One thing leads to another!!
Update 12/6/2003
Now that I am finally starting to get "the touch"
and able to actually make my plane go where I want it to go
my mind starts to consider the possibilities of MORE planes!
My instructor Dick Lucas had a partially completed LazyBee in his shop. I talked him into passing it on to me.
I stripped off the covering that was on it, buy a new OS 15 LA engine, a flight pack (receiver, battery and two servos), and convert it into a School Bus!
I name it "Mendocino High"!
There is a "Fun-Fly" at Corning, California and Lolli and I go for the three day event..
It was a great place to learn how to fly the LazyBee. There was not a tree in sight!
Back at our Fort Bragg field I get even more comfortable with this nice slow flyer.
Starting it up at our Fort Bragg flying field. What a cute, sweet, flier.
Some of the guys in our flying club like to drive
over to Lake Mendocino and fly their float planes or their amphibians.
I tried putting floats on my DuraPlane but it wasn't very successful.
Time to buy a sea plane!
Looking through the wish book I settle on a Lanier Mariner 40 ARF (Almost Ready to Fly).
A couple of weeks later it arrived. Some
assembly required.
It wasn't long until I had it assembled and ready to go.
Soon I am flying at Lake Mendocino! What a
great place to fly. Lots of room to take off and land.
Plus the trees are way over there!
Take off. Practicing touch and goes!
What a beauty.
But, beautiful flying weather doesn't last forever, even in Northern California. I need an indoor project for rainy days.
Again, looking through the wish book I decide on the Great Planes "Pete'n Poke". It is a parasol winged semi-replica of a 1932 Pietenpol Air Camper, the first homebuilt airplane. Mr. Pietenpol wanted to build a plane that could be built with the materials at hand and use an easy to find engine. He powered it with the Model A engine. The plane I ordered would not be an ARF this time. This would be a kit consisting of nothing but die-cut parts, lots of balsa wood, and some plans. I would be building a model from the ground up just like I used to when I was a teenager!
It begins. Now a days the glue of choice is CyA (Super Glue) and Epoxy rather than Ambroid!
The fuselage construction begins by building it upside down over the plans.
Then flipped right side up for the completion of the fuselage.
It is coming together nicely and I am a goofy looking guy!
After a month and a half of pleasurable work I finished it on December 2nd, 2003. I covered it with MonoKote, a covering that is much nicer to use than the old silk span and dope I used as a teenager. What a fun project.
My instructor said it is too pretty to fly!
Yes, it is pretty but I am hoping it will be a beautiful flyer too.
What's next?
Well, my daughter had a second baby the 4th of December and so I am loading all my planes in my Vanagon and driving up to the Seattle area to view the new baby, visit my other grandbabies, and hopefully do some flying with my two sons who are also RC airplane nuts.
And, I am thinking about Coroplast Combat, Electric wings, or maybe doing a scratch build of this!
Stay tuned.
Retirement is good!