VSC Entry

[john e. holliday]

I now know which plane I will be taking to Tuscon for VSC.  It will be my use to be ARF Oriental.  I say used to be as it has been reworked several times.  The biggest thing was keeping the landing gear in place.  Then in Denver I almost was ready to trash it when the wing came loose again.  When I first flew it I was told that was the plane for me as it went where I wanted and when I wanted.  Needless to say the gear came off on third landing on our grass field.  The second time out after using triangle stock and epoxy I got another three flights before gear came out.  The third time out I had the gear where it would not come out.  Hardwood blocks on the plywood plate with screws thru the fuselage sides with epoxy and the blind nuts on top of the hardwood.  Was doing good until the second flight when the plane started acting weird on outside maneuvers.  Got home and found wing was loose.  Had several flights on it before I went to Denver after regluing the wing/fuselage joint.  Had a practice flight before the official flights.  Didn't feel right on second round.  While cleaning plane discovered wing was loose again.  After getting back home and still thinking of trashing it I decided it was too good a design to go in the trash. 
  So I removed the wing from the fuse and cut part of the top sheeting off the fuse.  Proceeded to peel off the lousy covering down to bare wood.  The engine compartment got a good soaking of corn starch to remove someof the oil.  Let it set for several days before brushing off the corn starch and putting a coat of balsa rite in the tank/engine area.  Even had some areas on the fuse that got a coat of balsa rite.  Then I glue the wing back onto the fuselage.  There is a fillet of epoxy on the inside of the fuse/wing joint.  The bottom block peice was epoxied onto the wing and fuse.  Then the top was glued back on when couldn't break the wing loose from the fuse.  Completely recovered with faricote iron on covering.  Monokote graphics, topped off with two part auto clear.  The wheels are the ones I had on the Falcon 35. 
  Now the problem was getting it to fly like it used to.  Could not get thru the clover without the engine flaming out.   This was in Tulsa at their contest.  Anyway to get to the facts of how I got it back to normal.  The fuel tank is now a measured 4 and 3/4 ounce tank.  The B-Y&O 11-5 was removed and poser point 11-4 put back on.  Was using SIG 5% notro fuel for the first flights.  Was still running out at the clover, so I turned the needle in until the Brodak 40 went into a 2 stroke.  Was also trying to fly on 60 foot lines, .015 which made the plane too fast.  Pulled out the 65 foot lines and it is back where it used to be.  The last flight I wanted to see if it was the Power Master 10% fuel giving soome problems.  So the last flight of the day was with Power Master 10% fuel and I did not touch the needle.   As far as I could tell, the only difference in the fuel was I got 5 extra laps with the Power Master fuel after completing the pattern.  Now I will be practicing with it for VSC.  Now the question:  Can I get appearance points for it?  Later,  DOC Holliday

[bill marvel]

Hey, Doc
That's my question, too.  I have an ARF FliteStreak that broke off the nose at the leading edge.  Rather than patch it, I decided to build a new fuselage with real plywood doublers back to the trailing edge.  I made the canopy out of balsa and moved it forward (jet-like) to give some protection to the needle valve in inverted landings.  I destroyed most of the outboard wing in a stooge accident (See: "Stunt News", Safety Cloumn, Nov-Dec, 2006).  Since I was recovering the wings, I replaced the bellcrank, pushrod and leadouts.  While I was at it, I replaced the stab, elevator and fin/rudder with 3/16th hard balsa to cut down the vibration and flexing.  As I was putting my AMA numbers on the right wing, I decided to rename the plane, ARF NO MO'.

It is easily the most fun airplane I have ever had.

I won't quibble about appearance points though.  My planes have never been that pretty anyway.

regards
bill marvel

[Ron King]

I  Can I get appearance points for it?  Later,  DOC Holliday

I'm not the person in charge, but I sure hope so. You've put more work into this one than I have in my kit-built Orientals. 

I wonder why the gear is so weak. I changed my second kit from the piano wire to Bolly carbon fiber on a plywood plate. It's held up so far on my rough grass field for about 100 flights. You aren't practicing any of those minus 6-inch pullouts are you? 

[L0U CRANE]

Gee, Doc, that's quite a saga...

The VSC entry info is on the Cholla Choppers' website:

http://ccmaconline.org/

...and the specific wording in there says no appearance points for ARFs.

That's an organizer option, as it does not affect safety. Hope that doesn't discourage you, I enjoy seeing you there!

There are a few other notable changes for next year, too. There are several links from the CCMAC home page about VSC XIX, so please read them all, carefully.