RC Plane Projects and a Ford Trimotor Scratch Build – Episode 2

Ron: Hello everyone and welcome to the RC Plane Lab podcast. I'm Ron.

Tom: Hi, I'm Tom.

Ron: So what we wanted to do was actually start releasing episodes early. Our plan originally was April 7th was going to be our launch date. However, due to the coronavirus, everything is kind of getting closed down. So we wanted to give all the folks at home something to listen to, some new episodes. So we are going to be releasing now on a weekly basis. Um, our first episode that we planned on releasing on the 7th is going to be released today also. So today you'll actually get two episodes. Um, so this episode is kind of just BS talking. We're not going to really get into anything too, uh, too planned or too serious. So my wife and kids are home now. Um, our state has pretty much closed down. Um, as of today, uh, we live in Illinois. Illinois, our governor has closed, uh, pretty much all non-essential businesses and has enforced a, uh, what's it called Tom? Like a, a stay at home.

Tom: Uh, yeah. Shelter in place.

Ron: Yeah. Shelter in place, uh, for all of the, the residents of Illinois. So due to that, uh, like I said, my wife and kids are at home. School has been canceled at least till April 7th is when they're saying, uh, it is the, the end of this unless they extend it. So, uh, I will still be going to work because, uh, well, so they say those, so yeah, the business I'm in is considered essential. So I, I, uh, I won't have as much time at home as, uh, as Tom does. He will be working from home. Um, but with everything that's being closed, it kind of clears up our evenings. It clears up our weekends where we don't have as much, uh, as much going on really. So we figured we'd do a few more extra podcasts if we could kind of throw some in here and there, just kind of give you updates on what we're doing, what we're working on, on our time off. Um, with my wife being home, uh, she is, you know, she's a wonderful woman and she, she's going to be doing the things that, uh, you know, she's going to get things done that she's been wanting to do. Um, and that will also free up some time for me to do things that I wanted to do. So I will have more time, like I said, for working on RC planes for doing this podcast. Um, and so we, we just wanted to kind of give back, give you guys something to listen to while you're hopefully working on your, uh, RC airplanes, building your kits, building your ARFs or, you know, doing whatever you're, you're working on.

Tom: Right. A little backwards points.

Ron: Yeah. So just something to, uh, to, you know, hopefully help get everybody through this. So you, you got to take the good with the bad. So yeah, this is, uh, this is times to be kind of, uh, concerned with, I suppose, but don't dwell on it. Yeah. So that's our plan. So, uh, you know, stick with us. We're going to be, uh, releasing episodes now, like I said, so, uh, be on the lookout for new episodes coming weekly. Um, with maybe some extra ones won't be nearly as long, but maybe some extra short clip kind of things just to, uh, have Tom and I discuss what we've been working on and, and give you updates, uh, you know, scattered throughout. So, uh, good luck everybody. And let's, uh, let's get started with the episode.

Tom: Okay.

Announcer: RC plane lab, a podcast for anyone interested in RC airplane. We'll share tips and tricks on how to build models and talk about successful flights, epic crashes, and everything in between. Visit us at rcplanelab.com to sign up for our email list and to ask us questions. You can also text us or leave us a voicemail at 818-351-9846. Please help us out by rating and reviewing us in your favorite podcast app. Thanks for spending time with us today. Now here are your hosts, Ron and Tom.

Ron: Okay, everybody, welcome back. So let's talk about things we're going to be doing in our downtime. Uh, things that we plan on accomplishing things that we, uh, we want to get done that we haven't had the chance to get done lately. So Tom, what, what have you been working on?

Tom: Well, I've been working on this, uh, Horton HO229 project that, uh, you know, we mentioned before. Uh, also probably going to try to maybe finish up some other projects that I've had started for a long time.

Ron: Uh, Sopwith Camel and a few other things.

Tom: Um, hopefully if time allows and, um, we can get together, I can finish the stick and, um, get a lot of these projects done. And hopefully, uh, with the time that we're going to have off.

Ron: Yeah. Yeah. That'll, that'll be a good thing to kind of reset. And, you know, I'm looking forward to spending more time with family and that kind of stuff too. It's not all going to be RC airplane stuff. Really? Uh, a lot of it will be.

Tom: Oh, mine's going to all be RC.

Ron: Well, yeah, I know. Well, I still have young kids. So, you know.

Tom: Well, my wife is essential where she works, so I'm kind of home alone. Um, so, I mean, once the chores are done with the house, I have nothing left but to work on airplane.

Ron: You're lucky. That's awesome.

Tom: Yes, I am.

Ron: But, so, yeah, I've, uh, I've been working on the, uh, the senior telemaster. I, uh, I got stuff done on it. I got the elevator covered and, uh, installed. So, the, um, it's been glued on with the, uh, with the hinges and all that. So, it's on. Um, I went to put the rudder on, though. So, okay. And we took that airplane apart. I really did not like the shape of the rudder. Right. Like, for some reason, I, I, I'm a big fan of the, the Cavalier rudder. You know, it's got that nice rounded, rounded rudder on it. It's not just like a stick of balsa that looked like it was thrown on the back.

Tom: Yeah.

Ron: So, I, uh, I did make a new rudder for this one. And I didn't think, I guess, when I first did it about how the tail wheel would connect to it. So, when I went to put it on, uh, it wasn't low enough. So, I had it all covered, ready to go on, didn't fit right. So, I had to take all the covering off. And I, I added another, oh, I don't know, three-eighths of an inch or so to the bottom of it. That way, I could get the tail wheel on. So, I did get that redone. I got that recovered.

Tom: Well, you needed room for the, for the control horn, too, right? Correct.

Ron: Yeah. Yeah, because I really wanted to be able to run that underneath the stabilizer as opposed to over it. I just think it looks better if you don't see it as much when it's sitting on the ground. Okay. So, that will allow me to, uh, to do it that way also. So, I can run it underneath and kind of hide it. So, um, yeah, we threw those, uh, the servos in the tail so it's as far back as we could get them just because the, the engine that's going on there is pretty heavy. And I wanted to have, uh, a better chance of getting it bounced without using extra weights. So, yeah.

Tom: It's always better when you don't have to add weight.

Ron: Yeah. So, that's about where I, I stand on that one. Um, I have the engine mounts on, so they're ready to have the engine installed. Actually, the engine that I'm putting on there, I'm going to switch it over to, uh, to be a gas airplane. And actually, the motor I'm putting on is a 30cc, uh, Ryobi, actually, that, uh, you converted from, uh, what did it come off of?

Tom: Uh, yeah. So, it's a, it's a Ryobi. Uh, it was a weed eater at one time. Weed eater. Okay. Yep.

Ron: And, uh, so, like, when it, when it comes to doing that, I've never converted one from, obviously, weed eater or chainsaw or anything like that to make them fit on this. I've heard of people doing it. What, what's involved in it?

Tom: Well, it's, it's, it's not too complicated. I basically hack off, uh, anything that's unnecessary. Um, and if you're going to convert it to electronic ignition, you can get rid of the flywheel and, uh, and basically, uh, figure out a way to mount it. And, uh, and that's really it. And I, I had the good fortune that at the time I was a machinist and, uh, I machined my own, uh, propeller hub and, uh, you know, put a magnet in it for the Hall effect sensor to pick up, uh, for the electronic ignition. But, uh, it's all in all, it's not too complicated. The most complicated part of it, it really is, uh, setting up the ignition, uh, you know, timing, so to speak.

Ron: Oh, okay. Yeah. I, I can understand that. And you said, um, like the magneto comes off too then, obviously.

Tom: So yeah, everything that, uh, yeah. If you're going to go with electronic ignition, which I highly recommend because those big flywheels are heavy and that's a lot of weight on the nose and it rotates, you know? So, um, torque and things like that come into, come into play. So if you can convert it to electronic ignition, uh, you're really kind of better off and it, and it really simplifies the installation too.

Ron: Yeah. I mean, the way this is all set up now, there's really not that much to do. But that you just have to hook up a, a couple of pieces of electronics to it. Um, and it's, it's pretty much done. So yeah, that should be easy. I hopefully will have that mounted, um, hopefully this weekend, but we'll see how things go. But, uh, yeah, other than that, I want to get some of the electronic running this thing next week.

Tom: It's going to be pretty quick. Yeah.

Ron: But yeah, I want to get some of the, the electronics in, uh, and kind of get that all buttoned up and done. It's probably going to be a little while till we fly it because we're going to have to wait for this whole, whole thing to, uh, to pass, if you will. Right. Um, cause this is when I'm probably going to want to go fly at the field for the first time. I don't necessarily think, uh, I wouldn't be comfortable doing it at home. Uh, just because it's not enough.

Tom: Not for the maiden anyway.

Ron: Yeah. Maybe after I see how it flies and how it handles, it might not be too bad. But for the, for the first time, just in case something happens, I always prefer to, to go to the field for maidens. Yeah.

Tom: Me too.

Ron: But, uh, a lot more room out there at the field. Yeah, that's true. And, and there's a lot less trees, a lot of houses. Um, you know, not, not that there's houses really close to where I am, but if something happened and you lost a plane, you know, it's possible it would be, uh, it's possible it would go somewhere you don't want it to go. And that does happen with planes. So unfortunately it's not unheard of to lose one.

Tom: Unfortunately, it does happen once in a while. Not nearly as often as it used to though. That's for sure. Thanks to 2.4.

Ron: Yeah. See, I never flew before the 2.4 was out, so I didn't have to deal with FM or AM or whatever they had before. Good times. I guess I'm kind of lucky in, in not knowing what that whole fiasco was about. Yeah.

Tom: It was good times.

Ron: Yeah. So after we're done with, with these, what, uh, what are you thinking about working on next?

Tom: Well, like I said, I gotta, I gotta finish up these projects on the bench before I start anything new on, on the Horton, um, you know, I'm making, making good progress, especially now that we have all this extra time.

Ron: Um, you know, I got the left-hand wing sheeted and, um, don't have to cut out the control surfaces and, um, hinge them.

Tom: This thing uses a, a unique hinging method. Um, they're Frise-style hinges, F-R-I-S-E. So we'll put a picture up on the website, maybe so people can see what I'm talking about. But, um, uh, still have all that to do. And then I still have to do the right-hand wing panel, install drag rudders and move on to the fuselage. So I have a lot of work to do. Hopefully I get it all done here with this, thanks to the coronavirus. But, uh, before I start anything new, I, I would like to get these things off my bench. You know, we kind of talked a little bit about maybe what we'd work on next. And I don't know, I, once these things are done, who knows? Maybe we'll, uh, we'll come up with something together we can work on.

Ron: You had said something about maybe doing a kit or something that you, uh, that you have. So I think that would be fun.

Tom: Yeah, a kit would be good. Um, I have, you know, I have a few to choose from. Um, we'll see. I mean, uh, a kit, you know, is, uh, is a lot of fun and you can, you know, you can usually frame up, uh, uh, an airframe depending on the complexity of the kit, you know, in a few evenings. But if you're really looking for a challenger, I've kind of got the itch to do maybe a scratch build, um, you know, this next time.

Ron: Okay. You got my attention on that. So I've never done a scratch build, but I actually have some plans that, uh, yeah, if you don't want to do a kit and you want to do a scratch build, I have some plans. It's an old, uh, a Ford, uh, tri-motor. Really? Yeah. You don't see very many of those. I think that would be fun to do. Oh, that would be a fun project.

Tom: I could, uh, I could definitely see working on, working on something like that next. It's a fairly simple airplane. Yeah. I, I think, um, yeah, maybe we'll, we'll look into that. Would you go electric?

Ron: I would like to do electric, but I, I would like to have, uh, you know, honestly, I'd like to have four strokes on it, but I don't know how well, how well, uh, that would work. It's only like a, I think it's a 78 inch wingspan. Again, if I remember the plans correctly. Um, so have you ever scaled up plans?

Tom: I have not, I've bought plans that have been scaled up and built from that before, um, but I've never actually scaled anything up myself.

Ron: Well, okay. So you've built from scaled up plans though. So I mean, like literally, does that just mean that they're, they're blown up a little bit?

Tom: Mm-hmm.

Ron: Cause I can, I can, I can blow them up. Um, depending on, I think if, if it's something, cause I'd like to do this towards, you know, a hundred inch wingspan or something in those lines. Um, so if you would like to teach me, if you'd like to teach me how to build off of plans that don't really match exactly, I would have no problem doing that. That would be fun.

Tom: Um, yeah, I, I think that would be, it would be, it'd be a good experience, you know, um, especially, you know, I'm, I'm old school, so I'm always, uh, recommending to folks who want to stay in the hobby and call themselves modelers. They should, they should build a kit at the very least, or if you really want to be a modeler, yeah, build something from plans from scratch. Um, that's, that's kind of my favorite. Uh, and I think if you've got a, if you've got a good quality set of plans that you can blow up, um, yeah, I think that'd be, I think that might be our next project. Yeah. When you're blowing up plans, you want to, you don't want to, you don't want to enlarge them such that all the dimensions are weird.

Ron: Yeah.

Tom: For example, you know, an airplane that uses a three, you know, quarter by three eighths spars, you don't want to blow that up. And then now you've got some weird size spar. That's not a, a standard size that you can go buy at their false supplier. Does that make sense?

Ron: Yeah. You do have to be careful about, about, you know, shrinking or, or enlarging plans. Yeah.

Tom: You know, you want to keep it even. Like, so if it's, if it's, you know, like quarter by three eighths and you blow it up, say. 50%, it doesn't necessarily mean then that it's going to be, you know, half by three quarter, you know what I'm saying? So you have to be careful with the, with the ratios and stuff. But I mean, as long as you, you know, as long as you blow it up when you can get close on, on some of the standard sizes, like, you know, you want standard size wing spars, you want kind of standard size, um, longerons and things like that. But you can modify, um, to some extent, as long as you're, you know, building to the outline, you're usually okay.

Ron: Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I understand what you're saying. So it'll, it'll take some work on the plans, obviously to, to blow them up, but maybe, uh, maybe we'll go over that. Cause like I said, I'd like to have one of those hundred inch or so. So actually it's been probably four, yeah, it would probably be about four years ago now that I think about it because, uh, it was before Piper was born. Um, so there was a, there's a Ford tri-motor that comes around the country, I guess. And, and you can ride on, you know, you can buy tickets. Oh, it takes the tour. Yeah. And so my wife and oldest kid and I, I did that and, uh, oh, it was a blast. They both got sick. Like my oldest was about ready to throw up by the time we landed. I mean, you know, I was, I was like a row ahead of them. Okay. Uh, and when I turned around to look, when I turned around to look at him as we were taken off, his hands were just like holding onto that chair, like for dear life. It was so funny. We have a picture that we took afterwards and, and both he and my wife kind of looked like they were a little bit out of it. They just, uh, you could tell it wasn't, it wasn't as fun for them as it was for me. Was, but I, was that the first plane flying? That was, no, um, we actually went up in a, a small, like seven aircraft. So something a lot smaller than that too, with, uh, my brother-in-law had somebody that had, uh, that had an airplane. We just kind of went up around our hometown and flew over our houses and that kind of stuff. And I enjoyed that too. And the same thing happened to both of them. Um, they were, uh, they were happier, I think, to get out than they were to get in. But yeah, no, it was a good time and I, they would enjoy it a lot more if it wasn't for getting sick. And I, I think, you know, my wife gets sick, I think more than my son did. I think he was more, uh, well, there was a little bit of that motion sickness. I think he was just not sure because you know, the airplane, oh hell, it was what? 90 years old or something by the time we flew in it. So it's, uh, it's an old airplane, but it was, it was still pretty cool. And then we actually saw another one of them. We went up, uh, with, uh, some friends of ours to the, the Henry Ford museum up in Michigan. It's been two or three, I'll probably four years ago, something again on that.

Ron: And, uh, yeah, so we saw one of those they had on display out there too. And it was like, Hey, we flew in one of those and I really liked that airplane. So I think that would be a great next airplane to build or first scratch build for me. So yeah, I'm looking forward to that.

Tom: Yeah. So let's clear off some of these projects, get them finished. And then, uh, yeah, we'll definitely get started on something like that. I think that would be a great project.

Ron: Yeah, I do too. The only thing I have that I actually need to do to get finished, to get out of the way, uh, is that senior telemaster. But like I said, that's, that's almost done. Yeah. It's, it's on its last leg. There's not much else to do.

Tom: I need to finish my stick. That's down there in your way.

Ron: And that's got less time on it than, than the, than the, than the telemaster does.

Tom: So I don't think that's going to be too bad. That thing can be finished up in an evening.

Ron: Yeah. The other thing, uh, I have that Cavalier I'm working on. That's probably one that I will continue on and start working on as time allows. Um, it doesn't have to be done anytime soon. Uh, I do have my yak downstairs though. My, my 40% yak that, uh, needs to get recovered. Yeah.

Tom: Um, yeah, that's a big project.

Ron: Yeah. And I think I'm okay. Uh, as time allows, I'm okay. I think if that waits till next year, I'm not in a huge rush to get that one recovered because that's going to take a lot of time, a lot of effort. Um, and I just want to make sure it's done right. I don't want to get halfway through on it and have something that big in the way. I mean, I can.

Tom: Right. Well, there's, there's stuff you can do in the meantime also. Like, you know, you, you're pretty much going to go through that entire airplane. You know, you can take the electronics out and, and send them off, you know, and have them checked over.

Ron: Yeah. I do plan on having all that. Um, I would be upset with myself. Yeah. I would be upset with myself if I flew that without having that checked and something happened. So I'd rather just do everything the right way and, and get it done correctly.

Tom: Yeah. Just so, so maybe, you know, we can let anyone who might be listening know, um, why, why are

Ron: we going through the yak?

Tom: I mean, it's not something, it's not something you wouldn't normally do to an airplane that's in your, in your stable, so to speak.

Ron: Um, right. I don't want to know.

Tom: Well, I understand, but I don't want our listeners to be confused and don't want anybody to think that you have to do this to your airframes every so often. And well, it's usually you have to do something like this because something happens.

Ron: Right. So I had it stored in, in my airplane trailer and it did spring a leak. So, uh, when I went, when I went out this spring, uh, and looked at it, so actually this airplane didn't get messed up, um, because of the, the water that came in the trailer, I did lose three airplanes because of it. Um, right. Two of which are probably fixable, but one I'm not even going to worry about or try. It's, uh, uh, uh, uh, a Piper Cub that, uh, that really, I mean, it just, it got the most wet out of all of them. Um, and it's warped. I mean, the, uh, skin has all come off. The monocoat is peeled off and wood underneath just looks terrible. So that, that's one that's just not even worth trying to do anything on. Um, the one I'm most upset about being out there getting messed up is my Sig Cavalier. Um, it looks like the fuselage is fine.

Tom: That was your first one too, right?

Ron: That was my first nitro plane. Yeah. And my really favorite one that I had, um, it didn't get flown as much because it was nitro. Most of the stuff I fly around, uh, my house at least is electric. So it, uh, I hadn't touched that one or seen it for a while. Um, but the fuselage, it's okay. The wing is toast, but I do have plans for building a new wing. So I can probably, I can probably work on doing that too sometime, but I'm the kit I'm building now is a Sig Cavalier already. So I will have that, uh, and you don't need two of them. So, and actually what I'm more excited about with the one I'm building, um, that's why I'm putting a retractable gear in it. Uh, that's one of the fun things you can do when you're building. You know, an airplane is made exactly how you want it. So, um, it's, you know, tricycle gear, just like a regular Cavalier is. Um, but yeah, so I went ahead and did retractable for gear and I'm going to change it for it's an electric airplane as opposed to a nitro. Uh, so yeah, it's going to be pretty cool when it's done. I'm, I'm excited about that part. I have all the electronics and stuff in, uh, and installed for the gear. So that part's all, all done. I just got to finish up on, uh, on the wing really, because everything else is, uh, is taken care of on the fuselage.

Ron: So that's one too, that shouldn't take too long.

Tom: But, but getting back to the Yak.

Ron: Oh yeah. I forgot about, I think I was mentally trying to not tell that story.

Tom: I understand. I really do. Um, but usually when something like that gets wet, um, and, and the high humidity, it, you know, that it gets everywhere to include your electronics.

Ron: Yeah.

Tom: So they really, you know, especially on an airplane that's that big and that, um, the electronics are that, um, that expensive, it's worthwhile to send the servos and the receiver and any sort of electronic gizmo that was in the airframe back to a manufacturer. And they'll, I know horizon, you know, does this, they'll provide a service, you know, they'll go through everything, make sure I think it's good to go because these were specifically the servos were, were fairly expensive servos.

Ron: Yeah. They were over a hundred bucks a piece and there's, I think eight of them in there. If I remember right.

Tom: So I think people, yeah, yeah. Um, so that's why, I mean, it's not something we would normally recommend somebody do every season, you know, go entirely through your airframe, but this particular, um, case, yeah, yeah. I think it warrants, you know, sending the electronics to the manufacturer. And taking all the covering off, inspecting the airframe, making sure, you know, all the, all the glue joints and all the, you know, the sheeted surfaces, make sure that's all still really solid. Cause, um, especially an airplane this large, it's not, it's not easy, uh, sometimes financially to acquire another one. If you, if you have to.

Ron: Right.

Tom: Yeah. If you know what I'm saying.

Ron: I really, I, I do, I get it. They're very expensive. Um, right. I planned on recovering this anyway. Uh, the color thing that's on it is nice, but it's not me. You know, I, I, I prefer, I prefer different colors. Um, so that was in the plan anyway. This just kind of pushes my, my timeframe for it up. Um, and like I said, if I don't get to it this year, I don't get to it this year. Uh, I did actually already buy a new cowl for it. Um, so it's a, it's an Aerotech yak. And apparently, uh, it's kind of hard to find out information on that company. Uh, from what I understand, it was a company in Florida. Um, and several years ago, like I'm thinking late, like 2009 ish, 2010 era. I think that's when it was. Um, that company had a fire or something and they lost all of their molds. They lost everything for building those big planes. Um, well, that's a shame. That's the story I heard now. How correct it is. Like I said, I, I, I can't tell for sure, but I was on flying giant several years ago when I was trying to research and find out, you know, more information on this airplane after I got it. Um, and there was a guy there that had, um, that had a cowl for it, but he said it was the last one. Apparently he worked for the company. Um, and he said it was the last one that they had. Okay. And luckily, and something I like too, it's a split cowl. So it has the top and the bottom, which the cowl that was on the original plane, um, was a single piece cowl. So it really made it a pain when you were trying to do anything, uh, tuning the engine, doing anything on that engine to have to take that whole cowl off. Because to do that, you had to take obviously the propeller off and, and it was just a pain, especially if you're just trying to adjust something. Cause it, it, it was hard, like where the, the set screws and stuff for the, the, what's it called for like the high, the high and low needles were hard to get to. Um, so you can just drill a hole in the, in the cowl. So it was something to where you had to literally take it off to adjust the engine. So it'll be nice. We get that all painted up. It'll be a two piece cowl. And then we can just take the top piece off. No problem. And then, uh, you know, do whatever adjustments need to be done. So I'm looking forward to doing that, but it, it, it probably won't be this year.

Tom: I'm excited.

Ron: I guess on the same kind of note, um, cause I know you've had a lot of planes, um, more so than, than me, but is there any, any airplanes you've ever wanted that you have not had yet?

Tom: Oh gosh. Um, well, sure. Um, you know, I'm, I'm sort of space limited where I, where I live. Um, you know, I can only fit a 50 CC size airplane is about as comfortable as I'm getting, um, trying to get in and out of the basement where I, where I keep all my airplanes. Uh, so I've, I've, I've wanted a, a big airplane, like, you know, like your yak for a while. I just, just don't have any place to store it easily. Um, but I think if I, you know, if I could figure out the storage situation and, and transportation, I think I'd really like to have one of those big, um, great planes, third scale, uh, Matt Chapman CAP 580s. I just think those are really cool looking, you know, the yellow one with the paint splats on it, you know what I'm talking about?

Ron: I don't know. Hold on. I'm bringing it up on Google like quick.

Tom: Okay. Uh, but for some reason, there's something, yeah, there's something about that airplane. I just like, I've worked on, uh, one for a club member. Um, and I liked having it here in the basement, which having it here in the basement is proof that I can get it in and out of the basement.

Ron: So true.

Tom: Hmm.

Ron: Yeah, that's a good size airplane.

Tom: And what, uh, you know, wingspan or anything like prime pulled up. I think it was, I think it was right at a hundred inches, maybe, maybe less.

Ron: Yep. That's what it says. Yeah. Uh, 80 to 100cc and then a hundred inches.

Tom: Right.

Ron: So yeah, it's not too bad. As long as you stand at 126 inch span, I'm good.

Tom: Why do I need to stay under that Ron?

Ron: That's, that's my claim to fame. I like the big planes and I want to have the biggest one. So none of my friends can have anything bigger. Yeah.

Tom: And I'm okay with that because I can't store anything that big.

Ron: Yeah. It is a pain, but it's, it's a, it's an impressive plane. I like the size of it. It sure looks, and I know there's some out there that are bigger. So that gets you right underneath the, the weight limit, you know, for having more restrictions put on you.

Tom: Right. Well, it used to be waivers and things like that with, uh, with AMA, which, you know, that may be changing here in the near future. Who knows?

Ron: We can talk about that. I will tell. Yeah. When we know more about it, I guess.

Tom: Right. But, uh, but yeah, I think, I think that, um, that's, that's an airplane that's on the list, you know, uh, by you.

Ron: Um, so I've always liked, uh, besides, besides the trimotor, I've always liked the, uh, the Piper, uh, Pawnees. Oh, okay. Yeah. I thought that that would be a neat one to have. I'd like to have a big one of those too.

Tom: Um, oh, what else?

Ron: Oh, the, the Pilatus Porter, the PC six. That's another one that I've always liked. It's kind of an ugly airplane. Um, it is, it is actually an ugly airplane, but for some reason I really liked that one. Okay. There's something about the long nose on it that just, I think it's a, it's so odd that I like it. Yeah. I don't like, you know, everybody has Cubs. Everybody has all these, the, like a Mustangs. Everybody has the same airplanes. I like different airplanes. Um, you don't see a lot of the parts. Pawnees, you know, there are a few of them out there, but not, not many. Um, so yeah, I think I like things that aren't everywhere. And that's the other thing about the tri-motor. You know, I've never seen one of those in real life. Uh, even with all the fly-ins we've been to with all the different places we've gone. Oh, you mean a, you mean a model one? Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. I've never seen an RC, uh, tri-motor in real life.

Tom: So, you know, come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen a model of it either.

Ron: Yeah.

Tom: I mean, other than maybe, uh, maybe one of those old, um, Gillows kits. I don't think I've ever seen an actual RC version. So there you go.

Ron: Yeah. That'll be fun.

Tom: Definitely a worthy project.

Ron: Yeah. So. Boy, we keep coming back to that. Yeah. I think that means we both want to.

Tom: I think, yeah. I think that means, uh, we're both excited about it. And I think that should definitely be, uh, be our next, once we've got these other ones finished, I think that should be our next project.

Ron: I'll try and dig out the plans and see what all goes into it. Maybe we can, uh, uh, look at them next time you're over in the next, you know, month or however long it is.

Tom: Yeah. Well, yeah. We'll see what, uh, what the governor says. Huh?

Ron: Yeah. I don't remember if I said earlier in this episode or not, but as of today, we're on the shelter in place or the lockdown or whatever it is. So, right. Yeah. We're, uh, not only are school closed or schools closed till at least April 7th, um, but same with shelter in place. So it, uh, it will definitely give us some more time.

Tom: Well, it's not going to last forever. I mean, you know, it'll, it'll pass in time and then we can get together and talk about that. Yeah.

Ron: So cool. Um, yeah. Do you have anything else you want to talk about?

Tom: Uh, no, no, not really. I mean, uh, I think we've, uh, I think we've covered everything we've been able to accomplish with our time off. So that's something.

Ron: Yeah. So, okay. Well, um, like I said before, then we are going to start releasing weekly. We are going to release this episode, obviously, if you're listening to it, uh, now, and we are also going to be releasing what was going to be our first episode, uh, today. So we will have our RC planes for beginners episode out today. Um, and then we're going to have, so like my plan is we'll, we'll do probably some more of these little, you know, updates, you know, how are things going, um, more so than like what our planned episodes were. Um, we did, and you know, we, we will still work on those because those are going to be more like the polished where we actually know what we're going to be talking about. So there's not, you know, they're more of an outline. So it's going to sound better. It's going to sound like we, you know, had a plan. Whereas with this one, you might be able to tell we didn't, this is just kind of a conversation. Right. Um, so we'll have both of them, you know, both types of episodes kind of scattered in together and we'll just kind of go and see how, how things go for the next several weeks.

Tom: Yeah. And, and like always, if, um, if you guys who are, and gals who might be listening, if you guys have, uh, stuff you want to hear us talk about, uh, hit us up, you know, Ron at, uh, rcplanelab.com or Tom at rcplanelab.com. Yeah. We'd love to hear your ideas.

Ron: Or just visit the website and all our contact information is on there also. So, so that's rcplanelab.com.

Tom: Yeah. And we'll post, uh, I'll see if I can get some pictures posted to the, of the Horton project. And, uh, maybe you can post a picture of your, yeah.

Ron: Oh, I don't know. Well, we'll see. I don't know if I want to do that.

Ron: All right. Um, but yeah, when we're finished with the, uh, with the, um, with the senior telemaster, I'll definitely put a picture of that one up.

Tom: Yeah. I think, I think that would be cool.

Ron: It looks really good.

Tom: It really does. I like the, I like the colors you picked for it. I do too.

Ron: Okay. Well, until next time I'm on.

Tom: I'm Tom.

Ron: Thanks for listening.

Tom: Bye. See you later.

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