Super08

My Feedback: (2)

lol It is funny how light acts on moving surfaces in pics sometimes.

Xairflyer

My Feedback: (1)

Nearlly lost my stearman yesterday. [] On the second flight the rudder came off. All three of the robart hinges I fitted broke and the rudder was held onto the aeroplane by the control rod.
Luckily the GP staerman is a good design I was still able to turn the aircraft around, I was waiting for it to spin in but luckily showed no bad vices and I managed to land it back near the strip.

When I came home I looked at some more of the hinges that came out of the same packet and was able to snap them off easily [:@]

I had another new packet and they were perfect, they took a lot of bending to get them even to stretch, and even then, they still held together, obviously the first lot were a bad batch

Super08

My Feedback: (2)

Wow, lucky...

YOADRIAN

Hay guys recovering mine and would like to recover the fuselage in the blue but can not seem to tell which shade of blue monokote would be correct. If you have done yours can you please include what you used to paint the fiberglass and struts parts also? thanks for any help in this matter. Glad you got yours down, good flying Xairflyer.

Xairflyer

My Feedback: (1)

I recovered mine in Blue Profilm so cant help you there

bigbird3

Yoadrian, not sure what color blue, seems inbetween navy and royal blue. What ever color you use, check your local auto supply store. Up here Sanel auto supply will mix what ever color you want and actually put it in a spray baum! it's anywhere from $16 to $36 bucks a can depending on the color. I had subaru maroon and charcoal and they were 36 and 16 respectively. It is acrylic enamel and fuel proof! Surely someone does this where you are.
acrylic enamel is tolerent to humidity too. Doesn't blush easily.
bird.

YOADRIAN

Xairflyer I have never used profilm but i will look into it , what shade blue did you use? By the way that landing shot of your aircraft is to real, great job! Thanks bigbird for the idea, i will go that route to match the blue if i can not find it premix for the cowling and struts and gear. I am trying to keep it simple. I now have everything stripped except the wings. I plan on standerd military trainer colors blue and yellow and weather the heck out of it. Some of the work i have seen on this aircraft in this forum section goes to show there are guys still out there that do this sport proud. Thanks ahead for any info.

Xairflyer

My Feedback: (1)

I used No.50 Blue Profilm

scflyboy

Flew my Great Planes PT-17 yesterday. Spent a good bit of time trying to get the Saito 125 fine tuned. Had the cowl on and I think it over heated and locked up! Was running about half throttle and real rich. Spun the prop off. Glad I was not standing in front of her!!!!!! Going to take the cowl off and make sure everything is OK. The engine turns over freely and does not seem to have any damage. Any thoughts?????

YOADRIAN

Losing a prop is not good, i hope you got back to idle/shutdown fast if not you might have over rev the engine, burning it out. You say the engine locked up, but if it turns freely, that is not the case. Pull the plug and get a can of wd40 or crc, then over a clean white paper, spray it in the plug hole upside down so the spray lube falls on the paper then check for small metal fragments, if none, install a prop and locktite the prop nut then turn it by hand, with a finger over the plug hole and check if it feels like you have compression. If ok up to this point install a new plug and fire it up keep it at idle and run it rich with oil for a bit, if everything seems ok then the chance are your ok minus a few hours off the life of the engine. When you get a chance check the prop rpm to see if you lost any power at top end. This is a standerd check more intense checks can be made but you would have to tear it down. Thanks for the reply xairflyer i will see who has profilm in the states.

Xairflyer

My Feedback: (1)

It is also marketed as Oracover

bigbird3

Xairflyer, do you live anywhere near Bray Ireland? I am Scotch, Irish and Cherokee indian. I believe my last name is from Bray Ireland. Is there a Bray Scotland?
Thanks. bird.

Xairflyer

My Feedback: (1)

No I live in the North West of Ireland, but do know Bray well as I have friends there and did live there for 3years.

Bray is a town in Co. Wicklow just south of the capital Dublin, a name would not come from Bray as such more the South East region but the family may lived there. What is your last name ?

Seamus

bigbird3

My last name is BRAY.

Xairflyer

My Feedback: (1)

Not Familular with that surname at all, maybe it is scottish

bigbird3

Okay then, thanks for getting back with me. I never really got into my back ground. Nationalism is not my thing. I figure being of the human race relates me to all. I'm part of the 'huttled masses' that came through Ellis Island in New York so that is close enough.
Besides, Nationalism seems to cause too many clashes and divisions as I'm sure you are aware, coming from Ireland. The divisions are sad as they have caused so many families to loose loved ones because of hatred.
Well, not for this blog! Sorry for the history lesson. I'm sure you could tell me a thing or two.
By the by, have you heard of John Beasley there in Ireland? He was a TOC alternate in 93 or so. Tony Mangold In Canyon Lake Texas, U.S.A. was building the 33 percent Ultimates for Bob Godfrey of Tampa Florida. I did the covering job for John on his plane they sent him. It was metalic red, white and metalic blue.
Thanks again for getting back to me.
bird.

isxism

I installed a Sullivan remote glow start. I connected one end to the glowplug and routed the wiring through the fuse and then outside the fuse of my Stearman under the front pilot. As I was moving the plane from one table to another, the tip of the glow plug broke off inside the connecter for the glow plug. I am unable to extract the tip from the connector. Is there something I can do to remedy this problem, outside of buying another one? Could I splice another connector tip?Thanks.

Xairflyer

My Feedback: (1)

Yes I know John he is flying Jets with some of us and we meet up occasionally for that

bigbird3

Please give John my regards and ask him if he remembers the plane.
I will try to dig up a photo of it by then. I must be off now. I will be back on later.
I'm not sure if I clicked the 'reply by e-mail' when I posted this. Hope it works.
bird.

scflyboy

I think the Saito 125 got too hot and stopped and spun the prop off. A few days later I ran it real rich with the cowl off and it seemed to do just fine. Since then, I have put alot of air time on the PT 17. Added a "scale like" functioning air scoop and a few cooling vents. Flew yesterday and today and flew great. NOW, the tail wheel looks like it is getting close to breaking off. Has anyone modiefied the tail wheel?

Man, the more you fly this plane the more and more you like it!

scflyboy

Here is a picture of the new heavy-duty tail wheel and functioning air scoop.

isxism

SCLFYBOY........That is a VERY nice tail wheel set-up you have there. Keep up the good work !!!

Hiya Xairflyer, nice to see you also.

scaleflying4life

HI guys ,

The Winter has set in here, in Holland!,actually here it is always bad weather.
I ve bought the great planes pt-17 stearman,
Im half way the building process now, beginning with the engine cowl and......... messed it up!
Gonna order a new one, I put the stock dummy moter aside and bought on ebay 2 half top flite dummy engine putting them together,reinforcing the cylinder ring with 4 mm balsa.
But now here comes the problem,,,,,,,,,,,,
I have to cut of a lot of the bottom 2 cylinders so the strenght of the reinforced balsa is gone.
so i need to reinforce the lower 2 dummies without adding to much weight.
bcause it will fly a saito 91 4 stroke.

cheers pascal

bigbird3

Hey my neterland friend, here is what I did to reinforce mine. First I cut them out in the back to fit, then I filled them with Epoxy with micro baloons for strength. The left cylinder, from front view, has a screw through it into a small plate mounted to the front of the engine, it had four holes to do this. I have flown it many times and had no problems with it. Here are some pic's to help. Also, where the engine sets into the cowl, I put three self tapping wood screws through the lip into the engine to secure it and made it removable because I couldn't put the cowl on with the dummy engine attached. I also put plywood 'nuts' in the engine for the screws to anchor.
I will be out for a bit and get back to you if you have any questions.
Thanks. bird. It is 2:25 PM here.

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

For the poster that was asking about the color of the tail section on the GP PT-17, it is Monocoat Sky Blue.

John