Page 18 - MFW June 2024

For the Camel I am using water based Acrylic Enamel
(house paint) from PPG and Dulux. Russell used the
same system on his DH4 and gave me the thinning ratios
of water and Flotrol. I experimented with spraying but
decided that brushing was a lot easier and quicker. You
need four or five coats depending on the colour, and the
whole lot will be sealed with two coats of satin
polyurethane clear. The other reason for brushing is that
the original planes were brushed! It is a work in progress
but I am happy with the result so far. It is also very
economical with the paint, so not adding much weight. It
adheres to the fabric well and is quite flexible.

I had stencils cut for the letters and roundels, using Nexis
masking film, which has a low tack adhesive on it. It does
not stick to the fabric very well but a couple of coats first
helps. There was a fair bit of touching up afterwards,
which adds to the scale look, (that’s my story anyway!!)

Needing a rest from painting, I then fitted the receiver and
battery box, and made the control cables. All the radio
gear is in the rear of the fuse, in an effort to balance the big
lump up front. Lots of cables, two per side for the rudder,
plus separate ones for the tail skid, and of course four for
the elevator.

A quick update, almost across the finish line! This month
has been very busy with final assembly and finishing off
making a few detail parts. I had a bit of a hiccup when I first
checked the C of G, much to my surprise it was tail heavy!
which caused a bit of head scratching for a while. The
solution was to move the servos and receiver forward to
just behind the seat, and put the batteries forward of the C
of G . The big bonus is much shorter servo leads and
better access to the batteries. Also quite a good weight
saving. If anyone wants some servo leads 1.2m long I can
help!! January 2024. Phil wrote; And finally, Go we Went ! It
was quite a push to get the Camel finished, well flyable
Although it sounds like a lot of work it wasn’t too bad. We,( anyway, (they are never finished!) and fitted in the trailer,
JS and I) checked the C of G today and it is right where we but we made it. John Sutherland came up the previous
want it. (Until the test flight anyway!!!) Monday and Thursday evening to get the paperwork
completed and to setup his transmitter to my plane.
There is little more work to do tidying up the cables etc, Fortunately we use the same JR transmitters, so we just
and then the engine can be bolted in for good. copied the settings across, although we didn’t quite get
the throttle curve quite right, but fixed that, sort of, on
Today I made some press tools for the wing clear panels, Sunday
and one of the aluminium frames. Four more of the
smaller ones to do, plus another couple of small items and Sunday dawned a fine Hawkes Bay day, something that’s
it will be good to go. been a bit rare lately, so I arrived earlyish to get set up. It
doesn’t take too long to rig and was soon ready to range

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