The GWS Tiger Moth 400 was the first plane I built. My original Moth still flies and looks great, but I’ve decided to give it another go and see if two years of building and flying experience can’t produce an even better plane.
The paint is Model Master French Blue enamel over Model Master Metallic Silver Blue enamel.
Click through the images to see more detailed text. I’ll be adding to this post as the build progresses.
Watch the maiden flight, here.
Early flights showed this bird to be pretty tail-heavy. I’m guessing it’s a result of all the paint I put on her. Rather than run 2 oz of lead in the nose, I made some extensive mods to the battery compartment, running it out through the firewall.
Planned Setup:
- GWS Tiger Moth 400
- Power-up 400 SlowFly motor
- HURC 18 Amp ESC
- GWS 9×3.8 slowfly propeller
- (4x) PowerUp 9-gram servos
- Dubro 2.25″ wheels
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- A box! So many possibilities.
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- Everything I need to build a moth.
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- Nylon hinges
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- Battery compartment carved out for larger LiPos.
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- Weird engine lump.
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- Engine lump, duplicated on the model.
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- Spackling the vertical stabilizer
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- The spackle sanded down smooth
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- Fuselage hanging on the furnace.
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- Two-tone fuselage
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- Cowling painted to match.
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- Painted fuse on wing.
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- The bottoms of the wings will be solid blue.
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- A test assembly of the mostly painted plane.
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- Test assembly (another angle)
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- Mounting slots for the double landing gear wires.
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- Both landing gear mounts in position.
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- Extra LG wire soldered to stock wire.
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- LG solder – close-up
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- Landing gear in its slots.
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- Setting on its wheels.
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- Balsa landing gear fairings
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- Fairings epoxied in place.
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- Balsa fairings in place.
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- Test mounting the finished landing gear.
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- Setting on its new landing gear.
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- The painted tail.
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- Painted tail, side
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- Near final paint
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- Shiny gold registration numbers applied.
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- Aileron servo pocket under the wing
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- Aileron servo seated in its pocket
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- The aileron servo arm peeks out.
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- EC3 for the ESC
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- EFlite Motor Mount
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- Motor mount test fit
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- Cowling over motor
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- Prop in place
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- Wooden interplane struts
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- Interplane strut mounts painted blue.
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- Attaching the horizontal tailplane
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- Internal servos mounted
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- Control surfaces mounted
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- A forgotten step = surgery
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- Scars are mostly hidden
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- Aileron setup
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- ‘Aluminum’ propeller
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- Wheel collar
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- Post-maiden portrait
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- ESC re-mounted up front
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- Battery compartment extension tray
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- A 1300 mAh 3-cell battery tries on the extension tray for size
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- The battery tray and battery in position.
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- ESC re-mounted
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- Yet another ESC mount
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- Flying wire attachment points
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- Flying wires attached under tension
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