Attrition

I went flying with the yellow ringmaster and on the second flight all the elevator hinges broke. A total loss, well not total the engine survived but not without some damage. I ran it on the bench and all seems well. A few days later I took the red white and blue ringmaster out and lost line tension doing overhead eights. The model flew to the outside of the circle returning line tension so hard it tore the EZ-Just plastic handle apart. This time it was a total loss. The engine crankcase is bent and in need of replacement, if I ever get around to it. I have to wait on the Primary Force long kit as the seller/mfg. is out on leave for a while. I made all the changes to the ARF and it is boxed and ready to send to LA. I put a "want to buy" ad on two forums and got a response. One Primary Force long kit for $60.00 plus the cost of the hardware he bought and shipping. A pretty good deal. In the meantime I looked at a .20 size ugly stick hanging in the basement and figured I could convert it to control line. I stripped all the covering off the wing, cut it in half and cut the root ends square to take the dihedral out. I planned to use the fuselage but decided to make one with some balsa I had. I opened up the Primary Force box and copied the fusellage shape and cut it out. I laminated it with 1/64" plywood and assembled all the pieces.(somehow I changed this type style) So far the weight is 46 ounces. Not too bad for an r/c wing. I plan to use the .40 OS engine that crashed on the yellow ringmaster. The temperature is forcast to get into the 50 degree range early next week so I'll apply the clear coats and it should be ready to fly in another week or so. I've been flying my modified Twister and it is going well. I can do the beginner pattern and some of the maneuvers of the AMA pattern as well. Namely the four leaf clover, hour glass, reverse wingover, inverted flight and verticle eights. I haven't tried the horizontal square eights yet. A Fox .35 doing the honors here. I bought some transparent iron on covering from Sig and I don't like it. I have used Top Flite Monokote ever since it came out in the late 50's. This other stuff dosen't stick nearly as well and creates problems trying to get it stuck. I think I have to use Balsarite with it. I won't buy it anymore.
Perry Rose