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Clunkmeister

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About Clunkmeister

  • Birthday 06/24/1965

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    ErnieL40@aol.com

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Texas.
  • Interests
    Yes, many

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  1. Clunkmeister
    Gotta grow a neckbeard, Martin.
  2. Clunkmeister
    Thank you! You ever notice Ram drivers look a lot like their trucks?
  3. Clunkmeister
    A lot of Deja Vu here… my wife’s 55 Tbird currently in my evil clutches, close to my torch, welder, and paint gun… the Baby Bird is a factory red car with red and white interior and full power equipment im glad she loves it because like I told Iain Ogilvie, I need axle grease and a skyhook to get me out of these tiny cars Hopefully it will look like this in a few months. She won’t let me near that Crown until her little bird is done. But I do it all myself, so it doesn’t break the bank and keeps me out of the bars.
  4. Clunkmeister
    Nice 55 Crown Vic. Just like the one sitting in my back yard waiting its turn.
  5. Clunkmeister
    But like they say, Mopar don’t go far…..
  6. Clunkmeister
    That’s one serious collection of automotive art. Those bad by Mopars are something else!
  7. Clunkmeister
    Peter, the gear will be moved BACK to take weight off the tail wheel. That was an early, and successful mod to tame it a bit on the ground. plus, as most of them were built with an O-320 and a short mount for aesthetics, they’d end up tail heavy as well, making for some interesting stall/spin characteristics. The key is to unload the tail wheel, lengthen the main gear, and use a heavy engine. I’m really liking the sound of an IO-470. It’s heavy, it’s powerful, they’re cheap and plentiful, and reliable. Plus, it’s injected, so no carb ice. I looked at two: one off a 182, and the other off a 310. The 310 one comes with a constant speed prop,.. that’s fully feathering. Feather the prop on a draggy wire braced biplane and lengthen your glide by what? 10 inches per 1000 ft?
  8. Clunkmeister
    Just gotta find a decent Warner without breaking the bank. IO-470s are everywhere and cheap. Warners, not so much. You need an engine that weighs about 450-500 lbs with prop to keep the engine back close to the firewall and avoid the anteater look
  9. Clunkmeister
    We’re actively looking for a Warner 165 hp Super Scarab. We have a mount for an injected 6 cyl IO-470 if needed.
  10. Clunkmeister
    The Starduster Too has always had a reputation for being either a bit sporty ranging up to an ungodly terror on rollout if on pavement. It likes to swap ends, but much of that is due to pilots having little tail wheel time. It’s no worse than, say, a Luscombe or a Howard DGA, but definitely more than a Cub or N3N on wheels. Half the issue seems to be the lack of forward visibility in 3 point attitude. Guys have no clue what peripheral view mean. I’ve been told the rear (pilot’s) seat has the same view as the rear seat of a Scout or Citabria, and I have plenty of PIC time from the rear seat of those, so no biggie. the other thing is that in the 3 point attitude, the wing is still flying, not stalled, so any kind of firm arrival means a guaranteed bounce. The fix is to either wheel it on, or better yet, extend the mains by a few inches, which was done on this one, guaranteeing a stalled wing at 3 point stance.
  11. Clunkmeister
    The fabrication looks to have been factory performed, which is impossible, of course. The fuselage frame was blasted and refinished in epoxy, so it’s good. I’ll be checking the wings closely. They’re getting the metal parts removed and refinished, and all the wood is being revarnished. resourcinol was used as a glue, and it’s as good as it gets.
  12. Clunkmeister
    It’s cool how changing the engine, slickly modifying the interplane struts from I to N, and paint can give a whole new look. The other thing is using three piece windscreens instead of simple curved plexiglass.
  13. Clunkmeister
    The guys who started these project and never finished them are all passing on, and nobody’s interested anymore. They all want “right now”, not “in a few years”. Projects like this are simply too often junked. I had it thoroughly inspected, and the workmanship is second to none, and it’s one of the most popular sport biplanes ever designed, so it’s very straightforward. There are 4 based within 20 miles of me to use as a reference.
  14. Clunkmeister
    The design is timeless, and with a Warner radial, if you cover the front pit, they look like a Boeing F4B. With a flat 6, they look a little more civilized, but right out of the 1930s.
  15. Clunkmeister
    So I ended up doing some horse trading with a friend, and he took some 55-56 Ford parts, and I brought this home. A very large scale, as in 1:1 project. For those unaware, it’s a Stolp Starduster Too, a 2 seat plans built biplane from the late 1960s. They are generally considered to be one of the most beautiful and nicest flying biplanes ever designed, and are an incredibly capable machines. They are decent performers, capable of sport aerobatics, and have been powered by anything from a 4 cylinder Lycoming of 150 hp, to a big ol’ Jacob’s radial. One of the best engines for it is a Warner Super Scarab of 160 hp. I’ll be on the lookout for one, otherwise, we’ll stay with the Continental flat 6 out of a Cessna 310. It’s one of the most popular homebuilt aircraft ever designed, with over 1000 completed and flying. They’ve been around so long that some are actually being restored. This one was never completed, and is of amazing workmanship. She’s set up for a Continental IO-470U 6 cylinder engine of 230 hp. I’ve got a couple or three years of semi steady weekends ahead of me to complete her, but there is no rush. We’ll see.
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