Ep 90: Discord, Chipmunks, and Tom’s new airplane

[00:00:01] How like when you fart in a room and you leave the room and then you go back to the room like 10, 15 minutes later and you're like, oh, is that me? That's going to be this corner.

[00:00:21] Hello, everyone. Welcome to the RC Plane Lab podcast. I'm Ron. And I'm Tom. Hi.

[00:00:26] Hi. How are you? I'm wonderful. Good. How are you? It's late. It is late. It's a little bit later than normal and that's my fault. No, that's okay. I apologize.

[00:00:34] I mean, if I sound tired.

[00:00:36] It's my fault. That's not your fault.

[00:00:38] I'm not saying it's your fault. But it might have been because of you. Anyway, so let's talk about some stuff. Yes. We started a Discord server.

[00:00:45] You started a Discord server.

[00:00:47] But we did.

[00:00:48] You and Spirit.

[00:00:49] Me and Physicality.

[00:00:51] Sure.

[00:00:51] Me and… Yeah, we'll go with that. Anyway. So I want to thank our patrons that joined our server before our build night. But now it's time to open it up to everyone. So join us on Discord. The link will be below in the show notes. It's Discord. I don't know much about it. Seems kind of cool. So we're just kind of playing around with it.

[00:01:11] Yeah.

[00:01:11] Our email list survivors? Why was I going to say that? Our email list subscribers were the first to know about this. So if you want to find out about what we're doing behind the scenes and get occasional emails, because we don't do it often, join our email list at rcplanelab.com.

[00:01:28] Mm-hmm. Yep. So, and I'm really, really excited. We're going to Toledo.

[00:01:34] Yeah. I'm excited about that too.

[00:01:36] Yeah. So for anyone that doesn't know what Toledo is, it's only the biggest, well, I shouldn't say it now. It used to be the biggest RC show kind of on the planet, really. Show attendance and things like that have, kind of declined over the years. And I believe it was the year before last with COVID and a bunch of other stuff, they actually just stopped. Mm-hmm. Didn't put the show on or anything like that. Well, then last year they sort of resumed.

[00:02:05] It's not so much a vendor showcase so much as it is a swap meet now.

[00:02:11] Yeah.

[00:02:11] And it's awesome. Like, I can't wait to go.

[00:02:15] Yeah. Like, it's going to be two nights in a hotel for us because it's a little over a six-hour drive.

[00:02:20] Yeah.

[00:02:21] So I think our plan is to take off work early on Thursday.

[00:02:25] Yep.

[00:02:26] Drive over there Thursday evening, early evening, get there by suppertime or something.

[00:02:31] Mm-hmm.

[00:02:32] Spend the night and then spend all day shopping for airplanes.

[00:02:36] Yeah. 750,000 square feet. Is that what I saw on the website?

[00:02:42] I think so.

[00:02:43] Something around the range.

[00:02:44] Yeah.

[00:02:44] So they said last year they sold 350 tables and they're over that for this year. I'm so excited. I am too.

[00:02:52] I'm taking like $1,000 and we're just going to blow it all.

[00:02:56] And I will be glad to help you.

[00:02:57] I am coming home with some airplanes.

[00:03:00] I don't know. I want to say that I'm not going to come home with airplanes, but I know I'm going to. There's just, I mean, it's such a, I mean, just the spectacle. All this cool stuff in one building. I'm so excited.

[00:03:19] You'll probably come home with more motors.

[00:03:21] We'll see. I mean, I'm not opposed to buying engines,. The more nitro, the better. Four strokes especially. But hey, if you guys, anybody out there that still watches or listens to our podcast, if you guys are going to be there and you see us walking around with our RC plane lab swag on, don't be afraid to tap us on the shoulder and say, hey, I'm insert your name and I listen to your show. So we would love to see you.

[00:03:47] I'm wearing a shirt?

[00:03:49] Well, you have to wear a shirt, Ron. I don't.

[00:03:51] Okay.

[00:03:52] They're not going to let us. To be discussed later. Especially guys like us in our physical builds. They're not going to want to see that. They're going to want us.

[00:04:00] Oh, I know what you mean now. No, I'm going to wear a shirt. Oh, okay. I didn't know if you meant, like, no, I don't. Anyway.

[00:04:06] Yes, we are going to wear our RC plane lab swag. Okay. Right? Yeah, sure. Otherwise, how are people going to know that? That's my point.

[00:04:15] So when you come up and say hi to us, just remember, I'm an introvert and I'm a little bit on the shy side.

[00:04:21] Ron is the one with the beard and I'm the bald guy.

[00:04:25] That's true. Although I'm getting there.

[00:04:30] Well, I don't want to say anything.

[00:04:32] I'll be wearing a hat.

[00:04:35] Oh, so no, it's going to be a good time. Hopefully we can get a couple of our friends to come up with us and we can see what we can all buy.

[00:04:43] Yeah. Yeah. I've been looking forward to this. I got the clearance from the boss at work last week, I think it was. So yeah, I'm really, really excited.

[00:04:52] Yeah, me too. And that's going to be here before it. I know. I mean, like it's only four weeks from today.

[00:04:57] It's a month from today. Yeah.

[00:04:58] Four weeks from today.

[00:04:59] That's awesome. From the day. Yeah. From today.

[00:05:01] That we're recording. This is the first of March.

[00:05:04] Yeah.

[00:05:05] Already.

[00:05:05] So I'm really excited.

[00:05:06] Yeah.

[00:05:07] Like I don't know if you can tell, but like I'm like beaming. I can see your face.

[00:05:11] And it's, yeah, it's just going to be fun.

[00:05:13] Yeah.

[00:05:13] Like I don't, I don't know what to expect.

[00:05:15] And the best part is we're not taking anything there to sell, to get rid of. No, I don't want to sit at a table.

[00:05:21] I mean, like that's just not the fun part of the day.

[00:05:24] Right. So. So, yeah. Hopefully we'll see some of our listeners there. I think that would be really, really cool.

[00:05:30] Mm-hmm. Yes.

[00:05:32] Ron, not so much. Not that he doesn't want to see you. He's very nervous to meeting new people.

[00:05:37] That will, that will be fun. I will enjoy that. It'll be nice. yeah. So the other like swap meet, one of these years I want to get to, it's probably not going to be for a couple more years. The big one. The Perry swap.

[00:05:50] Yeah.

[00:05:51] And I think that's actually what this weekend or next week. I don't remember what it is, but it's before.

[00:05:55] It's before Toledo. Yeah. Yeah. It's, yeah, it's coming up pretty, it may be next weekend actually. Yeah.

[00:06:01] And that is a long drive for us.

[00:06:03] Well, yeah, that one usually falls on a, on a work weekend for me too, because it's usually, the second weekend and the second full weekend.

[00:06:11] It might actually be this week. I've seen people posting on, on Facebook and stuff. This is all the stuff I'm taking. I'm like, oh man, that's not fair. Should be coming home with me.

[00:06:19] But yeah, we'll, we'll definitely have to work that into our schedule in the future. Cause that's another one I would like to go to.

[00:06:24] Yeah. We'll have to run a U-Haul or something to bring it up.

[00:06:28] Well, you'll have your, you'll have an expedition by then, right? Or a Tesla truck maybe?

[00:06:32] It depends when they come out. We'll see. And then we'll still have to pull a trailer and that'll be fun.

[00:06:39] Yeah, by then we may have to unload stuff to make room for stuff.

[00:06:43] Well, and here's the, here's the honest problem I have. I also am out of room. Like I don't have room for more airplanes anywhere in this house. You've seen it. I mean, like it is a little overwhelming.

[00:06:58] Well, I mean, yes. What's the, well, I mean, you have room. I mean, you could stack airplane after airplane after you, I mean, you have room, but you want also living space and you don't want to fill that living space with airplanes.

[00:07:12] So I get along well with my wife. and I don't want to encroach upon our living, our, our habitat area. Yes. which I think with the exception of the basement.

[00:07:26] Your bedroom doesn't have airplanes in it. your bathroom doesn't have airplanes in it. Like we know people.

[00:07:32] Yeah.

[00:07:33] Who fill like every square inch of their home with airplanes.

[00:07:37] Not married though. Completely different. Live alone. I would definitely have that if I was a bachelor. Yeah. I actually have asked her if I could hang a airplane from our ceiling in the bedroom as art and storage area, art and store.

[00:07:53] And she said, no. Can you believe it though? Like, really? I can't believe that. Who wouldn't want an airplane hanging right above their head as they're trying to go to sleep?

[00:08:01] I definitely do. So also we're going to start doing interviews. Yes. Oh, you, you sounded so excited there, but it took a minute.

[00:08:10] Yeah. I, I, it took a second to process, but yeah, I was, I'm really excited about that.

[00:08:14] So if you've already filled out the Be A Guest form on our website, we have already emailed you. we're going to be in the process of setting up times and trying to figure what works for all of us in order to kind of hook up.

[00:08:25] It'll take a little bit of coordination with scheduling and stuff like that. But yeah. yeah, that, I think that's going to add a cool dimension to the show.

[00:08:32] Yeah, I think so too. So if you haven't already filled out the form and you want to be a guest, go to rcplanelab.com. Once again, click on the Be A Guest, I think is what the, the link is or whatever it is.

[00:08:43] You'll find it.

[00:08:44] It's pretty simple to find, fill out that form and it'll come into us and we will reach out. Last weekend we recorded the next, cause we're at, this is the first time we've ever recorded out of, out of order. So last weekend record where we recorded next week's episode. Right. Next week. Yes. You caught that next week's episode. So, we had a friend of ours out, Dave Taylor. He came and we kind of sat down and talked to him and went over some interesting things.

[00:09:11] I think it's always fun to hear how people get started in the hobby. So that's kind of what we're going to be starting to do. And we are going to use those episodes as filler for the weeks that we are not releasing episodes. Right. So if we get enough guests and enough, all that kind of stuff, we will have weekly episodes again.

[00:09:29] Yeah, exactly. That's going to be, I mean, like, I'm looking forward to that. It'll be just us kind of every other week, like we've been doing. And then, like just like an interview series. Yeah. Just like you said, in those weeks where it's not just us, it'll be, our friends and listeners being interviewed by us, which everybody knows that's going to be great. That's going to be wonderful.

[00:09:49] So we started putting our chipmunks together too.

[00:09:53] Yes. The Goldberg chipmunks.

[00:09:55] Yeah.

[00:09:56] So poor Dave though, I feel really bad about what happened. So a little backstory. So we had Dave out, on a Saturday and, we were, we did our interview with him and then, we thought, well, maybe Dave would like to hang out. Afterwards and, build these chipmunks with us or, or watch or, see how the podcast works, whatever.

[00:10:19] Anyway, the week before he's going to come out and we're going to do this, he asked me, Hey, can I bring anything? Well, in my head, I went straight to, he's asking me if, if we want him to bring anything, any food or, snacks or something like that. And I'm like, no, no, no, Dave, we got it. We've got everything covered. He's like, okay, cool. Well, he gets here and, we, we do the, the, we do the interview and all that.

[00:10:44] And then we started working on the chipmunks and we noticed that Dave's, he doesn't have anything to do. And Ron asks Dave, he says, Hey, did you bring anything to work on? And Dave says, well, no, Tom said not to bring anything, which is absolutely true. I did. I didn't even think about, I should have said something like, Hey, don't bring, don't bother with bringing any food. We've got that covered.

[00:11:06] But if you have something you want to work on while we're working on these, bring that. And I didn't say that, but, but that's okay. You came to the rescue.

[00:11:13] Well, it's a win-win situation for me. Usually is. What was that supposed to mean? But no. So anyway, I had that old GWS A10 kit. I mean, do you call it a kit?

[00:11:24] I don't know if you'd call it a kit. I mean, GWS called them kits. So they're kits.

[00:11:28] It's a big piece of foam, which by the way, have you looked at the actual foam on that

[00:11:32] One? It's terrible.

[00:11:32] It is absolutely atrocious. It's like it didn't expand the way it was supposed to in the most.

[00:11:38] Just on half though. Yeah.

[00:11:39] Other half looks great. So I guess I always fly to the left or whatever.

[00:11:43] Fly with the right side facing you. I think.

[00:11:46] And if I'm flying to the left, that'd be the left side facing me, right?

[00:11:49] Well, what I'm saying is fly. I mean, because it's the left side that looks bad, right?

[00:11:53] I don't remember.

[00:11:54] So anyway.

[00:11:55] Sure. I need to go look to be sure. It doesn't matter. But anyway.

[00:11:59] Yeah, it's awful.

[00:11:59] Dave was kind enough to volunteer.

[00:12:04] Well, kind of.

[00:12:05] To put it together for me while we were working on the chipmunk. So he's got the wing done.

[00:12:10] Yep.

[00:12:11] And ready to go. And so here's the thing. He's built those before.

[00:12:15] He has.

[00:12:15] You've built those before.

[00:12:17] One.

[00:12:17] I've built one before. You've built that before. I haven't built any of those. I'm amazed at knowing that this is going to be put together better than if I did it myself. Because you guys know the tips and tricks that I would not have known had I sat down by myself and put it together.

[00:12:35] I see your point. But even without Dave and I here, you would have had no trouble putting that together. And I'll add, it would fly just fine. Putting it together just the way the instructions tell you to.

[00:12:48] I get it. However, it's going to be better this way.

[00:12:50] It is. It's definitely going to be better.

[00:12:52] It came with like a bamboo skewer or something.

[00:12:55] Yours actually had a fiberglass rod for the.

[00:12:57] Oh, is that what it was?

[00:12:58] Mine was bamboo.

[00:12:59] Oh, okay. Yeah. Which I guess is stronger.

[00:13:02] But anyway. It's not. No, I replaced the bamboo in mine with carbon fiber.

[00:13:06] Oh, really?

[00:13:07] I did.

[00:13:07] Well, that's what we did on mine too. That's what we did on yours. And by we, I mean Dave. Because he knew to do it. So I should have a stiffer wing than if I would have made it myself. And then he also said something odd about, I'm going to the nacelles are supposed to be upside down.

[00:13:24] Yeah. So a funny story. So when I built mine, I added the carbon fiber rod in the wing. And I had actually added carbon fiber rods across the nacelles too, to add a little stiffness. Because they were, I was looking at, I think it was, there was a couple of them in the club at the time. And I noticed that the engine nacelles were kind of weak too, that would wobble, for lack of a better word. So I put the rods across the nacelles too.

[00:13:52] And these were all suggestions from Dave because he had already built one. So I built mine and we showed up at the field at the same time one day. And he was looking at mine kind of funny. And he would look at his and he would look at mine again. He's like, and he would look, he told me, he said, I think I put my motors on upside down. I said, what are you talking about?

[00:14:12] He actually mounted the left engine pod on the right side of the fuselage and the right one on the left side. So his engine in the nacelles are actually almost sitting kind of on top of the wing. Whereas mine are more scale-like and they're, they're kind of up out into the airstream. But his, his fly is so much better than mine. Like it's, it's faster. It seems like it penetrates the wind better. It doesn't seem to be as floaty for lack of a better.

[00:14:44] It almost looks like a heavier airplane, even though they weigh exactly the same. It almost looks like a heavier airplane that really is dialed in. Whereas mine just kind of, gets buffeted by the wind and doesn't go very fast. So I'm thinking when you put, when you get to that point with yours, hopefully if Dave, agrees to finish it for you, he'll mount your engines backwards, hopefully.

[00:15:07] You think that, because I kind of like the floaty better.

[00:15:10] Oh, do you? Oh, okay. Well, I mean, that'll be totally your call, but I love the way his flies compared to mine.

[00:15:16] Oh.

[00:15:17] Now, granted, it's been, it's been a number of years since mine has flown. So I'm not sure when the last time he flew his was either. But yeah, when we were flying them regularly, his was much better flyer than mine.

[00:15:27] That's interesting.

[00:15:28] Yeah. So anyway.

[00:15:29] We'll see. I mean, I, maybe I need to see what his looks like, because if it looks off with those being so low.

[00:15:37] It doesn't.

[00:15:38] Oh, it doesn't?

[00:15:38] It looks, it looks fine. Like you really have to be, you almost have to have them side by side to even notice the difference. And how Dave is. He's, he's very meticulous with the paint scheme and the markings and his looks way better than mine too.

[00:15:54] Well, he's very scale with all his stuff.

[00:15:56] Yeah. I mean, he does a great job on that. Yeah. Mount him upside down. You won't be sorry.

[00:16:00] If, if you say so, I, that's fine.

[00:16:02] But anyway, yeah. Poor Dave. I felt bad because I told him not to bring anything. And lucky for you, I told him that.

[00:16:08] Well, I was going to say, don't feel bad. I'm perfectly fine with that because, win, win for me. Speaking of win, win, this is not a win, win for me. The chipmunk kits we got. Yes. I'm a little upset. Why? Well, not really upset, but.

[00:16:24] I think they look awesome.

[00:16:25] I was excited to have a Carl Goldberg model.

[00:16:29] Okay.

[00:16:30] I don't.

[00:16:31] What is, it's not? No. Well, it says Goldberg on the.

[00:16:34] Okay. As I was, as I was going to sleep.

[00:16:36] And they are nearly the same. There's only small difference. I'm sorry. I keep cutting you off, but there's only like small differences between, it's not a Goldberg.

[00:16:42] Well, we figured when we got them that one was an older version and one was a newer version.

[00:16:49] Yeah.

[00:16:50] You had your old setup from another airplane that you were going to use for that one. So it had the stick mount for the motor and stuff. And then mine actually, the one I got as the normal mount, like up front for a brushless motor and stuff.

[00:17:03] For an Outrunner.

[00:17:03] So I was still excited to have a, like I said, a Goldberg anything. Cause I've never had actually a Goldberg thing. So as I was reading that, that night after you guys left that Saturday night, I was laying in bed and reading the instruction manual on what I needed to do next, to kind of figure out what the next steps were. Wow. I closed it. And as I was putting it like onto my nightstand, I saw that it said, Habiko. And I was like, what? So.

[00:17:34] Yeah, that's right.

[00:17:36] I started looking through there and actually paying attention to what it said. And I came down and look at your manual cause you left yours here. So yours said, what was it? It said Carl Goldberg products or something like that. And mine, unfortunately, it says Carl Goldberg classics by Great Plains.

[00:17:56] Yeah. I forgot all about that. Great Plains did, well, Habiko, did acquire, Goldberg.

[00:18:03] I think 2012 is when the, the, the copyright on the back of my instruction manual.

[00:18:10] Yeah, 2011, 2012. So yeah, that, that kind of makes sense. And that, that actually kind of explains in my head anyway, why, the differences in the airframes, like why yours is set up for the, for the brushless outrunner. That's probably set up for the Great Plains rimfire series of motors, I bet.

[00:18:28] Yeah. Which oddly enough, the motor that takes, and I've never seen this way before is for a triple mount instead of the cross mount.

[00:18:37] Mm-hmm.

[00:18:37] So it's an actual triangular mount.

[00:18:39] Yeah.

[00:18:39] That, from what I have seen, the rimfire motor that goes on that, that is the only one.

[00:18:45] Yeah.

[00:18:46] That has that mount. All the cheap ones that I was planning on put on, or putting on it, has a, a cross mount. So I'm going to have to figure something out on that.

[00:18:54] But still, I mean, don't be, don't be too disappointed. It's still a piece of history. Like, so, and Great Plains. It's only 10 years old. Well, but hold on though. Great Plains only produced Goldberg classics for just a short period before, before they dropped the entire, the entire line. Like, they must have done something with the, with this, the small chipmunk. And they did something with the cub too. They produced the cub for a while. Oh.

[00:19:21] And they may have done a tiger, the tiger 40 or 60 size. And then they were done. So, like, your airplane is, is, even though it's not a Goldberg, kit or whatever, it's still a piece of history. And it is, I mean, it, it, it goes back to Goldberg. I mean, it's their design with a few tweaks that Javica put on so they could sell their own product.

[00:19:42] Well, it's, it actually makes more sense now because after we got those, like, when we first decided we were going to actually put them together, I went online to, there's a, a website, I wish I could remember exactly what it was, but it's Carl Goldberg. All the old instruction manuals. You can still get a list of all of them. The one I had wasn't on there. Yours was. Well, now that makes sense as to why, because that's a different airplane.

[00:20:06] But I do like some of the, the changes that were made. Like, mine's a magnetic hatch on the canopy, whereas yours is spring loaded. It's, it's a more modern airplane.

[00:20:16] Oh, yeah. Yeah. There's clearly a, a difference in the two, even with the, the, the control horns. Yours actually has the nice, bolt together control horns that, kind of sandwich the control surface between them. And mine are these kind of these little stick on, you glue them on and hope for the best. So, yeah.

[00:20:38] They're the ones that go into the slot, right?

[00:20:40] Yeah. There's just like two holes drilled, pre-drilled into the surface. And then the control horn is plastic with two little pegs on it.

[00:20:47] Oh.

[00:20:47] Those go down and you glue those into that hole. I didn't see the pegs. Yeah, you trim a little bit of the covering away so you've got a nice, I think they'll be fine.

[00:20:55] I thought they were just the flat ones that actually went, oh, okay.

[00:20:57] No, they have, they have posts. Well, that should hold. Oh, yeah. Just as good. But, yeah.

[00:21:03] The nice thing about those is you don't see it from the top. You don't see the, you don't see the posts come through and the screws coming out. Yeah. That's one thing I don't like about them.

[00:21:11] But they're not as secure, as a nice.

[00:21:13] But it's a tiny airplane. Yeah, that's true.

[00:21:15] What is that, 38 inch or something?

[00:21:17] Yours actually has an instrument panel, mine's just sort of basic. You can see the air, the structure inside.

[00:21:23] There's no instrument panel. From five feet away, nobody will know. Yours has a tail wheel. Yeah.

[00:21:29] I do like the tail wheel as opposed to the skid. Yeah. So, I like the, I like yours. And I, I wouldn't be disappointed that it's not a true Goldberg product.

[00:21:41] Well, I kind of am, but I'll get over it.

[00:21:44] Yeah.

[00:21:44] Maybe I'll find a Goldberg kit or an ARF or something.

[00:21:47] Well, I mean, I know a guy that's got a few Goldberg kits. He could probably come off of one later.

[00:21:52] Oh, you? Do you really? Of course you do. I should know that because I still have your list.

[00:21:57] I just don't have it memorized. Well, I think as far as Goldberg goes, I think that might be, might be all I have is the cup.

[00:22:03] Well, you plan on building that.

[00:22:04] But we're going to Toledo.

[00:22:06] Yeah. And there will be lots of kits there. And kits, by the way, transfer back home much easier than full airplanes.

[00:22:14] Amen. Yeah. And if it's still in the box, it's much easier to Tetris into the back of the vehicle to get home than a full size, fully built, ready to fly airplane. Just saying.

[00:22:25] We're going to, yeah, we're going to have to take some blankets or something for packaging.

[00:22:30] I'll be prepared. Okay, good.

[00:22:33] Because I probably won't be.

[00:22:34] Have I mentioned how excited I am about that? I don't know if I've mentioned that. You're glowing.

[00:22:39] I'm excited that you're excited and I'm excited to be going. So it's like double excitement.

[00:22:44] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. My excitement is feeding off of your excitement, which is feeding off of my excitement.

[00:22:49] As the time gets closer, it's going to get so much better. I know.

[00:22:52] So we need to finish these little chipmunks.

[00:22:54] We will. So we plan on doing that here in the next couple of weeks. And I am not a very patient person.

[00:23:03] No, you're not. I mean, I already know what you're going to say. Well, because you saw it. Cheater.

[00:23:09] Oh, that's what you're talking about.

[00:23:10] Cheater, cheater.

[00:23:11] I wasn't even going to talk. Okay. So I told you I was going to wait for you. But then literally the next two steps on that airplane for putting it together was to epoxy the tail on.

[00:23:21] Okay.

[00:23:23] So I figured it made more sense for me to do that. Since that gets me closer to this. You were faster than I was. That gets me closer to where you are on your airplane.

[00:23:31] For me, you keep saying it's not that I was faster. It's just the assembly order and level of complication are different on these two airplanes. That's true. But because of the small differences, like, you had to drill holes and mount your control horns. All I had to do was cut a little bit of covering away and glue my control horns on with CA. So it's not that I was faster. It's just that the steps on mine were quicker because they were easier.

[00:23:58] Well, I guess my point is, though, I wanted to get the part down where, like, I didn't want you to come over and have us start working on it and then me spend three minutes on something and go, okay, well, I'm going to wait for a half hour now. It just didn't make any sense for me to do that. No, I used 30 minutes on that.

[00:24:13] Oh, did you? Well, for you.

[00:24:14] I don't have any five minutes.

[00:24:15] That's why. But you said you weren't patient.

[00:24:17] Well, for that one, I knew I was going to be done for the night. So I just walked away from it. But anyway, so yes, I did put the tail on. And then I got chided when you came in for doing stuff on it without you. Actually, you said you didn't care.

[00:24:30] I don't think I chided you. I may have furrowed my brow.

[00:24:34] You did.

[00:24:35] Very much so. No, it's okay. I totally get it. And I would have done the same thing.

[00:24:40] Like I said, that way, when we get back together, we're…

[00:24:43] Actually working on something as opposed to not. Yeah, we're closer to the same spot.

[00:24:47] But I'm not patient. So what I was going to say is I started putting together my space walker.

[00:24:53] And that's what you saw over there. Oh, you mean you're a Skywalker.

[00:24:55] No, you're really messing with me.

[00:24:57] It's a space walker. And that part is going to… Ron likes to call it a Skywalker. Who, by the way… Am I the one?

[00:25:05] I thought you were the one that did that.

[00:25:06] No, that was you. That was all you. Because you even said, why am I calling that? I've never seen the movie.

[00:25:10] Hmm. Well, somebody messed up. And it probably was me. Well, Skywalker just makes more sense. Because it's an airplane. It's not going in space. That's true. It's going in the sky.

[00:25:21] It's going in the sky. Yeah. Makes perfect sense.

[00:25:22] Anyway, so the ARF I bought up at Brian's last time we went up, or a couple times ago that we went up, I started putting that together.

[00:25:29] And that is going together very fast. Yeah. It's a good looking airplane.

[00:25:33] Like, I've got easily less than half the time in that than I do on this little chipmunk.

[00:25:38] Mm-hmm.

[00:25:39] And I am so much farther along.

[00:25:40] Mm-hmm.

[00:25:41] So, it's been a pleasant surprise at how quick it goes. The only thing I don't like about that, I'm going to complain a little bit. It's a big, like, decent-sized airplane. It's not big, I guess.

[00:25:51] It's a 40 size, it's a, what, 60-ish something?

[00:25:54] Yeah, wingspan. Mm-hmm. Single-piece wing. Like, for some reason, okay, it has the mounting bolts that hold it on. There's two of those, one in each panel. It has the aluminum tube that goes between the wings. Yes. Which is normal for two-piece wings. Yep. However, when it told me, in the directions, it said to epoxy that together. So, that's what I'm waiting on now before I get out here, I epoxy that together. But still, it's like, I would prefer a two-piece wing.

[00:26:24] I understand. Like, I, I get it. Two-piece wings are convenient, especially for transporting, which…

[00:26:33] I have a car, so…

[00:26:34] Yeah. So, no, I get it, but in my opinion, we went so many years with one-piece wings that a one-piece wing just doesn't bother me anymore.

[00:26:44] Really?

[00:26:45] Yeah. It never really did, to be honest.

[00:26:47] I guess I can see that, but it's just, it's harder to…

[00:26:49] It makes me appreciate the two-piece wings that much more, but when I don't have them, I don't throw a fit.

[00:26:54] Okay, I guess I can see that. I'm not… I'm voicing my opinion. That's… And you can't buy those anymore anyway, so it doesn't matter.

[00:27:02] And that's probably, that's actually probably a, probably an older design that, was designed before two-piece wings were common, maybe.

[00:27:09] Yeah, I don't know. Yeah. I don't know the date on…

[00:27:12] But I'm a huge fan of Seagull ARFs. They do, I mean, I prefer kits, obviously, or even scratch-built, but as far as ARFs go, I've never really had one that didn't go together well, and that also didn't appear to be well-constructed. the glue joints have always, on the Seagull ARFs, I've always found that they are adequate, at the least. And most of them have flown pretty good.

[00:27:41] Well, hopefully this is one of them that does. I'm sure it will. Which ones of yours have not?

[00:27:47] Well, one comes to mind, that yak that I've been tinkering on and off with, the yellow and black one.

[00:27:53] Yellow and black, yeah.

[00:27:54] And really, it's not an issue of it flying poorly. I think mostly it's just me getting the CG dialed in. Like, I don't think they have it correct in the manual, because if I, when I set it up, even at the forward limit, which would be nose-heavy, as per the manual, it still flies like it's tail-heavy. It's very, very pitch-sensitive. And it's not a short-coupled airplane. Like, it has a long tail moment, so it shouldn't be pitch-sensitive.

[00:28:21] And some of that problem might be exacerbated. That's a big word. But it might be aggravated by the poor-quality servos I chose to put in it.

[00:28:31] Oh, maybe not centering or something.

[00:28:32] Exactly. And I think that's the issue I'm fighting, and it makes it feel pitch-sensitive when, in actuality, I think it might be the servos not finding the exact center every time.

[00:28:42] Almost looks like it porpoises, but it's not actually because of CG. It is big. I can't catch you. Okay.

[00:28:49] But, yeah, as far as the construction goes, I've been very happy with pretty much every seagull R5 I've put together.

[00:28:56] Well, speaking of servos, we'll see how these go. These are ones I got off of Amazon. Metal Gear servos, standard-size, full-size servos,.

[00:29:06] Yep, same ones I got. I love them.

[00:29:08] Yeah, four-pack for like $18.

[00:29:10] Yeah. So, I mean, and they're high torque also.

[00:29:13] Yeah.

[00:29:15] So, yeah, so I got, I just got a mess of them too from Amazon, and I took a couple of them out of the packages the other night and plugged them in and kind of ran them through their range of motion. And, man, I mean, for what I spent on them, they're smooth, they're quiet.

[00:29:32] I mean, we'll see what they act like in the airplane, but so far, I mean, I guess I should preface that by saying, or I guess I should have said first, that this is my first standard-size servo Amazon purchase.

[00:29:46] Mm-hmm.

[00:29:47] But so far, I've…

[00:29:49] Everything else you've done has been name-brand.

[00:29:51] Right, right. So, look at you coming like… I know. Now, I will not, I will not cheap out on receivers, and I stand by that. But the servos, these so far, at least prior to putting them in the airplane, I'm impressed.

[00:30:04] Yeah, I agree.

[00:30:06] Especially for the price. Oh, my gosh.

[00:30:08] I just hope they last, because I don't want to have an airplane go down because of a servo that doesn't work. like I said, really, the servos work, servos don't work. What'd you do? I went to put my drink down. I splashed on me.

[00:30:21] Way to go.

[00:30:21] Dummy. But anyway, servos fail. I mean, we know that happens. I guess the only difference is, like, the Amazon servos that we got, if they fail and we crash, we're out an airplane and a servo, whereas if the servos fail, when you buy a spectrum one, you're out an airplane, and they'll fix the servo. I mean, that's the only way I can look at it. Like, you're not out that much more going about it that way.

[00:30:50] That's just the chances that your failure may be sooner rather than later with the cheaper servos. I mean, that would be another thing somebody could make. But, yeah, there's no way to know that. And, I mean, for the price, and, for an airplane maybe that is low threat, like low value maybe, or an airplane. Well, this is not one of those, unfortunately.

[00:31:12] No, but, like, on, my next ARF build, that Escapade, I will have no problem putting four of those or five of those servos in that airframe and go fly the bejesus out of it.

[00:31:22] Yeah. I'll be interested to see how it works.

[00:31:24] Hopefully, mine works well, too. I'm sure it will.

[00:31:28] We made a trip up to Brian's, by the way.

[00:31:30] We did.

[00:31:31] I went up and said, I'm not buying an airplane. And you didn't. And I didn't. This was purely a supply run. Like, last time we talked about the glues that were just so wonderfully terrible from Hobby Lobby.

[00:31:44] From Hobby Lobby.

[00:31:45] So, I loaded up on glue. I ended up buying three big bottles of it. Hopefully, that'll last a while. I got some other things. You can never have enough, like, control horns. I bought a ton of those. I think I bought, oh, God, a good 15 or 16 packages of them in different sizes. And then I also got epoxy. That was, like, my whole, really whole thing I got. A few other odds and ends, too. Yeah.

[00:32:13] Yeah, you spent way less than I did.

[00:32:16] I know. What'd you get? I got another airplane.

[00:32:19] What'd you get? So, funny story. So, if you've never been to Dynamic Balsa, if you're ever in the Midwest, take the trip. It's worth it, right? I mean, I agree. Like, there's so many little nooks and crannies in his shop that you just never know what you're going to find. So, I'm rummaging around, kind of looking through one of the back rooms. And out of the corner of my eye, I see upside down an ARF box.

[00:32:47] And on the picture of the airframe, it's a little yellow and black GBZ. And I'm, I like the GBZ. It's a cool airplane. The R1, all the GBs are cool, in my opinion. So, anyway, I see this ARF box turned upside down. And so, I look a little closer. And what it is, is somebody has taken the lid off the box, checked it out, and then just thrown the lid back kind of on top of the box upside down. So, I'm like, well, that's interesting.

[00:33:18] So, I walk over, sashay over a little closer. And it's a Kyosho ARF. And so, when these came out, I think they were like 2005 to 2007-ish time frame. I wanted one of these things in the worst way. Because at the time, I had, I believe it was an OS. Yeah, it was an OS new. It was an OS-70 FS2 that was just screaming to be put on something fast and cool. When this airplane was perfect. Well, long story short, I never bought one.

[00:33:53] Well, here, at this little dusty corner of Brian's shop, is this, what appears to be a complete ARF, just kind of languishing here in the corner. So, I pull the lid off and I'm starting to go kind of through the box. And the box is rough, because it had water damage. And it was like just torn through and people not, being careful with opening it and closing it. But all the parts are there.

[00:34:20] And in good shape.

[00:34:21] And in good shape, yeah. They're still all packaged. They're still all sealed in their bags. The covering looks pretty decent. it's not like all wrinkly and stuff, saggy. So, I'm like, oh, this is interesting. So, I carefully put the lid back on it so that it looks like an ARF should look,. And I'm like, okay, I'm going to stash that in the back of my head. Because Brian is always busy.

[00:34:45] He's always, like, he's always working a deal or talking to a customer, which he should. So, I didn't want to interrupt him. So, I was like, okay, I'll just kind of put this little nugget in the back of my brain. And I'll ask him about it when we're getting ready to leave or whatever. So, yeah. So, I bought it. I caught Brian at a moment of quiet. And I was like, hey, Brian, what about this Kyosho thing back there? And he made me a really good deal.

[00:35:11] I feel like he made me a really good deal.

[00:35:13] I think so, too.

[00:35:14] So, I brought it home. And I'm going to – I've already started working on it. And it's sort of inspired me and motivated me to get working on airplanes again because it's such a neat airplane.

[00:35:24] So, what – I know the answer to this. And this is going to make me laugh. What motor are you putting on them?

[00:35:31] Well, I mean, folks who follow us on Facebook already know. But I'm going to put that Sato three-cylinder radio on it.

[00:35:38] What's that motor supposed to go on, Tommy?

[00:35:41] Well, it can go on anything. I mean, anything that takes a 60 to 90-size four-stroke, that motor can go on. So, I mean, it's –

[00:35:47] What's the actual home for that motor supposed to be?

[00:35:50] For that motor specifically? Yeah. So, I – I'm not giving up on it, okay? It sounds like it. So, my Sato with Camel, right? Like, that's the airframe that I intend still to put that motor on for a permanent home.

[00:36:10] Really?

[00:36:11] But this is an airplane that I've been working on for the course – over the course of the last – Decade? – few years. And it's stagnant. it's a project that's a long-term project. And it – I mean, honestly, I don't really have any plans of finishing it soon.

[00:36:28] Mm-hmm.

[00:36:28] But this engine is just too cool to sit in a Ziploc bag.

[00:36:31] I agree.

[00:36:32] And not hear it run.

[00:36:32] I absolutely agree with that. But now the engine has a home and – Temporary.

[00:36:37] It's a temporary home.

[00:36:39] I don't like the way you're thinking about that. What – why? Because that – you just –

[00:36:43] Hey, we're going to Toledo in a month.

[00:36:45] You're going to get another one?

[00:36:46] Maybe.

[00:36:46] If they have them, that would be good. Because I – I don't know.

[00:36:49] I just have something – For what, though? The Camel. If I could find a 120.

[00:36:56] Really? Oh, yeah. It would need more than that?

[00:36:59] Well, the 120 and the 90 are roughly the same size physically.

[00:37:03] Mm-hmm.

[00:37:03] But the 120 is newer and a little more efficient and lighter. Produces a little more power. Oh, okay. So if I happen to find one of those for a good deal, I'll buy that, and that'll go on the Camel.

[00:37:15] See, that would make me happy.

[00:37:16] I don't know why you're so upset. I mean, the Camel has – like you – like –

[00:37:20] Because I hear – I hear what you're doing with that motor. And to me, it sounds like the GB is a throwaway airplane. That is how, in my mind, I hear about like, okay, this airplane's fine for now. I'm going to put this motor on it. This is like an awesome motor I love. But just for now. So I can hear the motor run, and then off with you, I'm done.

[00:37:40] And so I can see why you would think that. Mm-hmm. But even if I don't find another three-cylinder radial to either put on the Camel or to put on the GB and then take the original off the GB, I have so many other four strokes. Like a Sato – well, I happen to have a Sato 82 that is in primo, like primo shape that I got from you that I've ran that runs awesome that would be perfect for that GB. But it wouldn't sound as good. No, I agree. It wouldn't sound as good.

[00:38:13] But the GB is not a throwaway airplane. I'm not investing all this time to make it look pretty and to do a good job on the landing gear and all that stuff, which, by the way, the landing gear are very complicated on this airplane.

[00:38:25] Really?

[00:38:26] Oh, yeah. But anyway, I would not be spending all the time on this just to take an engine off of it later and then just have it sit in the rafters. No, no.

[00:38:36] There's plans.

[00:38:37] Okay.

[00:38:38] I'm just making sure. Like if the three-cylinder ever comes off of that airframe to go back to the Camel, a Sato 82 or an OS 91 would be a screamer on this airplane. It's only like a 40 – I think it's a 46-inch wing. It's really small.

[00:38:55] Are you serious? It's really small. What? I assumed it was bigger just by looking at it.

[00:39:02] 46 or 48, somewhere in that range. That's tiny. It's small and fast.

[00:39:09] That's going to be fun.

[00:39:10] And then with that three-cylinder, I mean, it's just going to be awesome.

[00:39:13] I can't wait to actually have you finish up with that.

[00:39:16] Me too.

[00:39:17] That'll be a spring project to go out and fly.

[00:39:19] So, I did get some stuff done on it. the other night I set up. I bought a – so, I may have mentioned this before, but, the Sullivan remote glow that I had the issue with.

[00:39:33] Yeah.

[00:39:33] I bought a crane engineering onboard glow for it, and I set that up the other night, and man, is that thing slick. Like, if you have a multi-cylinder – actually, this little setup would work on multi-cylinder engines or multi-engine airplanes. You could run your glow system for up to six glow plugs, I think. And it, like I said, it could be on a multi-cylinder engine or just a multi-engine airplane.

[00:39:58] Like, this would be the perfect setup for, say, like a dualist with two nitro motors.

[00:40:02] Say, like a tri-motor.

[00:40:03] If you needed it, or a tri-motor even. -huh. So, such an easy system to set up and actually really easy to program to. And it works.

[00:40:14] So, that would be handy to not have to have three glow plug igniters.

[00:40:17] Yeah, I'm going to buy another one.

[00:40:19] Oh, yeah? Yeah.

[00:40:19] Well – Yeah, I've already decided that when the time comes to start setting that up, one of these is going in the tri-motor.

[00:40:26] Nice.

[00:40:27] Yeah. Just because it's easy. And, I mean, why not? I mean, who cares if somebody says, oh, well, yeah, sure, your engines run good at idle because you've got glow on. So? Like, I don't care.

[00:40:40] Oh, do they?

[00:40:41] Oh, there's, purists out there. They'll say, well, you should get your engine to idle without that.

[00:40:45] No, I mean, so it stays on at idle then?

[00:40:48] Yeah. Yeah, you program it to come on at a certain – whatever position you want, whenever you bring the stick past that position down, it turns them on for you.

[00:40:58] Oh, that's handy. It's slick.

[00:41:00] It's so slick.

[00:41:01] Like, I had – I don't know what airplane it was on, but a long time ago I had a Hobby King version of that. But it was just on or off based on you turning it on or off on your transmitter. Yeah.

[00:41:11] You can do that with this one, too. Like, actually, if I mix it – well, it's getting into a whole other topic. But, yeah, I see the merit in being able to turn it off and on, but I really, really like the fact that it will come on automatically as I bring the throttle stick back. And I can tell it at what point – I can program it to what point that is. So it's pretty slick.

[00:41:32] Will it have a kill switch or something on it, too, so you're not heating them all the time when you don't want them heated?

[00:41:37] I can – yeah. Like I said, if I mix that into a channel and I can flip that channel to high or whatever, yeah, you can turn it off that way. But I'll kill it – I mean, I'll kill it the way I kill all my nitro motors. I'll just either, close the throttle barrel or run it out of fuel.

[00:41:53] Well, yeah, I get that. But, I mean, like, when you first turn your airplane on, if you don't need a glow plug igniter on it, you wouldn't just leave it hot the whole time that you're working on stuff or anything like that.

[00:42:04] Yeah, you can turn it off. Oh, okay.

[00:42:06] Well, that's kind of cool.

[00:42:07] Yeah, it's really, really cool. I'll be interested to see how that works. So I did get that set up on the GB, and it's – the engine is ready to run. Like, so, I mean, sometime if I have time before the airplane is ready to fly, I can run the engine on the stand like I was going to try to do the day we – I – the day I messed up the original –

[00:42:27] Bad design.

[00:42:28] That's all we can say. Oh, and no exposed anything on the actual module. So I like that.

[00:42:36] Oh, that's handy.

[00:42:37] Thanks, guys. Crane engineering. Awesome.

[00:42:38] That's how it should be.

[00:42:39] Yep.

[00:42:40] You also got an exhaust ring for it? Oh, yeah. Is that on you?

[00:42:43] I forgot all about that. It's on, yeah. I mounted it to the motor. It's a Kellio exhaust ring for the Sato 90R3. Actually, it fits the 90R3, the 120R3, and the FG19, which is basically the gas. Gas, yeah. Not easy to put on, but I followed their – they have a YouTube kind of tutorial, and if you follow that loosely, you can get it on. But, man, is it pretty. I can't wait to hear it with this thing.

[00:43:15] So how – I mean, is it going to sound pretty different?

[00:43:18] It should sound quite a bit different than the three individual exhaust pipes because those three individual exhaust pipes are all different lengths. So they have a different tone to each one. So this is – it gets all collected into one ring, and then it all goes out one exit, so they all kind of have the same tune.

[00:43:37] Oh, that's easier to set up, too, then.

[00:43:39] Yeah.

[00:43:39] You don't have to worry about three different pipes coming out and getting dirt everywhere.

[00:43:43] Exactly.

[00:43:44] Because those. Those nitro engines are so dirty.

[00:43:46] And that was one of the main reasons I decided to go ahead and spend the money on the ring was to ease the cleanup because it takes all of the exhaust and dumps it in one location. So – and the actual exhaust pipe that's welded onto the ring is actually quite long. So I'll likely be trimming it, so I can – leave it – if I leave it long, I can really get that exhaust away from there.

[00:44:12] Oh, yeah. That's cool. So, like, how much do those run?

[00:44:15] So it wasn't cheap. I ordered it from CH Ignitions, which is, kind of my go-to for anything we do that's gas-related. I go straight there. But they also sell the Kelio rings, and it was – I'm a little embarrassed to admit what I spent on it, but it was $185 plus shipping.

[00:44:37] I will eat crow because I was talking to Reggie the other day, and I – well, you had sent a picture on the group and stuff, and he saw it and stuff, and I was on the phone with him when you sent it. And he's like – he got super excited. He's like, oh, I can't believe you bought one of those. I was like, well, why? to me, it's just a ring that looks like it's – honestly, should be no more than, like, $20. He's like – he's like, those are, like, $150.

[00:44:59] I was like, no, he would not spend that much on a circle.

[00:45:03] I know. I know.

[00:45:04] Okay.

[00:45:05] Well, Reggie, you're right. It's well-made. Yeah. It's all aluminum, and it's welded, obviously, TIG welded.

[00:45:11] Mm-hmm.

[00:45:12] And it comes with adapters that bolt to the exhaust port that the ring then bolts into. And it's all well-made. It's all very well-made. But, yeah, it is pricey.

[00:45:26] Well, I'm proud of you. That means you're getting into this engine, and you're going to get that thing done.

[00:45:30] Yeah. Well, I mean, like I said, I'm not proud of the fact that I spent that much on it, but I don't regret it.

[00:45:39] It's not something to be proud of, but it's good to know that you do what you need to do to do it right. Does that make sense? I think so. I mean, like, you don't want to flaunt that, oh, I spent this much on it, but that's the right way to do it. So, for what you're doing.

[00:45:53] Well, I mean, so, I didn't have to do it. Like, I could totally have made do with the three individual exhaust pipes that, the flex pipes that you can kind of bend to get them all kind of in the same area for the exhaust. But, to be honest, I didn't have the GBZ in mind, really, when I bought that ring. I had the camel in mind, because on the camel, it's going to be fabric covered, right? And I want the fabric to show through the finish, right?

[00:46:25] And that's going to be kind of a rough finish. And if I get, a lot of gunk, yeah, slime, the nitro slime on it, it's going to be really difficult to clean, and it's going to make the airplane not pretty. So, really, in my head, I kind of had the camel in mind when I bought the, when I made the justification to buy the ring, which should make you feel better, because my intention is still to put this engine on the camel.

[00:46:53] So, I'm, I don't know if it makes me feel better or not, because I like the GB better than the camel. The camels, it's each of their own. Okay. It doesn't do anything for me. It really doesn't. The camel doesn't?

[00:47:06] Mm-mm. Okay.

[00:47:07] I mean. I get it. Like I said, everybody has their own, their own things they like, but I can appreciate it for what you're doing to it, but the actual shape of it, like World War I stuff and all that, really doesn't. Tickle my fancy. I mean, I, I don't know how else to put it, so.

[00:47:25] Yeah, yeah, and that's fine. I mean.

[00:47:27] It'll be cool when it's done, but I think the GB will be a cooler airplane to see that engine on.

[00:47:32] Well, I'm not going to lie. I'm, I'm really excited to finish the GB and fly it. I think it's going to be a rocket. I really do. I sure hope it is. That would scare me. Well, I mean, the, the, the full-size GBs, the, the Z and the R1, they were, they were made for racing.

[00:47:47] Yeah.

[00:47:47] Like, that's why the Granville brothers built them. it was basically. I never.

[00:47:54] Yeah. Like, I've never looked into what that is.

[00:47:56] I mean, basically these airframes were, were engines with wings. Yeah. I mean, it was a very minimal. I mean, they're short, stubby. there's not a lot of profile. There's not a lot of anything to them. It's just an engine with wings. So I'm hoping now, granted that, this, this three cylinder of mine doesn't put out a lot of power. I mean, for a 90 size engine, it really puts out 65 ish worth of power.

[00:48:24] But according to the Kyosho specs on the box, that you're only supposed to fly it up to a 50. So. So it should be overpowered. I'm still, I'm still kind of overpowered, I think. So.

[00:48:35] That's exciting.

[00:48:35] Yeah. I'm excited.

[00:48:37] That's more exciting than my Skywalker.

[00:48:41] I don't know. Spacewalkers are really, really, I know.

[00:48:45] Yeah.

[00:48:45] But no, they're really cool airplanes. I think you're really going to like that.

[00:48:48] I've always wanted one of those too. Like there's certain airplanes that I've always wanted and that's one of them. So.

[00:48:54] Yep.

[00:48:54] All right. Cool. Anything else you're going to talk about?

[00:48:57] No, no. I'm excited about stuff that's coming up. I'm really excited about the, the interviews we're going to start doing. I think, I think that's going to add a unique dimension to the show.

[00:49:09] We shall see. Can't wait. We don't know until we try.

[00:49:11] Yep. So if you want to be a guest on the show and you want us to have you on the show to talk about whatever interests you in the RC world, make sure you get on the website, rcplanelab.com. And somewhere on that website is a form you can fill out that says, be a guest. So fill that out. We'll get it. And then we'll start to, like you said, Ron, we'll start working the coordination for that.

[00:49:35] We'll start the scheduling process.

[00:49:37] Cool beans.

[00:49:38] Good. Good deal. All right. Until next time, I am Ron. I'm Tom. Good night. Good night.

[00:49:44] We hope you enjoyed this episode of the RC Planelab podcast. For topic suggestions, to ask questions, or to give any feedback, connect with us at rcplanelab.com or email us direct at either ron at rcplanelab.com or tom at rcplanelab.com. You can also text us or leave us a voicemail at 818-351-9846. Please subscribe, rate, and review us on your favorite podcast app. Until next time, may your landings be gentle.