foodstick

I picked an old one up framed and a little worse for the wear. But not that bad

I would like some opinions and ideas , and hopefully some pictures. I searched the old threads there doesn't seem to be much info out there. I was also surprised that I can't find a single video of one flying on youtube or anywhere else? I think it would be a cool plane for hauling gliders up on the top of the wing, or dropping parachutists. I hope some of you have some preferences on the trike setup or taildragger.

So what do you say guys? Is there any info and interest in a thread on the king of bulky trainers? The FAMOUS NOSEN TRAINER.

I am going converted weedeater for sure, hopefully we can get some feedback on how much motor is enough motor.

I know its a large old school beast in an era of ready to fly sticks..hopefully there is some interest in it !

bhady

A friend of mine had one years ago (earl;y '80s). It was supposed to fly with a .60, which is what he had in it (a Super Tiger blue head). He finally got it off the ground but barely. It wallowed around on the ragged edge of stalling the whole time. I don't know what he ever did with it. It was an awfully big and heavy plane to be rated for a .60.

bhady

draftman1

yeap, you picked up a vintage plane. I had the forty size trainer and the 40 size citabria. there probably isnt much info out there. that plane is over 20 yrs old and since there not made anymore. most of the new guys have never heard of Bud Nosen models. that trainer needs at least a 90 in it to fly good. you might also check the giant planes threads

foodstick

Yes its my understanding that when they were designed the glow 60 was the biggest motor commonly available. I believe most of the nosen designs were based on build light fly underpowered ! Although the light part was always easier said than done !

I am curious as to if a good 25cc weedwacker conversion would fly it or not? I am sure something in the 30cc range would be much better. Hopefully we can get a few guys to share past memories of what they have seen.

foodstick

I have found a few pictures online, I don't think any of the owners would mind having them reposted here.

foodstick

Here are a couple pictures for size reference. The trainer is sitting next to a 1/3 sopwith pup fuselage which is an enormous plane.

snuts

By the background,you were probably building back when this was still available. Although I have not had one myself, you are on the right path with the weedeater conversion.
I still have an echo grass whip that I bought 17 years ago to teach to fly. The ewngine in them were Zenoha, most likely a 23. Well now that it has probably 10 gal of fuel through it, it sure runs great.
That is the kind of project I had in mind at the time. Glider tug actually.
Please post a few pictures now and then, best of luck. Dale #9380

foodstick

I decided to cut down the nose so that my poulan motor would fit on there. Mounting the firewall back about 6.25 inches from the front of the original cowl line.
I have to strike when the irons hot as I tend to skip around a lot on projects.

foodstick

Well as you see there are some developments on project nosen trainer

I grabbed some damaged landing gear from a GP pt-17. A friend cracked the coating and didn't want them. So I glued them together. Then I cut the cross brace in half and mounted them with a gap between them so that they would be the right width for the fuse. I think they will look great ! plus if i do trash them I can buy a new set , cut them in half and mount them up ! Secondly note the large arch on top of the previous flat nose. When I moved the firewall back I decided to round the hood. And last the cowl ! I had a plastic cowl for a corsair laying around. the story how I got it defies logic !! ha ha

So I kind of float back and forth between wanting it to look stock up front, or something more monocoupe /beaver like.
My friend insists the rounded cowl route is the way to go. I am not sure how I am going to work the sides yet.

At this point I think I am going with a poulan 46cc conversion. Anyhow I hope the pics stir some interest in some other NOSEN TRAINER owners out there. I don't know if they are all crashed or just shelved...but they have got to be out there.

foodstick

I worked on the ole bird tonight. redrilled all the wing mounting holes, installed guide tubes for the bolts in the wings, new blind nuts installed. I wanted a wider pattern on the attachment points so that I can reconfigure my glider piggy back launch onto this thing.

Oh yeah you might find this funny, I was sanding the wing saddle down to get the wing square to the tail, when the heavy rubber automotive sanding block I was using slippd from my hand and knocked a huge area of the floor out of the fuselage. I stopped ,then laughed. Because I was going to cut that area out for a bombay, but I hadn't intended to do it by dropping heavy objects through the plane, I mean't to use a saw and blade for a slightly nicer finish !

khodges

My Feedback: (1)

foodstick, thanks for the PM. I'll follow your thread and add anything I've experienced with mine that might help. I told you most of it in the PM. Here are a couple more pics of mine, the most recent I have. You can see how the ailerons end before the wingtip, shows how much I added when I stretched the wing, plus the carved tips. I used a rib as pattern for the tip, cut it at the chord line and used that on the end of the last rib.

The wing looks flat, but has about 1-1/2 degrees dihedral.

planebuilder66

My Feedback: (8)

Yeah, I still have a magazine ad that shows the nosen trainer, the mustang, the citabria, the gere sport and others, I bought the 105" citabria at the wram show and I plan on building that one fairly soon, maybe with a 30cc gasser in it.

michou41a

My Feedback: (18)

Hello everyone, i did one long time ago, inspire by this old kit, i did a giant gas trainer for 40 to 60 cc gas engine, there is a building thread on it AMR Trainer50.

Your Bud Nosen look great

Nice work

Michel

foodstick

khodges , I notice your firewall is still quite aways out there. I moved mine back some to offset some nose weight. Did you have to add tail weight to balance out the long nose moment with the big gas engine? I wish I had moved the firewal back a bit more. I have actually moved the wing forward about half an inch so that will help as well.

I decide to go with a poulan 46cc I had ready to mount, its been on the test stand so it needed a ride anyhow. I am still walking around mine deciding on how to go with the cowl and cheeks of the plane.
I am also doing functional struts, its a good safety idea, and I have a slight twist in one wing that will come out once the struts are bolted up. I think a fairly new builder framed this plane up. I have found a few things I beefed up or changed, but all in all its a good solid job.
After doing some early balance tests it looks like a beefy tail wheel setup, and rear mounted radio will be help me get it right without adding dead weight. I guarantee I won't be putting lead on the front !

By the way if you should think of it..do you know where yours is balanced out? I have read everything from 3 1/8 to 4 inchs online.( I admit I haven't even noted it on the plans yet) Also how far is your firewall forward from the bottom of the windshield? Don't sweat it if its buried or a hassle to find out. But if you should get around to it I'd appreciate hearing the info.
thanks

BIGMIG

I have one of this planes hanging up in my shop.They were a big box of balsa when you got it with some wing ribs and a few bulkheads and a lot of sheets and strips if I remember right.It has been a long time ago when I built this plane.To fly this plane with a 60 size engine you better have a hell of a long runway.These planes are heavy,but they were well made and tough.They were cheap at the time for all the balsa that came in the kit.I used an old weed-eater engine that was pretty well hammered when I cut everything I could off from it to make it as lite as possible.Mine was flown several times and actuall was a good flying plane once you got it in the air and a little safe altitude.The first time it was flown it had only the elevator and rudder for control.
I must say at the time I was just learning how to fly and I flew it after a friend had it up and all trimmed out for me.He thought I had done a great job building it as it flew very nice and required very little trim to get it flying straight and level.I later bought a plane with a qudra 42 motor and thought this would have been a great motor for this plane,but not shure if there would have been aenough ground clearance for the big prop on the quadra 42.
The third or fourth time we flew this plane I had hooked up the ailerons and they were not very wide but they were big.My friend tried to use them but he said he could not use them to fly the plane as they worked like flaps instead of like typical ailerons,this was mabe also do in part of the plane still being so under powered with the old weed eater motor.This plane has now been hanging in the shop for years and the body shows it,s age,but the wing is still in top condition.Don't remember right off hand if the wing was 8 or 10
feet wide,I know it is at least a 8 footer.It is a real conversation piece for all who come into my shop.I have a lot of pictures of when I was building it but they are in the form of photo's in a album.I do have pictures (digital ones ) of it hanging in the shop.If I can find some of them in my photo file I'll post them here.

They were a neat plane to build because they were so big-

BIGMIG

The fuselage in the first picture and the wing attached to the fuselage of another plane-Its been hanging there for several years.

foodstick

well I have actually done a few things to mine the last couple days.
I have the motor mounted, and started building the slightly changed hood. I wanted a rounded nose ,and I am still thinking about a round cowl. So i was able to mount the motor piston up, which never hurts for starting purposes...lots of cutting templates and sanding pieces for the nose modification, has gotten me to this stage of the game...

airbusdrvr

Bud Nosen is a member of my flying club, Bay City Flyers in Land-O-Lakes, Florida. So please don't misunderstand this post as knocking Bud's trainer. A friend of mine has one of Bud's trainers hanging in his hangar. It is a very large airplane that would probably struggle with a 60 size engine. Most, as mentioned above, probably used larger engines. A modern day plane that would be similar and available is the Bruce Tharpe Engineering, BTE, Flyin' King. Here is the link, http://www.btemodels.com/flyin_king.html . Below is a picture of my Flyin' King.

foodstick

Bruce Tharpe has designed some excellent kits.

I just find the resurrection of some older designs that were before there time fun as well. Tell Bud Hello from me and the rest of the fans of his planes.

The insane size of the fuselage on the Nosen trainer is probably the real draw to me, that and the fact that they were just an interesting oddity from an era gone by.

lousyflyer

I remember walking into a hobby shop in San Antonio , TX around 1992 or somewhere in that time frame, and as I went through the store I noticed that it had become dark around me as if the lights were going out. I looked up at the lights, but they were obscured by a Nosen P-51 Mustang! I have always wondered what became of Bud Nosen. You could say that he was ahead of his time, but it might be more accurate to say that he was ahead of the engine manufacturers of his time.

foodstick

a buddy and I were laughing about the fact that if Bud nosen would have had access to a G62 back then he would have been building half scale airframes for them !!! hahahahaha

lousyflyer

I know a guy in Greenville SC that has a Nosen P51 in his abyss of a shop - I think it would make a great patio awning. Maybe I'll try to cheat him out of it. The problem is that in an effort to reduce the piles of airplane stuff in his shop, he will force me to take other items for which I have no need whatsoever! This guy will put stuff in your hands as you attempt to flee his shop!

foodstick

Another progress shot of the Nosen trainer mods....

I wish I had the room to hang all my biggest planes overhead out of the way...and so I could just sit back and smile looking at them in all there glory !

doug2708

I have one that has been framed out for a few years, but I recently moved from PA to MD, and the movers did some damage that I'm trying to repair now. I'm guessing the weight is going to be higher due to repairs.
One question I have is, how well does this fly on a .60 engine, or should I just scrap that idea and go bigger. Not necessarily gas, but a bigger 2 or 4 cycle glow?

Doug

foodstick

One of my friends had one with a 60 in it, He said you had to do the ULTIMATE needle set, check the barometer and air temperature, have a 1/4 mile runway..and then it would just stagger and fight to get off the ground. Now newer 60's are prolly a whole diferent game, But I haven't heard of anyone using the 60 anymnore, unless it was a gas 60cc

foodstick

well I am dragging the beast back up the thread to show a little progress. I took some pics of the cowl mounted, its left over from a corsair. It looks out of place to me in the pics? For some reason it looks pretty good when I walk around the plane, but in the pictures the whiteness of the cowl makes it look much larger OBTUSE even!

filler on the hood, loose ends everywhere! this ain't your follow the instructions by the number type of build ! I am not always sure where I am going until I get there, or I might sand the last part glued back off ! Anyhow I figure some hesitant Nosen trainer fans might get their pride back out on the shirt sleeve if I keep adding info !