Quote from: Frank v B on March 15, 2026, 03:22:03 PMWeather summary: Awful interspersed with even worse conditions.

I like that!

Something the four two of us should be wearing.

Executive Summary:
- Four showed up for coffee at Tim's
- Three went to the field
- Two flew.  Mine was the shortest flight ever that was not a crash on take-off (one quick 100' circle)..... which was my only smart decision today.

Weather summary: Awful interspersed with even worse conditions.

Photo 1- my plane on the table before the quick flight.
Photo 2- heavily redacted photo* of the 4 of us at Tim's.  The other two did not want to be identified for fear of repercussions at home.

Frank

* learned this from the White House reporting methods.

Yahoo!  Mountain Dew!  It's good for you!!

@Frank v B has delivered!!

Nice firm wind-driven snow and strong gusty ESE winds to play with.  Great for practicing ground loop recovery and 0 AGL taxi inversions!!😇

Andy

Yes I am going...for two reasons:
i) I said I would
ii) more importantly- if this is the dumbest thing I do this year, every other "mistake"
will look so smart compared to this move.  Everything in life is relative.    

Coffee is on me*.

The 40 minute trip home will allow me to figure out how to deal with my issues at home.  You did what!**

Frank

* guaranteed this won't cost me much.
** two days of ugly looks and then life will be back to normal.

Confirming Tim's Woodbine 11:00 am tomorrow for a coffee with a very low probability of flying.  Will bring a hand-launch plane.

I have a Tim's card and will buy a coffee for anyone who shows up.

Frank

ps: the grief I got at home.  "you are doing what on Sunday?"  Good thing I treated it as a rhetorical question.  No sense digging a deeper hole for myself.

Dihedral brace.

This is where I go overboard. The landing gear mount is a small hardwood block between two ribs.  Each of the 2 ribs have 1/16" ply doublers.  Guaranteed this will rip out on a serious landing....remember who will be flying this plane.

step 1- Take a piece of clear 1x2 pine from Home Depot.  This used 14" of it.
step 2- cut a slot in each rib to accept this wood brace.
step 3- because of the large dihedral in this wing I cut the wood to a V shape
step 4- mark the edge of the ribs on the brace and join the dots.
step 5- cut the bottom of the brace so it is flush with each of the ribs.
step 6- wrap the ends of the wood with dental floss to prevent splits.  Photo 67
step 7- glue the brace in place.

Let cure.

This will serve as both a landing gear mount and a dihedral brace.  I have used this in all my low wing planes.  It has never let go.

Frank

...and the second wing half leading edge covered in1/16 balsa.  I let it cure overnight (carpenters glue). Again, pinned down on the board so it would not warp.  Again, a shim under the trailing edge at the tip for wash-out.

Frank

Yay!!!

@Frank v B has really outdone himself!!

Bravo!!

Andy