Friday, August 29, 2008

Jap Tissue over Polyspan technique


Cover with Polyspan, shrink and apply 2 coats of dope.
Sand with 600 wet/dry paper to eliminate fur.

Attach tissue like the Polyspan wasn't there.
Use Acetone through the tissue and activate the dope on the Polyspan. Be very careful not to spread it all over.
Water shrink the tissue and let it thoroughly dry.
Brush on a light coat of Acetone to attach the shrunk tissue to the doped Polyspan.
Use a Monocoat iron to eliminate any wrinkles.
Apply two coats of thin dope and re-check for wrinkles. Add a third coat of thin dope to finalize.
If you just want to add tissue letters, just tack them down with Acetone. If they're smooth, apply a light coat of Acetone and use the iron to eliminate wrinkles.

Thermals,
GOD Bless America


Gene Wallock

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Getting ready for the SAM Champs


Here's Dad's new RC-1 yet to be flown. Super Tigre .40 rear rotor.




Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Lesson from Tandy




This afternoon after I got the Bomber and the Airborn cleaned up from flight testing, I unbolted the SuperTiger G21/35 from the Fubar 600X airframe and removed the crankcase pressure line. While this line into the tank was not completely stopped up, it had a thick sticky residue on the inside. So I hooked up a line from the engine's crankcase pressure fitting and ran it into a bowl of water as shown below. With the glow plug removed, I spun the prop, but there were no bubbles produced in the water. This indicated that the pressure fitting screwed into the upper left corner of the back plate was stopped up.

I removed the pressure fitting from the back of the engine and found it was completely clogged up with a dark brown "grunt" that looked a lot like hardened varnish. Hanging dormant for four years had allowed the small .018" hole in the fitting to become sealed over. After soaking the pressure fitting in Acetone for about an hour, I used a .018" drill bit and reamed out the hole in the pressure fitting as shown below. Then I cleaned up the pressure fitting inside and out.

I screwed the pressure fitting into the upper left corner of the back plate and reinstalled the engine in the Fubar airframe. I filled the fuel tank with alcohol and put on the prop, but left the glow plug out. I put a black tubing extension on the fuel line and ran the end into a bowl as shown below. I spun the prop and the crankcase pressure pumped the tank completely dry! Wa-La, the problem is now fixed.

The lesson learned in this exercise is that if you let an engine set unrun over a long period of time (years), you need to clean out the small .018" hole in the pressure fitting before you try to run it again. Now I need to go back out to the field soon and test fly the Fubar 600X. I also need to practice the climb out on both the Airborn and the little Bomber until I can keep them in the groove up to the 35 second engine cut off time and also work on my transition..........................Tandy

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Flying at the Shelby Airport 8-12-08

Hi Guys,

Gil Morris and I tried to fly today at the Shelby Airport. Gil did some test glides on his folding wing model. He has to fly it at a larger field. The Albatross give him some problems with the ignition system. One problem occurred when the hi tension lead broke at the solder connection to the coil. I (Bucky) glued it back on with thick CA. Bingo he got spark and the engine ran in short bursts. There is another problem which was not solved on the field. No flights on the Albatross.

I test glided the Super Phoenix several times. I had to shim up the leading lead of the wing about 3/8 of an inch. in order to achieve a flat glide. Also add a 1/16 shim under the trailing edge of the stab. This shim screwed up the locking shims for the rear of the stab. Which also caused the rudder to twist to the right very slightly due the DT Rubber Bands. Well we had a glide lets try the first power flight. As you can see from the photos the model banked sharply to the right and came right back to me. Luckily the engine quit running but I hit the ground and the model crashed in front of me. One bent landing gear. No problem to fix.

All day long I kept adding left thrust and removing the incidence in the wing. As the flights got longer the glide showed a slight stall. Finally I was down to 1/16 incidence in the wing and removed the 1/16 shim under the stab trailing edge. This lock the rear shims back in place and the rudder back at natural. Gil told me to increased the engine run time. I was using an old Elmic timer. It was a pain to try to set a time. It took about an half hour to set a repeatable time. We wanted to get a higher altitude so we could check the glide.

Well we got a higher altitude but the glide was straight as an arrow and heading towards the hangers. Bingo it hit the front of the hanger just below the roof. The wing popped off and slide on the roof and the rest fell to the ground. Damage - the left metal motor mount bent slightly.

Things to do:

Straighten the motor mount.

Order a Texas Timer. It is on order!

Rest up from one hectic day.

I was so tired that Gil chased my second last flight. He is in his eighties, I am in my late seventies.

End of flying report.

Bucky

















Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Latest from Bucky Walter





Hi Guys,
Latest effort - Super Phoenix - modified with a two wheel landing gear instead of a one wheel landing gear. Makes it easier to start the engine.
I made a political statement by placing the American Flag on the rudder. One guy running for the President of the United States just had the American Flag removed from the fin of his private jet. Enough Said!
The model is covered with polyspan. I used a glue stick that kids use for sticking paper together for applying the polyspan on the bare balsa frame Used nitrate dope and trimmed with red and black Jap tissue.
I still have to add some decals and my name to the model. Also the biggie - run the engine in the model. I still have to weigh the model. Would you believe it balances right on the CG.
With the two wheel landing gear the model resembles a Kerswap. As we all know Gil Morris designed the Kerswap.
Bucky