Thanks for the kind comments, everyone!
To answer some questions:
1. Cooling: Matt Colan and I Dremeled out a big hole in the cowl before its first flight.
2. Yes, this is the same Jake that was drawing planes at the VSC a couple decades ago, and I sadly haven't gotten any better at drawing planes.
The first 25-ish flights on this plane have been eventful! The Irvine 36 wouldn't run consistently (or start most of the time). After replacing everything except the motor, we ditched it for an old OS 40 FP that Doug gave me.
At Brodak's the troubles continued. Trouble starting, inconsistent runs, difficult needle etc. I put in a new tank but it didn't solve everything. Several people helped me out the first couple days but in particular Joe Gilbert was all over it. We got it running well enough for me to finish 3rd in Classic Advanced, which I was thrilled with.
The next day the Nobler had a day off because I was flying in Old Time. My first order of business: learn the Old Time pattern. So I break out my 10-year-old Stinger that I flew once in my life and promptly discovered that it's horrendous! Way too heavy, way too sensitive, and a nightmare to fly. And everyone could see it too. So much so that Denny Thomas, whom I had only met a couple hours earlier, insisted that I fly one of his Ringmasters instead. His kindness was much appreciated and I finished 5th out of 8 in Old Time Advanced. It was a lot of fun and I intend to fly some more Old Time again. Just not with a Stinger.
Back to the Gieseke Nobler and things were not going well. Every flight the engine ran differently. My first flight in PA Advanced was rough. A 437. And it really was that bad. I'd love to blame the motor run but I was just extremely nervous and flew terrible. And since I flew first I had the whole day to sulk! During afternoon practice I asked Mike Alimov how he ran his 40 FPs and he came and looked my motor and watched a couple flights. He diagnosed the engine with bad a bad connecting rod and extreme wear. Time to find another motor. John Paris informed me that Jay Williams had an FP 40 on a plane so we went to have a look. It felt pretty good. Jay told me I could borrow it, which I am grateful for. But then when we got back to my plane I remembered a problem: The motor mounts are drilled for the Irvine 36, which has different mounting holes than anything else that has ever existed, apparently. So the FP 40 I was using had drilled out mounting lugs. And I certainly wasn't going to tear up a borrowed motor. So Mike Alimov took the guts out of Jay's good motor and put them in my drilled crankcase. The motor ran great. And to my relief, Jay later sold me the motor so we wouldn't have to take everything back apart!
But just as everything looked like it was going to work out, on my test flight of the rebuilt motor one of the flaps flew off! This is about the moment in the week when I realized I might not be as good at Control Line as Dave, Paul, and Derek. Turns out all the control surfaces were coming out! Scott Richen and Peter Klosky came to my aid and helped me epoxy and pin them back into place.
The next day it was finally time for my second flight. I wasn't nearly as nervous—I now had confidence that my engine was going to run decent and my plane would stay in one piece. That is until it dawned on me that as the last person flying in the biggest category on the final day I was the last flight of the entire week and there was a bit of a crowd watching. Given the week I'd had I don't blame them! But it all worked out. The engine and plane worked well and I flew about as well as I could have. I got a 511—my first 500+ score—and finished 4th. I am ecstatic with that.
Brodak's was a great time and my plane got most of the bugs sorted out (I hope). The generosity of the control line community was in full display that week. Many people helped, but in particular I should thank Joe Gilbert, Mike Palko, Denny Thomas, John Paris, Jay Williams, Sparky, Scott Richen, Peter Klosky and especially Mike Alimov for the time, advice, and stuff they gave me.
I'm now feeling a little bit better about my 2 goals: not finish last and finish every flight. But I have a new goal from my learnings this week: not yelling "what the hell was that!?" so loudly that the judges can hear it after blowing a maneuver. That may take some time.
Topic: Team Singapore for the F2B Worlds and a New Plane (Read 17689 times)