03/16/01 - Ordered the plane and servos
I've always wanted to build and fly the Dazzler so today I bit the bullet and placed my order.  I also ordered 4 Futaba 3001 servos and a low channel flight pack (includes an FM receiver, 4 S3003 servos, square battery pack and switch harness).  I had to order a crystal set on channel 20 as well.

03/21/01 - Order arrives
Today my order from Tower Hobbies arrived.  I won't be starting construction on this plane for a while though.

05/02/01 - Construction begins
Tonight I started construction.  I finished everything on the tail pieces except monocote and hinges.  I finished the wood construction of the ailerons and built about half the wing.  I'm at the point where I epoxy the two wing halves together, but I didn't have any 30 minute epoxy.  Tomorrow I'm going to the hobby store to get epoxy and all the little things to finish the plane (fuel tank, tubing, wheels, foam, etc...)

05/03/01 - Picked up more parts
I went to Hobby Town in Escondido today and picked up several items needed for the Dazzler.  Epoxy, spinner, blind nuts and bolts, foam, wheels and wheel collars.  I still have to get a 6oz fuel tank, fuel tubing, 12x4 prop and an engine mount.

07/05/01 - More construction
I finally continued the construction on this plane.  I finished 90% of the rough assembly of the fuselage. 

02/22/05 - Almost completed!
No, it didn't take me 3 1/2 years to work on it, it's been in the attic until a couple days ago.  I got a wild hair and decided to get to work.  All that is left to do from this point is mount the engine, hook up the throttle linkage and secure the canopy.

02/23/05 - Ready to fly
Today I mounted the engine, finished the throttle linkage, glued the canopy and mounted a battery meter.  I also installed a new glow plug and started the engine.  I was hoping to run the acorn spinner nut, but my starter bounces off it too easy.  I installed a standard plastic spinner and was able to hold the starter on there better.  If the weather holds out I'll take this plane on it's maiden voyage this weekend.

02/26/05 - 1st flight
The first flight was very good.  Took a lot of nose up elevator trim to get to level flight at first.  When I went to inverted flight, it took a lot of push on the right stick to maintain level flight.  I also checked the "airbrake" setup on my 8UAPS controller.  Didn't seem to have much effect, but did maintain level flight.  After landing I adjusted the flaperon trim to compensate for the nose-up / nose-down problem.  By the end of the day, with the gusty winds, I wasn't able to get level flight while right side up and inverted flight.  Overall it was a very good day for the Dazzler, but not such a good day for the Giles.

03/18/06 - Misc update
I've actually flown the Dazzler a few times without anything exciting to report.  Never more than a tank a day, but a few days since the last report.  Gonna fly it a bit tomorrow too.

03/22/06 - CG change
I read online that some guy moved his CG back to 3 7/8" from the stock 3".  I checked mine and it was exactly at 3".  This guy complained of the same things I complain about, generally mild performance.  I added a bunch of weight to the tail and moved the CG to 4".  My rudder performance was pathetic in knife edge, but it was at it's physical limits (nearly touching the elevators).  With the CG moved aft, the rudder should be more effective.

03/25/06 - One flight
I went to glitch hill today and flew one tank.  The plane is definitely more twitchy and responsive.

03/26/06 - A couple flights
I flew a couple tanks at the cul-de-sac below French Valley airport, with Mark and Kevin.  I think the plane is a little too twitch for my own good.  I'm thinking about moving the CG forward just a touch.  Maybe 1/8" or 1/4".  But rather than carry all this lead on the tail (there's a bunch back there), I'm thinking about relocating the rudder servo and maybe the elevator servo too.  Currently the servos are located pretty right on CG.

03/28/06 -  Changes
Made a few changes today.  It started with all the lead weight on the tail.  I had to have 6.4oz of lead to balance the plane.  I figured since I had to have all that weight back there I might as well relocate the servos.  I located the servos, one above the other, on opposite sides of the fuse, as far back as I could get them.  (The fuse gets narrower than the servos are deep)  Now the tail only needs 3oz of tail weight to locate CG at 3 3/4".

Another change I made is the engine.  I've never liked the right-side up position because it dumps the exhaust on the top of the wing and the side of the canopy.  After rotating the engine mount and making a new throttle linkage, now the exhaust dumps out under the plane.

04/02/06 - One flight today
I flew one flight today.  Everything seemed to go well.  The plane isn't quite as twitchy as it was, so that's good.

04/15/06 - One more flight
Only one flight again today.  Unfortunately this plane is just a bit boring to fly.  Sure, it flips and flops all over the place, but not like I thought it would.  Yet, it's also not a "cool" looking plane, it's actually pretty darn ugly.  Anyways, I took off, flew around, rolled, looped, etc, then landed.  Wahoo.

06/12/06 - New transmitter
I configured the Dazzler on the new Futaba 12ZH radio today.  I moved all the servo plugs to the new Futaba standard.

03/16/08 - Minor repairs
Last spring the family and I moved from southern California to northern California.  During the move, the Dazzler took a 27" TV on the wing.  Sounds worse than it was, but it still took me almost a year to fix it.  After the repair (replaced 1 aileron hinge), I cleaned it up real nice and hung it in Luke's room.  I had been storing the plane in the garage, but the elements out there were taking their toll.

03/24/09 - One flight
I took the Dazzler to work today and flew one flight.  It took a little work to get the engine started since it's been sitting for a few years.  I've been flying a lot of electric the past few years and it was nice to experience the power of glow again.

03/25/09 - Three flights
I flew 3 flights after work today.

04/27/10 - Tail wheel and receiver switch on order
I was ordering a tailwheel for the Piper Cub and saw they have 3 sizes.  I ordered the small one for the Dazzler, the medium one for the Piper Cub and the large one for the CAP232.  I also ordered a power switch for the receiver.  I've been using a 1/8" phone jack, but I've heard that is not a reliable solution.

04/30/10 - Parts from Tower Hobbies arrived
Hopefully I'll get time this weekend to work on installing the power switch and tailwheel.