Kings Lynn Aero Modelling Club

Hangar 2010

This is the first of our KLAMC members build projects for you to follow as they progress from that seed of an idea through to the first flight at field. Remember to check this page regularly to follow the build!

Follow the step by step construction of this classic British warbird!

Allan has taken up the challenge in order to confront his fears and possibly yours' of making that transition from nitro to electric power in a reasonable sized airframe. Big Al will be keeping you up-to-date with the construction of his ARTF YT 1/5th scale Hawker Hurricane (span 82ins for a 180 upwards) as he goes though the process of building and converting the kit to electric power and installing a realistic Merlin sound system. So, with the aid of some photos and a running dialogue of the build, finish and that rewarding maiden flight. Quite an undertaking, however, read on ...

 Big Al turns to the dark side with his latest build!

Introduction.

Hi Chaps....well....like the title says, I'm embracing my inner dark side and going fully electric on my next build. Now while the die-hard glow and petrol heads are spitting Anglo Saxon four lettered words at me, just for mentioning the "E" word, let me just say, hold-on chaps and stick around.  I know next to nothing about electric flight and being part colour blind should make wiring it up very interesting. Last but not least, will it fly well! That remains to be seen.

So at the least it will give some of you a good laugh! Maybe I should rename it to something like ‘The Numpy's guide to sort-of having a go at electric flight’.. on second thoughts .. Narr! ... It’s too long.

First off the project.

OK. Here we go.

This shows my YT Hurricane fus on the bench at work. Lovely bit of kit this (but then I would say that because those that know me well, know of my liking of YT models.) Glass fibre fuselage and cowl with build up wings...spans 82ins, of a 180 upwards motor. Detailed panel lines and fus stringers well modelled This is what I am starting with...its my blank canvass as so to speak.

Before I make a start on my build, I turn to Airfix. This allows me to mock up a version of what I want to end up with. Apart from the colours (and I'm part colour blind don't forget) I will have to make a Volkes filter to fit under the cowl. So nothing radical but still a challenge, and something to take me out of my comfort zone and stretch my limited modelling skills.

 

 

This is my chosen power train, which I hope will be enough to get the model flying. (he says crossing his fingers) 

 

 

The motor is a Turnigy 63-74-170 Kv170....which in petrol head terms.... its about as gutsy as a 45cc motor, and the Kv170 means its capable of swinging a large prop comfortably.

 

The speed controller is a Turnigy Stilton controller rated at 100Amps and the batteries are 2 5 cell 5000 lipo packs, rated at 30c. As I don't know what this model will weigh in the end I have chosen a system that should give me a decent flight time and capable of flying a 20/24lbs model. I am secretly praying this will turn out at 16/18lbs, which would give me even more of an extended flight time.....But we shall see at the end of the day.

 

So that's the Whizzy bit.....this next shot is the noisy part.

 

This is the sound system.....not much to show for a couple of hundred quid is it.

The two speakers are 2ins across and weigh 1 lb each....these I hope to place in the wings but I need to build the model first and then by moving the speakers about, in order to find the correct CoG, as I don't want any additional weight if I can avoid it. The circuit board is the magic part and the mini disc is to program the sounds of the Merlin into it. It come with a print diagram of the wiring....which nothing to me....I just don't understand it at all...lol and if I am honest its the one part of the project that scares me.....but, one must face ones fears.....or in my case....get someone else to do it!.....sorted!...lol

 

 

 

My first job is to install the motor, speed controller and batteries. The motor is mounted via four lengths of thread rob from B&Q a few bolts and washers. I had to build a simple jig to enable me the correct alignment, but its a fairly simple affair. This system allows the motor to be moved up and down the rods, enabling a perfect spinner gap fit.

 

The space between the motor and firewall has been utilised in order to fit the speed controller by attaching it to a ply plate and sandwiching it to another inorder to clap it to the rods.

 

 

Here is my battery box, holding both my flight batteries and those needed to power the sound system. The holes are there to both add a little lightness and allow some cooling air to pass though.

 

I spent a great deal of time considering the placement of the batteries, as its the heaviest element of the build, however easy access was also a major part of the equation too. After weeks of thinking though different ideas I ended up with a plan for a removable fuzz hatch from the rear of the cowl to the front of the wind screen following the panel lines. After much humming and harring, I dropped that idea and went for what I considered the most easiest....which is to remove the wings each flight. Now this is not the most practical, but the simplest to achieve.

 

I will add an arming switch to the model later, which means I can have the model ready to fly once the switch is removed (safety first) as an armed 2.5kw prop is a hell of a mincemeat machine were flesh (ie mine!) is concerned.

 

With the power train sorted (to a point) its time to move on to the cockpit as I work my way down the fuselage. First job is to remove the moulded cockpit floor. This models cockpit is designed for just a head and shoulders pilot. I want a full depth one for two reasons. One is naturally to "push" myself with building one and second, I plan on flying the model with the canopy fixed open....to aide cooling air flow.

 

With some decent reference drawings/book I set about building the cockpit frame work, foot pedals and control stick. For those of you that know about hurricanes, part of the aircraft's "fame" was that, for the most, it was a tubular construction design covered in canvas which allowed it to suffer great combat damage and carry-on flying.

 

 

The cockpit is no different, hence all the tubes! The whole thing is made from Ali tubing, plastic tubing. wood, copper wire and anything else that looked like it would work, and its all epoxied together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The frame work assembled.....this simple construction may not look much but there is quite a large chuck of time spent cutting, fitting and measuring, then cutting and fitting again....gluing it all together required all sorts of clamps, tape and other things to hold it in place. A number of swear words accompanied the construction...I can tell you, but after a number of hours, it does look a little like it should, so worth the pain (sic)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My pilot, Flt Lt Donald Moore, one of the Elite Forces figures. The Flt Lt is no longer made, and thanks to a tip off from a

chap on RCMF, he was purchased from eBay for a fair price. With building

the frame work a number of compromises had to be made in order to get the 

frame to fit the model and the pilot.....however, he, and it looks the part...well I think so...lol. I spent a weeks worth of evenings building this, cut my fingers twice, and swore a lot.....but I did push myself and despite the pain, its worked out good.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm still working in the cockpit area, here's some more "fiddly bits".....there is a little more to make, but they have to wait until the frame work is installed later in the model.

 

 

The basic construction of any instrument panel consists of the sandwich method of ply clear plastic and more ply. Here I show the panel in its bear bones. I have used just about anything in my scrape box. Thin wire for the bezels, bits of plastic tube, filled with filler to make nobs and other bits, model lab board (a hard foam) and anything else that looked the part.

 

 

 

 

 

The finished item, painted, distressed and cut. I also made a few other bits like the gun sight, compass etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I decided the flying surfaces needed to be detailed with simulated rib stitching and pinking tape. Here I am showing an aileron but the same technique applied to both elevators and rudder. First off mark out the rib stitching lines in white pencil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Follow the lines white blobs of PVA glue

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here on the rudder you can see I have covered the blobs with pinking tape, and added the rudder trim tab plus the rear lamp.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Close up of the tape, hopefully the picture reveals the stitching underneath, the trim tab and rear lamp.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the tail wheel wire, that comes in the kit, and wanted to use it to save time so I decided to detail it a bit more to bring it in line with the rest of the model...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A thick section of fuel tubing adds a little mass to the rod and a yolk made of litho plate adds a little scale realism to the unit now installed. Its not great, I wish in retrospect I had spent a bit more time with it, and remade the whole tail wheel wire to a much higher standard. (oh well...mistake number 1)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is what the rear end looks like when done and put together.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After much deliberation I finally settled on the placement for the speakers in the wing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I needed to make a couple of speaker mounts and mess grilling.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one shows the speaker in its mount and ready for placement in the wing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The speaker is now in place with its wiring....so that's that done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now its time for the dummy lights and guns, as you can see one wing is done and the bits for the other is shown. Its all items from my scarp box...Ali tube, plastic tube, and anything else that looks the part.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thought it was about time I had ago at making my own horns instead of buying sets (Job seekers allowance does not stretch very far)...and dam good they look too....IMPO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time to join the outer wing to the centre section...however this does leave an unsightly join line. However, the full size aircraft does have a prominent panel here so I set about making my own as follows.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First masking over the join then about another couple of inches either side. The tape is three layers deep.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Using my reference book I draw out the panel on the tape.Cut it out and remove

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I cover the cut-out and some of the surrounding area with P38 car filler.Once dry the whole thing is rubbed down to the tape

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pull away the tape and I'm left with a raised panel and the join line is gone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time to detail the wing with panel lines, Hatches and rivets. This is my favourite way of creating panel lines....Chart Tape...Just stick it down, spray over just the tape with primer about 3/4 times to build the paint up. Remove the tape and you are left with a decent simulated panel line.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time to hatches, in which I went "old School" and used PVA soaked paper hatches. I normally use metal tape but I had none wide enough for this job....so went back to the old ways.

 

 

Panel lines and hatches have now been ghosted over with silver, and its time to spend (in my case 3 hrs) sitting down, drawing out guide lines for the rivets and applying them. Yeah!...its boring and it seems to take forever, but its a major feature of a hurricane...that sort of battleship construction....and needs to be done, other wise the wing would not look right (to me)

 

 

 

Here's the next set of pictures and notes:

 

OK chaps time for the next update, this time, I have already installed a lot of the inner workings such as servos motor switch etc, and thrown a ton of paint on her too.

 

So here we go:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This shows the motor, speed controller (at the bottom) and the Rx 6v battery on the top of the motor mounts, keeping all the weight forward.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The fancy seat and frame work I made at the beginning of this build installed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the fuz with its camo colours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Details of the exhaust stacks. The textured finish is really simple, spray the moulding a rust colour, rolled it in micro balloons and spray it again. The final finish is a mixture of different colour chalks in order to obtain that "exhaust" look. Looks pretty good now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time to paint the roundels etc.....I had some paint masks made up by a Flight line Graphics. Vinyl stickers would have looked wrong on a model like this. These are straight forward to use, if a little time consuming, but worth the effort. I had one or two small problems with paint bleed, but that was due to me (too higher air pressure) rather than the masks. Here I show the Blue of the roundel just after being sprayed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I stick on the mask for the red centre.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Removing the backing paper, then with a little more masking the red is applied.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finished item. (although this has been rubbed down with wire wool as part of my weathering technique, for fading the paint. (as the sun would have done on the full size)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Under wing weathering....all the stains and panel lines were created using coloured chalks too give a "muddy look" along with gun stains, wheel stains etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These two photos show the effect of "washes" to give a "worn look" to the wing and a close up details of one of the fuel stains and general wear and tear.

 

Using the salt  technique to produce chipped paint effects in high wear areas, washes are so easy to do over the whole model, and produce a very effective finish.

 

 

 

 

 

To create a wash mix mostly black with a dash of yellow, thinned really well to make a sort of muddy colour.

 

Take a clean piece of kitchen towel or rag, dip it in the solution and wipe it along the model in the air flow direction, allowing it to flow into panel lines, hatches etc. Now take another clean bit of K/T or rag and wipe most of it off. This will leave small pools of colour in panel lines etc, highlighting them plus leaving a residue. Repeat this a few times building up layers, its quite remarkable just how much of a worn look this will achieve.

 

 

 

 

 

This particular aircraft was stationed in North Italy, Sicily and Tunisia, so all were hot dusty places on make shift runways. This poor ol'e gal was beat up and looked worse for wear, before she met her sad end, which I have tried to re-create using the above techniques.......I think I have done OK, you will have to judge for yourself....its all to easy to finish a model in prime condition, I believe it takes an understanding of how hard wartime condition were, the effects the weather had on combat aircraft... plus a little know-how to get to where this model is...... but then you could argue... well he would say that wouldn't he.

 

So that's were I'm up to as of now.  Next time will be the last, as I will have finished the paint work, re-installed all the "bits" and have test flown her. (or crashed) 

 

So till the next time!

 

I can't wait to see her close up and ... flying!  We wiil just need to finish this page with a positive in-flight pic!