Memories!
Never used much.
Pretty much how it was put away (running) in the early 90's (93?).

Some things that I'd forgotten:
Body cracked behind front wheels and in front of rear wheels (always meant to glue some pieces over the splits, but didn't).
Rear shock spring stops had broken, and I'd used screw clamps (worked fine).
Old 75 mHz Futaba Magnum Junior radio system (transmitter doesn't power on now).
New spare wheel set, shock shafts and antenna tube kit were in the box.
I also have the Lexan side shields that attach to the pan (that never stayed attached).
Original box & manual....Continue Reading

I've been running out of room in my garage to store my planes. This is nothing new, I've been running out of room for my planes since 1985.
But it was (is) getting out of hand, with most flat and semi-flat areas hosting planes, some still in the way, at risk of falling or being knocked to the floor.

I had put up a wall mounted nose-in rack, using 1/2" PVC pipe screwed into a plywood sheet with sheetrock screws through end cap pieces. At first, I'd used "T" pieces with the backs cut off, but that was more expensive and required cutting with a table saw (which I don't have). This storage method works well, as I have a tall wall in my garage, however, reaching the uppermost planes can be difficult, requiring a ladder to get to them. Also, wall space in a garage is a precious commodity, so when I saw the Z-Rack-N-Stack-Hanger and then read Brett_N's post about the pull-down pulleys, I knew it was something I had to try.

Some pics of the Bear...

The Tower (or Flyzone) Millennium Master is a favorite sport plane of mine. It has great performance and quality and is a terrific value. No other plane of it's type flies as well for so little money. But, no one said "foam is forever" except as a joke! As time goes on, and with many trips to the flying field (a very rough field, too!) the MM had become "not so fresh". My rough field conditions weren't the best for a trike gear plane, and I really wanted to either convert it to a tail dragger or just eliminate the gear and belly land. I had eliminated the gear on my 3 other Tower 1 meter foam planes, the Hellcat, Corsair and P51, and they all improved their already great flying characteristics after ditching the gear.

The need to start my modifications happened when I put an 1800 4S battery in the MM and attempted to hand launch it. I'd hand launched it many times before with various 3S batteries no problem, but this time, I might have had the CG a bit too far forward. Whatever the combination of reasons, it nosed in hard at the launch, and obliterated the lite ply motor mount box, flush with the foam fuselage nose. The flimsy cowling was split in a few places as well. The X mount on the motor had 2 bent legs. The X mount is one of a very few weaknesses of these motors. Once they bend, they cannot be straightened as they break at the motor fastening screws where there is very little metal. The bolt pattern of the motor is unique, and Tower will sell you another motor with the mount for $19.99, but they do not sell just the X mount. I hope to 3D print a replacement X mount once I'm able to use design software successfully.

The shattered cowling situation can also be remedied using parts from Tower that both cost less AND look better than the original MM pieces.

The Tidewater is a great first seaplane. The water handling is easy, precise.  Takeoff runs are quite short and non-tricky. Landings are also very manageable and enjoyable. It's the flying in between the water handling and water landings that can get somewhat stale after many flights. Not that it flies poorly,  or demands that it be flown fast lest it fall out of a turn like a shot duck, but it does have some shortcomings that begin to become tiresome after a while.

The first of these annoyances is the continual wing rocking if even the slightest breeze is present.  It would seem to be the result of the wing's dihedral along with the side area of the tips floats. This was neatly solved by the installation of a Lemon stabilized receiver. In addition to eliminating the wing rocking,  the Lemon makes the Tidewater fly like a bigger,  more stable plane.

The second annoyance is the effects of high, pylon mounted motor.  Increasing the throttle also increases a nose - down force that effects ground, water and flight handling negatively.  Ground (and snow ) takeoffs have the nose burying itself in the ground (or snow ) as  the throttle is advanced  (even slowly ) and  full up elevator is required long into the takeoff run. In flight,  the off axis thrust makes rolling maneuvers uneven and awkward. Inverted flight, while possible, has to be worked at. An eighth inch of up elevator trim is required for normal level flight with the CG set near the recommendation.

The third...Continue Reading