Kerry'd Away

Egads! It’s A Spad! Part 8

Posted on December 15, 2015 by civilwarrose5

Chad, the Spad, was feeling pretty weighted down. He wanted to get some things off his chest. Or else he wanted to lift some weights. He wasn’t sure what to do. Instead, he decided to show off his flaps.

Ooooo!! Ahhhh!!

Those are some gorgeous flaps! They are going to look so good on him!

I was right! They look like they were made especially for him! And those ailerons are so sleek. Wow. That is one good-looking wing!

Chad is a bit nervous, though. He’s been trying to bulk up a bit, but not gain too much weight. It’s such a hard balance between good-looking bulk and flab. Let’s see how he’s doing…

Ooooo…. almost six pounds. That’s just the wing, though. Chad will have to be careful if he doesn’t want to make his new wing flaps and ailerons be stretched to their limits.

His athleticism is quite amazing. Look at that balance! Before we take a look at the scale I want to make sure everybody notices that Chad took his cowl off. *sigh* Chad, the cowl doesn’t add that much more weight to you. It’s like me taking my sandals off before stepping on the scale.

Barely 4.5 pounds! Goodness. I’m going to start singing “You’re So Vain” before his next weigh-in.

Considering the size of his frame I would say that his BMI is very good.

Keep up the good work!

There’s nothing that a little cosmetic surgery can’t fix. When Chad has the tape removed he will have a beautiful piece for his leading edge.

Okay, so here we are doing something with the something, but it’s done differently than what it was supposed to be done.

Got it?

I know! This is where Jay had to fill in the two body cavities so that he can install hardware that will hold the wing to the fuselage. And he thinks that I don’t always listen to him…

And then we have… this… ummm… underbelly… and wood something.

Hmmm…

Now that we’ve installed the wood filler we can cover up the frame work and make it look pretty.

While that is drying we can also add the mount support for the wing pokey-thing that helps to hold the wing in place.

Once everything is dry and set, don’t forget to drill the holes where you can screw the hardware in to hold the wing onto the fuselage. Doing this required the wing, a brass tube, and a drill. It was quite the production!

Is it just me or does Chad look like a squattier version of one of those bush planes that they use a lot up in Alaska that can land on the water?

Oh, wait! I’m supposed to be showing you how beautifully Chad sits on the wing saddle.

Beautiful job. The long, smooth curves bring out the broadness of his shoulders and make it all come together so wonderfully.

I call this picture, “Brother, can you spare a servo arm?”

It’s getting rave reviews at the art gallery.

It says so much about society and material possessions.

Look! I told you that the wing pokey-out thing would fit into the support mount perfectly.

Who’s got a cute belly??

Chad has a cute belly!

My cats like to get their bellies scratched, too.

Two months. That’s all it has taken to get to this point. At this rate it will be ready for primer before the first of the year!

Posted in A-1 Skyraider, RC Planes | Tagged A-1 Skyraider, R/C, RC Airplanes, Spad, Ziroli Skyraider, Ziroli Spad | Leave a comment

Egads! It’s A Spad! Part 7

Posted on December 13, 2015 by civilwarrose5

The masses have spoken. There will be more pictures. At least, as many as I can get Jay to take. This series of blog posts has become rather popular so I will defer to those who have asked for more pictures. I will do my best. Also, if you have any questions at all please don’t hesitate to ask. I know very little about this project; I’m just here to entertain you while showing off the build pictures. Jay, my husband, will be more than happy to answer any questions that you might have. Just leave a comment and we will get back to you as soon as we can. Thanks!

In our last post the poor Spad was depressed. It sprawled on the bench sobbing and trying to drink away its sorrows. Poor Spad! What’s wrong?

“My arms are cold! I need some covering. Also, I can’t reach my beer from this angle…”

We still have some work to do before we can cover the wings, so let’s get to it!

First we must install the hinges for the flaps.

Those are some pretty flap hinges! Chad is going to love them! (Did I mention that I’ve named this airplane Chad the Spad?)

We also have to make the aileron hinges. I know that Jay worked on these for quite a while. He decided that he didn’t want to hinge the ailerons like the plans called for him to, so he drew up his own design and cut it out on his CNC router. It has something to do with the angle of the wing and how his design makes the aileron look more scale or something. You’ll see more later.

Here is the bottom of the outside part of the wing. The servo has been installed and the aileron hinges are looking quite dapper!

Once the other side of the hinges are installed on the aileron we can also put the sheeting on them. By the way, each of these little weight blocks weighs 1 pound. Keep that in mind for another picture coming up.

Also, you can see the mock-up of the motor that Jay 3D printed so that he can accurately fix things for when he actually is allowed to buy the motor. He’s been asked to please wait until after Christmas before purchasing the beautiful purple Hacker that will be getting installed in Chad.

Chad, you don’t have to cry! We have begun to sheet your arms!

The L-shaped blocks weigh 1.5 pounds each.

I don’t think that this sheeting is going anywhere…

More weights holding down more sheeting…

And another look at the aileron hinges…

Oooo… the ailerons are all covered and have their pins inserted.

Looking good!

*wolf whistles*

Yikes! We’re having quite the gathering of weight on the middle section of this wing. I think that we should take a break and let this dry.

In the next installment we will be checking in on Chad and talking to him about his feelings regarding fiberglass coverings and what he feels is in vogue this season.

Posted in A-1 Skyraider, RC Planes | Tagged A-1 Skyraider, R/C, RC Airplanes, RC Planes, Spad, Ziroli Skyraider, Ziroli Spad | Leave a comment

Summer Cross Project – Update 12/3/15

Posted on December 9, 2015 by civilwarrose5

I know that today is not December 3rd, but that’s when I took the last update picture. I have been busy over the last month so I haven’t spent a lot of time working on my cross stitch. I had hoped that by this time of the year I would be about halfway done. Nope. Just about a quarter of the way. I think that once I get past Christmas I should *hopefully* be able to find some more time to sit and stitch.

This is where I was at on November 6th.

I didn’t take my fabric out of my Qsnaps, but here is my progress as of December 3rd.

I’ve added a little more greenery, a little bit of a branch, a few strawberries, and the beginnings of a flower.

The other night I had about a half hour before I had to run out again, and I’d had a rough day, so I used that time to stitch. Just by looking at this picture I can tell that I’ve managed to get another nice chunk done. Perhaps I’ll post again next week.

Posted in cross stitch, Faith | Tagged Cross, cross stitch, Faith | Leave a comment

Ribbon Spool Holders!

Posted on December 3, 2015 by civilwarrose5

If you’ve followed my blog for any length of time, specifically my sewing posts, then you realize that I have a slight problem with collecting spools of ribbon and lace. My excuse is that I need this stash in order to make the Dresses for Missions. After all, most little girls LOVE to be all decked out in lace and ribbon. Okay, so mainly little girls named Kerry LOVE to be all decked out in lace and ribbon.

I had asked Jay to make me something that I could use to display the spools and help to restore some semblance of order to my sewing room. He made me two holders, a large and small one, that will accommodate all sizes of ribbon spools that I own.

After staining and polying the holders we finally got them installed on my sewing room walls. As you can see, my sewing room is upstairs where we have the stupid sloped ceilings. Can I just say that whoever thought that was a great way to design a house should be slapped? There is so much wasted space when you have to deal with sloped ceilings! Anyway…

I filled the smaller spool holder. No, there is no organization to these spools. The thought process was, “Take the small spools out of the box and place them on the holder.” I anticipate that these spools will be switched out quite often when they are empty and need to be replaced.

As I filled the large spool holder I knew that it wouldn’t quite be enough. As you can tell from the numerous spools still sitting on the top of my shelf. To be fair, after the first dry run (in the top picture) I realized that these two holders would not hold ALL of my spools.

I still have some wall space left, so Jay said that he will make me another large holder. That *might* hold all of the spools that I own. If I don’t buy any more. And if I actually use some of it up. That means I need more machine time! I guess that some sacrifices will have to be made… 😉

Posted in Crafting, Sewing | Tagged Crafting, Sewing | Leave a comment

Library Doors Finished!

Posted on November 25, 2015 by civilwarrose5

A little over a year ago this was what my library looked like. At least, this is what one wall of my library looked like.

It feels like it was a LONG time ago when it looked like this.

Now it looks like this!

Hmmm…

Let’s see those doors from a different angle.

These were beautiful doors; wooden with glass window panes. The paint was all chipped. And they had placed long pieces of acrylic over the back sides of the glass panes. I’m not sure if they were to block the view into the basement, keep kids/pets from scratching/breaking the glass, or for whatever other reason they might have had.

I definitely like the look of the wood doors better. It warms the room up a bit.

We have lived without the doors on this doorway for over a year, so now we’re trying to get used to having them back on there.

I made my deadline of Thanksgiving, though.

That whole wall has been a LOT of work, but I’m mostly happy with how it has turned out.

All it took was a little perseverance and a LOT of elbow grease!

Posted in library, Remodeling | Tagged library, refinishing, Remodeling | 1 Comment

Egads! It’s a Spad! Part 6

Posted on November 23, 2015 by civilwarrose5

The overhead door people have been scheduled to install a giant door in our basement, so we can continue building this airplane.

So far we have taken a look at the length of one wing. Actually, this is half of the middle section of the wing, plus the end of the wing that will be removable for transportation and storage of the Spad. We will be buying a flatbed trailer to haul this…

We have… umm… more wing? Actually, I think that this is the left and right center sections being glued together. This part will get permanently affixed to the fuselage.

Usually when I mention a “pile of wings” they are usually of the chicken variety with buffalo sauce on them. In this case it’s going to require a LOT of blue cheese to get these down!

Now that the rib structure is all assembled we can begin to sheet the wings.

This helps to stabilize the wings and also makes it feel like we are really progressing on the build.

The bottom of the center section is mostly sheeted and the extended tail has been properly built.

Note to self: Buy more glue. LOTS of glue.

Sometimes it’s nice just to place a random piece on the work bench and gaze at it. Sit and soak it in… admire the carefully crafted seams… gaze at the perfectly lined ribs… delight in the whimsical stringing…

Then flip it over and gaze at it from another angle. Sometimes you can’t really appreciate a piece of art unless you’ve stood and stared at it from different angles.

Let’s all take a few minutes to just observe this piece. What does it say to you? How does it make you feel?

It says to me, “Holy smokes! This is how big??!! And it’s going to fit out the door how??”

Let’s try it from another angle to see if it says anything different…

“YIKES!! What did I do? This is all my fault! I shouldn’t enable him like this! Where does it end???”

I need to go lay down…

Posted in A-1 Skyraider, RC Planes | Tagged A-1 Skyraider, R/C, RC Airplanes, RC Planes, Spad, Ziroli Skyraider, Ziroli Spad | Leave a comment

Dresses for Missions Update 11-13-15

Posted on November 15, 2015 by civilwarrose5

Somehow I’ve managed to fill my days up and I haven’t had a whole lot of extra time for sewing. I have managed to trim out two more dresses, though.

This dress has a LOT going on in the main body of the dress, so I kept it simple by just adding a bit of lace with a ribbon at the neckline. Luckily I had the perfect color green for the binding and ties.

In this group of dresses I was given about 8 of these in this pattern. In my entire stash of ribbon, lace, and binding I don’t have many colors that actually go with this material. These have been the hardest dresses for me to trim.

This one I added a cream-colored lace with a light pink ribbon on the bottom. Then I used the same cream lace and paired it with a light pink lace for the neckline.

I asked Jay if that was too much lace. He said no. 🙂

Posted in Dresses for Missions, Faith, Sewing | Tagged Dresses for Missions, Faith, Sewing | Leave a comment

Egads! It’s A Spad! Part 5

Posted on November 13, 2015 by civilwarrose5

When we last saw the A-1 Skyraider we had just seen the tail come together.

Plus we had installed some push rods.

Not to mention we had watched a LOT of football and drank a lot of beer.

Phew! We were busy! So, what’s next?

Hmmm… I’ve discovered a pile of pieces. Maybe we are going to build one of those Polynesian canoes with the arms and floats. We’ve got the skinny little sticks for the arms and the torpedo-shaped parts for the floats.

Or, maybe we are building floats for the Spad?

Or we’re building wings.

Fish bone-like wings.

That’s a little wing, though.

Wait! It’s a platform for weight reproduction! Notice how when it was first placed up above there were only a few… now look how many have shown up!

I wondered why Jay had started hoarding toilet paper rolls….

Wow… now we have some growth.

Wait… this is ONE wing?? ONE?!

It has to be about four feet long! One wing?! Is this airplane going to end up being like Gibbs’ boat on NCIS where you wonder how you get it out of the basement??! Yikes!

A few building tips:

1. Make sure to keep your strength up while building. Eat plenty of greasy foods so that the drippings on your workbench will collect all of the sawdust that you are creating.

2. Save money when building by using things that are found around the home, such as toilet paper or paper towel rolls. They aren’t just for kids’ crafts any more!

To keep the weight down on your aircraft make sure to remove all glue residue and left-over paper on your toilet paper tubes.

Ta-Daaaa!!!

You have, ONE wing.

Again… how is this thing going to come out of the basement?

I’m going to need a while to ponder that…

In the next post perhaps I’ll be sharing the modifications that we will be making to our basement in order to install a hangar door.

Posted in A-1 Skyraider, RC Planes | Tagged A-1 Skyraider, R/C, RC Airplanes, RC Planes, Spad, Ziroli Skyraider, Ziroli Spad | 1 Comment

Summer Cross Project – Update 11-6-15

Posted on November 8, 2015 by civilwarrose5

The last time we looked at this picture I had just finished outlining the pink flowers. There was still a LOT of outlining left to do.

I worked and worked and worked on it, but didn’t feel like I was really getting anywhere.

Wow. It amazes me every time. I have a little bit more of the outlining to do, but I’m almost done with this quarter of it. So far I’ve been working on this for almost seven months. Yikes! At this rate it will take me almost two years to finish it!

Let’s hope that the other half stitches up much quicker. Or that I have more time for stitching!

Posted in cross stitch, Faith | Tagged cross stitch, Faith | Leave a comment

Egads! It’s A Spad! Part 4

Posted on November 6, 2015 by civilwarrose5

After one week of working on the Spad, this is what it looks like. This thing is going to be huge. (That’s what she said.)

I really do think that we will have to buy a trailer just to haul this to the field to fly. Have I mentioned that my husband is a bit spoiled??

Well, let’s see what other pictures have been taken…

When building an airplane sometimes it helps to do simple little tasks if you’re stuck on a problem. I don’t know what problem Jay was stuck on, but he made a little tower out of his blocks of weight.

Or maybe he’s gluing something together? *squints at the pile of stuff* Hmmm…

It looks like the hinges have been installed, but he made the rudder too long. 😦 Or is the top of the tail too short?? I always tell Jay that he needs to Measure Twice, Cut Once.

Also, apparently if you watch football while building it will really help you build a lot faster. At least, this is the observation I have made while looking at these pictures.

Uh-oh! There now appears to be a growth developing on the top of the tail!

Wait… that growth looks familiar. The last time we saw it was when it was stacked up with the weights. And it looks like it’s being shaped…

Ahhh… now I understand! Our tail was too short so now we have grown it a bit.

Nice shaping, Jay!

On any other plane this picture could look like Jay was shaping a wing tip.

Or he had created a wooden faucet.

Or it is the wooden representation of Gonzo’s nose.

Or it’s just the rudder with a matching growth to the tail.

*whistles* What a nice piece of tail!

Its supple curves cry out for you to grab it and give it a little squeeze.

My, oh my…

Shall we move on and cool down a little?

I think that I’ve found the robot’s legs. Those 3D printed yellow hips look a little bulky, though.

Hmmm… and some bling…

I know that this has to be leading somewhere, but where? Any ideas?

Oh! Push rods! Now I understand.

Jay is using carbon fiber arrow shafts as push rods so that they will be much sturdier (and cheaper). He also 3D printed up the yellow pieces and the control horns for the push rods to connect to.

Isn’t he talented?

See! There are the other ends of the arrow shafts. He is attaching them to the servos that will run the stuff in the rear (I think that these are for the elevator, but don’t quote me!)

Wow! That was a lot of work! After all of that gluing, whittling and shaping I think that I need to take a break. We are flying through this project!

Posted in A-1 Skyraider, RC Planes | Tagged A-1 Skyraider, R/C, RC Airplanes, RC Planes, Ziroli Skyraider | 3 Comments