Bristol County Radio Control Club Forum

Merry Christmas Followers. I played around making a guide drawing to have around the plane when I start laying out the paint lines. Got all the paint ready. The wings are all nice looking with the tan and fabric coatings. Had a nice Christmas and in the late hours I just kept adjusting these drawings.

She's coming along beautifully Bob!
I can't wait to see the maiden flight!!

Thanks Ben,
It will be done this year. I Have been painting almost daily now. I got the wings all painted with the 5 color camo. The undersides will get final coats later. I like the effect a lot. I am leaving the final coat till after the decals get done and hanger rashing. That is another project in itself. I am going to make my own decals with a method that is new to me. Japanese tissue paper printing and sealing before application. RC Groups has a thread on it. If that fails I may contact Callie Graphics to do most of it. That would delay the final painting.

I have the fuselage all painted in the tan right now. I ran into a bad strip of porous Skyloft on the fuselage. This is a hard material to work with. I have paint experience so I can bail myself out. I do not recommend this for any Newbies though. I used a watered down Spackelite filler that was watered down to paint on consistency and brushed it out on the entire fabric on the fuselage. I warm air blow dry to speed up my operations to drying time also. Then I lightly sanded the material and I was amazed how it filled and sanded. It was so smooth as a newborn baby's bottom. This is nice as there will be low paint buildup also for the finish. I originally painted the fuselage using Pactra AeroGloss clear but with no talcum powder to do the filling. This worked out so much nicer. I will post some pictures when I reach a further finish of the painting. I will try for more painting today and after the New Years Day events. Happy New Year All.

I was able to get more than half way done painting the plane. I have it here in the rough. I am adjusting decals to be made soon. Those are just printouts. I have 2 war bond posters there also. I have many things to do yet. I have the struts and landing gear, and wheel paint to do, etc. I have to prime and paint the cowling white. The wind screen is no made yet. Covers for my control horns. The plane is amidst all that excess stuff around it on the table. which makes it a little hard to see.

I still have to get everything in the graphics made and placed. Undersides need 1 more tan coat and then an overall sealing low gloss clear polyurethane oil based paint to level seal off the decals and paint. I only had to seal some pinholes in the material with Lite Spackle and spray over. It came out nice.

I have spent the last week doing the painting of all 6 roundels and making up the numbers sizes to fit properly. I got all those painted also. The only thing in a decal is the War Bond posters on the upper and lower wings. I have not done the Hat in the Ring logos yet along with the fuselage numbers. I am undecided yet as to hand painting them or making decals. I still have to paint all the underside tan with another coat. Then when the plane is all finished painting it will get a clear seal coat overall.

The process I use to make the decals works pretty good. Basically you have to wrap white Japanese tissue (Gift Wrap) around the edge of a standard letter size card stock in the size of 8.5 x11 printer stock. Tape it tight all around the backside of the cardstock. Print your decals or image you want. Then leave it on the cardstock. Get some clear enamel and spray a couple of coats of clear on the decal set to waterproof the ink.You can remove it from the card stock and give it a coat on the back of the decals if you want to now.

Take note that all white Jap tissue will turn semi-transparent. I had to revive the white with a masked off white background on the plane the size of the decals. I do not know if you can spray the decal back with white to see through the front. I did not try that. After I masked and painted my wing with a white background I painted clear polyurethane paint over it. While it was wet I laid out my poster and squeegeed the decal to help get it to lay flat. I used warm air to slow dry it while I matted it down. I got no ink bleed. After it was all down I used a paper towel and my Monokote iron to help flatten it out. Finally I gave it a clear overcoat of clear. Gas planes may not be able to do this. I have no idea if the fuel will attack it.

The main Forum to learn decal making is here.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1217546

A beauty Bob! Nice paint!

Thank You Tom, Nice Home Depot - Baer - Paint. Thinned way down and sprayed. Computer scan copy the shades I want.

Wow!... I have that on my house and so far it's been amazingly tough over the years!

Not sure if you posted... do you know the AUW including batteries? Also, what's the total wing area... just trying to compare to my Super Stearman. Looks like it'll be a big beauty to fly!

The wing is 80" and the wing area is 1708sq.in. Length is 63.5" The weight is listed as 16.5lbs. I am afraid it could be more. I never did weigh the plane all together with the batteries. I have 2 - 5s 5,000 mah batteries.

Neons wrote:The wing is 80" and the wing area is 1708sq.in. Length is 63.5" The weight is listed as 16.5lbs. I am afraid it could be more. I never weigh the plane all together with the batteries. I have 2 - 5s 5,000 mah batteries.

My Super Stearman for comparison...
2-5000mah 6s packs, 72" wingspan, 57" length, 1500 sq-in total wing area, 21 lbs AUW !!!

I'm still surprised how well the Stearman flies, or floats I should say. Flies real big in the air... Had to add some rudder mix with the ailerons for nice turns... other than that, flies real nice.

Yours should float like a butterfly!