Collossus

[Randy Cuberly]

This is certainly not intended to be a build thread just an update of very slow progress on my Collossus.  Finally ready for covering and fillets...I sincerely wish I wasn't so slow at building.
I had intended to have it finished for GSSC but that's unlikely now...I'm just old and lazy.

[MarcusCordeiro]

It looks beautiful!!

Congrats Randy!!

Marcus

[George Grossardt]

Very nice. What engine you using?

[Bill Little]

Looking very nice!  You "Randys" seem to like the Collossus (Randy Ryan).

BIG Bear
RNMM/AMM

[Brett Buck]

I had intended to have it finished for GSSC but that's unlikely now...

  Come to the contest anyway.

    Brett

[Mike Griffin]

This is certainly not intended to be a build thread just an update of very slow progress on my Collossus.  Finally ready for covering and fillets...I sincerely wish I wasn't so slow at building.
I had intended to have it finished for GSSC but that's unlikely now...I'm just old and lazy.

I am getting the same way Randy about building.  I will go back a piddle for a little while and may not go back in the shop for a week to do something else.  I used to turn em out like an assembly line...just dont have the get up and go like i did....the model looks great Randy... very nice work..  Did you use blocks for the turtledeck and top?

Mike

[Randy Powell]

Randy! I was planning on a Colossus for VSC next year. If i build it, we will have to have pics taken.

[Bob Hudak]

Slow and steady wins the race, don't know what old and lazy gets you. Plane looks like a finely crafted machine!

[Will Hinton]

That is one of the prettiest pictures a stunt flyer/builder can see Randy - all that precision crafted balsa in the buff!  I think you should cover it with clear so all can see it as it should be!!!  You do nice work.

[Randy Cuberly]

Thanks for the nice words and encouragement Guys.
The engine it's set up for is the one sitting on the bench under the airplane in the picture.  It's a ROJett 61 BSRE with a tube muffler.  It actually fits very well in the airplane and it looks like the CG will actually come out pretty close as built.  It is as some of you know a Loooong airplane.
I agree with the comment about being a stretched Cobra the proportions are very close for the wing and stab...The moments are stretched quite a bit though.
I actually started this airplane shortly after I first saw Gordon Delaney's at VSC several years ago...It flew really well and was very impressive.
As you guys who have built one know it's not exactly an easy build.  The magnificent kit from Walter Umland helped a lot.
On this one all the controls are of course adjustable and the gear is removable.

Brett,
I'm planning on coming to the GSSC even if I have to fly a OP plane and not get appearance points just to finally get there and fly...I assume that's acceptable.  I have Whitely's old Shoestring that I've been flying after I trashed my KA10 in a near miss car accident.  Hard braking does about the same thing to pit boxes etc that a crash would...or so I discovered.
The Shoestring flys very well actually with a strong PA65 on a pipe...but of course I didn't build it and it's 13 years old.  Bob gave it to me to keep me practicing...
I'm actually building a slightly modified version of Bob's Shoestring for my next PAMPA airplane, but it got sidelined by my electric that got sidelined by the Collossus...uhhh you get the picture...I actually have 5 airplanes ready to cover and ....oh, never mind!

Randy P,
It's a date for VSC...Mine will likely be a bit overshadowed in the finish department by yours...Your finishes are always very very good and mine typically are middle of the pack.  I do intend to try hard on this one though, which is why I don't want to rush it for the Golden State.
I do always pride myself on wood work and craftsmanship but my finishes seem always to degrade the whole project...something always seems to go stupid with the finish.

Will H.,
Thanks for the kind words.  Yeah when I look at an I-beamer I always think it's a shame to cover all that beautiful balsa.
One thing to mention on this one though is that I used an aliphatic resin glue to glue the fuselage top and bottom (Titebond II) and it turned very dark yellow and left distinct lines where the wood joins...I'm sue I can cover it with the silkspan and primer but I won't use it again.  I've used regular Titebond many times and it doesn't do this.  This time this stuff was convenient and I figured it would be OK...not so apparently.

Yes...the top and bottom and cowling are all carved from blocks...very light wood less than 3 lbs cu/ft.

I probably committed a sin by not doing a detailed cockpit but I like the contrast of a shiney black canopy...No one could ever mistake one of these airplanes for anything like a scale plane anyway...they have a distinct beauty in their own right.  I've always felt a little silly putting a detailed cockpit in a non-scale stunter.

Randy Cuberly

[john e. holliday]

Hey Randy C., that is one gorgeous bare bones plane.  Too bad we have to cover all that beautiful wood work.  And we are not old, just aging a little like fine wine and take more pride in our work.   I remember when we would turn out a combat or rat racer in a week or less.   Stunt planes in a month.   And your finishes are right up there with the rest of them.

By the way, with the demise of one airplane, what happened to the rest?   I still have the picture I showed Pappy Meriwether of you with the Scarinzi Blue Angel.   And on closer look your shop is still too neat.  Hope to see both you Randy's at VSC next year.  May not fly much thou.

[Randy Cuberly]

Hey Randy C., that is one gorgeous bare bones plane.  Too bad we have to cover all that beautiful wood work.  And we are not old, just aging a little like fine wine and take more pride in our work.   I remember when we would turn out a combat or rat racer in a week or less.   Stunt planes in a month.   And your finishes are right up there with the rest of them.

By the way, with the demise of one airplane, what happened to the rest?   I still have the picture I showed Pappy Meriwether of you with the Scarinzi Blue Angel.   And on closer look your shop is still too neat.  Hope to see both you Randy's at VSC next year.  May not fly much thou.

Hey Doc,
Yeah I remember building a Quicker in one evening and covering it with Eddy Weatherford's help in the back seat of Ed Leihy's car on the way to a contest in Topeka about circa 1959 or so.  My Quicker's were always built from scratch with a carved and sanded Leading edge also.  No kits for me in those days.

It weighed 12 oz with a Fox Blackhead Combat special (two coats of thick clear dope on silkspan).  Eddy needed it for a match and crashed it...it flew very well right off the board...  I think I lost about 4 of them that day.  I think Eddy won that contest.

A little different than building a stunter though.

[Randy Powell]

I suspect light will be more important than pretty.

[Jim Kraft]

Absolutely beautiful Randy. Very nice work all over and that is a great cowl.

[Randy Cuberly]

How do you put the covering on at the wing root with no planking?


MM

Although it doesn't show in the photo, like Ty said above, the ribs that butt against the fuselage are two 3/8 inch thick lamanations.  That gives 3/4 inch of area to attach the covering to.  It is a good idea to use several fairly thick coats of nitrate dope on this area before attaching the covering with thinner on top of the covering and a little finger work over the top to insure good adhesion.  It really isn't that much of a problem though, it just requires a little care.  The toughest thing on a I-beamer is fitting the ribs so there are no gaps below the leading and trailing edges and still keeping all ribs in firm contact with the I-beam, then sanding the entire wing including the leading and trailing edges with a long bar sander until everything matches everything else without any flat spots or removing too much material.  Slow work!  Of course I'm really good at being SLOW!   

Randy Cuberly

[Randy Cuberly]

I suspect light will be more important than pretty.

Yeah...Well this one weighs 30 oz as it sits in the picture.  Given about 14 oz for the engine and tank (without fuel of course) and muffler that makes 44, 4 more oz for covering and clear then about 6 oz for paint, and about 3 oz for spinner and prop...puts it at 57 oz which should be pretty good...if I can keep the finger off the spray gun trigger.
I built a GeoXL (720 sq in) at 53 oz but not very pretty....but then I also built a Trivial Pursuit at 75 oz...I think that one had about 20 oz of paint on it...pretty, but also "pretty Doggy".  uhhhh, lots of line tension in the wind...a real work out.

Randy Cuberly

[Randy Powell]

Did I miss the comment? Is this from scratch or the Umland kit?

[Randy Cuberly]

Did I miss the comment? Is this from scratch or the Umland kit?

Randy, It's from the Umland kit.  I made the Gear removable and substituted some of the block wood on the fuselage with some very, very light wood I've been hoarding for several years.  It's actually a wonderful kit.  One of the best kits I've ever built from.  Most kits need about half of the wood substituted to make them competitive but not this one.  In fact the wood I substituted was only because I happened to have some exceptional wood (some about 2 lbs Cu/ft) I've been saving for just such an airplane.  The wood from the kit is very good and willl be used on something else.  The wood in the kit had been selected for the job it was to do very carefully by Walter.  Straight grained where it should be and quarter grain where it should be, like the flaps.
I've built a number of I-Beamers in the past but this was the first one from a kit.  I did change the fuselage construction a bit because I build from a laminated wood/alumiinum crutch built on the engine mounts so there is no stress on the crank case and then basically build the fuselage around that crutch...it's probably not that much better than a conventional mount set up, but it's just the way I do it.

Randy Cuberly