Denton Swap Meet . . .

There are normally three swap meets I go to.  They all deal with radio control, almost all airplane stuff.  The swap meet is a time that enthusiasts get rid of stuff usually a deep discounts.  So it is a good place to shop around.  There was one at Denton this weekend.

With the on set of electric motors, fueled engines are on the decline.  Manufacturers have generally moved away for glow fueled engines though several of the big name manufactures continue albeit with fewer engines offered for sale.  So the swap meet was replete with lots of used airplanes and engines primarily designed for methanol fuel engines.  Yes, there was a lot of new electric stuff floating around but I was selective and did not pay much attention to them.

The swap meets also provide an outlet for dealers to sell.  Several are known to be and it is always fun to greet them and see what is hot in the market so to speak.  The dealers are also selling on a cash basis and most discount their stock and there is not such thing as sales taxes though I am sure the dealers end up paying the tax to the state anyway.  So there is that little 8.25% discount and the opportunity to bargain a little bit.  I managed to spend $5 on a Y connector that I needed.

So one always needs something and that is the place to get it.  In my case I was looking for a flyable airplane and found one.  Yes, it was quite old but in great condition.  The servos were ancient and the engine has been out of production for probably 20 years, in fact I am sure it is rather old technology but quite functional.  There was no battery or receiver.  One usually puts his own receiver in as there are now so many different conventions on frequency hopping 2.4 Gigahertz systems one has to match his own transmitter.  Batteries on the other hand, die with age and are sometimes moved forward to new applications.  So one gets the airframe, engine, servos which are all somewhat generic.  And of course, the owners labor that went in to assemble the airplane, perhaps even build the airframe.

So I had to scrap up a battery of which I have several floating around.  I charge it up see if if will hold a charge, etc.  And I have to install a receiver.  Then I have to check the weight an balance of the airplane, my battery may be heavier and so one has to check those things.  And once powered up one has to check to see if those old servos are working and that there are no obvious defects.

In this case, I had to use a heat gun to tighten up the covering.  The covering is heat sensitive and generally relaxes over time.  The covering adds some strength to the wings and there was a couple of small dents.  So the heat retightens thing up and takes some of the hangar rash out (storage dings etc.)

I have to run the engine to make sure things are okay.  It is a K&B, an old name though still made by an independent fellow out in California.  He buys brand names, the rights, the drawings, old parts and so on so he keeps the engines alive and going.  This model engine is still available new from him.

I suspect the engine is a old lapped port engine, not a modern ABC engine.  ABC is simpler and more powerful.  However, the power is sufficient for this size airplane, so I do not need a new or more powerful engine to fly it.  I may in time swap out the engine but not for now as I enjoy getting them to run again.  I have some engines that have never been run sitting in boxes ready to be used.

So by Wednesday I will have her ready to go.  It should be fun to fly. 

Oh, yes one final thing.  I got the airplane for $60.  I probably save several hundred dollars and many hours of assembly work.  One man's junk is another man's treasure!