Repeat offender

[Bigdog]

It's been 33 years since I sold my BC-12D but I corrected that Saturday by picking up another. I've put about 5 hours on it with the retrieval flight Sat. and a breakfast flight Sun. morning. I'm having a ball getting reacquainted with an old friend. I had forgotten the joys of going low and slow on a beautiful, calm and cool (by Houston standards anyway) morning. Our favorite lunch haunt (Brenham, for those in central Texas) is starting to serve breakfast on weekends so I'm sure there will be many more days like today. What was a too quick 20 min trip by Navion or RV is now a "just right" 40 min Tcraft flight. One of my RV buddies got a 45 BC-12D a couple months ago so when he gets his annual done we'll be able to fly as a 2 ship.

The plane was recently restored so there's not much I need to do but fly it. I've been searching old posts to answer some questions. I may need to add a rudder trim tab. It's a about a ball off. And I need to add the pitch trim plate with the Up/Down arc. The only surprise is that I'll need to rebuild the tailwheel. It's a Maule and the tailpost bushing is shot. Once you pick up the tail you can wobblle the fork/tailpost around. I was hoping to order the parts before I tore it apart but there's and old and new post size so I need to determine which it is first.

Beyond that I need to rig up a battery, com radio and antenna. I fly out of a controlled field and the handheld will be a PITA to use long tem. It's got one shielded mag with the top mag unshielded The P-leads are also unshielded. I plan to change the P-leads to shielded wires tomorrow and see if that gets the ignition noise down a bit more. I can live with it now if I have to but less noise is always better.

The Tcraft was my first airplane and I suppose you never forget your first love. I'm glad to be back in the fold. This is going to be fun.

[Bigdog]

Re: Repeat offender

I meant to add a few pictures...

[barnstmr]

Re: Repeat offender

Greg, did you fly in the vicinity of lake Belton on Saturday? Somebody flew over Tick Hill airfield (XA47) in a red Taylorcraft at mid day Going SE. We were working in the shop. Been wondering who it was.

[Mark Julicher]

Re: Repeat offender

Greg,
NICE plane.

As for radio -- I just copied Mike Rice's portable radio box. I used a FL-760 radio. the photos and write up are in EAA ch 35 newsletter, but I can send you the article if you want it.

I'll put a couple photos on a second post.

[Mark Julicher]

Re: Repeat offender

Here is my clone of Mike Rice's radio set up.
I used the FL-760 radio and a 16AH AGM battery.

Dimensions are 6 by 6 by 12 which is a little bit too big. I need to reduce the height by 1 1/2 inches and perhaps the top to 6 by 5. This will be difficult with the hefty battery, so a 12 AH battery may be the ticket.

I use an external antenna. This radio works OK considering it is half the price of a Becker, but it not perfect.

I need to post a full writeup on rants and raves -- maybe later today, gotta go fly now.

[M Towsley]

Re: Repeat offender

Greg, welcome back. Red Taylorcrafts unite!!!

Wag has a trim tab already made for T-Crafts and you can usually find the holes in the rudder by feeling for them

[mikerice]

Re: Repeat offender

Greg, welcome to the Taylorcraft tribe-

Its always fun to have another flyer in Central Texas.

I have a template for the trimtab, and we put it on our BC12D- It worked great, in fact it did not need much to straighten out a 1/2 ball out. PM me and I will send you the pdf. It is full-scale and you can just cut it out.

I built a radio box and put some pictures up on the Rants and Raves section. I used a MGL Avionics radio from Aircraft Spruce. Works very good, although frequency tuning is a little bit of a pain.

We also have the wobbly Maule tailwheel and ordered both bushings from Aircraft Spruce. One is on back order. We will take it apart before the end of June to replace the bushing. Maybe if we are lucky you need the other one!

[Buell Powell]

Re: Repeat offender

Hi Greg,
Great looking airplane! One thing you might check into is the Advacned Aircraft antenna and installing it behind the cockpit--Not sure if moving it farther away from the engine and mag switch or just having a better antenna helped the most but it made a great deal of difference in the ignition noise plus really improved the range over the handheld radio antenna--the Zulu ANR headset helps a lot also. Probably with Mike and Marks radio system would work really nice-at one time before I owned it my 41 had the radio mounted in the left glove box opening with the battery mounted in the floor just forward of the seat.

Buell

[Bigdog]

Re: Repeat offender

Greg, did you fly in the vicinity of lake Belton on Saturday? Somebody flew over Tick Hill airfield (XA47) in a red Taylorcraft at mid day Going SE. We were working in the shop. Been wondering who it was.

That had to be me. I picked it up in Eastland and decided to go to Brenham instead of direct to Hooks. I wasn't sure if both wing tanks were draining plus I was hungry. I tried them again and they both drained OK. I guess I didn't give them enough time... but hungry wins every time. Had I known where you were I would have at least done a low pass or two.

[Bigdog]

Re: Repeat offender

Here is my clone of Mike Rice's radio set up.
I used the FL-760 radio and a 16AH AGM battery.

Dimensions are 6 by 6 by 12 which is a little bit too big. I need to reduce the height by 1 1/2 inches and perhaps the top to 6 by 5. This will be difficult with the hefty battery, so a 12 AH battery may be the ticket.

I use an external antenna. This radio works OK considering it is half the price of a Becker, but it not perfect.

I need to post a full writeup on rants and raves -- maybe later today, gotta go fly now.

Nice setup. My buddy and I have been thinking of doing something like that. Are you using the built-in intercom feature of the radio? I've heard mixed reports on them but maybe some radios are better than others. I'd be interested to read your rants and raves if you get the chance to post them.

[Bigdog]

Re: Repeat offender

Greg, welcome back. Red Taylorcrafts unite!!!

Wag has a trim tab already made for T-Crafts and you can usually find the holes in the rudder by feeling for them

Red certainly gets noticed! Maybe it's the mid-life crisis I never had but I seem to be gravitating to red vehicles. Notice my red truck in the pictures.

Thanks, I'll check out Wag for the trim plate. I found the drawing for the rudder tab with a search and it's what I remember from my old '46. I think I can feel the holes on the left side of the trailing edge tube but not in the rib. When I'm sure enough I'll try them with a needle.

[barnstmr]

Re: Repeat offender

That had to be me. I picked it up in Eastland and decided to go to Brenham instead of direct to Hooks. I wasn't sure if both wing tanks were draining plus I was hungry. I tried them again and they both drained OK. I guess I didn't give them enough time... but hungry wins every time. Had I known where you were I would have at least done a low pass or two.

Greg,
You flew exactly over the top of our shop. Those Taylorcraft wingtip shapes are unmistakeable. Your airplane is a nice looker. You'll have to join us next time we get all the Taylorcraft gang together. Congrats on your new (old) plane,

[cvavon]

Re: Repeat offender

greg the two bushings for maule tail wheels are easy to tell witch you have if your wheel has the shimmy damper it's the old style this damper is a long hex nut that is facing to the right rear as viewed from the rear, the new style has no damper and use two different size springs to dampen the shimmy. And welcome the the forum chuck

[Bigdog]

Re: Repeat offender

Greg, welcome to the Taylorcraft tribe-

Its always fun to have another flyer in Central Texas.

I have a template for the trimtab, and we put it on our BC12D- It worked great, in fact it did not need much to straighten out a 1/2 ball out. PM me and I will send you the pdf. It is full-scale and you can just cut it out.

I built a radio box and put some pictures up on the Rants and Raves section. I used a MGL Avionics radio from Aircraft Spruce. Works very good, although frequency tuning is a little bit of a pain.

We also have the wobbly Maule tailwheel and ordered both bushings from Aircraft Spruce. One is on back order. We will take it apart before the end of June to replace the bushing. Maybe if we are lucky you need the other one!

I found your "Portable Radio Box" post. That's a nice setup. I keep forgetting sealed batteries give us options like laying it on its side.
I'm thinking of just getting a new tailwheel instead of rebuilding it. I'm not sure what I'll find when I tear it apart and I don't want to be down waiting on some part. I may also switch to the pneumatic rather than solid tire. Anyone care to comment?

Where are you based? Is there a roster of Texas Taylorcrafts? Is there another gathering planned anytime soon? I made it to Ft Parker but I brought the Navion. I'm always looking for an excuse to fly somewhere new or fun.

[Bigdog]

Re: Repeat offender

Hi Greg,
Great looking airplane! One thing you might check into is the Advacned Aircraft antenna and installing it behind the cockpit--Not sure if moving it farther away from the engine and mag switch or just having a better antenna helped the most but it made a great deal of difference in the ignition noise plus really improved the range over the handheld radio antenna--the Zulu ANR headset helps a lot also. Probably with Mike and Marks radio system would work really nice-at one time before I owned it my 41 had the radio mounted in the left glove box opening with the battery mounted in the floor just forward of the seat.

Buell

Thanks for the antenna reference. My friend's plane came with a homemade half dipole antenna that sounds similar. It seems to work pretty well.