Slow day at CEF

hey Duke

Daydreaming is good

I wish this cedar fever would let me get on with some of those dreams and ideas

Your previous reports on the ALES event are always interesting

It's tons of fun. We are going to have a NW Championship tour this year. So far we have five, two day events, in at least three states. They are like the Bladder Grabber setting, some camp/RV at the field and some motel it or stay with friends. Great fun, great people, and AIRPLANES! Yesterday we had some great flying at our local contest. We fly six rounds and you get one throw away round, so you are scored on your best five rounds. The highest score for a round is 1050, I scored four rounds over 1000 and took last place, the third place guy's throw away round was 1035. First place and third place only had six point difference.

Duke, I would love to be flying but my RC Club runway still has a foot of snow and the grass CL area even more!
At least we are starting to warm up to 32 today! Plenty of time to build!

RK Flyer

That sounds like some stiff competition Duke so third place is not bad at all.

Do your boys go with and participate with you?

Sounds like a lot of fun....of course any day outdoors flying or just watching is always a good thing

RK Flyer wrote:Duke, I would love to be flying but my RC Club runway still has a foot of snow and the grass CL area even more!
At least we are starting to warm up to 32 today! Plenty of time to build!

RK Flyer  

We would fly even if it snowed. We missed one conest last year , due to rain in November.

fredvon4 wrote:That sounds like some stiff competition Duke so third place is not bad at all.

Do your boys go with and participate with you?

Sounds like a lot of fun....of course any day outdoors flying or just watching is always a good thing

I landed in last place not third.

The boys come when they can. My 16 year old still makes most of the ALES contest, but is starting to work a little and a girl is starting to come into the picture. My 18 year old works weekends, but is taking this saturday off to go to the RC Expo and swap meet and of course he'll be at the Bladder Grabber.

Sorry Duke I misread...danged allergy meds

Any how sounds like you have fun and I have the same problem with my son...work or women. On the other hand I am happy he is employed and can afford to date....grin

I met your sons and they are fine young men

Right now I AM planning on Bladder Grabber this year so I hope to see you then

No reason to be sorry Fred, I hope you are feeling better now. The boys are pretty good kids, I'm a little sad they can't join me more often. I'm starting to train up my little nephew, as a future airplane buddy. I bought the nephew two free flight planes for christmas. I hope you can make it to the Grabber.

Well Cedar fever season has past and now into the rainy part of spring with 40 lows and 70+ highs and I have been puttereing each day one my several builds

While covering the two Big Otto's with polyspan I kept burning my fingers trying to cover the wing tips so I went in search of a much smaller heat gun

https://www.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Tools/SFE-Heaterizer-Instructions-01.pdf

You have to read these instructions....they are very funny

I paid a bit over $19 with shipping and it is a much easier to use little heat gun than my big industrial model I was using all these years

Once I finish the covering I will try some after photos

I am not doping the polyspan but second covering with SLC over the semi white poly that I may or may not lightly spray some color on first before the slc goes over it

Fred, why didn't you just use SLC and be done with it? That's a lot of weight for a 1/2A. I would skip the SLC and give it a few coats of dope and some color. That's me though. Seeing you have both types of coverings, you could've tried one in SLC and the other in the Polyspan. The SLC takes paint quite well surprisingly. Some of Phil's planes look very nicely done. All he does is scuff it a bit and wipes it off with some acetone. Ken

I have one of those on my wishlist at Sparkfun. I didn't read the instruction sheet before and that is QUITE funny.

Phil

fredvon4 wrote: While covering the two Big Otto's with polyspan I kept burning my fingers trying to cover the wing tips so I went in search of a much smaller heat gun

https://www.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Tools/SFE-Heaterizer-Instructions-01.pdf

You have to read these instructions....they are very funny

I read them to my wife.. and she said; "That can't be real".. I said; "Why not"? She said; "They wouldn't allow that in this country".. I said; "If you ask me.. it's pretty clever. Even if you think it's ridiculous.. you'll read it all, just to satisfy your curiosity". Much better than robot-lawyer-technical language. Even the drawing looks like a canister vacuum cleaner.. so you read, just to be sure that you got what you ordered. The warnings/cautions are all there.. mixed-in with light-hearted humor. A kid would be apt to read it.. and probably get much more out of it, than if it was written in a purely technical format. Either way.. reading the instructions lets you know what to expect.

The most sensible instructions I have seen for some time.

Ken you are right.... And my note is not well written

I am doing one Big Otto with poly and dope finish, and one based on Larry Renger's Stunthanger thread about "SLC OVER Polyspan"

And Bob Mears has been doing a different method with light mist of white on glue side of doculam to simulate a silk and dope finish that looks pretty good

I am experimenting with several methods....even plan on true silk n dope for one or two airplanes like the Big Iron and Nemesis as soon as I get my techniques re-trained

I do expect each of the Big Ottos to probably be a bit porky with either method above, acknowledging that just the SLC alone would be the proper way to finish for proper 1/2a light weight airplane

fredvon4 wrote:So my allergy stuffy head is not getting the needed inspiration to drive on with my projects

I recently decided that as long as I had a BUNCH of air-frames to dope and cover I might as well add a few different projects to the mix

Home made TLAR reedie plane....think I will name it TLAR


2 Wooten / Black Hawk kit demons
1 Mathis /Black Hawk kit Mongoose


2 Musciano Big Ottos scratch builds


Waiting building board space is/are;
A full sized and 1/2a Nemesis--- a Howard Rush combat plane. The full size will be built from a Pat Johnston laser cut short kit and notes pluc CAD drawing from Howard hisself. The 1/2a from a plan Ron Cribbs sent me scratch built out of on hand balsa and ply

A Veco Kit of the Carl Berryman Big Iron a favorite of Marvin Denny who sold me a boat load of his famous junk barrel Fox Mk IV/Vis

I scored two original Goldberg VooDoo kits and shipped the long boom version of to Ron (after I copied the boom profile)...grin...Those kits both had terrible wood so I am sorting through my stash and selecting wood to make a light silk n dope VooDoo from several series of Riley Wooten notes

Most of these old skool combat planes will get semi period correct engines I have been accumulating...Johnson CS, Green head Torpedoes, Fox 36X ect etc...

Fred where is a good place to get balsa wood to make a solid wing 1/2A- .15 size planes?Is sig a good place?

Sig sells nice wood. They also stock "weird" shapes that nobody else seems to carry. If you just need flat wood check other sources too. I have dealt with Sig, and they are pretty easy to deal with. Their shipping prices encourage a person to order a stack of stuff.

I have not personally dealt with these other three. They are in my bookmark list because others have mentioned them.
http://shop.balsausa.com/Default.asp
http://www.nationalbalsa.com/default.asp
http://www.specializedbalsa.com/index.php

Phil

Loaded question Old Guy

I really like the selection and prices I get at Sig...they do have contest balsa

Other places have good selection as well but you pay a premium for "select grade"

Your question is curious as I would not consider any thing larger than 1/2a for a slab wing since there are so many options for the bigger planes be it built up or foam

I have/had a problem with the shown 4" Sig flat bottom airfoil shaped balsa in that I wanted a wider chord (5") but when I scabbed on the 1" sheet wood the entire wing keeps warping and at each stage of finishing I must soak in water and weigh it down to reestablish a flat bottom...

I really like working foam and don't enjoy building wings with a bunch of ribs

For example I have the following to build or in process:

I want two of each....good looking hanger queen and one to try and re-kit, ah, er, I mean fly.... maybe

Demon
Voodoo
Big Iron
Sneeker
Equalizer
Jerkline spacial
Nemesis
Flite Streak
Mongooose
Winder
Satan
Jr Satan
Clown
Jr ringMaster
S-1 RingMaster
Jr Jumping Bean
Big Otto
and several self designs

I have kits for most and the ability to cut foam... not too hard to use a rib template to re-create a built up wing to foam

And I must say if you desire to get off the beaten path some...get Phil Cartier or a few other sources to cut you foam wings in standard dimensions and make up your own unique fuselage and tail feathers

working wing designs are all well documented and you simply copy tail feather MOMENTS and area and nose length to balance

Most of the time you will have a well behaved model that you can name as OLD GUY Supper....XXXXXXXXX

Old Guy if not ....become a member of Stunt hanger.... lots more there on the care and feeding of OUR habit

I love CEF but frequent///// Stunt Hanger, RC Universe, RC groups, Stuka Stunt, Brother Hood of the ring

each has poor and GREAT feel

fredvon4 wrote:Loaded question Old Guy

I really like the selection and prices I get at Sig...they do have contest balsa

Other places have good selection as well but you pay a premium for "select grade"

Your question is curious as I would not consider any thing larger than 1/2a for a slab wing since there are so many options for the bigger planes be it built up or foam

I have/had a problem with the shown 4" Sig flat bottom airfoil shaped balsa in that I wanted a wider chord (5") but when I scabbed on the  1" sheet wood the entire wing keeps warping and at each stage of finishing I must soak in water and weigh it down to reestablish a flat bottom...

I really like working foam and don't enjoy building wings with a bunch of ribs

For example I have the following to build or in process:

I want two of each....good looking hanger queen and one to try and re-kit, ah, er, I mean fly.... maybe

Demon
Voodoo
Big Iron
Sneeker
Equalizer
Jerkline spacial
Nemesis
Flite Streak
Mongooose
Winder
Satan
Jr Satan
Clown
Jr ringMaster
S-1 RingMaster
Jr Jumping Bean
Big Otto
and several self designs

I have kits for most and the ability to cut foam... not too hard to use a rib template to re-create a built up wing to foam

And I must say if you desire to get off the beaten path some...get Phil Cartier or a few other sources to cut you foam wings in  standard dimensions and make up your own unique fuselage and tail feathers

working wing designs are all well documented and you simply copy tail feather MOMENTS and area and nose length to balance

Most  of the time you will have a well behaved model that you can name as OLD GUY Supper....XXXXXXXXX

Old Guy if not ....become a member of Stunt hanger.... lots more there on the care and feeding of OUR habit

I love CEF but frequent///// Stunt Hanger, RC Universe, RC groups, Stuka Stunt, Brother Hood of the ring

each has poor and GREAT feel

Yes i think it was a loaded question.Yes worried about warp.And it would probably just be for 1/2A planes.
Tanks