rkranias Posted October 15, 2019 Share Posted October 15, 2019 My plan is to crank this out by November then start something really big. The Fa330 always interested me as a unique aircraft with an equally unique mission. This was towed by a U-Boat so the pilot could see beyond U-Boat horizon view and report any enemy activity. Finally there is a lot of rigging and I will use either RB or GasPatch turnbuckles. This will get me feeling comfortable for my WNW build, next on the bench. That's right Kiwi Mike...no typo here. 30 minutes into this build I was already regretting this. This aircraft is mostly tubular and the parts are typical short run injection. Loads of flash and seams. Cleaning these tubes are going to drive me batty. So I will cut all remaining tubular parts from .5mm, .4mm and .3mm styrene rod. This will actually be easier than cutting from sprue and cleaning. Building balsa wood and tissue models experience will come in handy. Resin main control pully wheel (feel free to correct me on correct definition) and control stick installed with epoxy. I also wrapped the control stick handle with .2mm lead wire. A brush coat of paint will give the handle a ribbed appearance. Spar and 4 sub control pully wheels are cut from styrene. More fun with .5mm and .4mm styrene rods. The rudder gets a .4mm rod on both sides and will be sanded down and this was fabric. Will also add grab handle I cut out at top of rudder. 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmayhew Posted October 16, 2019 Share Posted October 16, 2019 My God Rick, you must be crazy. Is this what all those Steelers losses have driven you to? 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Clunkmeister Posted October 16, 2019 Administrators Share Posted October 16, 2019 1 hour ago, nmayhew said: My God Rick, you must be crazy. Is this what all those Steelers losses have driven you to? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkranias Posted October 17, 2019 Author Share Posted October 17, 2019 16 hours ago, nmayhew said: My God Rick, you must be crazy. Is this what all those Steelers losses have driven you to? My OCD has reached an enhanced level. Steelers are turning into an ICU recovery floor. My hopes remain positive. However, my wife is carefully monitoring my activities with sharp pointy things. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkranias Posted October 17, 2019 Author Share Posted October 17, 2019 Skids added. This required more .5mm styrene rods. The Fly plastic is soft and works well with welding the styrene to Fly plastic. Cement is Tamiya Thin Cement. MEK is too hot for this. Skids added using only one kit part for braces. All others were measured and replaced with .5mm styrene rod. I drilled a .7mm hole at base of rotor mast. Inserted a trimmed .7mm aluminum tube completely through. This will be used for the rigging. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazypoet Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 Tubular parts are maddening to clean up when not well-cast i feel yer pain! And also admire your alternative approach...! I could learn from that! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mikester Posted October 18, 2019 Members Share Posted October 18, 2019 Ambitious, looking good, Rick! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkranias Posted October 19, 2019 Author Share Posted October 19, 2019 More scratch work. Rigging bar on rudder, left. Grab bar on tail, right. Will reduce the rib via sanding prior to paint. Grab handles/rigging retainers .4mm styrene rod, bent via mandrel and hair dryer, top main body near base of rotor mast and bottom of main body installed. Tail pad just below stabilizer. Also added .4mm aluminum tube just forward to tail pad for rigging. Grab handles/rigging retainers on rotor mast. What the heck are these? Formed using a mandrel and hairdryer I glued the straight pieces to curved pieces. After a little trimming. Cleats don't fail me now! The cleats and grab/rigging retainers were offered in PE. I elected to makes these out of stryene as they weld to kit plastic. The PE would eventually get knocked off as there will be much handling during painting and rigging. I feel these will be stronger than PE attached with CA. Almost ready to start painting. 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocRob Posted October 19, 2019 Share Posted October 19, 2019 Your little kite looks great so far and benefits from your beautiful scratch work. I just started a Fly Arado 234 and have to say, good that there are not many tubular structures involved but you have to love Fly for their not so common portfolio. Cheers Rob 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators JeroenPeters Posted October 20, 2019 Administrators Share Posted October 20, 2019 loving this!! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkranias Posted October 30, 2019 Author Share Posted October 30, 2019 On 10/19/2019 at 10:59 AM, DocRob said: Your little kite looks great so far and benefits from your beautiful scratch work. I just started a Fly Arado 234 and have to say, good that there are not many tubular structures involved but you have to love Fly for their not so common portfolio. Cheers Rob appreciated Rob! Indeed on the unique FLY portfolio. On 10/20/2019 at 4:48 PM, JeroenPeters said: loving this!! HiHiHiHiHiHi 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkranias Posted October 30, 2019 Author Share Posted October 30, 2019 My GasPatch Anchor Points shipment is delayed so on to an alternative. Took my RB Productions turnbuckle and trimmed for anchor point only to the skids. Cannot see it? Drilled .45mm hole and secured with epoxy. Priming to begin. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkranias Posted October 30, 2019 Author Share Posted October 30, 2019 Hope of a November completion are fading. So perhaps mid November. Prime and painted the main frame is ready for the rigging to begin. Black from the attack. Gunze 117 RLM76 used thinned with Mr Leveling Thinner. 2:3 - RLM 76:MLT The details show up nicely with a coat of light paint. A few touch ups and its on the the rigging. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HubertB Posted October 30, 2019 Share Posted October 30, 2019 Nice job, Rick Hubert 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fidd88 Posted October 31, 2019 Share Posted October 31, 2019 Are you going to have a go at motorising this? Faulhaber make some very nice, absolutely tiny electric motors, which can have reduction gear-boxes attached, which are likely small enough to the concealed within the main mast. (6mm OD x circa 20mm length, with reduction gearbox attached). They're pretty pricey, but I've a spare one I could let you have at half-price if you're interested. You'd need to fabricate some form of universal joint I would think, to take the vertical orientation of the motor to the inclined disc of the rotor..... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkranias Posted November 1, 2019 Author Share Posted November 1, 2019 On 10/30/2019 at 10:56 AM, HubertB said: Nice job, Rick Hubert Cheers Hubert. On 10/31/2019 at 11:15 AM, Fidd88 said: Are you going to have a go at motorising this? Faulhaber make some very nice, absolutely tiny electric motors, which can have reduction gear-boxes attached, which are likely small enough to the concealed within the main mast. (6mm OD x circa 20mm length, with reduction gearbox attached). They're pretty pricey, but I've a spare one I could let you have at half-price if you're interested. You'd need to fabricate some form of universal joint I would think, to take the vertical orientation of the motor to the inclined disc of the rotor..... No desire to motorize this. I've done enough fabricating on this project. Thanks for checking in. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkranias Posted January 1, 2020 Author Share Posted January 1, 2020 A little tease until I get my PB images sorted. I finished New Years Eve at 1630. Then spent rest of evening with family. This morning I got a iPhone shot done. Will post WIP pics over these next few days. For now enjoy. More later. Happy 2020 and have a healthy, prosperous year with plenty of bench time. Parachute pack and shock cord installed. I just love using my kids' Legos for alignment/drying jigs. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark64 Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 thats one cool model. nice 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Desmond Glazebrook Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 Superb! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkranias Posted January 2, 2020 Author Share Posted January 2, 2020 18 hours ago, shark64 said: thats one cool model. nice Thanks Shark 9 hours ago, Sir Desmond Glazebrook said: Superb! Cheers Sir Desmond! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkranias Posted January 2, 2020 Author Share Posted January 2, 2020 Fa330 build update will resume with the following disclaimer. PHOTO BUCKET DRAMA BAD NEWS I was locked out of my Photo Bucket account for almost 2 weeks. GOOD NEWS Access resumed a few days ago. BAD NEWS About a dozen early build images were lost. MORE BAD NEWS When I move images to Photo Bucket I will delete any duplicate images on my laptop, xternal HD, etc GOOD NEWS Updates coming 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkranias Posted January 2, 2020 Author Share Posted January 2, 2020 The parachute pack gets some scratch love with styrene rod replacing the pe retainers. .33mm styrene rod wrapped around a mandrel and heated with hair dryer. Then trimmed to desired shape. I added kit decals and data plate decals from MDC at this stage as I want to lessen any opportunities for breaking delicate stuff. GasPatch rigging eyelets attached to rotor blades then painted. Data plates also added to each blade. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harv Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 Rick, you do know you dont need FB to post pics here. It's one of the great points about LSM , you can paste directly to hear....harv 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkranias Posted January 2, 2020 Author Share Posted January 2, 2020 One of my biggest issues with any short run injection kit is lack of locator holes or pins. Fly's Fa330 is no different. To get the correct rotor angle I enlarged the top view profile drawing on the last page of the instructions. I drilled .5mm holes on the rotor hub for the 3 outriggers. Then with a small drop of CA glue the hub to the enlarged profile view of rotors. Carefully drill a .5mm in each outrigger. Inserting a .5mm brass rod with just about 2mm exposed will give enough for the brass rod to align and keep the outrigger in place while epoxy cures. Prior to inserting the brass rod I decided to create the turnbuckle for the rigging. Using a .5mm aluminum tube and Ultra Wire extra small I created turn buckles. The aluminum tube will bend very easy and that's a good thing. Turnbuckle is inserted and secured with epoxy. After epoxy cure (i gave it 3 days) you can carefully bend the turn buckle to the proper angle. *Outrigger and rotor blade are dry fitted. Take photo etch piece #18 and carefully align with the outriggers. This is where you very carefully bend each outrigger to align with #18. Once in place secure with epoxy and let cure for a few days. After outriggers are cured it's now time to glue the rotor blades to the rotor hub. Using a Lego pieces will come in handy to give the rotor blades desired pitch. Make sure the rotor blade shaft ends are clean of any paint. Same goes for the mount holes on the rotor hub. If they are not clear the possibility the epoxy will not hold. While epoxy is setting align rotor blade and place the Lego piece to give desired angle. I've seen varying degrees of angles on actual photos and a real Fa330. All ranging from Droopy to Neutral to Upward. I elected to go with a neutral with a slight rise. It's up to the builder. *15 minute epoxy will afford plenty of time for fine adjustments. Once satisfied...walk away for 2 days. Let the epoxy cure. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winnie Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 Wow just wow. Sir Desmond said it best... Superb! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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