Summer is here.

For 5 days now I haven't needed the quilt on my bed. Summer must really be here at last. I go flying in the morning to avoid the heat, nearing 80 degrees and 80% humidity.
The Fox .35 is still giving me trouble. I put in 3 head shims and a stock muffler to calm it down. On the ground it runs great. But when I pull the release the plane travels 30 feet and the engine goes into fast 2 cycle mode for the entire run. Not the famed thermal runaway as the engine isn't that hot at the end of the flight. I'm trying a different fuel mix. I'll try putting the original head back on as the hemi head is way too powerful and finicky.
I posted my question about nitro and oil on one of the forums and it has 2 pages of arguments so far. One respondent got a PhD friend to give an answer. I'm beginning to forget what I was looking for.

Finally figured it out.

I moved the elevator horn up past the hinge line to give me exponential on the up control and it worked. I reversed the problem and now have to be careful of the down. My wrist moves more down than up. I need to be aware of this and give more down than I had to before. I modified all my non flaped planes.
Electric powered planes have their own style of propellers. They are lighter and quieter and more efficient than the other props. I have talked with a guy who has been using them for a while with no problems. I found one and had been using it on the OS .25. The packaging says electric only. A lot of people are scared of them on fuel engines because of the electric only sign. I had no problems until I hit the asphalt.

I went to the Fair.

I had the idea that using 20% nitro fuel to make my blend of fuel would be more cost effective. I mixed a batch of 2.5% fuel using the 20% car fuel I had been given a while back. It runs as good as the mix I'm using so I figure a gallon of 20% will get me 8 or more gallons of 2.5% fuel.
An old friend of mine from the Oneco days plays in a bluegrass band. I didn't know about it until a couple years ago. I finally got the chance to see him play today. The band was at the Foster, RI fair. I spent the afternoon there and the band is pretty good. I don't know when he learned to play the flat top or where. I checked the web site, Pine Creek Bluegrass, and their next gig isn't posted yet.
I've been using an electric prop on my OS .25 with good results. It's quieter and more efficient. I broke it this morning at the bottom of the hourglass maneuver. All the experts said it would fly apart from the pulses of the engine. The experts are not that bright. Probably the same ones that predict the economy.

I'm getting there.

I forgot what formula I used in each of the jugs of fuel I had mixed. The solution was to dump them all into one jug. I did and with some old but still good glow plugs the stuff is working fine. I brought the Snow Fox out and started trimming it. It's a good flying plane. Designed by Leo Mehl as a full fuse. stunter I made it into a profile. I have an OS .40 on it and it has plenty of power. The winds are so light it's hard to find where it's coming from. Wake turbulence from the plane is a bother too. I did get 6 good glow plugs from Hobby People. I really think they are the old Hobby Lobby.
I had an interesting thing happen to my lawn tractor. I removed the carb. and gas poured out of the breather pipe that connects the air cleaner to the engine. Funny part about that is I have a shut off and it was closed and not leaking. I tried to start it and it wouldn't turn over. I removed the spark plug and the gas spurted out when I hit the starter. All tests have been negative for leaking anythings. A new carb. is close to $150.00 delivered.

Back to flying at the new school.

I brought Roy to get the bike yesterday. All went well, he's happy.
I went to the new school and gto in a couple flights the other day. I have come to the conclusion that some nitro is needed to get the engines to run smoother and cooler. The no nitro fuel requires you to lean the mix almost a full turn from where 5% nitro runs. This not only makes the engine run longer but cuts down on the amount of oil going through the engine which in turn makes it run hotter. I mixed some no nitro with 5% nitro fuel and ended up with 2.5% nitro whict runs better and a lot cooler. And this is with about 22% oil as opposed to 27% oil in the no nitro fuel. So with that in mind my next fuel order will be 4 gallons of 10% nitro fuel and I'll mix each gallon with 3 gallons of no nitro which should produce 4 gallons of 2.5% fuel. If I mix the no nitro fuel 1 gallon and 1 quart of castor oil that should give me 20% oil just like the bought fuel. And with 10% fuel I can make the blend stronger for cold weather ops. The glow plugs are less finicky with nitro too. I figure I can get 16 gallons of 2.5% nitro 20% oil fuel out of the 4 gallon case of 10% nitro fuel. And I'll have 3 gallons of no nitro fuel left over. Looks like I should stop typing and start flying.
Yesterdays weather was awful. Low 80's with very high humidity. And today is as perfect as you could want. All we had to do was wait a minute.

Flying off grass.

I went to the new school in Sterling this morning. The engines liked the fuel with less oil but not that much. They run great with the battery connected but really sag without it. The winds and turbulence is as bad as the dog track. I could feel a good breeze but the plane didn't. Real strange. Like a wind shear at 7 feet above ground. The wind changed directions many times during a flight making things worse.
I ordered some glow plugs from Hobby People in CA. Their ad looks like the old Hobby Lobby store. That should help the engines run better. I'm switching a plug that works a little bit between engines just to get in a flight.

New Bike.

Roy got the loan to buy Richard's bike yesterday. Now there are papers to sign before getting the money. He may pick the bike up today or tomorrow. He also may have to wear foot protection of some kind, shower clogs, as this bike has pegs and not floor boards.
I finally figured that the glow plugs I'm using don't work well with the high oil fuel I'm using. I'm dropping down to 22% oil until I get some good plugs. Just one inverted landing lately. The sun and winds are playing havoc with me at the dog track. The thermals coming off the asphalt knock the plane all over the place. The wind feels like it's coming from one direction but the plane doesn't get more pull down wind or less up wind. I'm getting a lot of level flight practice. That might explain why I haven't crashed in a few weeks.
The engine that was on the P-51 got sent to Fox as a trade-in for a new one. I found a crack in the block just above the right side bolt lug. It went through to the inside so I traded it in at 50% list price. This is the third trade in I've done. It's going to be cloudy today so the air should be steadier.

Back in one piece.

I brought the carpet for the El Camino to the body shop today. I figured it would be better to install it now before the seat comes back from being upholstered than after. The car is painted and back together. The windshield is in with black rubber trin instead of the bent up shiny metal trim. It really looks good. SS stripes on the hood and an SS stripe on the tail gate that wasn't used on production vehicles. It should cause some problems for the know it all. But I have the assembly manual page with this stripe shown. The body man found a piece of windlace and I looked and found the mate to it in the well behind the seat. I believe I'm only missing one piece now. And you might know I forgot to bring a camera again.

A low and a high.

I got a call from my brother yesterday and he is interested in buying my son in laws '99 superglide. I am taking him to see it this morning.
I was going to go to the body shop after seeing the bike but my wife is trading the Magellan GPS unit for a much newer one and I have to send the old one out Fed Ex quickly. I'll bring the carpet to the shop next week before the seat comes back.
When I looked at the temp. at 6 am it was 49 degrees. Thanks Al, you asshole.

No change.

I went to the dog track and flew the now straight wing. It still banked right wing up. I re set the tab back to where it was to level the wing. I got in two flights each with the planes without hitting the pavement. I changed tanks on the Christmas idea plane, the one with the now straight wing. The plastic tank just didn't work right. I ran the engine with the new tank and it sounded better. Only flying will tell if it's going to work.
Going on two solid months of cool crappy weather. Thanks Al, you asshole.

Flying in the rain.

I went to the dog track a tad later than I wanted to because I was changing engines on one of my scratch builts. I flew the Primary Force once and brought out the other plane. Fox .35 with a hemi kit. It ws too fast and on the second flight I got it slower but the thunderstorm started long before the fuel ran out. I was thinking on a high speed landing and driving the prop into the pavement or if lightning was too close letting go of the handle and running for the car. The engine finally quit and we stuffed everything into the car and left. It's still raining and thundering 2 hours later. I had to re heat the wing to remove a warp and I put another shim under the head to tame the engine more. The hemi kit makes a brute out of the .35. Fast 4 cycle at 9600 rpm. Without the kit it would be 8500. I wanted to test the wing but the rain is not going away.

Down to ten.

The weather was quite nice today and the wind was light. I packed up the P-51 and headed for the dog track. I also brought some weed killer to spray on the grass growing through the cracks in the asphalt. First flight I got to the square 8 and in the inverted portion I tweaked the up line and roofed the plane again. The tail broke off this time along with 8 inches of fuse. The left wing broke at the fuse. joint too. The plastic spinner saved the engine from damage but did bend the needle valve when it broke. After taking the usable parts off and scrapping the rest I brought back the Primary Force/ OS .25. I got in two flights with it with no complications. I have a second kit built Primary Force to go after this one then the Ringmaster 576 then 4 planes with flaps and the Magician. I think I'll go with ARF's instead of kits or scratch building from now on. They are cheaper and well built.
The owner of the body shop that's painting the El Camino called and said the upholsterers want $900.00 to do the seat. That's a lot more than I expected but I have no choice. It should be done in a couple of weeks. The seat that is. I have to get the carpet to the shop before the seat comes back so I don't have to remove the seat to install the carpet.
I took the hot rod to coffee and to an ice cream shop in Preston. It's running like always again.
The Saturn passed the emissions test this morning. We got the check engine light turned off and the computer reset last Fri. I was hoping it wouldn't come back on before it got re tested. Disconnect the battery for two minutes is all that needs to be done to reset the computer.

Or a vacuum leak.

I attacked the hot rod after breakfast at Lizzy B's. I found the carb. hold down bolts loose. I removed the carb. and opened it up and found everything in order. I looked up the torque spec. and tightened the nuts a bit more at 100 inch pounds. A big difference in how it runs. I can't figure out how they come loose in a few weeks. I added thread locker this time.
It's too windy to fly again. I'll watch and see when it calms down a bit and plan on that if it's windy tomorrow. I have to remember to fly the corner in the reverse wingover and not ease it into inverted like I did the other day. Had I started 5 feet higher it would have nearly perfect.

Morning sun was shining like a red rubber ball.

For the first time since Memorial day, and maybe earlier, the sun was visable at sunrise. No clouds to cover it. The sun was out all day. We met up with the Woods and ended up at Gallilee RI for lunch. A real good day for a change.
I flew the P-51 after the repairs and it went well. I did the full pattern for the first time with it. I hope to get in some flights today. Looks like the next contest for me will be Lee, MA in a month or so.
The hot rod is not running right. It has a stumble just off idle. I figure it's carb related and will have a look at it soon.Maybe been sitting too long or water in the fuel. Could be the accelerator pump too.
I drove a Corvette for the first time yesterday. A fuel injected 62, 4 speed. It's a small car. I had trouble finding first gear and the gas pedal was in a bad place. I didn't hit anything though.

More damage.

The rain started an hour earlier yesterday. I has only sprinkled so far today.
I roofed the P-51 during the reverse wingover yesterday. The verticle fin got busted up but I had it repaired in a couple hours. I'm running out of props for the .40 engines too. I flew it today with good results. I did the whole pattern with it for the first time. I like the way it flies, very stable and turns very good corners. The wing in a box has passed through TN on it's way to LA. I doubt it will make it today as they estimated.

It's stopped raining.

About 4 pm today it stopped raining after 10 hours of thunderstorms. Temps in the mid 60's. The forecast for tonight and tomorrow is more storms. Thanks Al, you asshole.

Same old crap.

It started raining around 6 am today and hasn't stopped. It's been one thunderstorm after another for 6 hours now. Not the first time this has happened but it don't happen often here.
The sun made the covering on the P-51 wing sag yesterday and I had to put the heat gun to it. I tested the new engine mounts and fuel tank this morning. I had to put a drop of armorall in the fuel to stop the bubbles. Straight methanol and 25% castor with a 11.5 x 4 APC prop. It ran 6 minutes on 90 cc's of this brew. Right around 10,000 rpm. I'll give it a try if the rain stops.
It looks like the contest next week is in conflict with the fireworks in Groton.
When I shipped the wing yesterday the clerk said she had got a letter from UPS about my claim and that it had been denied. I figured I would get a letter too but nothing so far. I called and asked the clerk to hold on to the letter and I would stop by and get a copy.