Completing a Focke Wolfe Fw-190

Glider Guider · 13-02-2006

I recently acquired a part built Focke Wolfe Fw-190 that I intend to complete over the coming year, it has a wingspan of 61” and is built to the Brian Tailor plan.

The standard of building is very high and the wing has been expertly glass covered, a job that I always find difficult to achieve a good result – not to say very messy. To make it more impressive it appears to have been covered in one piece of glass cloth, the cloth having been wrapped around the leading edge, this is no mean feat given the kink in the LE. The wing has been modified from the plan by adding a friese aileron that looks a lot better than just a standard hinge.

The fuselage is about 90% complete, it needs finishing off and work done on the scale detail and cockpit that ‘make’ this type of model. I will also have to build the fin/rudder and tailplane/elevators.

The photos below will give you an idea of what I have to start with and hopefully you’ll be able to see the build quality.

I’m starting by fitting retracts, which, in over 55 years as an active aero modeller, will be my first attempt – you are never too old to learn they say, well, we’ll see.

**Bunkerbarge** · 13-02-2006

A beautifull looking model there David and one that will build into a superb 190. I look forward to seeing it progress.

**wonwinglo** · 13-02-2006

Bryan Taylor is a most respected name for plans,your Focke Wulf 190 looks to be very well made,I wonder why people get this far and then loose interest ?
You can get fit and forget retract undercarriage units now that fit neatly into the wings,just make sure that you use heavy duty servos as they can take an hammering especially on grass take off areas.
I once had a FW.190 model,it flew really well,it was the only model that I had to crash deliberately because some idiot decided to walk right in front of the landing model to launch his own,he was lucky that I did because it would certainly have hit him.
There is a picture in the gallery of her in captured R.A.F markings.

Glider Guider · 15-02-2006

The plan shows a ‘home-brew’ retract system but I opted for commercial retracts for a number of reasons

I’m not a mechanical engineer and I fear that my results would be a little ‘sloppy’
The wing had been redesigned for commercial retracts and extensive modifications would be needed to install the bearers for the home-brewed system

I bought a set of heavy duty mechanical retracts and a JR 180° retract servo on Ebay for £17.00, they are all little used and were a bargain. I wasn’t sure that the retracts would be of any use as the U/C leg on the Fw-190 only moves through 80° (see diagram) meaning that modifications to the retracts would be necessary as they moved through 90°. Luckily there was sufficient movement on the gear down grubscrew to restrict the movement to 80° and the only modifications necessary were the round a corner on the cam to clear the said grubscrew and to increase the angle off the cam from 90° to 100°. To get your brain around why you have to increase the cam angle by 10° to reduce the U/C leg movement by 10° is a mental challenge worthy of MENSA, I’ve included a couple of photos.
The U/C leg shown in the photo came with the retract and will not be use for the Fw-190, the actual leg is a very long 8 SWG affair and my first job was to solder 8 BA bolts onto it to fix the U/C well door. The plan says ‘8 BA bolts wired and soldered to U/C leg’, easy to write but not so easy to do given the small size of an 8 BA bolt head, so I opted to silver solder the bolt to the leg which will be plenty strong enough without the binding. My problem was that I don’t have three hands so I had to find a way of holding the bolt while I soldered, this was achieved by a simple tinplate jig.
Two lengths of ½" x ¼" balsa epoxied around the leg to form a ½" square section will be sanded to a round section to mimic the damper.

**wonwinglo** · 15-02-2006

David,I can see the dilemma and how you have solved the problem,if I can offer a word of advice,the FW.190 has such a long spindly undercarriage that it suffers from a lot of leverage aft,just make sure that you have some form of transverse wood bearer to take the strain of the rearward bending action otherwise the legs will rip out on the first landing,if some way you can cut slots and epoxy in some hardwood pieces that should do the job.

Phoenix · 16-02-2006

my dad has a retract set from when he did rc planes (only used once i think)

they are pneumatic i think there is a little air can you pump up with a bike pump

**Bunkerbarge** · 16-02-2006

David,

Obviuosly a lot of work involved with the installation of retracts but I think is is very much worthwhile. I have never been able to come to terms with watching an aircraft flying around with its undercarriage down when everyone knows it should be out of sight.

Your model obviously deserves the best as the quality of the build so far is of the highest quality. Well done for taking it on!

I look forward to seeing how you get on.

Glider Guider · 16-02-2006

Thanks to everyone who has taken the trouble to reply to my posts. To address a few issues.

The retract unit mounts are 6mm birch ply plates let into 3mm birch half ribs. The half ribs are joined to the full depth ply web of the main spar and the front edge of the retract unit mounts are glued to the LE, all the joints are filleted. Hopefully this should be strong enough as thought has gone into transferring the landing stresses to the greater wing – but the U/C legs are half as long again as those in a Spitfire, say, so I’ll have to practice my ‘greasers’ before I first fly it, however I’m not famous for this type of landing.

I opted for servo driven mechanical retracts to hopefully get a more scale retract time. The pneumatic retracts that I’ve seen retract in about half a second, fine for pattern ships but not very scale. It may be possible to regulate the speed but I’ve no experience with them also, call me old fashioned but I like the idea of a powerful servo pushing a roller that turns a cam.

Glider Guider · 03-03-2006

Last Sunday I travelled up to Haigh Hall, near Wigan, for the Large Model Association meet. It was an excellent show with lots of very impressive models, there were some nice ‘old timers’, a beautiful De Haviland Hornet and, most impressive, a 1/7th scale Airbus, not to mention the 1/3rd scale Hawker Hunter. Some of the models there can be seen at the LMA website at http://www.largemodelassociation.com/

While at the show I met the builder of the FW 190 namely Phil who runs a company called Fighteraces, from Phil learned that the air retracts that were purchased for this model were available and after the folding stuff changed hands I had them. Fighteraces have a good range of scale kits and parts and their website is worth a look at http://www.fighteraces.co.uk/

The retracts are of US manufacture and beautifully made, I mentioned to Phil that I didn’t like the way they moved fast in a non-scale way, his reply was to show me a control valve that incorporates a pair of needle valve allowing the legs to retract as slow as you like and even at different rates.

One leg has been fitted into the wing and it really looks the part, unfortunately I had already modified the other mount to suit the mechanical retracts so I need to un-modify it, luckily I had to reduce the bearer spacing so it will be easy to remove the spacers and redrill the original holes.

You may be interested in seeing a 40” wingspan ducted-fan model I purchased at the show. It was an own design but came out looking very like the Typhoon. It is beautifully made with Spring-Air retracts and an OS 46 VR DF engine. I fear that my reactions would be too slow now for a model like this so after completing it I will probably sell it.

**wonwinglo** · 03-03-2006

David,firstly you did well to get these new undercarriage units,I like the torque links,very neat,I still fear there is just too much leverage against the base area,no matter how strong in that immediate area the action is to rip the assembly aft,I would be inclined to extend the ply plates beyond the spar area,I know that this is probably not a viable proposition now that everything is in place,but it does worry me from my own past experiences with FW.190 undercarriages,as you say practising your landings first is a must.How heavy is this model by the way ?
She does look like a Eurofighter ! get rid of that awful finish and tidied up she will look the part,an awesome looking machine,you must be running out of hangar space now with these large models ? it just goes to show what is available if you do not have a lot of time to build yourself.
Yes the LMA really do have some lovely models and they are very productive as well,Tony Hooper the chief model examiner is a friend of mine and lives not far from me,you have probably seen his very large Avro 504K at the shows ?
Thank you for taking the time to share your expanding fleet of models.