I haven't been around for a while. My wife recently suffered from a stroke and I have been putting in the overtime to pay the doctors. I did manage to get a little done in my free time. I assembled the cowl and glassed the outside. Finished the fuse and started finish sanding all the parts prior to assembly. This bird is a lot of work.

hey, i was looking through this thread and i couldnt help but notice the type of weights you were using on your plane. im also a hard core hunting/shooting fan and was wondering what kinda rifle those bullets were for.......its my two favorite things brought together! and good luck with the build

Sorry to hear about your wife. Hope she is doing okay. The plane is looking pretty good as it comes along.

Andrew:
The "weights" are various cartridges. 45 LC (long Colt), 40 S&W, 12ga, 270 Winchester and 270 Weatherby Magnum. Each has different weights and a flat bottom, nice for pinpoint placement.

blwblw:
She is doing much better. At 31, she is a little young to be having a stroke, but young enough to recover quickly. She got hauled off in an ambulance on Friday, was back to work on Tuesday and back to full time on Thursday. Tough girl, one of the reasons I married her, that and the spinning roundhouse kicks that make it look soo easy.

The biggest distraction to this build was my Funtana. You caught the "was". Blender > inverted flat spin > knife edge spin > too low to recover when I stalled the elevator on recovery. I guess I'll get done rather quickly now that I don't have anything to fly.

Back to work.

Glad she is doing fine.

I saw a Funtana 40 lose the rudder (mostly) and crash. It looked repairable. I wish they put those out as kits. I think I would have a couple if they did.

When the Funtana crashed it was nose down. The engine ended up behind the wing with a broken crank. I won't go into gory details.

I ran into a large obstacle, the engine I had intended for this plane, an O.S. 46LA, is too small. The forward holes in the lug would sit out in space and the rear ones would be at the forward edge of the mount. My FA91 has a broken crank and the 100 is too much juice, even for me. I guess I cannot go cheap on this one.

I have made use of the time to prepare it for covering. I had not taken the time in previous builds to properly prepare the plane for covering. I usually gave it a cursury once over with 220, shop vac and then a towl wetted with solvent. In too much of a hury. Now that I have nothing better to do I actually did something with the 220. I even finish sanded with 500. I took it to work and blew it off with shop air and a little rubdown with tac cloth and WOW. I can definately see the diference. I think that the investment of a little time here was well spent.

Now lets see if I can get the coins for a 50SX before I am done with the rest of it. I would like to get a preliminary balance before I cover it, or at least the top of the wing.

The wife suprised me with a O.S. 46 AX. All I have left to do is finish the covering, silky smooth wood makes for silky smooth covering, re-install all the stuff and pre flight it. At this rate I should be done some time next year.

Well, this is my progress so far. Balancing was fun with the battery pack halfway back from the trailing edge of the wing on the right side of the fuse and a 150 gr. Barnes X at the right wing tip. I still need to apply the 1/4" black trim stripes and set the control throws. I might maiden it Sunday, or later if something turns up. The weather has been funky down here in the land of eternal sunshine. We need the rain anyway.

I'm done. If the weather holds I'll maiden it on Sunday. I'll have my wife and digital camcorder with me, so video will be taken. Let's see if I can keep it in one piece.

I kept it in one piece. It helps that I did not do much besides circles and an Immelman turn. Here is a still from the video when I was returning it to the pits, in one piece.

solafein: I just noticed this thread. Congrats on your maiden today!

I laughed my butt off on the pic of your fuselage side being 'weighted' down!

Thanks.

how many flights do ya have on yer bird now,,,,,,I have been workin on my tracer for almost 2 years now .lol....I have been busy with other planes!!! I moved across the country and it is taking forever too find all my airplane stuff!!!!! lol