This section is for images and movies from checks and tests before the first flight.
Pictures labeled #4 are from April 20, 2002 at the Spring Fun-Fly. See even farther below.
Check out the Video Clips section below. First clip is of the RCS140 running.
04/13/2002 update
I'm having some trouble with my landing gear... and with a nasty tendency to nose over.
The Century Jet retracts, which looked very heavy duty when I was installing them,
have proven to be less than I had hoped (which comes as no surprise to my buddy Carl...
who tried to tell me). I've had to repair a small section of the bottom of the wing when
I lost an axle during a taxi test. I've had to put a strut on the vise and bend it
back after it bent during an aborted takeoff.
I have done a couple things to help the nose-over tendency. First thing was to
increase the elevator throws on high rates by 25% (along with a slight increase
in the exponential I have dialed into the elevators). Second thing was to replace
the 1 3/4" tailwheel with a 1 1/2" version, to lower the tail a little more.
These two things helped a little... but not enough. On the first real attempt
at flight, I let up on the elevator, after I was rolling faster than normal taxi-speed, coming
up on the throttle for takeoff... and it nosed over.
So, the next attempt I held the elevator longer... too long. It tried to fly too early, well
actually did fly 20-30' and started to bank left, but I shut down the engine and aborted
the takeoff. When I backed off the throttle, I must have neutralized the rudder, because
the model continued left and came to rest in the rough grass at the side of the runway.
This caused it to flip over on its back... and bent the retracts, sheered off the nylon
wing-mounting bolts, and loosened the canopy.
John Fangohr had a good suggestion
for me. He said to shim up the back side of the retracts
so the strut faced forward more. The gear struts were pointing pretty much straight up
when the wing was
laid on its top (built to plan). I put two 1/16" birch-ply shims laminated together
(1/8" total thickness)
under the back rail of both retracts. This moved the wheels forward more than an inch at
the axle. Now they stick out beyond the leading edge of the wing when the gear are down.
I fully expected to have to butcher the wheel wells after my mod, but much to my
surprise... very little trimming was required. If the CJM retracts didn't have any
front-to-back slop... I probably wouldn't have had to trim anything. But they do, and I
did, just to be safe. See the pictures (labled #3) below that show the modification.
Anyway... everything is fixed now and I'm ready to try again tomorrow.
04/16/2002 update
Still waiting for good flying weather.
Decided to address an engine running issue I had. Run the engine with the cowl off and adjust the
carb mixture screws, then put the cowl back on and its too rich at full throttle. Must not be
allowing enough combustion air to get in... so I hacked on the cowl a good deal more to
bring in more air. We'll see if it helps.
04/20/2002 update
STILL waiting for good flying weather. Took the P-47 to the
Spring 2002 Fun-Fly. A stiff crosswind prevented flying it
for the first time. Took some pictures of it assembled and at the field (see #5 photos below).
I'll get a good weather day here before long. I did run the engine and the new holes
in the cowl seemed to help.
Check back for updates! (04/21/2002)
#1 - This is the first time my RCS140 gas engine has been run.
Muffler is rather loud, but has a decent tone at idle. Kinda like a chainsaw... but
a bit deeper. Should sound good in the air.
I am standing around six feet away at first, then move back to about
eight feet at the end. Still not far enough away for the camera's sensitive microphone... it is being over-driven a little.
My buddy Carl Johnson is holding the plane for me. We let the engine
warm up for three to four minutes before this.
There is a clip of a chainsaw taken with the same camera, but from a
few feet farther away, near the bottom of
