Ed Hagedorns DC 3
page 10
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| For a first attempt at painting an airplane, I suppose it is going ok.
Painting is much harder than I thought it was going to be. I've found
that I spray a coat and then touch it up about 3 times. Either I didn't have the
masking tape on very well and got over/underspray or I ripped the
masking tape off too early and it pulls up paint with it. Ugh. The
base coats have been sprayed, next step is to add the military
insignia. I didn't think I would like the way the decals would look,
so I decided to paint them. |
I cut out the decals that were given in the kit for the templates then
cut those shapes out on frisket mask. the mask on the
surface and paint. |
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| Remove
the mask and you have a perfect outline of the marking. (Except
where the paint blew under the mask, where the paint bled into the
panel lines and where the frisket paper ripped off some of the OD
Green. |
Remove
the mask and you have a perfect outline of the marking. (Except
where the paint blew under the mask, where the paint bled into the
panel lines and where the frisket paper ripped off some of the OD
Green. |
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| Crap!) I guess I will do some more touch up. The decals in the kit are looking better and better!! At least fading the lines with the air brush is going well.. |
I am now done painting. Everything you see has been painted on, there are no decals on the plane. patience. The plane is coming along nicely, the wing is done with the painting process and the fuse is really getting close. |
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| webmasters note: When photos are shrunk they get grainy I can assure you the painted surfaces on this project are near perfect--amazing!! |
I
initially had some grand ideas about weathering the plane to make it
really look authentic and have realized that it would take someone with
superior painting ability and that is not me (yet)! I think I am
going to be happy with a fresh coat of paint on a brand new plane
(after all, that is what it is). |
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| I
think painting has been the most challenging part of this entire
build. I am pleased with the way the paint job turned
out especially since it was my first real attempt at painting an
airplane. |
All I need to do now is finish breaking in my engines, mount everything, wait for some good weather and a lot more courage. |
I still haven't had the maiden flight yet.
I've ran into a few problems. The first one being that when I
balanced the plane, I had to add 1 lb 4 oz to the nose. This put the total
weight just barely shy of 13 lbs. With a wing area of 750 square inches,
that puts the wing loading at 39.9 oz/sf. This by itself is scary.
Couple that with the fact that the engines I ordered (OS 4 stroke 40's) are
already a bit on the small side. I am not convinced it will fly
(well). The reason it is so heavy is mainly from the filling and
painting. I didn't do that great of a job getting the initial shape, so I
had to add more filler than I wanted. The way I put the panel lines on
added a bunch of (very unnecessary) weight.
The other problem I am having is that one of the
engines that I bought won't run correctly. I have tried everything I (and
a few other guys) can think of to get it to run consistantly. Finally I
took it off and sent it back to the factory to get it looked at. I haven't
got it back yet.
This picture is of both of the engines running, and
even though the right one wasn't running very well, they sure sounded
great!
As soon as I get the engine back, I will try to let
everyone when the maiden flight will be.
The Maiden Flight
The Maiden Flight
The maiden flight went pretty well. It was
almost completely uneventful. Jerry Holcomb flew the plane for me and as
it turns out it is a good thing that I had him there. I was really worried
about it being so heavy and possibly underpowered. It seemed to have power
to spare. Jerry flew it at 1/2 throttle for most of the flight, it seemed
to handle very well. He even did a couple of aileron rolls.
On the last pass before final approach, the left
engine died. Jerry didn't panic (I would have) and brought it around on 1
engine. It had a bit of a rough landing but was unharmed. We wiped a
bit of mud off, that was it.
I found out later that I have a bum glow plug and
just need to replace it.
I wanted to thank everyone that came out to
watch. I am going to get a couple of glow plugs and have to give it a go
myself! And yes Dave, I will install the cowls for the next
one!
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