No flying today!! Started off windy and then we had golf ball sized hail. I love it here!! The weather is so crazy!! Steve

Weather
 

Better you than me Steve! :eek: We have had 2 days of very hot and humid weather. :mad: No fun roasting your tail off for a couple of flights. :( I'll wait for a nice evening to get some flying time. :) Martin

We have wind, rain, and FLOOD. I tried to go some where today and every hi-way I tried to use was closed cause of high water. Guess I am suppost to stay home and wait on wind to stop blowing. Maybe tonight it will stop blowing and the temp drop below 90.

Build!
 

Maybe you just need to spend some time in the shop degreen! :D If I were stuck at home, that's what I would do! :):D Martin

Still working on the Dr1. The original model is such a funky design with criss cross wing ribs that I just couldn't bring myself to build it like that. The wing spars in the box aren't long enough, so you have to glue two of them together to make a long enough spar.
I went over the plans and drew in where I thought wing ribs should go if they were laid out the right way plus I added the cut outs for the ailerons and a few 1/16" balsa gussets in the "weak spots". Then I went to the hobby shop and bought all new balsa spar material to replace the short material that came in the kit. I've got the top wing framed up and now I have to cut out the holes in the 1/!6" ply servo trays to mount the servos for the ailerons. I used a band saw to cut out the ribs. See photos.

I forgot about you living in Indiana Degreen!! You guys are soaked and I hear you'll get more rain today!! I hope your on high ground!! Steve

I live up high but the ground here is so soft a high wind uproots the trees. I have lived here sence 1968 and this is the first time I have see the river over the road on the west side of town. A town 5 miles northwest is closed, only one road out of town not flooded. The town is on a high bank above the river so I don't beleive the town is flooded just almost cut off. Wish I had a cam on one of my planes.

Sounds like you need some floats!!! Steve

Any one know if either of these is a good model.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWA:IT&ih=025

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWA:IT&ih=025

I didn't see what company was making it (probably Chinese) but that Nieuport sure is pretty.

That is actually the "NEW" Cedar Hobbies planes. Name of seller is same as the old name, but no "cedar hobbies" listed.

I have a Cedar Hobbies Albatros, but it was a poor flyer. Quite heavy for it's size, and was not of a very scale shape at all. I'm actually in the middle of doing a COMPLETE re-build of this plane, and I'll get some pics and a log going here real soon.

I would save the money, and get something else. Or buy an actual kit, because if these are anything like the Albatros, they really are just about a kit.

But, to be fair, I could have built the plane 100% stock, and it would have been lighter, but no where for the battery to go. So if you buy one of them, just be prepaired to do NO custom stuff, other than getting the weight as far forward as possible.

Here's a link to my experiences with the Albatros - many of you will remember this one.
http://www.wattflyer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28121

I looked at your Cedar Hobbies Albatros and I think the fuselage on my Kavan foam Albatros looks more like plywood.

Look here for making machine guns. I haven't use these prints yet but have printed on paper and glued to foam to make the guns.

http://forum.zealot.com/t159898/

Look where Degreen???? Steve

Your suppost to read my mind, as simple as it is it should be easy to read. But then with all this water maybe it is water logged. LOL

Here is the URL that tells where to go and how to find the printouts.

http://forum.zealot.com/t159898/

Really? Didn't think the Kavan had any color variations or graining for the "wood".

I really ment the shape of the fuselage. I think the unmodified fuselage looks more fabric covered. The Kavan has the graining for the "wood" but only on the back of mine cause I repainted the front cause of crashes and didn't try to put the grain back.

Ah, I gotcha! Totally agree. It bugs me that my plane was (and is, now that I'm rubuilding it) just stick built with no sheeting. I just didn't want to add the weight.
I took off my old fuse covering. I took a big chunk of it, and weighed it - 2 grams. Then I took a sheet of 1/32 balsa - same size as the old covering, and weighed that, and it was 5 grams! Of course, that's unfinished balsa, by the time you put a finnish on it, wow - very heavy I'm sure.

So, ya, I'm not crazy about the stringer look for this plane, but it'll be a good 5 footer I suppose.

Wonder if you could cover it with thin foam?

That might be an idea!! Your not swimming yet are you Degreen? Steve

I live close to the top of a hill so the water has a long way to get to me. The yard is soaked enough you get your shoes wet walking on the grass. One part of the hill has water running out of it. 2 hiways close to me are closed cause the water washed part of the road way away. I went to class reunion Sat night, about 40 miles away. Drove around 3 road closed signs on the way there so took a differant way back and only had to drive around one sign. Each time only half the road way was gone so could drive around the problem. Both the Indiana Railroad(CSX) and Indiana Southern lines are washed out. I saw the Indiana Southern line where it is washed out. About every 50 feet or so for about 3 or 4 miles the grade is washed out under the rails. The rails and ties are about 5 feet in the air. I think I have only seen a couple of farm fields that have not been wiped out. The paper said the water had even destroyed 4 airplanes that were in a hanger at the airport.

I guess you guys are getting all our rain! All we get when it does rain is hail and tornadoes this year. Steve

Wow /\/\ Feel so helpless. Around here it's finally nice Spring weather, but will change again in a couple days - but we've got nothing to complain about when hearing those stories. Hope all is as well as can be.
Chris.

Rains ALOT up in your neck of the woods too Chris!! I've lived in this part of Texas the biggest part (except for my Army days) of my life so I'm used to it. Steve

I moved from the rainforest to the desert recently......It's as dry as a popcorn fart around here...nothing but sand and tumbleweeds.....I wish you guys could send some of that rain here.....

I know what you mean Murph!! I used to drive a truck cross country and I've been through Barstow, Mojave, Lancaster, Law, etc. I stopped one night in the Mojave desert to catch a few winks. I shut off the truck to save a little fuel, (because it's SO expensive in California). It was warm when I shut it off but I woke up in the middle of the night about to freeze my rear end off!!! Steve

LOL @ Steve.....I hear it gets really cold around here in the winter......2400 feet elevation.....but not nearly as cold as those in the North and Midwest etc......

I live just outside of Lancaster.....North a bit....I nicknamed the place Tumbleweed FLats....hahahahhahaha
It is over 100 degrees today......I am quite hot right now.....:o

Here in the Texas panhandle in the winter it will be 80 degrees one day and 20 degrees the next!! Steve

I remember walking area guard one night while in basic at Lackland AFB in San Antonio. There was a large display type thermometer outside the squadron orderly room. In one hour, the temperature went from 82 to 44 in a bit over an hour. I thought the CQ was nuts when he told me to wear my field jacket when I started my tour, but by the time I got back to the barracks, I was glad I had it.

The temperature DOES take huge swings down there.

50+ knows what I mean!! I was at Fort Hood, TX for a couple of years. Steve

You guys working on anything this weekend? Steve

That depends on what plans my girlfriend has made for me...LOL

Of Course I am the last one to know.....

How about you?
 

Are you Guys having the same problem as me? ???? Poor/bad weather, plans that often go astray and no time to build? :mad: Seems like it's getting worse. :roll: Was supposed to go to a fun fly today but by the time I got out of church and had something to eat, it was too late to go. ::o Not only that, but the glider pilots took over the field. I HATE gliders! :eek: They are the most boring thing to me. I'd rather have some good hair raising, scary flights than 1 glider flight. :eek: How about you Guys? BTW, did you notice my avitar? Looks familar HUH? Martin

Steve, I'm still working on the Comet SuperStars Dr1. I haven't built from a kit in a long time and most of the "short cuts" are coming back to me. I'm spoiled by the ARF's that are like snap together toys compared to building from a kit. Slow process of ironing on the Micorlite covering and getting all of the little corners tacked down. Trying not to break the little 1/16" stringers as I handle it. But, it's coming along, slowly but surely. The photos aren't up to date. I cut away the stringers on the bottom of the fuselage from the firewall back to the next bulkhead to install a hatch for battery insert/removal.

I been flying almost everyday this week. Have to wait on rain to quit, then put mosquito net that has been sprayed with off over my head(the blood sucking knats can get through the mosquito net), wear long sleeve shirt in the heat, spray hands with off. Sometimes they are thick enough in front of face to be distracting. I finally got the Morane Sauliner L trimed to fly nice with A/E/M, it was designed for R/E/M. I was having trouble hand launching it. Now it launches nice and straight without rolling to one side and diving. Now to just find them unexpecting Fokkers with the Hotchkiss gun and the deflectors on the prop.

Yes......:o

I am working on rebuilding my Loening M8 scratch built foam WW1 plane. It had crashed so many times that the fuselage front was more glue than foam.

Looks good! Sorta where I'm at with my Albatros. Used to be an ARF, but now a kit!

In other news, (I know, not WWI, but still a biplane) my beloved Pico Tiger Moth is out of commission. My 8 year old was flying it on the trainer cord, when he went into a dive, and by the time my reflexes caught up, it slamed into the goal post at the school. Destroyed both wings. I loved that plane. Now I need to decide what to do with it - new wings, or start over. I have another TM kit, in box, but I was sort of wanting to do that as a 100% stock ultralight.

The Fokkers are safe from my TripeHound for a while. Last night it desided to fly away, I regained control long enough to turn it 180 degrees back toward me then lost control again. It is in the top of a tree. Now I need the wind to blow.

:(