Week 16/09/12 to 22/09/12

The sun came out  last Sunday for our Working Bee at the club field - and we mowed the grass - cleaned up a few rocks and got started building a verandah to the club house - great - now we can go flying anytime - then - on Monday it rained and has done so all bloody week. Oh well - back to the building board - but damn it I want something I can fly straight away - so  - went to the LHS - Ah! - I have committed a sin dear reader and bought an ARF!!  I shall scratch build 6 more models as my repentence. 

Mind you I didn't settle for the standard foam electric contraption that lasts about 5 minutes - during which time you have to recharge the battery twice - hell no - I bought an Trione Asso Champion complete with a brand new Super Tigre 90 up front and built from 'proper' ply and balsa. It came with all brand new Hitec servo's fitted and an 8 chanel Rx. Never flown but described as 'second hand' - oh yeah - fine - I bought it for about one third of it's new value - and I can take it straight out - fuel it up - start the motor and fly away - YEEEAH!!!! - that is - if the bloody rain ever stops.  :((

As noted above I bought this model completed and did not assemble it myself  - however - The model was not set up so I had ample opportunity to examine and check the build quality while setting servo throws and all the other small jobs that are required prior to a maiden flight.
 My first surprise was that the "Chinglish" instructions were readable with only a few spelling and context errors in the manual. My second surprise is that, as far as I can find out, this is NOT a scale model. The Asso Champion, in it's various incarnations, is a home built all wooden construction 2 seater light aircraft with a fixed or retractable tricycle undercarriage. 

The model is a fixed undercarriage TAILDRAGGER with provision to fit retracts. I trolled "GOOGLE", "WIKIPEDIA", "ASK JEEVES", "YAHOO" and all the photo sites I could find plus delved into ever "HOME BUILT" website available but no where did I find a photo - or evidence -  of a taildragger version. 

Now - hopefully - I'm going to be drowned in replies from those more knowledgable than I telling me I'm blind, stupid, senile or just plain bloody thick between the ears and those replies would be most welcome. I'd like to know that I was just to bloody dumb to find the right information! Next week I'll publish a review of the model - hopefully the rain stops so I can give the thing it's maiden flight.

The Asso Champions very calm and conservative Pilot :) :) :)

On the model building front I've done some more on the Wirraway conversion, the Witmann Tailwind and the Lanzo Bomber. I'm still waiting for my mate to work his Photoshop magic and recover the build photos of the Lancaster, the Phoenix and the Senior Telemaster. Photo's of the progress on the first three are posted on their relevant pages.

Next week's update might be a few days late - I have to go into hospital for surgery and the surgeon has a nasty gleem in his eye.

Week 09/09/12 to 15/09/12

Another week has gone by and surprisingly the sun has even decided to come out today - 15 days into Spring and it finally shows it's face - hmmm. It's good though - the forecast for tomorrow is looking encouraging and this time we might even get the Working Bee going at our club field - the last time we scheduled one the bloody thing had to be cancelled at the last moment due to the weather.

Earlier this week I promised an update on the Lancaster, more build photos of the Senior Telemaster and the final finished photos of the Phoenix - yeah well - what is it they say about the best laid plans etc, etc. Sorry dear reader but you'll just have to make do with some detail photos of the Texan to Wirraway conversion, a couple of Snr Telemaster photos and some build shots of the Wittmann Tailwind. I've also added some details on extra work I've done to the Lancaster but - sorry - no photos yet. This photo recovery thing is  lot harder than I first thought so I've passed them all on to a mate who is a wizard with Photoshop. Hopefully he will be able to work some magic because if he can't I've lost all the detail photos of the Lancaster build, a substantial part of the Senior Telemaster, The Big Lazy Bee and a couple of other things I haven't posted yet.

An update on the rest

I've been distracted from building by a number of factors and I've found myself with to many projects on the go at the same time so this is the current state of play - I'm concentrating on the Lancaster, the Texan to Wirraway Conversion, the Wittman Tailwind and the Lanzo Bomber. The Mosquito, the Aero Commander and the Big Lazy Bee have been put aside for the moment till I finish the first four. Once they are done I'll approach the next three in this order - The Aero Commander, The Big Lazy Bee and then the next big project - the PRXVI Mosquito. I will do bits and pieces of all seven models as I go along but I'll be concentrating on the first four. If you have an interest in any other model I listed here previously hang in there - I will get to them - unless of course something else gets in the way. :))

Finally, now I have my camera back - and working - I'll re photograph the finished Senior Telemaster and the Phoenix - which has risen once again! 

One Photo I did manage to salvage. 

Have you noticed how damn BIG models seem to be getting lately?? 

I'm sure there's a bit of breeding going on in my hangar when I'm not looking too!!   

On another Subject

I collect stats on the number of readers of my blog and where they are from and I must admit I'm surprised at the number of Countries who have had a look in - just shows how universal our hobby really is! The list is quite interesting : - Afghanistan! (Coalition Forces?? - G'Day fellas.); Argentina; Australia (G'Day Glenn, Bob, Gregg, Stan, John, Grant, Mal, Trevor, Jack); Belgium; Brazil; Canada; Cyprus (G'Day BB); Czech Republic; Denmark; Egypt; Finland; France; Germany; Greece; Hungary; India; Italy; Latvia;  Malta; Mexico; Netherlands; New Zealand; Norway; Republic of Korea; Romania; Russian Federation; Serbia; Slovakia; Spain; South Africa (G'Day Tony); Switzerland; Thailand; Turkey; United States (G'Day Wally, Leon); and the United Kingdom (G'Day Gasser, Phil, Tony, Eric, Stephen, KK and all at Model Chat);  Also G'Day to my 5 followers - Matt; Allen; StuG; Thomas and Luana e Gabi Ferreira Oliveira from Brazil.

Progressive Updates

I've added some photos and information to the Texan to Wirraway conversion, added a new thread for the Wittman Tailwind build and updated some photos on the Lanzo Bomber page. Next will be some more photos of the Senior Telemaster, final photos of the Phoenix build and a major update on the Avro Lancaster. Next update and posts should be here in a couple of days.

Slow Progress

I'm sorry that I'm a bit slow posting the new photographs. The reason for this is that  I'm having to go through them and sort them out, some have been corrupted and they aren't in any recognisable order, the Senior Telemaster photos for example, are all jumbled in with the Lanzo Bomber, the Lazy Bee and some personal photos that don't belong on this Blog at all. For some reason there are some photos that have apparently been resized or reduced in resolution - it means the whole damn thing has degenerated into a slow and agonising process of recover. Of the 319 photographs I've only managed to sort out and prepare 73 so far - be patient with me - I'll get there in the end.

I'll keep working on it on a daily basis till I have it sorted - luckily I'm retired so I have the time - and the temptation to say - "to hell with it - I'm going flying" - is cancelled out by 75Kph winds and rain that  are the current weather pattern. Winter is over - spring is here???? Yeah, right !!!

I'm also experimenting with changing the look of this Blog to make it easier to read, so that accounts for the colour change and, it may be, you even clicked on to the Blog while some of my less successful attempts were confusing everyone - including me. So - at this stage - I've applied the KISS principle - Keep it Simple Stupid!! - and reverted to more or less the original layout with a plain grey theme. One of the things I also intend to do is move a few of the pages listed on the right hand side around. There are several finished and currently flying models listed - each on their own page - so I'm going to shift them to a "Finished and Flying models" page - that will make room for all the other projects I have on the go! Google tells me I'm currently using all 20 allowable pages so I'll have to decide what to cut out. Once again - be patient with me - I'll get there in the end.

Resurrection, Confusion & an Offer I couldn't Refuse

At last, the camera has been replaced and - much to my delight - and confusion - they've managed to retrieve 319 photos I thought I'd lost! - How the hell did they do it?? - I haven't got a clue, but I'm not going to question an unexpected gift. The only thing is I'm now confused because I suddenly have 319 previously taken build photos to choose from so I've just grabbed a few at random to add to the build threads. I'll go through the lot and sort them out over the weekend so be prepared to be driven nuts by update messages if you are subscribed to this Blog.

Then, on top of all that along comes a mate and dumps a heap of model stuff on my door step, I really needed some more building projects like a hole in the head - BUT - who can knock back a part built model complete with plans and all the materials needed to finish it off ??? I definitely can't. So I now have a Wittman Tailwind,  a DC3 (Dakota) and a Tiger Moth to add to my hangar.

The Wittman Tailwind

As well as that the CNC kit for my Cessna L19 Bird Dog has arrived and some one else gave me a collection of diecaste 1:72 fighter models. All I need to do is work out where the hell to display them !

Where do you display over 30 diecaste models??

Any way, there are a few new pics on the Telemaster and Lanzo Bomber pages plus a few new ones I've dumped here as well. Normal update tomorrow.

Midweek update!

Just a quick update for anyone who is interested. The new camera finally turned up today so I'll be busy the next couple of days madly taking pics and preparing them for upload to this blog. I'm starting off with the Telemaster, then the Lanzo Bomber, the Fournier and the Lazy Bee. Then I'll do the Lancaster and the Texan to Wirraway conversion. The last photos to bring things up to date will be the PRXVI Mosquito and the other new project - a Cessna L19 Bird Dog built from a CNC cut kit - yep - I'm allowing myself to be a bit lazy on that one. The final up date will be to the Gallery but don't expect that till the end of next week. I'll be posting the first of the update photos on Friday. The Aero Commander will be a bit longer because there is not much to show in pics yet

Week 26/08/12 to 1/09/12

Another month rolls by - the first day of spring already! That's for us half frozen southern hemisphere mob - you northern blokes are about to descend into Autumn - (Fall for American Readers) - and then WINTER. Oh how I pity you - no flying weather - a pile of off season projects - short days and long winter nights. But - as they say - what goes round comes  round - when we bake - you freeze - and vice versa.

Not a lot to report this week as I'm holding back on some of the projects so I can photograph the progress logically. Hopefully the saga of the camera is coming to an end soon as the Distributor has bought into things. Report at the end of this post.


Existing Projects - progress - or lack of it.

Lanzo Bomber. I have all the ribs cut out and now I'm starting to build the wings. The Tailplane, elevators, fin and rudder have been fitted to the fuselage and I'm gradually getting my head around installing the servos, fuel tank and RX battery.

Big Lazy Bee. I''ve finally got myself in gear and started to laminate all the curved pieces. It's a slow process and I can only bring myself to making one every couple of days. I have all sorts of excuses of course - the glue hasn't cured, It's a cold day and I better give it more time. I can find more ways to delay or avoid making lamination's than there are stars in the sky!!!

Telemaster. The model is finished, still waiting on the weather god for it's maiden flight.

Aero Commander. The fuselage bulkheads are fitted and I'm now up to thinking about how to get everything mounted inside the damn thing

Harvard to Wirraway. I've started to apply the knife and make a number of repairs to the bare bones fuselage. I borrowed a camera to grab a couple of preliminary shots till my own camera ( yep - THAT bloody disaster) is returned. Check out the pics and update on the Texan to Wirraway page.

Lancaster. Not much has happened this week - waiting for some parts to be machined for the retracts

Fournier. Still at the back of the hangar.

Hustler Delta. Build temporarily suspended

Now - the camera.

I've finally got the Dealer to admit liability and the Distributor is going to replace the camera with a new one. That is promised for delivery by Wednesday. I'm hoping the Distributor's promises are a bit more reliable than the Dealer's. If, finally, things get sorted out I'll update all photo's during the week. Check back Wednesday or Thursday if you are interested.