Jim's hanger

[jt01]

This is the plane that got it all started. It's a H/Z commander 2 It's a great little flier regardless of what you've heard. Some people have a hard time with them because there's no elevator and you really need to pre plan your moves. It served me well for learning reverse orientation.



I had a friend give me a crashed and stripped Prodigy.I got some pics of the firewall and motor mount from someone on another group and started rebuilding.









Family photo



I got this in Feb to have something to fly inside on windy or rainy days. It took a little getting use to but I'm lucky to have a large enough shop at work to fly around in the morning before the others show up for work.



DOCKSIDE

I built this in the winter of 1987-88. It's a 44" hull with a Toro string trimmer engine and wet exhaust.

[SCC]

Hi Jim.
Good job on the repair. The Fliton company certainly produce a good looking plane.
Look forward to hearing about the maiden.

[jt01]

Thanks, we have a hurricane hitting the coast this weekend so I'll have to wait yet another week.

[mrmugen]

Man does that thing look like my Brio 10. I bet it's a bullet and performs aerobatics flawlessly. My Brio can knife edge all day. I like the looks of yours a lot. How was the rebuild?

[jt01]

Thanks Kevin, I took my time and fortunately I only had to redo the nose and a few rib repairs. I was able to get some good close ups and had just enough original pieces to be able to make some templates and start rebuilding the nose.The local hobby shops are a disgrace. I ended up making my own light ply as he only had stuff too thin or too thick.The hardest part was doing the retracts.I burnt out two servos before I found it needed a 125oz and that was a tight fit.My only concern right now is I guessed at the thrust angles and not sure what will happen there.Wish me luck.

Jim

[jt01]

Just got done with this build today. It's a Herr 505 kit J3 Cub put out by Sig. I used an E-flite 450 and 20 amp esc with tp 2100-3s batteries. Hopefully it will maiden on Wed if the weather holds good.

[jt01]

The maiden didn't go so well today. I was flying the S/C for about 45 min in a 5-6 mph wind and it was doing great.The J3 weighs about 1oz less than the cub and has the same dimensions so I cut it loose. It got about 10' off the ground going into the wind and had a major blow over. I was able to get it out of a hard right tip stall and get it down but it landed hard on it's chin.Broke the prop and a couple of pieces of balsa but nothing that can't be fixed. I'll try it again but it seems this is going to be a dead calm day flier.

Jim