C-47 from FG it is

[Wyvern]

Yogi,

love what you did with the nose cap!

Wyvern

[Retired_for_now]

Thanks all.

Gary, great job. I think most of the FG models would make good fliers with a little weight to fix the CG (see thread on tail types for way too long discussion). I haven't tried rubber bands (visions of collapsing paper and wadded models) - neat little engineering job you did there. I'm wondering what kind of super-strength landing gear you devised for the inevitable touchdowns. I did make a couple of Cub fliers - launched off of the straw rocket launcher (downloads - toys & automata - or at Jon Leslie's misc page).


Rocket Cub (plain paper, large FG Cub printed 2 pages per sheet for reduction)

SilverOxide - I use sockets and drill bits for precision mandrels with rocket parts, hadn't thought about wheels. Your technique of laminating around a form will make more rigid parts than my edge gluing -- hmmm.

Willygoat - will have some comments on the design/parts for you at the end ... Nothing major so far, just a few tweaks.

Continuing - after a bit of celebration on finishing up the nose cone (did I say I hate working with gores/petals?) I went back to the wings. The mounting tabs need to be trimmed. First, to avoid interfering with the glued up trailing edge, Second, the bottom surface will be slightly longer than the top to account for the dihedral when mounted. After much staring and drinking - I mean thinking - it looked like the parts fit (and looked) best using the lower surface markings as the reference, setting up the dihedral, and then taking whatever I got on the top surface.



Wing root trimming

Set the wings aside after trimming (carpenter's rule, never permanently fasten anything until you absolutely have to) and jumped to the tail wheel. It's standard FG, fold and glue. So, I decided to make a wheel (1/8 inch width) and tweak the part for a more solid mount. Still not sure if this one will be gear down or not.


Tailwheel tire

Tailwheel assembly

[Retired_for_now]

Well, got lots of parts at this point so it's time to start reducing the number.

After some more thought it seemed to me the fuselage needed to be built from both ends. That way I could concentrate on the alignment of the nose and tail pieces, then have large enough (straight) parts to get a good fit to the center section.

Started stacking the nose, using the bottom seam for reference and to sight the alignment.




Tail and aft fuselage were a bit of a tight fit. Finally figured out that the forward extension of the vertical tail needed to transition to completely flat at the front where it joins the next part forward.





Parts were dry stacked many times, with the final position determined by eye - does it look straight, are the seams/tabs closed and covered, does it look symmetric, are the graphic elements aligned?

Graphics alignment overall has been good so far. The transition from gray bottom to camo is the primary reference. The witness marks printed at the top-center of each join proved accurate - so far.

[Retired_for_now]

Transitioning from the nose cone to the cockpit is an interesting exercise with this model. The fifth ring is partly joined to the forward assembly. After some more thinking (dithering), I decided to continue to use the bottom seam for alignment. I slightly relieved the first tab above the ring just in case - the dry fit seemed OK but when you glue things up and take out all the slack things can change. Ended up OK.



Glued on the cockpit the same way I assemble rings, fasten a third to a quarter of the tabs starting with the most visible/critical area. The printed witness marks on the top worked well for alignment, so I glued up the top - let set - then glued the sides - let set - then glued the center windscreen area. Last done were the sides, easily squashed into place. This sequence ensures any slop will be taken up with the overlap joint at the bottom edge of the cockpit. The tiny gap at the lower edge of the windscreen will not be visible when viewed from above so I quit fiddling with it.




Went back to finish off the tires - a simple knife trim to bevel the edges, an emery board to scratch things smooth, and my trusty art-sharpie.



Yogi

[Wyvern]

Nose-to-cockpit transition looks gorgeous!

Wyvern

[Don Boose]

Fine work, Yogi. I'm reading through the thread at a table at the Military History Institute reading room (where I am going through boxes of photos and documents in search of material for a friend who is writing a book on the Los Baños Raid in February 1945), and wishing I was home cutting paper.

Don

[Retired_for_now]

Then again, Don - some info just isn't on the net. Took me forever to find a needed reference on WWII fighter pilot crew ratios - if I was still at Maxwell it's a short session in the Historical Research Center. Found one reference finally in a well researched book - so it was enough to allow me to make my point (article is still in progress).

Next up - we're getting to the money shots. I dry fit the fuselage several times, looking at the bottom seam, witness marks printed on top, and the spots where the graphics cross seams. Tail to center fit was pretty good - witness mark, 90% of the graphics (small offset in starboard side insignia), and seams lined up.




The cockpit to center join was a bit more trouble. I could line up the graphics, seams and witness marks perfectly - and be a couple degrees off with the tail (yah, I've flown a lot of Herks that had more bend in them than that, but it still looks wonky). So, I re-marked the front to get the most visible alignment - the tail - correct and accepted a little mismatch in the graphics.





Biggest defect is in the lettering, starboard side lower. Then again, the display side is the port side (cargo door, guns if we make this a gunship, etc.) and the glitch is down low so I can live with it.



Assembling these sections calls for spreading fair amount of glue inside the tubes (not on the tabs), then sliding the tabs in, lining up the critical/most visible spot, and finally massage/twist/push/tweak the rest of the joint into place.

If you did a lot of dry fitting, you should remember what the edges looked like (overlap, touching, etc.) when the parts were aligned. Regardless, I sight down the top, bottom seam line, side graphics (windows), and anything else that stands out to the eye. You won't be laying a straight edge against your model - but you (and others) will be looking at it so, if it looks good it is good.

Yogi

[rmks2000]

Looks great! I beta-built this a long-time ago and it was a fun project. Don't forget to build the jeep!

[Rick Thomson]

The Dak is one of my favourite A/C of all time, and I had the privilege of serving in Cold Lake's Base Flight which had two of the rare 104 radar trainers, Pinnochio, and Dolly's Folly.

I started a repaint of FG's Dak as Pinnochio years ago, must finish it someday.

Rick

[cdavenport]

Yogi, that is looking quite fine. It occurs to me that if you covered the nose with gap filling CA, you could sand it smooth and repaint it with a magic marker thereby eliminating the seams.

How big is that C-47? How's about taking a perspective shot with you holding the model.

If Gary can build a rubber band model, it would be easy to make a glider of it, too. Douglas actually experimented with the concept and found it had a better glide ratio than the CG-4, but the Army needed powered transports and canceled the project.