What did you fly today?

[Elbee]

davegee

I am impressed with what you've done here.

Flying with a new addition of anything is challenging or at the very least adds a bit-o-angst.

Let's call you "the test pilot of novel innovations" and know that I am grateful of your consideration.

Looks pretty-dang awesome, I must say, especially on someone else's Corsair.

Many thanks, Dave.

Best, LB

[davegee]

This morning the weather was good enough to do some test flights with Elbee's great Brewster bomb rack and 500# bomb for the Flightline 1600mm Corsair aircraft. Even though I'm pretty much a "nugget" at 3D printing, Elbee was nice enough to send me the G Code files to print and assemble my own bomb rack and bomb for practice. I didn't have any issues putting it together, and the "acid test" in my view was actually installing it on the plane and putting the Corsair and bomb rack through its paces to see how it went. In a word: Beautiful!" There are magnets attached to two attach points on the bottom of the fuse, and two squarish parts on the rack with magnets on them as well, and neatly slide into those slots and make for a good and solid fit. But the bomb rack is very easy to remove when not desired to fly it with the plane, due to those magnets.

I didn't see any issues at all affecting the flight of my Corsair which probably has close to 100 flights on it now that I used as a test bed for this project. There is plenty of clearance for takeoff and landing so scraping or damaging the underslung bomb and rack is a near impossibility as long as you get a good landing out of the plane and the landing gear doesn't fold up!

So, anyone who is interested in printing one of these Brewster bomb rack/bomb assemblies and trying it on your airplane, I highly endorse. Elbee, if you fly your Corsair with the Brewster bomb rack and bomb someday, I think you can be assured that it will fly as good as it looks! Thanks again for your tutelage getting me started into the world of 3D printing!

Some pics from my shop and after the test flights this morning below.

Cheers

Davegee

[DCORSAIR]

Pilots look fine DC!! the OD green flight suit is universal. The helmet is what 'might' make it an Army pilot... but who cares lol... They look like they fit in there quite well, what figures did you use?

These are the GI Jane helicopter pilots, I had to chop them up pretty good to get them to fit, well from the waist down anyway, the arms and upper part of the body fit very well actually with no mods, I'm happy with the way they look, in the air who cares anyway. I only spent like $70 for both of them, not bad for the detail they add to the cockpit.

[Elbee]

davegee beautiful tribute and wonderful 'facts of folks', Dave. Thank you, Best LB

[davegee]

I took two of my warbirds out for a personal D-Day salute, now 80 years ago to this day. My P-47D I Wanted Wings is painted up in the full D-Day invasion stripes on the fuse and the wings. The
P-51D LOU IV has the bands just on the bottom of the wings and fuse, as it looked later in the summer of 1944.

Both of the real aircraft that these models represent participated in action on D-Day in northern France. Fortunately, there was just a token German Luftwaffe resistance after major effort by the allies prior to D-Day to achieve air superiority proved successful.

The full D-Day bands, made primarily to help identify them by friendly forces on the ground were only in place intact for several weeks. It was determined after the initial push into northern France that they were no longer needed, at least on the top. In fact, they were a problem as any German pilot above these aircraft could immediately identify these aircraft as enemy, and attack them. So, orders were cut to have ground crews remove or paint over (usually in OD green) the stripes on the upper wings and fuselage. The bands on the lower fuse and wings stayed for a few more months as it was thought that they could still help friendly forces on the ground to keep from firing on them by accident. Eventually all the bands were removed by the end of 1944.

The pilot of I Wanted Wings did complete his tour and went home safely, although his aircraft later came to grief with another pilot flying it on a combat mission. The pilot of the P-51D LOU IV, did not fare as well. His name was Col. Thomas Jonathan Jackson Christian, Jr. He preferred to go by just "Jack." Incidentally, he was the great grandson of the Confederate general Stonewall Jackson of the American Civil War. He was the commander of the 361st Fighter Group "Yellowjackets." Unfortunately, in August 1944 he was leading a dive bombing mission on a Nazi-held French train terminus, and for whatever reason, he never pulled out of the dive after releasing his bombs. The French locals buried him in a nearby cemetery, although he is still officially considered MIA on the record books in the USA.

[sfcfury]

I added pilots to my Roban 700 Cobra and got several flights on it yesterday, for some reason adding pilots makes it fly better but the issue is I have Army pilots flying a Marine Cobra...,...

Pilots look fine DC!! the OD green flight suit is universal. The helmet is what 'might' make it an Army pilot... but who cares lol... They look like they fit in there quite well, what figures did you use?

[F106DeltaDart]

Thanks, was definitely a lot of work to convert mine to a -100. It is definitely a bear to transport and operate though. I only bring it out for special events since its so much work to transport and assemble. I'd love to see a smaller more transportable version with Freewing or FMS engineering someday.

[davegee]

Thanks, and will do! Very cool that you've got that much time in the real thing! If you have any desire to get the HSD kit I suggest doing it soon. HSD only made ~100 kits worldwide. They are huge (quad 90mm, 40 lbs, and about 10 ft long). All the PNP versions are sold, but HSD USA still has a few airframe kits. Very expensive, but they are the only real option out there for a 747. They are quite an endeavor to bring to the field. Fuselage and wing both can separate into 3 pieces for transport.

I looked at the HSD website. Then reality struck. I got a grasp of how BIG this model is, and it just wouldn't be feasible to haul to the field in my pickup and our runway is woefully inadequate for such a large airplane. But I applaud you for making your beautiful model, especially in the space shuttle carrier version which was instrumental in transporting the shuttle from place to place during its career. I got to tour through the one at the Johnson Space Center in Houston that has a full scale mockup of shuttle on top. I would love to have flown this configuration or at least fly on the plane on a leg to see how they did it. I believe the original owner of the space shuttle carrier 747 was American Airlines, who had them for a few years before they sold it to NASA. It was a 747-100, an early version of the 747 of the type I did fly for awhile before we purchased 747-400s which were infinitely more capable airplanes.

Lots of cool history there, and thank you for going to the effort of making yours so faithful to the real thing!

Cheers

Davegee

[F106DeltaDart]

Outstanding, F106DeltaDart!: One of my favorite airplanes, got around 15,000 hours in them during my airline career. Great plane! I might look into that HSD kit.

Good luck with the Big Bird Fly-In in two weeks. I hope it does great and wows the crowd there!! Please post some pics of the event and your airplane!

Cheers

davegee

Thanks, and will do! Very cool that you've got that much time in the real thing! If you have any desire to get the HSD kit I suggest doing it soon. HSD only made ~100 kits worldwide. They are huge (quad 90mm, 40 lbs, and about 10 ft long). All the PNP versions are sold, but HSD USA still has a few airframe kits. Very expensive, but they are the only real option out there for a 747. They are quite an endeavor to bring to the field. Fuselage and wing both can separate into 3 pieces for transport.

[Elbee]

Completed the first flight of the HSD Boeing 747 converted to the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft today....

F106, OUTSTANDING. Bravo Zulu, Sir. Best, LB

[davegee]

Completed the first flight of the HSD Boeing 747 converted to the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft today at Thunderbird field in Ft Worth. Overall, the flight went well. Still having some retract issues in flight, despite them working fine in ground tests. It is definitely a runway hog on landing, using every bit of the 500 ft runway even with application of braking and reverse thrust. Next flights will be planned for the Waco Big Bird Fly-In in 2 weeks.

Outstanding, F106DeltaDart!: One of my favorite airplanes, got around 15,000 hours in them during my airline career. Great plane! I might look into that HSD kit.

Good luck with the Big Bird Fly-In in two weeks. I hope it does great and wows the crowd there!! Please post some pics of the event and your airplane!

Cheers

davegee

[F106DeltaDart]

Completed the first flight of the HSD Boeing 747 converted to the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft today at Thunderbird field in Ft Worth. Overall, the flight went well. Still having some retract issues in flight, despite them working fine in ground tests. It is definitely a runway hog on landing, using every bit of the 500 ft runway even with application of braking and reverse thrust. Next flights will be planned for the Waco Big Bird Fly-In in 2 weeks.

[Grossman56]

Good for you Dave!
I had the new Spitfire out last week and she flew great! I had the same old guy moment when landing. I have to remember she needs about two clicks of throttle after touch down to keep from pulling left and standing on her wingtip. Caught my mistake immediately just as I saw her start to move left and added the throttle, she immediately corrected and it was a near perfect landing, not bad for a maiden
For some reason, this one has an XT90 plug on the ESC, which will plug into the EC5 but I was told there were an awful lot of reports of burn outs because of guys doing this so I just ordered a couple of adapters off Amazon. Yeah, I could have changed the plug, but I don't trust my soldering skills that far.
Went out today and the wind came up and the temp went down. If I can't turn the airplane on the ground because the wind is too strong, then I don't fly

Grossman56

[DCORSAIR]

DCORSAIR. Wow, very realistic. Great work, beautiful paint, and the pilots are outstanding. Best, LB

Well Thank you sir, the paint is actually stock as is comes out of the box from Roban, they do a pretty good job on these scale helicopters that MRC sells for Roban, I've had several of the 700/800 size kits and they all looked great and fly really good, not a lot of accurate scale details but for a guy like me who likes to put them together and go fly, you can't beat em.

[Elbee]

DCORSAIR. Wow, very realistic. Great work, beautiful paint, and the pilots are outstanding. Best, LB

[DCORSAIR]

I added pilots to my Roban 700 Cobra and got several flights on it yesterday, for some reason adding pilots makes it fly better but the issue is I have Army pilots flying a Marine Cobra...,...

[davegee]

Davegee, Hope your P-47 is accepted. You build fantastic replicas and should be shared for all after their fight days are over.


EvanD, Thanks for the advice, I am working motors today in the backyard. Cleaning, adjusting hope to try them out at the field tonight.

Wildman, As always your models look great and you fly them all with authority I haven't gone EDF yet but like the FW ME-262, partial to WW-2

Elbee, Hate to hear of the towns economic woes, but glad you and yours truly are moving on to a great adventure and getting a flying club close by

Best Regards, Rex

Thanks, Rex. I'll probably put out a query and some photos to the folks at the USAFA next week, to see if there is any interest.

cheers

Davegee

[Hugh Wiedman]

Hugh Wiedman

On a rather sad note: all is about to shut down here at the Elbee Works late next month.

Dont go too long, idle LB hands sound dangerous, probably more for your CO.

For me it is move back to my hometown and for Tamms it is a move out of Hutchinson. The current economics both local and federal have really taken a toll on this community.

If you gotta go, you gotta go, (From Jurassic Park and the out house)! Get out while the gittins good! And as Dorothy said, "There's no place like home" and you no longer can say "You're not in Kansas anymore".

This will certainly give me the opportunity to fly much more often as the field will be 15 minutes

Now that sounds like the best reason to move. Maybe we'll get to see that Corsair get into the wild blue yonder!
Hugh

Best as always, LB

[jetfool]

Davegee, Hope your P-47 is accepted. You build fantastic replicas and should be shared for all after their fight days are over.


EvanD, Thanks for the advice, I am working motors today in the backyard. Cleaning, adjusting hope to try them out at the field tonight.

Wildman, As always your models look great and you fly them all with authority I haven't gone EDF yet but like the FW ME-262, partial to WW-2

Elbee, Hate to hear of the towns economic woes, but glad you and yours truly are moving on to a great adventure and getting a flying club close by

Best Regards, Rex

[Hugh Wiedman]

Got out yesterday and got 20 flights on 5 aircraft. It was hot as hell, 96, but the winds were lite in the morning for the first time in forever. Winds kicked up in the afternoon to 15-20 mph and the Mig, F4 and Euro handled them like it was no big deal. The FW 190 and F18 on the other hand were dancing to the music, even with gyros. All in all a great day. F4 on 8S is the way to go!