Jwhitacre1

No film I'm aware of....wish there wasSince the bottom is white already I'll just make a row of base size squares. After that I'll probably make the next row 1/4" smaller and so on. Keeping things centered will be the tricky part but the end result will be worth it.

flyingagin

That sounds like it will work. Wouldn't do it on a glow model, but elec fine

Ken

Jwhitacre1

Spent couple hours cutting out all the numbers going on the wing and rudder. It was meticulous only due to the font I picked but as with the checkering decision worth the effort. I'm going to at least get the wing top finished tomorrow... we'll see about the bottom.

Jwhitacre1

As I wanted to get done today the top of wing is all done. There's a few air bubbles I'll deal with later but it's no biggie now. For now I can enjoy how it turned out and get prepared for the bottom trim.

flyingagin

I like it it. The lettering is the bomb.

Ken

Jwhitacre1

Thank you! I get nervous at this stage because covering can make or break a build. So far I'm liking where its going so I'll just keep taking my time to do it right.

Jwhitacre1

It took 3 hours of cutting , spacing, and placing tons of squares....but worth it! I'm taking the rest of the day off from covering I need to give my eyes a break.

flyingagin

Just looking at the picture and thinking about that made my eyeballs cross and roll back in my head

Seriously Fantastic work. I would never attempt that with a glow or even a gas plane. That's a plus that elec has.

Ken

Jwhitacre1

Thanks, yeah I'd definitely be doing a simpler scheme if it was glow. That is for sure a perk to electric, don't miss that cleanup. Though this build has been much more of a pain and expense than planned I really think it'll be justified once completed.

Jwhitacre1

I had some free time today so I finished the bottom checkering. Got to say I'm very pleased with the results There's a few spots that need attention with the heat gun to tighten spots that got loose while adding the checkers.
All I have to do is add the control arms and rods to the wing to finish it off. Hopefully I have time this weekend to start covering the fuselage.

flyingagin

That is just darn sharp looking. It pops

Ken

Jwhitacre1

I finally got time to sand the fuselage. It turned out looking absolutely lovely, so happy with it. I got a good dusk photo of it in celebration.
Since I have to peel the horizontal stab covering to add the strut mounts, I'm thinking changing the color back there to red with white accents. It would be a good opposite to the wing.I had some free time today so I finished the bottom checkering. Got to say I'm very pleased with the results There's a few spots that need attention with the heat gun to tighten spots that got loose while adding the checkers.
All I have to do is add the control arms and rods to the wing to finish it off. Hopefully I have time this weekend to start covering the fuselage.

flyingagin

Looking SWEET!

Ken

Jwhitacre1

Thanks, really getting amped up to cover that fuselage. Might start Saturday morning til it gets warm out, then have some outside chores that need attention.

Jwhitacre1

Over the years I've built 4 other golden age inspired racers. The first was fun but squirrely on the ground and the last one really was a pleasure. The other 2 in-between had faults but that's the learning process. This one will be far be the most refined, detailed, and I'm expecting better performing of the lot. Because I'm nostalgic to this design I'm going to incorporate parts from the first and 4th builds. The landing gear and pilot come from the 4th. As for the parts from the first I don't have much other than the servos, so I'll use 2 of those for the elevator and rudder.
I got the servo rails epoxied in and the outer guide tubes also epoxied in place.

The first one, built from 20 size Cub parts

The last one I built

flyingagin

Good looking birds.

Ken

Jwhitacre1

Thanks, I think the legacy of those will be well served by this one.
Speaking of the current build I got the servo/Rx tray built and put in place this morning. The hooks will hold down the receiver with hair rubber bands.

flyingagin

You are getting close.

The little rubber bands sound like the ticket for RX hold down. I have used double sided foam squares in the past. 3M (I think) makes peel and stick sheets that have a bunch of 1/2" squares. Fine for elecs, and gliders.

Ken

Jwhitacre1

I learned the hook trick to keep spoilers down when not deployed on my sailplanes. Eventually I used the same method for receivers and love it.
I need to work on getting the battery hold downs in place so I can close up the front with the firewall. Once the firewall is in I can focus on covering this fuselage. Those are the upcoming steps I need to focus on.

Jwhitacre1

I've been busy with yardwork and getting flyable aircraft ready for the season, but still working on this one too.

flyingagin

Yardwork and getting flyable aircraft ready for the season are good pursuits.

We got moved to Missouri. Still a lot of stuff in Ca. to bring out. It was not a boring trip by any means. We had our small dog and a cat with us. Cat was in a crate, the dog just in the back seat. Easy taking a dog potty on the road, not so much a cat. I had a potty box in the trailers bath tub, so I would put the dog in the front seat with momma and the climb in beside the cat and transfer him to a carrier and take him to the trailer to do his business. Then reverse the operation befor getting going again.

Bad diesel fuel out of Needles Arizona barely made the next grade down in third thinking hard about second gear with a rig that will run any grade even at high altitude with ease. But Made it and the next tank the truck ran like a top. Then just about 5 or 6 miles short of McLean Tx. A tire came of the trailer, still bolted to the hub. Crossed the freeway and hit the side of a semi. caved the drives side door in and other damage. I found that out later. Then the tire proceeded to start a grass fire on both sides of the freeway and the middle. After I got over and looked at the trailer it was missing the rear passenger side tire, hub, brake parts, ripped out brake wire. The lower body skirt was bashed pretty good and the back jack stand that side was at about a 45 degree angle. The I looked back down the freeway and saw smoke, then a bunch of smoke. The day can't get any better than this. The from McLean, here comes a cop car and a fire truck. Yep this day is starting to suck.

After the firemen got the fires out they and a deputy show up and check to see if we are OK. Yeah sort of. Then a few minutes later a semi pulls in behind us all and that is when I found out I wacked the truck driver. Exchanged all info. The firemen and deputy are more amused than anything.

Then I was transferring things from the trailer to the truck and taking thing out of the truck to the trailer, so we would at least have some of what we needed. With all the stuff and people vying for my attention (I'm 70 and cant keep as many irons in the fire anymore) I missed some things, and also I was trying to move like a rocket man, can't do that either.

about 30 minutes after everybody else left a tow truck showed up. He looked the situation over and said you can drive that thing about 30- 40 mph to town, Wouldn't want to go faster or farther than that. So that is what we did.

Dropped the trailer their with the company the tow operator worked for. Then transferred more stuff and got on the road for Mo.

We got moved in. The this past Sunday we went back to McLean Tx. for the trailer. They were awesome folks cut us a big break on cost. The had to order and replace the back axle. The departing tire bent it real nice. We got back home Tuesday. One rear bad note. We had a bunch of frozen meat in the trailers freezer. Well the propane and battery ran out. I never even thought to give the shop that meat. Oh my god the smell when I opened the freezer door. I cracked a window to help clear the smell as we needed to sleep in it that night. That helped a bunch. We drove towards Oklahoma City under a tornado alert. FUN! not.

I have the trailer temporarily parked at the top of the property as there is no way to turn the trailer around down the bottom of the hill the house is located at. I am unloading it and bring stuff down to the house. We parked a lot of our kitchen and other things in the trailer. The last of things will be out of the trailer tomorrow and I will clean the fridge and freezer. Then there is a rv storage place about 2 miles up the road. I rather park it at home but can't see that at this time.

No clue if I will get in airplane time this year.

Hope you don't mind the off topic post.

​​​​​​​Ken

Jwhitacre1

Holy Smokes! You had a movie level series of events on that move. Glad you made it through the other side ok despite the obstacles that found you. Good thing is you're moved now, and the settling in can begin. Now you can take your time making everything perfect. The airplanes will be there when you get the time

Jwhitacre1

I finally got around to running up the motor and seeing the wattage. With a 13x6 wood prop I'm at about 423 watts at WOT which will be just perfect. Manufacturer claims it'll go to 543 but I figure 120 under is a good safety margin. That prop does push my ground clearance a bit tight so I might drop down to a 12x8 and test that.

flyingagin

I am clueless on elec planes but that does sound good.

Ken

Jwhitacre1

All things considered I'm far from an expert, but I'm getting better. My rule of thumb is 100W/lb is adequate for trainer types and putter around planes, 125W/lb good for sport flying, 150W you're flying unlimited vertical.

It occured to me at dinner that I had used 2 of my older lipos with less oomf that are for my electric sailplanes. With that in mind I had to start over with the new higher C rated lipos I got specific for this plane. After charging 2 of those up here's what I found:MA 11x8 443WZoar 12x6 475W I'll probably take both props to the field during initial testing to see which I like better.