Category: Building

Early in 2020 I was wandering through a huge swap meet over in Dayton, Ohio and I chanced across two new-in-box 60″ish” size Seagull Models T-6A Texan IIs…  One was made up in a beautiful Red/White/Blue/Black and Silver scheme and the other in more of a gray camouflage pattern. 

I admired the models and quickly decided they were not for me.  I kept telling myself that a T-6A is a jet trainer and surely would be fast and heavy and besides, what did I have for a power system?  They are a bit more unique though and the red/white/blue scheme sure looks nice… I almost didn’t make it past the table when the owner made an offer to let me have one for what couldn’t be more than 1/2 of the cost of a new model!!  I stuck my fingers in my ears and ran to the next set of tables… 

Fast forward a couple hours later and I’m about to finish my first lap around the meet when I noticed what looked like a NIB Hacker motor.  The gentleman explained he had bought it as a spare that he had never needed.  I had some recent experience with another Hacker that was part of one of the best E power setups I had ever operated so this looked tempting.  Again the price was right and this time I didn’t try too hard to resist.

Now armed with a high powered 6S power system (1250W continuous and able to easily handle 1600W) I realized I had the exact motor for the Texan II.  After a brisk walk and a quick negotiation I had the airplane as well.  Wait, what had I done!?  It is still a jet trainer.  I like lightweight, overpowered, nimble and aerobatic aircraft with simple fixed gear!!  Why did I buy this beautiful, sleek, heavy trainer with mechanical retracts??

Over the next couple weeks I worked my way through assembly of the T-6A.  Since my expectation was that this airplane would likely end up being something I’d only fly once in a while and probably end up selling to those who have more appreciation for “war birds” I decided to make sure I added most or all of the scale details (something I might normally skimp on) and try not to spend an inordinate amount of money assembling all the pieces and parts I would need.

With that in mind I installed the pitot tubes on the wings, the anti-static rods on the elevator  and even took the time to make a color change on one of pilot busts so that they wouldn’t look quite so much like twins!  I also took some extra time to apply the decals and even did some “base layer” covering work under the star and bar logos to help cover up the color change underneath and not allow it to show through.  I also opted to install the mechanical retracts where I would normally have spent the $300+ to purchase electrics.  The mechanicals are going to cost me more like $50 to install, mostly the cost of a retract servo.

The first pleasant surprise was how well the retracts worked with nice direct routing of the linkages.  Ok, so I’m not a big fan of the plastic inserts for the wheel wells, but with some care they at least are a decent color and fit.  Again, I’m not a big fan of a once piece wing but the upside is the  simple retract linkage geometry and the need for only 1 servo to service both mains.

Once I got it all assembled I was back to the overall look.  I love the lines of the Texan II, the PC-9, and similar aircraft and this one has a great color scheme… but I wasn’t getting my hopes up on flying characteristics so with little fanfare I took it out to the field and with only a couple of friends present I flew it for the first time.  All I can say is wow!  This thing is certainly a warbird.  It’s not light and flies much better with a little more throttle… she’s no floater… but it feels like it is on rails in the air and has enough wing to handle the weight so just by keeping a modicum of speed on the bird, she flies great!

Since that day I have probably put 30 more flights on the airplane and I’ve had zero issues with it.  It flies really well and with all the scale touches it looks great in the air.  I don’t recall flying it without someone commenting on how nice it looks.  I’ve switched out to a very slightly less efficient 4 blade propeller for even more appropriate scale looks on the ground and I’ve had a few of the scale details get broken during transport and assembly but otherwise it has so far been a great airplane.

I created some protective covers out of foam, cardboard and tape to protect several of the protrusions… antennas, static rods, etc… and had to create some replacements once in a while the flight characteristics have been very pleasing and I do enjoy flying it… and lets admit it… the comments and attention it gets!  I have a Styrofoam holder (cut with a foam cutter from a shipping container for frozen food) for the body and a wing bag for the one piece wing that helps keep it all safe during transport and those have cut down on the issues.

So in summary, I’d recommend the plane to anyone interested in a nice psuedo scale attractive airplane that wants to get into warbird type aircraft.  Its a nice step from sport planes into that realm and you will enjoy flying it as long as you remember what it is and fly it accordingly.  3D is not ever going to be its strong point, but sleek lines and scale aerobatics are done with ease and look really nice in this bird.  It has earned a place in the hangar at least for now.

My first attempt at a replacement for my late lamented Top Flite is the H9 20cc size P47D 

I transplanted all of my radio gear, servos etc… from the Top Flite and contemplated a number of updates/changes etc… 

Should I try to 3D print a better cockpit?  The provided instrument panel in particular looks like it could only be accurate if the instruments were updated to 2020 standards!  I decided to go ahead with the supplied until I decided how much I liked this particular model. 

I also contemplated and decided to put my retracts in the wing and even ordered a retractable tail gear.  When that didn’t fit I tried another and spent a fair amount of time fabricating linkage to make it work correctly.  Don’t believe the Horizon web site…  The nose retract they recommend simply can’t work as the tailwheel retract for this airplane!

I did find some plans for and 3D printed some wire guides to make wiring the bird easier and then crimped up some multi-connectors to make it hassle and error free.

After all that the bird was beautiful but heavy… compared to my Top Flite this bird was 3 lbs heavier and when I flew it I immediately found that it just didn’t track like the Top Flite and the thrust to weight ratio is anemic as well.  The extra 3 or 4 inches of wingspan just can’t compensate for the increased weight.  Now maybe my repaired power system is not operating as it was…. I don’t believe so but it is possible.  Or maybe the power system is just to small for this slightly larger WS and appreciably heavier craft.  Again, perhaps but there is no way the recommended Power 60 would be better.  I love the power 60.  It’s an underrated and amazing motor, but it isn’t going to outperform the Hacker A60. 

I flew one flight on the airplane and was so disappointed I took the airplane home and stripped my radio gear, retracts, etc… aside from the servos and wire guides… out so I could put it up for sale immediately.  Eventually a friend of mine purchased the plane and he and I are installing a DLE-20 he has.  Maybe with that power plant it will find a new lease on life.

For me, I have my eye on an airplane that is similar in size and weight to the Top Flite…  Hopefully my third P47 will be a charm!  For me, the H9 is to heavy for its size to fly the way I like.  I suspect that many warbird guys would love this plane, but anything I fly needs to fly well first.  Looks, scale detail, etc… all have to take a backseat and this was not my impression of the H9.

This is part 3 on my journey of converting this aircraft to Electric power.  To see the previous post on the topic, click here.  

As I have mentioned previously, I had picked up a nice Hacker motor from a flying club member and it seemed like it might work out as a power plant for this aircraft.  I needed to get that mounted and also figure out what sort of ESC might be appropriate as well as selecting an appropriate battery and then figure out placement and mounting for all of that.  So here was my process.

First I researched the airplane, including expected weight, wing area and ground clearance.  I also read a bit on any balance issues folks reported to see if I was likely to need nose weight or tail weight and the weight of the suggested power plants.  Armed with that I logged into ECalc and filled in the blanks with the wing area, weight and the motor type I had on hand.  I then started plugging in appropriate speed controllers, props and battery combinations to see what I was going to need to get a good power to weight ratio.  Something in the 1.2:1 or higher range seemed like a good goal for a fighter aircraft like the P47!

I like to keep the voltage high and amperage low in an RC aircraft power system.  Higher amperage is hard to accommodate as most of our common connectors are not rated for it.  If you overtax them, they get hot and waste power and eventually this causes a catastrophic failure.  For similar reasons, our LiPo batteries will fail quicker when you run demand high current rates from them, plus they cost and weigh more as you try to accomplish this with batteries that have a higher “C” rating. 

A little rant about LiPo C ratings…   Feel free to skip the next two paragraphs if you like.

In general, C ratings are useful only in that a higher C rating within a manufacturer battery line indicates the ability to supply more current without damage to the battery than the batteries with lower C ratings.  Beyond that they are deceptive at best and almost useless for comparison between manufacturers.  Feel free to disagree but I am convinced that this is the state of things at this time and don’t expect it to change anytime soon so don’t put to much faith in C ratings.

So, while my large aircraft could (according to the manufacturer C rating) run on 20C cells, typically 40C cells get pretty hot and therefore fail sooner rather than later.  The 50-60C packs simply perform better, don’t get as hot and outlast the lower C ratings… at least in the brands I most commonly run.  I don’t bother to purchase from companies who advertise 100C and better as they are pure fiction in my opinion.  A continuous draw at the advertised C rating is almost always a recipe for battery destruction in very short order and in the case of larger capacity packs is likely going to result in batteries dying from internally generated heat and wires/connectors or something similar failing anyway as the system quite literally “melts down”!  It’s a joke to say you have a 4000mah 100C pack (that equates to 400A draw) and then putting a connector on it that is rated to handle, maybe 100A for short periods before it literally “melts down”!   The cells in these packs might handle 150A draw with perfect ventilation but I doubt it.  OK, rant over.

Back to sizing the system I came to the conclusion that running an 8S system with a 16×10 prop would be a good starting point with a predicted 1.3:1 thrust ratio.  Partly this choice was based on the power I wanted and partly due to available speed controllers.  Spektrum had just released a line of Avian speed controllers and one of them was capable of 8S (which I estimated was close to the biggest packs I could likely get into the airplane) and was rated at 80A continuous with 100A peaks which was as much as I really wanted to run through the EC5 connectors anyway!  It was also far less expensive than the Castle Creations options in this same range and had Telemetry built in that I was going to want.  I can do that with Castle Creations and most other speed controllers as well, but with even more expense.  This setup also allowed me to prop up a bit for additional power if I later decided I needed to, which is always a nice option to have.  The tradeoff if I did was that a 16×10 would likely give me 7 minutes or more in the air with a 5000mah pack while a 17×10 or 18×10 would start to cut into that as they would draw more amps.

In order to take advantage of the telemetry capabilities I wanted to access from the Avian speed controller I also would have to acquire a new receiver.  I settled on a new AR6610T.  That wouldn’t be a terrible expense as I had a project that needed a simple receiver like what was currently installed in the P47 so one way or another I was going to be buying one soon anyway.

Decisions made, I placed some orders and started looking to mount the motor.   This came down to simply finding the right size spacers and then a hole for the wires to get through the firewall and some judicious trimming of the dummy engine.  

The spacer length I needed turned out to be the same as some readily available standoffs for a DLE 30, which simplified things a bit.  

Then to allow the prop to clear the cowl I added a couple washers behind the prop collet assembly.

Accommodating an already existing 6S 5000mah pack plus a 2 cell pack of equal size and rating in series (which the speed controller accommodates simply as it already has a series harness attached!) was a bit tricky as the tray exposed under that hatch was simply too shallow for this setup and I didn’t want to buy several batteries for which I would have no other use.  Here’s the original space.

So, I did some cutting and regluing to create a “ramp” that allowed for easy insertion of some of the packs I had.  I had already determined that having the batteries up against the back of the firewall was appropriate to get the balance where I wanted it and while it was a bit tricky to cut out, the existing structure, thusly relocated, works well for the new battery compartment “floor”.

I needed some 2S “booster” packs (as I think of them) to add to my 6S packs in order to run an 8S system so I started looking for something appropriate.  I ended up with some APower branded 5000mah, 60C rated packs I picked up from RCBatteriesusa based in Arizona.  I had read an article about the company recently and decided to give them a try.  They are not the cheapest place to buy packs, but not at the very high end either and offer a good warranty as well as being reputed to have top notch service.  The folks there were as good as advertised in taking care of what I wanted, including the fitting of my requested EC-5 connector even though that was not an option on the web site when I first started shopping.  At no additional cost I might add.  After unpacking, examination and a few cycles they appear to be high quality.

That about covers the power system… I think.  Next time I’ll try to run down my experiences and impressions of the first dozen or so flights.

For Part 1 of this article, click here.

It was the wee hours of the morning before I really made the firm commitment in my mind that the P47 had to make the conversion to Electric.  At the next opportunity I started the process.

First order of business was to pull all the gas accoutrements from the airplane.  First, I pulled the prop and cowl and started stripping out the gas motor mount, ignition and the supporting switch, battery etc…  I knew a guy who was looking for a  DLE-20 so I made him a deal on the engine to help finance the needed items to complete the conversion.  I had the motor but needed a speed controller and maybe some additional lipo packs.

As soon as all that was out of the way it was time to explore the “hidden hatch”.  For reasons that are beyond my comprehension, Top Flite built a hatch into the top of the P47 (and other models in this line of ARF warbirds).  They framed it out in ply, put magnets in place along with pins to hold it in place… and then put a solid balsa sheet skin over the entire nose (including the hatch) and covered it with no markings or indication that it existed.  Nor is it documented in any way in the manual!

With no guidance it became quite the task to figure out how to outline and cut the hatch free.  What I eventually settled on was to take a pair of forceps with an extremely sharp needle locked in it’s jaws and reach down into the wing saddle and force it up between the two plywood plates at each end and side of the hatch until it emerged through the covering.  By doing this repeatedly, working my way around the hatch perimeter I outlined the hatch on the covering.  Then while holding my breath, holding my head at just the right angle and sending up prayers to the modeling gods (a more fickle lot I have yet to meet) I took an Xacto knife and inserted it into one of the pin holes and slid it by feel between the plywood plates.  Working my way around the perimeter of the hatch, I managed to slice my way through the vast majority of the sheeting.  With the judicious use of my razor saw, I got the hatch loose with only one problem… I managed to cut through the pins at the aft most part of the hatch! 

Don’t worry about the wasp decal… I was planning on ordering replacement graphics anyway!

As you can see it wasn’t a perfect cut but it came out well enough!

Luckily, I had on hand an appropriate sized dowel and replacement of the pins proved to be a fairly minor task.  I would later go on to add a hatch latch on the leading edge of the hatch… or at least on the new one I had to build after I found out the hard way that those magnets just aren’t strong enough!

Next time I’ll discuss the power system choices I made and how that is working out.

To see the next post on this topic click here.

One of the first things I’m always concerned about with an RC airplane is just how easy it is to get flying once I get to the field.  I really don’t want to be fiddling with 15 bolts and nuts that require special tools to attach, nor do I want to have to crawl around on the ground to assemble the airplane, etc…  At least not if I have a choice.

With the H9 Carbon Cub I felt like it was going to just be to “fiddly” to assemble as designed from H9.  The wing attachment method with screws that would have to be put in from the bottom of the wing, up in a hole and then adding in the wing strut bolt attachments, the battery placement and mounting method which was going to have to be done reaching under the wing and into the cockpit area and then a screw inserted to hold it in place??  Did they really think I was going to do that for every flight?  I found it frustrating to do with no windows in place and the cowl off!  I certainly didn’t want to try this reaching in only through the door on the side of the cockpit.

All of this screamed out for some modifications so here is what I went with.  First, I decided that I wanted to reverse the wing mount tabs.  IE. I decided to permanently mount them in the wing and make the body end be the area where any attachment task was done.  To accomplish this I needed to remove the tabs from the body.  This was fairly quick and easy with the proper application of a ball peen hammer.  Here is one still mounted in the fuselage.

They have a shoulder on the inside of the fuselage so you need to push them into the plane body if you want to remove them.   A few raps and they pushed into the body and were easily removed.

A tiny bit of wood came off with them but not enough to cause any concern.  I then used the phenolic tab material as a pattern to make replacement pieces out of similar thickness aluminum.  Since I want them to extend a bit further into the fuselage so I can attach them on that end, each of mine are about 1/2″ longer than the originals and don’t have a tab.  I did drill the hole so I could attach them to the wing (I just intend to only do this once)!

Once all cut out and the hole drilled in each I did some sanding to round the corner and cut some slots into them so I would have a way to pull them together to keep the wings from sliding on the wing tube and opening up a gap between the wing root and the fuselage. 

Even with this mod, I didn’t want to have to reach up into the cockpit through the door and put screws in, rubber bands on or attach a tie wrap or whatever.  Between this and the need to swap out batteries I decided I wanted to have a removable top window.

This meant I needed to build some sort of frame to mount the window in and create a hatch assembly.  This sounds easy until you realize that the top of the cub is a curved surface AND the opening narrows as it goes toward the rear of the airplane!  So first step was to make some custom shaped window frames for each side.  I began by tracing the shape onto some light card stock (sometimes having a greeting card crafter across the shop comes in handy!).  I then proceeded to attach the template to some wood and then cut and sand to shape.

I then used some of my finer TLAR engineering skills (That Looks About Right) to make a rounded cutout in the bottom of these pieces in order to provide clearance around the wing tube.  After that I cut a couple of appropriate length 1/4″ square sticks to use as the front and back.  Each of these is custom of course due the aforementioned narrowing of the opening.

Once that was all completed and some careful fitting done, the frame was assembled (I laid all the pieces in the place in the top of the fuse and used CA to tack glue them together then removed them from the airplane and finished the gluing process). 

After a test fit of the full (one piece) window, I carefully marked and cut off the material for the top window.  Before attaching it, I colored the frame with a black permanent marker and then glued and clamped the window material to the frame with canopy glue.

This was allowed to dry for a few hours and then the clamps came off and I added a bit more glue around the inside edges to make sure it was not coming off anytime soon.  From there I started working on ways to mount the frame to the top of the airplane.  First I made a tab out of a couple pieces of popsicle stick and glued it to the front bottom edge of the frame at an angle so it would catch the front of the fuselage.  This prevents the front from lifting.  You can see this here.

I had to just do a bit of adding a layer of popsicle stick and then sanding a bit off to make it have a close enough fit.  More black marker to cover up the wood grain took care of hiding it.

The final stage involved another stick of wood on the back edge of the frame to add some “meat” to the frame (my original 1/4″ frame I felt was just to small) and allow for the attachment of a “handle/antenna” for easy removal of the top hatch when needed, along with a block of wood to house a magnet to hold down the trailing edge.  Adding some black pin striping around the edges to give it a truly finished look was the final step in building the top window/hatch.

After all this was said and done I decided with this easy access I could use a turnbuckle to hold the wing panels together.  Its very quick and easy to put in place and because of some fitting issues at the wing root of the port wing, I needed something to put a fair amount of pressure on to hold the wings where they belong.

Here are a couple shots showing the final product.  I feel like it came out pretty decent and I wouldn’t have been happy with the original setup.

Next time, I will discuss the bottom air vent I decide to add and a couple of other minor adaptations I made.