A different bike.

We went to the turkey farm on Ekonk hill Sun. and a group of motorcycles pulled in right behind us. One of the Harley's had a trike set up but retained the original rear wheel. Two other wheels, like training wheels, were attached to the rear end using some kind of bracket. Commercially available it had molded fiberglass fenders and all 3 back wheels were on the ground at the same time making a 4 wheel trike. It has AZ plates so I figured it may be normal. That evening while leaving a restaurant in Guilford I saw another 4 wheel trike go by. I think it's a movement. Just thinking about it gives me one.

Maybe summer again.

I took the Fox .40 to the field this morning and made several short flights trying to get a decent run but failed. I tried different needle valves but the same results.
We went to the hobby shop and got 4 gallons of 15% fuel. The Fox ran better on higher nitro but the OS ran a lot better on the same mix. I'll be flying the OS engines for a while. I believe the trouble is related to the warmer weather. The engines ran well this spring.
I may have to mow in Oneco very soon. I have a mower ready to go that has adjustable wheels so I can do the whole circle low down.

Barely spring now.

I was showing the grandson how to use a bow and arrow the other day. I noticed what looked like a small washer in the grass and figured it might come in handy some day and picked it up. It wasn't a washer. It is a round nut that holds the instruments in the bracket on the Harley. I lost it years ago while changing handle bars or trying to stop the vibration in the bracket. I cleaned it up and mailed it to LA. It's designed to be used with fingers only.
I think I have got the OS engine running right. It needs more nitro. With the very slightly warmer temps and humidity the 2% fuel I mix just isn't doing the job. I put in some other fuel with a higher nitro content and the engine ran perfectly. A possible contest in Lee, MA in late August.
I may swap engines around and install the trusty Fox back on the Padre, the OS .40 back on the Ringmaster, and the OS .46 back on the Pathfinder.
I've burned a lot of fuel lately as the winds have been right in my skill range. On one outing last week I burned a quart. That's the first time I used that much in one outing. That's about 10 flights. In r/c you use that much in 3 flights.

It is winter.

Low 60's, cloudy and a little wind.
I changed the venturi in the Ringmaster 576 engine to one from a .25. It and the OS needle valve asm. work very well on the .40/.46 engines. I also removed the spinner and put the heavy hub on. In case the spinner was getting in the way of the air flow. Then on a whim I tried a higher nitro fuel. It worked. 3 flights with perfect engine runs. I tried a tank of the regular fuel and it acted up. For some reason the engine in the Ringmaster needs higher nitro but runs fine on low nitro in other planes.

Sucessful trial run.

The piston swap didn't work as hoped. It did run better but still ran away when the tank neared empty. I removed the engine from the plane and from the Twister and swapped them. I installed a new head on the bad engine to raise the compression back to stock levels. Then I installed it on the Twister. Test tomorrow maybe.
It started to sprinkle around 1100 so I loaded up the mower and headed for Oneco. I pushed it on the truck at home and drove off the drive at the field and pushed it off. I parked the truck and drove the mower through the gate onto the field pulling the outrigger mower behind. I hooked them together and lowered the mower deck and holding the tape measure at 75 feet started enlarging the circle. I took 3 trips around until I was on the original circle and then started the other mower and raised the deck to match it's cutting height. I don't need real short grass outside the takeoff and landing area. By now the rain is heavier but not to bad. I kept going as stopping was out of the question. It took an hour to finish and I went over the low cut area again to blow the cuttings off the circle. The town crew that was mowing yesterday didn't mow in the circle as I had hoped. My grass was shorter than his newly mowed grass but there was a bunch of tall spike weeds starting to grab the lines so I mowed them down. I did find a baseball and a golf ball in the grass.

Summer is here.

I flew the 576 this morning and it flys better with each change. The longer lines and slightly less nose weight did the trick. The workers were starting to mow the section I was in so I left after 3 flights. I tried to change piston and liner as the compression was low on the engine but the other liner was stripped of chrome or nickle plating. I changed the piston only and the compression is better. I put on a metal tank and ran it for a bit at home. I noticed a spray of fuel coming from the venturi. I rotated the spray bar quite a bit until the hole was in the 4 o'clock position and twards the rear. I don't know where it was before.
I went to Tractor Supply and the inner tubes for the mower were there. They were supposed to call. I installed them into the tires and got them ready to go. About 4 pm the phone rang and it was Tractor Supply. I told her I had bought them a few hours ago. I asked about the 5 ounce syringes and she hasn't got a call back from her supplier.
I started to fill out the wish sheet for next years race tickets and for the heck of it I called and asked if they had any end seats. I exchanged the tickets for 2 end seats in section NE row 44 seats 1 and 2. I had to mail them back before they will complete the swap. Hopefully I will get the new ones in a few weeks. I said the VIP section would do in a pinch and she started laughing. I said that don't sound good. She said don't push your luck. People in the good seats are holding on to their tickets.
I think I found a spot to offload the mower at the Oneco site. I tied the ramps together and will use the metal car ramps to raise the wood ones if I have to. I couldn't find any anti-skid at Tractor Supply maybe Lowes or Home Depot next time I'm in the area.

Making progress.

Around 0700 I received 5 gallons of methanol. I mixed up a pint batch of fuel and headed for Oneco. The new fuel ran as good as the other fuel.
The nose weight in the Ringmaster did the trick. The plane settled down nicely. As I figured it now needs more elevator travel. Once home I removed the 2 ounce hub and put on a 1.7 ounce spinner. Then I installed a shorter elevator horn and played with the elevator travel until it was equal both ways. I went back to Oneco and got in 3 flights using the rest of the new fuel. The plane flys very well. I have to try it on 63 foot lines next.

Decent weather for a change.

We went by the r/c field to see if the hay had been mowed and it hasn't.
I've been to the Oneco site during last week and got in some flying. I have to enlarge it about 6 feet so I can have room to set up and not have the handle in the center circle. I made a pair of ramps to get the mower on and off the truck and it will fit through the gate that is the only open entrance to the field.
The 576 Ringmaster has been giving me trouble with level flight. When the engine quits it noses over towards the ground on top of things. When I got home I checked the thrust line and found a bit of up thrust in the engine. I adjusted that into a bit of down thrust. And I figured the nose over could be a nose heavy condition too. I got the plans and transferred the c/g to the model and put it on the balancer. I come up with a rather severe tail heavy condition. I installed a 2 ounce hub to the engine and got the c/g within a 1/4 inch still to the tail heavy side but a lot better than it was. I put some grease on the leadouts as they were scraping on the guides. I may have to move the leadout guide closer to the wing tip. The engine has been running well and changing from a 4 stroke to a 2 stroke in maneuvers. The change is very abrupt and powerful. Like a .60 on a short pipe. I put one of the modified heads back on to quiet that down a bit and it worked pretty good. I'll give it a try tomorrow.
I found 2 more dead squirrels while mowing the lawn. The foxes are not going hungry.

Still winter.

Well I finally did it. We went to the Oneco town hall to fly and as we were leaving I figured I would see about mowing a spot instead of waiting for the town to mow the field. The first selectman wasn't in so I left a message. He called back a few hours later and gave me permission to mow the circle. 150 feet diameter. Probably take an hour or so between the rain showers. I have flown there since the school was first built in the 50's. The town bought the field later and I started flying in the field several years ago off and on. The farmer still hasn't mowed the r/c field and the grass is getting too high in the ball field in Moosup. I'd like to take the rider but I need a bank to unload it and I don't think there is one usable nearby. Oh well, it's flat ground.
I checked the timing on the El Camino and decided it's time to get a new timing light. My old one is close to 40 years old and the flash isn't that bright. I have to use it in the dark.

Winter is back.

After 3 days with temps. in the 90's the temps have dropped into the 50's with thunderstorms, wind and rain. Whoopie.
I did manage to get in 5 days of flying before the bad weather hit. I made sheet aluminum landing gear for the Twister but haven't been able to try it out. A couple more flights with the Pathfinder and I'll put the engine back in the Lightning. I made a hole in the firewall and the hatch cover and removed some wood from the hatch cover so heat can escape. I'll cut into the fuselage sides if this don't work. Only one contest in New England this season.
We got the email instruction manual for the a/c test rig to print. I moved it from email into my saved emails and then it would print normally. Except the printer acted up and needed tweaking. I can't figure why it came with the brief instruction sheet and not the full data that I needed. China's attempt at garage humor I guess.
I may have to mow a circle at the Oneco town hall field and/or the Sterling school field. I'm sure mowing won't be high on the list of things for the town crews to do with budgets tight and all. I probably should get permission.

It is summer again.

I loaded the El Camino with the Pathfinder and went for coffee. The engine ran better with the distributor vacuum line on the other port. I got in two flights and headed home. The engine that was giving me trouble is running very well on the profile. I removed some of the shroud on the other plane so it should run good there too. The stump is still cooking. I cut more of the top off and have a plan to burn the outer ring of wood that is so hard to cut with the chain saw. It burned about a foot into the ground.

A good day finally.

We went to the Harbor Freight store in Warwick, RI yesterday. They had an air conditioner hose set with gauges on sale. I haven't charged the A/C in the El Camino and needed a set of hoses as Richard won't have his once the garage is sold.
The winds are light today and I went to the Oneco school/town hall to fly the Pathfinder with the problem engine. The field had been mowed and the engine ran very well. So I figure the trouble had to be from overheating in the other plane.
I've been burning the oldest stumps. Both are cored out by the fire and one is still smoking. I trimmed the outer ring with the chain saw. I have one bag of briquets left and will start on the tamarack stumps with it. the outer wood is very hard.
I did some trouble shooting on the El Camino engine today. I checked the timing and it was about 14 degrees BTC with the advance inop. I felt the rod that pulls the timing ahead while I worked the carb and found a lag in response and no movement when the carb is opened slowly. I moved the hose to another port and things worked like they should. The directions point to the first port as the distributor advance port but it don't work right. I'll test it in the morning.
Horseshoes at home are going great. But not as good against an opponent. I'm pitching to get muscle memory for the league.

A nice day.

I may have fixed the problem we are having getting on the blogs. Probably not, we'll see.
We went to the school this morning and I got in some flights with the Little Lightning. There may be an overheat condition because of the cowl I made. It fits close th the head of the engine and could be trapping heat. I removed the engine and installed it on the profile Pathfinder. I hope to test it in the morning. Other than that the temp. was 42 this morning and barely got above 70 this afternoon. Light winds though.

Play ball.

With the hay at record heights I plan on flying in the ball field at the Little League park here in Moosup. It's a pain to get into with the fences and all but it's close by. The town of Sterling is remiss in mowing any of their fields. The school isn't too bad but getting there and the field in Oneco isn't flyable. The ball field should be mowed as it's the season now.

We are heading into RI for gas and breakfast in a bit. Probably eat at Earl Hopkins place, Shady Acres.