9 days in England.

We left for England on Jan. 20. The U.S. installed the socialist govt. while we were driving to Boston Logan arpt. We rode in a Boeing 777 and traveled at 728 mph on the way over. Not a bad place to visit temps in the 30's, sunny. Lots of old stuff to see and trains to ride on. Riding on the wrong side of the road is scarry. Very few stop signs and lots of traffic circles. The roads are not as wide as ours and the residential streets are very curvey. The commuter rail system runs on time and most roads pass over the tracks so there are very few crossings. The trains don't sound their horns at all, anywhere. Tooting your car horn is against the law unless it's an emergency. No light beer in the Pubs either. Very little in the stores. We only went 540 mph on the way back. The jet stream hurt us but we landed sooner than scheduled. The snow and rain the day before made a mess of the drive way. I broke up an inch of ice under the snow.I did finally get the refund from an ebayer while we were there. 5 months of badgering. I saw two plane kits on ebay like the ones I have won. I paid 48 for one and the second sold for 176. Another I paid 92 for and it went for 126. I didn't snipe either.

We have A/C

As I was waiting for a coat of dope to dry the UPS van pulled into the yard. I went out to get the goodies and he had the heater/A/C unit I ordered for the El Camino. I was happy because now I don't have to halt shipments while we are away. The control panel fits into the original space in the dash and it's computer controlled. No cables or vacuum lines to run. The outlets fit the originals and some have to be cut down to fit. The glove box has to be shortened two inches. Normally not a problem but this one is part of the dash panel. I should be able to have it installed in a few days as it's made for the car if it warms up a bit. Then it's off for paint then install the upholstery.

The way I see it.

A long time ago a space ship landed here. There wasn't any life at all anywhere on the planet. The spaceship driver, feeling the urge, opened the trap door on his/her space suit and took a dump. Then he/she wiped his/her Obama with a Koran and climbed back into the space ship and left, feeling quite refreshed. And from that little soft steaming pile of Government a brainless single celled creature emerged and, over the years, evolved into everything we have today.

My Christmas "idea".

On Christmas eve I had an idea for another plane. I finished it today. Orange econokote on the wing and Krylon inplement orange on the fuse and tail with 2 coats of Top Flite luster kote clear. I put an old Enya .35 Bushing main and baffled piston engine with a Hayes 4 oz. tank. The all up weight ready to fly weight is 32.02 ounces. Balance is real close to where it should be but on the nose heavy side which is very good. The weather has been real crappy with lots of wind/snow/rain. And cold over all. I suppose we will be gone when the January thaw hits. The Framed up ringmaster is boxed up but no bites from the members of the forum. I may have to put it on ebay.

All done.

After I figured out what went where I started to put the Ringmaster together. In about 8 hours it was framed up. It weighs 9.5 ounces as it sits. It will gain more as all the extra stuff is added. I found some boxes to ship it in as I plan to sell it either on ebay or the forums. I got the Magician ready to cover and paint but playing with the Ringmaster has pushed it off the schedule a bit.

Progress.

I installed the wing and stab. in the Magician 510 this morning. Then I made up the push rod and got that to fit. I got a can of primer and tested it with the other colors and all is ready. I remembered to call Vintage Air about the heater for the El Camino and they have it. It should be here late next week. While I was talking to Vintage The mail man drove up and delivered the Ringmaster kit I ordered last week. I removed the laser cut parts from the sheets and glued some together. The main wing spar is 6 pieces, the fuse. is 7 pieces, the landing gear has to be bent from a 3 foot rod. I had trouble figuring out the gear mount pieces. I thought they were an adjustable lead out guide. The stab. and rudder are 3/16" balsa and I dont know why. 1/8" would do. I'm going to laminate the stab and elevator with a sheet cloth hinge. It's easier than installing hinges. I'm waiting for some econokote so I can finish the Magician. Maybe by the end of this week.

Plan B.

The red sky produced a brief snow flurry. The silk span experiment wasn't good enough to keep going with it. I removed the paper and will cover the wing with monokote. The take apart plane design has changed to a dowel in the LE and maybe two aluminum angles to hold the fuse. perpendicular to the wing and from sliding off.

Dawn of trouble

I Took some pictures of the sunrise this morning. The most ominous I've ever seen. I started to cover the Magician 510 wing with silk span today. It was a pain 50 years ago and still is. I'm doing it differently but just sticking it down is troublesome. Everyone says to do wet but that just doesn't compute with me.I got monokote as an alternative.

Another year down the toilet

The snow yesterday lasted long enough to keep us home and not getting a free prime rib dinner at my daughter's. We made do with pea soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. Any way at breakfast this morning I was reminded of the first flight of the year ritual. I had totally forgotten about it. I had no r/c planes to fly. I remembered an indoor electric I have and took it to the field. It weighs 1/2 ounce. I had to wait in the car until the wind was between gusts and got out and let it go for a 20 foot flight. It covered the rules. I paid my dues and watched as another member got his plane started and took off. The plane flopped all over the sky until it finally did a split S from 50 feet into the big hole across the field. I started filling holes and dings on the Magician 510. I'm leaning on using silk span on it. I'm going to try spray glue to hold it on while I dope it on for good. Smelly stuff.