Fairchild RC II: 4 CH. RC

[davidchoate]

I am going to make this a military radial engine variant. I have made round cowlings from balsa before. Also I think it will make mounting the brushless motor easier. I am hPpy with the weigh, and only have to paint the top olive as the bottom of wings will remain white. I got some decals frofor a 500 series P-40 I think will work well with the scale.

[Bill Gaylord]

That is certainly a point with the motor mounting. I'd like to add a hair more right thrust to mine, but it would include cutting the firewall around the motor mounting area, prying it a bit to add angle, and then regluing. Building another high prop centerline subject now, where I could potentially get in there and shim the motor later on, but still not easily. The shim would have to be glued to a stick or piece of wire, worked into position, and then a thin screwdriver could be inserted to re-tighten the mounting screws.

[davidchoate]

The ailerons and controls work good. The little HURC 180 motor seems to run nicer than the $30 name brands. My cowl is adding weight, but I got a lot of sanding yet.

[davidchoate]

I still have to get the front more rounded.

[davidchoate]

Almost ready to cover

[Bill Gaylord]

The ailerons and controls work good. The little HURC 180 motor seems to run nicer than the $30 name brands. My cowl is adding weight, but I got a lot of sanding yet.

The HURC "HXT" 10gm motor is popular for a reason. They've always worked well for me. When I built my Fairchild, I actually destroyed a motor with very thin leads that were poorly strain relieved. I believe I ended up using a Park180, but done again I probably would have customized the HXT motor with a reversed shaft. I've had two Park180 motors that seemed to be a bit off in the bell tolerance, although they still work.

[davidchoate]

I am ready for a test flight. I am going to do the maiden without paint and scale details. AUW at 4 Oz. Lighter than my 3 ch version by 20g. I covered that in doped tissue. Microlite is great.

[davidchoate]

I am pretty close to done. I m having problems posting photos so you can't see it, but it looks like the full scale pic of the yellow tail and cowl one. It gained a whole ounce in the scale details. The strut/LG System is a lot. And it's somewhat functional too. My wing loading is 7.1 oz/zq. ft. The stall speed is 13mph. So the best will be around 30 to 40 mph. A little fast for me. I am gonna have a more competent pilot in the FF CLUB fly it.

[davidchoate]

I am having trouble painting the microlite. What kind of paint is Best

[Bill Gaylord]

It takes a while to get onto painting, and I have issues as I tend to not have enough patience to build a tack coat, and then an overall after the tack coat dries. It will relax like a prune, but most wrinkles shrink out after drying, and a high power hair dryer will generally remove the rest. The Rusoleum cans at WalMart and Home Depot have been some of the best. I use them, if they have a color that I can use. They seem to have a very dense pigment that rapidly covers, using a minimal amount of paint. The Model Masters enamels will tend to end up heavier, run/sag more easily, and dry more slowly. The little Cub I built recently has the Rustoleum yellow, which has worked well on a few models.

Another trick I've found that works really well, is to set the parts several feet away from a heat lamp, right after painting. This works really well for wing panels, where you can paint one side at a time. I'll set them about 4 feet under the heat lamp immediately after painting, before they really start to wrinkle. Generally by they time they dry within an hour, the wrinkles are gone.

[davidchoate]

I did not like the way the CA left stans on

[davidchoate]

I have found some adhesive products made for clar p[lastic windows and canopies. I have no problem on My larger models with CA, and if I hit it it with some kicker accelerator it keeps the fogging down. I am having to reenforce the corners espacially on the belly because the microlite, as delicate as it is, has caused some "bowing" in these areas, and so I am going to reinforce using hard balsa on the corner longeron stringers.

[davidchoate]

This thing is as ready to Fly as it's going to be. The weather has been beaut, but I have not flown it. I think I might be a bit fearful of success. Does that make any sense?

[davidchoate]

I have did a little bit of research and found the Army designation is UC-61 for the Fairchild 24. It basically means that you can use it for any purpose.

[davidchoate]

I have ordered some Oliver Drab microplate to recover and ordered new decals. I am dying to fly this. I have found good threads by Konrad on RC groups about his Fairchild conversion. Having pic posting trouble. Have to resize again.