i have to agree with building. i was building until i was given a plane. now ive taken off doing some scratch work and converting my trainer to low wing(and adding ailerons)

Guys,

Thanks for all of your input. It really means a lot to us to get such feedback. It's easy to put "blinders" on and lose sight of our other options. Thanks for giving us other ideas that we probably have not thought about.

After the numerous replies encouraging us to look at different trainers, I looked at the ARF's that are out there, and I was going to try to talk my wife into spending yet even more money for us to get one, 'cause I didn't want to damage these airplanes on their maiden flights. I was then fortunate to learn that the club that we just joined had a couple of trainers in the hangar that we could use as members. That's nice to know. Now maybe we'll have a milder case of the "jitters" when we put the Black Barons into the air.

Not that we've had to worry much about that lately, though. It's been raining cats and dogs up here for the past two weeks, and now that the good flying weather has finally arrived, I'm out on a trip! [:@] Hopefully, the first bird will be completed by the end of June!

I think that we'll be building the second one throughout the fall/winter and it probably won't see the flight line until next spring. Good thing is, it will give us plenty of time to build it right. Game plan is to do a bunch of flying with the club birds and then move on to flying the first BBS this summer.

When we get back to work on the Black Baron in a week or so, I'll post the finishing pics.

Do you guys have any ideas on how I can cover the main gear struts (kind of like what you see on a cub) without stiffening it to the point it doesn't absorb the shock of landing?

Thanks for your help!

If that is wire landing gear, unless you like it alot, I would get rid of it and put some aluminum on there like this

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXJ922&P=0

Or i have this dubro gear and i like it better than than the metal. It is a fiberglass type gear.

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXNM65&P=0


Also, I can't help you on where to cover it. If you haven't got the insignia blue yet, i will tell you now that it is beautiful color. I have it on my 4*

Thats a beautiful bird.. I might have to find one somewhere down the line... Hmm

DuBro and Klett both make small nylon brackets specifically to attach wire to things. You'll probably need the 5/32 size, two per gear leg.

Simply fabricate your tapered gear leg cover from lite ply or balsa appropriately stiffened.

You can use either 2/56 bolts and nuts to attach the cover to the wire, or use a flexible adhesive such as PFM or silicone caulk, etc.

Well that's weird because if they shouldn't get a Trainer ARF then why the did you tell Pilot Chad to buy a trainer when he already had one? I just think that it's weird that you are contradicting your own advice from a previous thread.

Ken,
I would have to agree with brandon here. I had already soloed and yet you told me to get a trainer. This is quite odd. Are you judging since i am a kid, that I am not as good a flyer? Are you saying that i am a bad flyer and need a trainer? I have had a few crashes. That's my fault and i've learned my lessons. Just wondering why you change your mind here.[:@]

Brandon,

If you remember the order of how the trainer suggestion came up then this would not be a question so I will remind you. The suggestion was made after Chad stomped his trainer. At that point he agreed that he needed more trainer time.

Chad, the only part of your flying that has appeared to be consistent is the crashing. You have not yet learned the very minimal basics that many pilots learn by the second day, such as taking off without stalling.

Thejetgod is also a member of a club who is going to have a competent, experienced instructor on a buddy box helping him. Again, you do not have this.

Several people, myself included, have made recommendations to you. Not commandments that you have charged us with. I watch your posts with great humor as you try to impress yourself and others with your vast experience and wealth.

Please continue to do so, it is very entertaining.

Have a great day.

Bruce [

Bruce,
You have a PM

Chad, No PM from you, if that is what you were implying.

Just curious as to why people are telling someone to get an ARF trainer when he already has a good trainer? With a good instructor, he can fly a build up trainer, and if he crashes it at some point, it will probably hold together more than a trainer.

The pictures of the plane you built look great. Looks like you are doing a good job. Get with an instructor, have it all checked out so it is set up right, and go have a ball. I wouldn't waste the time or the money on an ARF.

Just my 2 cents.

I cannot speak for the others, but the reason I am advising them to use another model to learn on is because the model he is building has been long out of print and is basically irreplaceable. Additionally, it is not as stable as a trainer. And do you always assume that any old instructor will do? Just because somebody says "I are an instructor" doesn't mean he is any good, etc.

My point is, why should he risk tearing up a neat sport model that he's spent months building, when he doesn't have to? Sure, he'll have to risk it eventually. But at least give the model a chance by learning to fly first...

At the risk of repeating myself and being one of those who earlier recommended an ARF, I did go back and do some reading of earlier postings.

They have joined a club.
The club has several instructors they can choose wisely from and plan to do so.
The club has "Club trainer planes" they can use for initial flight training and not risk theirs.

Sounding like a non-issue. IMHO I also did not not want them to risk these rare planes as initial trainers and they do not plan to.

I would like to know where I can find "Klett landing gear". I see it mentioned in the threads but can't find

Get them directly from Klett.

[link]http://www.klettplastics.com/pages/1/index.htm[/link]

Hope this helps

Ken

http://www.happyhobby.com/hobb_html/carlgoldberg.htm

These people list them for sale but don't show a picture or anything. Have not seen them myself but will keep looking.

Thanks for lnfo. on Klett. Will give them a call to find out measurements

Finally, some work is being done on the trainer![sm=thumbup.gif] We've been busy lately on getting this thing into the air. If we didn't start hustling, we'd be looking at having to equip it with skis!

Eva is pretty good with an iron, so I made good use of her! I did some covering, too (mostly posing).

We've got the wing covered and I wanted to show you all our work and ask a few questions.

We used an iron for all of the flat surfaces and used the iron and heat gun on the wing. You can see our work in the pics below.

We pulled and stretched and pulled and swore and we never could get all of the wrinkles out of the wingtip. Is is possible to get it smoother than this?

And how do you get a perfectly straight cut along the edge when you are finished? Ours looks kind of ragged. I like to refer to it as "good from far, far from good".

Plane is looking good. Uhh, how can I say this?? We need more pictures with Eva holding the plane. Pretty lady, you're a lucky man.

Dave, that wing tip looks pretty good to me. The edges need to be ironed down with HIGH heat.

As for making straight edges over a leading edge or tip, your best friend is a NEW single-edge razor blade. I buy them in bulk packs of one hundred.

Harry Higley makes a gadget for this purpose that uses single edge blades, but it depends on a very sharp blade. Plastic covering dulls blades faster than you would ever believe; if the blade snags during the cutting stroke with the Higley tool, a ragged edge will result.

I have given up trying to make a perfectly straight edge when trimming a color border. I now cheat; I cut a strip of the darker color the necessary width to cover any waves, etc., and iron that down over the seam. Presto; a nice, straight color separation line.

Here's another thing to consider; keep your seams properly oriented. IOW, cover from the bottom up, and from rear to front. That way, the edges of the seams will be pointing "down" and "back" and therefore will not trap fuel residue and/or other crap, nor be susceptible to lifting from the slip stream. The one exception I make here is on wing leading edges. Sometimes you have to have a seam that is "up" instead of "down". No problem; seal it with clear fingernail polish.

In fact, I like to seal all my covering seams with some sort of fuel proofer. I have been using Hobby Poxy clear, brushed on, for this purpose, but my supply is about gone, and irreplaceable thanks to the enviro-nazis. I have tried several other things, without much success. The stuff that works best and most easily (polyurethane) turns a ghastly yellow in short order, especially on white covering. Do NOT use the water-based polyu; it isn't fuel proof, as I found out the hard way.[&o]

Your model is looking great; I'm still trying to find one of those kits.

Thanks, Bruce! Yeah, I got lucky.

Steve,

We've been keeping the seams facing backwards and downwards. Made a mistake on that on the bottom of the fuse, though. We'll be sure to throw some clear nail polish on it.

I'm posting a couple more pics so you can see our work. We have a good, tight covering job, with no wrinkles until you get right up on the seams. It looks horrendous in the photos if we zoom in on it. Standing about 2-3 feet away, you really cannot tell.

As you can see, I had to add some weight to the wing. It took about 1/2 oz to get it to balance left/right. There's actually another weight further inboard and on the trailing edge as well as the one in the pic.

Thanks for the hints for getting a straight edge. I'll have to check that out.

Does anyone know of a good source for decals for 1930's era lettering/numbering? I'm thinking of doing something like the Great Planes Shoestring for our paint scheme.

Dave,

As usual your build looks outstanding, the both of you must be very pleased. Good luck and keep us posted your progress reports are appreciated.

Regards

Mike

Ah, so... I see what you're talking about now. I guess you've figured out that you went a bit too far with the overlap, eh?

No worries. Crank your iron up to max, then go over those bumps and ridges with moderate pressure. If you used UltraCote, most of them will flatten out. MonoKote? Well... I stopped using MonoKote because once it has a wrinkle folded back on it self, it ain't coming out. You can still clean that area up a bit with high heat, though.

I think your best bet regarding cleaning up the edges is to use a strip of your yellow/black checkerboard on the LE, to the mid-point of the leading edge. Matching up the pattern teaches you that, while checkerboard patterns are really cool-looking, they are a significant rectal discomfort if you have do some "adjusting".

At the tip, I would probably extend the blue around and across the bottom of the tip to get a straight separation line.

Steve,

Thanks for the tips. That is a pretty good idea for bringing the blue on the underside of the tip and giving a straight line break. We used ultracote on the bottom cause that's all we could find for the checker pattern. We used Monokote on top cause Ultracote is so expensive. We did find the Ultracote more forgiving. Guess that's what you pay for!

And you definitely are correct on the checker being a challenge to keep straight!

How's the search going for your BBS?