who is jealous of my new homebuilt

Loved them as a kid as well.
 
Remember, 40 hours of Phase 1 before flying over populated areas!
 
I still like them! (With the grand kid, of course)...
 
Getting N-Numbers on that aircraft might be a challenge. Luckily it's an "experimental", so no need for 12" numbers!

I've not seen one of those in a long while! Will have to look at the local hobby stores to see if they have them. My son would have a hoot with it!
 
Did you get your Drone Certificate?

Love the wing trim adjustment.

Cheers
 
Builders Log, Day 1:

The assembly is complete. I did most of it at home before transporting it to the airport (the driveway) to install the motor (wind up the rubber band).

Assembly went fairly smoothly; I have no idea why more projects aren't completed.

We did the test flight first (before we taxied it); it flew in the air, up, up, and forward, towards the neighbor's trees, continuing slightly up, and forward, floating and moving surprisingly far through the calm, cool, evening air. Apparently balsa wood negates any stalls whatsoever; who knew?

It continued on all the way down the driveway, across the road, and headed towards their giant wall of pine trees.

I was envisioning the first flight ending in tragedy; but thankfully, we had our first engine-out, and she sunk quickly to the ground. I was worried about the hard landing, but the Cessna-style bendy-strut thingees held up like a champ. Damage: none.

Next was our taxi test; my four-year-old daughter took her first turn.

She quickly threw it towards the ground, and it taxied into the middle of the street, briefly taking off when it went over a bump.

Damage: still none.

I took my next test flight, and this one was pure magic. She flew up and forward, then ever so slightly banked to the left. She then nosed over, and did a perfect landing, gliding on the wheels! The whole flight, the total turn was 90 degrees from the departure point, so I got a perfect view of the smooth landing.


I only had one question when we were all through (unfortunately had to cut our flying short due to FAR 91.205, missing necessary night equipment for VFR flight).

They supply two rubber bands... is one a spare, or is this thing really multi-engine, and I have only been flying on ONE?!?!?


So far so good, this aviation thing is easy.
 
The second rubber band is what is known as a Turbo and is supplied for use on high altitude operations.

Cheers
 
I certainly hope you contacted any airport within 5 miles and advised them of your planned flight operations before you started.
 
I always put two rubber bands on it for twice the power!

+1 on the fleet farm! The Man's Mall !!!!
I miss that store, we have a Runnings farm and fleet but if is like the ugly step child to fleet farm.
 
Grandfather used to carry these at his pharmacy (along with those hefty styrofoam gliders and balsa wood gliders) and would grab a few of them for the grandchildren to play with each Christmas. We always had a blast with them. One of my favorite memories from growing up!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I "borrowed" Mom's hand cranked eggbeater to wind the rubber band. Used a paper clip hooked in the beater to attach to a hook in the prop. My first Aeronautical self design for Ground Support Equipment.

Cheers
 
will there be a raffle for this plane?
 
I fear that after I let the kids fly it after school today, we might have some structural integrity issues.

still, yes, raffle tickets are only $25 apiece, and I'm only selling 1,000 tickets!
 
I loved building those little Guillows scale models.
 
Stingray Don said:
I remember taping bottle rockets to mine for a little more thrust. ;)
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I tried that as well. I never seemed to get a second flight because the "pop" would destroy the plane, until I put the thrust far in front of the plane. Then we got some crazy flights..!!!
 
Man, that brings back some memories ! After awhile we would get really bored with them though and start doing some pretty creative things with fire crackers and bottle rockets. Who needs video games with fun like that ?
 
Day 2

I really explored the performance of the aircraft today. I now understand about the trim system... it's the wing! You pull it forward or back to pitch the plane up or down.

I also now understand the egg-beater reference. After the twelfth time spinning that thing with my hand for eternity, I decided I needed to do something too.

Just then, I looked down, and saw my Makita smiling back up at me. I knew what had to be done.

2016-09-12-2.jpg

My idea kinda sucked, because you have to keep it centered, and just the proper amount pushed in the prop.

Also I didn't wait long enough for the super glue to set, so it came apart after 3/4 of one plane done.


I read a review online where somebody was using both rubber bands at once. That must be what they mean when they say they got it in the power band. Yes that is a poorly written attempt at humor.

For real, this power band is blue, and I will try both at some point.
 
Builders Log; Final Chapter.

The aircraft was destroyed, a total loss. Before it went, I was able to "double rubber band" it; anti-climactic. Oh sure, it took off like a powerful twin, charging into the sky... but since it spun faster, it ran out of energy faster too. So it seemed like a shorter, more powerful flight.

We had lots of fun launching it... until that fateful last flight.

All was well, the plane had just had a successful landing. Life was good. The two year-old went to retrieve it.

I went into the garage, and came back out; the tail had been snapped in two.

After a two year-old figures out how crunchy and breakable balsa wood is, it was game on. He disassembled the airplane into tiny fragments. It might have been humorous to try to reassemble with super glue, and see if it would fly again, but man, it was just gone.

So my takeaway is that homebuilts are dangerous, they destroy easily, and a two year old can easily break the wings and tail into many small pieces.
 
StevieTimes said:
So my takeaway is that homebuilts are dangerous, they destroy easily, and a two year old can easily break the wings and tail into many small pieces.
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I've got to leave the interwebs.

Not only do I have a dangerous airplane (RV), but I'm considering flying to a dangerous airport (Gaston's). Throw in a mediocre pilot like me and we've got the makings of a disaster.
 
StevieTimes said:
The aircraft was destroyed, a total loss. Before it went, I was able to "double rubber band" it; anti-climactic. Oh sure, it took off like a powerful twin, charging into the sky... but since it spun faster, it ran out of energy faster too. So it seemed like a shorter, more powerful flight.
Click to expand...

Zoom climb. ;)
 
Actually he was performing the 100 minute inspection and found several unairworthy items. Rather than expose you to unlimited liability in a potential sale, he disassembled it for scrap.

Cheers
 
X3 Skier said:
Actually he was performing the 100 minute inspection and found several unairworthy items. Rather than expose you to unlimited liability in a potential sale, he disassembled it for scrap.
Click to expand...
This actually makes a lot of sense; the tail became separated from the fuselage on multiple occasions during hard landings. I wondered if I should try to do something about that.

I guess it's true... the aircraft is only as good... as... its... build.....er...? heyyyyyyyyyyyyy...
 
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