The Murphy Builders Site

I went for my first taxi today. Nice to actually operate the airplane as an
airplane, even if only in a small way. I have a couple of questions maybe
someone else ran into.

I had a little trouble keeping it straight with just rudder and tailwheel
steering. I had to use the brakes. I thought I remembered something in the
archives about leaving a little slack in the tailwheel chain attached to the
springs. Is that right? I'm also not convinced that the tailwheel is
working right. It seems like it didn't click into the position where it can
be controlled at first. Then, later it seemed better, as if it did click
into place.

Lastly, when depressing the brake while the rudder is against the stop and
the plane still moving, there is an odd groaning sound. Two people outside
the airplane could not hear it. I haven't the foggiest idea what it could
be. Anyone?

Mike
044SR




-----------------------------------------------------------------
List archives located at: https://mail.dcsol.com/login
username "rebel" password "builder"
Unsubscribe: rebel-builders-unsubscribe@dcsol.com
List administrator: mike.davis@dcsol.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------

First taxi this evening! Finally getting to operate the plane in motion...
too much fun. I had the tailwheel chain linkage too loose, so most of the
steering was with the brakes and travel was slow.

I slowly inched through some tight turns out the driveway, made the first
official radio call, and was soon on the runway. I taxied to the far end,
running about 1100 RPM, just a tad above Jabiru idle. The brake pads got a
reasonable workout, good for break-in.

Along the way, a few neighbors came out to see what the new noise was, then
clap, cheer and fist pump as they realized Ron's Rebel was finally moving.
The brakes felt very firm and strong from the get go. Temps throughout the
exercise were very good, with the highest CHT at 260F, and oil temp finally
nudging 145F.

Returning to the hangar, swinging the tail around smartly (ta-da!) I
realized some of the neighbors had been following behind, as if 254R was the
Pied Piper. (Living at a small airpark with good neighbors who also build,
fly and love airplanes is heaven.) General merriment followed.

I took a link out of the tailwheel chains, but had some difficulty
restarting the engine for some (probably silly) reason still unknown, and
diagnosis of that will have to wait to tomorrow. Normal speed taxi and
static RPM tests will follow soon.

This is really, really fun already.

Ron




-----------------------------------------------------------------
List archives located at: https://mail.dcsol.com/login
username "rebel" password "builder"
Unsubscribe: rebel-builders-unsubscribe@dcsol.com
List administrator: mike.davis@dcsol.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------