USA AMA (almost) profile.

I won a built and sheeted wing at the local contest in October. I had a magazine size plan of a plane called Stunt Machine but bettter known as USA AMA or Oosa Aama. It had the letters on the wings in huge type that just begged for the other name. Which the designer hated. Bob Hunt built a copy in honor of the designer and published the plans in a magazine centerfold with a scale. I used them to come up with a profile fuselage shape and the twin rudders on the stab. ends.The wing shape isn't right but it's what I have. I'm planning on using the Super Tiger .51 engine on it. That engine is on the New Plane now. I'm also figuring on using an O.S. .46LA. It may be light enough when done.

Another new plane.

This is the one I made from the extra set of ribs that came in the J D Falcon kit. The fuselage is a copy of the Mo'Best as the ribs are close to ones from that plane. I got a short window of low humnidity today and the temp was right so I took the oppurnity to spray the urethane clear. I puty all the pieces on the scale and it should end up at 53 ounces. I won a complete wing with flaps in the raffle in the Zacharyt contest last month. I drew up a fuselage for it based loosely on the old Stunt Machine design. I need to get some 1/2 inch and 3/8 balsa to get that one started.

Something bad, something good.

I had installed an OS .46LA into the Dixon Ringmaster Excel last week. It had an Evolution .52 or an Evolution .60 in it and they just didn't work the way I figured they should. At the park I was flying the Ringmaster and something happened to the control system and the plane hit the ground. Not fixable at all. I think the bell crank pulled out but I can't say for sure. The wing broke in half at the glue joint without much damage to the two halfs. They had good balsa sheeting and it is usable if I can get the foam off it. I was planning on harsh chemicles to melt the foam but then I remembered the foam cutting bow I have. I threaded the wire through the wing and turned the heat up and cut the foam from the balsa giving me some nice usable sheet balsa. I painted the new plane with a white base color and it sits waiting for a color scheme to appear in my mind.

Another find.

I got tired of looking at the new not quite a Mo' Best plane and started to paint the base white. When I was done with the first coat I found that you can't sand Poly Span covering against the grain. No matter how light you try. After the white cured a bit I gave it a light sanding with the grain and the fuzzys were cut off. I have to get another can of white to finish the base coat. I also got tired of the Evolution engines I had put in the Ringmaster Excel. I weighed it as it was and got 52 ounces. I removed the Evo engine and had to epoxy some shime to the motor mounts so the O.S. .46 would fit. That went well and I spent a good hour installing the "T" nuts under the wood mounts. After getting it back together it weighed 48 ounces ready to fly. I went to the park this morning with the Ringmaster and it flys quite well as the new weight is well within the capabilities of the O.S. engine. 48 is the weight I shoot for when building a plane for that engine.

Progress.

We went to the contest at El Dorado, Ar and didn't get any kits in the raffle. It's the first time in over 10 years that I've been skunked in the raffle. I didn't make out very good at my own club's raffle either. I did get a first, second and a third place finish in "Old Time, Classic and Profile" stunt events. The new plane is coming along nicely. I ordered two rolls of covering and then found the two that I had but in the wrong place. I was able to cover the wing and other parts with only one roll so I will have three rolls when the order arrives.

New plane and findings.

In the J.D. Falcon kit I won at the El Dorado contest in May there was an extra set of wing ribs. Laser cut and mis marked. They wern't Falcon ribs but I held onto them. The Mo' Best I built as electric is working well in spite of the printed motor mount wanting to come apart. I would change it to glow power but it would make a mess of the nose and paint job. Then it struck me. I could use the extra ribs and scratch build a glow powered Mo' Best. I had enough balsa to piece together the fuselage and tail pieces but I had to buy some sheet balsa to cover the wing. I'm up to covering the wing but I don't have enough Poly Span covering to do it. I'm trying to get the dealer on the phone as the web site won't take my order. I've been flying one of the Oriental profiles and it's the lightest plane I have built of that size. Today I put a friends engine on my rebuilt Nomad and flew it after flying the Oriental. The Nomad is heavier and it flew smoother than the lighter Oriental. So when I got home I removed the light weight tongue muffler and installed a stock O.S. 3030 muffler and another half ounce of tail weight to bring it back into balance. If that improves the flying I will ad another ounce or two of nose weight and coresponding tail weight.. The Oriental fits into three classes at contests. Profile,Classic and precision aerobatics. Makes transporting planes to contests a lot easier.

Another quick and dirty win.

A few years ago I cut a piece of the nose off Nomad 2 and installed a firewall for an r/c engine mount. As it happened the bolt pattern for the mnount and the electric motor mount are the same. I switched back and forth between electric and glow power frequently. Lately there has been a lot of vibration when using glow engines and I had to do something. The tonneau cover on my truck was at it's bitter end and needed replaceing. After changing covers I salvaged all the aluminum parts from the old one. Two of the parts were 1/2" x 2" x 5' thin wall aluminum box tubing. I knew I could find a use for it somewhere. Back to the plane. I cut off a piece of the aluminum tubing and cut an opening that would fit the engine and a notch that goes around the wing leading edge, installed wood motor mounts and filled the rest with balsa. Then I cut the planes nose to fit the new engine crutch and started filling the open space with balsa sheet and the aluminum crutch. After some sanding and a layer of 1/2 ounce fiberglass cloth it was ready for paint. I had some left over butyrate dope and brushed on a few coats of Miami Blue and some kind of red. I didn't want to brush the clear so I used a Pre-Val sprayer for that. It's good for small areas but will freeze up on large areas. I got to South Park early today, 9-6-25, and got in a test flight in the fog. Nice and steady with good corners inside and outside. The engine ran very well with the new set up and the weight gain was miniscule if any. All up weight is 50.4 ounces without the spinner. I was able to remove a 1/2 ounce weight from the tail as I shortened the nose by a 1/2 inch to improve the corners. It took a lot of sanding to get a good snug fit on the engine bearers and balsa filler pieces but it was worth it.