1939 Sal Taibi Powerhouse

[eric]

Although I'm up to my neck in a total kitchen reno I thought I'd join in the fun and post my one little winter project. I was given an Old Timer airframe that had been hanging on the machine shop wall of a friend for years. Called a Powerhouse, it was designed in 1939 by a famous modeller by the name of Sal Taibi. Inside and out she was very dirty and oily as befits its age (at least 50 years old and probably more), but I was delighted to get it. Quirky, weird, let's have it.

The entire interior from the nose to behind the servos was coated with epoxy and the airframe is covered in what I believe to be Solartex. As a result, she's a heavy beast and tipped the scales at just over 6 pounds before the power system was installed.

After a LOT of cleanup, I modified the engine bay to take the electric motor and built trays for the battery, ESC and receiver. Because of the petrified epoxy interior, I couldn't get anything to stick no matter what glue I used, so all trays had to be attached with screws after laboriously drilling holes with a pin drill - 50+ year old epoxy is tough stuff!

I had to repair the landing gear, add wheels, modify the motor bay, add a swivelling tail wheel and fix some minor damage to the covering and airframe, but overall, the project went pretty quickly.

Final specs - airframe:  wingspan is 84" with a 13" chord (she'll be a floater), with a ready to fly weight of 7 1/2 pounds.
                 - power   :  E-Flite Power 32 with 60 amp ESC, APC 14 x 7 prop, 4 channel Spektrum receiver, 4s lipo.

Here's a few pictures. The first one shows my indoor Champ sitting on top of the fuselage for scale. She's a large lady for sure and a typical lumpy, so ugly she's beautiful, Old Timer - just the way I like 'em. I'll post final pictures when I finish adding graphics.

Eric

[sihinch]

Beautiful conversion Eric.  It sure does look like a graceful floater.

Looking forward to seeing it fly.

[battlestu]

very cool...can't wait to see it in the air

[piker]

That sure does look nice, Eric.  Those oldies do fly so nicely.  Very relaxing.

[Michael]

The colour is beautiful!

I will enjoy watching that model almost standing still in the sky on a warm bright afternoon/evening at TEMAC this summer.

[eric]

Well, she's all done and ready for her "electrocuted" maiden. Here's a couple of pictures taken on a queen size bed, so you can see how large the lady is. I'm hoping for the typical float about old timer for lazy, thermally afternoons and calm evenings.

Eric

[Ededge2002]

I was searching for pictures of large ladies on beds and ended up here....  She is a beauty.  cant wait to see it with some sun shining through the covering.  That is if summer ever comes

[piker]

That looks VERY nice, Eric.

[eric]

Just to finish off this thread, the weather finally cooperated enough to maiden the "electrocuted" Powerhouse.


Takeoff was gentle and in about 20 feet at 2/3 throttle, with two clicks of down trim required for hands off flying. Control was solid and she just cruised around effortlessly at 1/2 throttle, with a beautiful slow float down to a soft landing. Gotta love these old designs; nothing exciting, just easy, relaxed flying.


Eric

[Papa]

Congratulations Eric, looks beautiful.


Jack.

[bfeist]

Gorgeous!