Greetings,
Just a non-rotary note to announce that my latest RV-8 is now flying. I flew it twice yesterday, and the only issue was the rubber channel coming loose at the left wing root seal. Makes a lot of flapping noise when that happens, but it doesn't hurt anything :-)
Total construction time was 1100 hours, over 9 calendar months (7.5 really, since I was out of town for about 6 weeks). As much as I like rotary engines, you can't help but appreciate being able to just bolt on a Lyclone, crank it up, and go flying. It's sure a time saver, but not quite as interesting.
The most notable feature of the plane are the Bill Dube' LED position lights. Everyone who sees the plane stops and stares at them. I'm not sure how many times I've been asked to turn them on for someone, so it's a good thing they don't draw too much current. Everyone stares right at them while I turn them on, which can be interesting, since they're pretty darn bright. On occasion, when someone makes negative comments about all the little LED's, I "accidentally" turn on the strobes while they're watching for the LED's to come on :-)
There are a few pics of first flight day, and a very short video of the first takeoff on my web site. I might actually have some time to finish the web site now that the plane is flying. Gotta get back to the ducted fan single rotor gyrocopter planning.
Cheers,
Rusty (survived 4 "first" flights now)