Good morning guys, and thanks for the responses on my maiden report!

jlsmith, for the red, I used a Rustoleum rattle can...the one in the following pic. I topcoated it with clear Lustercote. I can attest to it being a great match to the paint already on the cowl, and the red Oracover on the plane. For the continuation of the black on the cowl ring, I used black Lustercote. I left mine all glossy. phatbob02 did a cool thing and used flat Lusterote on the black, all the way back to the canopy too!



hdwideglide, my runway is nice smooth sod (but not as smooth as I thought it was, haha). Yesterday it was a bit tall. My other planes don't boing around on the runway like the T-28 does. When I first taxied the plane to test ground handling, I immediately saw the landing gear springing back and forward, A LOT! I think that motion is what ripped one of the landing gear doors off. It failed at the leftover hinge I used to make the elbow or joint (like angle iron) between the leg and the wing. I believe that if I make that joint stiffer, it will cause more grief to the wing because the landing gear are still going to have too much motion and continue to stress that joint between the wing and door. It would be best to make the joint flexible, or somehow floating. At first I thought I would simply replace the pin type hinge with sheet tin and screw it on to both door and wing. That might either tear the tin or more likely pull the screws out of either the door or the wing. Well, this assumes I continue to zip tie the door to the strut cover too. I might need to just not connect the door to the landing gear so that it can move all it wants, and the door will be independent. That means making the connection of the door to the wing stiff, and then becoming a nice candidate for flutter. Oh yeah, who has suggestions, hahaha!? I am open. For now, the doors stay off till I have a better mousetrap.

The plane stuck to the ground on takeoff as I opened the throttle. I was at nearly full throttle when I lifted her off gently. Mine doesn't lift off early unless I give it up, because of the down thrust I built onto the firewall AND because I cut out 1/2" of the nose strut. ( I have 3" mains and 2.5" nose wheels, all Robarts.) By the way, the plane taxis well. I am sure it is a piece of cake on paved runways where the main gear don't spring back and forth so much. I think BH should have given stiffer landing gear...wimpy LG is kind of typical in ARFs.

Hey hdwideglide, I am having a hard time picturing what you said here "I have had the unfortunate luck of only 9 minutes life span. LOL. My trainer had a mid air with my plane." Pls explain! Was someone else flying either your trainer or the 28, and you guys mid aired? I read this thread daily and I somehow missed that story. Jon