My GWS F4U-Corsair is coming along nicely.  When I am finished, and before its maiden flight, I will post some pics here.

 

I am trying to keep it simplistic and as light as possible (remember, light is right).  I will not be flying the plane with a rudder, so I can eliminate the weight associated with a servo, pushrod, wire, and control horn.  In addition, the plane will not include the landing gear.  I did, however, add a 1/12 scale pilot bust to the cockpit... it just doesn't look right flying without a pilot.

 

I have filled in the small mold marks with Hobbico's Balsa colored filler, and it works really well.  Because of the balsa "color", it doesn't show through when painted.  It is also extremely light and dries fast.

 

The paint scheme is probably not historically accurate, but I think it is turning out really well and should have good visibility.  The main color used is dark navy blue. The wing tips and the tip of the rudder have been painted bright yellow.  Minimal use of the supplied decals has been used.  Overall, I am very happy with the way it is turning out.  By the way, I am using Plaid FolkArt Acrylic Paints from Walmart.  I thin them with a small amount of isopropyl alcohol if I need it to dry fast.  They brush and cover well, plus they're cheap!!!

 

For the power system, I have decided to go brushless and use li-poly batteries.  The motor is an AXI 2808-24 on a custom aluminum and wood mount.  The battery is a Kokam KOK2000HC. It is a high discharge (15C) 2000mAh 7.4V pack. Tying the two together is a Jeti Advance Plus 30Amp Brushless Controller.  Deans Ultra Connectors are used between the speed controller and the battery, while standard "bullet" connectors are used between the controller and motor.  I plan on using an APC 10x5 "E" prop for its maiden flight. I will post results of the maiden flight here as well.

As you can see from the column to the left, I am close to getting my plane flight-ready.  As such, my father lent me his Li-Po capable Hobbico Quick Field Charger MkII charger. The only problem is is that it requires a 12v source in order for the charger to work.  Hmmm... do I spend $50.00+ dollars on a AC to DC converter, or do I make my own?

 

I opted for the later, and decided to take on the challenge of making my own converter.  My father did the same using an old computer power supply.  A couple of articles exist on the Net about how to do this ("Setting Up a PC's Power Supply to use with your DC/DC battery charger" and "Desktop Power Supply from a PC").  I went to Comp USA and purchased a new AT Style, 250 Watt power supply for $19.99 plus tax (a local PC shop was selling used AT style power supplies for $15.00, so I thought new would be better).

 

I followed the instructions (for the most part) from the "Setting Up a PC's Power Supply to use with your DC/DC battery charger" article to modify my power supply.  When I was finished, I measured 10v at the output???  What is going on here?  I re-read the instructions and realized I hadn't quite followed them exactly.  What I needed was a load on one of the 5v lines.  Since, I had cut all of the wires back to the board, I had to go back into the power supply and solder in new leads to the 5v and ground spots on the PC board.  I then wired two 1Ohm, 10Watt wire-wound (sandbar) resistors in series and attached the leads from the power supply to the resistors.  The resistors were mounted on top of the power supply case, and sandwiched between the case and an old CPU heatsink.  Thermal paste was applied where the resistors contact metal.  Pictures of my new power supply will be posted here shortly.

 

The supply now puts out a nice, steady 12v at the outputs.  I think I spent a total of about $30.00 to build this... $21.39 for the power supply from Comp-USA, and the remaining made up of parts from Radio Shack.  It was a fun project, and I have the satisfaction of doing it myself.