skylark-flier

Hi Ed, you're right in everything you said, most definitely. Personally, I like them a bit nose-heavy, me not being the greatest flier ever to take to the air. I like the plane being able to remember where the ground is and how to get back to it - all I have to do is enjoy the approach and flare at the right moment. It's always worked for me.

I'm having a lot of fun restoring this beautiful old plane. Once I got the covering off and REALLY took a look at her I found that many (most) of the glue joints in the wings needed a bit of re-enforcement but that didn't take long and there's no "creak creak" anymore when I flex the wings a bit.

I've also broken-out one of my old engines, a 30-yr old Enya .35 that I think I'm going to put in the nose - assuming I can still find a prop extension for it somewhere. I'm going to have a couple issues with that particular engine (or any engine, for that matter) but we'll see what we'll see. One issue is that that particular engine has NEVER had a muffler attached (she was long before mufflers came into very widespread use), and the plane ALSO has never had a muffler mounted. The entire nose section is carved balsa, including the rather large cowling/engine area cover, and on the inside of the cowl right now is a brass plate that I assume was for heat dissipation "way back when...". Exhaust simply went out the louvered sides, along with engine heat. My intention is to take a stab at running the engine up as-is to see just how much that total cover around the compartment will actually help muffle sound, as it was "back in the days...". If I HAVE to re-cut and install a muffler I will, but I'm hoping I don't really have to.

Hey guys, don't panic here!! I know about mufflers!! My big advantage here is that I'm living in the sticks (central Shenandoah Valley, Virginia) and I fly out in the field with our horses, where the nearest house is 1/4 mile away, and it's mine. Next house is another 1/4 mile away or so. So, I'm not all that worried about noise.

Dave W.