Alright, I did get my YS .91-powered Fw190D-9 all dialed in for the Big Kahuna race; but, now that it is over, I have a problem. The 190's speed is perfect for Sacramento, but both my planes ran slower up in Redding, last year. I really don't want to run any higher nitro to compensate, so I decided to get back to the "big stuff", again.

So it is back to the 115-powered P-47s:

I made my new P-47 cowl mold and laid up a couple new cowls over a couple of the last few weekends, and vacuum-formed a few canopies when I was forming new canopies for Nickerson's new Raiden, as well.


Decided it was time to sweep up the shop and get back to building. Pulled the P-47 fleet out of the way to sweep and get a picture of my progress on them for you, out in the light. There are two smaller, YS .91-powered composite-fuse P-47s to the far right. My first of the new cowls has only been primered white, and is mounted on the olive-drab colored P-47. The second cowl is still "raw" and can be seen on the all-wood P-47 in the middle. I still need to lay-up one more for my other unfinished composite version. The all-wood models have a larger wing and extended tail to fit the wing area/engine chart and qualify for the YS 115. I built the composite versions, and my father-in-law has done most of the building of the all-wood models because he knows I've had no time to build the last couple years, and wants me to be able to keep racing.



Although I hope to have both all-wood P-47s completed and maidened before Redding's Ash Fast race, the one to the left is the one I will initially concentrate on finishing, first.