- Joined
- Nov 23, 2008
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Hi all just thought I'd update some of you on the progress of my wing build. After taking waaay longer than I thought I would (or should have) I finally finished my Wolf Wing kit and flew them for the first time this month. While I posted a lot of updates on my Facebook page I slacked when I came to updating this site unfortunately. To catch you up I have a kit built S-1T that I fly in Advanced that was pretty stock. I put a Whirlwind prop on it the last year I flew up but other than that it was an ordinary T. After a late night out with a buddy I happened to check this site and a member was selling a Wolf Wing rib kit so I jumped on it. When I sobered up in the morning this still sounded like a good idea so we were off. I had never built anything like this before but I've always wanted to do a big project so I thought this would be fun and easy. Fun yes. Easy, well...
Luckily early in the build Sean VanHatten, who I met at Nationals, put me in touch with Tony Horvath. Tony then held my hand whenever I would call with a stupid question or panicked because I thought I had destroyed my wings. I can't thank either one of them enough. Tony puts out a VERY high quality kit that is all CNC routered parts and goes together very well. There weren't any parts that didn't fit or were missing like I had run into building RC models in the past. All of the hardware is included and is of very high quality. I should have finished these a couple of years ago but being a first time builder I went slowly while figured things out. I may be slow but I get there eventually!
I built the wings myself with a little bit a help here and there from a few airport bum friends, and then covered them though tapes. But when it came to anything with a paint gun I know my limitations so I punted and hired Cory Johnson of Johnson Brothers Flying Service to spray the wings. Cory is a forum member and he hit it out of the park. The red is not your normal Pitts Tennessee Red but a bit brighter and he was able to match the paint perfectly!
I had flown the stock T through the 16 contest season while I was building. At the end of that year some maintenance issues combined with the need to test fit the new wings forced me to remove the stock T wings and after that I decided to leave them off until I finished my build, thinking it would force me to get them done. I mounted the new wings for the final time in April and spent the next few weeks rigging and finishing up some fairings when I was home. On May 21st I did the first flight late in the afternoon when the weather was perfect, the airport was empty and only 2 friends in attendance (after 5 different people had inspected the plane that day alone). Right out of the box I was thrilled, even though I took it real easy and didn't even do a victory roll. The next few flights proved frustrating because I kept fighting little issues like fouling spark plugs and a throttle cable that broke Friday afternoon before Memorial Weekend that put me down for a week while I waited for a new cable. One thing I was not fighting and was performing great was the wings themselves. Once I got the new throttle cable in the airplane turned out to be turn key. On Friday I got the rigging dialed in and flew the airplane 8 times in one day. Saturday I took it to Play Day to show it off and today I finished up the Phase 1 testing by completing 4 flights where I spun the airplane every which way I could. 19 spins today so I'm going to sleep well!
With only 8 hours on the wings, and most of that testing type flying and only a little acro I can say already that they are going to be amazing! The first time I rolled it I was going about 150 and just pulled the nose up and gave it half aileron to do a victory type roll and it rolled as fast as ever had in it's life! 180mph and a lazy pull to verticle (I'm rusty) and I was still able to pull off 2 vertical rolls before hammering. From 200 3 are possible and I bet with a bit of practice I can do better! The airplane corners better and when pulling on it I keep thinking that I should be getting buffet and beat down on energy but the wings keep flying cleanly. To do a half loop up with a snap and a half would take everything I had to just get through it, but I did one yesterday and airplane walked away effortlessly. Goofing off I did an Immleman from 130mph today and the airplane walked away without sinking. They are absolutely worth all the long hours and hard work. Once the pilot catches up and starts to do his part I think there are some monoplanes that may be in trouble!
John
Luckily early in the build Sean VanHatten, who I met at Nationals, put me in touch with Tony Horvath. Tony then held my hand whenever I would call with a stupid question or panicked because I thought I had destroyed my wings. I can't thank either one of them enough. Tony puts out a VERY high quality kit that is all CNC routered parts and goes together very well. There weren't any parts that didn't fit or were missing like I had run into building RC models in the past. All of the hardware is included and is of very high quality. I should have finished these a couple of years ago but being a first time builder I went slowly while figured things out. I may be slow but I get there eventually!
I built the wings myself with a little bit a help here and there from a few airport bum friends, and then covered them though tapes. But when it came to anything with a paint gun I know my limitations so I punted and hired Cory Johnson of Johnson Brothers Flying Service to spray the wings. Cory is a forum member and he hit it out of the park. The red is not your normal Pitts Tennessee Red but a bit brighter and he was able to match the paint perfectly!
I had flown the stock T through the 16 contest season while I was building. At the end of that year some maintenance issues combined with the need to test fit the new wings forced me to remove the stock T wings and after that I decided to leave them off until I finished my build, thinking it would force me to get them done. I mounted the new wings for the final time in April and spent the next few weeks rigging and finishing up some fairings when I was home. On May 21st I did the first flight late in the afternoon when the weather was perfect, the airport was empty and only 2 friends in attendance (after 5 different people had inspected the plane that day alone). Right out of the box I was thrilled, even though I took it real easy and didn't even do a victory roll. The next few flights proved frustrating because I kept fighting little issues like fouling spark plugs and a throttle cable that broke Friday afternoon before Memorial Weekend that put me down for a week while I waited for a new cable. One thing I was not fighting and was performing great was the wings themselves. Once I got the new throttle cable in the airplane turned out to be turn key. On Friday I got the rigging dialed in and flew the airplane 8 times in one day. Saturday I took it to Play Day to show it off and today I finished up the Phase 1 testing by completing 4 flights where I spun the airplane every which way I could. 19 spins today so I'm going to sleep well!
With only 8 hours on the wings, and most of that testing type flying and only a little acro I can say already that they are going to be amazing! The first time I rolled it I was going about 150 and just pulled the nose up and gave it half aileron to do a victory type roll and it rolled as fast as ever had in it's life! 180mph and a lazy pull to verticle (I'm rusty) and I was still able to pull off 2 vertical rolls before hammering. From 200 3 are possible and I bet with a bit of practice I can do better! The airplane corners better and when pulling on it I keep thinking that I should be getting buffet and beat down on energy but the wings keep flying cleanly. To do a half loop up with a snap and a half would take everything I had to just get through it, but I did one yesterday and airplane walked away effortlessly. Goofing off I did an Immleman from 130mph today and the airplane walked away without sinking. They are absolutely worth all the long hours and hard work. Once the pilot catches up and starts to do his part I think there are some monoplanes that may be in trouble!
John
