What did you do with your triple tail today?

Ralph925

Ralph925

New member
Things have been slow here so I am starting a what did you do with your triple tail today thread.

The main job for my Cruisemaster is taking Grandma to see the grand-kids. I sneak in a business trip once and a while, but the real joy is getting to see the grand-kids in 2 hours instead of 8 hours crawling along on the ground like a beetle.
These are a couple of photos of us arriving and the excitement of the kids getting to go for a short ride. :D
 
Well, this is funny because today I changed out the original master cylinders with Cleveland 10-35, now to find a pressure bleeder for the brakes.
 
Ralph, I have the same problem with grandson living a distance away, a month ago we flew down to visit and iit was the first time my 4 year old grandson wanted to go for a ride. My daughter that is a doctor asked me if I had a youths headset so I did not ruin his hearing, well I have one coming now!
 
We have a small set too, In the photo David was wanting the "real" green ones. He was also asking detailed questions about the controls. When it was time to get out, he was insistent that he was going to fly the plane! :lol: "NO, GO FLY PLANE!"
 
well this week i painted the wings and tail of mine, and yesterday i flew it to look at the tornado path. i was going to take a friend flying, but he was too big to get in the plane. well, he got in, but the seat belt lacked about 18 inches of meeting, and his tummy was about 6 inches from the yokes, with them all the way in. i didn't realize he was that big.

but next saturday, the 30th, is the vaiden field fly-in, in marion alabama, A08. sponsored by marion military academy. supposed to have antiques and warbirds.

i probably can't go because i am going to kentucky to pick up a couple of fairchild projects with a friend. i am flying him up and he is renting a u-haul to drive them home. he is going to store them and they will be his retirement project. they both have the ranger engine. have been in storage for many years but all the parts are there, more or less.

there is a chance i can drop by on the way home if we get it done early, and we may go up friday to load and head home saturday morning. but i will probably be flying a cutlass, not my cruisemaster. we'll see. still, i might drop by if it works out, whatever i'm in. and it all depends on the weather. the cutlass is ifr current, but i'm not.

if anybody around here is going, let me know and i'll really make an effort. the tornado path was impressive. not as long as some we've had in the past, but wider with more complete devastation. i think it even pulled up the grass in some places, it was just bare dirt where there were pine trees before.

bobg
 
My mains, rods and cam bearings showed up yesterday so now I can get started on the engine, last fall I thought I was finally going to get this thing in the air but had the prop off and found some rust back in the hollow part of the crank, some pits where .068 deep so then it was time to be looking for a new crankshaft. After I bought the plane I came across a spare engine so just in case some day I needed it I picked it up , good thing it saved me a bunch on looking for a good crank. Sent it out had it ground and flange repaired and thous later every one is happy!
 
Sunday, after church, we met up with friends for lunch at a little diner next to the runway at 3DA Dalton. It was bumpy but the visibility was good and the ceilings fairly high. I didn’t end up with a good photo, this one is an earlier trip.
Spring is finally coming to Michigan, it is good to get out without your hands freezing to the dipstick during preflight.
Bobgoodman, show us some photos of your new paint.
 
hey ralph, i got a couple of questions after looking at your panel. number one, why are you going so slow? number 2, what is that cgr autopilot, is it stc'd and how much can you get one for. i really envy you sitting there with your hands in your lap. i like the engine monitor too. also the garmin stack, you must be made of money. Oh, i see, that's not a cgr autopilot, which explains why i can't find it on the internet. still, what is it and do you have it stc'd or 337'd.

one final comment, you need to order some black bicycle handlebar foam tape and replace your yoke grip padding. what you have looks like black electrical tape and is too ratty looking for such a fine panel. you can get some cheap from nashbar dot com. couple of bucks.

ps, i will take some pictures of my plane with the new paint, but it is the same color as it was, just less blotchy and the repairs are better hidden, but on a picture it will probably look the same as it did before....
 
I like to run about 65% power. The fuel distribution is really bad in what Lynn calls the opec motor. To get it to run at higher power settings ends up using a lot of fuel or running #4 and #5 really hot. 65% gets me 142-145kts true at any reasonable altitude, a little faster for a little less fuel up high. At this power the cylinder heads stay cool even when running lean. Some of the -2 Cruismasters are faster, some just have faster air speed indicators.

The autopilot is an older Century II single axis. It will slave to Nav 1 so I can write down clearance changes without doing any aerobatics. It was installed when I took over as caretaker.

I had saved up a few extra dollars over the years that could have been wasted buying food in my retirement years but I spent it on the Garmin 650-345/EI/PS ;)

The yokes came to me with that leather wrap, they are getting kind of ratty looking, the fabric is getting old, one of the pushrod tube seals is starting to leak, the stall warning horn in intermittent, something on the back of the engine is leaking…

I did have success installing a larger ground plane on the com 1 antenna this winter. The controllers are much less prone to mumbling incoherently now.

The Cruismaster and a ’46 Taylorcraft I fly on slow days are based at KMOP Mt Pleasant MI.
 
i was just kidding about the speed, i do exactly the same thing, maybe even a little slower. speed is relative and at 65% the bellanca is still a fast airplane. i don't do it for the cylinders only, i'm just too cheap to buy gas.

i've got a bunch of parts and servos for a century II, maybe i'll look into it.
 
The Franklin block is cleaned, the thrust is set for new crank, hope to assemble halves this weekend to see how it spins then take back apart to assemble rods on the crank first.
 
Sounds like you are making progress.
Is it “just” the engine or will you need to do airframe work as well to get your Cruisair flying?
 
When I learn how to take pics and edit my posts will improve....

What I learned was the 14-13-2 powered with a Franklin 220hp takes off and lands like a helicopter.

Fun.....
 
I need to check the logs but I think with the bigger engine and CS prop empty weight is 1275lbs?

I will double check. I was taking off and pushed forward to get off the tail wheel. Too late I was already 10ft off the ground.... :D
 
I did that the first time I flew the Taylorcraft. <grin> Yours sounds really light. I think my old 14-13-2 with the 150 was 1250. Light airplanes sure perform well. The Cruisair was always a joy to fly, but I wanted more power when climbing out hot and heavy. 220 would probably fix it up just fine.
 
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