Bristol County Radio Control Club Forum

This is a new GWS foamie park flyer Focke Wulf 190A painted kit. Doesn't matter as I like different paint than other flyers. Sort of like a women showing up at a dinner and another woman has the same identical dress. Not for me.This will be made into the Fw 190-F8 version. The first picture shows a couple of paint schemes that were from no doubt an Ace flyer. They are just examples. The 3 next pictures are of a real nice plastic model. This scheme looks like a possibility for my model. Real unique patterns. A combination of supply-line breakdown, increasingly defensive warfare and poor communications led to some strange interpretations of late-war Luftwaffe fighter camouflage orders. "Yellow 14" is a classic example.

This hybrid scheme includes yellow theater markings, large areas of bare metal, variations of standard RLM colors and the apparent use of primer as a camouflage component. The next is a skeleton framework view and all the different arms it could carry. Not all at once though. This is a fighter plane. Hitler did not believe in fighters. He insisted on carrying a bomb or two. So because this plane was used in ground attacks it makes it a 190F model. They added 2 bomb racks under each wing with other modifications to fuel tanks and guns.

The next views are my construction to make the plane a lot stronger as the plane is going to be a "belly lander" without wheels. In order to do this certain requirements are required as like a real plane I am coming in for some fast landings and the strength of the fuselage is important to last. Inserting a carbon fiber arrow shaft will laterally strengthen harsh landings that wrack the fuselage. This stiffener will prevent cracks and breaks.

Next, the cowling curve on a plastic cowling will dent and crush inward on the bumpy ground. So I made this strong cowling with 2 part epoxy and light glass cloth. I doubled the curve in the front of the cowl to where it would take a hammer hit to break it. The weight is not much more for the payoff.

The whole fuselage, wing, and empenages have been filled with Spackle Lite. The original panels are to pronounced and deep. The spackle will dry with shrinkage and will still show the panels and rivets as it does shrink when dried. All imperfections have been filled including the cowling.

Next I had to fit the 550 size motor into the firewall and have the back plate go at least 1/4 inch past the cowl. This require making a wood box mount. I measured from the firewall to the proposed position of the motor back plate. This gave me a 1" high wood mount. I built the mount and made the necessary 1 degree down and 1 degree right angle into the mount. Necessary air flow passages were opened and cleared to allow air to get to the battery and allow wires to penetrate the fuselage for the ESC controller. Then fitted and lined up and glued in place.

The last picture is with the cowl test and prop to see what I ended up with. That is it for now. The next thing is to hinge all the flight control surfaces and get the horns in place. The cowling has lock in snap buttons to be installed also. Still have the cockpit also to finish before painting. That is it for now.

PLEASE CLICK EACH PICTURE A COUPLE TIMES TO ENLARGE.

Been doing some airbrushing over the past few days. It takes some time to lay down thin layers of waterbase colors on. The cowling and rudder yellow has just been spprayed. Trying to keep some overspray down is always an attention to keep attention to also. I am at a point I think I can start placing decals in place. Maybe a few more days as I only do a few hours a day at it.. I have been looking for a spinner which is hard to find one not to much oversized. It has a unique egg shape which makes it hard to get . There were some but kind of large. So I will use one on hand.

Here are the final paint pictures. I do not plan on going further because this is a park GWS foamie. Very soft and susceptible to to bangs and scrapes. Missing the rudder plane numbers also. I will dry transfer them. The Esc and receiver along with rudder and elevator servos have to be put in now.

Please Click pictures to ZOOM IN

The Focke Wulf Fw190 F was flown today with great success. Hand launched and right off tracked straight. I had 1 degree up elevator to maybe counteract any drop in the launch. It had plenty of thrust and lifted away. After gaining height and doing some loops and rolls it was very maneuverable. On level flight at half throttle it tracked nicely. Give it a quick throttle and she climbed at a good rate. My finding is that I need another degree down thrust to help counteract throttle lift without the elevator. My landing approach was lined up and I throttled back and it settled down on a smooth descent with no sign of any tip stalling. She glided across the grass a short distance with not so much as a scrape. A 2650 battery would also be better than the 2200mah lipo also. Next flight I hope to capture and post a video.

Here is the latest video of my second flight. Sorry about the cloudy day. Did the best I can with the camera I have. Still shows the potential of this nice model. I will try for another on hopefully a nice sunny day.
Enjoy!

VIMEO
https://vimeo.com/127436527

or

YouTube
https://youtu.be/o4Tb1V2aSGc

May 31, 2015

The plane is flying hot. Lots of power on the 3 blade prop. It shows 880 watts of power on my Whatmeter Probably good for the races. Wind was 18mph and it was barely noticeable in flight. No toss even necessary. Just aim the plane and hit the throttle. But that will all be short lived in weeks to come as i am going to install servo-less retracts into the works. This plane deserves them. . Headcam - Sony Action Cam


YouTube
https://youtu.be/AOKlOJ3ErmM

Vimeo........Better quality
https://vimeo.com/129394830

Installed Retracts Today
Well I decided to put them in and ordered them last Friday H King and I could not believe they were here Monday morning. West coast to East is fast. Spent yesterday putting the foam cutout in the foam and Gorilla glued 5/16" mount beams. . I also had a pair of telescoping shocks so I had a lot of fabricating to do. The landing gear posts were 3mm and the shocks were 4mm. Adapters were made. Then today I made aluminum wheel covers from Harry's template and then screwed to the shocks. House aluminum flashing is great for these.

The picture shows the retracts mounted in both retract positions and the plane sitting on them. Tomorrow I will smooth and match paint after I finish tying in the cable splitter. The aluminum will need to be metal primer before painting. Zinc chromate paint is best on aluminum for primer.

Flew the plane this past Sunday for the first time with the retracts. It had a slightly strange sound at the take off. Not really a concern at the time. Off she went and I made some nice passes after I raised the landing gear. I gave it another lower and raise and worked perfect. On the next pass I did a slow roll and climbed. I saw about a 4 inch stream of smoke pour out as if I got shot down with an Ally plane on my tail. I killed the motor and dead sticked a U turn into the wind. It glided in a few feet short of the field and hit some 2 foot tall grass for a gentle cushion. I left the retracts folded as it was best for a belly land. I looked the motor over and it was locked up solid. It threw the magnets. I have ordered a new TurnigyD3548/6 790kv for it. I tested my Plush ESC 60amp and it checks out OK. I think the Sbec I installed saved the plane. I had full control on the glide.

Flew the FW190F-8 again off the ground. The new motor uses 50 amps and produces 775 watts of power with the 11x7x3 blade prop. It does seem to have tremendous thrust but it is not as fast withing a few mph as the last motor. But don't get me wrong, it is still fast by many standards. It just leaps of the ground in maybe 5-10 feet. Landings come in nice but she noses over in grass. Actually I can land better with the gear retracted into a sliding stop.

Tom,
I threw Magnets on a new Turnigy 60 motor on my large FW190 D9 on the maiden flight maybe around 2010. I took the motor apart at the field and glued in toothpicks and made the maiden flight. It is up on YouTube a few years back. This FW190F-8 had a new motor pushing a strong 800 watts and a 3 blade 11x7 prop. It was using about 58amps also on 4S. I am sure I pushed the crap out of the plane though as it was fast.. Also seen on its 2nd flight on Youtube. The new motor is pushing over 700watts of power and 48amps on the Whattmeter with a Turnigy Esc.