Thursday, April 30, 2026

Old table saw.

Back around 1980 I bought a Craftsman 10 inch, 3 horsepower, cast iron table saw to help in building my garage. I used it off and on since then. It came with me when we moved to Louisiana in 2015. A few months ago I went to use it and the motor acted real strange. I checked the capacitors and found one of two had popped open. I bought some new ones and got the motor running again after several tries and capacitor changes. I went to use it the other day and the blade got jammed and the motor stopped. Nothing I did would make it run. The circuit breaker wasn't tripped and the switch on the saw wasn't broken. I swapped out one of the capacitors, still nothing. I tried to check the capacitors with a multi meter but my meter doesn't have a "Farad" setting. As I was getting ready to try a different test I noticed a red button on the motor and I remembered from the first go around that the motor had a circuit breaker. I pushed the button and it clicked. A reset. I plugged it in and the moror started again. That saved several hundreds of dollars on a new table saw. And the new saw blade I bought can be used and not thrown away.

Monday, April 27, 2026

Just about ready for El Dorado.

The Oosa plane is flying well as is the Navion and Oriental. This will be the first time in a long time that I'm not using an OS.46LA engine on a contest plane.The Navion has an Evolution .60 and the Oriental has a Brodak .40. This morning I took the Oosa plane to the park to find out how much fuel to use for a pattern flight.l put in 4 .75 ounces and started the maneuvers. I got to the square eights when the air went very turbulent. I had to fly out the tank in level flight. Even then the plane was rocking in the wind. I had started a timer at engine start and it landed at 6 minutes and 45 seconds. I have 8 minutes to get the flight in so that should be enough fuel. The Evo .60 takes the same amount and the Brodak takes 3.5 ounces. I hope I do better in the raffle than I did last November. My plan is to get $10.00 worth of tickets on Saturday and $30.00 worth on Sunday. Saturday's raffle has small tools and stuff so I won't have that much to gain. Sunday has the kits and engines. A lot more valuable and useful.

Friday, March 6, 2026

Landing gear fix.

The raffle wing I used on the Oosa plane had an unknown landing gear mounting system. I didn't have the gear that was made for this wing so I substituted the gear from the J.D.Falcon. I used another set for that plane. I didn't have much hope for the security of the gear but went with it as I didn't know how it was built. \ At the park this morning I heard a sharp sound as the plane rolled out after landing. The right side gear had broken it's internal mount. At home I removed the gear and came up with a repair plan. I would install a 5/8 dowel for the gear to fit in and glue the dowel to the internal structure. I drilled a 5/8 hold where the dowel would go and drilled an 1/8 inch hole in the dowel for the gear wire to fit into. After drilling the 5/8 hole in the wing block I could see the way it was built. The gear I used was about 1/8 inch too short to work properly in that wing. With the dowel installed the wire fits in full length so it should be plenty strong. Next time out should tell. I was so pleased with the results that I did the same mod. to the left side gear. I also noticed that the flap was hitting the pushrod so I cut a bit off the flap and freed up the flap for more movement.

Saturday, February 21, 2026

Third time for this wing and stab.

This plane started out as the second scratch built "Wild Thing". Then the fuselage broke off just behind the engine. The wing and tail servived so I built the "Swizzle Stunt" with the parts. That stick fuselage broke and the wing was chewed up but usable. It sat around for several months waiting for an inspiration to strike. Nothing did so I built another fuselage, repaired the wing and this is the result. I flew it this morning and it flys well with an O.S. Max-S .35 engine on it. I'll probably give it away.

Thursday, February 5, 2026

New planes

The trophy McCoy .19 has a home. I put the graphics on right after the orange on the wing tips. I call it "Rat Fink", after the "Big Daddy" Ed Roth cartoon character. No special reason I just like the name. It still needs the clear coats and final assembly. I got a Super Tiger .51 from Ebay for 25 bucks. I kept the innerds from the .51 I sent out for bearings so I installed the ABC piston and liner into the ebay engine and put the engine on the plane I call the "Carpet Bagger". It had a .51 in it originally. The other plane I deceided to name it "Oosa Stunt Man" after the three names given to the three originals. The first plane ws a no name plane except it had very large USA on one wing and AMA on the other. So someone started calling it "Oosa-Amma". the second plane didn't have a name either but to be used in a magazine article it needed a name so the editor called it "Stunt Machine". The third copy the designer did name, he called it "Statesman" I actually thought about calling it Oosa Bin Laden" but didn't.
The trophy .19 has a home

Saturday, January 31, 2026

When I got the trophy McCoy .19 running I had to build a plane for it. I made up some ribs and put together a 30 inch wing of 221 square inches of area. The fuselage is totaly designed by the T.L.A.R. method or "That Looks About Right". The tail is from the Vector 40 but cut down. I bent the landing gear wire like the older kits had. One piece that was installed through the wing cut out in the fuselage before the wing was installed. I forgot that part today and had to force the gear into position with the wing glued in first. The gear went in without messing things up. The nose is drilled for the .19 engine and the O.S. LA .25 and FP.20 will fit into the rear bolt holes. The front holes interfeer with the McCoy's front holes so I installed two inserts to be uses with a strap to hold the .20 and .25 engines in place if needed. I plan to fly it off the cul de sac circle next to my house. I have to get some Spider wire fishing line or equivilent rather than use up some valuable .015 cables to make the short lines. The finish will be my usual style using Brodak butyrate dopes and clear and thinner like I did on the "Wild Thing".

Saturday, January 17, 2026

Time to go.

I got the chance to spray the clear today. Humidity was down a to reasonable levels and I had the new clear and thinner. I finished the color trims yesterday, the clear today and tomorrow I'll put it back together and get ready for a test flight.