RE: All us newbie pilots, lets share..
Well, had one of the daughters and my grand daughter over for the weekend. Managed to sneak out in the early AM and got some flight time in.
You'll all be happy to know that after waiting for over a year, Big Beautiful Doll finally took to the air!!!!!
She flew like a dream, until I discovered that I was maxed out on my up elevator trim! How that happened, I couldn't tell you, but there it was, and I didn't catch it on preflight, dang!!
She wasn't far out of trim but I had to land it a little hotter than I wanted to. So I get her lined up and coming down, she touched wheels and suddenly, the right wheel leaves the plane!
I'm seeing Sean's situation!! the hub comes apart and the two pieces go one way and the rubber another. Both were recovered, thank God!
So, thinking quickly, I give her some left aileron to keep the wing up and head it for the grass on the side of the runway, she ground loops and that's it. I'm thinking of the damage of course as I go to retrieve her. Hey, let me tell you right now, if you have an FMS Mustang and don't have Sean's retract reinforcements in them, your crazy! That bird had NO damage on her, short of the back pin on the landing gear door broke off. A little scuffing on the bottom of the strut and that was it, I couldn't believe it, no broken plastic pieces on the retract mechanism, nothing. Now, just to prove a point, when I got her back home and on the bench, I noticed that the retract was not quite lining up true with the gear compartment, so I took the gear completely apart. Turns out that the pin that joins the retract mechanism to the gear itself was bent! She hit that hard and no damage to the retract! Out with a hammer and down on the concrete and bent her back to shape, good as new. Trimmed off a small diameter nail and glued it to the top of the gear door and she slipped into the slot no problem.
So, of course, I corrected the trim problem as well so now I have lots of play on her. One more thing to go onto the preflight list.
Oh, by the way, it was the c clip that came loose even though I thought I had them on when I checked them after Sean's mishap. Got some new ones at Ace Hardware, the size is a 5/32 Hillman E clip and it is tight!
On another note, the Pitts is here!!
I was actually home for the delivery, first time for me!!!
So, all the decals are off and the white paint is on. Man, does it make a difference, without the white paint, it looks kind of grey, and besides the white covers up pretty well all the foam circle marks. Ran some filler down the center joints on the top of the fuse and applied the first coat of Minwax to her. Haven't began to build as I'm thinking it will be easier to apply the decals before. At least it was for Old Crow. What a cool bird, it looks so much bigger than it actually is due to the scale, the pilot is huge! and is the fuse ever wide, the bay is cavernous. I dropped the battery in and bound the receiver and there' still a ton of space, sound system??!!
Speaking of the battery, this thing is heavy a 3300 6 cell. The bird itself is not what you'd call light, then throw this battery in and just that, with no wings or tail on, and she outweighs anything else in the fleet!
Length and width wise, she's about the same as the Pandora, but the fuse is much wider. All in all a very impressive airplane that isn't going to be bothered too much by the Cody breeze.
I'll post some pictures later as she gets built. If you want one, better scoop it up quick, this could be the last kick at the cat.
Well, I've said enough, take it easy boys and I hope everyone's flying is successful, enjoy!
Grossman56
Well, had one of the daughters and my grand daughter over for the weekend. Managed to sneak out in the early AM and got some flight time in.
You'll all be happy to know that after waiting for over a year, Big Beautiful Doll finally took to the air!!!!!
She flew like a dream, until I discovered that I was maxed out on my up elevator trim! How that happened, I couldn't tell you, but there it was, and I didn't catch it on preflight, dang!!
She wasn't far out of trim but I had to land it a little hotter than I wanted to. So I get her lined up and coming down, she touched wheels and suddenly, the right wheel leaves the plane!
I'm seeing Sean's situation!! the hub comes apart and the two pieces go one way and the rubber another. Both were recovered, thank God!
So, thinking quickly, I give her some left aileron to keep the wing up and head it for the grass on the side of the runway, she ground loops and that's it. I'm thinking of the damage of course as I go to retrieve her. Hey, let me tell you right now, if you have an FMS Mustang and don't have Sean's retract reinforcements in them, your crazy! That bird had NO damage on her, short of the back pin on the landing gear door broke off. A little scuffing on the bottom of the strut and that was it, I couldn't believe it, no broken plastic pieces on the retract mechanism, nothing. Now, just to prove a point, when I got her back home and on the bench, I noticed that the retract was not quite lining up true with the gear compartment, so I took the gear completely apart. Turns out that the pin that joins the retract mechanism to the gear itself was bent! She hit that hard and no damage to the retract! Out with a hammer and down on the concrete and bent her back to shape, good as new. Trimmed off a small diameter nail and glued it to the top of the gear door and she slipped into the slot no problem.
So, of course, I corrected the trim problem as well so now I have lots of play on her. One more thing to go onto the preflight list.
Oh, by the way, it was the c clip that came loose even though I thought I had them on when I checked them after Sean's mishap. Got some new ones at Ace Hardware, the size is a 5/32 Hillman E clip and it is tight!
On another note, the Pitts is here!!
I was actually home for the delivery, first time for me!!!
So, all the decals are off and the white paint is on. Man, does it make a difference, without the white paint, it looks kind of grey, and besides the white covers up pretty well all the foam circle marks. Ran some filler down the center joints on the top of the fuse and applied the first coat of Minwax to her. Haven't began to build as I'm thinking it will be easier to apply the decals before. At least it was for Old Crow. What a cool bird, it looks so much bigger than it actually is due to the scale, the pilot is huge! and is the fuse ever wide, the bay is cavernous. I dropped the battery in and bound the receiver and there' still a ton of space, sound system??!!
Speaking of the battery, this thing is heavy a 3300 6 cell. The bird itself is not what you'd call light, then throw this battery in and just that, with no wings or tail on, and she outweighs anything else in the fleet!
Length and width wise, she's about the same as the Pandora, but the fuse is much wider. All in all a very impressive airplane that isn't going to be bothered too much by the Cody breeze.
I'll post some pictures later as she gets built. If you want one, better scoop it up quick, this could be the last kick at the cat.
Well, I've said enough, take it easy boys and I hope everyone's flying is successful, enjoy!
Grossman56
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