Okay, I admit it, Derek has shamed me into starting on the Pawnee again.
When I flew my Crosswind two the first time, I scared the bejeebers out of myself as well as those watching.  When I flipped it inverted the first time the outboard wing was up a good foot!!!   I climbed high and tucked it under, flew out the tank, (I always short tank on the first few flights for trim issues) and tried to tweek the flaps.  No-go, the purchasd horn was simply too hard!

I had gotten lazy and decided to not build my own horns for that ship.  Never again.  I use drill rod for my horns, it's much more "tweekable" than music wire.  Never had a failure in over twenty years of doing that.

I brought the ship home and measured, sighted, measured again, and failed to find the reason for the abnormality!  Well, maybe it wasn't REALLY a foot high, but it looked like it to a scared pilot.

I knew there was no answer but to work on the flaps, and the thing was way too much to solve with a wing wart.  I tried this solution in the pictures and it worked.  Now, before you tell me that much misalignment can't be solved, may I share with you the several 500+ scores I've received with this airplane after getting it trimmed.  It flies great now.

I cut the end of the outboard flap off, made a ply box like you see in the pictures and installed it.  I started adjusting it and ended up with an airplane that both Allen Goff and Pete Bergstrom have flown and liked.  'Nuff said.

The first picture shows the interior design and the second shows the unit on the flap horn.  I left the screws way too long so you can see how they are installed.  Once the ship is trimmed, I'll cut them down to a much smaller extension.

Yes, it looks ugly, but I don't care, it's adjustable!  I am making these flaps so narrow in chord that I don't want to risk tweeking, so am putting this in right at the start.  No one has mentioned the unit on my Crosswind, so it must not look all that huge and gross.  (Or maybe stunt fliers are just too kind to mention it?)

Thought I fell off the earth, didn't ya?  well, the guitar builds are caught up, the new laundry room is about finished, there's only three repairs in the shop and I'm getting the winter building season for stunt fever again!
Here's the flaps ready for covering, and may I say I really like the new method of construction I'm trying.  These weigh in at 42 ounces ready to cover and were a breeze to build straight and stiff!

Charles,  No, can't say it was.  I don't remember seeing your build on the rudder.  I'm just always looking for new, lighter, straighter and stiffer ways to do things.

With my building prowess, 42 ounces sound great.

Great job Will! Truly one of the most beautiful guitars I have ever seen and I'm sure it sounds like it looks.  I don't think I have enough days left on earth to develop the craftsmanship that you have, but I do aspire to continue the quest!  I also want to learn to fly my Hellcat inverted and then learn the pattern and build a Nobler, Oriental, Smoothie,...............

Steve Thornton

the instrument on the engine mount what is it and where did you get it?

Hey John, great to hear from ya buddy, I miss you.  All it takes to own one of those is lotsa money!  Thanks on the Pawnee, I hope to use it next season for the stunt wars around here, but I thought that two winters ago when I started it, too!

Brad, the instrument is made by Dasco Inc. of Rockford Il. and is called the Dasco Pro angle finder and level.  I've had it a really long time, but you can probably google them to see if it's still available.  I really like it because it is very sensitive and has a very fine scale.  Didn't cost all that much and can be modified easily to bolt onto the crankshaft, which I have done at times, but I like the fitting I made to use it like in these pictures better.

Really looks great Will. Can't wait to see it finished and flying.
Love those semi scale stunters.

 Larry

Will, your plane looks great!  Cant wait to see it finished.

the instrument on the engine mount what is it and where did you get it?

Those anglefinders can be found at most good tool supply stores, with many different brand names on them. Mine says Starrett, so it's more gotta be more accurate than most!  Steve

Hang on where it refers to that "time" thing!  It only gets worse!  I thought I was in the clear for a bit with the guitar shop, but now I have an apprentice starting a build here.  (And another repair/setup just came in.)  Sheesh.

Looks great Will. I can't wait to see it finished.

 Larry

Hi Jim,
I have always made my CF gears waaaaay too stiff in the past, have ground a lot of expensive CF tow off after the finished gear was off the mold.  The Pawnee gear is not like a Cub or Pacer gear, but simply two struts on the fuse' with an additional strut going to the bungees.  I was determined to not make this guy too stiff.  HA!!
I did it again!  I've had to grind about a third of the CF off to get ANY flex at all out of this.  The struts are, or rather, were 1/4 wide by 3/16 think and there was absolutely zero flex available.  You would think after molding close to a dozen gears I would know better, but, weeeelll, no comment from me on that.
I have just a tiny bit of flex now with the 1/4" wide and about 1/8" think struts.
As a reference point, Jeff Traxler had a stunter that had CF gear on it that was less than 1/8" think and started about 1" wide at the top tapering to around 1/2" at the bottom.  It was plenty strong enough.  This stuff is amazing as to strength.
I'd go for it again if I were you, Jim.  It's a lot of fun and, I think, very rewarding.  The cowling is next, it will be glass with CF bands on the inside for stiffening.

Will:

I notice that you say you used CF Tow. I used CF Strips. Did I do wrong? Is your Tow spread throughout or layered?

O.K., out with the secrets. What epoxy and what post-cure treatment? What sort of temperatures? What is your hat size?

Jim Fruit

Well, I haven't been totally inactive on the Pawnee.  Here's the rough fitted carbon fiber cowl taped in place.  I need to do the final fitting and then decide what I want to do as far as securing it.  At this point I think I'll go with button head screws since it's a fairly big unit.  I want the whole thing removable, but with the option to only remove the hatch over the head/cylinder if that's all I need to get to.
After this is fitted and secured, the next step is to design and mold the tube muffler for the Evo 60.  I thoroughly despise tongue mufflers because of the mess, so will build a tube type that won't weigh any more than the tongue muffler that came with the engine.  That's what I did for my one LA46 and it works great.

Aaaah, welll, New Year's day, Denny?  Not quite.  Maybe by summer?  late spring?  NEXT WEEK!!??   nO WAY, MY FRIEND.
But thank you for the kind words.  Once I get the cowling mounted I can start sanding everything true and cover.  I'm eager to cover it so have to hold back a bit on the adrenalin rush so I don't rush it for the finish.
I'm struggling with whether to make it a shiny finish or a scale one - the real one had zero shine except where my butt fit the seat.

Thank you, Marcus, the encouragement is really appreciated!

Hey Will, did you have a highly polished finish on your real duster?   Anyway it seems guys go for the high polish finish.   Look at the restored military aircraft you see in air shows.   A lot different than when you watch a video of the old aircraft heading out for a mission.  Been watching the Great Planes series on the military channel.

Okay Y'all, the beast is finally ready to cover.  Here are a few pictures so you can see I really have been working!

And finally, the "tiny" little kitten looks the 61" span ship over with a nose bump.

Now if we only had a little Dynomite we can get you out of the basement to actually fly it

Let me know your thoughts on this type of construction?  It seems much easier to get them straight, stiff and true this way if the weight comes out okay.

I don't know.  It may affect the scale some and the tone might come out kinda trebly.   Sure looks cool though.

Don't have any experience with those hinges but Bob McDonald has a very interesting appeoach using them.  He puts a radius on the LE of the movable surface and a radius pocket or concave in the TE of the fixed surface.  He cuts a notch for the pivot point in the movable surface so that the pivot point is in the center of the LE radius and the TE pocket.  I guess the idea is that he gets a sealed hinge line or some aerodynamic advantage, don't know exactly what.  He likes it though.  Does it on the flaps and the elevators.  Very slick.

Now if we only had a little Dynomite we can get you out of the basement to actually fly it

LOL!

I covered the wing today with 21st Century film.  Wow, what easy stuff to work with!  It goes on three times as easy as anything I've used in the past.  It's a bit heavier than the other films, I think, but the ease of application and the wrinkle-free wingtips are a real plus.  We'll see how it holds up under the sun and flight loads, but I really like it.  (Would you like to know how I REALLY feel about it?)
It isn't as shiny as the others, but for my Pawnee, that's perfect.  It has the same shine as the full scale did and the same shade of white as the Randolph dope.  (And shows a weave.)
I can hardly wait to do the fuse', but tail feathers come first.  I also can't make up my mind as to whether or not I should take the covering all the way forward on the fuse' or stop where the full scale did.  I don't like the idea of a separation line by the cockpit, and I don't like the idea of iron-on up on the fiberglass nose section.
My-oh-my, such world class decisions to make!!!
Anybody have any long time experience with this stuff?  Does it hold up?

Yeah, I know, but I gotta pick back, ya know.  (Especially on Traxler!)  We owe each other money, or guitar parts, or....?