Ed Couch

No insult intended, just an observation. Your ship is beautiful and we all work at our own speed. Its what makes us all different and I hope only the best for the ships in work. Dave Platt of which you know made the statement that a scale plane is finished when you have to walk away and do something else and I have to agree there comes a time where we have to say enough and go fly the thing. Take my thoughts for what they are and continue on. ed

Ed Couch

Caroline flew this aftenoon with no noted anomalies. Power train was excellent on 10S in each nacelle. Total weight was 32 pounds with no additional weight added. Center of gravity was dead on plans call of 5.75 inches or so. Nothing special but just a good overall flying vehicle and no noted vices. With the 63 by 74 motor running a 19/10 prop she flew at about 60 percent throttle in cruise but full throttle she tore up the sky. Landing was wheels on with no tendency to drop a wing. Flight time was about 5 minutes as it was time to land and my knees were knocking. A very nice vehicle well worth you time and trouble to build and detail. As mine does not have gear at this time I cannot tell you much there. Very satisfied with all qualities of the ship. Nice addition to collection at this time. Photographer was late so no inflight photos at this time. Second flight at startup I either lost a bearing in the motor or a magnet came loose and locked the motor on runup. Glad it happened on the ground. Nothing else to report but need a bigger van or truck to carry more than one ship of that size at a time. Good luck gentlemen and enjoy. ed

Big_Bird

My Feedback: (1)

Congratulations Ed. I'll sure look forward to seeing it fly sometime.

Chad Veich

My Feedback: (60)

Nice looking "Bamboo Bomber" Ed and congrats on a successful conclusion to the project. I would like to do one myself eventually and am very fond of your chosen paint scheme. Here is a pic I snapped at Pima a couple months back.

Murphey

My Feedback: (11)

Yes, Congratulations Ed!! Glad to hear the first flight went so well! And doubly glad (pun intended) that the motor failure was on the ground and not in the air! 2nd flights are not usually the best for practicing engine failure procedures! Thanks for the info on the CG.

I did get the wing/nacelles all the control surfaces and hatches painted this weekend...Used Nelson Hobbies polyurethane...worked out very well. Took a few pictures, but a big white wing isn't very interesting!
Congrats...now there is one!
M

Ed Couch

Thank you gentlemen for the positive comments. Chad also thank you for the photo. Now I'm going to have to go back and paint the wheel hubs green to match the cowl but that is no biggy and will only take a few minutes to do. Murph glad to hear your bird got a little color on her now. The itch sure gets bigger as one comes close to the finish and last walk around prior to flight.

Pulled the motor this morning and damned if I can find anything loose or frozen. Bearings all look and feel good and once reassembled everything checks. I pried and pulled on the magnets and nothing seems wrong but something froze the motor. Unless something was just picked up and jammed the motor and I can't see any marks on the magnets or armater faces. I'll go back over everything again and see what I have. I'll set up a bench run for at least 20 minutes and see if I can duplicate problem. If not another motor will be ordered as a spare. Wish me luck.

ed

Avaiojet

Congratulations on that flight.

Inspiration to say the least.

Makes me want to start my Wing Manufacturing's kit of the Bamboo Bomber. A bit smaller at 80", foam wings and no scale retracts that size.

Good luck with your other flights.

Keep us posted.

Ed Couch

I finally found the problem with the motor. The can holding the magnest pulled away slightly from the machined front plate. It is just a tight press fit on most motors and this one slipped a little. It took a while to figure out but I finally caught it when comparing the two motors side by side. Realigned both components and run a bead of CA around the inside of the ring on the machined plate. Let it set for an hour and remounted in vehicle. Started motor up and let it run for about 20 minutes on six cells and then another 20 minutes on ten cells and it run smoothly without any type of vibrations. I will take it out to field after the Maverick playoff as I have to work flying an RC airship for the final three games. I should be able to fly the next couple of flights late next week if lucky. I will have photos then of vehicle in flight.

ed

Murphey

My Feedback: (11)

Mystery Solved! Good news Ed! Mysteries on the ground maybe OK. In the air...not so good! Looking forward to the photo's.

Hope to do some more painting tomorrow.
M

Murphey

My Feedback: (11)

Today was a good painting day...warm and no wind! The white (actually a cream) is finished. I have yet to paint the gray underside and red trip, The gray will happen next weekend. As I've mentioned earlier, I used Nelson Hobbies polyurethane paint. Excellent paint. It thins with water of course and goes on nicely. I used less than a quart. I had a run on the nacelle from last week and I was able to sand it down and repaint. I used the recommended cross linker to strengthen the paint and give it flexibility. Also, per the instructions, I only primered the fiberglass parts. So here are a few photo's.
M

paint-boy

Hey guys, I stumbled across this thread almost by accident. While reading through it I was pleased to see the mention of #12. I see there was some confusion of the current owner, location, paint, etc. (that has since been figured out) Ed is a very good friend of mine (I also live in Hector) Just to add a little bit to the story to the recent "history" of #12

Ed purchased this airplane a couple years back, the seller had removed the "stars and bars" along with the 12's as he thought it would improve the chances of a sale (this is the story Ed had told me) Luckily Ed wanted all the markings painted back on (I say lucky, because it looks so much better with them on) Attached are several pictures while we painted the markings back on. As you can see we decided to go slightly larger with the side "stars and bars" for a couple reasons: 1. Thought it looked appropriate for the size of plane. 2. It helped to cover the majority of the mis-matched yellow they sprayed to cover the old markings (we only had to fix / blend a couple small corners of the wrong yellow to look correct when finished)

Ed also upgraded / had the interior redone while it was in MN as well.

When the first MN winter arrived Ed relocated the aircraft down to Mesa at the CAF where he winters.

Like Murphy, we also went up for some flying after the painting project was completed.

Murphey

My Feedback: (11)

Thanks for sharing the photos and info...I'll add these to my T-50-59188 photo collection. I really enjoyed the chance to meet Ed and he was very gracious to give me a ride! She is really an enjoyable plane to ride in! There is still one thing I'm not sure of, and that's the significance of the #12...any idea?
M

Avaiojet

Guy's spraying without a mask.

Guy used plenty of expensive fine line paint.

I would have sprayed the white first, then masked off the white then sprayed the blue.

Results are still great!

paint-boy

"Guy" spraying (without mask) is me.....I knew someone would mention that photo! Unfortunately not an uncommon "oversight" for doing some quick little spraying like that (still not correct.....I certainly don't do complete auto paints without proper mask / protection)

Certainly correct about the fine line tape....used a fair amount on the project, which is why I stock it in bulk in the shop.

White first, blue first....really didn't make a difference. In this case we didn't want to paint the entire background white then mask off the star and paint the blue. We tried to conserve on getting too much paint build-up on the fabric. (We did do the white "bar" over the blue because it was a smaller surface. The star being larger, more prone to flexing, expansion, etc. was kept to a minimum of extra mill. build (to prevent future cracking due to above reasons) Another reason: If you do the white first, followed by the blue, you run the chance of having a thin white edge visible on the outside border of the blue.

Thanks for the compliment however.

Murphey: The 12's are "Buzz numbers" for easy identification, etc. Not sure what or if the 12 has any "historical" value to it. When Ed stops by the shop (he's a regular visitor) I'll run the question by him and see if he has anything more to add.

paint-boy

Ed stopped in this morning so I asked him if he knew the signifigance of the #12. Buzz / identification number is all he was able to give, he didn't know any history as to why the #12 though.

I also showed him the pictures / progress of your project Murphey and he thought it looked really nice.

Murphey

My Feedback: (11)

Next time you see Ed, tell him that since he let me fly his plane... I'll let him fly mine! Of course I have to finish it first !
M

rhsmrt50

.....Looks Great Murphey............Do you have pic's of the brass door hinges that we talked aboutearlier?.....

Rich.

Avaiojet

Yes, correct, in your case I know about that thin white line.

"Flex agent" did you use this?

Yes a great job!!

Kudos!

paint-boy

No flex needed in our paint products....that's older technology that was probably transitioned obsolete about 8-10 years ago (adding flex to a product). All our products: primers, adhesion promotors (sealers), base / colors, and clears all contain "flex" without the need for adding a seperate product.

Ed Couch

I took my Lady in Gray to a dance this morning and after a dance or two we let her loose. I made four beautiful flights today and still had two on the card when I had a hatch latch go bad. We managed a Texas Two Step and we flew over the floor like the wind. Boys this lady is a keeper. I put her through all the basic flight maneuvers and then some. Slow rolls, large loops and a Cuban eight or two just to see what she could do. She never missed a step. The landings were gentle either wheels on or three point, it was your choice. We danced the day away and one could not ask for more. Enjoy the shots and I pray you all have the luck I have had with my Lady in Gray. Now to go back and add the gear and I now believe it is worth while. ed

Murphey

My Feedback: (11)

Great photos Ed! And even better...how she flies! I can't wait! Mine is all painted except for the red on the nose cone and the red stripe down the side. Right now, I'm gluing in hinges...glad when that's over!

Do you happen to have a close up photo of the canopy that you could share...I'm getting close to that step as well!
Thanks for sharing those cool photos...and the write up!
M

Ed Couch

Murph

What type of shot do you need? I may have a close up but need to know exactly what is needed.

Also on the question of the clear canopy shell, where did you order yours from? I need to cut the window out of the one mounted and add a section under the present one. Mine came with the windows covered but when I pulled the tape the right main clear panel had been scratched/smudged and nothing I had would clear it so I just figured to remove the two front windscreens and replace with a cut down one from a new canopy shell. I've done this with a number of my warbirds and it looks very nice once completed.

ed

Murphey

My Feedback: (11)

Precision Cut Kits has the canopy...$35 as I recall.
I'm looking for a close up that shows any attachment detail. Did you just glue it on? Any rivets?

Again...Great photos of "The Dance"
M

zipman

My Feedback: (22)

Ed,


Absolute Great Job. Congrats on your successful build and flights. I enjoyed your flight narration and pictures. I knew this Cessna design had all the ingredients of a great flying aircraft and hope my smaller version will fly as well as yours.

Many more enjoyable flights.

T50UC78

Great job Ed! Looks great,flies great,photographs great...what more could you ask for? Well done buddy,very well done!

   Tony