Building and Repairing; a Slow Week

It feels like it has been a slow week, with little “news” to share. I’ve been busy; the weather is getting warmer and I am doing more things outside. I worked on both my Studebaker and my truck. Of course, packing orders takes up a good deal of time nearly every day.

I put together a new JetCat – a 25% larger T-37 Tweet. This gives the model an 18″ wingspan. I tried to make it lighter, also. You can see the built-up wing construction in this photo. The fuselage is of lighter construction, too. We will see Sunday if this has potential.

I did get the fuselage and tail section to my “mystery model” framed up. The wings will be a challenge. My plan is to “debut” this model at Geneseo in July, although I will probably have it for test flying in Muncie in June – I want a bigger field than our local field for testing. (You may have seen this photo earlier this week.)

I repaired my wing on my Elmendorf Special. You might recall me writing about how I flew it at full torque without test flying it and the thrust settings were off – it torque-rolled in to the left and sheared the left wing off. It was a simple fix. I forgot to take in process photos, so you get a belly shot of the finished repair. As with all repairs, the plane is getting heavier. This plane is starting its second year of competition – it is getting beat up. I have already started thinking about its replacement for next year.

Also, the prop broke at the field and I did a field repair. That left a chip in the trailing edge of the prop. I am 100% sure that this notch had no effect on performance, but it bothered me, so I fixed it. Here is a series of shots of that simple repair. Maybe they will help someone fix something else sometime.

The offending nick in the trailing edge of the blade. You can see the repaired glue seam, starting at the notch and curving downward to the left to the leading edge near the hub.