GWS F4U foamie for 3696?

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gsjames
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GWS F4U foamie for 3696?

Post by gsjames »

Is there any reason that this airframe wouldn't be legal for use in 3696? The price is certainly right.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wt ... LXHCP3&P=7

If it's OK, I'm probably going to buy a couple and put some of those chinese made outrunners in them.
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boiler
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Post by boiler »

It looks too light and too fragile for combat. It might be a great pattern to use in building a plane. I think the proposed minimum weight for 3696 is 28 oz.
crash_out
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Post by crash_out »

I've got one(actually several GWS kits) I've been brainstorming on. The fuselages are pretty close to size, my idea was to use a coro tail group, typical combat style wing and the GWS fuselage. I planned on putting two wooden spars inside the fuse, then fiberglassing the outside. Replacing the wing would take care of a lot of the bad flight characteristics these planes have.

If you planned on using the whole airframe, I'd at minimum install full length spars and cover it with some kind of armor, probably fiberglass, kevlar, or carbon weave. You might could get away with Bi-Di tape and some kind of covering. I'd also check the incidences to fix them-almost all the GWS warbirds have some bad tip stall and trim issues...

It might be a tradoff-you can have a no-sanding required kit for 35 bucks that might not be as durable as a 65 dollar blue foam kit, but pricewise it's almost a 2 to 1 affair. And you can buy replacement wings, fuses, and tail groups from BPHobbies.
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Ed Kettler
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Post by Ed Kettler »

Short answer is they are legal for 3696, as long as you get them up to weight.

However, they are white foam and are fragile, so you need reinforce the airframe:
- consider using 1/2 ounce glass and Polycril to toughed up the airfrme and add some weight
- consider replacing the tails with coro or balsa
- some folks have sliced a slot in the wing to add a W shaped spar made of light ply to help strengthen the Corsair wing. Other planes can use 1/16" glass rods.

I am not sure how well the plane would fly at 3696 weights, so before you do a lot of work, you might want to load up the plane with the flight battery and motor, then ballast up to 28 ounces and see if it will fly OK before you spend a lot of time glassing the airframe.
Bruce B
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Post by Bruce B »

Gary, i have a couple of gws planes. they are very fragile.I cant see them holding up to the way we fly.i also have two jk aerotech planes(p-51 and zero)that are 3696 legal.they are a lot tougher, and not much more money.the gws foam will explode if you look at it wrong.just my opinion
gsjames
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Post by gsjames »

Oh well, it looked like a good idea at the time (famous last words...)
crash_out
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Post by crash_out »

I'm still going to try one...got too many laying around not to. I've got s wing from the Spitfire, I'm going to splice in another couple inches to get to 36" and make a fuse out of Dow foam...hope it works.
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