Post by daver on Sept 24, 2015 19:45:29 GMT -4
Glen bought a partially completed Pica FW-190 from me, and part of the deal was for me to finish the construction, and glass it. Now if you've build a Pica/Platt kit, you'll notice some things that are different from the more modern Top Flite Gold Edition kits. They don't have fuselage crutches, wing mounting blocks are glued onto a balsa fuse bulkhead, and maybe some of the balsa sheeting. Tail feathers are thick hard blocks of balsa, scale in outline, but no airfoil. Also, the Pica/Platt kits use hardwood engine mounting rails, which also serve to tie in the forward fuse structurally. Fuel tanks are inserted from the front, and very limited in size. I have some issues with this type of construction, especially given the modern array of engines, nitro and gas, that we're putting on our aircraft.
The FW certainly can use some increased scale looks, so I'm doing built up tail feathers, not only helps with looks, but will be considerably lighter than the stock heavy 1/4 inch planks. Less prone to warping as well. The gun cover, canopy and cowl are really nice, so why go with slab tail feathers that weigh a ton? Not I. So all that is being changed.
Also, the fuse isn't structurally sound. Gluing a hardwood block or blocks to a 1/8th soft balsa bulkhead and skin, and expecting the wing to stay connected, especially with a modern .91 - 100 four stroke, or a 20cc gasser, is folly. The TF kits are more than strong enough to handle these engines, they use plywood fuselage crutches, wing mounting blocks are well secured within the crutch, and the entire fuselage is structurally tied in from firewall to wing trailing edge, where all the stresses are. Eliminating the hardwood engine rails means the ability to open up the fuel tank space, more room for batteries as well, and the firewall can then be adapted for taking either a standard engine mount of any size, or any size of standoff mount. Simpler, cleaner, stronger.
Got an old TF Red or Yellow box kit, or any Platt/Pica kit, and you can easily do these types of mods, I've done them on my Platt 1/5th 109, Platt 1/5th Spitfire, and Pica 1/5th WACO. Here's how!