- Joined
- Mar 14, 2013
- Messages
- 443
I've posted a few things here about projects for my Fisher FP-404 biplane. There was still a "to do" list, nothing urgent, but I was starting to bump into the plane's limitations so it was time to move on, and I sold it about a month ago to buy a new plane. My new ride is a Starduster One, which has three times the HP, double the cruise speed, and four times the climb rate of the Fisher, my first reaction was simply, "WOW!"
It's not in as good condition as the Fisher, but as the seller said, "It's a flyer, not a show plane", and I'm OK with that. I flew it the 1000 miles from Memphis, TN to Connecticut over 4 days a few weeks ago. Here it is after the third night camping out with the plane:
When I got home, I discovered the landing gear had a crack under the fabric cover (the seller couldn't have known of it), so no flying for awhile until I fix it. It had obviously been cracked for a long time, but a few rough landings as I was getting used to the plane bent it to the point it became obvious. At any rate, it's been repaired before and Starduster has a new design, so I'll be building a complete new gear for it rather than trying to repair what I have.
There's an inner tube (not on the plans, possibly an earlier repair) that kept it from breaking completely. I've been making small bits of the new gear over the past week and have quite a bit more to go. I'll get everything fit and tack weld it together, then bring it to a buddy for final welding... I'm not a very good welder but my friend is a master.
It's not in as good condition as the Fisher, but as the seller said, "It's a flyer, not a show plane", and I'm OK with that. I flew it the 1000 miles from Memphis, TN to Connecticut over 4 days a few weeks ago. Here it is after the third night camping out with the plane:
When I got home, I discovered the landing gear had a crack under the fabric cover (the seller couldn't have known of it), so no flying for awhile until I fix it. It had obviously been cracked for a long time, but a few rough landings as I was getting used to the plane bent it to the point it became obvious. At any rate, it's been repaired before and Starduster has a new design, so I'll be building a complete new gear for it rather than trying to repair what I have.
There's an inner tube (not on the plans, possibly an earlier repair) that kept it from breaking completely. I've been making small bits of the new gear over the past week and have quite a bit more to go. I'll get everything fit and tack weld it together, then bring it to a buddy for final welding... I'm not a very good welder but my friend is a master.