Hi, BN,
I know this is an old thread, but I have Cardinal on the brain since I'm building a kit now. As I mentioned in a post above, I feared my old ARF might fly apart at any time. It finally did during practice one day this March. The flaps parted company with the old oil soaked bird during a square 8 and that was all she wrote. But my beloved
Wind Warrior did win a contest in its final visit to Triple Tree Aerodrome, the nearby Joe Nall home. The Barry men were judging me. Tough guys to fly for, but that makes it an even better memory.
It was originally build-ssembled by my old buddy Watt Moore, too many years ago to count. As a beginner, I recall standing and looking at it hanging on his wall and thinking how I'd love to have a plane like that some day. One day, unannounced, he gave it to me and I flew it and loved it for 2 or 3 years.... the latter being something we warn ourselves not to do. It also came with an LA .46 on it, another treat that lives on and powers my P-40 today. I believe the old girl weighed in at about 54 ounces. Or maybe 51, somewhere around there.
Yours is extraordinary looking. I want my new one to look like no ordinary Cardinal too. I'm thinking of Chrome panels on the wings with some sort of black and red accents(I'm a Monokote-wing hack). I like the turtledeck on yours, My Twister has a similar razorback with a low sleek cockpit and triplers on both sides of the nose. I might follow that same theme. I spray lacquer on everything but the wing. I'm a few months out, just building the fuselage now, reverse of my usual wing-first approach. LG will be on the wing. It'll have a good old black and blue LA.46 too.
I hope yours is still shredding the sky.
Rusty
R.I.P. Wind Warrior
Out with the old and in with the new!