I began picking up the sesquiplane to examine what and where I might begin working on it again. It was a reluctant start to look at the balsa wood project that has taken far too long and has become far too involved in so many details. I wanted a smooth paper finish over the outer surfaces. Unfortunately, the paper I originally picked was far too wrinkled and unsuited for the purpose of being an outer skin covering for the sesquiplane. I did leave the bottom and top of the fuselage covered with that inferior paper only because it was far too troublesome to replace.
In handling the sesquiplane, I began to notice the general outlines and shape of the fuselage. The fuselage was actually quite well shaped and strong in resisting the handling I gave it. I noticed that the electric outboard motor was accurately mounted inline and slightly aimed high from it’s position on the nose. But, I also noticed that the nosepiece of the fuselage was mounted about one sixteenth of an inch off to the right of the fuselage centerline. I quickly realized that there was an easy fix of remounting the nosepiece by applying two layers of thin balsa wood. The first attempt of cutting and glueing began.
I carefully cut off two thin layers of balsa wood sheet material. It was a quick cut to shape the balsa wood to the shape of the nosepiece. When I checked my work against the nose of the fuselage, I found that I had cut off the wrong side of the added balsa wood sheet material. I had to cut off all of my work and begin again. The second attempt to remount the nosepiece was a better bit of work. I carefully shaped the new balsa wood layers to the shape of the nosepiece and cut off the correct angle of excess material. A bit of the new balsa wood sticks out beyond the shape of the fuselage nose. And, the centered hole in the nosepiece is adjusted a little bit in the right direction to allow the propeller shaft to spin freely.
My efforts of two days were a combined to adjust the mounting of the sesquiplane nosepiece. I am now ready to put a final coating of dark green enamel over the nose and front of the fuselage. Speaking of paint leads me to think of the big wooden box of paint bottles I have on the floor beside me at my desk. I need to prepare a place for that wooden box where I can reach it easily when I need to paint something. My new desktop does have a lot of free space that should be managed better than it has been. I do have a lot of things to rearrange on my desktop to suit what I want to store there. A small monitor has yielded up so much more space for me to devote to other uses than just hold a giant monitor. I’m happy about that.
Meanwhile, I do have to catch up on the learning curve that it will take to work the remote controls. I spent four months in searching for the tiny lithium battery that costs about $60.00 CDN. It was a cat toy for Mr. T during one of his runs around the house. I know he knew it was my toy to play with because he could smell my hands on it and it was carefully hidden under the bed where I sleep. Four months of tearing the house apart didn’t turn up the missing battery until tonight. I did one of my midnight cleanup sessions and found the missing battery under the bed. I could have hung that cat up on the door, but it would have probably caused cracks in the glass. Right.
What is a reversing servo lead? It is a lead used to reverse a servo that activates a flap on an aileron or a rudder. Gee, I didn’t know such until the little booklet fell open at the exact page dealing with the preceding topic. Ah, as you can guess, there is so much more yet to pick up in my learning.
