Monday, January 4, 2010
Lots of 1/2A deals on EBay
Some of my best memories from growing up are the ones of flying control line model airplanes in my friend's front yard. We built Sterling Beginner series planes and stood in the gutter. Half the circle was over the street and half over his front lawn. I'd guess we were flying on 15 or 20 foot lines. The Sterling kits were a lot of fun. Most of them only had about 8 or 9 pieces to assemble so they were quick to build. They were also easy to repair when we crashed them. They used Cox 1/2A engines so they weren't noisy enough to bother the neighbors. My favorites in the Beginner series were the Cherokee, Eindecker, Focke Wulf, and Thunder Jet. I still have the Focke Wulf I built when I was a kid and I picked up an Eindecker kit off EBay last year. I've been looking a long time for the Cherokee and Thunderjet kits and not having much luck. A Thunder Jet popped up on EBay once in awhile, but every time I either didn't have the money or I got outbid. Last week though someone listed bot a Cherokee and a Thunder Jet (along with several other Sterling Bieginner Series kits). Not auctions but "Buy it Now" listings. I got both. I'm going to clone them so I can keep the original kits. Should be easy, just a few balsa pieces. Brodak sells an engine mount and ball crank that will work. Now I just need a Cox Babe Bee or Black Widow so I can fly these once they're done. Need to save up a little money for a nice one. Should be easy to find though - EBay always has lots of listings for Cox engines for sale.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Logjam busted wide open!!!
After not doing squat last year, I think I'm in for a change. My Shark 402 has been languishing for over a year (more like 2???), but last Friday I took it to a friend's house, and in about 5 minutes he helped me get the wing glued in straight - something I'd been trying to figure out "how" to do for almost 2 years now. Also told me how to get the fixed flaps put on straight, so I did that yesterday. It's almost starting to look like an airplane. Also got the stab/elevator hinged (what took me so long???)
All this activity got me going on my Brodak A6M Zero - wing is now partially sheeted, landing gear blocks are in place, even started building the fuselage - but that is a story for a different day. Also got a lot of work done on a 1/2A Skyray and will soon have a Babe Bee to put on it.
I've gotten more done in the last 5 days than I did in the last 2 years. Hope I can keep up the pace. If so, should be a good year for learning (finally) to fly control line. Hope to post pics soon. If not here, then at http://www.silk-n-dope.com so check soon.
Cheers,
Ken
All this activity got me going on my Brodak A6M Zero - wing is now partially sheeted, landing gear blocks are in place, even started building the fuselage - but that is a story for a different day. Also got a lot of work done on a 1/2A Skyray and will soon have a Babe Bee to put on it.
I've gotten more done in the last 5 days than I did in the last 2 years. Hope I can keep up the pace. If so, should be a good year for learning (finally) to fly control line. Hope to post pics soon. If not here, then at http://www.silk-n-dope.com so check soon.
Cheers,
Ken
Friday, January 2, 2009
EBay scores from 2008
I scored some pretty cool stuff on EBay in 2008. I really love the Sterling Beginner series 1/2A planes, and I was able to pick up 3 for less than $25 each: P-51 Mustang, P-47 Thunderbolt, and an FW-190 Focke Wulf. The Focke Wulf was an especially sweet aquisition for me because I had one as a kid. In fact, it was my first control line kit. My mom was a teacher, and each year in August she had to go to school and prepare her class room for the coming scholl year. I was too young to stay at home by myself, so she would take me with her. One year, she bought the Focke Wulf kit so I would have something to do while she worked on the class room.
The other two really cool things I got were a 50's vintage Babe Bee .049, still brand new in factory packaging, and a Sterling Skyshark. I over paid for the Babe Bee at about $65, but I really wanted it. Later I missed out on a similar one (new, but not in original packaging) listed at $40 BIN. Oh well...
Cheers,
Ken
The other two really cool things I got were a 50's vintage Babe Bee .049, still brand new in factory packaging, and a Sterling Skyshark. I over paid for the Babe Bee at about $65, but I really wanted it. Later I missed out on a similar one (new, but not in original packaging) listed at $40 BIN. Oh well...
Cheers,
Ken
Saturday, December 20, 2008
A whole year went by???!!!
Wow,
Almost a whole year has gone by. No posts here, even worse, no flying. In fact, I don't even have an airplane that can get in the air without at least a little work. OK, it's been a busy year. Got my older son through high school and started in college. Younger son turned 3 this year and is requiring a lot more attention. Lots of stuff going on at work, and I was doing a final push into real estate, which didn't work out. OK though, enough whining... To paraphrase a saying I heard (or read?) somewhere, Today is the first day of the rest of my building and flying.
Next year should be better for flying. I've started to get rid of stuff that I don't need (and probably didn't even really want when I bought) and that process continues. I've also realized that having too many projects going at once is a really stupid idea, so I am picking one project at a time to finish, and no new projects will be started until all my current ones are finished, no matter what.
I'm also quitting real estate, which will take away of lot of pressure and free up a ton of time. My wife is loving me now, I've quit drinking, things are getting under control at work, and I've found some resources to help our older son. In short, I should have some time to build and fly again in the coming year.
Today starts a 2 week vacation for me, I'm hoping to get a jump start on the next year's modeling. First order of business is to continue selling my excess stuff. Second is to get my (2nd) Skyray back in the air. Then I've got at least 5 airplanes in various stages of unfinished-ness to get done. I won't even try to get to all of them, but I will finish one and pick an order to complete the rest in.
Besides that, I hope to keep my Control Line web site (http://www.silk-n-dope.com) updated on a regular basis, as well as journaling my flying experiences here.
Almost a whole year has gone by. No posts here, even worse, no flying. In fact, I don't even have an airplane that can get in the air without at least a little work. OK, it's been a busy year. Got my older son through high school and started in college. Younger son turned 3 this year and is requiring a lot more attention. Lots of stuff going on at work, and I was doing a final push into real estate, which didn't work out. OK though, enough whining... To paraphrase a saying I heard (or read?) somewhere, Today is the first day of the rest of my building and flying.
Next year should be better for flying. I've started to get rid of stuff that I don't need (and probably didn't even really want when I bought) and that process continues. I've also realized that having too many projects going at once is a really stupid idea, so I am picking one project at a time to finish, and no new projects will be started until all my current ones are finished, no matter what.
I'm also quitting real estate, which will take away of lot of pressure and free up a ton of time. My wife is loving me now, I've quit drinking, things are getting under control at work, and I've found some resources to help our older son. In short, I should have some time to build and fly again in the coming year.
Today starts a 2 week vacation for me, I'm hoping to get a jump start on the next year's modeling. First order of business is to continue selling my excess stuff. Second is to get my (2nd) Skyray back in the air. Then I've got at least 5 airplanes in various stages of unfinished-ness to get done. I won't even try to get to all of them, but I will finish one and pick an order to complete the rest in.
Besides that, I hope to keep my Control Line web site (http://www.silk-n-dope.com) updated on a regular basis, as well as journaling my flying experiences here.
Monday, January 8, 2007
New Skyray second day
Tried to fly on Saturday but couldn't get the engine to start. Just as well, as soon as I got everything put in the car the wind kicked up something fierce. SUnday though was a different story. First made sure to charge glow driver (doh!!!) then hoped the nice weather would hold until after church. It did.
Went a couple of clicks richer for first flight (third flight on the airplane) but it is still flying a little fatser than the old Skyray. Also, the engine is surging in flight. The airplane seems to hunt a little in flight too, but this might be because of the wind.
On the next flight, went a couple more clicks rich. This seemed to finally start to slow the plane down into my comfort zone. Since I could now concentrate on something besides not getting dizzy I started to notice other things... like a weird vibration - so bad that the up line had a sine wave visible in flight. Something else to sort out. Engine run is very consistant throughout flight, when fuel is done it burps once or twice and quits. Decided to find and fix the vibration problem before flying again. I _think_ I balanced the prop... I'm still amazed at how well this thing glides and how easy it is to land compared to my first Skyray.
Went a couple of clicks richer for first flight (third flight on the airplane) but it is still flying a little fatser than the old Skyray. Also, the engine is surging in flight. The airplane seems to hunt a little in flight too, but this might be because of the wind.
On the next flight, went a couple more clicks rich. This seemed to finally start to slow the plane down into my comfort zone. Since I could now concentrate on something besides not getting dizzy I started to notice other things... like a weird vibration - so bad that the up line had a sine wave visible in flight. Something else to sort out. Engine run is very consistant throughout flight, when fuel is done it burps once or twice and quits. Decided to find and fix the vibration problem before flying again. I _think_ I balanced the prop... I'm still amazed at how well this thing glides and how easy it is to land compared to my first Skyray.
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
New Years Day
Yesterday was beautiful - no wind, sunny, 45° - a perfect day to test fly my new Skyray. I had made some modifications outlined here and I was anxious to see if they were improvements over the stock design.
Checked elevator nuetral and control movement and everything looked good. Took some pictures "just in case" (not that I was worried about CRASHING) and launched for first flight. Airplane took off fine but was WAY oversensitive on the controls and flying much too fast for my reflexes, so I held on for dear life (the airplane's life, not mine) until the engine quit, then greased it in for a perfect landing. I made some adjustments to the engine and elevator throw, and the second flight was much more managable. It still needs work though, so I decided to call it a day. Even with only two flights I learned some valuable lessons.
First of all I made 2 very serious mistakes and I'm lucky that one of them didn't cost me the airplane. One, I forgot to check the balance. Two, I forgot to check the position of the adjustable leadouts and ensure they were tight. EITHER of these issues could have easily resulted in a crash, and neither even occured to me until I was cleaning the airplane.
As for the elevator movement, I put the pushrod in the middle hole, the same place I had it on my stock Skyray. It didn't occure to me that the larger elevator might require less throw. Since I wasn't planning on any stunting on the first flights any way, I should have started on the outer most hole, adjusting inward as needed.
Finally, I should have spent some time experimenting with the needle setting. I had changed the muffler and prop, which of course (duh!!!) changes the way the engine runs. Since it sounded "OK" when it started, I didn't even mess with it, just launched - at way too high RPM's. On the second flight I went back to my original prop and richened the needle about half a turn, which helped considerably.
In spite of my miss-steps, the airplane flies well. I think with some tweaking, it will be a beautifly flying airplane to learn stunt with.
Cheers,
Ken
Checked elevator nuetral and control movement and everything looked good. Took some pictures "just in case" (not that I was worried about CRASHING) and launched for first flight. Airplane took off fine but was WAY oversensitive on the controls and flying much too fast for my reflexes, so I held on for dear life (the airplane's life, not mine) until the engine quit, then greased it in for a perfect landing. I made some adjustments to the engine and elevator throw, and the second flight was much more managable. It still needs work though, so I decided to call it a day. Even with only two flights I learned some valuable lessons.
First of all I made 2 very serious mistakes and I'm lucky that one of them didn't cost me the airplane. One, I forgot to check the balance. Two, I forgot to check the position of the adjustable leadouts and ensure they were tight. EITHER of these issues could have easily resulted in a crash, and neither even occured to me until I was cleaning the airplane.
As for the elevator movement, I put the pushrod in the middle hole, the same place I had it on my stock Skyray. It didn't occure to me that the larger elevator might require less throw. Since I wasn't planning on any stunting on the first flights any way, I should have started on the outer most hole, adjusting inward as needed.
Finally, I should have spent some time experimenting with the needle setting. I had changed the muffler and prop, which of course (duh!!!) changes the way the engine runs. Since it sounded "OK" when it started, I didn't even mess with it, just launched - at way too high RPM's. On the second flight I went back to my original prop and richened the needle about half a turn, which helped considerably.
In spite of my miss-steps, the airplane flies well. I think with some tweaking, it will be a beautifly flying airplane to learn stunt with.
Cheers,
Ken
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
First post
This blog is about my journey on the path to learning how to fly Control Line Precision Aerobatics, otherwise known as Stunt. In my opinion, Stunt planes are the most beautiful airplanes in existance. I have also found that Control Line flyers are some of the nicest people you could hope to meet. The information here is limited to my experiences in learning Control Line Stunt. I also have a web page (http://www.silk-n-dope.com) where I publish how-to's, product reviews, etc. related to Control Line flying. If you're looking for expert advice, check out Stuka Stunt Works or Stunt Hangar.
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