Author Topic: Let's Have a Bash! / ARF Nobler Redux... (Read 5893 times)

wwwarbird · « **on:** February 28, 2012, 10:16:19 PM »

Well I've finally decided on the next building project here at the "Aeroworks".

Last summer I got ahold of a NIB ARF Nobler kit at a swap meet for 45 bucks that I just couldn't pass up. I've had this idea for awhile for another variation on the ARF Nobler, so here we go with it. I'm not going to claim it to be even semi-scale, but it will be another take off on a certain WWII Warbird, big suprise there! Normally I try to get pretty accurate to scale with outlines, but on this one I'm planning to be a bit "cartoonish" with the overall look. I do have a rough mental plan on what I intend it to look like when it's finished. As it progresses we'll see who can figure out first what it's going to be, sorta kinda.

Picking up here from the Open Forum...

This past Sunday night was the official start on destruction/reconstruction. I knew I wanted to replace the engine bearers so I got out the heat gun "persuader" and tore them out. They came out fairly well, but it didn't take long after that for me to decide to just chop the nose clean off at the wing L/E. Less actual work than repairing what was left of the nose and it will come out nicer anyway. I made new sides for the nose and some 1/64" doublers and got that all stuck back together. Then I made an engine crutch and will be widening the nose slightly to accomodate a 4 ounce Du-Bro clunk tank. Power will be an FP .40.

Tonight I started playing with the wing and got the covering all stripped off and the stock controls taken out.

Next move will be installing the Tom Morris "World Beater" control setup.

wwwarbird · « **Reply #1 on:** February 28, 2012, 10:19:16 PM »

Taking out the stock mounts and starting to rebuild the nose...

wwwarbird · « **Reply #2 on:** February 28, 2012, 10:20:58 PM »

Digging in to the wing and a look at the stock ARF controls...

Wynn Robins · « **Reply #3 on:** February 28, 2012, 11:41:50 PM »

looks like a hellcat ....
oh wait - P-40
no hang on - a f4f....

Clint Ormosen · « **Reply #4 on:** February 29, 2012, 02:08:34 AM »

So far, looks like a Nobler.

bill bischoff · « **Reply #5 on:** February 29, 2012, 10:46:31 PM »

I'm thinking ME-109, probably a Hispano- powered version with the higher thrust line. With some gear doors, the fuse mounted gear could kinda look like the outward retracting Messerschmitt gear. Many moons ago, I turned a Tutor into a Tutor-schmitt!

Mark Scarborough · « **Reply #6 on:** March 01, 2012, 11:15:07 AM »

Quote from: bill bischoff on February 29, 2012, 10:46:31 PM

I'm thinking ME-109, probably a Hispano- powered version with the higher thrust line. With some gear doors, the fuse mounted gear could kinda look like the outward retracting Messerschmitt gear. Many moons ago, I turned a Tutor into a Tutor-schmitt!

I love that kit bash,, now why did I not think of that, I love the 109,, and I have a tutor wing ,, hmmm

Bill Little · « **Reply #7 on:** March 01, 2012, 11:26:53 AM »

Quote from: Mark Scarborough on March 01, 2012, 11:15:07 AM

I love that kit bash,, now why did I not think of that, I love the 109,, and I have a tutor wing ,, hmmm

Brother Mark.............. as long as it's not another 5 year project Me 109.................

BIG Bear
RNMM/Amm

Mark Scarborough · « **Reply #8 on:** March 01, 2012, 12:06:06 PM »

Quote from: Bill Little on March 01, 2012, 11:26:53 AM

Brother Mark.............. as long as it's not another 5 year project Me 109.................

BIG Bear
RNMM/Amm

Hey it hasnt been 5 years,,
have you been talking to Wayne again,,sheesh,,
I think its only been 4 years,,

Bill Little · « **Reply #9 on:** March 01, 2012, 03:45:18 PM »

Quote from: Mark Scarborough on March 01, 2012, 12:06:06 PM

Hey it hasnt been 5 years,,
have you been talking to Wayne again,,sheesh,,
I think its only been 4 years,,

You da man, Brother Mark!

BIG Bear
RNMM/AMM

Randy Powell · « **Reply #10 on:** March 01, 2012, 05:29:22 PM »

Uh, Mark, don't you already have 2 ME109s underway? Seems there was a full fuse ship and a profile...

Bill Little · « **Reply #11 on:** March 01, 2012, 06:38:02 PM »

Well my first guess was a KI 61 TOny, but I can see a Hurricane somewhere in there.

BIG Bear
RNMM/AMM

wwwarbird · « **Reply #12 on:** March 01, 2012, 09:56:09 PM »

I'm gonna pretend you didn't mention your 109 Mark... for now.

But what IS the latest???

Dennis Adamisin · « **Reply #13 on:** March 02, 2012, 06:28:28 AM »

Maybe one of these...

Mark Scarborough · « **Reply #14 on:** March 02, 2012, 10:42:14 AM »

Quote from: wwwarbird on March 01, 2012, 09:56:09 PM

I'm gonna pretend you didn't mention your 109 Mark... for now. But what IS the latest???

well i have to sand the vert stab, a small portion of the fuse side, make landing gear doors, exhaust stacks finish, supercharger intake scoop, then I think its ready to start paint,, maybe,,

of course I tried really hard to finish sanding, but now I am tweaking the Avenger for VSC, and my daugher, who is going with me, wants to take a plane for her to sport fly while we are there,so I am repairing her RM+P and her S-1 RM,,
Randy,, thanks a lot, now Wayne will give me crap about the profile 109 too,,

wwwarbird · « **Reply #15 on:** March 02, 2012, 05:53:41 PM »

Quote from: Mark Scarborough on March 02, 2012, 10:42:14 AM

Randy,, thanks a lot, now Wayne will give me crap about the profile 109 too,,

Yeah thanks Randy, I'd forgotten about the profile one.

Bill Little · « **Reply #16 on:** March 02, 2012, 06:07:44 PM »

Quote from: wwwarbird on March 02, 2012, 05:53:41 PM

Yeah thanks Randy, I'd forgotten about the profile one.

Hi Wayne,

I didn't know that there is a profile version also in the works!

BIG Bear
RNMM/AMM

wwwarbird · « **Reply #17 on:** March 02, 2012, 10:36:55 PM »

Yep, Mark does have a profile '109 in the works too, I remember seeing pics of it some time ago. We've gotta think baby steps here though Bill.

I got a little more done on the "Nobler" tonight...

I was going to put the bellcrank in but I found that if it's mounted in the stock ARF pivot position the leadouts don't jive with the existing passages in the wing at all. The system I have has a 4" bellcrank and I'm not sure if that's what it's supposed to be or not. I sent Tom a message asking about it.

Stuck there, I flipped the wing over and started work on installing some L/G blocks. Gotta have a wing mounted gear in this 'Bird...

Bill Little · « **Reply #18 on:** March 04, 2012, 07:56:49 PM »

Hmmmmmmm............ Dewoitine 520 (sp?)

BIG Bear
RNMM/AMM

wwwarbird · « **Reply #19 on:** March 07, 2012, 10:39:08 PM »

Plugging along here...

I finished up the engine crutch last night with the aluminum pads and all, and then I got it stuck in the fuse tonight. As I knew it would be, this one is definitely another "figger it out as I go" build.

Neal Beekman · « **Reply #20 on:** March 09, 2012, 05:49:28 PM »

Nobler adjustable elevator.

wwwarbird · « **Reply #21 on:** March 09, 2012, 08:08:19 PM »

Thanks for the tip Neal, that's exactly how I did it on my Sukhoi/Nobler kit bash way back when I built that one. I'm not sure yet if I'll bother making this one adjustable or not, still scratching my head on a lot of things.

Leester · « **Reply #22 on:** April 03, 2012, 06:10:03 PM »

Nice lookin Sukhoi/Nobler Wayne, I have a Midwest Sukhoi 40 R/C kit that has C/L conversion written all over it. Hmmmmm

Randy Powell · « **Reply #23 on:** April 03, 2012, 07:34:15 PM »

Man, that's a LONG nose.

I think it's going to be a, um, I'm not gonna say.

wwwarbird · « **Reply #24 on:** April 03, 2012, 10:27:48 PM »

Yeah Randy, the nose does look really long right now but it's actually stock ARF Nobler dimensions at this point. I will be adding a balsa canopy in place of the plastic ARF one, but it will be a slightly different shape and still very rearward. I haven't decided yet, but I might be chopping into the turtledeck and modifying it too. I need to finish the nose and cowl first so that I can get a good look at the profile outline before I make a decision on the turtledeck. Yes, it would have been easier to just build a completely new fuse from scratch, but for some reason I just decided to go at it this way.

Not much progress the past couple of weeks as I've had a pretty good head cold and just no ambition for the shop, just generally been feeling like crap. I did get the top nose block sanded to rough shape last night though. Next will be scratching the melon for a while and figuring out how I'm going to do the lower cowling. It's gonna be kinda complicated, at least for me.

EDIT: ...glued the top fuse block on tonight.

wwwarbird · « **Reply #25 on:** April 10, 2012, 09:56:30 PM »

Well, this shot might give it away, but it's proof that I'm actually accomplishing something...I think.

At this point I would say there is at least as much sawdust on the floor as there wood that is still shown in this photo...

john e. holliday · « **Reply #26 on:** April 11, 2012, 08:59:23 AM »

Horrors, that shot of your shop shows it to be too well organized.

No wonder you can do such terrific building.

L0U CRANE · « **Reply #27 on:** May 01, 2012, 02:05:26 PM »

Quote from: Bill Little on March 04, 2012, 07:56:49 PM

Hmmmmmmm............ Dewoitine 520 (sp?)

BIG Bear
RNMM/AMM

Bill, I think the WW2 fighter-fuselage X-Acto handle looked more like the Dewoitine 520 than the Curtiss P-40 everyone else called it. (For the youngsters - X-Acto sold a stamped sheet metal blade handle that pivoted, sort of like a pair of scissors, to allow inserting or replacing blades.)

It was in the general shape of a fighter's side view. It had a fairly steep tapered turtledeck from the cockpit back, and a rounder shaped front end, NOT like the P-40s deep airscoop.

The (real, French) D-520 had an interesting history. It would have been a near match for early Me-109s, except that they couldn't get Hispano-Suiza 12Y engines, guns, propellors and some outer skin sections all together on more than a handful of them by May 1940. (When Hitler rolled through France and the Low Countries.)

As the Allies pressed Hitler back a few years later, the factory airfield was liberated. Several D-520s had been completed by then. The original first flight test pilot formed them up as an area defense squadron.

I hacked and painted a green-box Nobler to represent a D-520 that flew in the area defense squadron. The planforms are pretty similar! Fuselage was very noticeably different , tho. I put retracts into the model. That was back around 1970... About that time, one of the Adamisin bros also based a stunter on a D-520, as I saw in a magazine photo...

My retract system took some thought, and was limited by the feeble output of RC servos back then. Mechanically 'triggered' - no fancy stuff.

...And, I still think that X-Acto handle looked more like a D-520!

Douglas Ames · « **Reply #28 on:** May 01, 2012, 09:29:35 PM »

Quote from: wwwarbird on February 28, 2012, 10:20:58 PM

Digging in to the wing and a look at the stock ARF controls...

That bellcrank setup looks good to me, maybe some proper leadouts but I like the connectors.

wwwarbird · « **Reply #29 on:** May 01, 2012, 11:10:39 PM »

You're right Doug, the bellcrank would have been ok as it was. The leadouts and the rest of the controls in these ARF'S are garbage though, including the provided hinges. That's not a complaint, just fact and observation.

I'm replacing the controls with all the Tom Morris stuff, and hinges will be the pinned Du-Bro jobbies.

Progress has been sporadic and slow, but I do have the cowling work almost done. Took me a lot of head scratching to get through it, but it's getting there.