Well gentlemen, for xmas my wife was kind enough to present me with a complete remote control airplane rig, and I thought y'all might like to watch the progress.  Just a note before I begin...  If I wanted to simply fly an R/C plane I would have gone with an ARF kit (almost ready to fly) instead of the do-it-yourself kit, which is basically a box of balsa wood and some plans.  After almost 35 hours invested so far, you can see my progress.  From the get go I haven't been in a hurry to fly, and dig the heck outta woodworking, so I took the kit route instead.

The workbench....



4.5 hours of work brings me to the Tailfin and Rear Stab.  It took a great deal of time to get the leading and trailing edges rounded, flush, and even.  I think it turned out pretty good, only time will tell how well it flys!



Next the directions led me to the assembly of the fuselage, not very exciting but after working on it for a while I could tell the design of the plane is very strong and all parts act in some form or fashion to reinforce another part of the plane.   (I'm gonna need this as my urge to lawn-dart anything with wings takes over.)



Every redneck favorite, the Right Wing.



The kit came with pre-cut jigs for both Dihedral and wing washout.  I chose the more conservative "A" wing, with more dihedral for those newbies who have never flown an R/C plane before.  You can see the black pen marks showing the line to cut in order for the wing halves to meet at the proper angle.  It looks like the mark, second from the top, is way off, but it is actually on the same rib as the lower mark, you just have to look a little closer as the camera didn't capture any depth in this shot.



I'll stop with the left wing/right wing jokes, here they are together and currently being glued in the middle with 30-minute epoxy.



And finally another shot with more wing bracing in place, at this point I'm almost done with all the inner wing support.



To get to this point it took around 25-28 hours I think, somewhere in there I lost accurate track of what was completed and at what time.   I've made some more headway since these pictures were taken and I'll post another round as more of the plane comes together.

TX-Deck out.

Excellent work Deck!    Well, it looks like you have accomplished the most involved task that there is in kit building, and remarkably well. . . I haven’t seen the recent variants of this model (the MKII) without monokote, it looks like they have strengthened and simplified  the empennage and fuselage building lots, as you used to have to jig those in the same way as the wings with a million little twigs. This was a royal pain for me, as I never could get all those little toothpicks just right. I have given some instruction using these planes however and they, like the earlier PT-40's are probably the best trainers that are out there.  Congrats,Excellent work. . . and keep the pics coming in! BTW, you have a buddy box instructor lined up?I just found an R/C electric Bf-109 that is amazing looking for the simplicity of a small foam electric. This one is SCALE looking. . .maybe a second plane for ya deck??? you can also convert this to glow power with something like a .15-.25 size engine, and add some wire gear.   http://www.hobby-lobby.com/bf109.htmTX-EcoDragon

I dunno Eco, i used to watch my neighbor build em, I'd say the hardest part is skinning it and making it look good lol, with the hair dryer technique , lmao. Anyways, good luck manford !!, oh and  btw, the Newest version of the pe-8 , has it been changed since you sent it to me the first time, if so , can i get one ??S~ T-Dawg

I've said this at least a hundred times that Manford is a mechanical genius and I believe these pictures are proof. Manford has a rare and amazing gift to be able to build or modify anything, and there is no apparatus that he cannot figure out. He once built me a custom paintball gun gas-through stock out of a real M16A2 stock. The quality was so high that the seam on the stock lined up perfectly with the seam of the paintball gun when screwed in as tight as it would go...first try out at that. Once, when I lost a leg in the amazon, Manford hooked me up with a prosthetic that not only saved my life by allowing me to hike it out of danger, but was such an interesting conversation piece around the bar that chicks flocked to me. I scored much leg with that leg. Make no mistake, our boy Manford is a true genius of the mechanical arts. TX-ZenBlack 6TX Squadron CO

Eco, most of the parts for this kit are die cut on a sheet of balsa, and all you have to do is pop them out and then sand them smooth, then sand some more, and sand some more, and sand some more.   The wing was rather simple to construct and literally holds itself together.  You lay all the ribs out and insert them into a single rail for each wing half, then come across the top of the rail with another thick piece of balsa.  At that point the ribs are pinned in placed but not straight.  Once you add the leading and trailing edges, all the ribs are lined up within individual notches and then you come along on each joint with thin CA (superglue like stuff) and lock them all together.   Once the wing is assembled it is completely straight, and in order to get the correct washout you tack glue a jig to each wingtip.  After you adhere the sheeting to the wing, the washout angle is locked in place and you remove the jigs.  It is almost foolproof!  Very cool kit design, and so far I have been very impressed.If anyone is considering a balsa R/C plane kit and not an ARF (almost ready to fly), make sure you have somewhere that you can build it that can tolerate an ars-load of sawdust.  My garage works well, and I guess anywhere outside would work in a pinch.Here's a link to the kit I picked up at a local hobby shop, the price was the same as online and the difference between tax and shipping wasn't enough to justify a week of waiting on holiday shipping.http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXJ557&P=0Don't be fooled by the price, your looking at an extra $60-$70 in parts to finish it out, plus your engine and R/C gear as well.   The ARF combo would be very appealing if I was in a hurry or didn't have the tools and space to build this kit.I'm not even halfway done with this model yet and I've already got a good idea of the next few planes I want to construct.   Next round I think I'm going for an aerobatic stunt type plane, then after that it is on the warbirds.   A Bf109 with TX skin paintscheme is surely in order!   Can you airbrush monokote?   That is something I hadn't even considered.Ok, here's the next round of pics.Here's a close up of the engine mount and controls.  The linkage on the left is the throttle, the one on the right connects to the nylon arm on top of the front wheel for ground steering.Here's those tailfins again, but this time attached to the fuselage, aligned and ready to go.This is a detail photo of the wingtips, you basically finish the wing sheeting then sand it all smooth and glue a piece of balsa to the end.  After carving and sanding for an hour or so, the idea is to end up with a flush and tapered wingtip.  ( I think I got pretty close! )A top angle of the 1/8" balsa wing sheeting.  After all the sheeting is glued in place the washout of the wing is secured and locked into the correct position.  The wingtips have less of an angle of attack, so stalls occur closer to the fuselage first, making it more difficult to enter a spin stall such as the beloved Bf109 loves to doTo control the ailerons, a single servo is mounted in the middle of the wing and hangs upside down in the fuselage.  Both control rods are mounted to a single wheel, so when the wheel rotates, one aileron moves up and the other moves down.  ( These can also be locked in place if necessary for training, I decided to go for it.)This afternoon I effectively came to the end of all the cutting and gluing construction and the next step in the book is labeled "finish sanding".  For some reason I don't think I'm as near done as it seems I am.  Notice the respirator in some of the pics above.   Balsa wood sands very easily, but have I mentioned the sawdust!    Arrrrrgghhgghghhhhh!!!!TX-Deck out.

Thanks everyone for the encouraging words.  I've had alot of fun so far with the project and if my updates become annoying just let me know.Zen, I happened upon an old pic of that AT85 - M16 mod, here it is.  An actual M16 composite stock, modified to fit the Co2 fitting on the back of the AT85 paintball gun.  Comes complete with a gas thru fitting on the bottom of the stock to connect up a remote line to a belt holstered Nitrous bottle.  To answer your next question... yes that is a picture of the only clip fed paintball gun on the market.   10 shots per second and a maintenance nightmare.  (ask Zen)/me shuffles eyebrows up and down a couple of times....[Edit] Just a note on something I just remembered.  To secure the gas-thru hose and Co2 adapter in the stock, I mixed together about 10oz of 30minute epoxy and just poured it into the hollow area in the stock, and let it sit.  After about 10 minutes I came back to check on everything and when I touched the stock to reset it in the vice I was using to hold it, I literally scalded my hand.  The chemical reaction of the epoxy hardening gave off enough heat to almost melt the stock.  Pretty crazy, but makes perfect sense!TX-Deck out.

Yeah, I recall that was one of the first kits I knew of that didnt require a Jig to align everything, which at the time was  great help. . this looks like they have managed to raise the bar in construction simplicity even higher, with respect to fuse and tail.As far as an airbrush on monokote. . This can be done on larger models, as long as it isn't too extensive. The weight penalty (beacuse apparently you have to layer it and coat it with fuel resistant gel) and poor longevity are the main factors against this. you can of course do it all in monokote. . it would just be time consuming to make all the little flecks. If however, you buy something that is foam. . . airbrush away! That little bf I posted a link to above could be a fine candidate. . .despite being a tiny model! Paint that up in your TX skin! Too bad its an E seriesWow. . . quick progress!! man. . looking at all this. . .I guess I better clear out the dinning room and finish my Ultimate Bipe!!!S!TX-ARFDragon

one word..ENVIOUS!S~Black 5... end ...

Great work there Manford!  Looking forward to watching you fly her.Guess the wife misunderstood when I said I wanted a new baby for christmas.  LOL.S~Black 5... end ...

Cage. . I have never done this before. . but. . .. . . ROFLOL!!!(err sumthin. . like that)Here is a really great RC resource site, if you can't decide which brand to go with, or how long it ACTUALLY takes to build that scale ride, and if you are looking to read reviews by unpaid actual flyers, or get tips on building etc, go here. . great site!! Right now there is the Great Planes Giant Scale corsair linked right at the top. Read User reviews below that by clicking "User Product Reviews" Or search for whichever model you are after. http://www.rcuniverse.com/Here is a another forum listhttp://rcwatch.com/Find the awesome Saito 4 strokes, JR radio gear. . .my brand of choice, Zenoah gass engines for the big boys, Hangar 9 aircraft and lots lots more at Horizon Hobbyhttp://www.horizonhobby.com/Here is a company that I am not familiar with, but they seem to make very nice looking ARFs at very low prices. . including a hefty sized corsair. I have read some reviews of this company on the above sites, and think they may be worth a  look.http://www.richmondrc.comQuantum models seems to sell all the more exotic makes, EZ is a great company, makes awesome ARFs (at a price), Hangar 9 are great, Graupner is very nice, Dave Patrick makes some of the best aerobatic rides ( I am ordering the Ultimate Bipe 40 I think) http://www2.mailordercentral.com/quantummodels/S!TX-EcoDragon

Thanks Cage, I appreciate it.While on the subject of flying it, anyone who is interested and would like to come out on the first day of flight...   a guy I work with is willing to train anyone who wishes to learn, and believe it or not I'm not opposed to letting someone try this plane out and wreck it.   I suspect I'll be ready to go within the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned.You build them to crash 'em, or so I've heard!TX-Deck out.

Darn. . . I am getting Texas envy. . .. I shoulda joined CA squad!!!! heheheh

Sounds like a great plan to me Deck.  Count me in.S~Black 5... end ...

Hey Deck. . . I was looking for a more recent update. . . so hows it coming along??Below are some pics of my plane, not the best quality digital pics. . .Seeing your pics, and talking with cage one night got me fired up to finish my Ultimate Biplane. . which was actually 99.99 % done, I just had to fit the cowl and the exhaust deflectors, drill new holes in the cabanes to adjust the top wings incidence, and bring the CG back. I moved my reciever battery pack into the tail section, about halfway between the lower wing and the tail. This required a covering incision on the belly, and a nice big patch which doesn't quite match the other blue. This is a .46 sized Bipe, and I put my oversized .60 powerplant in the nose, swinging a 12x7 prop (and 12x4 for torqe rolls and hovers) just for kicks. I had Queen Amidala for the pilot. . but during the maiden flight she came loose. . so I took that to mean she has a fear of flight and left her out (saves some weight too).I joined the local flying club, got my profficiency check, and did the maiden flight on thursday 1/16/03. The exhaust deflectors needed some modifications to stay on with the engine running at higher power, so I had to do the maiden flight without the cowling on. My first takeoff roll was kind of humiliating, I did a few taxi tests, the engine died a few times, and I tried messing with the mixture, I also noted that this airplane keeps you busy even while on the ground, its not what you might call. . . well behaved. I never throttled up very high as the plane did a fast taxi even at idle. But once the engine seemed to idle well, and stayed running I felt the compulsion to take flight. As I turned into the wind, and prepared to maiden flight a new plane, with an engine wasn't staying running real well, after not flying R/C for two years, my nerves picked up. . . the mondo torque of this engine, and the light and squirrely ground handling of this plane made it feel like an I-153 on the ground . . .but I wanted to fly it and the sun was near setting. I jammed the power to the firewall, I wasn't ready for needing SO much right rudder to counter all that torque and P-factor, and I added it in too slowly, it went way left of centerline, and into the grass despite full right rudder application a few seconds too late. Ok then. . . add power SLOWLY!!! I told myself.Take #2:I center her up on the centerline and move the power slowly towards 50%, let the tail come up and then add in the rest slowly. This time we track pretty true with constant rudder work to keep it on the runway. And then the wheels lift. . .and she's off and climbing before I get to 60% power.I had to dial in some nose up elevator trim, and some right aileron. Flew nice and quick as I climbed to a safe altitude in the event I needed to glide back home. The engine seemed fine so I did a few flybys and then started some basic, gentle aerobatics. As I went over the top of a loop the engine bogged way down. . I thought I lost it but then it powered back up as I went down the backside of the loop. . . phew.  I have heard about how much of a rock this plane is without an engine pulling it around. . and didn't want to make my first landing be one with no power! I buzzed around trying to land but timid about lowering the throttle,and the engine would sometimes bogg down when I rolled or pitched quickly.  Finnaly I set up on a steep glide path for final, and figured if the engine died I could still bring it in OK. The engine kept chugging. . . I made a beautiful landing and shut the power down, this is one plane though that you have to fly untill it stops rolling, letting your guard down after touchdown is not an option, it is almost harder to taxi than to land! I richened the mixture some, and that seemed to help. So off we went for flight two. This time It ran fine, and I got into some more aggressive aerobatics. My last landing came after the sun had set, and I wanted to go up again, but  daylight was leaving fast. . .I am going to go again if the fog ever lifts, and bring the vid camera and get some shots in flight. This powerplant should give me unlimited vertical, and pretty good torque rolling hovering action. . . My video camera does have a still picture feature with I haven't used much, but I took some shots this morning to show you guys.heres a test. . the rest will followB~

B~

S!TX-UltimateDragonB~

Here's some hover shots of a replica of my ultimate in the Great Planes RealFlight G2 Simulator. This sim is pretty pricey at 199.99, but if you are going to learn from the ground up, it may very well save money, stress and embarrasment in the end. . .especially if you wanted to get into heli flying too. It comes with many popular aircraft, which are adjustable to suit your individual aircraft and flying style. It includes a transmitter that plugs into your machine, and can also interface with whatever transmitter you own, so you can use your actual transmitter to fly it.Hovering lowHovering low, letting the smoke cloud accumulate around meI recorded a video of me flying the Ultimate (in Sean D. Tucker's Oracle scheme) and then played it back while I flew the Great Planes CAP 232 in Brietling colors.S!TX-HuvaDragonB~

Awesome shots of your Bipe Eco, thanks for posting!Well, for those who are interested, I finished up the final details on my PT-40 this weekend, and even had a chance to throw it into the backyard to break the engine in.   Not nearly enough room to fly back there, so I just cranked her over and pretended I was weed-eating whenever the neighbors peeped out their windows.Here's some pics, from the point where I left off last:Essentially all woodwork is complete by this point in time, so I just had to put it together and see what the overall picture will be like:O.S. .46 Max "lite".... actually a Thunder Tiger Pro .46 (about $50 cheaper, little less horsepower than the O.S.):If you look real close you can see the result of the washout jigs, the angle of attack at the wingtips is less severe than at the base of the wings, resulting in that wonderful stall recovery (but less aerobatic performance) trainers are known for:The wings were a touch off balance, so three 1-1/4" drywall screws on the left wingtip and we're in business:Had a hobby shop go out of business a few weeks back, TX-Skoal informed me of a great deal on a field box....  $12!!!:I kept tripping over the latest gadgets brought to the house by Santa over the holidays....  gotta love triplets!:Well, on to the application of the skin, or Ultracote Pearl Blue in this case:Here's part of the stabilizer as seen from underneath the plane:Rear stab and fins done, and then on to the lower fuselage:And a view from the top:This is the only time I hope to see my PT-40 in such disarray and alarming position....   beginning the installation of the wiring, servos, battery pack and receiver:Fuel tank goes in here, just behind the engine:The plans call for the location of the receiver battery to sit just below the fuel tank, but after assembly the center of gravity was too far forward, and I had to get creative.  Any further back would have been too much, so right above the receiver seemed like a great fit.  Turns out that after whipping up this rig, the COG was right on the money.... WHEW!:I failed to get an overall shot and somewhere in here I lost track of total hours to get to this point, but here is the completed PT-40 in the backyard late this afternoon, engine running rich and breaking in for the first time:20 minutes later, still going!  I didn't have the heart to piss my neighbors off with the noise of an engine at full throttle, so I just let her idle out the gas in the tank, which took about 25 minutes.  Later this week I'm going to fire it up and run full throttle and finish the final engine adjustments.  With a little luck and good weather, she'll be ready to take to the airstrip and promptly allow me to start work on my second plane as I total my first this weekend:Gang, sorry for the length of this post, but I just felt like it would be an interesting post.  I'd say I've got about 60 hours total invested in building this plane, and safely I can say my next will be an ARF which will take much less time to get off the ground.  Regardless, I haven't had so much enjoyment from a hobby in quite a while.  I could have been done much sooner but the last two weeks haven't been the best, but I'm back in action and looking forward to some flight both online and offline.  Cya in the skies!TX-Deck out.B~

Excellent Work!! It is nice to be able to move the bat pack around so that as you get more comfy with it you can move the CG back a tad farther to make her a tad more peppy.Looks like she's ready to fly!!And nice crafstmanship. . .just one question though .. is that throttle linkage at 100% in the pic? Otherwise it looks like it will bind . .    :-/I see you are running an APC prop. . they are some of the best. . . only thing that could be better is their weight, but they have the best design out there. They are made buy a guy in my flying club. . .so I got connections now! I cant use them on my Ultimate now though, as I am way too nose heavy, I am running a $40 cnc milled spinner and a zinger prop to keep weight down. TX-EcoDragonB~

Eco,The throttle is pegged in that pic, but I ended up going back and working on that rod a little more to straighten it out somewhat.  The final result was a smooth throttle motion except the servo had a tendancy to attempt to keep pushing when it was already wide open.   A little bit of research and I found that my transmitter has the ability to reduce or increase the throw distance, so after backing down the max point, it was smooth all the way across the throttle range.   Too slick!   Later this week I intend to program the transmitter to have regular throttle controlled by the stick, then flick a switch into the middle position and the plane will automatically throttle down into a low throttle setting, then move the switch again and the engine cuts all the way off.   Basic stuff I'm sure, but I'm still floored by all this stuff and I thought that feature was extremely cool!TX-Deck out.B~

LMAO.....Just noticed a couple of things in the first picture worth noting....Circled in red is an area on my water heater that is rusted out, the result of a misfire from a paintball marker I was once working on.  T-boned the water tank perfectly, and I just left it at the time thinking I could wipe it off later.  WRONG!Circled in blue is my trusty antenna ball, courtesy of Jack-n-the-Box.  It wears a Houston Astros baseball cap and has found a nice home perched upon the antenna of my favorite cordless phone.Just a couple of humorous notes about my cave...TX-Deck out.B~

I am just curious about what radio gear your using.And have you joined the AMA?? Most airstrips, if they are public, require AMA membership. I would love to be there for the maiden flight. . but I guess the drive to texas would cost more than a second airplane. . .Well, looks like Rahman and Cage might be heading into the R/C realm as well.  . .you guys will be a veritable TX-R/C division. . . how cool!I will represent TX in da house at the woodland-Davis Aeromodelers club! (http://www.wdarc.org)WE need TX stickers. . then I can put one on my planes!!check out the vids at www.3dbatix.com to see what is known as "3D" flyingS!TX-UpTooLateDragonB~

I joined the AMA about 3 weeks ago, waiting for all my paperwork to arrive.  At some point this week I'm going on a search for a good local airstrip.  I'd like to find something close by the house, but if I have to drive an extra 20 miles to be more central to Cage and Rahman then it is most definitely worth the trip.  What are some of the things to look for in a quality club and airstrip?I've pretty much made up my mind my next aircraft will be some sort of slow-flying park flyer.  Much easier to walk around the corner to a local baseball field and throw the thing into the air, plus the kids could come along with me on the stroll.  I figure getting an extra battery or two would give me 30 minutes of flight time without having to recharge... just right for an hour neighborhood excursion.Eco, I'm using the Futaba 9CAF, very much overkill for a trainer.  Out of the box it comes with an 8 channel FM receiver, and one can purchase a new receiver to support the 9 channel/PCM capability.  Even as a newb I can recognize that I don't need that much transmitter to get off the ground.  This is the one I purchased in anticipation of needing more down the line with future planes.   Here's a link:  http://www.futaba-rc.com/radios/futj85.htmlTX-Deck out.B~

With respect to picking the club. . . first thing to verify is that it is an AMA sanctioned club. If you have a couple within the same distance from home, then visit them on the days you will allocate to flying. . . many clubs are dead during the week and busy on the weekends. . others are always busy. I tend to like to fly with a select few people. . .so I like the ones where you can get a day in without having to stay in the traffic pattern with 5 other planes. Also, look into their instruction programs, if they have any. I think you had said you had an instructor in mind, some clubs may prefer that their own instructors work with you, unless your friend joins their club. IMHO you should have an instructor who is a friend, and who is available when you need them, and your friend probably fits that bill better than those the club might appoint. It  is nice to have a club that is away from power lines trees and turkey vultures too!! A big field is helpful if you deadstick it in. . . and land short.  Other than that. . . just pick the one that looks good, and is close!Who ever your instructor is, they should do a thorough pre-flight of your plane. . .checking that all control surfaces deflect in the proper direction, that clevises, control horns, servo trays, pushrods and linkages are both slop free and secured in some way so as to not open or loosen in flight. On clevises I like to cut a very short piece of fuel tubing and slip it over the middle of the clevis (just be sure its far enough away from the horn to interfere) to keep it from opening up. Also, they should check that no servos are binding. . .like that one you worked on for your throttle. The endpoints should all be set up so that some additional control deflection is possible. If the servo is pushing against something it will RAPIDLY drain your onboard power supply. . .and when that happens it is like your pilot just had a heart attack . .  . .its bad!Also, the low end idle should be such that you can keep the plane stopped with the engine running smoothly, and the high end needle adjustment should be done with the model at full power and pointed nose up about 60 degrees. Start the needle valve at about 2 1/2 turns open, and slowly close it until the RPM peak, then open it about a quarter turn. This adjustment should be done every time you fly the plane (not each flight on the same day necessarily) as ambient temp and pressure will affect the fuel/air mixture. Remember that setting the needle to give best power on the ground, will result in a lean mixture in flight, your engine will run hot, and may quit altogether. .. so always turn it back 1/8 to 1/4 from peak. Boy. . .you proabably have all this in your manuals. . .but anyway. . . I am a talker!!! lolBTW. . . . nice radio. . . .heheheS!TX-EcoDragonB~

Topic moved to new R/C forum, Thanks Rahman!I've got some updates for this thread, more to come soon.TX-Deck out.

Quick update on my PT-40 project.  To date I still have not had a chance to get some stick time in on it, but it has been flown by an instructor and deemed airworthy.  He made some good recommendations on some of the construction features, and I will be making some changes soon.  Nothing really concerning the structure of the airframe, mostly cosmetic.At the time of completion, I didn't really think I wanted to scratch build again, but have recently changed my mind on this matter.   I've got another project in the works, but still in the procurement stages.  Pics and details to come soon, that is if I can find a good time to start it!TX-Deck out.

Sweet looking bird Manford, about the totaling the first one, heres a lil story of an old neighbor of mine.He built the most beautiful Cap 21, Red white and Blue like the skin Eco kinda came up with, i watched him spend all the hours and meticulous attention to detail and what and wasome bird he made. It was the type ya skinned , and tightened it wiht the heat gun. Had like a .61 or somethin like that. I was pleased to go with him and his son to witness the innagural flight. He started it, it ran fine, he took off all was fine, got it up to around 200 feet was flying level, then all of a sudden , he couldnt control it !! He handed the controls to a veteran R/C pilot , 3 seconds later it rolled over and nosed down into the ground, the motor was in the fusealage and the wing wre broken back at a 90 degree angle, all things said , he crashed his 400 glider as well, cartwheeled it, soon after  he changed his R/C intentions to the water type, :) . Good luck my freind, and the bikes are to damn kewl bro, and last but not least " GO Bagwell !!! "S~Tornado

hmmm. . .thats not a very nice story there tornado. . . but I'm sure Deck is unfazed by its morbidity! My Ultimate has been a hangar queen for a while now. . no sooner do I get the plane all set up, pay my AMA and (expensive) club dues, that I realize I really havent the time for this!!! hehehe   Well, I think I need to cut a bigger hole to allow the cylinder head better cooling airflow, perhaps thats the issue with the engine never quite seeming all there, I just hate big holes in an otherwise smooth cowling. . .I had hoped that the intakes in the front would be sufficient. Next flight I will run it without the cowl, and if it runs better, its time to yank out the dremel.S!TX-EcoDragon

Very Cool PT-40! Bet that little sucker turns and burns! That R/C software looks real fun. In my day you let someone get it off the ground for ya and then they stood next to you ready to snatch the controls out of your hands at any given second! hehehe!!! My father did that quite a few times! LOL!!! Now they have that interconnected buddy cable thingy! of course my father would of just unplugged me a other second! LOL!!! He was real touchy about me crashing his R/C's! Or kites, or crashing his cars! YA KNOW!!! He was wound way to tight!

I just finished a little zero here recently. Its not a RC plane but it is Balsa Wood and Tissue Skin doped. My next Step is a F4U Corsair that is much bigger than this...then a Focke Wulf FW-190 and a BF109 all of which I already own. I could have put a motor in them but I am building them as static displays. After I finish these and my skill has improved I also am going to build one of the T-40 Trainers. They have them here at Hobbytown USA.S~TX-FlightRisk Black 3

Update!!!I attempted to get with my instructor 2 weeks ago, but there were races going on at the field, so no dice.I scheduled again for last Sunday, but the instructor sees at least 10 different people every weekend, and our signals got crossed somehow.   I set the appointment for 9:00am, he thought it was 10:00am, didn't realize that I was the one training, and I got skipped.    He walked by and saw me sitting by my PT-40 and asked "oh, you have a plane out today?"   Doh.   He thought I had just dropped by to spectate, which people often do.SOOOOO....  I have another appointment with him at 7:00am tomorrow morning, and unless something drastic happens, I'm bound for stick time!!!In the meantime, I spruced up the PT-40 with some stripes....And a closeup of the tailfins....I'll keep y'all posted and let you know if I still have a plane by tomorrow afternoon!TX-Deck out.

Looking great!! And that will help a boatload with the visibility and telling which end is up while trying to recover after a botched turn . . .er. . i mean. . while doing acro  ;-)Too bad you dont live out west man. . .youd be getting some serious stick time. . and solo by now for sure. I guess you have a popular instructor. . 10 a day is a lot!!  With the buddy cord you shouldnt have to worry. . . just keep your bank angles low, and your altitude fairly high (but dont overdo it, you want to be able to see the thing too!). Another trick I used to use for new pilots was to have them face their body the same way as the plane is flying, and look over their shoulder. . this helps those who are new to R/C keep perspective when the plane is flying towards them. (r/c car or boat drivers probably will have no problem with this)Anyway good luck. . . I hope ya get some stick timeS!TX-EcoDragonBlack 1TX Squadron XO

Well......   I HAVE FLOWN THE PLANE!Only took me four months to do it, but I can honestly say that I have flown the plane.We got in three flights today.  The first flight was short, setting trims and then the instructor brought it down dead-stick after the engine cut at low idle.  After drilling a hole in the fuselage to get a screwdriver to the low idle adjustment, we tweaked it on the ground and sent her back up for the second flight.   I actually got to take control this time, and we practiced a few gentle and controlled turns.   He had me start a large figure eight pattern, with the middle of the eight setting the plane on a path directly towards us on the flight line.   After 5-10 seconds of straight flight towards us, I would bank it out to the left or right, alternating each time.  He brought the plane down and we gassed her up for run number three.    During the first 3 or 4 minutes, he noticed I had a tendancy to bank the plane and apply elevator as instructed, but then I would ease off on the elevator too early.   He took control and applied a massive amount of down trim to the elevator, then turned it back over to me.   This required me to fly with constant up elevator, and gave me a feel of how much and how long it would require.  I thought that was a pretty cool trick.  He removed the trim and we continued to fly.He pointed out some fairly specific ideas about stance and location on the flight line, and to me they made sense, and I sort of gathered from the way he talked that it is how they expect people to fly at that field.   He had me stand next to him in the "cage", with feet and chest parallel to the edge of the front of the box.  When the plane was coming at us in the middle of the eight, he would ask me to practice keeping the wings flat and level, then gently bank out each time.   After the flight, he explained that once this routine is practiced and I'm comfortable, then all I have to do for landing is obviously have the plane on the right flight path, but just turn my head 90 to the left or right, and we are doing the same thing.   Another subtle yet cool trick!Next lesson involves taxiing on the runway and taking off, and some more of the controlled gentle figure 8's.   Sooner or later I'll begin to work on landing, then after that I'm solo!   w00t.TX-Deck out.

Well congrats man!YEah most flying clubs keep you a "Safe" distance from the runway, and often behind some sort of fence. . . though when I get into my aerobatics I have a tendency to want to get right out by the runway which pisses off the poweres that be (thats why I fly when noones' there! ;-) but is alot more fun to bring the model low over the runway and then right past my head in climbing knife edge . . needless to say that is reckless behaviour .  .  . and in my more adult years I have weaned away from such antics.It seems this instructor is moving you in kinda quick, which is probably a testament to his perception of your flying comfort/skills. The figure 8 is a good maneuver for getting orientation down to muscle memory, but you need to be really comfortable with it for takeoff. . .as you add in power torque and p-factor will veer the model to the left (though less so in R/C with all the right thrust most people build into the firewall) you need to keep the plane on an even keel down the runway centerline, and if a gust of wind hits ya right as you go wheels up you ned to be able to make the corrective inputs quick, the only other issue with takeoff is simply being smooth witht eh controls, and knowing what speed is flying speed, and what angle is used for climbing. . . get those things in order and you will have no troubles. (another nice thing about R/C is the mondo power to weight ratios, climb speed and angle are less critical than in the real birds)Anyway, its great to hear you are  out there burning some holes in the sky with that little blue devil. . . have fun man!! And good job!S!TX-EcoDragonBlack 1TX Squadron XO

Congrats  Jakus, and its beautimous wit dem stripes if i do say so myself !!Keep us informed bro . Looking good man !!!!!!!S~T-Dawg