Yeah, MSU has a real knack for blowing it in the end.  Six years in a row, now!  What's worse is that it looked like they actually had a shot there for a while!  But then they just let it get out of hand.... grrr..

I root for OSU- when they're playing Michigan, of course.  Other than that- not so much.    Normally I'm not a huge football fan, but I still root for my dad's old alma mater (MSU).

Ah, well.  At least MSU will always have better ice cream that U of M...  The on-campus dairy store over there is simply heavenly....

Mike, I just watched that game. Being a student at The Ohio State University, I was pulling for the Spartans, but in the end the secondary just crumbled. Wisconsin looked pretty stout today against the Bucks, so maybe I've got some hope for next week for the Wolverines to bite it....

Good to hear you haven't forgotten about the goose. It sucks about the ailerons, but I don't think that will set you back too far... 

Alright, a somewhat downturn update for all y'all today.  It can be split up into three categories:

The Good:  With my ANT-25 done, I PROMISE that I won't start any other projects until the wings of my Goose are attached to the fuselage.

The Bad:  Remember that pretty aileron I just finished up with?  Well, I'm gonna have to replace it.  It was noticeably thicker than the wing, and after trying many ways to fix it (and having all of them fail), I realized I needed to start over.

Story of the project.

and finally

The Ugly:

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Michigan State lost to Michigan.  AGAIN. 

  It's a tough time to be a Spartan....

When the Goose is complete and placed onto a stand could you, or would you, run those 8 engines in reverse? You would have one awesome room fan if you did it.

Peewee

The design was based off this one here:

http://modelingmadness.com/reviews/axis/luft/bioll111.htm

The idea was for a low level night ocean camo scheme.  The undersides were black, and the "wave mirror" on the upper surfaces was meant to mimic the reflection of the moonlight on the waves.  Definitely one of the neatest designs I'VE ever seen.

Go ahead and use it!  I'll look forward to seeing your Ta 183 all gussied up in it.

And yes, I'll try not to "Focke" it up.  Very nice.   

The paint scheme was the remnant of my original build.  Check it out HERE.

As for the Ju 390, it WAS a real aircraft.  It was a stretched Ju 290 built in keeping with the German philosophy of wringing as much performace out of an airframe while keeping parts commonality high between versions.  Two were built, with the V2 rumored to have flown within 12 miles of New York City, although this claim is disputed.

In that photo, the details aren't shown that made me junk it.  The nose is too short (with no way to fix it), the fuselage has a distinct kink in it that I noticed too late, and the seams are so bad that a model I would've been happy with was impossible.  I will eventually build another one, but that's is in the far-off distant future.

Thanks for your interest in the subject! 

THAT little monstrosity was my attempt to build a Ju 390 out of the parts that were left over from my Ju 290Z.  Too late did I realize I'd made too many major mistakes, and the finished model would have looked like ka-ka anyway.  So, I "junked" it.  Pun intended.

A Ta 400, eh... maybe for another day!

And I promise, I WILL get working on my Goose again!  Soon!  There's just the flap actuator housings to make (vac) and the starboard aileron and flap, and then I can MAYBE get the wings attached to the fuselage! 

Wow, Mike. That's precious. I wonder what your bedroom walls look like...

Just joking. I'm glad to see some progress on the Goose. We're just that much closer to seeing her in all her glory. Mike I bet you're beginning to have nightmares about paint. You might as well start saving up for the 10 gallons of industrial primer it'll take

Hey!  Guess what?  I have ANOTHER UPDATE!!!

I got the one aileron all covered up with tissue paper and mounted to the wing.  After long last, this one wing has a trailing edge again!

This photo does, however, showcase one of my Goose's dirty little secrets.  Let's just say I use this type of paper for its structural integrity and NOT the pattern....

(Sigh).  Say what you will....

(Although let me tell you, the stuff works great!  ) 

Hey Wingnut, I reckon you could do a 1/144 Goose and it would fit in one of those nacelles. lol.

Great work though.

...Guy

wing_nut wrote:

The aileron reminds me of my days building RC... kinda miss gluing up the wood airframes sometimes.  And that one looks like it is about the same size as one on an RC ship.

I was thinking the same thing!  Looks like you've got yourself one heck of a project on your hands.  The Goose is gonna be a head turner for sure!

Ah back to the goose... all is right in the world and balance has been brought back to the universe.

The aileron reminds me of my days building RC... kinda miss gluing up the wood airframes sometimes.  And that one looks like it is about the same size as one on an RC ship.

Okay, another small update for everybody.  I've began work on one aileron:

It's the same story as the rudder and elevators- thin basswood to hold the pattern, thicker balsa to form the leading edge, and balsa strips to represent the ribs.  This will all be coated in glue-laden tissue paper later, and then attached to the model.

I also have one of the flaps attached; I just need to fair it into the wing a bit better on the bottom.  Then I need to carve a master for the actuator housings underneith, and vac-form me about eight of them. 

Sigh...

I realized why it's taking me so long to get this thing finished.  Every time I end up fixing one of the kit's deficiencies, I find two or three more things that need fixing!!

My latest "discovery"?  The flap housings.  You know, those huge things that stick out of the bottom of the wing by the flaps?  Yeah.  I was GOING to work around them when I add the flaps, but once I tried, I made a sad realization- it would be eaiser just to take 'em off and make new ones.

So I did.

I'll probably have to carve a new master out of balsa (not hard), vacuform it with my nifty little vac-table, and then cast a bunch of copies in resin.

A pain in the butt?  Oh yes.  

But with this kit, what else is new?  

---

Just for reference, here's all the stuff I've replaced on this kit:

-Elevators

-Rudder

-Flight deck roof

-Ailerons

-Flaps

-Nacelle mounts

-Hull edges

-Flap acutator housings 

Notice two things- first, these are not things I added- these are things I replaced.  Cut out, sanded down, scratchbuilt, and faired back into the whole.  Second, these are not small details.  These are major, intrigal parts of the airframe as a whole.  I haven't even gotten to adding details yet!

Oh, boy....    I need a nap...

It was a (VERY) limited run cottage vacuform by Heavykits.  He only made 25 of them, which he sold (rather quickly) on Ebay.  The only other guy I know who has one is bwr1 on this site, and he's in the middle of a few other REALLY large projects, so he's nowhere near starting it (I think).

Heavykits has recently sold the molds on Ebay, and I have no idea is the buyer plans to use them to make more.

As for plans, a few only came out very recently.  People were trying to charge royalties on them and all that...  in any case, here's all I can give you in the way of those:

http://www.seawings.co.uk/sprucegooseplangal.htm

I guarentee these are all the plans you are going to find, short of contacting the Evergreen Aviation Museum itself. 

Awesome Mike, Simply awesome. Cant wait to see this one wired up. Remember to tether the beast when you 1st fire up the motors cos that thing is going to try to get airborne. Itl also blow everything in your workshop all over the place. lol.

...Guy

Lucien Harpress wrote:

The large nacelle is from the Goose.  The smaller nacelle is a BWM 801, a standard German 18 cylinder radial and the one used on the Fw 190.  The airplane is another of my "in-progress" builds, a Bf 109, something I'm sure EVERYONE has.  Now, the 109 was not a large aircraft by any means.  But compare it to the Goose nacelle, and that should tell you something. Thanks for looking!

Are you trying to say that the Goose model is LARGE?????????????  ROFLMAO

Darwin, O.F.  [aien] 

Now THATS an incredible model!  You're really going to have something to be proud of there!

Absolutely outstanding!  Mike, glad to see someone is keeping the putty manufacturers in business, especially in this age of shake-n-bake kits! 

Keep the progress posts coming, a lot of people are watching you on this one!

I haven't tried it, yet.  Next time I order some putty from Squadron (really, REALLY soon!) I'll add some clear plastic to the order so I actually have something to VAC-FORM with!

I'll let you know as SOON as I get something! 

Here I go again, dredging this thread up from obscurity to add a few more tidbits of my eternal struggle to build this monster of a kit and get it looking at LEAST half-way decent.

Today our focus is on the motors.  The original Goose used eight Pratt and Whitney R-4360s, a 28 cylinder 4300 horsepower engine.  It was the largest production piston engine ever built, and was used in many large post-war aircraft, like the B-36.  Despite this enormous amount of power, however, the Goose was still underpowered.  Howard Hughes actually designed it around the much larger, 36 cylinder 7500 hp Lycoming R-7755, which unfortuantely never reached the stage of mass production.

As for MY rendition of these engines, I went a bit smaller (but still pretty big)- take a look.

(Astute observers will notice I only have seven engine nacelles completed.  This is because I managed to break off one of the leads on my last electric motor, rendering it useless.  I'll have to order more before I go on.)

Now, these might not seem that big.  But compare them to two other pieces of equipment:

The large nacelle is from the Goose.  The smaller nacelle is a BWM 801, a standard German 18 cylinder radial and the one used on the Fw 190.  The airplane is another of my "in-progress" builds, a Bf 109, something I'm sure EVERYONE has.  Now, the 109 was not a large aircraft by any means.  But compare it to the Goose nacelle, and that should tell you something.

That's it for now.  Next up should be some work on the ailerons (my first attempt was a bust), hopefully rather soon.

Thanks for looking! 

You are certainly making great progress on the Goose.  Keep the updates coming.

Darwin, O.F. 

Now I am getting really excited to see the finished a/c, Mike!  I have followed your progress from day one, and I applaud you and your modeling skills! This build is a winner in anyone's book!  If you decide to enter it in contests, it'll be a Blue Ribbon winner for sure! Keep the updates coming and thanks (once again) for sharing with us mere mortal builders! 

Brian 

A multi-part update, with photos this time!

Apart from various other projects, I HAVE been working on my Goose, also.  Here's what I got to bring y'all up to speed:

This monstrosity is the finished battery box.  The battery will slip in vertically, and connect to a terminal at the top (which I still need to add) and the bottom.  I learned that the only way to get the battery OUT once it's dead is to use needle nosed pliers.  Oh, well.

One aileron and flap are gone.  As you can see, I still need to clean up the flap actuator housings (those spiky things on the underside) with a dremel or something.

My next update actually makes me feel rather good.  For a long time the curved edges of the planing hull has ticked me off.   These should be rather angular.  I debated just leaving them alone, but finally got the motivation to fix this.  It was a rather simple fix involving some small angle stock and, yes, LOTS of putty.

Here's the before:

(Notice rounded bottom edges)

And now:

I still have a bit of work to do (UNDERSTATEMENT!!!!), but you get the idea.

.. 

Hey! Progress!  Woo hoo!  The nex hurdle for me is cleaning up the wing joints.  I'm going to wait to get some epoxy putty so I can resculpt the wingtips.  The bottom wing is about a quarter inch longer than the top, and it leaves a shelf at the tips (---I__).  Bad drawing, I know.  Either way, it'll require some major work.

But hey- at least I'm doing something, right?  Stay tuned for more!