Friday, February 2, 2018
I received my order with the monokote and came back into the workshop to resume covering the BEARCAT. The problem is that the covering is a slightly different shade. It’s not bad but I can see the difference and I believe it’s going to hurt for points when it comes to judging. Nevertheless, I have no choice, I began covering. I worked until about 1850 or so when I decided to stop for the evening. I really feel bad about the difference in the shade of monokote but there’s nothing I can do about it now, other than sell it when I’m finished, which may be a viable option.
Saturday, February 3, 2018
I resumed covering of the BEARCAT and by 1816, I completed the covering, painted the inside of the cockpit, re-mounted the engine and muffler and documented the whole thing. I even started painting the pilot figure to go in the cockpit. As it sits, I’m relatively pleased with what I see.
Sunday, February 4, 2018
I resumed painting the pilot figure for the BEARCAT. While the paint dried, I downloaded a picture of a BEARCAT cockpit, sized it to a 1.46 then printed it and glued it into the model. I like it! Next, I test fitted the pilot figure in the cockpit and again, I like what I see.
Wednesday, February 7, 2018
I sent an email to a fellow who says he can make the decals for the BEARCAT, glued the pilot into the BEARCAT and added the terminations to the leadouts. I also sent a second email to Brodak MFG to see if they would consider making decals for the Blue Angel Bearcat but again, I've not heard from them as yet. Maybe I chould call. Anyway, I found out that Brodak doesn’t have any of the 2-1/4” wheels so I’ll need to reorder from somewhere or open the wheel well another ½” in diameter, a thought that does not tickle my fancy at all. I spent a few minutes fabricating, painting and mounting a headrest because I realized that I forgot to do it earlier. I used some Testors Paint to outline the canopy frame. I came back in the workshop after giving the paint time to dry and decided to attach the canopy to the fuselage using some RC-56 adhesive. I held the canopy in place with some fine pins while the adhesive dried overnight. To make this look its best, I probably should get some black dye so I can dye the propeller and paint the tips yellow.
Friday, February 9, 2018
I came into the workshop and started the session by adding another coat of RC-56 adhesive to the canopy/fuselage joint as a bit of reinforcement. I spent a few minutes updating the logs and adding a few more photos to document the build.
Saturday, February 10, 2018
I started the day around 0730 and by 0845, I was on my way to the flying field. Both George, Larry and I brought our BEARCATS and sat them on the flight line for a "Show and Tell" session with the rest of the gang. It was exciting to see and most notably, all three planes were different in power plant configuration, color/tone and mine was the only one with a pilot. George painted his and it was much lighter in tone than the other two. While the planes looked nice, they really do need the graphics. None of us opted to test run the engines besides neither Larry nor I brought the transmitters to test operate the throttles and retracts. When I returned home, I spent a few minutes reattaching the throttle pushrod for the BEARCAT, then I hung it on the rack until I receive the smaller wheels I ordered.
Wednesday, February 14, 2018
Happy Valentines Day! I received and mounted the Robart 2-1/4” wheels on the BEARCAT that arrived yesterday. In one way, it is so much nicer to see all the clearance for the wheels in the wheel wells but at the same time, I’m wondering if there will be general success regarding the likely ground clearance since we’re flying off grass. I hope it’s sufficient height. Otherwise, I’ll be back on the work bench resorting to the Dremel sander! I hung it back on the rack in preparation for the initial engine runs and test flight.
Saturday, February 17, 2018
On Friday, I received the proposal for the BEARCAT markings from a fellow and was completely shocked at his price. I spoke/texted and or emailed the various members of the club who have or are building one of these planes and to the man, they all said "No" to the proposed price per set. Granted they all understood these were custom set which required special care and setup but this was an no -go across the board. He wanted $$50 plus postage for each of (7) sets. Needless to say, I had to cancelled the order.
Saturday, February 24, 2018
Around 0830 or so I headed for the flying field and spoke with the guys about the Bearcat markings all of whom rejected the idea of $50 per set. When I returned home, I made sure I sent him another email cancelling the request. After another brief "show and Tell", I loaded the batteries in the wing of my BEARCAT since Larry and George were cajoled into and decided to break the ice and fly their planes even though we didn’t have the decal markings. Larry flew first then George and both flew very nice. Larry demonstrated his throttle control and his retracts which worked flawlessly. After a bit of engine adjusting, I flew my BEARCAT. It lifted off very nicely and generally speaking, the throttle function worked just fine. I didn’t try the retracts because of the bad gear in the outboard wing retract which if I had tucked it up, it might not have come down. Nevertheless, it did fly and it flew very nicely. Unfortunately, I forgot to tighten the wheel axles and as soon as I touched down both wheels turned inboard and stopped the plane thus nosing up like the old WWII movie of the carrier deck landing. Thankfully there was no damage other than to my pride. When I returned home, I cleaned it up then hung it on the rack until I can replace the retract unit.