Brodak F-51 kit build thread

[John Fitzgerald]

Thanks.  I split a piece of 1/8" ID tubing, slipped it over the  flap joiner, and squeezed it back down with gap at the back. Was able to fill right up to it. Flaps, elevator, and horiz stab are covered. Wing ready to cover. Fuse and other exposed wood have two coats of Sig clear dope based sanding sealer on them.  11.5 ounces right now without motor, prop, tank, landing gear, horns, tip weight, and elevator pushrod.  All the gear not on the plane yet weighs 15 ounces, so right now I am at 26.5 ounces. Not too good.

[Jim Kraft]

John; Mine weighs 32 ounces, and fly's pretty well with a Fox 35. I do have 1 to 1 flap elevator, and unless I crank on the handle really hard, it corners just fine. It will be a fun plane even if it is a little on the porky side. Just keep the finish as light as you can.

[Dick Pacini]

John, the problems you had with the kit; spar, mismatched hardware, weight box and leadout bushings should be reported to John Brodak.  I am sure he would take corrective action on the kits in stock and make it right with you.

[John Fitzgerald]

The hardware problems were really not that big a deal.  I have built several planes before, just not recently, and this time had replacement stuff in the house already, plus tools to fix the other problems.  I agree not everyone would be so lucky.  If you guys think that John Brodak would be interested, I will compile a list of problems with the kit and errors in the book and send it to him.  I will do it in as nice a way as possible, and publish it here also if anyone would be interested.  If I get a response, I will summarize that on here too.

BTW, the plane gained just 0.3 ounces with the final coat of sealer. The three coats of Sig sealer are probably equal to three coats of clear.  I am thinking one coat of clear, one color, let cure, and top with another clear, and it will achieve the 15 foot finish I am shooting for, and be fuel proof enough for the 10% nitro I use.  After all, it's only a fun flier.

[Dick Pacini]

My experience with Brodak is that they will absolutely bend over to satisfy a customer and make it right.  They will correct any known kit problems.  I bought a P40 ARF that had a bad spot in the wing.  They replaced the wing with another, but that one had controls that would hang up.  They furnished another wing that was fine.

I had a couple of mishaps and asked if I could buy some replacement covering.  They sent me some no charge.  Another mishap resulted in the stab being broken in half.  I had gotten CA in the hinges and they were too stiff, resulting in a loss of control.  I contacted Brodak about the problem and they sent a new stab, new elevators, new horn and new hinges.  No charge.

By all means let them know of your problems.  They will make it right and correct any stock.

[Dennis Moritz]

Stop already. As my friend Dan Banjok says (all the time), GO FLY!

[John Fitzgerald]

I put on the first coat of Sig Lite Coat clear a while ago.  All the wood looks shiny and sealed now.  I think I will give it a few days to cure, then put the color on.  Sig Silver on fuse with yellow vertical fin like on the kit box. 
Another mistake I found in the instructions: They say to temporarily put the landing gear into place, glue the fairings onto the front of the wing over the landing gear wire, then remove the landing gear.  If I had followed that, I would not be able to remove the landing gear without slotting the fairings, as the half-round in the fairing exactly matches the lg wire.  Looks to me like the fairings need to go on last, or maybe not at all.

[John Fitzgerald]

Sealed and ready for color.

Here is the message I sent to John Brodak via his website:

John,
I purchased the F-51 Mustang (Sterling remake kit) from you last month.
There were a few minor problems with the kit that I feel should be checked or corrected for this kit. 
I don't expect you to do anything on the one I have as I have already fixed the problems during the build, and am happy with my fixes.

1.  One of the main spars was broken when I first opened the box due to a bad spot in the wood.
2.  The bellcrank bolt was a 4-40 and did not match the nut and washers which were #6. The instructions called for a 6-32 bolt.
3.  The tip weight box was 5/16 inch too tall to fit in the wing.  I had to saw the plywood parts down before assembly.
4.  The leadout thimbles are too small for the leadout wire provided.
5.  The instructions erroneously say to glue the wing fairings on over the landing gear and then remove the landing gear.  The landing gear cannot be removed after the fairings are in place without removing the fairings.
6.  The screws provided to mount the control horns are 1/8 inch too short.  They will not contact the nylon keepers enough to screw in once placed through the flap and elevator pads.

One other suggestion to improve the kit would be to provide allen head screws  instead of slotted ones.  In small sizes I find them much easier to use.
Thank you very much for providing for the needs of our control line hobby.

John Fitzgerald
Fayetteville, AR

[john e. holliday]

Now you know why I stock allen head machine screws to replace what comes in some kits.   The slotted head screws are mucho cheaper for the kit manufacturers to put in kits.  I still wonder how we got kits builts back in the day, with the die crunching and the wood that was supplied.   But, we got them built and painted and flew them.   We also thought they were great at the time.   Guess we are getting spoiled with the laser cutting and new control systems.   Can you imagine a bicycle spoke for a pushrod?   

[Brett Buck]

 Can you imagine a bicycle spoke for a pushrod?   

   I don't need to imagine it, I did it!  BTW, the US-built bike spokes had 2-56 threads on the end and worked well with Kwik-Links.

    Brett

[Jim Kraft]

Oh Yeah! Spokes with 2-56 thread, and the original kwik links from typewriters. Are we an innovative bunch or what.

[Brett Buck]

Oh Yeah! Spokes with 2-56 thread, and the original kwik links from typewriters. Are we an innovative bunch or what.

    For the record, I no longer recommend either bike spokes or kwik links! Might be a little weak for your tuned-pipe 75 stunt planes. But they did have one admirable quality - they were FREE.

    Brett

[John Fitzgerald]

It looks like my F-51 kit's final weight without fuel will be just under 29 ounces.  I put clear coat on a few hours ago (morning of 1-15) and just weighed.  I am using a uniflow clunk tank mounted on the inboard side of the fuselage.  No room behind the engine for much of a tank. I researched some older threads and going by them such a tank setup should work fine.  Got about a 10-foot finish on it, which is fine for my sport-plane standards.  I prefer good flying to good looks.

1/16 - finished.  Waiting for clear dope overcoat to cure for a few days, plus good weather before flying.

[john e. holliday]

Hope she flies as good as she looks.

[John Fitzgerald]

Hope she flies as good as she looks.

I hope it will at least do the round pattern maneuvers.  That would be good enough for a sport flier.  Actually, it doesn't look real good up close.  It's a 10-foot finish.  Wonder how long it really takes for Sig Lite Coat clear to become about as fuel resistant as it's going to get?  Would four or five days be reasonable? 

[Bill Little]

HI JOhn,

It looks great for your purposes.  It should fly pretty good at that weight.

Lite Coat, give it about a week.  Should be OK by the weekend.

BIG Bear
RNMM/AMM

[John Fitzgerald]

I finally flew it today.  Three flights. Lap times were about 4.7 seconds on lines measuring 59'8" handle to center of fuse (57'7" eyelet to eyelet).  I stunted it some on the last two flights, and it turns a good corner, but does seem to settle downward a bit in tight pullouts.  Flying the TT .25 with R/C carb wired open.  Wonder if it would work better with a dedicated C/L venturi if such is reasonably available?

[Bill Little]

I finally flew it today.  Three flights. Lap times were about 4.7 seconds on lines measuring 59'8" handle to center of fuse (57'7" eyelet to eyelet).  I stunted it some on the last two flights, and it turns a good corner, but does seem to settle downward a bit in tight pullouts.  Flying the TT .25 with R/C carb wired open.  Wonder if it would work better with a dedicated C/L venturi if such is reasonably available?

I suggest contacting Randy Smith for the venturi and NVA.

BIG Bear
RNMM/AMM