After 6 weeks of work the Ryan is finished. The "US ARMY" marking on the bottom of the wing was made from black Ultracoat and ironed on. I chose not to use the stick on numbers from the kit because these always loose their adhesion and begin to look ratty after a while. Besides I have not seen many PT-16's with markings other than the "US ARMY" and national insignia. The Pilots are made from 1/4 scale DGA kits. They are made from latex and require assembly and painting. The model balanced perfectly and no moving of equipment was required.
I ran the engine several times prior to first flight. This not only served to help with engine break in but to identify any trouble areas. It's a good thing I did too. The Sullivan remote glow adapter I used is JUNK. It cannot make contact 100% of the time. It was very frustrating trying to start the engine and not being able to get glow. I replaced it witk a glow plug clip from my spares box. However, the OS 1.20 runs perfectly. I'm using a 15x8 TF powerpoint prop. The exhaust location does get oil residue on the top of the wing but there are no cooling problems.
First flight was preceded by the obligatory picture taking and taxi tests. I used dual rates on the rudder. High rate for taxi then switching to low rate for the take off run. The Ryan tracks very straight during high speed taxi and has positive rudder control. The moment came to put her in the air and I smoothly advanced the throttle. The engine was still running rich but after about 50' she was airborne. First thing I noticed was that quite a bit of right aileron trim was needed. Once that was dialed in she was flying very nicely. Since th motor was still rich I didn't try any aerobatics and did basic circuits and figure 8's. All the while control was very solid. I set up for landing and the ryan settled right in. She's very solid and controalble all the way down. I elected to land in the grass since the idel was set a tad high and I didn't want to have a long roll out. I ended up with a nice three pointer. This one's a keeper!
For the second flight I leaned the needle a bit then let her go. Lot's more power this time. I did some loops and rolls. The loops were big and rouns and rolls were very nice. Not fast but they were axial. After the gentle aerobatics were over I set up to land and it was a repeat performance of the first flight. The Ryan is one sweet flying plane. Hopefully in the next few weeks I can get some more time on her. A very satisfying project. |
