I happened to come across this one day and thought it might be kind of fun to do to my F4F. The motorized part, that is.
http://koti.mbnet.fi/~jjuvonen/planes/f4f-4.html
How would I do this? I have thought about using an AM resin engine, but if I’m going to put a little motor in there, should I just use the kit engine? I have never done the motor thing before, so this will be a learning experience; but I’d love to try.[:)]
I don’t know if this would go in the Techniques or Aircraft section. I figured that since it was aircraft technique, I’d try posting here first.
www.sciplus.com Menu is on the left.
It’s not that tricky. As others have suggested, little electric motors are pretty easy to come by. Radio Shack used to stock them, but I don’t know if that’s still the case. You can get the battery holder, switches, and all the other stuff you need there, too.
Another option you might try before converting a kit would be to check out one of Tamiya’s motorized kits. Since everything comes in the box (the model, the motor, a base, all the wiring, etc.) it’d be an easy, one-stop-shopping way to try it out before putting together a system for the Wildcat on your own.
Hope this helps!
Matt Usher @ FSM
Do you have to do something to keep it from vibrating? It seems like it might start jumping around.
many thanks for the links, i have a 1/48 b-17g that is just screaming for a fully operational makeover.
joe
Download the article “Motorizing a Mediterranean Spitfire” by Paul Boyer in FineScale Modeler, January 2003 for free from this site. To your point, putty holds that motor in place. I echo previous post about starting off by looking at a Tamiya prop-action motorized kit. The engine mounts are molded so the motor just slides in – no glue or putty is required and it’s centered; I can’t over-emphasize how much this helps. No soldering required.
You may wonder if a tiny pager motor as described in above 1:72 model can drive 1:48. The Tamiya 1:48 prop-action FW-190 uses a 6mm diameter pager style motor and it works fine. Earlier prop-action models (e.g., F4U and A1H) use a 20mm diameter motor which IMO is over-kill for speed-torque but they have the integrated touch-prop switch mechanism which is another story. Using a smaller motor gives you more flexibility to mount the motor closer to the propeller to demote the dreaded shaft wobble. Carefully read what above author did to connect the motor to the propeller.
Many first time motorizers are bemused by the unrealistically high RPMs of typical surplus-hobby motors. Even Tamiya apparently figured this out since later kits I’ve seen come with a diode which essentially cuts in half the voltage from the single 1.5V AA battery. Alternatively, in the book “Building and Displaying Scale Model Aircraft,” same author describes motorizing a twin-engine 1:72 A26 and installed a variable resistor to adjust speed. Then there’s Tamiya’s 1:32 Zero kit where the motor slowly spins up synchronized to engine sounds, but you gotta walk before you run!
One thing I don’t like about the Tamiya motorized kits is they suggest just dangling the wires from the fuselage to the supplied plastic base which houses the battery. OK, to be fair, their P47 encloses a removable AA battery in the fuselage and I concede it’s cool how it rolls around untethered albeit with the motor at 4500 RPM. If you search this forum over the last couple years you’ll find threads on techniques such as disguising the motor wires as brake lines and through the wheels. Others describe putting a battery in the plane itself. The A26 does the former, the Spitfire does the latter. Pros and cons to each method.