RCAviator.ca

Sadly yesterday a dear friend and fellow modeler Ford (Slim) Sommerville lost his battle with cancer. Ford was always ready to help out a fellow modeler or around the club. You could often find him looking after the transmitter impound during fun flies in the summer. I first met Slim 25 years ago when I first joined the Stetson Flyers and he was just as active in the hobby recently as he was then. He left a lasting impression on this young modeler and I will never forget him.

To Ford’s family I’m sorry for your loss. He will be greatly missed.

Scott

What a weekend for the RCAviator!

On Saturday I finally got out and used the anniversary gift my wife got me back in July. An hour and a half introductory flight in a Cessna 172. Since I was allowed to bring a passenger along I decided to invite Ed along for the ride. Well things had changed when I booked the flight and we weren’t going up in a Cessna, we were going to go up in a 1962 Beech. Well that too changed when we arrived and the instructor realized that after putting the 3 of us in the plane there was no room for any fuel. Hmmm that doesn’t sound like fun. So the good folks at OAS did what they could and found another plane and pilot to take us up. What a treat we were in for. The plane as it turned out was a Diamond Star. A modern all composite plane with glass cockpit and lots of other goodies. More after the jump Read the rest of this entry »

Ok so this one was back in June and it represented a few firsts. It was the first time I’ve travelled to a flying event in the USA, first road trip with the new trailer, first time renting an RV. We were headed to the IMAA Rally of Giants in Hamburg PA.

Goose and I were the first to head down. We loaded up my trailer with my planes, Mike’s planes, the generator and various other camping supplies. The plan was to head to PA for 5 days of flying and fun. I had arranged ahead of time for a rental camper to be delivered to the site and it should be waiting for us when we arrive. The drive down was pretty uneventful and we found the site with problems. Our trailer was there waiting for us and it was a great unit. There were quite a few other campers there. After the long drive we settled in for the night.

Ed and Mike both joined us on Friday morning. Ed riding down on his Gold Wing and Mike arriving in his car.

The flying site was beautiful. The grass runway was 1600 feet long and was like a fairway at a top golf course.

Lots of other flyers had come from all over, some with some pretty fancy RV’s and trailers.

There were lots of different models covering all aspects of aviation. Biplanes, aerobats and warbirds of all shapes and sizes. Even a huge 60% Cub!

As it turned out the weather was pretty brutal. We had rain for most of the trip but when it stopped the flight line was always busy. I logged quite a few flights with my Extra during the day and with my electric Edge 540 and Trex 450 early in the morning before anyone else in camp was awake.

As always Goose took some great photos of the event. You can find his gallery of the event here.

The guys at SKS Productions were there as well and have published a DVD of the event. I was fortunate enough to be interviewed at the event and I have received top billing on their website description of the DVD. Check it out SKS Video Productions

Wow!!! It’s September and I just realized my last post was in May. I guess if anyone was following they’ve given up on me by now.

It’s been a very busy summer flying season even though we had the rainiest July on record.

I attended many events both in town and away. A group of us made a trip to Pennsylvania for the Rally of Giants in June, there was the Upper Canada Zone Fun Fly in Smiths Falls, the Kingston Giant rally and just this weekend my home club’s giant scale event and annual pig roast.

Over the next few days I’ll put together some posts about each of these great events along with links to photographs.

The originally arrived with a damaged wing and the replacement also was damaged. Three did prove to be a charm and I have all the components. I spent a bit of time getting it together but there’s still work to be done. I’ll update on that too.

That’s it for now. Keep watching I promise I’ll do some updates this week.

Well I’ve finally bit the bullet and ordered a new bird. This one is a change of pace for me, I’ve ordered the Hangar 9 1/4 Scale Piper Cub Arf. There’s just something about a Cub. Everytime I see someone out flying one and doing big side slips, one wheeled touch and goes or low down hammerheads I just have to have one.

I’ve picked up a Zenoah G20 ei for it and a bag full of Hitec digital servos. After watching the video below I think some tundra tires will be in order for it too.

Watch this space for build updates once the kit arrives.

I came across an abandonned farm on the weekend that looked great for photographing. I didn’t have my camera with me but I did have my mobile phone with it’s little built in camera. I snapped off a few shots and this is one of my favs.

Well it’s taken many evenings and a few days but I’ve finally reached a point where I can proudly say my trailer is ready to haul planes.

I ripped out the luan walls and replaced them with 3/4 plywood, laid down indoor outdoor carpet on the floor. I built a cabinet to house a deep cycle battery along with fuel cans, tool box and other odds and ends.

I put some E-track up on the walls to manage loads and ran some 12 volt receptacles to the rear of the trailer.

Pics after the jump Read the rest of this entry »

Finally finally finally!!! The day finally arrived to get my Extra in the air again. Today was a little crisp but the sky was blue as can be, there was a light breeze and no excuse not to go flying.

Today was the day for the first flights of the 300 since last fall. Since then I’ve added the smoke system and changed the tailwheel. I checked and rechecked everything and decided that since I’ve made some changes I would put in a flight without smoke oil on board just to make sure everything is behaving as expected.

That first flight was great. With the added weight the plane felt even more locked in. Another check of a few things and then it’s up in the air with smoke. More after the jump

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Finally! I’ve been working on adding a smoke system to my Extra and today I got to see the fruits of my labor. The system consists of a Sullivan Skywriter smoke pump, DA50 muffler, Dubro 20oz tank and Super Dri smoke oil.

The system was installed in the pipe tunnel that runs down the center line of the fuselage. This allowed me to build a tray for the tank and pump. I placed the tank directly over the CoG.

The first test was configured with the pump being controlled manually using a rotary dial on the transmitter. It didn’t take much to get a nice cloud of smoke coming out of the muffler.

The next step will be to configure a mix to have the pump actuated by the throttle channel. Then get it in the air.

Here’s a video

Well it was a beautiful spring day yesterday, a perfect day for some flying but I decided to stay away from the field and get some work done on the trailer instead.

The trailer is a new Haulin 5×10 enclosed trailer. It’s a nice rig but needs some work to get it ready to haul planes. My plan is to have a flexible a layout as possible so if the need arises the trailer can be used to haul non hobby related stuff. The main part of this plan is to have vertical E-track on the walls that will allow me to moves shelves and anchors around as need be. More after the jump

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