June 5, 2019
I brought my newly minted model to the field the next day. I had recently acquired a wattmeter to check the power configuration and I wasn’t sure how it worked. Dave viewed the meter with the plane running and declared it was in good order.
My wife, Kim, continues to ask me, “Do you really want to fly it?” She and I both acknowledge the disastrous results of a wrong move of the stick or a fatal design flaw.
The truth is, she must fly. That is the ultimate goal.
There is something I must point out that only those who create will understand: Creation and destruction are inextricably linked. Most of this model came from the chaos of raw materials to take the shape that it is. It is a small step to return it to that chaos. Destruction is always easier than creation in almost every instance. The ten months it took to build this model can be negated in the blink of an eye. The difference is: when you are the creator, having touched every millimeter of your construction, rebuilding parts or whole sections just becomes another problem-solving exercise.
Besides, the journey is more important than the destination. Now that I have experienced the scratchbuilding process, the next time will be easier and faster.
Just to shake that up a bit, I believe my next construction may be out of foam — a medium that I have never constructed with. I believe it will be much faster as there are a ton of YouTube videos that help explain the various techniques.
Of course, I’ll have to journal that process as well.
Oh — I mentioned at the beginning of this project that I was going to keep track of the time spent on it. I diligently jotted down the beginning and ending times of each session spent on the plane, along with a few words about what was accomplished during that session. Sometimes it helped me to keep this documentation orderly and matched up with some of the pictures.
The total time spent on this project was 165 hours and 20 minutes over a ten-month period.
