Two days of flying.

I flew the new plane on Sat. and it took 5 short flights to get the wings level. On takeoff the plane wanted to come in before lifting off. I checked the engine off set when I got home and found a bit of left thrust. I cranked the engine the other way and got a bit of right thrust. At the field this morning the takeoff was much better but it still needs more right thrust. I need to seal the hinge gaps too. The LA .40 pulls the plane nicely but I will install a .46 later on.

Ready to fly.

The re painting went better than I expected. Three days from start to RTF.

Switching to plan 'D'.

After looking at the silver paint for a while I got out the lacquer thinner and wiped it off and started over. Some sanding and masking and I painted it with Krylon silver and orange. Some black trim tape to hide the paint lines between colors and it looks kinda good from 20 feet. I'm planning on a silver stripe on the orange wings and an orange stripe on the silver tail. Then a clear coat.
Supposed to be light winds today and the snow has melted so maybe I'll go to Oneco for a flight.

Switching to plan 'C'.

After trying to glue the windshields on the two cockpits of the latest plane I decided to go back to the full canopy that was on the plane before I cut it apart. I sliced it down the center and added a 1/4 inch spacer to make the canopy wider and gave it a coat of epoxy to seal the wood. The damage to the paint may be covered with another coat of black anti glare paint.
The silver paint is weird as it discolors like new stainless does when you touch it. I'm thinking about a clear coat after the canopy is on.

More snow.

Thursday night we got 4 inches of snow and from 0600 Sat. morning to 1530 we got another 8 inches. cold and windy at the end so it made blowing the snow off the driveway messy. I got several face fulls of spray. I had adjusted the carb. on my old snow blower and I went too far as it can't take much of a load and keep running. The newer one is running fine.
I have all the pieces of the new lightning/model 33 together. It weighs 46.5 ounces. I still have to finish the cockpits.

Cold and windy.

I've got the planes flying pretty good finally. The new lightning is coming along. By removing the foam wing, building a new one and changing things as I went cut about 8 ounces off the final weight. I need some 3/16 balsa to make the flap leading edges with hinge pockets to complete the parts.I cut hinge pockets in the new wing and had to cut the hinges to remove the flaps from the old wing. Now I need to saw the cut hinges from the flaps and glue in the new pieces. The wing will be orange and the fuselage will be silver grey. The two cockpit openings make control adjustments easy. I will try X-O Rust paint on this one with a polyurethane clear.

Light and variable.

I headed for the field around 1300 and found the gate locked improperly so I couldn't get in. I drove to Oneco and got in the flights under strange winds. The planes flew well the head change worked pretty good but I had to change the tank so I have to test all over. I got both planes back to where they were almost. I centered the elevator with the flaps on both which produced better flying but had to replace the mufflers as the c/g was too far aft. Cold and windy for the next few days.