Building
Last night we got together to work on the Jug and get this bird ready for it's maiden flight. It could fly this coming weekend. We finished hinging & gluing the ailerons in place, installing the elevator servo and pushrod and also worked out the battery placement & CG. More details on the battery placement & CG later. I even put some metallic foil covering on the bird so I could have some weathering detail when I apply the paint.

Flying
We also got time to go for a quick flight. Mark brought out his new pattern plane 1/2 Size Curare he finished last month. What a beauty...... and fast! It is amazing to see how a brushed speed 400 can get up to 80 mph! Awesome 8 point rolls, knife edges, rolls, loops.... really nice and clean. I brought my Parkzone Corsair (my applogies to the scratch build crowd) and John (another friend) brought his plane and we had a great time tearing up the sky.

Charity
Mark has built another plane that he has made for Charity. The EU1A, another Pattern plane is being auctioned off to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis (MS). If it is anything like the ship I saw fly last night, it will be a beauty to fly and a gem for anyone's hangar. It will help a worthy cause. I have seen this plane and the workmanship is top drawer.

Mike

Yes Mike get ready to throw this thing! Hahahaha, it HAS to fly, no hangar queens!

BTW, the "Mini-CurarE" has a Medusa BL inrunner on 2 cells

Mark

I began to paint the Jug. I also had a chance to weigh this bird. Current weight includes:
Plane, servos, receiver. Total weight is 1 lb. 12 oz (28 oz). I still need to add the battery, speed control, motor and prop to get a total gross flying weight. Here are a couple of pics of the p-47 in it's current state.

mike

Nice yellow, should be quite visible that way
Mark

i,ve been wanting a 48" jug for a long time. this thread and that piece of pink foam in the garage finally got to me. drew a crude set of plans from the only specs i could find,w/s and length, and eyeballed the rest.think i got the shape and porportions about right. how thick and whats the cord of your wing at the root and tip. also what how much positive incedence did you use mounting the wing to the fuse.
thanks john

Great thread!! Love all the info on cuttin foam and sucking plastic.

You are going to add a tail fairing right? To blend the tail to the fuse?

Zup, we are using 2 degrees down thrust, the wing and stab at 0. About 2 degrees (1/8") washout in the wing.
The root chord is 10.5", the middle chord is 8.75", and the tip is 5.78".

Steve, I told Mike lets get this thing in the air, then add the small details. It's coming out at about 2.5 lbs, right on target, but it's a tad heavy in the arse. I am sure a couple small pieces of foam or balsa will get added once we get it flown and the bugs worked out.
It's really looking nice, and pretty darn light for it's size. Light flies right imho. You can always add weight , but it's tough to take it out! Loading is looking to be around 16 ounces/sq.ft, and about 300 watts should fly very scale-like. I LOVE the big fan up front, a 13 x 8.5 Master Airscrew , looks the part.....

Mark

Yea Steve, your right. There are quite a few details that are yet to be completed. I have been getting an itch to fly this Jug and some of these details can wait. I want to fly it and if necessary, work out any issues.

I do plan to add the fairings as well as some cockpit details, decals, invasion stripes, the canopy, guns and other stuff. I am not a real creative person, but here is my attempt at the paint job. I know that I messed up with some over-spray, and some of the blending of the green & gray on the sides..... but it is good enough to go for now.....

Zup, that looks like my Jug back in January! Looking good! Do I see a keel between the half's?

If all goes well, tomorrow will be the maiden.

Mike

Dude, that looks SWEET in camo!

mike
yea theres a keel in there, i dont think ya could put all them pieces together without one. really strong too like a wiffle ball bat. i cut my foam the messy way with a saw and im going to make a balsa and ply wing. i plan on putting retracts in.
cant wait ta hear how yours flys.this builds quick so mine shouldnt be far behind.
zup

Good news

Yep, Here is the video:

Mikes P-47D Scratch Built RC Plane (2 min 59 sec)

The maiden flight of the P-47D took place this afternoon. Winds were variable from 5 to what seemed 20 mph. With a project that took 5 months and conditions as they were, Mark took the controls as I threw the plane. Wow, smooth flying and what a sweet sound. It was slightly nose heavy but that is fine, especially with the winds we were experiencing. Mark took the jug through some basic flight maneuvers including rolls and inverted flight. The inverted flight did show that the plane was slightly nose heavy.
It looked great in the Olive Drab Green and thank goodness for the yellow nose and tail. The flight was uneventful and big smiles were on our faces.

Apologies in advance of the video as the zoom was not working. Towards the end of the video there are a couple of closer flybys ........ Pretty sweet!

Mike

Nose heavy Mike, but yes, better nose heavy than tail heavy.
Look forward to seeing it fly in full colors! Great, smooth flyer....
Mark

Congratulations Mike and Mark,

That is one sweet jug. I have been following the build from the beginning and really liked how you used the materials and various techniques. Thanks for sharing.

Look forward to seeing the details and I am sure you are going to have many great flights with her.

Again well done ,

Mark

Just found this thread-WOW!!! Fantastic work,love the build too,very well done, I hope you have a lot of fun flying her.


What do you plan to do next Mike?