acerc

If I thought it was to much I would of said different.

stevegauth30

Good point. Thanks.

stevegauth30

It feels damn good to be back to work on a damn good airplane. The shop isn't done yet, but I couldn't wait. I cut the gear down, 1 1/2 lbs. worth. I'm happy now with the weight. It looks so much bigger than it did with the gear on. Notice in the pics the wings look droopy at 0 deg dihedral. I'll put in the recommended amount as to not look droopy. Next I'll try to get the wing struts done and the tail wheel. Either way, feels good to get back to it after a month or so away.

flyingagin

Yeah I bet it does
I am trying to get to a point where I can do some plane building
I have 2 active builds that need to go back on the table and get done plus some I have cut wing rib templates for. Not to mention the inumberal planes in my head.
My build desk is covered in tools and plastic bins. Man if I could just find room to clear up the work table I could build.
We figure we will be with my mother till January or February. Made some trips up to Sonora and are looking at rentals online. What we need and what we can afford are 2 different things. Sonora puts us about an hour drive from my mother, so we can come down once a week and take care of her needs.It is at 1900 feet, so is above the smog line. I can breath there much easier than here. There is a club about equal distant from my mothers and Sonora. Real nice place to fly. They get permission to fly in the lake right behind them several times a year. For CL I will just have to bandit fly, And in fact due to an hour drive from Sonora or my mother's I will likely bandit fly RC as well most of the time.

I jst found a passable hobby shop about 30 minutes away from my mothers or Sonora. 10% glow fuel is only $18. And I used to frequent an good hobby shop in Sacramento about 90 minutes drive time from either location.

My mother lives right next to a park that is virtually empty during the weekdays. I flew CL there as a youngster. Sure tempted to throw together a decently stunt able CL and fly there again. Whats the worst that can happen? the cops say get lost?

Most of all looking forward to get our on place again. It will have been a year without our own roof. Living with my mother takes prayer and patience. It has shocked me just how strong the memories of the physical and mental abuse are and how they influence my mind. Bite my tongue a lot.. But still no matter what I know she is my mother and I have a responsibility towards her, and must show love and respect. Sometimes I just have to remind myself that her gears are slipping pretty badly so just humor her.

Ken

Dang it that is the 2nd mouse I have seen run across the floor while typing this. My mother hates cats. But a hungry cat could be her friend.

stevegauth30

That's gotta be tough Ken. I give you two a lot of credit. You been through the ringer the past year. And you still seem to be in good spirits. I hope it all works out for ya. Or I should say, I know it will. Just get the cat and tell your mom the mice are getting big, huh? Maybe she won't know lol. I can't get over how much bigger this plane is compared to any other 1/4 scale I've built. Must have been a monster of a plane in full scale.

stevegauth30

In case anyone was wondering, I got a whole lot of nothing done here. I've tried a couple of times to get into it, but wasn't feeling it. Weird. I thought I'd be dying to get back to it. So for now, I'm doing some end of season maintenance as well as finishing up a fiberglass cessna of unknown make that a friend gave me. ( like I need another) . Just a little 40 size beater. Hopefully that will get me back into it. Also, still trying to get the new shop set up.

flyingagin

I can understand that Steve
I got enough cleared to do some light work. But just haven't returned to my 2 builds. Did make a spar. Going to wrap some $tree foam board around and make cl to fly in the park next door. 25 up front. See how few hours I can put into it and the only out of pocket expense 4@ dollars of foam board and some spectra fishing line.

For today's exciting dinner
I had laid down to take a nap as my back was screaming at me. I avoid the Narcs as much as I can.
Then awoke to my wife screaming at me to come quick. Pulled my cpap mask off and went out to the kitchen.
OH SH*T WE HAD A FIRE!!!!!! Flames from the rear burner lapping up to the microwave and in front of it. Nice size fire. IS THERE SUCH A THING?!!!
So all my old training came back and I had it out in maybe 1 minute.
Smoke alarm screamed for maybe 10 minutes till I could get enough air through the house. WAS able to clean the smoke a soott off the cooktop and tile in back of the stove. Still got more cleaning to do. Still got a fan blowing through the house.
But the Microwave is toast if you will pardon the pun.


So that being all of the damage is a good thing. Praise GOD that is all of the damage.


My wife was fixing to make some of her awesome mac and cheese with ham. She had not intended to make it flambe.


I can't say anything as I have made hamburger helper flambe
And twice now I have made Ken flambe. I will tell you that one later.
And Golden Corral taste yummy and is filling. Seemed like the thing to do at that point.


Ken

Carlos G

Hey Ken,

Glad to hear the Wife & you made it through the extra excitement okay . You know you really ought tell your wife not to cook with diesel oil don't-cha know!

Just kidding, it must really add to the flavor

Hope you and yours have a happy and safe Thanks Giving

Carlos G

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

So Ken does this mean you have a kitchen fire every time you need an excuse to go out to dinner?

flyingagin

My mother left a grater with a plastic handle on the stove and my wife failed to check the stove first.
House still smells of burnt plastic this morning.

I don't think either mistake will be repeated!

Thanks Carlos and the same for every one else.

Ken

stevegauth30

The end of season maintenance and repairs are complete. Back to full fleet status. Ahhhh. Back to new construction. I started building the struts last night. I'll post pics as soon as there is something pic-worthy.

stevegauth30

Finally something to report. The struts are made and mounted and finally she's holding her wings up on her own. I still need to make up the jury struts. I finally feel like I'm back into it. I put in the recommended amount of dihedral. 1/2 inch at the wing tips as to make the wings not look droopy. This was done with a combination of a 4 way dot laser and a rotary laser. The incidence has also been set to 1 degree positive as per the plans. While it seemed to take forever to get everything set up level and such, there really wasn't much effort put into actually setting the dihedral and incidence. Everything just worked. The only change I'll make is to the aluminium mounting tabs. I don't have a lot of faith in them as they seem to bend quite easily. I'll change them out with something a bit more robust. After the holidays, I'll have more hobby funds to get more materials that I need, but for now, still plenty I can do. After the jury struts, I'll likely move on to the rudder pull pull and the elevator linkage. Once that and the tail wheel are in place I can go ahead and finish up the side stringers. One thing I forgot to mention is that I borrowed Leroys idea and biscuited the spruce strut ends and the ply filler piece. Should make for a much stronger connection.

flyingagin

Glad you are back at it Steve. Then bones are starting to look good.
Is your work shop in the basement?

I am still trying to get enough room for my desk, and set up my bench top tools plus light. I can only see to work if I have the garage door open and it is a bright day. I bought some tubes for the 4' shop light, but the fixture is junk. So need a new fixture. My clamp lights are some place in storage, Thats as close as I know.

Will lag screw two 2x4s to the back of the desk and then use lengths of 2x2s horizontally a top the 2x4's to fasten and hang lights plus store planes on.

Whenever I can find the time that is.

Ken

rsrguy3

Good to see you rolling again! I just got a BNMM fuse the other day, I have no idea when I'll get to mine though. Keep at it!

TomCrump

Nice to see that you are settling in, Steve.

The Mulligan looks good !

stevegauth30

Thanks guys. It definitely feels good to be back to work on it. Yes ken, my work shop is in the basement. I could have made it in the big shed off the garage, kor in the garage, but neither are heated. I do, however, store most of my fleet in the shed.that opens up a ton of room in the shop.

Carlos G

Hi Steve,

I noticed in your photos of the aluminum main gear the cut-outs seem to have sharp corners. FWIW, you might consider putting in rounded corners instead. The flexing of the gear will cause cracks to form at those hard corners and could make landing your ship very interesting at least once!

Hope this helps. Otherwise keep up the good work

Carlos G

stevegauth30

Thanks Carlos. That's one of them things that I once knew, but apearently forgot. Lol. While I was planning on cleaning the cut edges up, I wish I would have thought of that before cutting. I could have done things differently to avoid the sharp corners. I'll do my best to round them off. Oh, and next time, try and remind me before I cut. Lol. Just kidding. Thanks for the tip.

TomCrump

I would think that you could round the corner with a round file.

I assume that you will cover, or sheet, over the landing gear legs. Is that the plan ?

stevegauth30

Yes Tom. The gear legs will get fairings. Most likely balsa and fiberglass. Although, I have been thinking about trying a different way as cracks are forming on my speedsters gear fairings. Maybe aluminium?

TomCrump

I've had good luck with just sheeting and then glassing. I've never tried aluminum.

stevegauth30

You use .75 oz cloth? Or thicker? I used .75 on the speedster. Other planes that were done that way weren't a problem. Just the speedster. Robert covered his pitts gear legs with plastic and paint. Maybe that's an idea too. I think maybe the thickness of the speedsters legs may have something to do with it. The front edge is probably 1 1/2 inch thick and the trailing edge is 1/4. These will be only 1/4 front and back. ( if that makes any sense.)

TomCrump

My gear is usually 1/4". Most times, I use 1/2 ox cloth. The edges are usually double layered.

stevegauth30

I've used this method many times with good results. My Sig 1\4 cub is 10+ years old and they still look good. Maybe something I did ( or didn't do) on the speedster.

TomCrump

If the gear flexes, it will can cause problems. Is that a possibility ?