Eureka!!

[Dave Rees]

Well, after deciding that the what the kit suggested I decided to do a little bashing. After much experimentation and tinkering, I've finally got a system that seems to work. A little cleaning up to do and it'll look a lot better after painting. I've only got one side working so far, but now that the hard work (experimentation) is done I expect the other side to go quickly.

Cheers,
Dave

[Soclarke]

Pretty cool Dave!

What are you building? Corsair?

[cgroves]

Way cool, are you using some sort of sequencer for the doors?

[Tom Hastie]

That's dead sexy!

It looks to me like the doors are all mechanical. (That's also what Dave said he was planning to do).

I bet you Broc is pretty bored watching his master giggle like a small child while spending his afternoon watching this strange mechancal contraption go back and forth. You should take him out for a walk Dave... enjoy the sunshine.

Tom

[Dave Rees]

Scott, thanks! Yep it's a Corsair that has been on the bench for too long.

Corey, all mechanical.

Lot's of variables for this feeble brain to figure out. Finally after 3 weeks of tinkering (thus the title of this thread) got it to work out. The other side was done in about 2 days ;) As you can see from the pics, it's a lot neater than the first side so I'll go back and tidy things up a bit. On the "gear-up" cycle, there is something binding slightly still. On the "gear-down" cycle, they're a little slow for my taste but, I'll get those issues worked out and life will, once again, be good. :p

Cheers,
Dave

[Dave Rees]

Two short vids and a shot of my workshop buddy!! :)

Cheers,
Dave

[John Weekes]

Very short...:D

[Dave Rees]

Very short...:D

SmartA***ss

Check again.

Dave

[Tom Hastie]

Nicely done sir!... A very simple mechanical way to do the doors... I like it.

When does she go in for painting?

Tom

[Dave Rees]

Thanks Tom,

The "to-do" list is getting shorter and shorter, which is a good thing:D If all goes well in the next couple of days I should have it ready to paint by mid next week. Watch this space! :rolleyes:

Cheers,
Dave

[John Weekes]

Me again (aka SmartA***ss)...looks good, Dave. I particularly like how the gear doors close at separate times...looks very realistic. :cool:

I can hardly wait to see it lift off a big grass field...;)

John

[Dave Rees]

Well, things are progressing, albeit rather slowly these days. A little ( OK, OK, a LOT ) of sanding to do and off to the paint shed it goes. Latest pics with cowl mounted and control surfaces covered and doped :rolleyes:

Cheers,
Dave

[Tom Hastie]

Well, things are progressing, albeit rather slowly these days. A little ( OK, OK, a LOT ) of sanding to do and off to the paint shed it goes. Latest pics with cowl mounted and control surfaces covered and doped :rolleyes:

Cheers,
Dave


Gazing off wistfully in that third picture I see.
Lemme guess.. you're checking out the flag on top of Home Depot, right?

Tom

[Dynamic Man]

Really looking good Dave.

I know you have a good scale cockpit for it but don't forget the pilot.

I think it really adds to the plane.

Will love to see this monster at our new field.

Fred

[f6hlct]

Looks like the timing for your painting is just about right.

Dave

[Dave Rees]

It's been tough finding the time to get some serious work done on the Corsair. Tougher still is staying motivated!! Work/life/flying have gotten in the way but, finally got it primed today. First coat but, it's definately the beginning of the end, so to speak. Lots of work to do yet. More pics to come as we start to add some color to it.

Cheers,
Dave

[Sev Fontaine]

The ol' Corsair is looking really sharp. I can't wait to see this thing flying at the new field. Best of luck with the painting!

[Tom Hastie]

Sweet... I like that much nicer than the the wood finish. No more cedarstrip canoe look :)

Tom


P.S. I gotta ask... is that YOUR kiddie pool?

[Dave_Sawatzky]

Plane looks great Dave!

And I like your poor man's swimming pool... I guess you like to soak in there on those hot days, eh?:D

[Soclarke]

Looking good Dave........Thanks for the update

[Dave Rees]

Well I guess it's time for an update. Finalized the primer coat and got some colur on it today. Time now to clean up the lines a bit then it'll get all the finer details.

It's finally starting to look like a FAA Corsair :)

Cheers,
Dave

ps: in the second pic is my painting buddy, Bill

[John Weekes]

EXCELLENT!!! ...Thanks for the update...the Corsair is looking awesome...

I can hardly wait to see it fly.

John

[Tom Hastie]

Nicely done!!! Can't wait to see it with all the extras.

Too bad though, I was hoping to see it fly at the SMALL event tomorrow;)

Tom

[Tom Hastie]

And here's the finished product.

Althought for being a new aircraft, it sure was dinged up and scratched... lots of stone chips on the cowl, and black exhaust streaks on the underside.

I think I even saw some bullet holes on the aft fuselage.

Dave... you really should be more careful with your aircraft.

[Ken Park]

Very nice Dave! - You should talk to Bill Nickel of the Rideau and get together he's flying Bill Prides old large gas P-51 these days - They would make a neat pair in the sky

Whats next ?

[Dave Rees]

Thanks Tom for posting those. I took some pics this AM but, they're too big to up-load. I can't seem to find any photo-editing software on this machine so I'll have to figure something else out.

Thanks Ken, glad you like it. I should ppoint out, however, that it isn't ready for a maiden yet. :( Got a lot of little things to button up before that happens. Honestly don't know if it'll happen this year or not, we'll see.

Cheers,
Dave

OK, Got the pics re-sized...... Thanks, Tom

[Calvin Goble]

Nice job Dave. Very impressive. Can't wait to see it airborne.

[Dave Rees]

Well, I guess it's time for an update. Actually long overdue for an update!

I began this project almost five years ago and after today it can be officially called an airplane.

After going over everything a zillion times in the shop it finally made an appearance at the field yesterday. Spent some time trying to get the engine running. When you know the proper technique for starting a G-62, it's not that hard. Needless to say, I didn't know the technique. :confused: fortunately Dave P. showed up and made a few suggestions which worked. Got the engine running and although I thought I'd lock-tited everything it was quickly evident that I didn't. The motor mount shook like mad and tried to remove itself from the airplane. That's not good!! Shut her down and packed it back into the car. No biggie, removed all the bolts, APPLIED lock-tite to everything and buttoned it all back up.

Headed back out to the field this afternoon and tried again. Got the engine running and the engine/mount has decided that it likes where it is and didn't try to seperate from the fuse. Remounted the cowl and did my best to calm my nerves....... ok, one more smoke ( I really need to quit ) then I'll fly it. Thanks to Tom and Dave for the calming words of encouragement while I polluted my lungs. Of course the winds weren't exactly favorable. Darn close to a direct cross-wind, slighly favoring a left to right take off. Took a very deep breath, tried to forget about the hours and the $$$ invested and advanced the throttle. I wish I could say it was dead-straight down the runway but, it wasn't. Veered a bit to the left but not so bad as to abort. She lifted off with ease and I started a gentle turn to the left and pulled the gear up. Gained a bit of altitude in the turn and did a few trim laps. About 3 clicks of right aileron and she was flying hands off!!

WOW!!! HOLY CRAP!! IT FLIES!!!

OK, first two items on the flight plan complete..... #1- take off #2- Trim for level flight............. what next?? I remeber now......... BREATHE. OK, so I take a few more deep breaths and just fly around for a bit. I'm still really anxious about landing this beast so I think to myself this could be it's only flight. I better try to enjoy part of it. Nothing to axtravagent....... couple of laps and a couple of fly-by's at about 75' I plan to get those lower but, for now, she's flying fantastic at this "safe" altitude.

OK.... back to business....... how does it fly with flaps? I gain a bit of altitude and experiment. I've pre-programmed some down elevator mix when flaps are deployed and I think I got pretty lucky. 1/4 throttle, 1/2 or full flaps produced a slight nose down attitude. Not too bad, I figure. I can work with that. I might tweak the mix with more practice but, for now, this works.

Now what......... hhhmmmm, guess I gotta land this sucker sometime. hhhmmmmm, maybe just another lap or two. ** insert slight giggling here **

**censored** Gotta land sometime. Turn down-wind..... lower 1/2 flap..... turn base........ lower the gear. COOL!! They BOTH appear to be where the should be. On final now, descending quick, yikes!! ..... a little throttle to flatten the descent a bit..... ok..... she's still moving pretty quick. It passes in front of me at about 10' or so. Probably could've let it settle in on our big long runway but, lets add some power and try this again. I left the gear and flaps down, didn't see much point doing otherwise. Fast forward to turning onto final and again, she's dropping quick. Add a couple of clicks of power and she settles into a nice descent rate and in front of me she's about 3 feet off the deck. Throttle to idle and she sinks a bit more and touches terra firma again!! She's still moving along pretty good so I let the speed bleed off and then the tail settles down. I roll off the end of the runway and start to turn it around to taxi back and she noses over, killing the engine ....GRRRRR... Oh, yeah....... BREATHE!! Pfew......... this is a "walk-of-shame" that I don't mind one bit ;) I get to the plane and see that one wheel has sunk about 3 inches into the soft sand. I think that's really what caused the nose-over. At least that's MY story........ and yes, I am sticking to it. :p

So......... it has now flown. I'm going to go over the airframe and make sure everything is still secure and fly it again, soon!

Well, that's about it for now. Tom and Dave both took pics so I'll post those as soon as I get them. ** hint, hint ** Thanks again, to Dave and Tom for the reassuring words and the assistance today. Thanks also to the countless people who've had words of wisdom all along the way. It's been a long time coming and I'm glad that I can now answer "YES" to those that ask "Has it flown yet?"

Sorry for the long post but, I think I'm still working off some adrenaline :)

Cheers,
Dave

[miketoner]

Nice work Dave. Can't wait to see it in the air. :cool:

[6cuda6]

Glad it worked out Dave!!! I must say you have bigger B*LLS than i do because i don't think i would have ever flown it!!!....lol.....Can't wait to see that fly in person....gonna be a good summer i think :D

Later,
Dean

[Tom Hastie]

Congrats again Dave. It sure is one beautiful airplane. Not many planes look this good both when they're doing a flypast, AND when your looking with a magnifying glass from 6" away.

I went a little shutter happy with my camera yesterday evening. Here's the result:

http://picasaweb.google.com/tom.hastie/CorsairMaiden

Tom

[cgroves]

:eek: Wow, nice detail work on the fuselage seams and canopy. That is a real beauty.

[Dynamic Man]

IT FLYS, IT FLYS ! I knew it would.

Big load off your back, I'm very happy for you.

Fred

[Sev Fontaine]

Congratulations on your maiden Dave!

I hope I get to see it fly on the May long weekend. I'll probably show up at the field sometime that weekend.

On one of Tom's pictures.. it looks like the Corsair may have attempted to break the sound barrier. That must be a record for sure.
Check it out!
786

[cgroves]

Yeah I saw that, was that an attempt at the first supersonic tail slide? :D Is it scale with the reversing prop?

[Tom Hastie]

I'm not sure what that is actually. I've seen it on several of my model airplane inflight shots though. I think when I turn up the shutter speed to help keep things clear during flypasts. A camera expert I am not. Anyone know? It's a new camera... I wonder if it needs a warranty visit?

Tom

[cgroves]

It looks like lens flare. I'm guessing the sun was off to the left and sunlight was falling directly on the outer lens element. A lens with a small element count could have flare that looks like that.

[Sev Fontaine]

That would be my guess as well. Just the way the light is hitting the lens.

[John Weekes]

EXCELLENT!!!! :D :D :D

You did it! ...And you got the G-62 sorted...

Hope to see it in the air soon...

John

[heli2006]

Dave,

Congratulations! Your aircraft presentation is masterful.

Victor

[f6hlct]

You know that things went very well by now. If we could only wipe that grinn of of Dave's face!

[f6hlct]

Here are the rest of the photos.

[Dave Rees]

Thanks for the compliments guys. Thanks again to Tom and Dave for the pics, they look great, if I do say so myself ;)

Sorry for the cheesy grin. I was definately a little happy, at the time :D I'm still grinning :D

Cheers,
Dave

[Neil]

Wow !!
That is awesome !!
Makes me want to build but with my builds I'm just hoping people say "hey that looks like a plane"
You are the man, great job can't wait to see it.
Neil

[f6hlct]

Congrats Dave on flight number 2. It sure looks good to see a giant scale Corsair at the ORCC field again. There is something about a long grass field that brings out the best in models.

[Dave Rees]

WOW!! Nice shot. Thanks Dave.

Cheers,
Dave

[slamdance64]

Holly cow Dave,

Your Corsair looks even better in the air than it does on the ground, and that's says alot!!!

I guess your grin says it all! Congrats on a successful maiden flight and we all look forward to seeing more at the field. It's too bad that I was too busy on Sunday to witness it flying again!

Best of luck and happy landings!