Author Topic: Lessons learned at this years VSC Update 4/15 more pictures (Read 3954 times)

Andrew Borgogna · « **on:** March 25, 2010, 03:23:49 PM »

Well we have been back four days and I am already working on next years Classic plane. This year was probably my worst showing in the four years I have been going. I disappointed myself and something has to change. I had a long talk with my good friend Anton Kart, I don't always agree with Anton but I do respect what he has to say and I do listen. I told Anton my plan was to start on my Tom Warden Continental as soon as I got back so that next year I would be ready and not suffer the problems I did this year. Anton had a different thought on the subject. He suggested an intermediate plane be built next and the Continental after that. We talked it over, and he knows how much I liked Tom Warden the person and how much I like his designs. Anton suggested I build a Trophy Trainer and work on my pattern with it. The plane makes sense, its classic legal and I had already built one 40 years ago from plans I got from Tom. Not long ago I got a new set of plans from Barry Baxter and had always wanted to build a second one. Anton and I agreed that the engine would be a barely broken in Brodak .40 I have and building would start ASAP.

Well below is the first picture of the project, I built a wing kit and started framing this morning. I don't want to rush it but I also don't want it to drag on. I want it to look well enough to a few BOM points, but I have no illusions of anything above 8 points. It is a profile after all. Anyway as the plane makes progress I will update this with new pictures and describe how it is going.

To all my good friends from VSC thanks for making what could have been a "not so good" time a great time. I look forward to seeing you all next year, and my wife had a great time to. She even gave Doc Holiday a little help when he needed it.

Andy

Jim Pollock · « **Reply #1 on:** March 25, 2010, 10:09:44 PM »

Andrew,

Let's begin by learning how to spell Tom's last name; it is "Warden"! I just thought you might like to know that tidbit!

Jim Pollock

Joe Gilbert · « **Reply #2 on:** March 26, 2010, 06:02:13 AM »

Andrew, good choice it will fly very well. It was good to see you and Jackie. It sure was a great week.

Andrew Borgogna · « **Reply #3 on:** March 26, 2010, 09:05:15 AM »

Joe, you and Colleen were a big part in our having fun in Tucson. Oh, and congratulation on winning Old Time you certainly deserved it. See you next year.

"Let's begin by learning how to spell Tom's last name; it is "Warden"! I just thought you might like to know that tidbit!"

Dumb mistake on my part, I have a Continental kit and the plans for the Trophy
Trainer and for a brief period of time in 1969 I knew and flew with Tom. No excuse just a brain f @r+.

Andy

john e. holliday · « **Reply #4 on:** March 26, 2010, 12:05:48 PM »

Hey Andy, don't let em get to ya. I knew who you meant. It was great to see you and your lovely wife. I hope I thanked her for the help getting the trash off the circle. Good choice in a plane for the VSC Classic. I am working on a "Bill Morley Thunderbolt" from England. Yes it will be powered by the old reliable Fox .35 Stunt. Need to work on an Ignition Old Timer. Anyway it was great seeing you and your wife as well as everyone else that was at VSC.

Andrew Borgogna · « **Reply #5 on:** March 26, 2010, 01:43:04 PM »

You too Doc, you and your dog are part of what makes VSC so much fun. Anyway the Trophy Trainer is making progress, I am sheeting the leading and trailing edge and will soon start installing controls. The nice thing about the TT is it is such a simple plane to build and it really flies well. As soon as I make some real progress I will post and update.
Andy

Mike Keville · « **Reply #6 on:** March 27, 2010, 05:00:33 PM »

Although I missed 99% of the show this year (sick), I'll have to say that Andy is one of the really FUN people who attend this thing. Hope to see you NEXT year, Andy..........Lord willin'.

Randy Powell · « **Reply #7 on:** March 28, 2010, 12:05:34 AM »

Let's see, what I learned at VSC this year: don't put ball links in a plane that's going to sit in a Tucson garage for 2 years.

RandySmith · « **Reply #8 on:** March 28, 2010, 10:25:51 AM »

Quote from: Randy Powell on March 28, 2010, 12:05:34 AM

Let's see, what I learned at VSC this year: don't put ball links in a plane that's going to sit in a Tucson garage for 2 years.

Or most any garage for 2 years, they are not stable, and lube with a synthetic grease or heavy silicone oil (never use a typical petroleum product), I use the synthetic RC car grease for lube. But it is best if you make a hatch so you can get to them

I really hated to see another beautiful stuntship pile in from ball link failure.

Regards
Randy

Andrew Borgogna · « **Reply #9 on:** March 28, 2010, 04:40:28 PM »

Well as you can see from the photo the wing is making progress. Now I have a question for the Classic experts. As you can see I have cut landing gear blocks for the wing as the plans call for. My question is do the rules require me to put the landing gear where the original called for or can I use conventional fuselage mounted gear? Also is there a good reason for wing mounted gear? Any information will be greatly appreciated.
Andy Borgogna

Bill Ervin · « **Reply #10 on:** March 28, 2010, 07:57:15 PM »

Hi Andy! It was great meeting you and Jackie last week at VSC headquarters! If you guys are ever in Las Vegas look me up! Bill

Andrew Borgogna · « **Reply #11 on:** March 28, 2010, 09:57:12 PM »

Count on it Bill. Jackie has a time share in Vegas.
Andy

john e. holliday · « **Reply #12 on:** March 29, 2010, 08:13:30 AM »

Quote from: Andrew Borgogna on March 28, 2010, 04:40:28 PM

Well as you can see from the photo the wing is making progress. Now I have a question for the Classic experts. As you can see I have cut landing gear blocks for the wing as the plans call for. My question is do the rules require me to put the landing gear where the original called for or can I use conventional fuselage mounted gear? Also is there a good reason for wing mounted gear? Any information will be greatly appreciated.
Andy Borgogna

Put the landing gear where is is supposed to be and there will be no arguments. Even tho I wouldn't argue the fuse mounted gear as I would think may have done fuse gear in the past. Keep us posted. Did I miss Bill Irvin at the VSC? Too bad his Cotton Candy isn't Classic legal. Maybe super 70's?

Andrew Borgogna · « **Reply #13 on:** March 29, 2010, 12:10:22 PM »

Thanks Doc, after exchanging emails with Uncle Mikey I decided to put them in the wing per the original design. Let's face it, if you are going to build a classic or old time plane it would be best to build it like the original. I am just not crazy about wing mounted gear, but Tom designed it that way and the first one I built had wing mounted gear so no sense changing now.

Andy

Jerry Leuty · « **Reply #14 on:** March 29, 2010, 08:30:16 PM »

What an interesting thread this should make about "Things learned at VSC". I too learned some things. I crashed a Rayette, as seen in last month's Flying Models magazine, on the Wednesday evening before the Classic contest. It did not make the 4th corner of the hour glass. It exploded on impact..............just the way I like them to crash. Then there is no debate about rebuilding it. I have decided to use the Oriental design both in profile and boxed fuselage for the next couple of years. Pretty planes are great but there is just no substitution for a well trimmed ordinary plane that you fly with confidence and have flown a lot. Twice in the past 10 years I have shown up at a contest with new unflown planes. I had two new Orientals. The Rayette was along just in case all else failed.........and it did. If you have ever done this then I don't have to tell you that it is a disaster waiting to happen. Bart also crashed a new 5 year long project twin Fox .35 plane. It was sickening.

Lesson learned: get two planes that you like and fly well, then go and have fun. Cuz you ain't gonna beat any of the top 10.
\
Jerry

Andrew Borgogna · « **Reply #15 on:** March 29, 2010, 11:12:41 PM »

I agree Jerry, my biggest mistake was spending way too much time working to get a plane ready. Then giving up and working on a second plane, and it didn't work in Tucson it ran lean and flamed out. Finally not spending near enough of time working on both patterns. Since we had three flights of which two counted, I decided to fall back to my Humongous for classic. I got to the field early and did a test flight on the Humongous. I was happy with the plane and decided to fly it, BUT before flying I decided to put a fresh plug in the motor.

Lesson learned don't mess with it if it is working! The plane flamed out inverted in the second outside square loop. This is a plane and engine I have been flying for four years and I consider very reliable. When I got home I decided to rebuild the motor, new bearings and a new Frank Bowman ring. After I got the engine out of the plane I started to take the glow plug out, well guess what it was finger tight. Yep, I took my 357mag. and shot myself right in the foot. Lesson learned "at a contest, if it works don't fix it".

That's why I started on the new Trophy Trainer as soon as I got home. I have a full year to get it ready AND practice flying on it.

Oh well, at least I have a plan.
Andy

Jerry Leuty · « **Reply #16 on:** March 31, 2010, 07:04:11 PM »

Good plan. I always tell my grown son; Get a plan and then go work it. We have a club meeting tomorrow night in far north Dallas. Dale Gleason has an old Oriental hanging in Mike's Hobby Shop that he has given me. So that makes 3 flyable O's with two more on the way. I am a scratch builder. Only one of these O's is actually a 10 year old Brodak kit. I am thinking that between the 5 of them I should have at least two of them left over for next year's VSC. Another decision I have made is to go fly all of my planes and the "porkers" are going to be donated to Mike Gibson who teaches youngsters to fly models.

Being retired, having great health, a little pocket change, and enjoying a life long love affair with model airplanes. It don't get too much better than this.

Jerry

Andrew Borgogna · « **Reply #17 on:** April 03, 2010, 04:33:35 PM »

Well things are moving right along on the "Plan". The wing is framed and the fuse is under construction for the Trophy Trainer, I sized the beam spacing for a new Brodak .40. While the epoxy on the beams was setting up, I put the ST .51 that was in the Humongous at VSC back together. Thanks to the people at Boca Bearing the new bearings went in smoothly and a big thanks to Frank Bowman for installing and sizing a new ring for the piston. Once it was together, I reinstalled it back in the Humongous and ran a tank of fuel through it. The engine runs very nice. The compression is better than new.

I will post some pictures of the Trophy Trainer progress very soon.
Andy

Andrew Borgogna · « **Reply #18 on:** April 15, 2010, 01:21:26 PM »

Well the Trophy Trainer is moving right along. If you don't remember, the TT is being built at the suggestion of my friend Anton Kephart. My original idea following the problems I had at VSC was to build my RSM Continental kit, Anton suggested that I make the Continental the follow up to one more training plane. Also invest enough time to built it right.

So I mentioned I had plans to the Trophy Trainer, and I had built one 40 years ago. It would be Classic legal and I can fly it in Profile events. We both agreed it was a good idea. So right after I returned for Tucson building began. Below are the latest pictures.
Andy

Edited to make it readable...

Steve Fitton · « **Reply #19 on:** April 15, 2010, 02:52:50 PM »

Quote from: Randy Powell on March 28, 2010, 12:05:34 AM

Let's see, what I learned at VSC this year: don't put ball links in a plane that's going to sit in a Tucson garage for 2 years.

What happened to the ball links?

Jim Thomerson · « **Reply #20 on:** April 15, 2010, 03:10:25 PM »

I prefer to have flown an airplane through the pattern 50 times before I compete with it. I manage that about half the time, I guess.