Mark-that is a great suggestion. He already has a plane, but that would be a great suggestion. I have a Sig Scout that I could just happen to take to the field and let him try. That way he wouldn't have to buy a plane and find out that he couldn't see it either.
Ladd-Where did you pick up the cowl material, local hardware store? What's it called? Don't get me wrong, mine is great, but it took a lot of work to make it nice. Someone out there might need to know and I plan on building one of these on my own in the future.
Roger-Is that shop for just building planes?

I bought the aluminum at Lowe's--in the roofing section. Comes in 10' rolls so I figure I can make a few more cowls for the 6 or 7 bucks I invested. Best part is that I was able to cut it neatly with some cheap scissors from Harbor Freight. If you have a wife that sews you could borrow her Fiskars to do the cut out. Be sure and put them back when you are finished Just a tip.

Cheers,

Ladd

Oh my, oh my! The pressure is on. Yet one more beautiful plane rolls out to the runway. Well done Ladd! I love the pait job too, it really suits the plane. Was it from a full size plane, or something you dreamed up yourself?

Now you just have to build something else. With those skills under the belt, how can you resist?

Wascamp, I've vowed not to complete my plane until yours is in the air. Hurry up man, I want to fly this baby!

I'm thinking that once I've completed mine and displayed the pics, I'd love to see a "Sound off" in pics of all the other tri-pacer builds. Now that would be cool!

MegaMang, Oh gosh, by all means finish and fly her. I am rebuilding the broken fuselage and it's slow going. I need to take a trip into Spokane for some material and then recover and paint. With the work I have been doing on the garage the plane has slowed to a crawl. If you wait for me you may run out of summer. I have so much work to do here in the good weather my building has to take a back seat to the upkeep here at the "Ranch"

wascamp,

If I don't wait for you to finish, what other excuses can I use for my lazyness? BTW, I'm impressed and totally jealous of your garage already!

Ken, you guys are going to have to design a 20' wingspan plane so wascamp can justify the size of his shop!

I've got a few house renovations to complete before I can go nuts on my plane too Roger, so you may yet beat me to the field!

Ken, you dont' have to rush the 20 foot span, the doors are only 10 ft wide. And before you get to envious, MegaMang let me say that most of the garage will be dedicated to vehicle storage. With two pickups, a Durango, the tractor and two small boats I will only have a 12 by 20 foot shop. With woodworking and automotive tool storage that cuts the airplane area down to less than the room I now use in the basement. The only advantage of moving out to the garage is that I can paint and dope in peace. As it is now I have to wait for the wife to clear out before I crack the dope can. I do have an 8 ft span quarter scale ultra lite in the planning stages so my work bench will have to be built accordingly.
One thing I know about house renovations is that they never end. There is always something that just must be done to make the place better. Our last place was under renovation with one project or another for eight years. I finished every project and had to sell it before my wife found something else for me to "IMPROVE" I guess that is the down side of being Handy.
More later.

Any advice on the finished look of a wheel well with retracts. The strut will have a cover. Not getting much help in the other thread. It's like talking to myself.

The finish of a wheel-well - I recall my Canadian Air Force flying days. Standing in the wheel-well of a CF100 fighter while doing a preflight walk-around, finish was the last thing I'd call it. The aluminum was inhibited by a sickly pale greenish-yellow Cad-plate substance and the structure was simply the inside of the wing, boxed around to keep the airflow from going anywhere. The machinery of the retract system was very much in evidence, as were the guages we were in there to check. So don't get fancy - it's the gubbinsworks of the aircraft.
Stan

Hillville, I saw something here in the Scale or Warbird forum that might help. Basically the wheel wells are lined with cardboard, 3X5 cards work. Strips of the paper are glued in to form a well that matches the area covered by the doors. The wheel is surronded as is the leg. zink chromate yellow is applied to the paper and exposed wood to fuel proof it. If you dont' want to do this it is not a big deal. Just paint the the area with some fuel proof paint. Wartime planes were left in the primer green while modern planes use paint that resists the corrosive hydrolic fluids in use today. White is a favorite.

You guys are the best. Here are some pics of our progress if interested.
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_28...tm.htm#2922573

Well it's been awhile so I thought I would update the group as to the progress of my build and the plug for my cowl. I've finished the wing and the fuse is on wheels, just trying to setup the mechanicals and the work out the fuel tank placement. One question that I do have for those that have started and or flown their bird. The stacked 3/8 balsa for the firewall build up. Is this of sufficient strength to carry the vibration and weight of an 70 FS? I'm a little concerned and if you look close at the pictures I have currently bolted the firewall to the front former (for ease of access to the inner fuse for tank install etc.) and I'm not sure if I will leave the bolts in with epoxy or just epoxy and hardwood dowls in place of the bolts once I get the mechanicals worked out. Anyway here are some pics for all to peruse. The plug has had finishing polish done and is currently in it's first coat of parting wax, about five more coats of wax and some mold release and I should be ready to layup the glass to make the mold.

Mahalo
Daryl B.

PS. I don't think I will make my original deadline for the cowl prior to my vacation (to many Honey Dos and not enough flyin and fishin) but there always after vacation.

I had to use 3 pieces of the 3/8 wood and it seems to be fine. But I built a hangar queen. No problems thus far. That is a nice looking cowl, did you see in the thread where one of the big fiberglas producers was looking to make this cowl. You should email them and help everyone out.

Are you using a 2s or 4s in your tripacer?
I did email all of them, looking for a cowl and only got a response from Stan's Fibertech. He asked what size the firewall is. I responded with the size and scanned image of the firewall and thats the last I heard from them.
The plug is the greatest amount of labour, once thats done its a simple matter of making the mold from it and then the best part begins. I get to see what an actual part looks like from the mold. I would guess that the glass part producers are waiting to see what the market will require prior to making a commitment to produce. This is my first attempt at making a mold for a cowl, prior to this I've always used the lost foam method for one offs. I was due for a learning expierience, so I thought I would bite this one off and maybe help out some fellow builders in the process.

Cheers
Daryl B.

I used a two cycle 76. Big and effective. I was afraid that I would hover on first take-off, but it flew like a champ. I still think it might hover, but I'm unwilling to try. Still need help with PICA Spitfire. Contact me if you can assist, anybody??? somebody???

Hello Daryl,
I would be very interested in making a mold of your Tri Pacer cowl and send you a fiberglass one. Please let me know by email if you are interested at [email protected] . I will respond to your email. Thank you.
Craig Schmidt
Fiberglass Specialties
479-359-2429
www.fiberglassspecialtiesinc.com

Sorry for the delay on responding to this, I was getting sunburnt on the North Shore of Oahu. An interesting offer I must say. Although this isn't yet a cowl, it is a plug that a mold will eventually be made from. Once I've pulled a cowl from the mold and verified the fit and that it has a reasonable scale outline, I would be interested in forwarding the plug and perhaps even the mold onto someone that can produce these in a more cost effective manner than I can. If the response is anything like the volume of emails I've been getting, this is going to be a very hot item. I will expedite the completion and post the results ASAP.


Daryl B.

Seems I move to another project and all the jibber jabber ends. Just wanted to check in and give you guys an update. Today I was able to fly the plane with all the kids that built it. It flew like a champ. I took off in the parking lot but had to land in the field due to a slight cross breeze. Kids were very excited and then they returned to their lunches. Now she is in a place of respect hanging on the ceiling. The Spitfire we built next is only half finished. We hit some major road blocks. I have not been able to install the retracts because they hit ribs and need to be trimmed. The fuse is a sanding nightmare and ... It just goes on. I need a quiet room with all my tools and classroom managing anywhere in sight. I'll finish by next year (August in school teacher language). This kind of tells you how easy of a build the tripe was. They finished the bulk of the work in 4 1/2 weeks. We didn't even finish half of the Spit in 9 weeks. I think I am going to build another tripe next year. How's your builds coming? Ken-new kits for me to look over yet???

Glad to hear from you again. Sorry about the Spitfire. I should have warned you about the Dave platt designed fighters. You have to love to sand to enjoy his designs. I built one of his T-28's and a T/F P-40, also one of his, and you must sand every surface. Both of those planes were completely glassed so the wood was only there to hold the shape untill the resin cooked off. They both flew pretty good considering the engines of the time. I used a Fox 60 Read head and it had plenty of power for normal flight manuvers, I rebuilt the broken Tripacer fuselage and still plan on finishing her. I got another kit and started a Pacer version. It builds the same except the landing gear is shaped a little differently. I installed a tail wheel mounting block so I would have somewhere to mount the T/W. It is going slow as I am still building the garage and I only work on the plane an hour or so at night. I will shoot the landing gear set up if any of you are interested.

Roger,
How is the summer going? I am teaching summer school and I decided to check on your building. It is 90 degrees here with high humidity. I tried my hand at a glider (The Fling) yesterday. It is so flat around here that there are no cliffs to throw it off. I don't know how to find thermals and there is no one here who can find gliders to teach me. I plan on putting the plane on my glider lauch on top of a trainer and starting a lot higher. At least I will be able get a little longer time from higher up, even if I can't find the rising air. I too have a big project like your building on my HONEY-DO list. Well it is not quite as big, I'm building a new pier. I have the greatest incentive for finishing. I bought a Sea Dancer from a gentleman and it is ready to go, only I won't fly it until I can launch it from my new pier. How's that for an incentive? If my wife could only learn how to dangle the carrot, "Wash the cars and I'll buy you a servo, feed the kids and I'll buy you some CA, mow the lawn and I'll take you to the hobby shop to look around...

Hillville, You need a "HI-Start" Its a piece of sergical tubing with a stake into the ground and then a piece of cord atatched to the tube. the cord has a ring that engages a hook on the bottom of the glider. ya walk back tell the hi-start is tight and point the glider up at a 45-50 deg angle and hold some up elivator, and release. Up she will go! One word of caussion make sure the stake you use wont come out of the ground accidentialy!!!!!

gliders are fun once you get the hang of them.

It actually came with the high start. Or should I say "Higher than I can throw it start". I'm not new to gliders, I just suck at finding rising air. I'm not sure it exists in my area. I threw the glider several times to trim it and then I tried the high start. Went up great, I just could not find any rising air. I know about trees, cliffs and hills and darker spots in the environment. I just can't make it happen. So I'll put it on a glider launch on a trainer and get her up there. Have you seen the Fling? It is small, if I get her too high, she could be lost easily. Thanks for the suggestion, been there, done that, and then I had to wind it all up again.

OK, Well a nice blacktop parking lot around noon creates some good thermals....

Have you ever had luck in doing this? The temperature here right now is 90 degrees and I am willing to sweat to death and give it a try. Do I need to make tight circles or should I make larger cirlces. My goal is not to scuff up the plane if this plan fails and I need to land in the lot. Thanks for replying, I started flying gliders when learning to fly gas-planes by myself was not working out. I've had a lot of sailplanes and gliders with both electrical and gas engines on power pods. But I have never been able to toss a glider and watch it rise. I read in the magazines about all these guys who can throw there planes off a cliff and fly for quite a while with a little breeze. The whole thing facinates me. I like sitting in a lawn chair just watching a glider cruise through the sky. I would like to figure this out or just have someone tell me it can't be done in the area where I live.

Hillville, If you have cumulus clouds you have rising air. I have never flown an R/C glider, but have a few hours in big ones. The 'toss it off the cliff' method is called slope soaring. The air that is forced to rise as it is pushed upslope is the lift componant. Thermalling is exactly that. You hook up with a rising column of heated air and ride up with it. Once the updraft is found you want to remain in it for as long as possable. This can mean some pretty tight turns. R/C soaring must be tough because the key to catching that air is the lacking. ( The Variometer). I need not mention airspeed control. Find the best" minimum sink airspeed" and use it to prolong your flight time. Remember the glider is always sinking thru it's air column. Even in rising air the glider is falling. Go figure. A wise man once said that Flying is all about experiance, the more you fly the better at it you get. Go fly.