during test flying what is a relativey heavily loaded twin.

Following the 6 month lay up since WOTR last September, it's received a full systems check and a few items have been changes for personal preference reasons.The NiMh flight packs have been changed to Powerbox Duracell's, Jetronic brake valve changed to BVM proportional valve, servos controlling the 4 main gear doors changed to air rams, and the location of the retract, brake & bomb door air filler valves changes to the top hatch from the bomb bay. The st/st canister mufflers have also been removed for the time being as they felt they were a little restrictive. They are currently running with short stub manifolds exiting the cowls and getting 6,700rpm as opposted to 6,300 on Mezjlik 24" x 10" carbon props. God knows what sort of a noise it's making ......good job they aren't worried about that sort of thing over there!!!! Hopefully once the engines have had a few more hours running, the cans will go back on.

Test flying is planned for June 6-7th at present.......

[Phil Clark]

Photos...............

[Mike Booth]

Reminds me of TOPGUN usa 19 years ago Phil, too noisey, too shiney,too heavy, too fast.
Fortunately you cant say that all about your B26.
The US have a policy if you can use oak in the construction then use it.

[Phil Clark]

I visited Top Gun at Palm Beech in 99 and 2000......I'd agree with your comments in many cases, but when I was at WOTR last year, much had changed in 10 years...there were many crackin models. Gone were the shiney warbirds, and most were no heaver than you'd expect to see over here........the noise was still present though, mufflers seem to be a rarity as many of their field are miles from anywhere so no one seems to bother.

Not sure of the benefits of removing the mufflers from the ZG80's on this though........peak HP on an 80 is achieved around 7,200 - 7,300.....running open exhaust at 6,700 on the ground, I'd have though they will unload to the 7,200 quite easily in the air....and thats on engines that have only have 6-8 tanks of fuel though. Once they are nicely beaded in, I think the rpm's will continue to rise so they'll run the risk of dropping off the back end of the power curve, so they may as well refit them to keep the rpm's down where the power is.

Remember Steve Holland's big 1/2 scale Comet on a pair of 74's at 150lb....flew great....................and they are worried the 26 won't have enough power on 80's at 50-60lb lighter

Time will tell I guess!!!

Phil

[Alan Cantwell 1131]

Well, i went to this years top gun, and was more than impressed by the model standards, one of the models was a fibre classics mustang, with a molded full engine detail that bolted on round the flight engine---totally convincing, and when i get my boogered up camera back from the menders, i will do my best to let you see them!!!

met steve thomas over there, he and lovely Julie send their regards,