LittleAxe progress

[minnesotamodeler]

OK, I'm up to this point (been busy, OK?).  Current weight ready to fly, 9.5 oz.  Surely I can finsih the fuselage within another .5 oz.! Marking my target weight of 10 oz. on the nose--how's that for planning? At 4-5 oz. lighter than it's predecessors, it oughtta fly circles around them. If MN has one more warm day up its sleeve before winter closes down, I'll find out.

36" span, 200 sq. in., Norvel .061 power, 48' lines.

In Frank's words, I'm just about through mucking around with it.

--Ray

[Jay]

Looks great Ray.  Maybe you could teach us a class on how to build a light 1/2A.

Jay

[minnesotamodeler]

Thanks Jay, I'm still learning myself...Biggest revelation for me:  Have to build 'em to fly, not to crash.  If this plane goes in, it'll be matchsticks.  Apparently that's the going price on light-ness.

--Ray

[Tom Perry]

Ray,

Heres hoping for that one more good day.

 

[frank carlisle]

Ray, The Little Axe is growing. Might be a Medium soon. The plane sure looks right to me. Man I think this is what?    no. 4 Lil Axe?  The lighter you build the less crash resistant it gets. You know it's light enough when it creates a cloud of debris on impact!! Of course I don't wish that on you.
I sure hope you get another flying day out there. I'm sure we'd all like to know how it goes.
GOOD WORK!!

[Richard Grogan]

OK, I'm up to this point (been busy, OK?).  Current weight ready to fly, 9.5 oz.  Surely I can finsih the fuselage within another .5 oz.! Marking my target weight of 10 oz. on the nose--how's that for planning? At 4-5 oz. lighter than it's predecessors, it oughtta fly circles around them. If MN has one more warm day up its sleeve before winter closes down, I'll find out.

36" span, 200 sq. in., Norvel .061 power, 48' lines.

In Frank's words, I'm just about through mucking around with it.




Hey Ray!
Looking good!! What is the choice of covering you used? What do you intend to do with the fuse color, paint or
--Ray

[minnesotamodeler]

Hey Frank,
  Depends on how you count, there was the original, then a severely lengthened nose, then #2, then THAT nose was lengthened too, NOw--officially--#3 (or 5 if you're counting versions).

Richard,

Covering is Nelson Litefilm, .6 oz./sq. yard, from Larry Driskill.  Very light indeed, but I found it easy to work with, went on well.  It is sorta fragile, I tore one tip getting careless removing the backing, and also melted a hole with my heat gun--both my fault, shouldn't have happened. Good news is it's all on the bottom where you can't see the patches!.  The fuselage I intend to paint, probably Rusto black with a red nose since the black doesn't do too well with raw fuel. Maybe a little red trim on wings and tail, if the weight looks good. Maybe not if I get too lazy.

thanks for the comments, guys.

--Ray

[Bill Heher]

Well I was in the Twin Cities today and it was possible that you had your "One more nice day". It was sure a lot nicer than the blowing snow/wind/ mid 30s we had at mid-week.  It was a  bit on the breezy side- so I'll give you a pass for not wanting to risk a new 1/2a stunter on it's 1st flight.

Plane sure looks good though- I hope you get another "Indian Summer" day to try it out. I can remeber a few times when I lived up in this area when we got some really nice weather between Halloween and Thanksgiving. But those days always seem to Tue/Wed/Thur, not weekends.

[minnesotamodeler]

Ain't it the truth.

--Ray