Doing dumb stuff

Amazing the dumb things we do. Back when I was putting fillets on the current plane, I goofed up. Yes, it's true. I do goof things up occasionally. I used SuperFil for the fillets (great stuff, by the way). Well on one wing fillet (on top, of course), I didn't put quite enough on. The rest were fine, but this one I went too light on. So, rather than the smart thing - when do I do that exactly? - I decided that there were just a couple of low spots and I put some lightweight filler on (some stuff I got at Home Depot) to fill the low spots.

So, here I am ready for clearcoat and what did have? bubbles all along the area that I put the idiotic lightweight filler on. Most disturbing, I knew this could happen and almost just sanded it off before i started the finish. Of course, I used the famous line: Oh, it'll be OK. Yea, right. So, I shot some clear dope on the inklines and taped off the trim colors, stripped off the paint and the non-filler down to the original SuperFil fillet. Put on more SuperFil, sanded that down and I'm just waiting for the fillercoat (dope and zinc sterate) to dry. When that's dry I'll sand it, dress the area, wet sand it and shoot on more base color.

So, repeat after me: I'll never say the phrase of death - It'll be OK - again .

Wanna' bet? I have done it a gazillion times ...

LAST EDITED ON Sep-03-06 AT 02:27 PM (CST)
 
When you say it's good enough...will it ever be?
All I can say is you don't have the market cornered on stupid, you name it and I've done it, plus some !!!

It seems the only way I can finish a building project is through a whole series of "good enough's". If I didn't push on like that, I'd build even slower than I already do, which means I'd be in reverse!

On the whole spackle for fillets & blister thing...been there, done that, have several tee shirts. Only way that ever works for me is if I brush a thin coat of epoxy over the raw spackle fillets, then sand & prime, so the dope doesn't soften and lift them. They are just too soft on their own.
Major Bummer, but it sounds like you've fixed it and moved on already, so Bravo! & Thanks! I'm about to start the fillets with Superfil on my project, and your heads up will keep me on the straight and narrow.

Anyone who has not made a mistake is a liar!

LAST EDITED ON Sep-03-06 AT 11:10 AM (CST)
 
Okay, I wasn't gonna' tell this one, but what the heck...

1988: Built a Nostalgia Combat wing (Barry Baxter 'Melamij') in about six hours...installed controls very late at night when half asleep...put the bellcrank bushing in backwards (yes, on the bottom).

Went to the field next day...fired-up the Fox...launcher let 'er rip...got about two laps before it turned into a Free Flight...for about a hundred yards.

Fortunately, no one was hurt...except I wanted to crawl into a hole when the problem was discovered.

I do something. I know it is wrong WHILE I am doing it. And I dud it anyways.

My last example of this phenomenon was making a small adjustment on a Tom Morris handle with out detaching the line from the screw eye. I knew this was a lazy thing to do. But I said, What could one 360 degree turn do in 60 feet of line?

I think most of you know the result.

Linheart

Yep it's an easy mistake to do. I found that that lightweight filler is only good on bare wood, if there is any dope on the frame it doesn't work. After covering I use automotive body putty.

Tom,

I resemble that remark. Except - a bunch of mistakes on numerous occasions!

A good motto to go by is "GOOD ENOUGH is not GOOD ENOUGH!"

This is of little value to you now, but had I been in that situation, my instinct would have been to "harden" the soft spackle material with a few drops of *thin CA*, which is similar to what EricV did with the epoxy coating over the spackle.

Part of the joy of building is that you never stop learning. If all of your planes easily came out beautiful, you would probably soon get bored. A lot of the satisfaction comes from successfully overcoming problems.

Cheers.

Well, it's mostly fixed. Sill a tiny bad spot. Sort of a raise area about a 1/16" wide and an 1/8" long. fixed that with a straight pin and some CA. Not too bad. Not a 20 pointer, but then, I just wanted a servicable finish.

Should be ready to fly in a few days. I'll post a pic when it's done.

LAST EDITED ON Sep-03-06 AT 11:11 PM (CST)
 

Yeah Randy, Looking at your planes and then looking at mine I realized that you and I have nothing in common. I think this stupid thing brings us a little closer together but just not as much as I would like. Maintain your standards and just maybe one of these days I will build a plane that will meet the servicable Powell Standard. You are one of the best!!! Grins

Greg L. Bahrman

Greg,

I suppose I'm hypercritical. I build a lot of planes that look really good as long as you don't get too close. This one is a bit better. You gotta get pretty close before you see the mistakes. There are a lot of them (probably more than usual due to trying to get it done for the next contest), but none are particularly egregious. Well, one maybe, but at least it on the bottom.

Trust me, we ain't that far apart. I look at a lot of the planes posted here and am regularly quite jealous.

Hey, Guys!

Don't let Ol' Powell fool ya......... He's a 100% hypercritical masochist!!!!!! He messes up ON PURPOSE just to feel bad and have to fix it. LOL!!!!!!!!!!

His "junk" is better than most people's best.

Love ya, Randy!

Bill,

I've seen some of your, too. You do very good work. Always fun to see what you have cooking.

Just where does this leave people like me?

Garf,

I've seen some of yours, too. You do very good work. Always fun to see what you have cooking.>

Yeah, Your right on that one Randy. I think sometimes he plays dumb but in reality for a full size fella he's got a dainty touch when it comes to building. His planes are first class. I haven't seen a bad one yet.

OK, I posted a pic of the completed sled. Not bad for weight, but at least 5oz heavier than it should have been. It is a bit nose heavy, so I may lose some weight there and I may ditch the wheelpants. They are about 6oz all together (gear, wheels and pants) and I can knock off at least 4 of those with wire and skirts. So we'll see on that. But not a horrible effort, Hope if flies decently or I'm going to go back to building kits.

OK Randy,
Can you top this one?. I'm just about done with this ship and I'm putting the tank in and the engine. Originally this motor was in a profile. I removed the needle and lined everything up and drilled the cowl for the needle. What do you mean so what!! On this ship the engine is inverted which means the needle goes on the other side which means I drilled the wrong side of the cowl !!!! THIS IS WHERE STUPID COMES INTO PLAY!!!

LAST EDITED ON Oct-01-06 AT 01:04 AM (CST)
 
Greg,

That's not so bad. On the new plane, I put in this really slick molded inlet tube for the uniflow vent. Came out really well...except it's on the wrong (outboard) side. Took a bit of retrofitted and somewhat bizarre plumbing to get it to work and not loose fuel. I've always been good at making stupid mistakes look like they were supposed to be that way.

For 60 years, starting with rubber powered models, I've ALWAYS put waxed paper between the wing structure and the plans.

Except recently when I built my Twister wing.

Now, instead of a beautiful dyed silkspan covering I'm having to go to Monokote to cover the epoxied and CA'd permanetly stuck on paper from the plans. I even tried a light touch with the Dremel drum.

Ah, well, probably just a passing senior moment.

I just skip the "dumb" and go straight to "idiotic", like installing a pusher prop, then wondering why the engine started backwards as the doctor puts 9 stitches in my hand. Glen

My latest goof was on the Nakke I am currently building. I decided to use ball links and carbon fibre rods for the first time. I ordered the links and rod from Tom Morris, and carefully measured the rods. I measured two or three times just to be sure. The bellcrank to flap was fine, but the flap to elevator was about 6" too short. I could not believe I could have been that far off. I went back and was rechecking everything when I discovered that I had JB welded the threaded ends into the short cut off piece instead of the longer correct rod, which was staring at me on my workbench. Talk about a senior moment!

Joe Connelly

Silliest thing i ever did :

Finished a model.. ( well.. finished primer )

And put it out in the sun to dry a little, thought to myself.. hmm..better put it out the way, and put it under the tree.. ( we have a lemon tree.. )

anyone see where this is going??

Lemon dropped off .. right through the wing!

..

2nd dumbest thign i ever did : put another model out in the backyard.. to clean up the garage. I was the inside eating an apple... and we have a porch that overlooks the backyard.. I then decided i didnt want to eat the apple anymore and I will throw it into the yard and let the birds eat it.. so i threw it.. it hit the roof of the porch, and flew directly down into the fin, broke it off.

...

Another dumb thing : Was looking at a model one time, before my flight.. and thought.. " gee that hinge looks a little loose.. "
Quote randy : " It will be ok .. " inside loops the flap flew off!

...

Ive got more but i dont want to seem like i have no idea !

So is putting the vent on the outboard side a no-no? If so, please tell me why.

I did it on purpose--so I could get to it easier for fueling.

Jim

Jim Oliver

Jim,
It doesn't work well, especially with a uniflo system. As to a reason I think it would be because the fuel pressure head (from centrifugal force) would be trying to force fuel out of the vent (assumming we're talking about the vent and not the overflow which would be plugged) and would hinder air coming in.

The most consistent runs will be obtained with the vent inside (the circle) the relative position of the tank.

Randy,
OK, OK. I didn't think I'd ever tell anyone this but...since we're baring our "souls", I doubt if anyone here has gone to as much trouble as I did recently to do something dumb.

Several months ago, late at night while assembling the main components to a new stunt ship (KA10) I very carefull blocked the fuselage and wing up with specially cut foam blocks, then made special blocks to align the stab with 2 degrees positive incidence. double checked everything re-measured everything and glued the stab in place.

Next day, I got controls finished (all adjustable) installed the rudder, then did all the necessary pre-finish sanding, installed the fillets.

Finally just before putting the first coat of dope on I noticed that the Stab didn't seem quite right...checked it again. You guessed it, 2 degrees negative incidence. Apparently measuring everything with the airplane upright and then blocking it upside down doesn't work.

Hmmmmm...I've been so frustrated about this that the airplane is still sitting in the painting fixture after about 4 months. I Can't bring myself to cut the stab out and start again.

OK, anybody been that "dumb"...probably not.

LAST EDITED ON Oct-02-06 AT 07:59 PM (CST)
 
Randy,

Oh, you are clearly an amateur at this. I did a similar thing with the USA-1 I built except in my case, I had both negative incidence AND a pronouce tilt to the stab. I can't begin to tell you how I managed that. I would have sworn the jig was right---Not!

So, I sliced the fuse all around the stab outside the fillets. then played wedge and block until the stupid thing was straight. Probably added an half ounce to the tail in the process.

edit

Oh, Oh. I just remembered another one. How about building the entire plane right through to clearcoat, taking it out for it's first flight and THEN discovering that, darn, I forgot to put the reinforcement in around the spot where the rear portion of the wing bolts onto the fuselage (Impact style take-apart). There was supposed to be a plywood plate there but instead just a couple of hardwood blocks were glued to the fuse sides. I just flat forgot to put it in. You'd have to see the structure to understand how this could happen. I still don't know how I managed to look at the fitted plywood piece repeatedly, just sitting there ont he bench, and not remember to put it in. You can imagine what happened the first time I hit a hard inside corner.

Randy,
Thanks for trying to make me feel better...Hmmmm.

I guess I feel so bad because I tried so hard and was so proud of myself for being so exacting then finding out I really blew it!

Anyway, all this has encouraged me to go home tonight and cut the STUPID thing out!
Thanks,

>OK, anybody been that "dumb"...probably not.
=================================================
Heh-heh....see Post #5, above.

Randy:
You reminded me of when I was very active in the early days of home computing and the internet.

I put a big sign on my monitor in red block letters:

"NEVER DELETE ANYTHING AFTER 9:00 PM!!!

There were a number of reasons for the sign.

Regards
Bill Marvel

Ah, the irreplacebale stuff I've "carefully" deleted. What a goon!

LAST EDITED ON Oct-06-06 AT 11:25 PM (CST)
 
HEY, Randy Powell,
I know your thinkin you really got a handle on this dumb stuff, but I got news for you the battle ain't over yet. I'm workin real hard at being dumber than dirt (no not him).
Went to the field this morning and layed out my lines etc. all set to go. Before I take my plane out to the circle I want to make sure everything is ready, so I'll just start her up for a couple of quick blasts just to get things warmed up. No matter what I do it won't start. Now I got Scott Dinger (the muffler man) helping me and also Rudy. Changed the plug 3 times tried different batteries, opened the needle closed the needle. Finally I'm so tired and arm is starting to ache from flipping so much. I made the decision to remove the motor and put the backup motor in. I removed the muffler and handed it to Rudy who says you dumb $hit. I know why it won't run.

Well now I recall exactly how this happened (no excuse). I was making these really cool copper gaskets when the wife pulls in from work and says, "I know your busy so I stopped and got dinner on my way home from work, lets eat. I said just a second let me see if the screws will go thru this gasket, I'll just bolt it up and come back after dinner and finish. (NOT).....Stupid is as stupid does

Greg,

Well, that is definately up there on the official Dumb Stuff list. I thought going to the first contest for a new plane and not bringing backup lines was up there too. I mean, I've never had to use backup lines before. Well, that myth is over after trashing a set of lines after my first official flight. An offical flight where I ran out of fuel in the clover. You can bet that when I leave for the contest tomorrow, there will be at least two sets of lines for the plane in the box.