One of John’s conditions for me making this
plane was that I was not allowed to paint it in any
camouflage
paint schemes. It had to be silver! So a bit of Internet
surfing had a plethora of colour schemes to choose
from. I kept away from anything with invasion stripes
or fully painted spinners, because of all the masking
involved and the spinner would look very second hand
after a few starts using the electric starter.
The cockpit was detailed out by printing off a
dash from the computer and just gluing it to
the dash panel.
The scale pilot was painted up and glued to the
base just in front of the seat headrest. A couple
of mock
air tanks went behind the seat to finish the job
off. I thought it was a good idea not to go too
overboard
on the detailing until I knew it was going to fly!
That must be the pessimist coming out in me! Before
starting the covering job, I made up some dummy
turbo-chargers and pipe work to go on the top
of each boom. Remember
to pick the right system for your particular type
of P38 as there were so many different types
throughout
the model runs.
While I was in the detailing mood,
I made up a mass balance weight for the elevator
from aluminium
sheet
and two pieces of 6.5mm dowel, which leads me
into that subject. If you have a good memory you’ll
remember that I made a 60 sized Mustang four years
ago for Airborne. I used the brown paper and PVA
glue method to give the plane accurate panel lines,
covers
and hatches. This really turned out great and didn’t
really add much extra weight to the finished model.
The
brown paper is simply applied by dipping the pre-cut
sections into a mix of 50/50 water and
PVA. Start from
the underneath and the rear and work your way forward,
slightly overlapping each piece. The paper has
a shiny side and a dull side, so remember to always
keep the
shiny side up for a much smoother finish. The paper
will follow the curves easily and can be stretched
to make it fit into tight spots and compound curves.
Once the whole plane was covered, it was given
light
sand with some 240 grit paper and then coated with
another layer of the glue & water mix. Another
light sand with some 400 grit will have surface
ready for painting. The canopy needed to be trimmed
to
size to get it fitting properly. I left it off
till I had
done the covering job.
I used the end of a piece
of 1/8 inch brass tube to press into the paper
surface to make indents
for the
quick action Dzus fastener used around the cowling
removable panelling. The rest of the panel flush
riveting was done with the end of a printer cartridge
refill
nozzle. This made very small little round indents
in the paper to simulate the flush riveting. I
just spaced
them out at about 4mm intervals to end up with
something that looked pretty close to the real
thing. If you
put them any closer they just don’t look
very realistic and just become too cluttered up.
As
the plane was looking to be tail-heavy, I decided
to shift the two servos the were in the left (port
side) boom further forward to help with the weight
distribution because I could see the need for a
big chunk of lead up in the nose if I did nothing.
The
fibreglass radiator covers were epoxied in place
on each side of the two booms after moving the
servos. They fitted snugly in behind the wheel
inside the
well.
A ply plate was made up and glued in place to hold
them there. I just used the edge of a thin file
to make the panel lines in the radiator covers
and the
tiny end of a Dremel piece to make rows of rivets
on each of them. A couple of air inlets for the
turbo-chargers were shaped out of balsa block and
glued in place
on
the outside of each boom just under the rear of
the wing. To hold the removable wing ends in place
four
small pieces of aluminium flat were screwed to
the outside edge of the main wings top and bottom.
Small
self-tapping screws went through these and into
some double ply gussets that were built into the
wing.
The balsa was cut away under each strap to make
it flush
with the wing surface so that they weren’t
too noticeable.
PAINTING:
It is very hard to find realistic aluminium paint.
The one I ended up using was Dulux Aluminium Kill
Rust. I used an airbrush to apply the paint after
thinning it down with turpentine. Only using enough
paint to get a good cover, this took two coats
to achieve the desired finish. Once it had dried
properly I had to try some fuel proofing clears.
I had a go with Estapol satin finish, but it really
dulled the surface too much. I ended up using urethane
gloss to get a realistic finish. Using extra coats
around the engine areas and where the oil residue
would end up down each boom.
FINAL DETAILING:
The canopy had thin strips of brown paper glued in
place to simulate the bracing framework. I then
used a syringe to place tiny drops of PVA to make
rivet lines over them. A tiny paintbrush and a
steady hand had them painted silver.
The canon and
machine guns were made up from pieces of 6.5mm
dowel and the flutes were drilled along
them. 3.2mm aluminium tube was then cut into 3mm
lengths and glued on the ends of the four machine
gun barrels. Matt black paint was then used to
paint them and then smudged around the guns to
simulate
gunpowder blackening. The sides and around the
engine cowls were also given the treatment with
a smudge
of black to dirty up the areas. The turbo-chargers
were then painted up with a dark grey paint and
the black used to dirty up their exhaust exits
along
the top of the fuselage. The wing tips, and top
and bottom of the rudders was then masked up
and painted
a bright red.
My mate the sign writer, owed me a
few favours for fixing up his motorbike, so his
wife was able
to
computer generate some great stickers for me
to finish off the detailing. A coat of clear over
these to
stop the edges lifting had the Lightning nearing
its time to take to the sky. I still hadn’t
fitted up the doors for the retracts but I was
itching to just see it fly.
FLIGHT TESTING:
The week before the maiden flight had me doing
all the calculations for the C of G position.
After working
it out using 25- 33 % of the mean average cord,
it needed to still have 200grams of lead in
the nose
to get it balancing in the right spot. The
battery pack went right up the front of the nose
next
to the lead weight. The final weight, less
fuel, ended
up at 12 lb (5.44 kgs) on the button, with
a wing loading of 32oz/per sq ft. This really had
me worried!
Most of the planes I’m use to are all
around the low twenties.
Sunday dawned upon
us and the sun was shining.
Final checks and after lunch it was off to
our clubs field
for the big maiden flight test.
The wings tips
were fitted up and the tanks filled and just one
last final check of making
sure
everything that might fall off wasn’t
going to. A range check was carried out with
the motors running and
all was ready for the flying bit. The tanks
were topped up and the Magnum 61’s
were tuned to pull 10 1/2 thousand RPM on
the 11x
9 props. We had
one guy with a video camera and Matt Downes
with his new digital camera all ready to
catch the big
event! I taxied down to the end of the strip
to give myself a good long runway. Holding
on to the tail,
the motors were revved up and I said a few
prayers (I’m not a religious person,
but I thought it wouldn’t hurt!). The
throttle was opened up and the P38 built
up speed quickly and after only
about 30 metres it went over a slight hump
in the strip and as it crossed it, the Lightning
was flying!
I thought to let it settle back on the deck,
but it just wanted to keep going up, so I
let it, letting
it gain height slowly as it accelerated to
a good flying speed. Well if anyone had any
doubts about
its flying ability they were all squashed
then and there! If it was going to stall
and roll
in, it should
have happened as it was taking off then!
As the nerves settled, I remembered that
I didn’t
move any trims to have it flying straight
and level. That
incidence meter really did its job! A few
gentle high circuits, just to get the feel
of the
twin, had me smiling and yelling out to the
guys that it
was a pussy cat to fly! The retracts were
tried next and they didn’t want to
come up (a small air leak), so I just flew
around for
about 6 or 7 minutes.
I tried out a loop and a roll and then did
a few low passes so the cameras could get
a few close ups.
Now for the landing! The throttles were backed
off to about 1/4 and the flaps were deployed,
this made
the plane just balloon up and not want to
come down, another circuit to bleed off the
height
and set up
for a landing. With the strip lined up, I
brought the plane in over the edge of the
strip at
about a couple of metres . I wanted to have
plenty of speed
up for the first landing. Well it just kept
going and going and didn’t want to
touch down. By the time it did land it was
going
quite slowly
and
settled in on all three wheels at once for
a perfect first landing.
Well, everyone gathered
around and stood in amazement, saying things
about the short
take-off
and how
that washout really must work! They also
commented on
how stable it looked in the sky. Well after
a bit of back patting and a bit of bull shit,
the
tanks
were filled up again and a quick check over
everything was carried out. Motors started
up and taxi out
again for another go, just to see that it
wasn’t
a fluke. Power on and taxied past the hump
this time before applying full power and
gaining more than
enough speed before lifting off gently and
climbing out in a slow curve. A couple of
laps and then into
a few consecutive rolls, just using some
down to hold the nose up while inverted.
The rolls look a
bit funny, because of the twin booms, sort
of barrelly from side on! Although they do
look much better when
coming in straight at myself, it must be
a bit of an optical illusion! The stall test
was tried next,
with the plane a little dot in the sky the
throttle was backed off and the nose lifted
up to bleed off
the speed. It had to slow down to well below
where I thought it would stall, before just
dropping the
left wing and spinning one turn before righting
itself. I had thought with such a high wing
loading and very
skinny tips that it would spin at the drop
of a hat. The washout and good wing section
really must work
well together. No surprises for a good average
pilot here. I haven’t tested out a
single engine flight or landing yet and will
have to try one
out in the not too distant future.
I’m
now fitting up the retract doors so I can
take it up to Shepparton for the Mammoth
Scale event on the 17th & 18th of September.
With some bad weather over the past month
I haven’t been
able to get any flying in, so I’m hoping
for a few good ones in the few weeks left
before the
event.
Well that’s about it from me!
This is a worthwhile project for a fairly
experienced builder, really
flies beautifully and just looks so good
in the air! Thanks to the Airborne crew for
having faith
in my
ability to do the plan justice.
