A day to paint

When I saw the weather report I knew it was time to paint the El Camino. I got out at 0600 and started to sand the body. The rust inhibitor was really a rust fertilizer and it took 4 hours to get it all off. And I didn't have to do the hood or fenders. I had bought 2 quarts of epoxy primer and mixed 2:1 with the hardener gave me 3 quarts of paint. I didn't have all the parts to my pressure regulator so I partially closed the shutoff on the hose to reduce the pressure. It must have worked. I got one coat from each can of paint so I had the exact amount needed for the job. During the touch up at the end I managed to spray myself in the face making a mess of my glasses. I had to use thinner to clean them and Palmolive dish soap to clean me. I left the car to dry overnight and have to put all the stuff back on for the trip to Groton for a windshield and exhaust system. And a radiator, someone put a sheet metal screw in a hole. It works with the cap on loose.

Time to paint

I bought some epoxy primer for the El Camino and hope to get it primered this week. The rust preventive I applied several weeks ago didn't work and I have to sand it all over again. I figure on doing it one small part at a time. I can use a smaller gun and not waste too much paint. $40.00 a quart. $60.00 when you add the hardener. I went to the defunct dog racing track and flew one of my older planes yesterday and today. It's the one with a maple core fuselage. It flies quite well but I made the leading edge of the wing too sharp and I have to be real carefull in hard corners. Rather don't do hard corners. I learned from the visit to Brodaks contest that I've been flying my planes too slow. I zipped this one up to 4.5 to 4.8 second laps and it made a big difference. The dog track parking lot must be 30 acres and all the light poles have been taken out so there isn't any obstacles to hit, only asphalt. No more flights until I get the car painted.

Bad day at the pits.

My horseshoe pitching has been poor for about a year and a half now. At a tournament Sun. my bad skill continued. It rained hard for an hour before my class pitched and the clay was real sloppy. Others in my class were doing well pitching well over their average and their best games against me it seemed.
I have to get some primer for the El Camino as my primary parts store will be closing in the near future. It's a family owned store and not aligned with any name brand store. The owners are at retirement age and a new Advance auto parts will be opening soon about a quarter mile away. The parts store has been open since about 1967. The only job the family has had. One kid left and went to work for E.B. in Groton but the other is still there and must find another job.
I got in a few flights on Sat. Not the plane I wanted to fly because my grandson wanted to see the plane with the star. It's a semi scale P-51 mustang. I flew it and ended up making trim changes for two hours when I got home. The hinge gap sealing tape restricted the control movement and had to come off.The controls didn't quite move the same up and down and while changing that I made a new pushrod. A wheel got tweaked to straighten it and the muffler got bigger holes drilled in it. It flew quite well as it was. The Primary force is 98% complete. I got some checkerboard stuff and finished the covering and sprayed clear on the fuse. I figured out why this can of clear was a lot older than the rest of the cans on the shelf at the hobby shop. It's flat clear. I didn't read the label until after spraying the plane.Too late. Any way, I'll probably get a can of gloss clear and hit it again. Final weight is 32 ounces. Real light for a kit built and I added and ounce or two in extra balsa for vibration control.

Progress on the El Camino.

I finally got the front fenders, grill and bumper on the car. It looks like a car again. It still needs a bunch of stuff to get it road worthy. I attacked the bumper with steel wool and coarse polishing compound to get the shine back. Not to mention Super Clean. I have to get front shocks too. It's getting near. After all the stuff from Richards gets done I'll give it a coat of red primer to hold it until final paint later on.
The Primary Force is nearing completion too. I got some transparent blue covering at Brodaks hobby shop last week and covered the wing and stab. I painted a white stripe along the bottom of the fuse. and red along the top. The Twister will get red transparent on the wing and stab. I'll probably leave the fuse. natural to save a little weight. Both powered by Fox .35's. Seeing as how I've modified the kit shape I think I'll name it "lil Hobo". I tried to get in a flight today but some one was working on the entrance to the field gate and the grass hasn't been mowed either. School ends this week so I'll have more choices by Friday.

Brodaks

The pictures below don't do the contest justice. The blue scale model of a Super Tucano is built from plans by 23 members of the team from Brazil. Each member built one, not all worked on this one. It is a stunter that flew very well. They were powered by 2 strokes and 4 strokes with one on a tuned pipe. The facility is in the back yard of John Brodak and lasts for 7 days. Old time stunt, AMA stunt,( 4 classes), carrier, speed limit combat, and some novelty events. Some of the ringmaster models were built so light that the wings folded in flight. Other pictures can be viewed on www.clstunt.com www.stunthangar.com www.brotherhoodofthering.info. Look for mention of Brodaks or stuff by Elwin Aud or Bill Mohrbacher. Bill also goes by G.WillyFox. And also PhotoJoe has some shots.

Brodaks fly in

Brodaks' fly in 2008, Carmichaels PA.

I spent two days at the largest control line contest in the world 6-12 and 13-08. Temps in the low 90's and very light winds.

Some progress.

The last of my order with Year One came in when they said it would. Mid 90's and humid. I tried to install the heater blower box but it has a different bolt pattern and is much smaller that the a/c box. I couldn't make it fit as the holes for the a/c weren't covered by the new box either. I would need a new firewall. So I gutted the a/c box and re-installed it. It took several hours to figure out which wires went where but with the help of the assembly book I got it figured out. I put the right fender on and ran out of bolts. Again in the high 90's I started work on a portable wind sock for the places I fly. There has been a tent in the woods in back of my house for at least 30 years and I figured I would have a use for it some day. I took the fiberglass poles that hold the tent fabric in place and tied a piece of plastic surveyors tape to one and stuck it in the ground. Urethra, it works. Now I have three extras. Each one comes apart in 4 pieces about 18 inches long each.

Mice and hot weather.

June 6 was raining here. And getting warmer which made driving tough as the windshield kept fogging up. Turning on the heater/defroster produced a rattle then nothing. Driving at 65 should produce enough airflow through the system to clear the windshield but it didn't. When I got home I checked out the system and found a blown fuse. Then I took the blower motor out and found the reason for the blown fuse and poor air flow. A mouse nest completely filled the cage fan and most of the heater box. I had the shop vac. and sucked the family into it along with the soccer ball size nest. I replaced the fuse and everything worked again. I checked the engine compartment and the trunk. Nothing else was there. On June 8 I looked at the engine and there was another nest on top of the manifold. I got two boxes of mothballs and some poison and spread it around the garage inside and out. I put some balls under the hood and in the insulation the mouse chewed up for the nests. This happened last year too. With gas prices so high I have reduced the use of the car so the mice take over.I hope to make their lives miserable.
The weather turned hot and tropical humid in a day. The cement floor in the garage was still cold and condensed the air into water under the cars. I started the hot rod and got it outside and washed it and put a fan in the stall to circulate air under the car. The last time I saw it rain under a vehicle like this it was in Panama after landing. The fuel in the C-130 wings condensed the air and it rained under the wings. The fuel was way below freezing because we flew at 24000 feet from Florida.
I had planned to have the El Camino finished by the time the heat came this summer. But because of the various back ordered parts I lost almost three months time. Now that the heat is here the back orders have been shipped and are due here today. Mid 80's with a dew point to match. It looks like I'll be able to send it to the muffler shop, front end alignment shop, windshield shop, and radiator shop in a couple weeks. And the tire shop. All this will be taken care of by my son-in-law.

All my stuff has shipped.

I got an e-mail from Year One on the 4th saying the battery tray was on the way. The next day I got another saying the heater box and a bunch of interior stuff that was back ordered had been shipped also. I got the battery tray yesterday the 6th. I checked the tracking no. and the second bunch should be Mon. the 9th. I had hoped to have it one the road by now.
I got the Primary Force framed up and put together then started on the Twister that I Fancherized by adding 3 inches to the fuse. and a top deck to the fuse. It's framed up and assembled also. I am trying to come up with a color scheme for the two planes. Both will be powered by Fox .35's.
It finally get quite warm here today. A big change from what we have had lately.