The construction is in progress . I have already completed the remote turnout control and the live-frog arrangement in most turnouts.
I do not permanently hold the cables as there are more arrangements to be done. Have in mind that the whole diorama has to be easily split in half . So all tracks and electrics are supposed to be separated easily for transportation.
Here you may see the situation below the layout. Much electrics , electronics and complete mess . All wires have to be numbered or tagged . I must also secure them below the layout .
The front turnout control board is surely not permanent . I just made it in order to have a good test board (made of paper cardboard ) for the turnout pressure switches .
A neat view of a single servo that controls the position of a turnout . I later glue beside a pressure switch in order to provide power to the frog of the turnout.
What the plan is ? I first want to be sure that the tracks are working properly in every aspect , no dead lines , no derailments . Then I will be ablee to start ballasting ! Can't wait for that !
I prime painted the whole track surface. The paper board shown in the picture are for space arrangement regarding the station area on the right.
This is a photo of the bottom of the layout . The switching function is arranged with rc modelling servos . The tamper switch is located there in order to make the switvh frog "live" .
Here you may see the small metal plugs that give "juice"-power to the frog depending on the switch location .
Another view of the the whole diorama. There is lots of arrangement to be done , lots of test runs in order to be sure that the shunting service will be done correctly with no derailments or dissengangements .
It consists of a series of items that cover the matter of switch management.
The main item that supports the system is the Octopus III . This tool can manage eight switches throught their connected servos .
The management of the servos is done throught the faschia controllers. They are actually pressure switches with let lights that can provide a feedback of the track switch position (open-close)
In order to be able to arrange the position of the servos , their speed and their endpoints (Epa , as they are called in rc modelling) , the remote alligner is needed . Do not hesitate to order one together with the Octopus III !! Very useful !
The Final addition I wanted was the digital addon of the Octopus III . This changes the whole system and provides the ability of DCC control . What I trully liked was the ability that it provides to use not only the dcc controller but also the fashia controllers . Using one does not interfere with the other. Very useful , handy and clever .
All of the above items were bought by Tam Valley Depot . The people there are very professionals , fast reactions , fast shipment and very good packing . I tested all items and they work properly . The items come with very good colored instructions .
The Idea
I was reading here and there that a shelf layout with shunting services would have so much interest as a normal layout . So I started making some plans . The first thing to do was some massive re-arrangement of my workplace in order to accomodate the extra shelf . I put it on the wall a little high in order to have some room below to make an N scale shelf layout in the future... So mane ideas so little time to construct... .
The Construction
I used some wood blocks for the main structure and 4mm plywood for the flat area. I improvised and built the front areas of administrative buildings with a little of 30s arcitect style. A flakpanzer is there to provide some scale idea .
Another view of the same area . You may see here the basic track design . I have already put cock below the tracks .
A more close view
Here , I have prime painted the surface (except the tracks of course) using can spray paint . I used a coat of light grey and another coat of black paint . No need for ballastick maybe???? No......
Last year I purchased a Fi-156 Storch by BMI . I would like here to make a review of my idea about the model.
Here are some information from the website
Hersteller: VMAR/BMI
Spannweite: 1943mm
Länge: 1250mm
Abfluggewicht: 1600gramm
Motor: Pichler Motor BOOST 40 [C2983]
Propeller:Aeronaut 13x8 [7234/57]
Ausstattung: Landeklappen
After opening the massive box , I found the rather big hull and the split wings . Have a look here to see the basic fitting test I did . You may also see the massive wingspan . I assumed that I needed a bigger workshop ....
The fitting is done and I headed on to the more technical construction . Have in mind that the model needs
-1 servo (mini) for rudder
-1 servo (mini) for elevator
-2 servos for the ailerons
-2 servos for the flaps
The wings are held together with two aluminum tubes (very lightweight ) . Each time I have to install the wings , I need to install the tubes and and to adjust all servo cables in the hull . The whole arrangement needs lots of time . Double it as I have to do the same for assembling and dissassembling the model for transport.
After construction , I had some basic issues
1. The wheel structure is very flimsy
2. wings are very flimsy
3. Aileron hinges are awful giving a scale look but a very bad movement effect . Also they need securing with glue and screws.
4. The company did not provide any info regarding the battery that should be used. Only about the balancing point .
At the field #1
The test started very bad . I went to the field and started fitting all parts . When everything was ready I put the battery and .. boom .. !! The rudder servo burnt !
I changed it and we were ready for the first power test . My friend held it vertical and I pressed the throttle . I momently heard a crack noise and then silence . The motor/motor mount system flew many meters above our heads and we run here and there for safety ... .
The result was that the cowl was ripped of by the flying motor . The motor had a bent shaft after the hard landing and the whole model was in compolete mess without being flown .
At the bench #2
I installed a harder ply 4mm firewall and a alloy motor mount (instead of the wooden factory one) . I also removed the bent shaft and installed a straight one from stainless steel . Some minor changes at the wing fitting made the whole arrangement a little easier. Then I was trully happy and sure about the constrution... yes .. of course... !
At the field #2
The second try was a little more successful. I launched it and had a 10 minute flight time. I saw that it tended to tip stall so I had to turn it with the rudder. Each time I tried to turn with aileron/elevator it stalled. And it stalled badly ! After a low pass I felt that I had no power. What happened? The esc was burnt ! I made a mistake and trieed to tunt it while losing height in order to gain speed. But is tip stalled and feell of the sky . It broke in the nose and the center of the hull . Some pieces of the wings also broke but the overall view was of a model that could be repaired.
At the bench #3
I first wanted to identify why the model tip stalled so badly . The philosophy of the model is that it should have very low flying speed , so why to tip stall that way?
My test result saw me (after some investigation ) that I trully had to reduce the flying weight . As I did not know what battery I should use , I used a 5000mah lipo which is nearly as a brick ! I thought that a model of this wingspan could easily handle it . But philosoply (also) of the Fi156 is also of a ultralight plane ... . I re-balanced it using a 2200 11.1v lipo . I also removed soem other smaller parts and I was sure that it lost some weight (more than 300gr) .
At the field #3
One again at the field... I wanted to test the result of the height reduction . After take of , I tried to make some flight test of how iit handles and turns. The tendancy to stall was still there but not that much . Also I saw that it tended to be uncontrollable if I throttled it deeply . Also it was not a vstol plane as I had to land with lots of speed as it tended to stall .
So I went back to the bench ...........
At the bench #4
During my summer holidays I had some time to make an allover reconstruction . My main goal was to save some weight (in order to reduce wing load) and to make my life easier by making a better wing arrangement.
Here are some photos I used for refference. The "storch" nickname came due to the unique way the landing gear was hanging during flying . When the plane was on the ground , it had the landing gear spread wide. This is something that the factory model does not have . The landing gear is has some kind of suspension but it holds the whole structrure ffirmly in tight angle. This is trully bad , technically , as the model had a tendancy to be unstable during taxing, takoff and landing . I replaced the landing gear with my own structure . It kept its suspension but I achieved a wide angle similar to the photo above.
Here is the model during the summertime restoration and weight reduction plan. I replaced all the internal wooden parts that were broken due to the past faults and hard landings. Then I coated it with grey primer paint and I ironed some olive drab monokote .
The true problem here came as I could not find any similar monokote color to this parrticular green that BMI used . So , I used the olive drab and then painted it with grey primer. After the primer I was able to paint itt with two different coats of green similar to the splinter colors of the rest of the model.
All lines that represent the doors and other panels were made with silver fine marker.
here I installed the new landing gear . All parts are compleetely made of stainless steel as I needed extra suspension and strenght.
The initial battery hatch was in the lower part of the model below the pilot. I closed it firmly and replaced it once and for all with a hatch above. All of the front structure is removable .
Now the access is rather easy and the preparation time is trully limited. I think that BMI should have done it that way . It is also safer for the modeller as you do not need to flip the model with the battery power on.
A closer photo of the landing gear
In this part of the construction you may see the primer coated wooden parts . You may also see the epoxy hatch I scratch made in order to have easy access to the battery compartment .
Here are some mode photos I used for refference.
overall
Overall , until now I am not happy with the model . It is trully beautiful but hard to fly and strange . The whole construction is rather complicated and very flimsy . Cannot be flown in windy conditions and there is no chance to fly it as a Vstol plane . It needs lots of runway to land and plenty of speed . No tight turns are allowd as it tends to stol and cannot recover nearly at all . The flaps may effect it positively at 20% but it is trully unforgiving . A small mistake and it may hit the ground like any other warbird . Do not underestimate it as it is a high wing construction .
"JU-52 by Hobbyking" and a complete mod log of my attempts to be flyable
The Ju-52 was purhased by Hobbyking nearly 2.5 years ago. The packing was really good and leaves a feeling that you may have purchased a fine model . Not really...
It comes with one middle brushless motor which is rather high powered and capable to fly the model easily . It was also easy to balance the model using a 1300mah lipo battery . The other opion was to use a 1600mah lipo but I wanted to conserve some weight... I was true... .
The model comes already colored with the lufthansa colorscheme but my plan was to repaint it to a Luftwaffe camo . First I wanted to be sure that it is capable to fly and then to start painting .
Here is the photo from the hobbyking website. The side motors and propellers are dummies . The propellers can spin freelly . One good thing I saw was that the wheel system is trully robust and stiff . On the other hand, it doeas not have any kind of "suspension" but who cares for a model of 1 kg how hard it might touch the tarmac? The tail wheel is rotating together with the rudder which is very helpful even for such a small model .
First Flight
My instructor just said that the model is really insane ! Let me explain. I tried three or four times to fly it straight . No way to do so. It constantly tried to flip over . In detail it was tip stalling . It was awful to have such a nice plane in the air and not be able to fly it nicely. So I gave it to my old instructor with much experience who replied the the model is INSANE ! Trully bad. the only solytion he gave is that I could try to turn using some rudder and trying to keep it level using the ailerons. This was a little better but not something even ok !
Back to the bench
I came back on the bench for some changes . I made a more secure battery mount system , removed some weight and certfied then that the best solution is to use the 1300mah battery . Less weight means less wing load and less wing load means less likely to tip stall . I also did some aerodynamic changes . One was to remove 1 cm from each tip of each aileron . the other was to make a change on the servo horns that move the ailerons in order to have less travel when moving down and more travel when moving up . This was not a big change but made me feel that when turning it could provide less drag in the inner wing. A final change was to add some wash near the tips . I put some weight on the wings (roots and tips ) and I used a hot air gun to put some heat on the foam . Be careful , minur heat is needed to do that and in case you insist more than some seconds the result will be total wrapping of the wing !
Back to the field...
I was trully curious what the result would be . I tried it some times and the result...
the same !
Be sure that I tried with many different balancing solutions with no significant change . Maybe a more front balance could be more right but then it could not fly straight!
Back to the bench
I wanted to remove the self spinning effect that accurs due to the single motorr installation and of the massive middle propeller . I have already tried to remove this effect by cutting of the edges of the propeller with no result . Also I tried smaller propellers but there was no thrust ... . My idea was to try to convert it to a three motor. I made some tests and saw that a two motor (side ones) would be more effective as there would be more than enough power and less weight . So I did it .
I removed the dummy motor mounts and the dummy propellers . I found out that the whole model is already designed for such an installation . There are inner motor mount fitting locations and (the most important) inner tubes in the wings for the wires . Afer about an hour , it was ready . I made a bench test and saw that the power was very good !
After all that shit , I re-balanced it and then I ...
painted it
This was a true silly idea as I did not know if the result would be flyable. Anyway I used acrylic paints to paint it with my airbrush . Not really funny as a work as I do not like to use these paints. But they are the only solution as they to not attack on the foam . As the result was likeely to be a disaster I did not try mo do any detailing . I only did my effort and installed a tail gunner installation . The Lufthansa one did not have such things .
Overall , the weight was the same .
I was counting on some benefits here regarding the two motor conversion :
-no self spinning effect from the single big propeller.
-more wing air flow from the side motors
-less useless drag from the side motors that we dummies before the converion.
-the luftwaffe camo made me feel nicer !!!!
Back to the field
Here are the last photos of the model. The first one is togeether the my beloved Fw-190 . Behind them , is the tarmac. You may see how narrrow it is .
Nice view here . Excuse mee for not painting teh Balkenkreutz but I had a feeling that it would be useless....
Here is another one . Lets suppose that it is in the Malemee Airfield just after the battle of Krete .
The end :
Some throttle and the model starrted to run. Some more stable thrust and the model took some height (1m) . With a blinkof the eyes , the Ju-52 left tip stalled and hit thee ground . Many parts were cut off , broken .
I took my razor knife removed all interesting parts and put the hull and wings in the bin.
I was finally free !!!
Do not buy it even if it is beautiful ! Better find some plans that have a positive feedback(that have good characteristics ) and build a bigger one by your own ! Much better ,be sure.
There is a view of the left hill . I made a base for the castel and then fit tested it many times . After that , I was bale to start building the road with blue foam chips.
I then used the faller putty to cover all the area . When dried (it has a curing time of 10-15 minutes) I was able to spray the first color layer.
Another view a little more far.
A more overall view ! The 1/33 of the layout is trully colorful and the rest is .. grayscale... .
I , here , have no clue what to build in the front left corner and on the far right corner. Maybe two farmhouses could be nice .
Some flocking here but the result is trully not satisfying
More flocking and I tried to make a simple fence .
Another view of the fence
Here I put some sand arround that divides the whole area in segments and make the layout more live! If there is a path around then there might be some people around too!
The main switch house is permanently glued in place . First I washed the building with paint oils. Before permanently positioning it , I put an aluminum tube inside . I can aferwards use it in order to pass through a houselight .
The next step was to wash the rocks with oil paints . Various mixes of grey , brown , black for the darked areas and light grey and white for the highlights provide a nice finish .
Here I put some grass on the hill . The rocks now seem better and the overall area is now more colorful !
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