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| - Kirt Blattenberger - AMA 92498 |
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| Copyright 1996 - 2013 | ||
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Sterling Chance-Vought F4U-1 Corsair C/L Kit | |||
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A 1960s vintage F4U-1 Corsair control line kit from Sterling showed up on eBay, so I bid on it and got it for just $35 - quite a buy! The box was faded, but the parts were all there. Die cutting quality was what could be expected from the era, although having bought a lot of similar kits back in the day, I can say from experience that the die cutting was pretty good. Even the plywood parts came out of the sheets fairly easily. The photo below shows all the parts removed from their die-cut sheets, along with all the other parts, laid on top of the plans. I took the plans to Staples to have a 1:1 copy made to build on so that the originals would not be compromised. I also scanned the die-cut parts to have a record of the outlines, since the plan do not include that (see images below). My intention is to use electric power since it is nice and clean. Admittedly, it will seem a bit weenie to not have a screaming internal combustion engine hauling this manly WWII fighter around the circle, but it's a compromise I'm willing to live with for the sake of no oily mess and works-every-time motor runs. The inexpensive, programmable motor sequence timers makes operation a breeze.
October, 2012: I have finally gotten around to resuming work on the Corsair. The outer wing panels were attached to the inverted gull sections. It was necessary to build an alignment jig for that process in order to assure that both wings have the same dihedral and are aligned properly in the fore-aft direction.
Sterling F4-U Corsair Control Line Airplanes - Front View of Inverted Gull Wing Frame
The plywood fore and aft spars that are an integral part of the fuselage formers were supplied with a crease in them to allow bending where the outer wing panels join. Rather than do that, I cut them back about 1/2" before the joint and glued in a solid piece of plywood across the joints. To avoid having to bend them to accommodate the change in leading and trailing edge angles, I instead sanded into the leading and trailing edges to allow the straight joiners. This should make for a much stronger joint.
November 2010: Here is the beginning of the actual construction, after cutting out all the parts. Instructions on the plans do not indicate that the top half of the fuselage should be built first while pinned to the board. Doing so, however, will assure a straight assembly on which to attach the lower half of the formers. Doing it the way the plans indicates would make achieving a straight fuselage without conjuring up some sort of 3-D jig. I will probably use some sort of jig anyway when assembling the lower former halves, but this way the fuselage will be a good solid reference to begin with.
Sterling F4U-1 Corsair Fuselage Frame - Top
Sterling F4U-1 Corsair Fuselage Frame - Bottom
More to come as the Corsair progresses... The gull wing should be fun to build!
Full-Size Parts Shapes (click for larger version) Here is a training film from the that features the Vought F-4U Corsair (parts 1 & 2) Here's my Sterling F4U-1 Corsair C/L model. Here are some cool F4U Corsair videos Björn Karlström's Chance Vought F4U-1 Corsair 4-view | |||
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Your Host Kirt Blattenberger
Carpe Diem! |