First flight of a 40 year old T-Bird

[Dwayne Donnelly]

I was gifted this beautiful T-Bird by a dear friend who is now 88 and in a wheel chair, his name is Lloyd Shales he not only owned our LHS but was part owner of our flying field, he was a supporter of youth programs and went to schools teaching kids about aviation, he would teach the theory and then they would build a little F/F rubber plane he designed called the Minnow,  the minnow being the sign of Christianity, and was featured in Flying Model magazine. He built this T-Bird some 40 years ago but never finished it, has a Enya 29 and weighs 40 .oz, I was a bit nervous flying it but after the third flight I had it doing 8's, wing overs  and inverted, the only quirk is it leans out a bit in outsides and inverted but other than that the Enya is rock solid, afterwards he was so happy and said, "I never thought I'd see it fly" I was very happy as well. 

[Dane Martin]

Beautiful model. I'm happy to hear that you were able to fly it. I actually built a FF minnow. Endless lift still sells the kit. Wonderful little rubber model. Tell mr Shales his ideas are still going strong, and continuing to help people!
Thanks for sharing this, especially the pictures

[Dan McEntee]

   I have helped old guys get all sorts of models in the air, and nothing like the look on their faces when they get to see their creation airborne. Worth every bit of effort you put into it and more. I just have a hard time understanding why some don't go that extra step to get a model finished and in the air, but as long as it got there and he got to see it, that's all that matters.
    Type at you later,
    Dan McEntee

[John Lindberg]

Elliptical wings are really nice, looks great! Glad to see the builder got to see it fly! 

[John Leidle]

   What a clean Bird... 40 ounces I bet it's a dream to fly...
                      John L.

[Bill Schwagerman]

Pure joy on that gentleman's face. Thank you for sharing and making my day Dwayne!

[Dwayne Donnelly]

Thanks guy's, Dane I'll be sure to let him know there's some good in Sin City   
We talked after and he wants me to paint it so I'm thinking yellow with red scallops and white or black trim.

[Lyle Spiegel]

My RSM kit T Bird, built by Hummel, my go to plane. OS46LA by Byron, muffler by Scott Dinger, 11x4.5 Cyclone prop.

[Dennis Toth]

Dwayne,
Don't know if you can get to the tank to lower it to get rid of the lean inverted run. Since it is an upright engine two options, add a 1/32" plywood shim (to start with) under the engine mount lugs to raise the NVA center location which would lean it upright and richen inverted (go slow with the shims as a very small change is likely all you need). Second option,  build a new tank that is say 1/16" thinner to lower the pickup relative to the NVA and achieve the same thing.

Best,   DennisT

[Dwayne Donnelly]

Dwayne,
Don't know if you can get to the tank to lower it to get rid of the lean inverted run. Since it is an upright engine two options, add a 1/32" plywood shim (to start with) under the engine mount lugs to raise the NVA center location which would lean it upright and richen inverted (go slow with the shims as a very small change is likely all you need). Second option,  build a new tank that is say 1/16" thinner to lower the pickup relative to the NVA and achieve the same thing.

Best,   DennisT

Thanks Dennis, I opened the tank and lowered the uniflow tube, hopefully that does the trick.

[Dennis Toth]

Dwayne,
That should do it, use the engine shim as final trim (like 1/64" slices).

Best,   DennisT

[kevin king]

I have a story very similar to this, but it didn't end well for the plane or the owner who watched it pancake into the ground.

[Gary Dowler]

Ok, that’s a seriously cool post!!  You made his day!  You checked off a bucket list item for him!!!

Good going!!

Gary

[John Park]

An Enya 29-III?  I had one of those in a Mercury Crusader that came out at 48 oz. but was by no means underpowered.

[Dwayne Donnelly]

An Enya 29-III?  I had one of those in a Mercury Crusader that came out at 48 oz. but was by no means underpowered.

Hi John, it's a 5224 and I'm very impressed with the way it runs, holds a needle setting perfectly and pulls this plane with authority. 

[john e. holliday]

This a great story.  Thanks.

[John Park]

Hi John, it's a 5224 and I'm very impressed with the way it runs, holds a needle setting perfectly and pulls this plane with authority. 

That's it, a 5224 - the only trouble I ever had with it was getting the Enya silencer to stay on!  I ended up selling it to somebody who was into vintage team-racing (I even had the large-bore venturi insert to go with it).  In its day it was one of the top Class B T/R engines.