My weekend so far: FIAT G.50

Last weekend I didn't get as much done as I had hoped because of Valentine's Day and stuff. Anyway, here's the belated progress report. I think I stand a reasonable chance of completing the model in 4 weekends.





Funny thing is, one of the reasons I picked the FIAT is the windshield - I usually make built-up canopies, which I don't particularly enjoy doing, so I thought just having a windshield, as opposed to a full-fledged canopy would bring the workload down to a minimum. Alas, the windshield is so tiny I utterly failed to build it up, and I'm faced with molding it. I already made a mold, but it seems I just created more tedious work for myself, rather than saving it.

OK, so the FIAT is finished, well, sort of, I still want to do a fake radial engine and a pilot at some point.
It actually took me 5 weekends to finish, but in the last three progress was slow due to house guests, family visits and rubbish weather preventing me from painting outside.

Regardless, it came out not too bad, I had fun building it, and the AUW is good at 237g (some 8oz). One thing I'm not happy about is I realised the windshield is slightly off-centre. Not so much that it would be very noticeable, but enough to annoy a Polish guy. Guess I only have myself to be annoyed at.

I made an improvised fuel tank out of a 35mm film case, an old credit card and a syringe. And lots of epoxy. We'll see how it turns out, but I was able to confirm it's airtight.

Looks Nice Dirk, i think the windshield came out good .. What controls are you using i can't tell from the pics? Controls installed at 8oz.s

getback wrote:Looks Nice Dirk, i think the windshield came out good .. What controls are you using i can't tell from the pics? Controls installed at 8oz.s

Just bank'n'yank

I don't know if this right scale,1/12 about 4 1/2" diameter, but it's pretty cool and might fit the bill.  

Really nice build.  At 8 ounces it ought to fly nicely too.  Just keep the speed up, warbirds are notorious for snapping on short final.

http://www.wmbros.com/uploads/6/6/1/4/66148535/s346434502858190692_p91_i4_w2288.jpeg

http://www.wmbros.com/store/p91/GPW_Wasp_Dummy_Engine_Kit%2C_1_Each.html

Sorry, I tried to paste the image, but the tech required is above my pay grade.

Thanks.
The 1/12 scale would perhaps just about do it, but it's a 9-cylinder where mine is supposed to be 2x7-cylinder.
More importantly, for the price of the dummy engine + shipping I could buy about 3 actual (COX) engines.
So that will have to be a pass

Because the radial engine is only visible from the front on these - it may be better to scale a picture of one and paste it to the front of the cowling.

Hello Ian,

yes, that is exactly the plan.

ian1954 wrote:Because the radial engine is only visible from the front on these - it may be better to scale a picture of one and paste it to the front of the cowling.

You is right !!

dirk gently wrote:........
Funny thing is, one of the reasons I picked the FIAT is the windshield - I usually make built-up canopies, which I don't particularly enjoy doing, so I thought just having a windshield, as opposed to a full-fledged canopy would bring the workload down to a minimum. Alas, the windshield is so tiny I utterly failed to build it up, and I'm faced with molding it. I already made a mold, but it seems I just created more tedious work for myself, rather than saving it.

The same considerations drove me to omitting the intricate - although nice - windshield from the Lil'Roughneck..I simply continued covering the cabin area with Oracover when covering the fuselage itself...not nice, not authentic, but easy and lasting...

I have to say though, molding the windshield was far easier than I thought it would be, definitely resulted in a cleaner looking transparency, without the usual seams and occasional glue smears. Obviously, this comes at the cost of having to prepare a mold, so it's kind of a "six one way, half-a-dozen the other" situation.

Great weather yesterday:

Perfect flying Thanks for video

She flew Very Good !! You get alot of speed from the way you build just a sure start

This one doesn't really fly like a fighter, I would call what it does "parading" in the sky. The aileron response is pretty lazy, I don't think I could barrel roll  it. All in all, it's a pretty relaxing experience.
It's kind of funny how each of those planes have roughly the same size, weight, engine, yet, they each have a unique personality

Standard COX 6x3

That was a really exciting flight you did, @dirk gently, and with a classic aircraft not often modeled, but certainly with charm. Love the way you constructed it lightweight with stick and tissue type framing. The Cox .049 Sure Start pulls it with authority, well matched power to airframe.

I've thought of taking that Fiat and making a control line profile Ringmaster variant modeled after it. That model has the right proportions to have a realistically looking Ringmaster with it's origin clearly seen as the Fiat G50.