Another low pullout.

I went to the dog track yesterday and started a flight. At the finish of the vertical 8 The plane pancaked. The prop broke both blades off and the engine continued to run but stopped before I could get to it. As usual the muffler broke off taking one of the mounting holes on the engine with it. I glued the rudder back on and put glue on the section where the muffler crunched into the fuse. The landing gear was bent but easily straightened. I managed to install an old strap on flow through mufffler and it's ready to go again. I should start taking a spare plane so I can get in more that 2/3 of a flight.
I found a Vector ARF kit on ebay and was watching it but I don't need it so I didn't bother. It went for $92.00 + 17 shipping. Brodak sells the kit and it's $129.00 + shipping. Somebody got a good deal.
The new Vicar is coming along should be done in two weeks. OS .40/.46 for power. Same engine block for both.

Cool but sunny.

I went to Roy's at noon to tune the Dodge Dart he is trying to sell. It runs pretty good for having set for 5 years. Slant six, one bbl. carb., headers auto trans, mega shifter, nothing special. The car is in pretty good shape overall. The dog is doing well.
When I got home the sun was out and the wind was not too strong so I loaded up and went to the dog track. I got in two flights and remembered the electric prop and put it on for the third. It's noticeably smoother and flies as good or better than the top flite wood props.
I tried to get some sky blue paint for the Ruffy I started last year but it's not made. I tried to get some orange paint for the Vicar but it's not made either. I ordered insignia blue for the Ruffy and changed the orange to insignia blue for the Vicar.The wing will still be white though.

Cold and more rain.

Well I started the day with the ploan to go to Lizzy B's then the Motor Ve Hickle Dept to get the Dodge registered. I got to the Putnam office, a trailer, at 0930 and there wasn't a line out the door. This is a first. I went inside and only had 6 people in front of me. I got my turn and quickly was sent outside to get the GVW and Light weight off the door sticker, losing my place in line. I got my turn again with a different official and had to show the insurance card, which I didn't have to do the last time I was there. I brought all the paperwork I had on the Dodge with me so I was ready for any curve balls. I didn't get any credit for the cancelled Stratus plates as there wasn't a year left on the registration. The GVW is 8650 lbs. which is over the 8500 lb. limit for the cheaper registration. Final tally was $265.00 without any tax. 30 or 40 for the title which will be here in two months. They should sell T-shirts that say "I went to register my vehicle and all I got was this friggin' T-shirt.
When I got home I put the new plates on the Dodge and remembered I wanted to get a dump pass at the town hall too. At least that was free and went very smooth.
I put a coat of dope on the new plane and then a coat of thinned epoxy glue. One more coat of epoxy and I will start filling the dents with spot putty. I'm thinking of coloring it with a white nose and stripe down the fuse. and orange for the main color A white wing with an orange stripe from the tip to the root curving down the root almost to the flaps. I'm thinking of naming it 'Vicar' as in The Vicar of Dibley. Maybe I should make it green.

Cold and rainey.

I didn't get to fly because of the weather so I went to Town Line Auto and got the truck through emissions. We got all the paper work in order and filled out for the registration try. Probably tomorrow.
I got more done on the plane. I hinged the flaps and got the flap to bell crank push rod adjusted. I also got the cheek tripler installed on the right side of the nose and roughed out. Weight is up to 34.5 ounces as things get added. Still should be in the low 40's when it's finished.
I was reading Stuka Stunt forum and someone answered a question about how much fuel for how many minutes. I thought the Fox .40 had a drinking problem but according to the report it doesn't. Even running at the ragged edge between rich and lean it's a fuel miser compared to the engines listed in the report.

Nice weather.

After a trip to the VA in Providence I worked on the new plane. The nose is complete except for the cheek tripler. The wing fits nicely into the fuse cutout and the stab and elev. are hinged. I just bent a wire joiner for the flaps and slotted them for the hinges. I will glue the joiner in after getting the flaps level and in line. About 6 inches will be cut off the end of each flap and the right side piece will be adjustable as a trim tab. Maybe both. i have the landing gear holes and engine holes drilled and 1/8" plates made to go under the engine lugs to spread the load.
We went to the dog track this afternoon to get away from the sun but the wind changed a bit and still blew right into it. I got in 3 flights and found that 4 ounces will cause the engine to sputter in the clover leaf. I put in 4- 1/4 ounces and got through the whole pattern without a problem. 6 min. and 55 sec. engine run. That gives me one minute to start and get off the ground. So far the Fox is behaving nicely. Sounds raggedy but plenty of power and a steady run.

Found a bigger tank.

I remembered a tank I had made last summer and never used. I dug it out and put it on the primary force with a Fox .40. We went to the dog track and I put in 4.25 ounces of fuel. I timed the run from start to stop and got 6 min. 55 sec. I changed props to an 11 x 4 and put in the same amount of fuel. I leaned it a bit to get the rpm up to 10,000. It ran 20 secs. longer witha lap time of 5.3 secs. I had never timed anything inverted but I did with this tank and got the same lap time which is a good thing. A nice steady rpm until a few seconds before the fuel runs out but nothing to worry about. The tank will hold around 5 ounces. I have another homemade tank that has worked plus a chicken hopper tank Gil gave me. It works very well. Looks like I'll have to save the plastic tanks for the OS engines. The wind is coming out of the NW and right into the sun so I did a lot of level laps.
On our way home from Lizzy B's a car had spun out coming down the hill into Sterling and nosed into the retaining wall. All kinds of fire trucks in attendance.

Winning on ebay is easier than a raffle.

I was watching an auction for an OS .40 LA engine and the bids were going up a dollar at a time. I hit it with 30 bucks at the end and got it for $26.00 + $4.99 shipping. Another bidder must have put 25 bucks on it at the end as it was at 21. I still like Fox engines though. I just need to use a bigger tank. Of which I have plenty but they are metal.
I weighted the parts for the new model including the engine and gear and tank. Total so far is 29.5 ounces not including the wing which is still in the jig. So after finishing it should be below my target weight.

Then there was two.

We took the three day drive to Baton Rouge last week. We arrived in time to compete in the contest on Sat. and Sun. I managed a first on Sat. and a third on Sun. The way I have the Fox .40 set up it uses more fuel than usual. Even when it's set right I barely get in the two laps before landing. At the contest it ran out of fuel one maneuver short on each flight on Sun. I got in the full flight Sat. under bad conditions but Sun. used more fuel. I should have tweaked the needle more and it would have made the pattern but barely. I ran three different fuels yesterday and got the same run times. That leads me to believe it was a bit rich and a bit more nitro than I usually use.
I gunked the bed of the truck to wash out the spilled oil. The rear window was speckled too. No problem getting rid of the oil or the tires.
The cable tv is acting up and the cable guy is supposed to be here between 8 and 5 to fix it. It's almost 4 now and I've been trapped here all day.
I started a new plane before going to LA. I've been working on it all day so It's not a complete loss. I'm using the wing from the Pathfinder and the measurements from the fuse. Two wheels instead of three and a different fin and rudder and fuse shape. Another profile with flaps. I'm waiting for the second molded leading edge to dry before gluing them on and removing the wing from the jig. I'm hoping for less than 47 ounces on this one.

Blimp fly by at the dog track.

I added another head shim to the fox .40 I'm flying. I think it runs better. The fuel tank isn't doing what it's supposed to do so I changed it but the weather is going down hill and I wont get to test it for a while. I may have too much oil in the fuel too. Lots of variables to mess with. As I was putting the plane in the car to go home there was a blimp puttering along. May have been a "Hood" blimp but I couldn't see as it was not too close.
I started packing the car for the trip when we got home. We plan to leave close to 8 am to get behind the rush through New Haven and New York and ahead of the rush through Harrisburg, PA. Should be a nice ride with the foliage and all.

Roy's puppy.

Fall weather.

Wind, rain, cool temps. I did get in one flight yesterday between showers. Leaves cover most of the lawn with only half off the trees. I fixed a set of lines to bring to the contest next week. I may use the original ones as they are working well, just a bit short.

Free at last, free.......

I flew the Fox .35's and they behaved well. It seems I have solved the problem or found the solution everyone else knows and won't tell about. Windy as heck today.
I pulled the heads off the 350 and cleaned them up. 1.94/1.5 valves. The engine has flat top pistons, I'm surprised at that.
Reservations made for the trip next week. I'm thinking about bringing another plane for the Sunday contest.

All that glitters is not goldfish.

With the success of the change to the Fox .40 I did the same thing to another one here at home to see if the results were repeatable. I'm happy to announce that I got the same results again. Not being happy I added .030 more shims to the head of a Fox .35 that has been giving me fits trying to tune. It ran very well on the bench but I haven't flown it yet. Hopefully today. I have a lot more shims for the .35's.

Change of plans/trip report.

As we prepared to go to Burlington, VT we got a phone call and ended up in Slaughter, LA 2 days later. Rather than drive the El Camino as planned for the Oct. trip we flew. This was caused by an accident between a motorcycle and a pickup. Anyway I got together with Gil Causey and went flying several times. Between the two of us we straightened out the Fox .40 running problem. I shaved .025 off the large chamber head and installed .042 worth of head shims. No more wild runs after that. Gil wasn't so lucky as his engine acted like mine used to. He changed it.
It was deceided that we would trade cars with Aaron again like we did 3 years ago. We had planned to go to LA for a visit in mid Oct. but the accident changed that. Now with a few broken bones and a beat up motorcycle a change of plans ensued. We will drive the Stratus R/T to LA in mid Oct. in time to get in the contest and make the swap. Almost back on track.
I made a trip to the hobby shop while in LA and picked up 3 gallons of 10% fuel plus some other stuff. I then figured that I could get some methanol at the local drag strip which is only 30 miles away compared to 140 miles here at home. Aaron looked up the hours of operation and found the cost to be $1.50 a gallon cheaper that here also. I got 10 gallons. I gave Gil 2 gallons for a needle valve asm. he gave me. Seeing that we will be driving back home in a pick up I don't have to worry about paying haz mat shipping charges on the stuff I bought. Monster savings.
I installed the new wing on the ringmaster and it flies very well. I hit the box on landing and had to repair the wing but it still flies well.
The trip home was good and on time. The jet stream got us into Atlanta 30 minutes early and we waited that 30 minutes for a gate to open. Leaving Atlanta we had to wait for planes behind us to move before we could push back. Another 30 minutes. We got into PVD on time with the help of the Jet stream. The Cpt. said we were doing 700 mph. I saw a fireworks display on the ground as we flew over someplace. Then we passed by a line of thunderstorms and got to watch the lightning in the clouds. Pretty neat.