Furious!!

[Chris]

Well, at long last, I've started my Hawker Fury. It's going together quite well (it should, I built a large amount of it in a 3D modeling program before I even took blade to balsa ;c) There's really not much left to do - finish the main landing gear, build the belly cover under the bottom wing, fit all the hardware (wes-tech servos, 5 cell pack, KP-00...) and finally cover it. Weight so far is about 20 grams or so. My target weight for the airframe is as little over an ounce as possible, which should give a total weight of about 2 1/4 ounces. Since my Thistle flew so well at just under 2 ounces (and balanced quite poorly - very nose heavy), I'm hoping this flies equally well with a correct CG and only slightly heavier. With 17.5 inch (top) and 15.5 inch (bottom) wings, the Fury has about 99 square inches of wing area. I used the same ribs for the top and bottom wings for simplicity, although to be true to scale, the bottom chord should be a bit less. That's about it for now...

http://www.rcmicroflight.com/upload/fury.jpg

[GHMBO]

Very nice. I love to see the scale types and this is a great type to model. I like the open and strong fuse structure. I have not learned to use the 3D in CAD yet.

[Blackhawk]

Chris

The bones are beautiful. Sometimes it is a shame to cover works of art like these. At 99 square inches, what do you figure it will weigh when ready to fly. Can you really keep it to 2+ ounces? What will you cover it with. I think at 30 inches it would be great with a 280 or GWS power system. I built a Pnut Fury 30 years ago and it still haunts me for micro RC.

Pat Daily

[Chris]

GHMBO, thanks, yea, I've always been partial to scale models. It's pretty challenging to build something to scale and keep it light enough to fly at these small sizes. The fuselage is all 1/32 inch ribs (with the exception of the one rib that the main landing struts attach to) and 1/16 sticks. I'm actually quite surprised at how strong it is, the wings are a bit flexible, but the fuselage is very stiff.

Pat, thanks as well. I've thought the same thing regarding covering it... The only problem with leaving 'em open is that they end up collecting all kinds of dust. I have a very small open model of an F-4 Phantom I built many, many years ago, and it looks like it's seem better days... much better days.

Right now, with all the hardware just stuck inside, it tops the scales at a hair under 2 ounces. I don't think a pair of wheels and some litespan will add all that much weight. I'll actually be covering the front of the fuselage with aluminized mylar to mimic the polished aluminum cowling on the real ones. The rest will be gray litespan. Assuming it flies well, I'll get some of that decal paper you recommended and add all the little details.

I'm completely confident I can keep it under 2 1/2 ounces, and fairly confident I can make 2 1/4. The model could easily be scaled up to 30 inch span, which I just may do. This small one, I'm sure, won't take too kindly to even the slightest breeze.