Seeing that the 1/2A section has been dormant for a while now, I thought I would get the juices flowing by finishing my Miss Ashley. I kit bashed this model and added some features that I feel will make the model fly to my liking. For starters, the plane is designed around a Babe Bee. I guess that's fun if you like 2 minutes of flying but I don't. In addition, adding a Black Widow would put the plane in a extremely nose heavy condition seeing it was already that way with the Babe Bee. There's no room for a tank, another problem I resolved. I added fixed flaps and lengthened the fuse. The fuse which is quite thin has carbon fiber strips through the entire length of the fuse. I cut the fuse and sandwiched the carbon strips with epoxy. This gave the fuse an immense amount of strength over the wood and hopefully prevents any breaks fore and aft of the wing. The tank has been replumbed to allow the pickup exiting the bottom as opposed to the front which I absolutely can't stand. Total weight finished at 6 oz's.

The tank was painted with Nelson paint which is water based and I've had no problems with 40% nitro. Hinges are stitched dental floss and covering is entirely Monokote. I hope to power with a TD as well . The Medallion hopefully will provide enough power but the TD is on standby if needed. Ken

            Thank you Dennis, I have to say I must thank you for providing me with those wonderful carbon strips. The carbon fiber  is going to be a standard in my profile fuse planes. That stuff is just outright amazing. I really didn't want to Monokote the plane as I had the Coverite synthetic tissue in mind on this build. The cold weather put this on the back burner and I really wanted it completed. Too many things to complete and not enough time to get around to other things. I just want to go fly. Ken

      Ray, that's exactly what I did. I split the fuse into thirds adding the strip above and below the wing cutout. The upper strip is incorporated into the motor mount. The carbon is harder than the balsa so sanding isn't a good option. I had to do it anyhow and it really mixed black dust into the wood. The belt sander worked terrifically and I tapered the fuse from front to rear and kept everything level without dishing the side of the fuse.

The tank is a Perfect 3/4oz which I installed the tubes correctly into. These tanks are just outright horrific . I've yet to open one up that  had the pickup in the correct spot not to mention corrosion and leaks. My decision on installing the tank into the fuse has mainly been due to problems I've had trying to run TD's on draw. I used the wedge tanks for many years and never had one work correctly. Seeing Roy Clough's "Stuntgoat .09" from Flying Models made me reconsider this option. I installed the tank as he did on the model featured in the magazine. It became quite clear to me as to why the engine was suffering and running inconsistently and going over lean. Having the pickup way outboard is quite problematic and this allows the pickup to be inboard slightly.

Listening to the consensus of Medallion users, it's been noted that the Medallion doesn't struggle as much with fuel delivery as the TD does. The TD is quite happy on bladder, however I recall in my earlier years that my mentors all ran TD's on draw without issue. I can only hope that this does indeed run well and that in the end, it takes the mystery away from the problems I've sustained through the years. Tomorrow is the maiden flight and I'm looking forward to it. Ken

Looks great, Ken.  As far as the Medallion goes, you know it doesn't have quite the power of a TD, but it is about perfect for stunt on the right airframe.  It will even run a 4-2!

BIG Bear
RNMM/AMM

Bill,
I know that you know that the last thing you want in a 1/2A flight is a 4/2/4. after all you would wear out the wheels.

Dennis

                Mother nature was on my side finally. I got to fly the kit bashed Miss Ashley. For me it's my Baby Magician. Although rudder and cockpit are altered I like it. The Medallion is out of the box new. I gave it a few ground runs letting it cackle back and forth and off to the circle. The plane is light, I'm not sure if that's why it flew so well but the Medallion indeed proved to be viable. I was shocked that a single bypass could do so well. I was on 35' lines and certainly it could've handled 5' or more. This tank mounting is new to me and I was surprised how rich the plane went after a lap. The faster the plane goes, the richer the fuel setting. The second you give it any input to the controls, it rockets off like a bullet. It was pretty neat. The problem was setting the needle to where it wasn't a bullet and maintaining level flight speed without quitting.

Lessons learned here, tank height was good after I installed a trim tab. This improved the engine setting inverted. The tank rather than requiring shimming up and down needs to be shimmed in and out. Next flights will be moving the tank outboard 1/8"at a time.

Initially I started out with old faithful the Top Flite Nylon 6x3. THE LAST ONE I HAD. Worked great until it backfired and broke the prop over my index finger and it shed the blade. This was followed with "SON *&^%$#. I even flexed that prop repeatedly inspecting the hub for any stress marks. We all agreed however that as much as it was nice, it really wasn't all that warm and this could've certainly been a contributing factor.

3rd flight Medallion was yanked off and TD installed. This particular TD is not a stock TD as it's had the piston lightened and the crank lightened and balanced as well. It was on a 1/2A racer so I figured it has to work, it's a TD. APC 4.75 x 4 and some 40% nitro added made for some spectacular entertainment. The engine required additional gaskets which I have no reason why as I've run this engine prior with good success. I can only attribute it to my fuel concoction possibly having too much oil. It was readily apparent all over the plane. Went out to 42' line length . If the tank was large enough could've flown 50' or better. I was amazingly happy with the performance as I used many things I've wanted to do through the years on this plane and even though this wasn't planned,  the plane basically utilized many options I wanted to try. I can only state that for those who who like to experiment, just get out and do it. Ken