I had a Great Planes Ultimate 40 Bipe kit on the shelf for almost 10 years, partially built.  One day I took the kit out to work on it and realized I didn't want to finish it.  I gave it to a friend and started looking at what I want next.  I have a few engines, receivers and servos looking for a home so I thought it would be nice to keep costs down.  I have a new in box Enya 50 heli engine, but the torque curve just isn't right for an airplane.  I also have an OS .40 LA, but there's a third engine I have that's begging to fly.  It's a Saito FA-91 four stroke.  Problem is, it's the engine that was in my Giles 202 when I pancaked it.  That crash ripped most of the threads out of the exhaust port.  It'll need some work, but that's a great engine.  Way back when, I had a Piper Cub .40 built up from a Great Planes kit.  I really enjoyed that plane.  That one also had a Saito FA-91 four stroke.

03/25/09 - Ordered cylinder head for the Saito FA-91
I ordered from Atomic Hobbies since they had the lowest price on the cylinder head I could find.  Not every store carries Saito's or their replacement parts. 

04/02/09 - Cylinder head arrived
The part arrived and I went to work swapping it out.  I took the opportunity to clean up the engine as best I could.  I was surprised that in one evening I had the engine ready to run.

04/06/09 - Ordered the plane and misc parts
I ordered from Tower Hobbies.  I checked the local shops, but no one has this plane in stock.  They can all order it, but that's a 2nd trip to the store, whereas Tower ships to my door.  I like to support the local stores, but sometimes it just doesn't make sense.  I also had a $60 coupon from Tower, which made the decision even easier.  Stuff is due to arrive in a few days, although I probably won't be able to work on it for a week or so.

04/09/09 - Parts arrived, began construction
Working the early shift gave me the opportunity to get some work done in the afternoon. At first I didn't like how far the Saito 91 was going to stick out the side of the plane.  The cub has a very narrow fuse and cowl.  I also didn't like the engine mount that came with the plane.  I mounted a vibration isolation mount so the engine was inverted.  Then I discovered that the stock exhaust was going to exit the cowl at a weird place and look terrible.  I have a Pitts style muffler which requires the engine to mount sideways.  I used epoxy to seal the holes I drilled and mounted the engine sideways after all.  This will also help the engine keep cool.

Since I'm using an engine much larger than the kit is designed for, I know I'm going to be nose heavy when it's complete.  I'll be sure to mount the receiver battery as far back as I can, but I also want to mount the engine as close to the firewall as possible.  The carburetor on the engine interfered with the engine mount, so I tilted the carb over a bit to create clearance.  See a pic below.

Next I went to work attaching the wing halves to each other.  The instructions indicate there's supposed to be no dihedral, but the wing roots were angled.  I could either have a huge gap on top of the wing, or I could sand the wing roots vertical, or I could accept a little dihedral.  Because the wing halves are pre-covered, sanding wasn't a great solution.  I didn't want the gap on top since I think it would have been weak.  I went with a little dihedral.

04/10/09 - Ordered a receiver crystal
I forgot that my 8 channel receiver is sans crystal.  Futaba repair seemed to confiscate it last time I had work done on a receiver.  I checked with both local hobby shops and neither had one in the 20's.  I ordered from Tower as usual.

04/12/09 - A bit of work done over the weekend
I got a bit more done this weekend than I thought I would.  The engine and mount are fully mounted and thread-locked.  The fuel lines, tank and fill port are also installed.  Throttle linkage and servo are complete.  The cowl is completely trimmed and mounted around the Saito FA-91 and Pitts muffler.  I had to turn the carburetor around so the linkage was on the down side and the mixture adjust is on top.  I'd rather have the mixture adjust on the bottom, but the linkage just didn't work out around the engine mount.  The throttle lever on the engine is a two piece part and it had a little play in it.  I used the vise to clamp it down, then soldered so it's like a single piece.  That should help with a consistent throttle.  I also mounted the receiver switch with charging port and I epoxied the dowels into the wing for the forward wing mount.

I realized this weekend that I don't have a "great" receiver battery.  I think I'd like to run a sub-c sized pack in this plane, since it has the weight capacity.  I did have an "aa" 1500mah pack that I could build with.  I also found a channel 20 crystal to build this plane with.  I'm still going to run the new ch24 crystal when it gets here, but I can build with ch20.  I like to run my planes on different frequencies, so I can't accidently fly with the wrong model configuration set in the radio.

04/13/09 - Horizontal stab installed
After work I stopped at the local hobby shop.  I picked up a 6.0v receiver battery.  It's not the sub-c size pack, but it's 1600mah and I think that's plenty.  When I got home I put it on the charger and it took 1000ma.  Then I went to work on the horizontal stabilizer.  The instructions were disappointing, the model doesn't look like the pictures, the slot in the fuse is too small...  Overall, it could have gone better, but it's in there.  I also installed the wing bolt plate on top of the wing.

I also got some work done on the field box.  I've had another field box forever and it was showing it's age.  I purchased the Great Planes one with the detachable battery and starter tote.  It looks pretty cool, so hopefully it works out.

04/14/09 - Vertical stab installed
Since I'm only available to work on this plane in the evenings, it takes a while.  Today I managed to get the vertical stab epoxied in place and I installed the tail wheel and main gear.

04/15/09 - More construction
Today I hinged the ailerons, elevator and rudder, installed the servos and linkage for the ailerons and ran the heat gun over all the fabric to tighten it up.  Next I needed to start mounting the servos for the elevator and rudder.  Since I think it's going to be too nose heavy with the Saito FA-91 up front, I think I might be putting the servos in the tail.  I installed the propeller and wing and put the plane on the balancer.  It was extremely nose heavy.  I dropped the servos on top of the horizontal stabilizer and it brought it closer to balanced, but not all the way.  There's still the receiver and battery to go in, but I doubt they'll be enough to balance it.  I might end up with some lead in the tail.

04/16/09 - More construction
This evening I installed the elevator and rudder servos in the tail of the plane.  I also completed the linkage.  I made my own servo extensions for the first time.  I'm a little nervous about them, but with the extensions heat shrunk to the servo wires, it should be OK.

04/18/09 - Engine started
I worked on getting the engine started today.  It could have gone smoother.  I couldn't get the pitts style muffler to deliver any pressure to the tank.  I plugged the holes in the exhaust exit and tried to crank it over.  The pressure on the muffler knocked it loose and it swung into the path of the propeller (being cranked by a 24v starter).  It put a pretty good dent in the wood prop.  I didn't see any fractures, but I decided I wasn't going to fly that prop now.  I took the muffler apart, checked the pressure port and re-assembled it on the engine REALLY tight.  As I was again trying to start the engine and plug the holes in the muffler, it came loose again and again the prop nailed it.  This time it fractured from the root to almost the tip.  Lucas and I took a drive to Auburn and picked up an APC prop.

As we were driving I got to thinking about this pitts style muffler that I've had forever.  I remember buying it new, but I don't recall ever flying it.  Now I remember why.  It doesn't seem to provide any pressure to the fuel tank.  Perhaps this muffler must be run with an engine that has a separate fuel pump.  Anyways, I think I've again given up on it.

I installed the APC prop and the stock muffler.  The engine fired up almost immediately and ran smooth.

04/19/09 - First flight
As soon as I set the plane down on the grass at the ball field I knew that the grass was too tall.  There's a small parking lot, but lots of curbs, trees and light poles.  Not ideal.  First, I started looking at the wing struts.  I realized that I didn't bring a drill or bits, so I decided to fly without them today.  After taking a few pictures I decided to take off from the baseball infield.  Starting at 1st base, I barely made it to short stop and it was airborne.  I flew a few patterns, wondering if the engine would shut off.  It didn't.  I lined up a few landing approaches in the outfield, but didn't really like the angle.  I walked out to 2nd base and lined up a clearer approach.  I did a few slow flybys, a few high speed passes and steep banked turns.  I was up for about 5 or 10 minutes.  Then I did a few flybys to check how the landing would go.  Finally I decided to commit to one.  I knew that the grass was going to grab the mains and slow it down.  I was hoping that I could come in slow enough and have the elevator pegged to compensate.  I executed it as best I could, but still the tail left the ground and it nosed in.  Nice and soft, no damage.  I was surprised how little fuel I burned.

A little later I went up for another flight.  My takeoff was the same from 1st base.  This time I flew a bit more aggressive.  Barrel rolls, a loop, a few inverted patterns.  Basically a big, fun plane.  As I lined up for the landing, again I knew that it was going to plant it's nose as soon as any weight was on the mains.  I walked over to 3rd base where the fence ended.  I figured from that point of view I can avoid the light pole in the field, avoid the fence and judge the landing to get it on the dirt as soon as possible.  Rather than let it run out into the grass by short stop I gave it some rudder and turned it around.  Not the best thing for the rudder, but again, no damage.

I'm not a big fan of this tail wheel.  It puts all the weight into the rudder and that puts it into the hinges.  I think I'm going to get one of those spring loaded rudder assemblies that puts the weight under the fuse.  With the springs to the rudder, shock from the ground is isolated from the rudder completely.

03/24/10 - Flew again
I flew one flight today.  All went well.  I had my FlyCamOne installed on the bottom of the wing, but it just recorded black.  Perhaps too much vibration?

03/25/10 - Ordered a SwitchGlo
I saw this device in my AMA magazine.  I like that it uses the receiver battery to power the glo plug. I also ordered one for the CAP232.

03/28/10 - Installed the SwitchGlo
The SwitchGlo arrived yesterday and I got it installed today.  Unfortunately, the wires to the receiver and to the glo plug are very short.  I think they had a helicopter in mind when they designed it.  I managed to mount it close enough to the receiver, then I lengthened the glo plug wires about 8 inches.  I installed it on channel 6 and assigned a switch.  I test started the engine and it worked like a champ.  I'm not sure what to think of the loud buzzer, but I'm leaving it enabled for now.

04/27/10 - Tail wheel 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.

04/30/10 - Order arrived from Tower Hobbies
Hopefully I'll get some time this weekend to install the tail wheel.

01/08/12 - Back in the air
Sometime over the summer of 2011 the cub had a runway issue. The left wheel was sticky and I was compensating with right rudder.  When the wheel left the ground, the rudder was too much and there was a minor cartwheel.  It took me a while to make repairs, but the cub was back in the air today and it flew great.  I attempted to get some in-flight video with the FlyCamOne, but again it let me down.