Resurrection, two planes at a time

It is a slow and tedious process, but sure as heck, my project planes are finally getting some attention.

On my last blog, I told about an orphaned, thirty-plus-year-old Super Sportster given to me complete with engine and servos. She's ready to fly once I pop in a receiver and battery, set up the transmitter and check the CG.

This in turn inspired me to dust off an older project, one I creatively dubbed "Project Cub."

This poor old 1/6-scale Sig sat for heaven knows how long in someone's attic crawl space in the desert and was it ever dirty. It came with unusual Hitec HS-101 servos and not much else. No decals, no cowl and no evidence of there having been any. On the other hand, it was well-built and covered with 21st Century simulated cloth covering.

I slapdashed some basic repairs, slapped on an old (and yet another castoff) O.S. Max 45 with a fuel tank from a crashed model and put it in the air. The engine was a bit hard to start and the darn thing flew pretty well with more than adequate grunt, but I chose to ignore a slightly crunchy rudder servo. Landing on a windy day several flights later sent it into a safety fence, shattering the windshield and breaking off one of the posts.

So, back into the garage it went.

After cleaning up the Super Sportster, I thought it might be fun to revisit the Cub.

I had an old O.S. 25 on hand which would provide more scale performance, but the mounts were aligned for a .40-sized engine. Off came the .45 for a good cleaning and a decrudding of the high-end needle.

Started with a blip of the starter and ran like crazy on the test stand with oodles and gobs of compression, so back onto the Cub it went.

As of today, the windshield post and forward wing mount are fixed and the wobbly main and tailwheels have been replaced with some new Du-Bro units I had on hand; these came from a $5 box of assorted wheels I picked up at a club swap meet. There are some really cool vintage Veco wheels and tires from that box which might find their way onto the Super Sportster, but I hate the thought of drilling out those neat aluminum hubs. The rudder servo has new gears, the temporary fuel tank was replaced with one of the proper size and the fuselage cleaned with Armor All automotive wheel cleaner and glass cleaner. Worked like a dream; all that attic crud came right off the textured covering and it looks like new.

Best of all, some Great Planes 1/5.5-scale decals are really bringing it to life. The hobby shop wasn't sure they could order the Sig sheet, so I opted for these...turns out he could have ordered them. Oh, well.

A new windshield and side windows are on the way and I'll turn my attention to cleaning up the wing and re-gearing one of the aileron servos.

Once I get her flying, I'll get an engine cowl, replace the missing landing gear skirts and put on some proper Cub wheels.

Pictures coming...wish me luck!

Other projects await!

Two at a time, of course.