The title says it all!

First flew with the battery in crosswise to get the CG more aft. My concerns were unfounded though. Ended up putting the battery back in lengthwise filling up the slot. The CG is 2" aft of the LE at the root of the taper.

Nice roll rate on rate/expo set to 50/50. Very smooth flying with good control harmony between the elevator and ailerons. not twitchy at all, which I am relieved about. I thought the horizontal stabilizer was a bit small for the wing area and tail moment.

Plans will be out this week. I have the build guide nearly complete as well. Also shot video today of the maiden. All uneventful and gratifying.

Ken

Will post up video tomorrow.

Ken

Ken, that is awesome to hear about the maiden. VID VID VID! lol

I am wondering how this guy will fly on a radio w/o dual rates or expo...
I have to admit, my thumbs have gotten quite used to really feathering the sticks using nothing but an old Conquest and all thumbs but I also have yet to fly something such as this to it's fullest extent off coo-cooness in regards to hard manuvers in combat.
I imagine without a hard deck, low lvl limit, hard twists & turns for me may be hazardous to the nose of my plane.

Originally Posted by Jimmy JFlyer

Ken, that is awesome to hear about the maiden. VID VID VID! lol

I am wondering how this guy will fly on a radio w/o dual rates or expo...
I have to admit, my thumbs have gotten quite used to really feathering the sticks using nothing but an old Conquest and all thumbs but I also have yet to fly something such as this to it's fullest extent off coo-cooness in regards to hard manuvers in combat.
I imagine without a hard deck, low lvl limit, hard twists & turns for me may be hazardous to the nose of my plane.

Jimmy, I am sure will not have a problem without expo. I have the pushrods set on the outermost hole and get too much travel there. So I just dial things down a bit. If I put the pushrod on one of the inner holes, I will have to dial up the rate.

I have flown many more years without all the computer gizmos and believe that you will do fine also.

Video is uploading this AM.

Ken

Well, I got video plus plans done along with a build guide last night.

I kept the plans simple on this one. They are just patterns for the parts. They are to be used along with the build guide to see how things go together along with the methods I used for this build.

Also video of the maiden flight yesterday. I apologize in advance for the video. It is not the clearest as it was taken with a Gumpack camera strapped to my melon with a #64 rubber band. Also for the length of the video. I normally keep it down to about 3 minutes, but this flew so nice, before I knew it I had 9 minutes on the camera. Got some of that edited out, but its still a bit long.

This is a great flying plane with excellent control harmony and dampening. This is one of ones that comes off the bench without any issues.

Ken

SEMFF P-64 Combat Plane Maiden.wmv (9 min 0 sec)

Wonderful job Ken, truly wonderful! I would be very proud of myself if I were you.

I see that you have PDF drawings of your design but do you have them in Autocad DXF or DWG format? I am using AutoCad LT 2000 and I would love it if I could have a copy in an AutoCad format (converted to older format for my program of course).

Can you and your P-64 make it to Tuesday’s soccer flying session?

Jordon

Jordon,

I would love to bring it to USA Tuesday, but it would be kind of expensive as we are on overtime this week. Let me see if I can work something out. Don't hold your breath though.

Ken

Nice looking plans- thanks!
Must be nice to have talent...

Patric

Tip - How to paint the canopy frame

I ended up doing something very simple to get a nice canopy frame. I placed clear packing tape over the canopy area on both sides overlapping the top. Then a layed my template over each side and traced the windows with a sharpie ultra fine point. Connected the windows across the top. Next, took a sharp exacto knife and cut through the packing tape tracing the windows again. Now go back and peel away the packing tape frame, leaving the window panels in place. Then paint to your liking. Lastly peel the paint remains of packing tape to reveal the windows. This worked very nice and did not bleed under the edges.

I painted with Wal-mart Apple Barrel Acrylics. Mixed my own colors from red, yellow, blue, white, orange, and black.

Yellow with a bit of black makes the Olive Drab.
Yellow and blue with orange make brown, then add white to make tan.

Ken

Originally Posted by PatricMichigan

Nice looking plans- thanks!
Must be nice to have talent...

Patric

I think it takes more time than talent. Experience just makes you more proficient.

Thanks,
Ken

Posting some other designs that might look great in this format.

Seeing that I put the horizontal fuselage, stabilizer and wing into a single plane, I try to imagine what it would look like and if that is attractive.

Also would like to get a good cross section from around the world.

Ken

All the Grumman Cats would be good choices too.

I still have a set of parts for the Me-163 as well that I would like to use. Next project.

Ken

Originally Posted by dz1sfb

Jordon,

I would love to bring it to USA Tuesday, but it would be kind of expensive as we are on overtime this week. Let me see if I can work something out. Don't hold your breath though.

Ken

Ken,
I would love to take it to USA for display if you can't make it.
Don

Originally Posted by dz1sfb

Well, I got video plus plans done along with a build guide last night.

I kept the plans simple on this one. They are just patterns for the parts. They are to be used along with the build guide to see how things go together along with the methods I used for this build.

Also video of the maiden flight yesterday. I apologize in advance for the video. It is not the clearest as it was taken with a Gumpack camera strapped to my melon with a #64 rubber band. Also for the length of the video. I normally keep it down to about 3 minutes, but this flew so nice, before I knew it I had 9 minutes on the camera. Got some of that edited out, but its still a bit long.

This is a great flying plane with excellent control harmony and dampening. This is one of ones that comes off the bench without any issues.

Ken

...

Noggin cam worked great! It was obvious you were just having a great time flying that plane. I am sure it won't be long and several others will be having that fun too. And the fun really starts when the streamers get attached.

When can we get kits and whats the price?

Ken,

Since we are taking we requests

P-51 is my favorite but i like so many...

Here are a bunch.

F8F Bearcat, P-39 Airacobra, P40 Warhawk, P51 Mustang, Hawker Hurricane, Hawker Sea Fury, F6F Hellcat, F4F Wildcat, Supermarine Spitfire

If i were to choose 3, i would go with P-51, Spitfire, and Sea Fury

Of course this totally leaves out the Axis planes....