Originally Posted by jwhitacre

It is turning out looking very nice, shouldn't be much longer before maiden

Hi jw:

Good to hear from you. Yes I am pleased with the progress. I think I will be ready to start hardware installation in about a week. I am anxious to get it all installed and see where the weight comes in. I still feel like I will be at about nine pounds based on my early weighin but you know how engineers are, we can't stop adding little gussets and stiffeners everywhere and suddenly we have a "fat bird" and get a suprise.

So far we are having a mild season but expect the snow anytime and if that happens it will be a spring maiden.

Tom

Hi Guys:

Well spent the day with sanding bars and paper in hand. The 80 grit is done, thank goodness !

Re-assmbled wing to fuselage set the left equals right relative to the tailpost, taped securely and drilled for wing bolts. Set the blind nuts and remounted everything and weighed. The wing sheeting, glue and all my extra reinforcements brought me to 7.2 lbs, I can live with the added weight because my CG as it sits now is dead on. As I install equipment I will place it to maintain that condition.

I am attaching a couple of pictures to compare the Big 'Poke to my Slowpoke Sport 40. Bare bones doesn't draw the difference as dramatically as it will when I put those yards of 21st Century fabric on. Going with a red and yellow color scheme, mainly because I have several 5 meter rolls and at $60.00 a roll I can't afford to waste it.

Tom

Tom,I know you're loving that Skybolt bipe. Man ,I have a great scheme for one of these larger SlowPokes. I'll email ya when I get thru with some tests and have a little more time. THANKS,Ressie

Originally Posted by Hunkus

Tom,I know you're loving that Skybolt bipe. Man ,I have a great scheme for one of these larger SlowPokes. I'll email ya when I get thru with some tests and have a little more time. THANKS,Ressie

Hi Ressie:

You bet I am, the Skybolt is a OUTSTANDING flyer ! I have a OS .91 Pumped in it and they are so reliable with that fuel pressure system I have never had a deadstick. I am gradually going to have my entire glow fleet changed over to pumped or supercharged engines. YS keeps telling us about the .70 "coming out soon". I have a YS .63 and love it so I know the .70 will be great also. I need another engine in this size range. I have my OS/P .91, a YS 91.Supercharged and a YS 1.20 Supercharged but I still have a OS .52 4-stroke and a Saito .56 4-stroke and everything else is gas. So I will be looking at phasing out the .52 and .56 with replacements. If I could pick up a couple of decent YS .63's used (since they are no longer made) I would take a hard look.

The Skybolt airframe is, in my opinion; one of those great combinations where it all came together. Looks, performance and soundness. It has fantastic tracking, loops and rolls are so pure they make me look a lot better than I am and four points---- aaahhhhh !

Looking forward to the Slowpoke scheme.

Best,

Tom

Hi Guys:

Well got a little work done. Finally got the fuselage sanded out and put the
21st Century fabric on. After the sanding I painted the airframe with Balsarite adhesive which really adds geratly the fabric adhesive. Results in a covering that can only be removed with heat.

Just the basic Cub yellow, haven't really decided on the trim scheme yet. Have to see what hits me in the middle of the night.

Tom

Looking great on the covering, starting to look familiar

Hi jw:

Yes I remember your CubBee covering job and loved it.

As a matter of fact I am considering the second color scalloping just as you did. Mine will be red however because I have a roll of fabric in dark red. Color scheme will remind me of one of my favorite aircraft, my Spacewalker with a Saito 1.00. Great flyer and looker. Untimely demise when I hit a power company wire, hummm; they must have just put that in. Oh well, that was a few years back when I was still in Oregon.

Back on subject, what covering did you use ? Beautiful job.

Tom

Hi Guys:

Had a little time to work on the Big 'Poke. Installed the rudder, cockpit combing, instrument panel and got the "Pilot's" backrest ready to install, clear coating still tacky.

I am still evaluating my trim options. I am starting to lean toward a very simple scheme. All that yellow with just a little red striping here and there is starting to look better to me.

Tom

Looks great, love the pilot in there. That's something I need to work on for mine. As for covering it's all monokote, I am rubbish with fabric coverings

Hi jw:

Thanks for the comments. It's a funny thing about covering materials. Most guys feel pretty much the same, and lean to one covering type in particular.
My own preference is the fabric coverings and of course you prefer Monokote.

I guess the reason for my fabric preference is the nostalgic look. I am much older than you and remember all those beautiful aircraft of pre-WWII. I do really like Ultracote film however. The other big factor for me is the fabrics are so much easier to use for me, they will really stretch around curves and I am not very good at covering anyway.

Best,

Tom

Hi Guys:

Well I mounted the rest of the tailfeathers, hinged and covered. Mounted the engine and aligned the throttle servo and installed it's mount. Installed rudder servo and elevating blocks. The rudder servo is raised above the two elevator servos to align with pull-pull tubes and allow the longer double servo arm to clear the elevator servos. Installed the two MPI switches for my dual batteries. Installed the landing gear with Trexler balloon tires, 4.5".

Lot of those little things that always take so much time.

Tom

Hello Tom.
Well, this looks very good, indeed! Looking at the yellow covering I get a feeling this will become a "racer", but I know You want to fly slow, really slow. I hope to see some video from the maiden flight in the future.
Tomorrow I will try the swedish weather, and go flying my Slow-Poke again.

Jerry

Hi Jerry:

Good to hear from you. You know we are having really strange weather, very mild. I was looking at your weather and it seems maybe yours is sort of unusual too. Hope you are able to fly, I am going to try Saturday.

Yes my 'Poke is VERY yellow. When I get the wing covered and assemble it I will be sure and get some shots. Can't wait to start on the trim so it doesn't look so much like a giant Canary sitting on my bench. Yes I really like the low and slow stuff, I think this one will fill the bill.

Best,

Tom

Originally Posted by teeceeveecee

Hi Jerry:

.................so it doesn't look so much like a giant Canary sitting on my bench.

That was a good one! lol

Jerry

Hi Guys:

I worked on the rudder, elevator and throttle servos today. Couldn't complete the covering of the wing, flaps and ailerons, not enough Coverite fabric on hand. Ordered another 15 foot roll of Cub Yellow from Tower and a couple more HiTec HS5645-MG servos.

The servo installation went off without a hitch. The rudder servo being elevated cleared the elevator servos nicely. I used a reversing "Y" on the elevator servos to achieve the unison movement. Could have done it in the radio with a spare channel and slaving but I like the "Y" method better.

Tom