More parts cut out. The excessively perforated firewall is because I'm not sure just where I want to put the fuel tank: with all those holes I have six different mounting options, so I can change my mind on the tank later.

The original had you clamping the landing gear in place with the motor -- I didn't think that'd be a good idea with the McCoy, so I sandwiched the L/G wire between two 1/16" plywood plates, with 1/16" balsa spacers around the wire.

If it's just for the one day, I could fly it without fuel proofing at all.  If I fly it at the Fun Flyers field there will be a fireplace available.

All glued up.  I dusted the cracks around the wing and stab with glass microballoons and hit it with thin CA.  CA likes microballoons -- it smoked right off.  There was a learning curve -- you have to be careful about how you apply the glue or you'll raise a little pile of microballoons which will then set up into a hard mass. 

Of course with three cracks to fill, two underneath and one on top, I had to start on the top one.  Almost forty years of modeling and I haven't yet learned that lesson...

Airframe weight is 2.4oz, 4.6 with the McCoy 049.  So if the all up weight is 5oz when I'm done I'll be lucky -- it should fly fine at that, though.

Finish is going to be tissue over clear dope, with tissue trim.  It'll be fast, light, and reasonably good looking in a "doesn't cover the grain" sort of way.

I just put tissue on one wing. This is a new process for me, and I'm still learning it.

On the suggestion of someone here on Stunthanger, I'm covering the plane with tissue, then doping over that. It does wonders to fill the grain, if only I can get it to work right!

The first plane that I did I covered dry with Esaki tissue, doping as I went along. That proved to work OK, except that the tissue swells a bit when you dope it, so you basically have to get it wet with dope and then smooth it down for the first pass. This isn't for the faint of heart, or for someone afraid to get dope all over his fingertips.

I made some repairs using some tissue that was marketed as Peck Polymers "domestic" tissue. I've heard good things about this stuff, and I know that what I used was probably from about the time that they were getting bought by A2Z -- so don't think I'm dissing Peck. At any rate, that tissue is nasty stuff. I put it on wet, it didn't really shrink down, but it sure did swell with the dope! So the covering was a wrinkly mess, and it doesn't really match the Esaki for color (Esaki "white" is more a parchment color)

So for this plane I'm using (with trepidation) some "domestic white" tissue from Easy Built models.  Because I wasn't sure, I've just covered one wing to see how it goes -- it goes reasonably well.  They go on about how they hand-select this stuff, and it's certainly better than the other "domestic" stuff I have (which is going into the bin for Christmas wrapping as soon as I'm done writing this).  It's not as good as Esaki -- it's kind of a Buick to Esaki's Lexus, but it gets the job done.

I'm putting it on damp, smoothing it out and doping down the edges.  Once dry it's taut enough that it doesn't noticeably loosen up with dope, so I can just brush on clear without pain or fuss.  Putting tissue on solid wood should always be done damp, by the way.  I'm using a mister to just get it damp, then laying it on the wood, getting it to where I'm happy, and doping it down.  This stuff does not have the tear resistance of Esaki, but with care it works well enough, and its very easy to trim it off at the edges by lopping it over the edge and tearing it off (which gives some overlap, and the torn edge blends very nicely).

So I'll cover the rest of the plane the same way.  I'm planning on just doping it with clear and trimming it with colored tissue -- I want to get the last coat of dope on it this weekend, so it'll have a week to dry before the Roundup.

You could have just marked a straight line and filed the slot square and used flaat stock the width of the fuselage and made it filled to minimize the gaps and make the joints perfect.

    Tim I sent ya' a P M...

It was looking a little boring, so I put on stripes. They're just red Polyspan (from Sig, originally, 35 years ago, although I suspect that it's really Esaki colored tissue). Cut with a scary-sharp X-acto knife, moistened, and stuck down with dope.

I also done messed up on the Ringmaster logo -- while I was doping the tissue down, I also went to put another coat on the decals. Oops -- the dope had only been drying for an hour or so, and it wasn't enough. So I raised a booger over the "by Sterling". Fortunately it appears to just be in the dope, meaning that if I can be patient and wait I can probably paint over it and sand it out.

Tim there are several of us planning to do the Ringmaster event. So far we have not talked about which day we will do it or if we will fly both days. You are more than welcome to put up flights on mine if you feel like it. I did mine with a Saito 40 and throttle control. It is fun for me to do touch and goes and minor stunts.
Don

I finally figured out the fuel tank.  I had left this to last, figuring that it would be a snap.  I always do that sort of thing -- and I'm often wrong.

At any rate, I had planned on doing some sort of a balloon tank, because it comes highly recommended.  The engine arrangement really 'wants' a tank that's mounted inboard, but where the difficulty came in is that the bellcrank is kinda in the way.  So here's my solution for now.  Coming up with a bladder housing was a pain; I just sort of stumbled across the glue stick top, and fortunately I had a spare in the kid's arts & crafts bin (a spare glue stick top, that is -- the actual glue stick seems to be long gone). 

This works out to a small tank -- I'm estimating about 7 or 8 cc -- but that should serve the purpose of putting in lots of flights well, and I think that later I can build a new bladder housing that conforms to the wing leading edge (back to the bellcrank) and gives me considerably more volume of fuel.

Hinges are my favorite for 1/2-A planes: figure 8 thread hinges. They're easy, cheap, strong, about as floppy as can be, classic, etc., etc., etc. 'nuff said.

Looks cool Tim !  I would be careful going inverted too late in the flight during testing, looks like with the tank mounted like that you could lose fuel pickup. Also, i would recommend picking up some of the Cox 5x3 almost unbreakable props sometime, they really do work well.  Good luck.

Experimenting with balloon tanks, I have found that the attitude of the plane will not matter to the fuel flow.   Make sure there are no air bubbles in the balloon after filling the tank.

Hi Tim,

Nice job on the little RM.  

Have you decided where your going to fly Sunday?

Seems like the best support would be at Delta Park.

Bill

Nearly almost finally really done.  I need to glue two pennies on the wingtip, and it'll be there.  5.7oz.

The tank is a bit of a disappointment -- it runs just great, but I'm only getting about 80 seconds of run time out of it, and that on a 6-4 prop that I assume is slowing it down.  I probably won't get to it until after the 'thon, but there's a bigger tank in store for that critter.  Figuring it out may be a challenge, but it needs to happen.  Had I really, really been thinking I would have moved the bellcrank back 1/2 an inch or so (or even 1/4!!) and notched the wing for way more tankage.  Some sort of wrap-around tank (I have some BIG balloons) will probably have to happen.

The needle valve is angled to point back away from the prop.  So if you turned it around you'd need to reach through the prop disk to adjust it, which would be awkward.

That's a good suggestion for the tank -- I may use it, if I don't succumb to the temptation to build a form-fitted tank that looks like what the fuselage on that side would, if the thing had a fuselage.

I got out flying today -- it flies great!  It was quite windy today, but as long as the motor was going strong it handled the wind quite well.

Tim: I have a 1/2 oz. wedge tank in my parts bin. I will bring it out Sunday and if you can use it it is yours.

Thanks Don.  I don't know if it'll fit -- you'll have to see the plane to appreciate why -- but we can certainly take a look at things.

Very cool Tim!! I hope it does well for you   

Tim, I always had a thing for detachable firewalls too,,

looks pretty cute,, are you going to fly this for begninner in Salem? I am sure we could work out your pitting sequence,,
oh wait, thats right you have a flight streak that came to you ready to fly, you should bring that,,
oh wait, you decided to completely rebuild it so it ISNT ready to fly,,
well, anyway, maybe the Waix is ready?

seriously, thats a cute little bugger,,