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  1. G

    Taildragger landings

    Rhino and Falco Rob...Indeed, Harvey's book is "The Yellow Book" and the word "Compleat" was taken by Harvey since he was familiar with a very famous book (published in 1653) written by Izaac Walton (that told all about another subject) called the "The Compleat Angler"...it is listed in my...
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    Taildragger landings

    Rhino...Now you've got it right. an airplane is an airplane. I highly recommend the book I mentioned earlier, "The Compleat Taildragger" by Harvey Plourde. I knew Harvey, flew with him to get myself a Private License SEL (in a Beech Skipper) after I got out of the USAF (Command Pilot, but we...
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    F.8L Falco For Sale

    Thanks Rhino...Time for everything in life, including the time to know when to fold them...as someone once said! Check six... Greyeagle
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    F.8L Falco For Sale

    Completed and flown in 1995, at 82 I have decided to sell my pretty bird, no sense in pushing my luck. This is a 200mph (max cruise) all-wood fuselage, two-place, retractable, constant speed prop, totally aerobatic wind machine. IO-320-B1A engine, 7.5 gph burn ay normal cruise. For...
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    Taildragger landings

    Craig has it right... I first flew (in USAAF Primary Flying, 1943, PT-23) at Harris Field Cape Girardeau MO. The Army Air Corps, in its infinite wisdom, had "square" grass fields and initially we always took off and landed into the wind. Cross wind landings were taught at a later stage and...
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    Taildragger landings

    Rhino...I have always understood that "flare" refers to positioning the a/c from a descent attitude to a landing attitude (tail low in tri or TD)which must be done on every landing or one would drive the machine into the ground! Point is that if you want the bird to land it should be...
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    Falco N644F

    Rob...I like this line... "displaying perseverance, tenacity and an acute lack of commonsense for building a wooden plane" Hang in there...when completed you will never go to any fly-in, look at another wind machine an say "Golly, I wished I had built THAT one." The "Italian...
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    Best Glue for wood

    "I suspect also that the problems arise when folks try to make up for bad structure with added fiberglass." The understatement of the decade!
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    Best Glue for wood

    Interesting...but I trust the wood on my falco is doing a lot of work! I used a polyeurathane water soluble paint (Blue River) but still wanted the added wood protection that the thin layer of cloth provided.
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    Best Glue for wood

    Greetings John...I would expect there are paints that could provide UV protection, never gave it much thought myself. With respect to my comment about the 'glass not providing strength...it was not my intent and given the weight used I believe it provides little...the Falco will take 9+...
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    Best Glue for wood

    Greetings John... I found no problem with the application, used a plastic squeegee. The combination of the pre-varnished birch plywood skin and the 'glass before the paint gives it a great deal of protection it would seem, yet adding little weight (I may have used 2 Oz, can't quite recall)...
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    Falco N644F

    I thank you!
  13. G

    Taildragger landings

    For take-offs, I would agree. Frankly, I never thought take-offs in a TD were all that different from a tri-gear...but then my first thousand hours were all in TDs!
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    Tandem or side-by-side?

    I am not certain my wife would have flown in my Falco if it was not side-by-side...apprehension. A headset in the back cannot match her looking me in the eye! Lots of tandem time...PT-23, BT-13, AT-6, T-33.
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    Too fast for me!

    I would caution against any modification of the design, by whatever means; good rule for any homebuilt. Get "personal" with the instrument panel, upholstery, paint job...leave the basic design in tact. Two suggestions: (1) Try to get hold of an owner (or two) with considerable time in the...
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    Best Glue for wood

    All wood was "varnished" with West Systems, inside and out. Exterior was then covered with a 2-4 oz layer of fiberglass, filled with a mixture of West Systems and micro, sanded, primed, painted.
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    Taildragger landings

    I have a couple of thousand hours in Tail Draggers...Cub, PT-23, BT-13, At-6, C-47, C-46... True...the wider the tread (not wheel base here!) the easier to control. It is more imperitive that the aircraft be brought to a complete stall when landing than in the case of a tri gear. Cross...
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    Falco N644F

    Sorry about that...make it: http://www.seqair.com/Hangar/Devoe/Devoe.html
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    Falco N644F

    Thanks for the comments, both of you. It was indeed an accomplishment given that at the half-way point there were times that I wondered if all that wood would get into the air...but I had heard that "you can trust a tree" so I moved along. While after retirement from the USAF I had toyed...
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    Falco N644F

    F.8L Falco: Building started in 1985, first flight June 1995. Bought most of the Sequoia Aircraft kits, Don George re-built IO-320-B1A, Hartzell CS prop, cost very closely approached six figures. Built in my basement, building hours over 4,000. Consulted my friend the late Tony Bingelis often...
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