Not your father's Cardinal.

I had the opportunity to buy a Cardinal kit cheap and took it. I had designed a plane around the Cardinal wing several years ago and it flys very well. I figured I could duplicate that success with the Cardinal itself. I turned the wing tips around, added a canopy, sheet aluminum gear, will use electric power and I built a larger and thicker stab/elev. I moved the stab 1 1/2 inches aft. 1/2 vs. 1/4. I figure it's 28% of the wing area now. The fuselage is covered with some kind of tissue and the rest has Poly-Span covering. So far the fuselage is ready for assembly and paint and the rest has two coats of clear.

New paint.

I finally was able to get the clear sprayed when the humidity was low. I ran the dehumidifier for a few days just to be sure. Using dope paint makes a huge difference in how the plane looks and feels to the touch. When I finished this one I brought out another of the same lineage and paint brand and stripped the paint off the fuselage. I sprayed the fuselage with white dope a few hours ago. I'll have to wait a few days for it to cure before adding the trim colors. One of the vendors has a sale on and I bought a kit for half price. Then I got an email ad with 30% off everything so I ordered another 4 station battery charger. $62.00 off can't be overlooked.

A spur of the moment thing.

After flying last Saturday I finally got tired of the paint on the Nomad 4. The paint is sticky and peeling off the wings. It took severl hours to remove all the green, orange and blue paint from the fuselage and wings. Then the filling and sanding started. in between that I did some minor repairs to the frame work. Today I started with some white dope on the canopy and fin/rudder. When that cures I'll give the fuselage some dope paint. I've have several podium finishes and a pilots choice award with the plane. It's a good flyer and worth the effort to re paint it. I made another push rod as the original was too big around and just didn't look right.

First flight day.

I finally figured out what to paint the Jameson and the Flite Streak. I used butyrate dope on both. After painting the base white and red and orange trim colors I had to wait for a dry day to spray the clear. I had my chance and got it done without too many problems. Now they are ready for test flights. I should get a picture or two also. While waiting for a day to paint I took out the Nomad 4. The engine ran well and the takeoff was pretty good. As I pulled into the reverse wingover the outboard stabilizer broke. I didn't see it and when I pulled out inverted the corner radius was way too large and the plane scuffed the ground inverted. The prop and needle valve were broken too. It's fixable. I removed the engine and installed it on the Mo' Best that was to be in the raffle April 4th. I have a few flights on it and it flys better than with the lighter .46 engine. I had to put an ounce of tail weight to get the balance right and the extra weight seems to help. The club has announced a fun day to fly tiny planes. Engine size is to be .049 cubic inches. I built the yellow and red plane for that engine but it's a wall hanger and can't be used, so I'm told. I found another kit at the hobby shop and built that while waiting for a dry day to paint. It went together fast and was ready for paint along with the other two when the dry day came along. The kit said the plane pictured on the box was painted all grey. I didn't have any grey but I did have white and black so I mixed up some grey and painted it. I have to use the engine on the yellow and red plane though.

Usable stuff.

As I was building the Ringmaster I built the small plane in the other post. I've been flying the Ringmaster and it's going well. I've had a fuselage and wing I built and threw the wing away. The fuselage has been around just waiting for me to figure out what to do with it. I built a wing for a Jamison and changed the fuselage to resemble the Jamison fuselage. I installed the wing and stabilizer and set it aside. Now that I figured out what to do with the unbuilt plane It's almost ready for paint. While that is sitting waiting for me to figure out what color and trim scheme for it I remembered I had an old Flite Streak ARF doing nothing. It's useless for contests as you have to be the "builder of the model" to get appearance points. Without that you have no chance of a podium finish. In order to make the plane "legal" you have to build at least the wing or fuselage. I saved the wing and am building the fuselage and tail feathers. It's a profile model. The closest contest is in late August so I may have it done by then.

Long ago and far far away.

In the early to mid 1950's I had acquired a plastic model airplane one Christmas. It came ready to fly with a small engine. The Fuel destroyed the plastic in a few weeks leaving me with an engine. The next town over had a Western Auto store and they had some model airplane kits. Much like the picture here. I somehow got the $1.50 +.05 tax and bought one. I was able to build it and get it into the air once or twice. A historic accomplishment for the time.A few years later the Cox engine ,like the one on the plane, came along. It had the fuel tank attached to the engine greatly simplifying the building process. Since then the whole hobby has grown and improved. This is the first time I scratch built one of these models. Very basic assembly instructions to go by, no dimensions and a fading memory. I planned on flying it but it's a wall hanger now. The wing span is 18 inches, the engine has .049 cubic inches. The wing span on the planes I build now are close to 60 inches.

Flying well.

I have 9 short trimming flights on the Ringmaster and two full tank flights. 4.5 ounces of fuel gives me 6 min. and 30 seconds of engine run time and that's enough for the pattern. I changed lines to .015 x 62 from .018 x 62 as the plane doesn't pull that much. I had put a small ball of putty on the right wing tip before the first flight just to be safe. During the test flights the plane was a bit light on the lines when maneuvering above 45 degrees. Before the last flight today I put another small ball of putty on the right wing tip and now the line tension is acceptable. The weather has been a bit windy and the air is turbulent making any flying a chore. I do what needs to be done and head for home before anything bad happens.