We went flying last evening (Friday)."We" being Paul Smith, just back from his winter hibernation in Florida, and me and a group from the club.

I've been assembling this model for nearly 15 years, and the left wing is difficult to slide onto the wing tube.The flap and aileron cables must be fed through the hole in the cabin top,as the wing is slid on.The wing strut is attached to the wing via hinges,so it hangs down,as it's being installed.The cabin roof is a piece of plastic,securely fastened at the forward end, with two screws aft,that (when removed) allow it to fold up, for wing retention bolt access.....While attempting to do all this, the conversations went thusly....

1-"You need to fix that" 2"you forgot to take the screws out" 3" put some oil on it"-4 "watch the strut"..5 "here, let me get those wires"6 "what is this covered with?"7" did you build this?" 8 "I've never seen a Cub with wheel pants"9 What does this weigh?" 9 What size motor's in here?-a 90??? in a 1/4 scale?,-man you need at least a Sissa 33, in a 1/4 scale Cub !"10 "Earl, what's this ?" For nearly ten minutes the grilling continued.
WE finally got it assembled, started ,and on the runway

I throttled up to 3800 rpms,( there's a 'tic' mark on the transmitter) and as the ol' Cub trundled down the runway, the tail slowly came up, she got light, and we commited aviation once more, amid shouts of "See I told you you need a bigger engine."

Me'n the Cub had a fine time, doing approaches, touch and goes, and 1 acceptable three point landing.

Let 'em talk.We love Friday night get-togethers.

I get involved in discussions at RC Groups, to expand my thought processes, to learn things, and to share my experiences.

There's currently a discussion about scratch-building and kits being built by us old guys.
I highly disagree with the 'age' thing, and I don't believe adequate research was ever conducted to determine what the average age actually is.

I like to design my own scale models now,copying the best points of all the kits I've ever assembled.
But sometimes you want to go too far,with scale,and by the time I get a scale assembly finished, I'm already thinking how I can do it "better"...-It's never good enough......with a kit,I can just stop,once I run out of pieces...

Such is modeling.

At some POINT in time,there COMES a time when you need to think 'outside the box'

After traveling 150 miles to a model fly-in,only to discover I had forgotten my wing tube, some sort of substitute was needed, if I was going to fly.

Well, I 'm not afraid of trying, so off I went to the local "Lowes" to find one.They didn't have any aluminum tubing, so I dejectedly started to leave, when I saw an 'extension handle' for applying roof sealant.It was the right diameter ,(1"), and the right price,($4.74), but it was- steel!

I unlocked "THE BOX", bought it, and paid the fine gentleman to hacksaw it to 34" long for me, ($1)...He smiled, I grinned , and have never replaced it with aluminum.

The aluminum and carbon fiber gurus have given me failing marks,and I failed the contemporary exams....But I'm happily flying my Cub with the "wrong" tubing.

When (and IF ) it fails, I promise I'll let you know.......

We've been having a conversation in the "Balsa Builders' forum" about omg -foam.

I usually refer to it as 'not balsa', but in this case clarity is important.

I've just been called a Balsa Fundamentalist Zealot, because of my views.

I am that.

I can do things with balsa that others can only dream of.

When non-believers recognize they are losing the conversion to foam battle, they resort to name calling.........in this case I am not offended, but pleased to be recognized for what I am....-Can't convert me, -can't offend me.....what else ya got ?

Once again, I'm back with good news-After missing a G-62 by mere minutes,Dave Edwards said he had one he'd let go of,reasonable...Some money changed hands, and it arrived in great shape.
Then Hiflyer had a belt drive reduction that I could use, and he sent it along...

My luck usually runs the other way....I'm wondering if I should buy a lottery ticket...I don't want to appear greedy, or even worse, jinx this 'run'...Think I'll pass on the gambling.

So there I was, designing on the 1/3 scale Monocoupe plans, when an 'incoming' message appears on the board.

Davezagwyn has 1/3 scale cowl, wheelpants, fairings ,and plans for one.....Said to make him an offer !
I can do that ! SEND THEM ! PP'd him a reasonable offer, and they're coming....

And then , good lord ! Jim D. hears about it, and thinks an OS 300 twin he has might be nice power..How do you 'offer' a bid on that? NIB.

After the Old Fart's Breakfast Wed.,I'm heading to Rubenstein's for a first copy of accurate plans.I had factory 3 views enlarged to 1/3 scale, and I'll fill in structure with-in the outlines.
I won't get into any argument about 'accuracy' I'm building to these lines-period.

My research is over.

Sometimes we tend to forget how much we depend on each other here at RCG, and in the hobby in general.

I needed information for the Monocoupe build,and whenever I asked, someone either came up with it, or knew where to find it.

Yesterday was a classic example-I placed a want ad for the Jan.'79 EAA mag.,which has a great picture of one.Within minutes came offers of copies of the pics, then the articles..Within hours someone alerted me to E-Bay, with two magazines available.

It's comforting that you will expend the time and effort to help a fellow modeler do his thing.....From 3 views, to pics, to information, you guys are the BEST!

Thank you to all of you,willing to help each other out.....Earl

I take back anything negative I put forth yesterday,about the 'change'..

The thread 'page' numbers are okay, but I'm really liking the photo groupings for threads now. A single click displays them all, either by the poster, or from other sources...Select (none), and all pics are displayed.......Kudos, guys.

It's enough to confuse an old man.
You scroll up to the "Classifieds" and get "Forums" instead..It's the constant changing that makes sense to only those people stuck inside cubicles, controlled by charts and graphs.
Makes you wonder who made the mistake of doing the original set up, and if they've ever been punished for having it "wrong" all this time....
There are times when I don't click on anything,and get taken to an advertising address, inviting me to buy things I don't want.

Steve, the college boy, came from the city to go with me to the New Garden Airshow.
Not being an airplane guy, he was eager to see it all.

I take models along to sometimes fly with the guys, sometimes just for display.
This day we had a 1/3 scale Sopwith Pup, so we arrived early.

It was a warm June morning,probably 7 am., with that bit of mist in the low areas. We assembled the Pup and deserted it to see what was here.
Around the corner sat a P-51 MUSTANG ! The young pilot was about to mount up,so Steve and I stood near with fire extinguishers at the ready.

The engine coughed to life, and settled into that smooth rumble, with no indication of what was to come..
Firemen weren't required,so as the pilot warmed it up,. I told Steve what to expect.......
-A slow taxi to the runway, followed by a mag check, the line up and then take off, which should be exciting.!
The pilot waved a finger, and powered up.The prop grabbed great bunches of air, and condensed the dew into trails of mist, passing the canopy..Those horses shook the ground, and they thundered down the runway.

The exhaust reverberated off the hangars,and echoed back from the trees across the way.At about two thirds of the way down the runway, he unhurriedly lifted off and sucked up the gear.He chandelled to a reasonable altitude and came back past.
All the stories you hear about the sound of a Mustang are true-it stays with you forever.Their escapades in war are countless, and here we were facing one in flight !
With tear filled eyes, I was speechless.Steve, the city boy,said "Wow !"-Yeah Steve.......wow.
The show,great my any standard,was second rate to the Mustang....Steve was making V-12 engine noises on the way home....

A recent survey determined the airplane most people wish they could fly is still a MUSTANG !

I scaled down the ailerons and installed the hinges at 25% (I'm chicken), instead of the scale 29%...
Even at 25%, there's a LOT of aileron leading edge sticking down into the slipstream at full deflection.

The style follows the Friese (sp?) design....used universally to counteract adverse yaw.

Anyway, they have an automatic 'exponential' effect, that at low applications, they don't have a lot of effect...But, man, at full deflection, they'll displace some AIR!

This will be interesting, at the very least.

I bought an old A&A Industries kit ,(Nosen Citabria), and thought it be interesting to build it.
At the time I was looking for interesting color schemes, American Champion introduced the latest 'Decathlon', labeled the "Xtreme"-30 more H.P.,clipped wings,enlarged tail with an airfoiled section,and a different aileron hinging system.

Well by golly,I just gotta have one! I have enough materials on hand to scratch build one,so we began the two builds..One stock,one high performance...

I got the cowl and wheel pants from Fiberglass Specialties, and made a slightly longer gear,as they did for prop clearance.

Both builds are underway.-Build log is at Balsa Builders "Bud Nosen...........

I asked for,and got,information on The Builder's Workshop,on the proper plastics for windshields...PETG was the suggested medium,so I ordered some ,and got down to business.
I'm restoring several older models and updating the greenhouses.
The material I ordered is .030, a little thick,but hey,if you can use it,the thinner stuff is a piece of cake then.
I cut it to shape and put two screws in an upper edge to keep it located.I folded it around one side,and applied heat from the heat gun,as if spray painting it.Gently heating it avoids hot spots,and that sudden caving in with too much heat.
You can feel the PETG starting to give way,and with a bit more time,it will hold it's form well....I didn't mold it to exact shape,just relieved most of the resistance.
There is no evidence of the "spider webbing" I got with the wrong plastic I used previously.

Well we're back now.The computer's poor performance was due to the wireless gadget's "sound emissions"-(.8 db instead of3.0) so soon we're going satellite internet..
I'm heading to the shop now,continuing work on the 1/3 scale Midwing Special.

So the nice man at the computer shop did a tune-up on my laptop,charges me $69 dollars and says "your computer was fine,with no major inconsistencies".

"Well,how much is a tune-up if it was way out of whack?" "same thing" Hmmm

"How come it's so slow and unreliable?" -"It's the wireless adapter"

Paying $69 for the information my 4G wireless gadget is working poorly seems out of synch...But it's CHRISTMAS,and momma needs a new pair shoes...

My computer is due for it's semi annual tune-up,so I may be off line a day or two.

I'll sharpen my wits while it's being restored,and work on a couple of builds when I get back; The 1/3 Mid-wing Special is on the table,along with a 1/4 scale Cub restoration,then the 1/3 scale Fairchild F-24.

The Hangar 9 ARF left a bitter taste in my mouth,but I'll do an ARF occasionally for profit and a chance to review them.

You know.I'm not getting a bit of satisfaction out of assembling this airplane...Well- the engine is mostly my work,but the rest of it is someone else's and it's like I'm watching them build it.

The model has some character,and if the covering was not so translucent,I might like it, a little.But it is translucent,and I DON'T like it. Tough noogies.
We contacted Horizon (Gene did) about the fractures in the wing and wind screen......don't call it a windshield-they don't have a listing for that-it's a WINDSCREEN ! Anyway,they said to ship the wing back and they'd send another. Gene and I hashed it around a bit,and decided that in the interests of time,we could repair it for the cost of shipping it to and fro.
A roll of white Ultracote and a little gluing and sanding and we're the only ones that know it was damaged.-And you do...YOU know.
People at Horizon are sending the wind SCREEN asap.

I'm going to eat some crow,and say it's not a bad airplane,for an ARF.
Now,I'm never gonna like an ARF,and I've told everyone so....but there are some good points to this one.Tomorrow I'll list some of them.Later,Earl.

It's been a while since I've assembled an ARF,and I'm doing this one for a friend.

There is a lot to like, and dislike about this kit.The scale detailing goes from'lack of' to 'now this is a good idea'.

It's no secret that I dislike ARFs,but I'll admit they put people in the air who wouldn't otherwise get there.However,if someone can assemble this model to flying condition,they can build a standard kit.

Some of the many plusses are the scale details.....a WELL done articulated landing gear-it's all there.The flaps and ailerons are beautifully constructed of the Piper design where the strengthening flutes are concave ,instead of convex(as in Cessna).Magnets hold the seats in place,and the door closed.And in the case of the upper door,magnets keep it open,if you wish.
The first set of wheels I've seen that are round,don't wobble,and run true.
The wing struts are worth installing on any scale model Piper....they are good !
I'm trying to sham the model together for static display Sunday,so I gotta go. Later.

I know-I know ! I'm againt foam-I'm against ARFs- but I never say "never' !

Flying buddy Gene wants me to do the assembly of his new H-9 PA-18..He's not a builder,so I got elected.

I don't BUY ARFS ,but I will asemble this one for him.

He went all-out,and bought all the options,so it'll be top of the line.We intend to do whatever is possible to make it scale,if it isn't already.

We expect delivery around the 27th or the 28 th,November.See you then.

The Engine Masters not only tell you it won't work...They tell you why...That is so important to the learning process,what works and doesn't is an excellent tutor tool.

We've abandoned the heli drive for a belt drive Getting the prop to turn the correct direction was important,and the belt reduction is the bestter choice.