Anthony,

On the red plane, i was doing the low knife edge passes within 5 PASSES with the plane. it was that close to my orange one. These planes trim very nicely if you follow what Mike and I have come up with. It trims really easily. I was a little more cautious with my orange one as we didnt have everything dialed in at that point. One other VERY important point about the red one...It wasnt mine... No matter what happened to it on that first flight, my orange one was sitting safe and sound on the ground behind me...

If I was around, i'd be happy to do low knife edge passes with your plane...

Arch

Wow really nice plane. Mark has great color scheme's. I hope he brings it to the Hoffman Estates contest this weekend. As far as Mark flying it well on it's first flight comes as no surprise to me. At the shootout he picked up Bill Prichards Genesis and flew it very well with no practice and I know that a Genesis is not an easy plane to fly well so this thing should compete very well.
Hey I've been lucky enough to get some nice early looks at Deans new creation. OMG is all I can say OMG!!!!! Can't wait to see it at the Nats. Mike Mueller

No kidding guys....Dean is keeping his latest under wraps, but trust me, this one is over the top out of the park.

Mark and Anthony's planes are no suprises, I know mark's rep as a builder and I expected a sweet plane....and I can tell just by pics, it's sweet!! Mark called me after the maidens, he was a happy guy for sure...and that's what makes me a happy guy.

I see how you are Arch....fly the crap outa my plane and keep yours safe!!!! LOL Just teasing, if there's one person in this world who doesn't care about losing a plane, it's me, and trust is a big factor. But if it's a good one, get video!! If they're gonna die, might as well make it spectacular. [8D] but in truth when these things are set up like Arch's post over on my forum, you can't lose. If it doesn't fly darned near perfect then something is just off and you have to find it. After that it's a matter of dialing throws and expos to you liking.

I REALLY appreciate the pics and the good words, this kind of stuff makes my day go by a lot smoother! And a lot of them are taking to the air lately, so it's really cool.

Now I gotta get back to work....make more planes and stuff [8D]

-Mike

Oh one more thing to add....just because....

I am also guilty of telling Arch to "push it" and go for the edge. He doesn't even ask "are you sure?" Just "ok let's do this".

heck last year when he had the prototype, I actually told him "ok, we have all of the info we need....now see if you can break it in flight." What followed was full throttle downline snaps/blenders and probably a lot that I don't want to know about LOL

But, it didn't break, so that answered a question I had about the method I was using on the wing of that particular plane....it won't break.

Breaking it on the ground is another story though...

-M

Hi Wendell,

Here are your instructions: http://www.perrypumps.com/VP-20%20and%20VP-22.pdf

I'm using the VP30 on my OS 1.60. The VP20 wasn't as good in my opinion. Some are using the OS 1.40 RX pump with a custom back-plate which works very well.

Cheers
Jason.

Would the custom backplate be made from the excented plate.

No it's made from bar stock aluminium and CNC machined. They sell for $100 AUD but then you need to buy an OS pump for it. The VP30 is a far cheaper alternative. I can put you in contact with the guy that makes the back-plates if you so wish.

Cheers
Jason.

Great looking airplane Anthony, and GORGEOUS flying field! Where is that located?

Ryan,
Thanks for the compliments. I am on pins and needles to get it done and will be working on it every waking non work moment for the next four or five days. seeing Mark maiden his has lit a fire under by butt and has me seriously motivated.

That is the club field in Burton, Ohio. It is a very nice field on a farm. Probably one of the nicest fields in the area but a hard club to get into. It took me a year and change on the waiting list.

Arch,
I do not intend to reinvent the wheel on this one. The way I see it, better builders and pilots than I have gone through the trouble to see where it sets up best, I would be a fool not to learn from their experiences. I intend to follow your set up parameters to the letter including throws, incidence, and starting C of G.

Mike,
From what I see you designed a great airplane!! It presents more like a 40% plane than a two meter pattern plane. In reality I should start on my next one right now so I can fly it next spring. If mine flies anything like Marks, and there aren't too many reasons why it wouldn't (mine is heavier than his due to a filler mishap), I will need a change of undewear and a crowbar to pry the smile off my face.

40% plane....do you know that was EXACTLY the impression I had the first time we flew it? It flies more like a 40% plane than a 2 meter. Just a LOT more nimble.

Watch the weight Anthony....treat it like you KNOW it's going to be 14 lbs and rig it etc from here with that mentality, and you should be fine with plenty to spare. Weigh everything, assume nothing. Every last screw. Think "could this be lighter".

So far it looks great!!! (although I have to get you guys to tape off the insides when you paint!) LOL I can't wait to see it flying. You'll become best friends with this plane in a hurry. I'd at LEAST try and find a way to get the overspray off the carbon faces. Probably careful application of MEK would do the trick....CAREFULLY....

Oh BTW has anybody seen the July issue of MA? I got mine today, saw the cover "Skin wings like a pro". I thought to myself, "this should be interesting".....turned to page 49, and man, how cool is THAT!? I had no idea...Mark did a great article on wing skinning. You guys should all read it. Just one more technique (that works!) to add to your arsenal.

On a more somber note, finally went to the eye doctor today. Was hoping for glasses, ended up being referred to a specialist for testing...as my optic nerves are going downhill fast. Not sure what this means for my future, but it's scary. As long as it can be fixed or halted, cool. Otherwise, my time as a competetive pattern pilot might be running out. No matter what I am still doing these planes and new ones, I can still see just fine in the shop!! But I need to see what's up with this, just letting you guys know (that give a crap) what's been up with my flying and such...

Carry on, and Dean post some pics when you're done!

-Mike

Hey Mike,

Man that is tough news, keep your chin up and follow up on those Drs. Appts and keep us updated. I knew something was up and I am glad your getting help.


I also want to thank everyone again for all the support over the last month. It's been a tough year so far for a lot of people and my family and myself are grateful for all the help and kindness, thank you everybody!

I have been getting a lot of painting done, and I think I am finally done with my personal nats plane - 9 colors and it's ready to clear, I hope to be able to start final wet sanding and prep work for clear tonight and if all goes well Clear it in the wee hours of friday morning before all the bugs hatch....

here is a sneak peek of my canopy

thanks again all.....

Dean

Allright Anthony, you done yet? We're all waitin to see your new ride [8D] Sleep is overrated. LOL

I won't have anything new for the Nats (except maybe the 110 with me for giggles), but pretty much everyone around me has cool new toys. I would really love to get all the Magics together for a group pic, just because it would be a neat keepsake....might be more...if I got some cool hats made would that be enough incentive to try and coordinate something like that after the pilots meeting?

-Mike

PS See you D2 guys this weekend!

Hey Anthony,

As Mike says - "it's done when it's done", and Mike knows about burning the midnight oil. I bet your feeling the "shop burn" by now.

Get used to it brother, but once those wheels lift off the ground it will all be worth it ! Especially after you land from the first flight and think to yourself I created and built that pattern ship myself - that is when it will really hits you - just how awesome a project like this is.

just keep going we got less than a month till nats.....

good luck my friend !!!


-dean

Thanks for all of the encouragement. I would get this baby finished much faster if I didn't have that silly thing called 'work' slowing me down. I have gotten to the point where I go to sleep thinking about building and wake up thinking about building. I worked on it till late last night and unfortunately worked ten minutes longer than I should have. I was trying to completely eliminate the ridge between colors and sanded through the @#*&%$# paint, oh well, it can be fixed, it just means I have to tape and shoot touch up paint, then sand again. I swear it feels like there are three passes with at piece of worn out 600 grit between perfect and sanding through.

I am being extremely careful with weight as I have been the whole time. If I had it to do over again I know exactly where I would make changes. The next one will be much lighter. It appears I will be close to the weight limit but not over. I did some things with wood that I needed spot putty to make right and that crap weighs a ton. I am probably 3 to 4 ounces above where I should be.

Mike,
Every time I look inside my plane I hate that I didn't mask off the canopy opening to keep overspray from getting in there. My plan is to clean it up as well as possible on the wood and lightly sand the carbon fiber then shoot it with clear coat. By the time the plane is done it will be beautiful inside and out.

At some point we have to get a Black Magic group picture. It would be awesome to have 30+ Black Magics polished and lined up all pretty. Now there is a cover photo!!!

Hi Anthony,

Okay so your as sick as the rest of us, going to bed with thoughts of your plane and waking to think "what's next" - WELCOME TO THE CLUB - We love guys like you, man if you ever come to Atlanta, call me and come over, we will hang out all night in the shop talking and doing. You got the energy and desire to do well.

a couple things about tape lines.....

You should be color sanding with 1200 - 1500 grit - that 600 grit will cut your color to quickly to control. I only use 600 wet on primer not color. another good tip is as soon as you shoot color rotate the plane inverted in the stand so the paint "sags" away from the tape. what happens is the paint sags along the tape line and give a heavy edge. There is no finish that has perfectly leveled tape lines period. there is always a very slight build up. Even the best paint jobs require work finishing/leveling the color before clear coat.

wet sand with 1500 paper along your tape lines. just be care not to cut through the color. You can level things when you go to clear.

You might want to shoot an extra coat of clear and then wet sand your clear coat to level your paint lines.

You could even do a 2-stage clear coat - wet sanding that first coat to level things and shoot a second coat to fill and finish.

Don't get too worried about your first plane, you will keep getting better with experience. With more experience you will get very thin coats and leveling will become less of an issue. It takes time to understand how the paints and other products work best and how to control your equipment. Remember this experience is an investment, it will pay off on your next build. Just keep moving forward...

Keep up the great work brother!

Anthony,

Listen to old Chicken Joe Dean, he knows what he's talking about. I too have just spent those long nights sanding repainting and sanding again. I painted the Monster Magic a few posts back and it to was my first. It's not perfect by any means and I know every little mistake I made and know where each and everyone are at. But when it's all together and buffed out and on the field flying they all go away. My son Chris gets to fly that V3 which was all framed up by Mike and I believe I put 4 gallons of paint on and sanded off 5. Even though I don't get to fly it (at all) the reward of seeing my son fly it and do so well is unspeakable. Dean and Mike both and Mike Wingo baby sat me through the whole process and without those guys I don't know if I could have finished it. I did have a few thoughts "why in the hell didn't I just cover this thing in monokote". But I pushed on and got it done and the results were a lot better than I thought they would be. So keep pushing and Get-R-Dun.

Larry Odom
Team Black Magic

Anthony is in pretty good hands up north there. Atwood will take good care of him. I'm sure his plane will look just as good as Atwood's when its all said and done.

Can't wait to see it in person,

Arch

dean,

just wanted to say: that canopy looks sick!! very impressive. i can't wait to see how the rest of the plane turns out.

cheers, dave

Dean I thought these's planes were build for flying not for show. If mine turned out looking as good as yours it would be just for show because I would be afraid to fly it, know what I mean.

thanks guys....

I am resisting the urge to do more painting on my plane and go to clear. But since my "other" job is slow and and I got time to play with my vector drawings, spray masks and airbrushes, what the heck.... I may just do some more painting this afternoon, then clear this weekend, I just want to be flying next weekend so I've got a little more time to play

I'll be sure to go over what I did to do that cool negative masked pearl paint effect on the canopy. It's actually fairly easy to do that canopy effect. It's also on my V2 that's on the other thread.

The cool thing is - I am trying to do all of my painting in a way that I can reproduce my art and do multiple planes that are matched, I've learned so much in the last couple years and doing the electric twins was a great learning experience.

Yes, it's all digital design, I am using both - CAD and the professional drawing program called Adobe Illustrator.

I have been designing my painting schemes on the full sized CAD drawings, that way I can design a spray mask that fit's perfectly. I've also developed a system to align my spray mask on the plane, I even have a way to design a spray mask to mask the canopy trim line. that swoosh of natural carbon on my canopy would be a bear to tape by hand and get both sides to match. With my spray mask, I was able to mask off my canopy in about 5 mins and it's perfectly symmetrical and repeatable.

I guess after Nats I will do a design and painting thread - I will show you guys how to do everything and all high end stuff that you see on those high dollar arfs...

Here is another sneak peak of the front of the canopy.

I am going to wet sand this stage of clear and do another coat of clear for finish- maybe two more stages just to get all the weave texture flat, it doesn't add much weight if you shoot it with the Sata.

Dean,
I was impressed with your canopy when I thought you masked it by hand, then you mentioned your technique and I thought, oh man he cheated, then I was even more impressed that you figured out a way to do in five minutes what would have taken me a full evenings work. Outstanding

Broken record alert:
I just want to take a second and let all of you guys know how much I appreciate everything, from the free tech support (without the Indian accent), the helpful hints, the encouragement, all the way through the trailblazing trial and error work that keeps us hacks from suffering through it alone. We sincerely appreciate the guys that put in all the hours designing and flight testing so we have great planes to fly every year.

Arch was right, I am in very good hands up here. I can not tell you how many times during the build I completely screwed (pronounced with an F) something up just to have Mark cock his head to the side like a dog looking at a computer and say "what the hell did you do"? Then proceed to fix something I struggled with for hours in 2 short minutes.

Long but funny story:
It was a typical Sunday work session, We had sheeted all 8 wing halves and stabs the session before and were cutting out the elevators and capping leading and trailing edges. Mark had written all the measurements for cut lines on the plans and I had just about finished cutting and capping one of my stab halves. It came out pretty well and I was feeling groovy. It was getting about time to wrap it up and the second football game had ended so it was time to head home. I decided to take the stab home with me and finish it before our next session. When Mark is watching me build I am like the nerdy kid strutting around the playground with his jock big brother beside him, I fear nothing! At home it is a different story. He had given me the plan sheet and I had gone through it once so I thought how hard can it be? Well, first off, I cut through the sheeting on one side, then the other, but somehow, despite measuring four times and cutting once, I still managed to miss by a mile. I sawed my way through and looked at the trailing edge of the stab, the balsa was all jagged and the foam had a kind of V shape to it where I struggled to make the individual cuts meet in the middle. Funny, the other one didn't look like that when I did it at Mark's house. No problem. I got out the T-Bar with the 80 grit paper on it (don't laugh it seemed like a good idea at the time) I figured that a couple of light passes would true that up nicely. By the time I finished sanding the leading edge of the elevator and the trailing edge of the stab, the balsa and foam were both pretty smooth. Little did I know that they were now a completely different shape, and the combination of missing my cut line and sanding away had miraculously shrunk my stab half. I got out the tape, wood glue, and balsa strips and was ready to get back on track. I glued it all up and it didn't look bad, but something just wasn't right hmmmm. Next build session I proudly showed Mark my work. I told him I had some issues but a little sanding fixed it right up. He took one look (the look I mentioned earlier) and dropped his signature phrase. He got out the ruler and started measuring, shook his head and said "why is this stab half a quarter inch smaller than the other one? Upon further inspection we realized that it wasn't even that simple, it was 1/4 inch smaller in some places, 3/8 in others and somewhere in between in others. To make matters worse, it was completely the wrong shape, glued at an angle, and cocked out toward the root end. We live in a three dimensional world and I managed to get my stab half wrong in all three. He thought for a minute and said, OK, this is what we need to do to fix this. He put down what he was working on and grabbed an exacto knife and went to work. When the balsa dust cleared it looked better than new and he went back to working on the three airplanes he was building.

That is the kind of guy he is, and the kind of help I have gotten along the way. It all seems like such a long time and a lot of lessons ago. If I started now, it would take me about a month to thank everyone that has helped me since I started flying pattern. It is difficult to think about without getting at least a little emotional. The concept of people, often people I have never met, willingly stepping up to volunteer their assistance restores my faith in humanity. I think that is why I feel it when we lose friends in the pattern community as we seem to do every year. I feel for all those that have struggled or that we have lost. You guys are more than just guys playing with the same kind of toys I like, you are family and that means the world to me!

Thank you
Anthony

Dean,

That canopy is SICK! Way too coool! You need to do "reclining silver t*tty women" (like on redneck mudflaps and other truck accessories) on the tail!<G>

G

I know - I was going to do something a little more "stacked" but when my wife saw it, well......

the M-16 girl is cool, now I am a peace loving person, anti-war and all that - but it was a good substitute for a big set of T* T*s

I also did the character from "Planet Terror" with the machine gun leg - but she didn't work as well, too much detail.

thanks and glad you guys are liking this stuff....


I am working on the final stage of masks...

Hi Anthony,

Yes, 5 mins to apply two spray masks on each side of the canopy - that gives you a perfect canopy line and that swoosh behind the canopy. I tried taping something like that and yer right - you sit up all night, it never looks right and you end up pulling the tape off and starting over in the morning anyhow, never get it right and do the basic canopy line as a fall back...

There is a method and reason for this madness...

I want to help the average builder/painter to be able to push their paint schemes and finishes beyond what is typically done by the average kit builder. I have spent countless hours - developing techniques that go beyond the simple tape and 3 color paint jobs most builders fall back on.

What If you can do a high end paint job in about the same amount of time it takes to do a simple 3 color striped scheme ???

I am mostly reinventing in my shop the techniques that are being used by those high end ARF companies overseas. I am lucky as I have a background in old school and digital design and art. So all of this stuff is EASY and I am trying to make it FAST to do. The tool behind all this is a vinyl cutter and spray masks.

The cool thing is I can go back and recreate any paint job I designed without having to have the original plane as reference.

back at it....