I went to a lawn mower shop and got one that goes inside the tank.

I ordered a new Super Stearman landing gear from Tower around Xmas time and it went on back order with an expected delivery of approximately late February. Tower just changed the delivery date to late April. Does anyone have a spare gear, in good shape, that they would like to sell? Thanks

Howard

Yea! Tower just changed the delivery date on the GSS to late May!!! Comm'on Tower What up with that!! I thought I'd have mine in the air, but Nooooo.

What's an equal sport plane for a DLE-30, don't know if I can wait this long.

You might like the new GP WACO. I read that they are in stock, but that was yesterday.

Guys,
I've got a few newbie questions for the Stearman. First, mounting the top wing to the fuselage: I have both the top and bottom wing in alignment per the instructions, but the cabanes do not line up on the hardwood blocks along the fuselage. If I pull it into the desired position, it appears to start twisting the wings somewhat.
I'm not sure how to align this properly. Do I loosen the Phillips screws that mount the upper wing to the bottom wing? I'm thinking if I do this it will knock the top/bottom wing relationship out of alignment.

For some reason, I can't wrap my brain around how to do this.

Last question, I'm putting in an O.S. 1.20 fs (w/pump). What prop size do you all recommend? Composite or Wood?

Thanks for any input.

-Steve

Steve, make sure that the cabaine struts are not backwards, the last one of these I built, went together just as the instructions show. As for your 1.20, I would suggest 16X6 or 16X8 to start. My unpumped 1.20 did not like swinging the 16X8.

Jim,
Thanks. I'm pretty sure nothing is backwards, but I'll check it again.

Thought you guys might like to see my buddy's maiden of his GP Super Stearman last weekend. Sure is a beautiful plane! Jon
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCO8vOrOr7g[/youtube]

Yes they are! Nothing prettier in the air than a Biplane !

Some of the kits came with the arrows on backwards. Compare them with the pictures in the manual. They should line up no problem.

Hope I'm ready,will recieve mine tomorrow, can't wait to get busy on it!

Yep, everything was bolted up correctly. I think I was hung up on the fact that the cabaines did not sit perfectly centered on the hardwood blocks (you can somewhat see them through the covering on the main fuse).

Anyway, I got everything mounted, and it 'appears' to still be in alignment

The first time in the air will tell me how well I did during assembly!

-Steve

Steve, if you built it per the instructions, it WILL fly. Hope you enjoy yours as much as I do mine!

Good to know.

Thanks for the help Jim.

Mounting the cowling:

Ok, so I'm mounting the cowling. If I line the cowling up so its symmetrical with the mounting ring, the crankshaft is off-center. Consequently, if I center it up with the crankshaft, the cowling appears slightly cocked to one side.

This picture shows the cowling centered on the crankshaft.

I'm not really sure what is 'correct'.

Thanks again for any insight.

-Steve

Steve, due to the offset built into the firewall, the cowl will not sit straight if the crank shaft is centered. I try to get the lines on the sides as close as possible, and the crankshaft as close to center as I can. Usually this results in one side being in perfect alignment, the other is a little off.
Hope this helps

It does help.

Thanks again Jim!

Ok, so now I have a fuel tank question. I bought some large, silicone fuel line per the list of supplies, but it fits too loose on the pipe coming out of the tank. It fits perfect on the inlet nipple of the pump (O.S. 1.20).

What am I missing here?

Thanks again,
Steve

Steve,
I always used medium, I flare the ends of the brass tube slightly and use small tie wraps to secure the tube to the brass lines and fuel clunk. I would think that the medium would stretch over the inlet tube on the OS. You do not want any loose fitting tubing, it will
give you fits with keeping your engine running correctly.

That works.
Sorry for the delay in responding. Im only able to get a few hours out of the week to work on this, so it takes me a few days to put the suggestions into production!

Thanks again,
Steve

Hello guys,
i just want to post here the taxi video about my GP super stearman...waiting for the maiden flight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRNth...9QRqaxX7EvE%3D

David

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOkV-6LwU1Y[/youtube]
finally the maiden flight..

Very nice Davide 72. One thing I have learned about landing this bird is that it doesn't flair land very well. If you will practise wheel landing and then let the tail settle in, it will handle very nicely. you might try also slowing the idle as slow as it will go. This is also a brake.
also, try angling the camera out the side of the windscreen so it can look down a bit.
All in all you have done a fine job.
bird.

bigbird3 thanks so much for your precius advice..and yes next time i will fix the camera on the cabane.
Ciao

Davide, you are welcome and thanks for being so receptive. If you look on page 57 you will see what I did to mine. I cracked it up a bit in 2005 and it took me a couple of years to get around to resurrecting it but it is my favorite plane. It has an old style G-23 with a 15X8 master airscrew prop and is very scale flying. I have had it since 2003. The covering is 21st centry coverite fabric Cub Yellow. The stars and roundels are also. Hand cut and applied one piece at a time. I did scale stitching and taping also. The cockpit is rolled aluminum print plate and screwed down. The pilot is from Great Planes. It is a WW-I german pilot. They didn't have the military pilots for the stearman. Robart wheels with covers, the four cover screws are gently melted in with a hot brass tube and hot screw driver to simulate them and then painted. I have also posted the scale detail pictures probably in earlier posting or perhaps later ones. If you can find them you will see how I did the stitching.
Best wishes to you and yours.
bird.