Originally Posted by bmclaughlin

To keep it that good looking.... keep it in the shade. Our Texas sun will attack that black ultracote or oracover.

Engine is very responsive on the header/pipe/prop combo. Great job!

That’s very true. I am the sole giant scale guy at our field. Actually, I’m about the only guy who flies. So, I’ve just gotten to the point where all my planes go under the awning when I’m there. Even though I take up a lot of space, no one is there to complain about it so that’s just what I do.

Had a great day out yesterday. 96 degrees, heat index of 98. Baffling seems to be doing fantastic as well as the GP-123 (best engine ever). I pushed the CG back a little further. Moved the batteries back. They fit better here anyway.

Only complaint is the flying wires. Can’t keep them taught. Ultimately, I’ve got to do something different there. But overall love this plane.

My trick for keeping the planes looking good was to have multiple kids and a demanding career to pay for said kids ...and airplanes.

You get so busy you barely ever fly so the planes stay looking new in the basement

Man, I hear that. My oldest is 3 years. Youngest is 4 months. Flying more than ever. My wife is a saint.

Originally Posted by Motomazzo

Man, I hear that. My oldest is 3 years. Youngest is 4 months. Flying more than ever. My wife is a saint.

Wait until middle school.

Baseball (2 games+ practice/week)
Basketball( game/practice)
Boy Scouts (weekly + 1/2 weekends a month)
Girl Scouts (biweekly)
Middle school band (both)
Sunday school (both)

Art classes (daughter)
Horseback (daughter)
after school play dates too far to bike home from.
etc...
(And we don't even let the kids double/triple up on sports and do the travel leagues like some families do.)



We both work full time so its not like I can leave it to the wife to just handle it all. Sometimes it feels like we basically spend all our non-work hours as school bus drivers.

Well, this one hasn’t gotten the flight time of my others this summer due to the flying wires. Tightening them up just twists them and the cycle repeats itself until the wires are a tangled mess. So, same as jharkin, $180 later, I’m finally doing what I should have done at the assembly.

I decided to place my turnbuckles at the fuselage. For the lower gear turnbuckles, this necessitated removing the gear. While I had the wire attachment plates out, I changed the angle of the bend, and painted them gloss black, “just because”.

I went with coated black fishing leader just to sort of match the black theme of the plane. When all is done, I think it’s going to be a huge improvement. I am looking forward to flying this one more.

Originally Posted by Motomazzo

Well, this one hasn’t gotten the flight time of my others this summer due to the flying wires. Tightening them up just twists them and the cycle repeats itself until the wires are a tangled mess. So, same as jharkin, $180 later, I’m finally doing what I should have done at the assembly.

I decided to place my turnbuckles at the fuselage. For the lower gear turnbuckles, this necessitated removing the gear. While I had the wire attachment plates out, I changed the angle of the bend, and painted them gloss black, “just because”.

I went with coated black fishing leader just to sort of match the black theme of the plane. When all is done, I think it’s going to be a huge improvement. I am looking forward to flying this one more.

Great minds think alike...

I've got the same stuff but 210 lb test to redo the flying wires on my 50% Challenger 3. Just haven't had the time yet between builds. Hope you got the matching crimps and pliers. Makes it super simple!

Originally Posted by bmclaughlin

Great minds think alike...

I've got the same stuff but 210 lb test to redo the flying wires on my 50% Challenger 3. Just haven't had the time yet between builds. Hope you got the matching crimps and pliers. Makes it super simple!

And yep . . . dito overhere . . . :-) same modification

https://toni-clark-shop.com/10-m-mul...diameter-10-mm

Very nice guys!


I used that same wire Moto has on my 73" .. I did some rough back of the napkin math and came up with about 90-100lb of tension per wire pair in +/- 10G maneuvering... so I went to 90lb test wire x2 for a 2x factory of safety.


On the 87" it might be a good idea to go up a size or two...






BTW - I like your baffling arrangement. I fought with high temp issues on mine forever. I think my big problem was opening the half round on the bottom of hte cowl actually cause some positive pressure issue in that area blocking airflow, I finally added low pressure lips to it and brought my temps down 50 degrees...

Originally Posted by jharkin

Very nice guys!


I used that same wire Moto has on my 73" .. I did some rough back of the napkin math and came up with about 90-100lb of tension per wire pair in +/- 10G maneuvering... so I went to 90lb test wire x2 for a 2x factory of safety.


On the 87" it might be a good idea to go up a size or two...






BTW - I like your baffling arrangement. I fought with high temp issues on mine forever. I think my big problem was opening the half round on the bottom of hte cowl actually cause some positive pressure issue in that area blocking airflow, I finally added low pressure lips to it and brought my temps down 50 degrees...

Hey, thanks. I’ve read a lot about baffling and seen many, many pics of what guys have done. I personally believe focusing the air into the canister tunnel and not letting it swirl and buffet around in the lower part of the cowling is key. I haven’t flown this one as much as I wanted to this summer but did before I encountered the issues with the wires and I never had any issues. And I was particularly impressed that the engine was brand new and breaking in and I still didn’t have any heat issues.

Got my painted brackets installed. I think this is going to look really good.

Bought the official “HIT” crimpers from Balsa USA. Oh, yeah, what a difference. Should have bought them years ago. This is going to work out great…..

One side done, save the safeties.