ARF Bashing And Other Nonsence: War Birds



Hangar 9 60 size P 51 Mustang. (Stock Photo)




Hangar 9 60 size Mustang after the bashing was completed










The great thing about this hobby: The sky's the limit. You can do anything you choose. When I need a break from building but can't seem to settle in front of the TV. I enjoy bashing an ARF or two. Bashing. Seems a strange way of describing making modifications or improvements to an air plane doesn't it? I didn't come up with the term. As mentioned in my previous post We'll get to full builds. Bashing ARF's is a great training tool for honing the skills needed during the build process so bare with me.

About a year ago a flying buddy of mine asked if I wanted his old Mustang. He had flown it for years and decided he was ready to move on. Not being one to pass up a free plane I happily agreed to take it off his hands. I had seen him fly the Mustang on many occasions and knew it was a sold flier. The Mustang is one of my favorites and Hangar 9 created a real winner with this 60 size model.. I have been flying my Hangar 9 40 size PTS for years and couldn't wait to get my hands on this larger more scale version. As any woman can tell you, bigger is better. The ground handling is significantly improved. The model comes with retracts and is a very stale flier. The only down side is this particular version doesn't come with flaps. A minor trade off since you don't really need flaps to land this plane. Take offs are smooth and predictable and landings are even better.

The plane was showing it's age and use. It was in desperate need of some cosmetic work but otherwise in very sound shape. The first thing I did after bring it home was to remove all the covering for a more thorough inspection.  I really didn't find any problems in need of repair, just a little putty, sanding and she would be ready to apply new covering. This is were the challenge began. As you can see from my previous post I have a few Mustangs already. I really didn't need another Mustang but who can pass up a free plane? Not me!. My other Mustangs are Styled after "Marie". Having a third Mustang in that scheme just wasn't an option. I spent a great deal of time scouring the net looking for just the right finish. Alas to no avail. Time passed and about a year had gone by before I got back around to this model. I do a lot of assembling and repairs for club members so it's easy to get distracted. I still had the same dilemma, what look was I going for? 

During the year or so that had elapsed since receiving this model I came to the decision that landing gear modifications would truly make the plane stand out. The gear doors that originally came with the ARF had been damaged years earlier and weren't included with the plane. This necessitated the fabrication of new gear doors. But really why stop there? I never cared for the gear pockets that come with so many ARF's. I just think it's a quick solution, but not the best solution. Then to you always have that portion beyond the wheels that's open after the gear is retracted. The real planes have secondary doors that closes and mates with the primary gear doors to fully enclose the landing gear. What a great concept! This was to be the goal. I have tried this before on other ARF's with varying degrees of success.

This would be a whole new approach. In previous modification the attempt was to have the gear doors respond in unison. The problem is interference and slop in the hinges and main landing gear struts. This limits the over all fit and finish of the modification. May ARF's now come with the inner gear doors and use several different methods of operation, but none of them are very reliable or for that matter long lived. Lots of foamies out on the market also offer function gear doors that open then close during operation of the landing gear.

 
The advent of sequencers has made this very popular. For this application I chose a simpler solution. Since the plane doesn't have flap I would use the flap channel to operate the secondary gear doors manually. I may install a sequencer later but didn't have one available at the time. If you have an airplane that has retractable gear you probably noticed how poorly the gear doors fit. The doors also sit above the surface opening. Don't you just hat that? Me too. No way was I going to all the trouble to modify the gear doors and end up with a factory finish. I won't waste a great deal of time here describing all the work involved to complete this modification. Suffice to say I fabricated custom inner and outer gear doors. Built up the area around the doors on the bottom of the wing and created a flush matting surface between the doors and the wing. Some would call this Frenched in. I Installed a separate servo to operate the inner doors. Not pretty, but this was a first attempt. Later planes will get the refined version. It works very well and I was able to keep the tolerances reasonably tight.
                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                Now for the finish:    

Top Flite F8F Bearrcat from an older red box kit I found on RC Universe


                                                           
If you have the time I strongly encourage anyone to check out the RENO AIR RACES. It's awesome! This is were I found my muse for this Mustang. No I didn't copy, just received Devinne inspiration. Years earlier I had styled an F8F Bearcat after a prominent Reno Race of the time. I thought why not do the same for the Mustang. Now I had the style I wanted, just not the design. Once again I turned to the F8F Bearcat for inspiration. Several RC plane manufactures have produce a plane called the Rare Bear. I truly love the look of this plane. I had however learned from previous experience that gold on a flying model is a rather difficult color to distinguish in flight . I chose Yellow as an eye catching alternative. White is an excellent contrast color and I use it frequently. White always looks clean and goes with everything. Now I had the color scheme, just needed the final design. I have found the best approach is to just to start and let the model lead you along.



 

I applied the primary colors on the airframe main body and wing then let my imagination take care of the rest. Cut some squares. Temporarily taped them in various places. Stepped back for a better look. This process took about two day but in the end I believe the results speak for them selves.

Truly this plane is a joy to fly with no bad tendency's.
The plane tracks straight and steady for take off and has virtually no weather veining issues in moderate cross wind conditions. Unlike the 40 Size Mustang PTS witch requires a great deal of rudder input during take offs.Landings without the use of flaps are still smooth and predictable. Rudder and elevator response is very good at slow speed approaches, yet crisp and aggressive during acrobatic maneuvers.

                                                                                          

If You love War Birds The Mustang is a Must Have.



Carl Goldberg Bucker Jungman (stock Photo)



   

My rendering just for fun. This was another restoration project. The model is about 13 years old and the original builder was tires of flying it. He wanted to find a new hangar to park it in. I happily volunteered. Since this plane was originally produced as a full build and not an ARF. The covering scheme would not really be considered a bash.