Fairey Firefly (oz15563)

About this Plan

Fairey Firefly. Radio control scale model carrier fighter. Wingspan 50 in. Scale is 1/10.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Quote: "50 in of Fleet Air Arm Fun, with our free plan! Fairey Firefly, by Graham Hughes

When I was a lad, the latest and greatest aeroplanes were the Hunter and Swift, and the Americans had just pinched the world speed record with the F100. By then the Firefly was an obsolete old crate used as a target tug. But with maturity comes nostalgia, and when the Fleet Air Arm acquired an old Australian AS Mk5 for the Historic Flight I realised that this was quite a pretty aeroplane, particularly in the Korean war colours. With a nice deep cowling to hide an engine and a large tailplane, it was a pretty good subject for a scale job. So I got some 3-view drawings and did some sums. With a commercial spinner ('Blue Max' P-40 was the right shape), it came out at 50 in span, almost 1:10 scale - just right for a 40 size engine.

The original model is over 10 years old and had been crashed and repaired many times. I'd kept the Firefly airworthy through many mishaps because it flies so well and looks really good in the air. It has a large wing considering the span and it's an easy scale model to operate. The plan is CAD drawn so there's no reason why you couldn't enlarge it if you wished.

The photos show the reconstruction as opposed to the original construction - the most difficult bit was removing the accumulated old castor which had set after 10 years in the attic! The original model had a near scale undercarriage but the plan shows a much more user-friendly system. The undercarriage is always the most difficult job in scale, but copying the full size folding legs was not on at this scale. A rethink for the repairs revealed that I could compromise with a standard 90° unit putting the wheels in the right positions down and up. So I found some Lion mechanical retracts, did some carpentry and here it is. I did attempt the doors, but one worked and the other bound up so I made do with just the trouser bits correct in the down position hoping that no one would notice these don't have inner wheel well doors when its flying! At this size the object in my opinion is to have fun and save the clever stuff for a model which can take the extra weight.

Wing Construction: The wings are built flat on the building board (the washout is in the rib sections). Butt join 1/16 sheet to make the lower wing skins from the centre of the 1/4 x 1/8 centre spar to the trailing edge. Cut out the u/c door sections and set aside for later. Separate the aileron, and install the Robart hinges, flush to the skin, and secure with 1/4 in scrap balsa. Add all the lower spars and the dihedral braces, including the alloy angle on the rear brace. Start with the aileron ribs, and sheet the frise 'nose' of the aileron. Glue on the ribs, and u/c bearers. Repeat for the opposite wing.

I find it best to install the aileron cranks and u/c mechanism before sheeting the top of the wing. When everything is working to your satisfaction, add the wheel well liners, return the wing to the board and apply the top sheet. I find it best to glue a 0.5 mm (1/64) ply stiffener, for the aileron shroud, to the sheeting before gluing to the wing as this stops it curling. Now trim off the front jig tabs and sheet the forward underside. Do the fuselage before adding the wing radiators.

Fuselage: This is basically a box with fancy bits. Note the rear frame 'warren girder' overlaps the side frames. Measure the position of the engine mount former F1 to suit your engine and mount and complete the basic box with Formers 2, 4, and 7. Offer up the wing and drill for the front dowels. Fit these and then offer up again to find the position of the wing bolt holes in the alloy angle by marking through the L shaped brackets fitted to the fuselage frame. Add the rest of the formers and the cockpit floors. I used head and shoulders pilots which, to me, are quite sufficient for this kind of model. Plank the fuselage but leave the rear underside unplanked to assist with installation of the rods or snakes for the tail controls.

I produced a mould for a fibreglass cowling which simplifies construction of the front end. This is available as an accessory from Traplet Publications and will definitely speed up the construction and take the knocks that a built up cowl won't handle..."

Fairey Firefly from R/C Scale International, January 2000.

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, thanks to RFJ.

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