Ep 14: Updates #4

[00:00:00] Welcome to 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.

[00:00:34] Now, here are your hosts, Ron and Tom.

[00:00:38] Hello, everyone, and welcome to the RC Plane Lab podcast. I'm Ron. And I'm Tom. We just got off a long marathon of recording an episode about nitro engines. So much fun. It was fun. It was long, but I enjoyed it. I wanted a bunch of stuff.

[00:00:59] But now let's kind of go in, and I don't want to say that I wasn't having fun with that one, but let's kind of have some fun and talk about what we have been up to really in the last couple weeks because we didn't do an episode or an update episode last week because we really hadn't done enough to talk about anything. But I did get some stuff done. I know you got some stuff done. So let's kind of talk about what we've been doing. Okay.

[00:01:25] You want me to start, or do you want to start? You can start. Okay. So we talked before about redesigning and printing a wing spar on the 3D printer. I did end up doing that.

[00:01:39] Sorry.

[00:01:39] Yeah, a wing rib. Yeah, a wing spar would be weird to print because it's just a stick. Still could be useful, though. Still could be, I guess, if you can print them at like 7-inch increments. But anyway, so yes. For really, really small wings. For tiny planes. So wing rib. I've got to remember and get that right. I'll get that one of these days. So I did print another wing rib. It actually turned out pretty good, I think. So I ended up lightening it up quite a bit.

[00:02:16] But instead of being a solid piece of plastic now, it's got a, I think it's a quarter-inch inset on the areas where it's solid. So it's got a quarter-inch around the outside instead of being a completely solid piece. It ended up being, and I'd have to measure the length of that rib because I don't remember which one that is. But it ended up weighing in at 11 grams. I don't know if that's heavy for a wing rib or not compared to balsa.

[00:02:49] I’m guessing it’s probably going to be a little heavier than what balsa would be.

[00:02:53] Sounds like it would be, but who knows.

[00:02:55] But still.

[00:02:56] Until I cut a balsa rib and compare it, we won’t know, really.

[00:02:59] Yeah. And I'd like you to do that sometime. I'll tell you which one I cut this out of when I figure out exactly which one that is. because this is a wing rib off of that duelist plan that you're going to be working on. so I can thin that out more, but I don't know how strong it needs to be. So, and really, I need to get this to you so you can see it. And it's kind of hard to do at this point because we're not out and about nearly as much as we used to be.

[00:03:31] But the other thing that I came across that I thought was interesting, I used to have a lot of problems printing, like with the bed on my printer. It was, no matter what, I could not keep it, keep it level. So, doing some research and stuff online and on forums, I found out that people are using glass to print on instead of the little mats that come, or that came with this printer.

[00:03:57] Okay, so I went, glass, yeah, so I went, and I took a picture off the wall, and I used the glass out of that.

[00:04:05] Okay.

[00:04:06] Yeah, because you do what works, right? Whatever you need to do.

[00:04:09] Crystal was okay with it? Oh, you were at work, okay. I don't know, that's fine.

[00:04:14] No, she, she, anyway, it was one downstairs, and I don't think she's noticed yet. So, I hope she doesn't listen to this or come down and look, because I, I, I think I'm going to keep that piece of glass, because I don't, I, I like the way it prints now. It actually made a big difference. so that was a good idea. So, I used double-sided tape to put that on top. And what I like about that, like, I used to have problems, like I said, with it staying level.

[00:04:41] Like, it wouldn't be level all the way across the, the, the platen, across the bed. Right. So, I would have to print what's called a raft, and that prints a whole bunch of plastic underneath to kind of level the whole thing out, and then you print your, your part on top of that. problems with that is it takes about twice as long to print something if you're doing something small. And it also makes the bottom, the bottom surface of what you printed really rough.

[00:05:11] So, the bottom of this one now, so I, I printed this without a raft. I printed it directly on the, the piece of glass. the bottom of it is, oddly enough, smooth as glass. I mean, there, it's, it's just perfectly flat. so that, that helps quite a bit. I think we're, we might be on the right track for doing stuff this way, but like I said, I need to get this to you so you can kind of look at it and see what you think.. Okay.

[00:05:39] But I, I think we're, we're moving in the right direction if we're going to try and do something like that as opposed to using balsa. And it, it might end up being to where it's still not strong, enough to get to the same weight. So, I don't know if, like I said, we'll, we'll, we'll figure that out in the next couple weeks if we can get this to you and kind of move on.

[00:05:57] Well, I can't, I can't wait to see it. Yeah.

[00:05:59] So, it’s, it’s, like I said, it’s a lot better than the other one we, we took to you already.

[00:06:04] Yeah. And, and the other one wasn't awful. what I mean?

[00:06:08] Yeah. It was, it was a quick draft though that I just kind of knocked out without any lightning holes or anything like that in it. So, like I said, I, I, I should have weighed that one before, before I gave it to you. but I didn't, and then it's kind of like going with cost and stuff on this too. So that, those 11 grams, if I remember right, ends up costing like, 20 cents maybe is what the actual cost is in that. So that, that's not bad. I don't think.

[00:06:38] Okay.

[00:06:39] What else have I done?

[00:06:41] Oh. Cheaper than balsa. That's for sure.

[00:06:44] Yeah. I don't know really prices on balsa. I know when you bought all the stuff for the dualist, it was fine or fairly expensive, more so than I was expecting. It was about twice when I was thinking it was going to be.

[00:06:54] Yeah. I'm, I, yeah, I'm pretty sure though that I, that I bought, my, I'll, I'll talk about it here in a bit, but, what I ordered, I think will cover, probably two airframes, honestly, because I already have some stuff here and, and most, common sizes are, are here. So, but anyway, we'll, we'll see how it shakes out. And it, I probably could have done it a lot cheaper.

[00:07:25] Yeah. Well, we'll, we'll, maybe we'll do a build where you do yours, your way. and then we'll see about doing like one, not necessarily my way, but like the, the budget build kind of thing and see if we can get it to turn out. Okay. Maybe. I mean, that's, that's a thought. I don't know yet. but yeah, so I, I did end up, you wanted the, the wings bars and, and formers and stuff on that plan. And they were kind of hard to read. So you asked me to trace them.

[00:07:56] Actually ribs. Did I do it again? Oh my God. Wing ribs. yeah. So once again, the spar is just a square tube. That's very difficult. No. So you wanted the wing ribs, because on, on the dualist plan, they're, they're stacked on top of each other. And I, I remember we were talking about, there were some errors on the plans and I kind of laughed at you like, oh, it's not that big of a deal. Oh, let me tell you what, those, those are kind of a pain in the butt.

[00:08:26] So I did trace those all in cat. Actually, it's funny because you, you sent me like this tiny low resolution JPEG and you're like, here, could you print this big? And I'm like, well, what size does it need to be? Well, I don't know. You might have to scale it. Well, it's not that easy just to scale something up to get to an exact size. okay. So I did trace the plan and it, it probably took me a good four hours to do it.

[00:08:52] But actually it took me longer than that because the first two times I did it, something happened in the program and it just like shut down. I got like halfway through and then I had a crash and it quit. same thing happened to me a second time. so then I just gave up on that computer and use a different computer I had. And so far it's, it's been working okay.

[00:09:13] I think it probably had to do with the fact that the plans I was tracing, actually, you have to import that into the program not to get too in depth on it. and that's a very big file, bigger file than like what these things are used to handling, at least the software I have. So I think that's probably what was given the, the air and the, but anyway, no, I did, I did get those all. Well, it's okay.

[00:09:37] But I did get those all traced out and they look really nice. I printed out a set to give to you and I sent you a picture of those.

[00:09:46] Yeah. You sent me a picture of it. The desk look really good.

[00:09:49] Yeah, it ended up being, I was able to get it down to like a 20 inch wide, print on a 30 inch roll. So it's a 30 inch by 20, actually 29 and a half inch file by 20 inch. and that way it's printed true to size, with, with when we, when we need to cut it out.

[00:10:11] But there were. If I, if I could just say one thing to anybody who might be listening and wondering why some of these laser cutting folks that are offering their laser cutting services, why they’re so expensive, is because they have to do what you have discovered to be a very time consuming process is draw these, these plans and these designs.

[00:10:40] In a program that they can then use to, to run to their laser cutter or whatever. So, so it's, it's not so much the, the materials or the, or the machine itself. It's their time, as you've discovered.

[00:10:53] Yeah. So it's time, and it is materials, but the, the cost of the machine too, you kind of got to pay for that somehow. So, I mean, yeah, I understand that, but yeah, all things, if it's just completely flat and you didn't have to pay for a machine, you didn't have to pay for a material. There is a lot of time that goes into doing this.

[00:11:13] Now, the program I have, you can trace, like automatically, and it'll do fitting and, and all that kind of stuff. It, it's terrible. The problem is, and, and so if you're not being exact.

[00:11:29] Well, I’m almost sorry I asked you to do it now.

[00:11:30] Well, no, no, no. I’m talking about.

[00:11:32] Make me guilt, feel guilty.

[00:11:34] I meant the auto trace. Did I say it automatically will trace it? It, it will like fit the vectors to the, to the, photo. but the problem with that, so it's cool to see it done quickly. I mean, it'll, it'll do the whole thing in, less than 40 seconds. It'll go through its thing and do it. And it looks okay until you scroll in and you actually see like the lines that it used and the curves that it used. They don't match up very well.

[00:12:06] Now technically, yeah, you could cut with that. But if you’re trying to cut a file like I’ve cut several files like that I’ve just tried to hurry up on my CNC machine that it sounds like it’s trying to work itself apart because it’s making so many small angular movements instead of one nice long like curve.

[00:12:27] So, no, I’m, I’m familiar with what you’re talking about. I used to run into the same trouble with vinyl cutting.

[00:12:32] Yeah. Oh, exactly. Same thing with that. so it's better to take the time and do it right. And then you have the file for next time. So yeah, now this is done. So I've got it saved. All I have to do is, print it again or do whatever to get you another copy of it. and that's not different or not difficult. But what I came up with, you had said something about needing to measure the wing ribs. I got it right.

[00:12:56] You said, you said something about measuring the wing ribs to the plan to make sure it all lined up. Okay. they were close, but if you were building that based on what the actual plan said, if you just trace the wing ribs, some of them were off by about an eighth of an inch. so I, I did have to stretch a couple of them out and shrink a couple of them down.

[00:13:21] Most of them were in like the 090 thickness to where they were off as opposed to a full eighth. but in that part was very easy and it was nice to be able to lay those spars out. dang it. Ribs. It was nice to be able to lay those ribs out. I caught myself that time. digitally on the plan just to make sure everything actually lined up the way it was. It was supposed to, and then you can adjust and move stuff around after that.

[00:13:49] So yeah, the, the parts that you got or the, not the, not the parts, but the, the paper I'm going to be giving you, it should all work out just fine for when you're, when you're cutting these out. the only thing, I, I, I did find some errors in the plan that you were talking about. some of the, the, almost did it. Some of the ribs were not drawn correctly. Like after you got to the first wing spar. See, I used it right that time.

[00:14:19] When you got to that, to the first wing spar section, it, it didn't line up right to the, to the front of it. so there was, there was a lot of fudge room and stuff where I had to kind of fix that. the other thing I came up with though, is, is one, I think it was the, the third spar. Ah, shucks.

[00:14:39] The third rib.

[00:14:42] Oh my God. the third rib where the landing gear come up into, it doesn't look to me like it's going to be cut out big enough to actually have the, the, the wheel fit up into it. So you might have to look at that and let me know what I need to change. but I, I, I'd like, I'd like to get that changed.

[00:15:02] Yeah, I’ll compare it. When I, when I get the sheet of patterns, I’ll compare it to the, to the actual retract that I’m going to use and make adjustments as necessary.

[00:15:13] Is that, is that something that's easy to do? Oh yeah. Yeah. Once I, once this hard part is done, the, the adjustments are pretty simple. Cool. So I'm not, I'm not worried about that.

[00:15:23] I’m really, I’m really excited about this project.

[00:15:26] Yeah. If everything shows up and I still wish we'd be able to get together and actually work on it together, but I don't think you're going to be patient enough to do that. I think you're going to try and, and get this knocked out.

[00:15:38] Well, I mean, beforehand. Well, I'll talk about it here and whenever, whenever you're done with your update.

[00:15:44] Well, yeah, I, sorry, I don't mean to cut you off, but I have one more thing. I have one more thing. We'll talk about it and then we'll move on to, to whatever you have. So I, was going through some of my old files, just killing time, to see what I had because I knew I had some old CNC stuff that I had designed, like to make airplanes and stuff.

[00:16:07] But I found an old foam design, like a profile foamy that I had, designed, I think has been three years ago now and never did anything with. And I thought, well, what? I'm going to actually put this together because you, we know, we talked about the, that pizza box one that I had a while ago that crashed. you mean the one that I crashed, the one that you crashed. I wasn't going to say it, but that's fine. If you want to take responsibility for it.

[00:16:33] But, so I still had all the electronics and stuff off of that in a box. So I was like, I have everything together. I might as well just kind of print this out and we'll, we'll see what it looks like. so I, I did print it out and then I, I cut it out. I only unfortunately had one sheet of the Dollar Tree foam. so I'm not going to be able to make a version two of this yet. And I know of, several things that I need to change on here.

[00:16:58] But anyway, I was able to get it together, in an evening and went out and flew it. The center of gravity is kind of harder for me to figure out just because of the shape of it. It's kind of, it's kind of triangular, but it's curvy triangular. So it's not, straightforward and easy to figure out. but I, I know I need to, to move the center of gravity forward a little bit.

[00:17:21] And I also need, or know I need to buy a couple more batteries because the, I think it was a 2200 milliamp hour three cell LiPo that I had on there. before, when we talked about in the battery episode, how, they're bad because they just won't sustain the amperage and then it just kind of dies down really quick. Even if it shows fully charged. Yep. that's what this one did.

[00:17:46] So I was able to get it out and I, I was able to fly it for about a minute. and then, you could just, you went full throttle and you just heard the so I was like, yeah, it's, it's shot. so I need to get rid of that one and order a couple more in, move the, the center of gravity forward a little bit and change a couple other things around. But I think it's going to be a pretty fun, just simple airplane. So yeah, I had fun with that.

[00:18:12] And for our listeners, I have not even seen a picture of this yet. This is all news.

[00:18:16] Yeah.

[00:18:17] No, I haven't. News to me too.

[00:18:18] So I haven't told you anything about it. Cause we haven't. I can't wait to see it. Well, you probably won't see this one cause it's about ready to go in the garbage. well, just because it's, it was very tail heavy the first time. So it was, let's just say the first few throws it hit the ground pretty hard on the front. and it was not, I didn't put it together to be pretty. I put it together to be quick just to kind of see how it, how it worked.

[00:18:42] And like I said, there are things that I need to change that I decided I want to change on it, compared to what it's, it's set up like now. but yeah, so I've drawn up new plans and stuff. I just, I can't get to the store to get any more foam board yet. So when that happens, I'll be able to cut some more out.

[00:19:02] And really the thing I like about these kinds of airplanes, a dollar, I have that, I have that design to cut out of a single sheet of, Dollar Tree foam board. And it's, it's, it's a decent size airplane. It makes use of, I'd say probably 90% of that, that board. So you're not throwing much away. and it's, it's a, yeah, if, if I get all the center of gravity and stuff down, I think it's going to be a good little flyer.

[00:19:31] I’m, I’m really looking forward to that one.

[00:19:33] Cool.

[00:19:34] So me too.

[00:19:35] Yeah.

[00:19:36] Okay.

[00:19:36] I just have little planes like that.

[00:19:38] Oh, I know. Just the simple nights when you just want to go outside and you don't want to deal with a bunch of stuff. That's, that's why I like the electrics. I really do. Yeah.

[00:19:47] Yeah. That's cool. I can't wait to see, see what you come up with.

[00:19:50] Yeah. Me neither. So I'm finished. Your turn. What do you got?

[00:19:55] Okay.

[00:19:57] All right.

[00:19:57] So just a real quick, update on the, on the Horton project. still working on that. Working. Oh yeah.

[00:20:06] Oh yeah.

[00:20:06] Well, more so now. Oh, good. So I was working, I was working on the right, wing panel because I'm almost done with the left panel. I was working on the, on the hinging and I dropped the wing panel off my building board.

[00:20:21] No.

[00:20:23] Broke off about two and a half to three inches. I'm just kidding. No, it's, it's going good. Oh my God. No, it's going really good.

[00:20:31] I was going to say, you hadn't told me that. I had no clue that happened and now you're okay. I gotcha. That sounds like something I would do though. Not something you would do. I know. I'm sorry.

[00:20:41] But anyway, the, I got both panels there. They're almost both to the same, stage, which is, almost to final sanding. so what I'll do is, once I finished the, the drag rudder installation on this right hand panel, I have all the hinges, all the control surfaces are done. the hinges are done. just got a little bit of stuff to do on the, on the drag rudder on this right panel.

[00:21:05] Once I have this one to the to the same point as the other panel, I’m going to finish sanding them, filling in little imperfections and little low spots, things like that, and then, once I get them both sanded and smooth and sanded and sanded some more, and smooth, get them to the point where they’re ready for glass, I’m going to go to the, to the aircraft owner, and pick up the center section and bring it home.

[00:21:33] Hopefully I can do that without, getting in trouble for being out and about, and then, mate the, mate the wing panels to the center section and make sure everything lines up. But I'm sure I'll have to do some, some fine tuning and making some shims, I would

[00:21:50] Imagine, and things like that because I built these without having the center section here. Yeah.

[00:21:55] And once I get to that point, I'm hoping that, I can put a layer of cloth on these and sand them smooth and then turn them over to the owner to let him do the final assembly. That's my hope.

[00:22:05] So. So you still have a lot to go on that one.

[00:22:09] It sounds like a lot. And it, well, I mean, I guess it is a lot. the sanding is, it can be time consuming with the filling and the sanding, but luckily, when I'm, when I'm applying the filler, while that's trying, I can be working on other things. so that's what I've been doing. Yeah. in preparation for the, for the dualist project, I've been doing a lot of eBay and RC groups and stuff like that.

[00:22:35] And I have acquired, most of the stuff that I need that I didn't already have. so here's, here's the rundown of what, what the dualist project is going to, be comprised of, obviously that's going to be the dualist, which is a, twin engine pattern type airplane, smooth, aerobatic, fast. acquired the engines actually. So funny story. I actually acquired four engines, kind of on accident.

[00:23:07] So I had an accident. Huh.

[00:23:12] Right. So my plan was I have an old Irvine, 40, which is an engine from the 80s, 90s. and I think the one I have is, is actually one of the original engines that was on my, my old dualist. If you're familiar, it's the one I crashed many years ago.

[00:23:29] Huh.

[00:23:30] So, and I only have one of them. Either I've traded away the other one or who knows. So I went on eBay and I found a guy that had a pair of them, Irvine's. one of them he, he said was good. And one of them he said probably needed, a rebuild. Well, no big deal.

[00:23:48] If he makes me a good deal on both of them, then I’ll have like an extra carburetor or something for the one I have.

[00:23:52] So I get the engines here and they're both, they're both fine. So, while I was waiting on those to get here, I found a deal on, on RC groups. A guy was selling, this whole batch of engines and his whole batch of engines, he had a pair of OS, 46 FXs, that he claims are in good shape, made me a really good deal on them. So I thought, in case the Irvine's don't work out, I know OSs are good engines.

[00:24:19] I've had great luck with them, over the years, I'll get these two to have as a backup. Well, it turns out that the OSs here at the house, I already have, the max tuned pipe headers to fit those engines. So at some point I've had a tuned pipe on an OS 46, either an SF or an FX or an AX, because they all fit the same header, more than once.

[00:24:46] So, so now I have, so now I have four engines, well, five technically, if you count my old Irvine, and I have the tuned pipes and headers set up for the OSs. So I think that's probably what I'm going to go with because I love, I love the sound of tuned pipes.

[00:25:05] Yeah.

[00:25:05] They sound really cool, especially when they're side mounted and the pipes are ringing kind of under the wing. It's just very racy looking.

[00:25:12] Yeah, that's funny. So what, you said Irvine, is that what you call those?

[00:25:20] Yeah.

[00:25:20] Yeah.

[00:25:21] Made in England.

[00:25:22] So can you still get like the, the rings and sleeves and stuff for those or, or, pistons and sleeve for those? Or how does that work?

[00:25:29] Yeah. So occasionally, you can find stuff like that on eBay.

[00:25:34] It pops up all the time.

[00:25:35] Irvine was a fairly common brand back in the eighties and nineties, so there’s still actually a lot of new old stock out there that pops up on eBay.

[00:25:45] Oh, okay.

[00:25:46] Luckily for, luckily for me, all three of the Irvines that I now possess are all ABC. So I don't have to worry about piston rings or anything like that. the pinch is, it all feels good to me. Like, the fit of the piston and the, and the liners, they all three still have pretty good compression. So, I mean, I won't know for sure until I run them, but all three of them feel pretty good to me.

[00:26:09] So, so will you try those on a test stand then or are you going to mount them in the plane first?

[00:26:13] Well, so that was, that was another part of my update.

[00:26:16] Oh, sorry. I had no idea.

[00:26:18] No, no, no. That's okay. So I've got a, I've got a great planes escapade. I think it's an MX. It's the mid wing little purple, white, and orange ARF.

[00:26:29] Yeah.

[00:26:29] That's waiting to be built over here in the corner. So what I think I'm going to do is I'm going to, in the, while I'm waiting for the Balsa to show up, that sidebar that, while I'm waiting for the Balsa to show up, I'm going, I think I'm going to put that ARF together real quick. I can, I can do it in a couple evenings and then I can use that airplane as sort of the, the test bench, if you will, for, for these engines. And it'll be a fun little.

[00:26:55] I thought you already had a, an escapade. Huh?

[00:26:57] No, this is the first escapade I've ever owned. Huh? I have a twist. I have the hangar nine twist, which kind of, sort of, I guess, looks kind of like an escapade. I wonder who I'm thinking of then.

[00:27:09] I guess it didn’t matter.

[00:27:11] I’ve built two of these for one of the club members. Maybe those are. I mean I’ve got pictures of it down here in the basement but those were not for me.

[00:27:20] You've never had one though? Not an escapade, -. Oh, okay.

[00:27:26] Yeah. So anyway, that's, that's kind of what I'm thinking I'm going to do. I don't know. We'll see. Cause I've, I've got, I've got, an extra receiver here and servos and all that sort of stuff. So, why not just fly them in an airplane to, to prove their worth and to put them on a stand, right?

[00:27:45] Sure. I guess I, I don't necessarily agree with your logic, but, but okay. Okay. Yeah.

[00:27:53] Well, I mean, I eventually have to build this airplane anyway. It's mine. Right. So, I don't want to just leave it in the box, taking up space, not being, not being flown. Right.

[00:28:03] Yeah, that's true. You like to tinker. So when I put an engine on, I'd rather have that be the engine that stays on. I don't want to take it off, then have to put another one on later. So I, yeah, I get it for you. That makes total sense.

[00:28:14] The escapade, it's not a fully cowled in type of thing. So the engine is exposed and, swapping out, 40 size engines is pretty, pretty simple. So that's funny, especially if they're the same engine is just unbolting one and bolting in another one.

[00:28:28] Yeah. True.

[00:28:29] So anyway, that's, that's kind of what I'm, what I'm thinking I'm going to do, along those lines, but, more on the dualist. I, so the engines, that's the engine situation. The, the gear I'm going to go with retractable landing gear, just, just like the original. and I was going through my, my stuff and trying to figure out what I had and what I needed, I did find the old nose gear off the old dualist, still in okay shape.

[00:28:56] So I, I took that apart, cleaned everything and, made sure everything was good. Made sure the, the, the Ram, the air cylinder was, would hold pressure. And it does.

[00:29:06] Now, hold on. That should, that should say something about you. So let's, let's, let's think about this for a minute. You crashed that plane how many years ago? Just roughly.

[00:29:17] So this, 92, 91 or 92.

[00:29:21] So almost 30 years ago, you crashed this plane. So in those 30 years, you have moved. So you're not in the same house that you were originally in. So this, this front retractable landing gear has found. And one engine. And one engine. That's true. Has found its way into your stuff because one day you might build another one. I mean, it was, it was that the thought. Okay. That's funny.

[00:29:45] Well, so, so the retractable nose landing gear doesn't just fit a dualist, right? You can use retractable landing gear in lots of different airplanes.

[00:29:53] Yeah. But when, when do you just need one? Well, I don't know. I mean, I don't know what happened to the mains. I can't find them. Oh, that's funny.

[00:30:01] I- I think I may have reused the mains some years later after the dualist- I had built a great planes, ultra sport, and it had retractable, And I think I used those gear in that airplane and that airplane- who knows where it’s at now. I think I sold it or traded it or whatever.

[00:30:20] That's funny. Didn't crash it. That's the important part. Otherwise I would have the pieces, right?

[00:30:30] So anyway, I, I, I couldn't find the mains, so I had to, I had to outsource the mains. so I have those on the way. I couldn't find, so the, the nose wheel I have is Robart. It's a Robart, air up, air down. It's not a spring air or a ROM air. and so Robart has gone through several designs, over the years, and this is an, obviously an older one.

[00:30:56] So I, I kind of wanted to find a pair of mains that would match, this one that would be period correct. Right. so I couldn't find any. So I, I opted for a guy on eBay that had a, a brand new pair of the, of their newer style. So I've got those coming and I've got the air control kit already here, probably from the dual, the old dualist. so that's the gear situation. so yeah, she's going to have retractable pneumatic gear. Nice.

[00:31:27] And it’s going to have the two engine. The twin OS 46 is probably with the pipes and yeah, I’m, I’m really excited, but it’s talk about the wood. So I placed an order. I like to shop with SIG manufacturing whenever I can, because they’ve been in the hobby for well ever and they’re a small company and they, they, they provide great customer service.

[00:31:51] So when I can, I try to support them and now they sell direct to consumer, which I think they've probably been doing that for a while. But, with, sort of the advent of online shopping, I think most, most companies have sort of gone that route.

[00:32:06] Yeah.

[00:32:06] So anyway, I placed my, placed my order and, promptly got an email from SIG that said, Hey, with, with everything that's going on, we're low stock on these particular sizes that you ordered. do you want us to, ship your order now and then we'll ship you the other stuff when we get it, or just want us to hold on and ship it all together.

[00:32:26] And, and I'm not really in a hurry because I, I really got to get this Horton project off my bench before I start another big project.

[00:32:33] Yeah. So I, so I just told him to, just when, when the order is complete, ship.

[00:32:37] It, not a big deal. so she said that, I forget her name. She said that, she thought it'd be, a couple of weeks, three weeks, maybe so.

[00:32:46] So hopefully here in a couple of weeks, I’ll get a big box of balsa.

[00:32:48] So then I'll have, I'll have almost everything I need, for that, for the dualist project. So I'm really excited about that. Yeah. still a few things I'll probably have to find, a couple of tanks. I think I have spinners here. little, little stuff like that, but, yeah, the big, the big items are, are acquired and either moving or are already here. Good. So I'm serious about this project.

[00:33:17] It was, I hope so. Cause if not, this has been a bad joke so far.

[00:33:21] No, no, no, I’m dead serious. I have not been this excited about building an airplane for quite a while.

[00:33:27] So, oh, good. That's cool. Before you buy any tanks or anything like that, let me know. Cause I know I have a bunch of different ones back here and a lot of them are smaller. so it'd probably be perfect for what you're looking for.

[00:33:39] Okay. Yeah. If I, if I don't find anything here, I'll, I'll hit you up. I know I've got a big bag of tanks that I, that I got at a swap meet or something like that.

[00:33:48] I did the same thing. Mine was, I don't know if it was a swap meet or a, oh, actually, no, I know exactly where it was. I bought it down in Tennessee. and there was, I think I bought like 50 tanks. Now I want to say it was, it could have been more than like five bucks just for a bag of brand new, brand new bunch of different size tanks. So yeah, I've got a bunch of them more than I'll ever need. So let me know if you need one.

[00:34:14] And I probably do too.

[00:34:15] Or two.

[00:34:16] But yeah, if I, if I don’t, if I can’t find two matching ones, hopefully between the two of us, we’ll find two to match.

[00:34:22] I’m not, I’m not worried about that. Yeah.

[00:34:25] So and other big news, at least as far as I’m concerned. So, building from plans, I’ve- I’ve done it a few times over the years and

[00:34:37] I’ve, I’ve made do with, made do, excuse me, with the, with the tools.

[00:34:42] That I have, I have a, an old Dremel scroll saw, which I can, and then I have, Zona razor saws and, X-Acto knives and this, that, and the other. and I've made do with those. Well, for this project, for the Duelist project, I, I didn't want to have to rely on my friend, to use his tools to, to cut parts and things like that. So, happened to be on Facebook marketplace here a few days, I guess last weekend.

[00:35:17] And, and it was funny because a few days before I was talking to Lori about how, I think I'm going to go to Harbor Freight and get myself a, one of those little small table saws and a small bandsaw and, and really do this, do this right. so I have the right tools for that. Well, happened to be searching Facebook marketplace.

[00:35:37] And sure enough, somebody, his father had recently passed away and he had no interest in, in woodworking or any of that. And he was selling all of his dad's tools. And the entire package was almost exactly what I told Lori I was, I was going to start, buying. So I got a, a, a nice, it's a, I think it's a Delta, bandsaw. It's not a huge one, but it's certainly big enough for, for the hobby use. I think.

[00:36:09] Yeah. Probably like a nine inch or something. Nine inch.

[00:36:12] That's yeah. Nine inch. and so that, and I got a table saw. It's a small craftsman table saw. It's a standard table saw, but it'd be perfect for model use. It's not like a heavy duty one or anything, but perfect for what I'm going to be used for. another Dremel jigsaw, which I didn't need, but it was part of the deal. And then they got a, a drill press, a small, bench top style drill press. Those are nice. Yes.

[00:36:42] It has eight speeds or nine speeds, something like that.

[00:36:46] Mm-hmm.

[00:36:46] Eight speeds, I guess. so yeah, I've already fired it. It works great. Used it once already. And then I also got the, a bench top, belt and disc combination belt disc sander. Oh, nice. What size? Which I've been, it's a, it's a, it's a, takes a six, six inch disc. And I'm not sure of the size.

[00:37:08] Probably a four inch belt then would be my guess. It's about, yeah, four inches wide.

[00:37:11] So anyway, I got all of those, five, five tools and then like three tables, roll around tables that the, that the guy had built to, to roll them around on. I got all that for a couple hundred bucks. Oh, that's not bad. And they all, yeah, and they all work. I've already fired them up and already used one of them. So. Well, that's cool. So, yeah. So now I have all the tools I need, in case this, quarantine thing keeps going.

[00:37:35] Otherwise, yeah, we’ll have, balsa cutting parties at your place.

[00:37:40] Cool. Well, I, I, I wish I had known you did that first only because, like I have an extra nine inch bandsaw that I would like to get rid of. So you could have just had that one, but, but that's okay. the other thing, one of the tools I actually like quite a bit, you said you have the sander now, the six inch disc and probably, like I said, four inch, I think, on your belt. I have one that's a little bit smaller.

[00:38:07] Also, I have one that size, but then I have one that I think is a four inch, disc and then it's a one inch belt. And that's, yeah, that's very handy for the, the smaller, smaller things. I like that quite a bit, but no, that's awesome. Good for you. Yeah.

[00:38:23] I’m not. I’m not exactly sure where I’m going to set all this stuff up yet, Like right now it’s just all kind of hanging out of my garage and the condition of my garage.

[00:38:31] So, yeah.

[00:38:32] So that'll be exciting to, to figure out. Where I'm going to put everything, but I'll make it work somehow.

[00:38:38] Yeah. That'll be fun. So the, you said you got a jigsaw or a scroll saw. It's a scroll saw. Sorry. Scroll saw. Okay.

[00:38:45] So it’s a scroll saw, almost identical to the one here in the basement that I already have.

[00:38:49] But so it's the one that came with the deal just to make sure I'm on the same page. Cause everybody uses different terms for these things. It's the, it's not handheld. It's one that sits on a bench and then, okay. Yep. Yeah. Those are awesome.

[00:39:03] Yeah. It's got like a 13 or 15 inch throat, something like that.

[00:39:06] Yep.

[00:39:07] Yeah.

[00:39:08] Yeah.

[00:39:08] Yep. Pretty, pretty handy tool.

[00:39:10] Well, that's cool. That's awesome. Actually.

[00:39:12] Yeah. So I have an extra one of those.

[00:39:14] So if you need one, I have one too. I’m sure.

[00:39:18] Anyway, yeah, I, I think I've got, I think I've got the dualist project, about covered. just, I got to finish this Horton project, get it off my table. And, I did pick up a couple of, a couple of repair jobs, to sort of complete in the, in the interim. so I'll get those done and get this Horton done and off my bench and.

[00:39:40] Well, that’s awesome.

[00:39:41] Hopefully I'll be ready. Yeah.

[00:39:43] We ought to see, we ought to see about, since I already drew these up already. and it's just balsa. See about cutting some of these wing ribs on the, on the CNC.

[00:39:53] Well, that's, that's kind of what I thought, maybe we, we, we were going to do when we sort of first started kind of hashing this idea out. I thought that's, and then we started talking about laser cutters and I, that's out of my, that's out of my budget. But, so that, that, that pretty much, yeah, that pretty much covers, covers everything I think from the last update.

[00:40:15] Hopefully I’m really hopeful that our next update is a, is a me saying I’m ready to put fiberglass on these wing panels.

[00:40:23] That's what I'm hoping our next update can take. Well, that probably has to do with how much you, have to work. Are you going to be getting a day off anytime soon?

[00:40:32] No, no days off.

[00:40:35] Okay. In the future that I know of. That's too bad, but this too shall pass.

[00:40:42] Yeah. Oh yeah. I, I know it's, it's temporary and, the time for, for building is, is, it's, it'll be here eventually. So.

[00:40:51] Yeah. Well, that's awesome.

[00:40:53] I just gotta make the, make the most of the time that I have. And right now it's all, it's all going to, to this Horton project.

[00:40:59] Yeah. It'd be nice if you had that done and you could work on your own stuff. So, I mean, that, that's awesome. You're making progress and stuff. I'm glad to hear that. but yeah, so get busy and, and get that out of there.

[00:41:10] Yeah. I'm trying. So yeah, that's all I got.

[00:41:14] Awesome. Well, me too. So, it's probably not looking like we'll have enough to talk about next week, knowing how things have gone. but we'll, we'll play it by ear and see. I don't know. We'll, we'll, we'll see. Yeah. You never know.

[00:41:26] Yeah. Yeah. They may throw a day off at me where I'm working. we'll see. And if they do that, it'll be, it'll be on like Donkey Kong.

[00:41:34] Yeah. But don't hold your breath.

[00:41:36] Right. Exactly.

[00:41:37] All right. Well, anything else or are we good on this one?

[00:41:40] No, I, that’s, like I said, that, that pretty much covers everything I got going on.

[00:41:44] And when I got completed.

[00:41:46] All right. Well, everybody, thanks for listening. tell your friends to, to start listening and, and let's get the, the word out about this more if we can. And, until next time, I'm Ron. And I'm Tom. See you later. See ya.

[00:41:58] We hope you enjoyed this episode of the RC Plane Lab 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. We'll be right back.