Okay, first the good news. Both Saito's have been run in with 40 minutes of bench running and 30 minutes of in flight time on the trainer I bought for that purpose. Of course when I was done breaking in the Saito's, I then mounted an O.S. 91 Surpass on the trainer for it's permanent powerhouse. Haven't flown it with the 91, but I'm guessing I'll have plenty of power, but that is another thread.
Spent a portion of yesterday, Sunday the 27th almost completing the painting of the gear bays/nacelle structures and the interior parts of the crew stations. Absolutely could not stand the bright greeen of the stock paint job and went with a royal air force interior green instead. Knee pad for nose gunner repainted to a decent leather color as well. Now, building can begin again with everything in order. Will mount the dual glow drivers in their respective nacelle structures for each engine and gear bays are now painted to look more realistic. That will be the extent of the scaling for now. Object is to get it in the air this season and get to know her. Next winter will be for the weathering/rivets and panel lines and of course the bomb bay installation. Ran out of time and most importantly money! Somehow, I have to go back now and find the stretch of posts on gyro installation and positioning. Totally forgot what the setup recommendations were that Normand posted. I have never installed a gyro and this is bound to be a challenge. Plus, I've got two 4200 mAh, 6 volt batteries, two JR Match boxes to install and configure and all this has to be mounted behind the cockpit somehow. Not really looking forward to this part of the install. I did buy some foam wire keeps to try and make it all organized and less of a speghetti mess. I have time off this week, so my intentions are to hit this build hard and see how far I can make it by the weekend. Essentially, I have only finished the inner wing panels by I would say 60 percent. Both flaps, cowls, dummies and final plumbing will have to be completed before they are ready for mounting onto the fuse. Seems a daunting task at this point, but I realize I just need to dive in and start working. The "parts pile" will begin to deminish and the plane will begin to start taking shape. This is just such a huge project. The biggest I have ever taken on. Look for more pics and posts in the following days on what I will finish.
Now, the not so great news. Weeks ago, I said I was going to be receiving my new RF 5.5 and was looking forward to hooking up my own radio to the software to use with the Top Flite B-25 that was included. Well, I misunderstood the web page and thought when they said 1-5 "Add ons" were included, that meant I would be getting the bomber in #4. Wrong! What I need is "Expansion Pack 4" not "Add on" #4. Okay, my mistake. So, ordered expansion packs 4 and 5 through tower and expect them to arrive on thursday. This morning, I mapped and calibrated my 9303 to the software and am now ready to use this radio to practice with the B25 when it arrives. I have to tweak the default craft in the expansion pack to mirror it as closely as possible to the actual bird on my kitchen table which is looking like it is going to be a little harder than I imagined. I think you may have to be an engineer to easily understand the "edit aircraft" screens, but I will attempt to learn how. That is the not so bad, bad news. The really bad news is this. Once I reconfigure the default B25 with my own adjustments, including channel mapping and such, the aircraft cannot be "exported". The software denies the user that function because of the radio configuration. But, what I can do is, once the airframe is adjusted to as closely as possible to the real model, I can export that one into the swap pages and and pass that one on to other users. At that point, any user can import the adjusted version of the Mitchell and use the Interlink controller, or configure they're own controller themselves. The purpose of all of this is to develope the aircraft in real flite to mirror the actual model as closely as possible, and to use my own controller, with switches and knobs all designated, so I can get used to what switches to use and not have confusion between the interlink and 9303 when I actually make it out to the field and maiden this beast. So, I'll keep all posted on what progress I am making on the mitchell once I get the expansion pack and begin to "tweak" the default Mitchell. I know there was interest from several guys on here to get that reconfigured version once it was done so I'll do the best I can to fix her up so she acts like the real thing would. Of course, I would need someone who has allot of stick time to confirm that the computer model is in fact close to real feeling. The issue with that is all older designs are forward compatable with RF 5.5, but designs made on 5.5 are not compatable with older versions of Real Flight. So, anybody wishing to import the re-designed mitchell for use on they're own RF will have to have at least the version of Real Flight that is compatable with the expansion packs. It's all very complicated and although I am computer literate, I am not an IT guy and certainly not a rocket scientist. Anyway, I have praddled on long enough.
To Normand, any helpful hints on gyro installation would be greatly appreciated. Afterall, your the one who convinced me to get one! LOL