Bristol County Radio Control Club Forum

GWS is an early molded foam kit that first came out in the early days of brushless motors. Problem was they had obsolete brushed can motors. There kits were still a good buy. Anyone with a little bit of modeling skills could put one together. They would be flying the plane in days. I am going just a little further in updating this foam parkflyer to be stronger in a good crash. This makes the surviving rate better and with some patching up it is flying again. Here are a couple plans and some light history of the famous plane. The Northeast Airline logo design was well known in this area visiting local airports in a scheduled path. Walt Musciano was a great plan draftsmen in his time also. Click the Pdf file link to see Walt's plan and story.


The complete C-47 and DC-3 Website
http://www.douglasdc3.com/index.html

Double click pictures to zoom in also.
The GWS DC-3 Finish pictures are here from Page 02 bottom.

And finally the finish 5 years later HERE:
viewtopic.php?p=1402#p1402

I started first taking each part and sanding all the molding imperfections and the slippery wax coating off all the exterior. There were circular pairs of indents that had to be spackled to the outer levels also and put aside to harden. The original GWS plan was to load lithium batteries under the nose. I despise loading my planes under nose or wing removals to put a battery in to fly. So I laid out a top loading system. Sure there is a hatch line. But standoff you would have to be 20 feet away and strain your eyes to see it. Besides, while it is flying you can't see it at all. So the chop is done and time to go back to strengthening the fuselage.

Now I install a carbon fiber arrow shaft to longitudinal and twist wracking in the fuselage. I know from all the past ownership of all foam molded models that they will crack easily in a tough landing or crash. The carbon shaft will help prevent a salvageable crash instead of a trashcan crash. The process is not hard. Bury the carbon flush on one side. Add a foam former in the rear. Install the pushrod tubing for controls. Wood in the nose prevents a bad nose crush in an accident. A large pink block of foam bulkhead in a vital weak spot. After the halves get glued I will add a small piece of thin plywood for the leading edge of the wing socket to strengthen that area also. The battery cover section gets more work with more foam on floor and a velcro strap. Under the nose the old battery compartment gets a sheet of 2 mm Depron and some spackle also.

Back Again. A lot of Spring things going on but will continue to build when I can. So I split a carbon fiber arrowshaft in half for the outer wing panels. All Lite Spackled in before I paper cover the panels.I cut the rudder, elevators, and ailerons free next and sanded them smooth.

Te paper covering is easy, light weight and tremendous stiffening with strength. Take a look at the YouTube link for the tutorial. He does 4 more also.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDGgj7UehVI

I had some Elmers glue but used some Polyurethane water base clear paint instead. It works the same way when thinned some. The paper is a matter of choice. I first saw this done with B&W regular newspaper. It works well also. I just happen to have an end roll of unprinted newspaper in my stock so I tested that. I also have Parchment and tracing paper here. I tried all three papers and with slight differences in them. Using freezer paper, masking paper as in the video is good also. Maybe Jap tissue or silkspan is good also.

The Newspaper is brownish with age but is fine.I found it thicker and harder to lay on curves. It dried well with some shrinkage. Sanded very well and should finish smooth.

The Parchment paper was easier and thinner. I it dried nice but was not as smooth as the newspaper. Sanding was a little harder. Easier on the curves also.

The tracing paper was the thinnest and worked very well also but had more in comparison to the Parchment paper.


I think in finishing that special foamy you can get a very good strong and nice finished paint job over 2 coats of clear water base paint. It can then be spray enameled with any paint into a super finish. I believe done right you would think it was balsa built. That is saying something.


I ordered another brushless E-Flite more and esc's. I also ordered a pair of retracts. I am not going to follow the scale gear in this small plane. I am now starting to cover the panels with aluminum tape. Very shiny finish. More to come.

The wings are joined with proper dihedral. I grooved out the cut for the under wing spar. The original is fake carbon fiber and flexes. This is a woven arrow shaft which is hollow and very light weight. It will not flex.

In the next picture it is glued in place. I covered the arrow spar with 2mm Depron. Sanded it and spackled to dry. Ready for paper cover.

Here is the first parts of my aluminum skinning the model. GWS does not make an exact scale model. It is basically a standoff scale flyer as some parts are not correct. I am simulating a real model only. The aluminum is about 1.4mil thick. Add the thickness of the bond glue on the tape and it is just over 2mil thickness. The tape has to be tapered like the real aircraft to get it to lay correct in the viewers eye. It takes time but is fun for me as it is like working a puzzle. I use a sanded 3/4" square hardwood as a burnish tool. The finish is very prone to dents and light creases. So what. I will do it anyways.

As usual, Click picture to Zoom in.

Finally started getting some supplies in today. I installed these HK servoless retracts, They are kind of nicely made. They work w=very well and simplify setting them up. I mounted them on a pair of 5/16" inch hardwood beams. A little cutting and trimming and they fit well. They are not complex like the stock Douglas cantilever landing gear. Then again I am not going to create those stock gear in this small aircraft. I am kind of amazed at the construction and how ell these operate. This will be the first aircraft that I have that will be regularly flown with retracts. I have some scale planes with retracts but never fly them. They are just to nice to chance loosing the planes. I have plans to get all the servos, esc's, and motors in the plane and working before I lay on any more aluminum skin. The banging and handling will just damage it before I get it all done. Note: Those wheels are antique Guillows model wheels.
This is the link for the servoless landing gear.
https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/sto ... duct=43340

Click pictures for Zoom

Well the fuselage gets the newspaper treatment. The B&W print paper works the best of the other three types I tried. Must be the fact it was used and printed on. I tried Parchment, tracing, and unprinted newspaper. The unprinted gave better shrinkage and sanding. I put it on in long tapered strips. The printed paper easily went on with waterbase clear poly-u. It sands well too. It is almost laughable looking at all the text. Almost acts like camo and blends the fuselage in with its surrounding of all the clutter around it. I gave it another coat of poly-u paint and set aside. This gives it a harder base. The aluminum will go over it nicely.

I frst got the motors mounted 1/2" further forward. This will help with balancing. Passageways for the wires of the Esc and landing gear were carved to allow future disconnecting of motors and the landing gear plugs. The wires were buried and the Esc's were countersunk into the wings. The wires and connections cut and soldered as needed.

I ran both motors almost 4 minutes and ran a 3S lipo battery well down below 10 volts to make sure one motor does not cut out in flight as the battery drops in voltage. Then full power them up and both motors hold well. Finally mount the cowlings and fill the wire channels with Depron and sand them even. Then I did a reshaping around the lower nacelles and Lite spackled the whole section to be smoothed out for papering and the final aluminum skins.

I think I am beyond the half way mark on the build. The rest of the metal skin is going to take some time to get on. I am thinking about what I am going to do about decals already.

Click Pics for Zoom in.

Still covering. Long slow process.


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