BP ducted fan-part 6 – finishing up

Sam Welfair designed Boulton Paul ducted fan model airplane

Hey and welcome! I’m absolutely storming along with the Boulton Paul ducted fan model build, and I’m really pleased in the way its turning out:) It’s a beefy looking model even though it is semi-scale, one of the resulting features being having a slightly slimmer body. Still looks good though 🙂

The parts of the build that bothered me quite a bit such as the canopy, the hatch cover and the wing and tail spring fastener actually turned out great. -I need’nt have worried! Check out the pictures below to see the progress so far.

Boulton Paul P111 model airplane

Nice and sunny! The model is basically together here. All sheeting on the wings is done and they are very stiff. Just the trim tabs to be added, which will be carved soft balsa hinged with thick fuse wire.

Another angle shot. Here you can see the hatch which annoyingly, is only part-hinged along it’s length. This is because the fuselage curves along that line, making it difficult to create a straight hinge line. Still, it works o.k. Front screen is yet to be cut out to allow extra airflow to the fan. I wish I’d made the intake a little more elliptical though!

Balsa and ply spring clip mounts let into fuselage. I decided in the end to carve the canopy from solid balsa and hollow it out, followed by cutting out the window openings and sanding as thin as possible. The windows frame openings are strengthened with thin ply glued on the inside.

Spring clip attached. This was cut from a length of clock spring, heated then bent to shape, then heated again and quenched in cold water to allow it to regain it’s springiness.

Intake hole through hatch. I’m hoping it works ok! The carved canopy is yet to be glued on top of the hatch in this pic.

Fuselage prior to sanding. The wing and fin tongues visible in this pic.

Another shot.

Completed model.

Trim tabs added.

That’s it. The model now needs a couple of coats of sanding sealer with the usual rubbing down then onward with covering. I’ll use lightweight tissue for the fuselage and silk for the wings and tail, although I’ve heard good things about Polyspan so maybe I’ll think of using that. After that i’ll start putting the fan together. Thanks for reading 🙂

 

Posted in Free Flight.

2 Comments

  1. Hi

    Really interesting blog. Did you get the Javahawk flying?

    You should post more on Hippockets. There’s a few threads on there mainly from me and Aussie/NZ guys re Phil Smith and Veron ducted fan models. I’ve had great success with the LA17 and Deltaceptor. Just on with the F86 … need to paint it up.

    I was given a beat up half finished Javahawk but never got round to finishing it. The construction is pretty heavyweight for my liking but I think that’s hiw P E Norman liked it with his models … heavy, fast and furious

    Goodluck with test flights

    Mike

    • Hi Mike

      Thank you for checking out my blog! Glad you found it interesting, I really appreciate it. I have started posting more stuff on Hippockets, but other than the blog and a few builds,
      I don’t have much to show at the moment and don’t want to bore people, ha-ha! I will update though when I have new stuff to post.

      Currently I’ve had limited success at the with the Javahawk so far, mainly due to not having enough time to fly and when I do it was always raining! Still I’ve thrown it hard at least 200 times
      while glide trimming it without the engine running, crashed it hard and nothing is broken! Really, really tough model. Pretty heavy too. Eventually I did fly it over a short distance with the engine running and it did look fantastic, though still needed trimming and would benefit from a more finely balanced fan. In fact I’m about to start making a new, lighter one.

      Yes, this model is very noisy and very furious, and hopefully soon very fast!! Hope to get some more test flights soon 🙂

      Incidentally, what are you know as on Hippockets? I’d like to check your stuff out.

      Thanks Mike
      Sam

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