It’s October–my favorite month of the year. After having had a wonderful time last week visiting user groups in St. Louis, Bloomington (IL), and Little Rock, this week I’m enjoying some time at home and using the respite from travel to catch up on work. My big task this week is to write a Wicked Code column, which is due Nov. 1. The deadline is still plenty far away, but I like to turn columns in early so unforeseen events won’t force me to be late.
During breaks from writing, I’m building a new R/C airplane: an ARF (almost ready to fly) version of the AT-6 Texan from Hangar 9. I have the wing almost completed now and will soon turn to the fuselage and tail. I’m installing standard Futaba S3004 servos and radio equipment and a 4-stroke Saito 100 powerplant. I hope to have the plane ready to test-fly this weekend, although that might be a little ambitious. I’ll be sure to post a picture or two once I’m finished.
The Texan was a real plane used to train Navy pilots in World War II. Once complete, it’ll round out my fleet of WWII planes: a P-51 Mustang, a Navy Corsair, and an AT-6 Texan. I figure that if I have three warbirds to my name, on any given weekend at least one of them should be able to fly. Sounds silly, but the retracts in these planes are trouble. At any given time, at least one of the planes is out of commission while I repair retract mechanisms, rebuild wing mounts, etc. Looking forward to the weekend that I can take all three planes to field and fly them one after another.