The lesser known but almost identical FM-2 Wildcat.

"Built by the Eastern Aircraft Division of General Motors, the FM-2 Wildcat essentially is an improved version of the famous Grumman F4F-4. Recognized by its taller fin than the F4F, the FM-2 was also modified to include an improved power plant, increased ammunition capacity by reducing its armament from six .50-inch machine guns to four, and improved directional stability with a modified fin."

If you haven't done the tail group yet, it's not too late to model this instead!

The FM-2 also lacks the underwing oil coolers and the radiator intake on the top of the cowl, among other things. It saw a lot of action in major engagements in just about every theater, including the last Royal Navy aerial victories in the ETO (a pair of Wildcat VIs - the British designation - shot down 4 Bf-109Gs).

Eastern Aircraft built 5300 of the 7900 Wildcats built during the production run. Grumman ceased production of the Wildcat in early 1943 so it could devote all of its production to the F6F Wildcat. In a similar vein Eastern Aircraft also built the majority of the Avenger torpedo bombers (about 7000 of the 9800 built) for the same reason, so Grumman could knock out Hellcats.

Brian

Veni Vidi Volavi

I came I saw I flew

Slowly, but surely, I'm making progress. Today, I managed to get the forward top and both side keels laid up. Once they all dry, I'll give them a quick cleanup with the sanding block and we'll be ready to proceed with assembling the fuselage once my wood order arrives and I cut the formers.

rocketsled666 - The FM-2 is definitely interesting but other than adding elevator control and electrifying it, I'd like to keep it true to the original design.

Tom K

I wonder how the prototype flew with pulse rudder only and moderate dihedral shown.

Supposedly, it flew very well, but required rebalancing depending on the wind. Without an elevator controlling penetration was a function of CG.

Tom K

The wood order arrived this afternoon. The wait was worth it. Wood was much better than I've found locally (Hobby Lobby). The 3/32" is a of a medium grade (7.5pound vs. 14 pound). I got started with formers F2 through F9. I started by using double-sided tape to attach 2 sheets together and then the printed formers to the sheets. In effect, I made printwood.

I started cutting the formers and then notching. So far, I've managed to get all of the formers cutout and have started notching. The first notches were for the 1/8" x1/4" laminated top, bottom and side stringers and then it was on to the 1/6"x1/8" stringers.

As shown below, I completed the 1/8"x1/4" notches in all of the formers and completed the 1/16"x 1/8" in formers F* and F9. Slow work.

Tom K

A couple of days of delicate carving and filing, formers F2-F8 are completed and have been dry fitted. So far all looks pretty good. Tonight I may get a little time and chance to glue the port side together. Tomorrow I'll see if I can get some 1/16"x1/8" stringers stripped from some moderately hard balsa I have in my stash. With them, I can put in the stringer for the upper half of the fuselage and the bottom 2 or 3. I need to keep the middle rows open to assemble the wing plug-ins.

Tom K

Its been a couple days since the last update and there has been a little progress to report.

Over the last couple of days, I've managed to partially complete the port side shell. I stopped at this point because I still have to figure out how to mount the servos, receiver and the drive battery. At present, I think the motor and ESC will be mounted in the cowl. The drive battery location will probably be determined by the need to balance the ship. At this point, I don't have a good plan for any of this.

So far the only material change has been to replace the 1/8" hard balsa called out for F1 and C5 with 1/8" Lite Ply. These will form the attachment point for the motor to the fuselage nd I'll wand more than hard balsa there.

Tom K

My opinion would be to make a box mount for the motor and ESC with the cowl attached with magnets. Make the belly pan removeable as the hatch with the rest of the equipment mounted to the underside of the wing. Battery will probably need to be somewhere around the LE.

interesting thought glewis. Not sure about " with the rest of the equipment mounted to the underside of the wing." since the wing does not pass through the fuselage.

Anyway, I manage to get the rest of the stringers I planed on putting on on (If you remember, I've deliberately left the 2 stringer that and under the wing off on each side.). This allows access to the formers where the wing carry throughs will be. I now have to You can see that they are missing on the starboard side view in the first picture below.

At this point the entire structure weighs 37 grams (1.3 ounces). I'm happy with this.

Tom K

Just looked at the plan and the spar doesn't continue through the fuselage? Humm... Built more like a rubber free flight model.
If you mount a cross grain balsa plate in the fuselage between the wing panels it will strengthen the wing/fuselage a lot with little weight penalty and give you a plate to mount everything to.

Glen
I'm open to options at this point. I haven't decided if I want the wings to be permanently attached or not.

If I go permanent, can easily add spar stubs to the wing spars. In anticipation of needing a better wing attach system, I added cross webs to formers F4 and F6. F4 is on the rear face of the main spar and a stub spar could easily be glued to the web.

I f I go removable, I was thinking of using an 1/8" carbon fiber tube in brass tubes in both the fuselage and wing roots. I was thinking of "boxing" a 5/32" brass tube into both the fuselage and wing. A simple anti-rotation pin could be used to maintain the desired incidence.

Tom K

That would work. I tend to avoid brass as it's pretty heavy. You could build a spar box across the fuselage. Extend the spar so they would touch at the middle of the fuselage. The wing panels would plug in and a screw through the box sides and spar would hold the wing panels in place.
Here's a pic of the spar in the Mosquito I'm working on. The wing panels are not removeable on this one though. The spar is balsa skinned with 1/64th ply. Much lighter than a ply spar and a lot stronger than balsa alone.

Hi Tom, Glenn. IIRC, I made a centersection(one piece wing). Reason, I could make the wing lighter than anything required for removable ind. panels. Remember: no CF back then! Just K&S alum/brass. No ply would be needed for a one piece wing.

Fuzz