The wait begins.

We went to the hobby shop in Fiskdale, MA, Hog Heaven, and I got some parts and had to order some cub yellow trim sheets for the a-36. I found an old bottle of Pactra Aero Gloss paint that was the color I have been looking for for the bottom of the A-36. It was 4 ounces and with thinning should be enough for the bottom. As it turned out 4 ounces just barely did the job. I had to use the Badger air brush for the last touch ups as it has a small paint tank. I had never used it and it's been around for over 20 years. It worked fine with it's own air supply in a can. I checked Amazon and found that replacements are still available. The bottom of the plane has less area than the top. The fuselage sides and top, the fin and rudder make 4 ounces of paint too litrtle for the job. I called Brodak and ordered another 4 ounces of olive drab and a pint of thinner. Maybe by mid week next I'll be able to spray on the olive drab. Then it will be getting the decals and lettering to finish the job. I got the local sign cutter working of the unit insignia but I haven't heard from him in over a week. I'll be seeing him about the other lettering and will check on the insignia then.
  I got the new lines in yesterday and made up a set of .018 dia. by 67 feet long. That is the max. length for that plane with in the rules of 70 feet from handle to the center of the model. And with the heavier more powerful plane and engine I figure .015 dia. lines would be pushing it. They will hold the plane and maybe I'll go the them after I find out how much pull this set up has. A windy day will require the use of the .018's as the pull down wind is a lot more than on a normal wind day.

Christmas Eve flying.

After some sanding and applying Polycrylic on the Strega/A-36 I noticed the winds were wuite low. The temp. was in the high 30's so I grabbed the Guru and headed for the field. There was 4 others flying r/c helicopters but they don't bother me at the circle. After putting the vent tube back on the tank and warming the engine with hot water it backfired on the first flip and spit the prop off. I had to remove the spinner to tighten the prop and replace the spinner. About a third into the flight the engine ran faster than it should have but I didn't get through the pattern before it quit. The vent tube fell off causing fuel to siphon out. I had a piece of tubing and a plug so after fixing that I got a good flight in. That plane flys very well. The handle I'm using on it is one I won at the raffle in October. The ones I'm making are noticably thinner. When I got home I fired up the sander and took a 1/4 inch off the thickness of the handle. I took a half ounce of tip weight out too and put on 2.5 inch wheels as the 2.25 inchers didn't like the rough ground and the gear is a bit too far aft.  I put in a new longer piece of vent tubing, hopefully that will cure the problem.
  I started the proces of gluing the canopy on the Strega/A-36. I got an instrument panel and a pilot figure glued in then brushed on the final color where the canopy is located so when I mask it off for the final painting there won't be any bare wood showing under the canopy. I bought some of the new fast setting J-B Weld and have tested it with good results. I'll use that to go around the entire canopy and really glue it down and form a fillet at the same time.

Carb. change.

I have moved between the Holley and the Edelbrock version of the Carter A.F.B. carbs. all summer and into the winter. The main problem has been the electric choke on the Holley and percieved gas mileage on the AFB. I had the Holley on first and installed the AFB because of the choke. The AFB runs very well but seemed to have poor mileage. I reeinstalled the Holley and put a manual choke conversion on it and the high idle wouldn't drop on command. I trimmed some plastic and improved the situation. The Holley also has a stumble at parking lot speed and a little more gas to get over the stumble is too much speed for a parking lot. I bit the bullet and put the AFB back on the other day and will stick with it. I don't think the mileage is any worse than the Holley. The high idle is connected to the choke so it comes off as the choke opens manually. The AFB has a manual choke to begin with. No stumble either.
  I weighed all the parts of the Strega/A-36 and came up with 58.5 ounces. It's very close to paint and should be real close to my hoped for weight of 59.9 ounces when fully assembled and ready to fly. I didn't factor in the wing tip weight about an ounce there. I thought the plane was all one color but I found today it has a light blue or grey bottom. I have to get some white dope to lighten the light blue I have. A very light grey primer would be about perfect too but I think I already have the lightest grey primer out there. I could apply the bottom color after the olive drab dope for the top then I could use enamel or whatever brand that has what I need.

Back to where I was if I did plan "A".

I had ordered some light silk span from Brodak to apply over the fuzzy covering on the wing. After thinking about it for several hours I decieded to remove the old and put on new covering. I was afraid that the silk span would not adhere to the fuzzy areas well. In my impatience I abandoned the idea to apply the above silk span to the fuselage and brushed on two coats of epoxy. Now that I re covered the wing with poly span I had this light silk sapn doing nothing along with me. I started cutting a piece for the rear of the fuselage and when I finished the fuselage was covered with paper. Which is what I had planned all along. All this could have been averted if Brodak had gotten my order here the same day I called it in. I did mail the landing gear back and got the decals so that order is straightened out.

Once more for old times sake.

The poly span covering I used on the Strega/A-36 wing has to go on smooth side up. It isn't too hard to figure out which side is the smooth side as I got it right on the bottom which I covered first. After a few coats of polycrylic on the entire wing surface I very lightly sanded the wing with 400A paper. The top looked funny after that. I hit those areas with a coat of primer this morning and the fuzz stood up right away. I couldn't sand it off either. I ended up removing the covering from the top of both wing panels and applying new covering. I tested for the smooth side several times before and after sticking it down. I found that running the covering over fine grit sand paper 'across the grain' was the best way to find the smooth side for sure. Testing with the grain was not usefull at all.  I heated the covering to remove the wrinkles and it's drying now. I'll put some coats on the areas I didn't get today later. Mostly the open bays between the ribs.
  The decals from Brodak came in a few minutres ago. I took a chance they would be close to the right size as Brodak is the only one that has the star and bar with a red surround which is on the A-36 I'm copying. The size is perfect. They are for one of Brodaks Hellcat kits.
 The weather is going down the drain with high winds and snow showers today. More snow is in the forecast for next week.

Not quite an auto clave but...

 I called Brodak Mon. afternoon and ordered some light silk span, decals, a pilot figure and some paint. It hadn't arrived by night fall mail delivery so I went with plan 'A'. I figured that i could use finishing epoxy instead of the paper but getting it to cure in these cooler temperatures is a problem. I mixed up a small batch of epoxy and thinned it to brushing consistancy and applied a coat to the cowl and hatch cover and put them on the furnace to cure. The next day the epoxy had cured very nicely. Now how to get the plane on the furnace?  I mixed a batch of epoxy and brushed a coat on the fuselage. The next day it was tacky still even though I had the plane near one of the baseboard heaters in my bed room. That may explain why it stayed tacky. We had electric heat installed in the upstairs rooms when they were remodeled 30 years ago and now they go unused. One of the rooms is about 8 feet square. I turned the heat on to 75 degrees and started to mix a batch of epoxy. I brushed on the second coat and put the plane near the heater. A few hours later I got the idea to hang it from the ceiling and did that and turned the heat up a bit more. 8 hours later the epoxy had cured nice and hard.
  I found the Brodak order on the back porch again and opened it to find wire landing gear instead of decals. The invoice had the correct number so I called and got that straightened out then mailed the gear and invoice back to Brodak. I hung the silk span on the wall.
This morning I mixed up a batch of spackle into a slurry of brushing consistancy and put a coat on the fuselage. When it dries I'll sand it off and do that until the surface is smooth. Then primer and sand.

  I took the detail gun out and used some of the left over paint from the hot rod to get the spray pattern to where I can use it for the plane. The paint has been in a quart can since 1997/98 winter. It's still good.

Even more progress.

 I reached the stage where I had to put the stab. in. After a lot of measuring and looking I tacked it in. Then while adjusting the elevator push rod I broke the stab off. After a lot of measuring and looking I tacked it in again. I made the back end of the turtle deck that covers the fin/rudder so that's ready to get glued on. I assembled the flaps and checked the throws on the elevator when set to the plans. 20 degrees up and down. I think it will need more but for now that's where it will be for the test flights. While I had it mostly assembled I weighed it and it's 55.5 ounces. Right where my calculations had it.

Waiting to go flying.

  I brought the tree in this morning and cleaned up where a mouse was spotted yesterday. I'm filling and sanding on the Strega/A-36.The cockpit, cowl and bottom hatch cover is just about done.  I added the wing fillets and the tail pieces are waiting for the last minute to reduce hangar rash. Weight is up to 54 ounces. Maybe more as I didn't get the weight with the fillets. That leaves me some room for the paint. I made up a wing tip weight a few days ago, it's 1.3 ounces and not figured in yet. The rectangular holes in the fuselage side are engine cooling air vents, one on each side and a hole in the top block. The engine muffler has a support bolt hole at the back. Nice touch.

Adding weight.

  Today was busy. I went to the store at 0730 to cash in the empty cans. Then I went to the bank to get more money and spent it at the gas station to fill the Dodge. Next stop was the barber. By then the tree farm was open and I stopped in to get the Christmas tree. Back to building the plane and it's time to go flying. First flight with the Banshee the muffler loosens and the engine runs lean for 10 minutes. I didn't dare do anything but level flight so I wouldn't lose any bolts. I had swapped the Fox muffler for a stock OS unit that didn't have the lock nut on the long bolt that holds the pieces together. That's what came loose. I jury rigged it and got in two more flights with no problems. I took a nut off one of the other planes and put it on the Banshee. Tomorrow looks like good flying weather too.

  I worked most of the day getting the top nose block shaped and hollowed and the molded pieces fitted and glued on. The canopy is a piece of a spray cleaner bottle. It's called Fabuloso from mexico. I got it at Benny's with a free refill bottle. It works OK. Works better as a canopy. I have to get some balsa for the bottom yet. After that it's final assembly and start sanding.

Some progress.

After waiting all week for the Strega instruction book to come from Brodak I found it on the porch Sunday morning. I don't know how long it had been lying there. I read through it to make sure I didn't miss any important steps. I changed the bottom sheeting from a molded part to a flat sheet on top of rails. I also made formers for the front section of the top fuselage and wrapped a wet sheet of balsa on it to form the top front piece. Weight now is 51 ounces. I should be in my target range of less than 60 ounces when it's done.

A dog.

 On facebook I saw a big black dog with a pink collar. Not as strange as it's name, "Danger". Right away I thought of the "professional stunt man" on Dumbest stuff on wheels. So I called the dog "Dangerwoof Ticks the professional black dog with the pink collar". Coulda knocked me over with the weather.

What next?

 A week or so ago I took Red Molly to the new school in Sterling for a flight or two. It acted real strange when I pulled a corner. I packed up and went home. I found that the tip weights had fallen out. I put some more in and all was well.
  Yesterday I went to the field to put air into the leaky tire on the mower using my new air tank. Too late, it was flat. I didn't have the right tools to re fill it as the bead had came off. I went home and found I had the right tools in the first place but got it filled from the compressor anyway. Back to the field to replace the tire and brought a screw jack so I dould get the wheel back on. After an hour or two the temp. had risen enough to let me fly in comfort so I went back to the field.
  This morning I decieded to make a new vertical stab. for the Banshee. The original didn't look right with all the mods I did to the model. I cobbled one together just like the one on the Guru. I wanted to fly it and Red Molly so I didn't cut the old one off. The color on the unit is Rustoleum John Deere green and takes a long time to dry. I planned to change and paint it after flying. I also wanted to test the metal tank on the Banshee using pressure and try a plastic one if that didn't work out. At the field I followed a car to the circle. The driver went across the circle and parked facing the center with the nose of the car inside the circle. He moved when I asked him to, he was letting his dog run around. I set up the Banshee and as I pulled the plane back to the stooge the rudder broke off. Less work for me later. The fin was still attached so I kept going. Once in the air it flew as well as ever. Except the engine ran out of fuel in the overhead eights again. I changed tanks and the plastic one, on pressure, blew the vent plug off and most of the fuel blew onto the wings. Red Molly is next. When I pulled a corner the wings flopped around. Tip weights again. I floundered through the pattern and upon inspection found the weights gone again. I didn';t have any others so I went home. I installed new weights and tightened the 4-40 bolt but it didn't tighten. I removed the weights and saw the blind nut was stripped out. Probably from being a metric unit. I got the glue and glued the weights in place. Then it was the Banshee's turn. I cut the fin off and sanded the fuse. top so the new one would have a good glue joint. Some super glue, epoxy and micro balloons later I masked off the area and sprayed the green paint on. I re installed the metal tank and will put 4 ounces in for the next outing. The rain had started before I finished the repairs so I'll have to wait to test the changes.
  I ordered an instruction book from Brodak for the Strega on Monday and figured it would be in today. Wrong again. The kit must have been donated for the raffle without the instructions. I want to double check my progress before assembling the plane.
 And the portable air tank I bought has metric pipe threads. I'll have to use hose barbs and couplers to change it over for the paint spray gun.

Yea for Poly Span.

   The play span finally arrived last Sat. in the mail. All 38" x 20' was neatly folded into a bubble wrap envelope. Not what I was planning on. I got it unfolded enough so I could wrap it onto a broom stick. It's a lot easier to handle when it's in a roll. I got the wing covered by Monday and started to seal the random weave with poli-crylic this morning. So far so good. I covered the flaps and they are drying.
  The new handles are working well on all the planes so far. 576 Ringmaster, Banshee, Twister, Red Molly and Honey Bee all are easier to fly with the newer handle. I did some research and found that the same design is used by most of the big boys. I did borrow the metal hard point design from a handle Brodak sells for $38.00. Mine didn't cost anything except a little band sawing, hack sawing, routing and drilling. I keep the same line spacing at the handle but with less overhang. It's working.
  I found a small can of gold glaze paint that was left from the previous owners. I mixed it up and made some test swatches with it. I sprayed clear over two of the test pieces and the brilliance of the gold faded severely. I need to put a swatch on one of the planes to see if it reacts with the fuel residue without being protected.
  I also ordered a 5 gallon portable air tank from Amazon this morning for $32.99 free shipping too. I will hook up the small spray gun and use the tank for the air source. The gun only needs 5 or less psi so a full tank should last a lnog time. This will save me from having to move the compressor into the basement. I can take the tank to the field and fill the tires on the riding mower. One tire goes flat about every 6 weeks.

On the way.

  After finding the colors needed for the plane down south I found some boxes and put the decals in one and the colors in another. I plan to mail them out when the P.O. opens this afternoon.

Getting things in order.

I had J&J signs cut some vinyl graphics for me today. Namely the LSU and Saints logo's. They came out very well. I also had names cut for the  Guru and Honey Bee. I found paints for the plane too.

Handle testing.

I brought a couple handles to the field this morning. The first was a wooden one made by someone in LA and I won it in the raffle. I had thin gloves on and the grip portion wasn't wide enough. I put on a wooden copy of the EZ-Just and used that for the rest of the flights. I can catch deviations  a lot sooner with the short overhang of the old design handle. The wind doesn't bother the plane half as much as with my handles and a lot of overhang. I shortened the overhang on the wood EZ-Just and widened the grip area on the other. Next time out I'll give them a workout. The plane feels different with the shorter handles too. I can get better bottoms and have more precise control. Too fast flights don't pose much of a problem either.

Nice day.

It started out in the low 30's but by 0900 it was tickling 40. I put two tires in the Dodge and Red Molly and headed for the field. Once there I stopped at the used tire bin and made a deposit.
 Red Molly has been flying well but the turn hasn't been quite right. I could have removed weight from the nose or added weight to the tail to improve the turn but decieded against both. I couldn't get any more adjustment on the handle so I made 3 or 4 new ones. I started out using one I had won in the raffles. Line spacing is 5 inches which is more than the original handle which is what I need. On the first flight I found that the handle wasn't big enough for my hand but the spacing was very close to perfect. I took another bought handle, a plastic EZ-Just, and gave that a try. Just as good as the one it replaced. I got in 4 full patterns with it before going home. Being made of plastic there is no place to put a safety strap without drilling holes. I had made a copy out of wood several years ago and brought that out of storage. The plastic one has a cable running through it and a slide to make adjustments, very crude. I put 3/16" bolts through the wooden one and drilled holes in the bolt ends for the line clips.  Now I can adjust line length with the nuts on the bolts.  I dunked the handle in Poly Crylic to seal the wood and it's drying now. This mornings flying went quite well as the winds were very light and not coming over the trees and not blowing directly into the sun.

Waiting for the covering.

 The good weather is continuing and I'm getting some flying. On Sunday I flew the Eagle 63 and the c/l planes.
  The Strega is on hold until the covering comes in. I have been molding shell for the fuselage top and bottom. I got most of the bottom covered but will have to carve the front top block.

  The pictures show the shells next to the boards I glued the foam bucks to. That makes the buck stiff for the molding process. After removing the shell from the buck I planned to glue in the templates as formers then I figured why not glue the foam in also. I had to use a hot wire to remove the shell assemblies from the boards after glueing everything together. The shells are sitting on the balsa blocks that they will replace. That would be a lot of carving and a waste of good balsa. I added some sheet to the fuse. bottom and cut lightening holes. That will add stiffness to the fuse. I will do the same to the top before adding the turtle deck shell. The kit design is that of a "D" model Mustang and the turtle deck will make it more like a "B or C" model. The picture of the mustang below the fuse jig is of an A-36 variant. It has dive brakes and was used as a dive bomber and none of the planes used in the war made it back home. Only 3 trainers that never left the states survived. There is an argument about the name of the A-36 as some believe it's called the Apache but never was officially. It also makes the color scheme easier for me. You can see the broken off pieces that connect the front and rear at the wing cutouts.  The wood was less than 1/8" thick. I glued it together several times then decieded to put the fuse. in the jig before I broke it in half. That's the old kitchen table it's sitting on.

Good weather for a while.

I got the Yak-9 flying pretty good. The aileron as a trim tab did the trick. I outlined both ailerons with 1/16" black trim tape to hide the cuts. The model has a belly scoop like the Mustang and is painted blue to match the rest of the bottom. I've been seeing the scoop and thinking it is the out board wing. That complicated the trimming process a bit. Yesterday I ordered some poly span covering and some propellers for the Strega.
 It took most of the morning to figure out how to install the cowl hold downs. The plans show a strip of ply across the fuse. and one in the cowl with a bolt to hole them in place. The plane is designed for rear exhaust engines and one is shown on the plans. The plans method for holding the cowl on won't work with a rear exhaust engine. I thought about that for several days and finally used three tabs, two at the rear of the cowl and one in front across from the needle valve hole. A lot of cutting and fitting on each tab to get  the right fit. Then to drill the holes so it lined up with the blind nuts on the tabs glued to the fuse. The center wing ribs are 2-7/8" thick at the fuse. the fuse. sides are 3-1/4" wide. That leaves a very weak strips of balsa connecting the front and rear of the fuse. I ended up installing it into the adjusto-jig for the final assembly and for safety.
This morning I fitted the flaps and built the control horn boxes. The horn is connected at the flap root by some cut out pieces of ply. Very weak. I filled the ply up to the flap surface and added 1/32" ply reinforcement pieces over the assembly. The horn is 1/8" wire and doesn't look to be easily tweakable.
 The molded turtle deck came out fine and will be installed after the wing is glued in place. I made some bucks for the top forward sheeting and have to cut the foam and wet down the balsa. I figure to add 1/16" sheeting to the top and bottom for added strength before installing the molded sections. A lot like the Sig Kougar, Kobra and King Kobra fuselages. I'm hoping for a final weight in the 50 ounce range. 59.9 will do. I thing the final result will look more like the P-51 B than the D model it was loosly designed after.

Making the best of it.

The wind has been in the way lately. I've gotten in some flights with the Yak 9 and am having trouble getting the wings level. i cut into the glued on flap today and made an aileron for a trim tab. hopefully that will work.
 I picked up some angle iron bed rails at the dump and made railings for the trailer. I used the wire feed welder for the job. It hasn't been used much at all since I bought it about 4 years ago.
 The Strega is coming along. I got the engine on Tues. and got the fuselage put together and the cowl made.  Instead of carving large blocks for the fuse. top and bottom I'm going to mold a turtle deck and bend some wood for the rest. I thought the wing was over built but the fuse. has a bunch of parts for no good reason. The nose has air tunnels and vents in the sides and top. What was the designer thinking? 38 ribs in the wing. I should have removed every other one and used them for a second plane. A while back I got some .018 cable from Mcmaster-Carr and went to make another set for the Strega but the lines were curled and unusable. Too bad.
 I'm flying Red Molly and it's doing well.  I have to get some vinyl letters for the planes I built and rebuilt in late summer. They both fly very well. Not to mention graphics for the LSU/Saints plane.

Latest build.

I applied the red star decals this morning plus installing the engine and tank. The plane came out real nose heavy and I had to remove the spinner and APC prop and put a wood Zinger on plus 2.5 ounces of lead on the tail. I built the kit just as it came because I wanted to use it in old time stunt. I made a mistake by bringing the plane up the stairs for the photo shoot and ended up breaking the rudder and part of one flap off. A 2 inch long tear in the covering on the bottom of the wing is being repaired with glue. After fixing the damage I used the walk out door.
  I went to the Brooklyn field yesterday afternoon to get the transmitter impound rack and bring it home for repairs. Some of the members were flying  and helped me load the thing onto the Dodge. I used the electric drill to remove the long wood screws and cut the broken leg and the other leg to match. I re-installed the base and finished it before dark.

 I hope to get in some flying this morning and get the rack back in place. A first flight on the newly repaired Yak-9 is in the plans. OS .25LA.

Hinge pockets made easy.

Get a piece of balsa half the thickness of the item to be hinged. 1/4 inch thick flaps use 1/8 inch firm balsa. Cut 4 strips at least 1/16" wider than the hinges to be used. Cut the same width strip off the flaps or elevator leading edges. Cut a 6" strip of coarse sandpaper that is a bit wider than the hinge. That will give you some wiggle room when assembling the parts to it's mating surface, flap to wing or elevator to stab. Lightly coat the sandpaper with spray glue and stick it to a flat surface.  Mark the hinge locations on each pair of balsa strips and mark the sides to be cut so you end up with mating parts in the end. Place the balsa strip on the sandpaper with the hinge pocket marks straddling the sandpaper. With some downward pressure push the balsa back and forth three times, or back twice and forth once, three passes over the sandpaper. Use a flat item and place it on the balsa and holding downward pressure make one more pass over the sandpaper. This evens out the depth of the pocket. Repeat that procedure for all the hinge locations on all 4 balsa strips. Using a straight edge glue the balsa pairs together so the cuts align into pockets all along the strip. Now glue the strips to the flap or elevator. A little sanding and your done. I use a fork shaped slotting tool to cut the pockets into the wing or stab.

  To get glue in the pockets I attach a pointed tip from a cya bottle to a tube of "Quick Grip" "all purpose permanent adhesive". I got it at a "Benny's" store. It's clear and dries fast and stays a bit rubbery. Sticks to everything. Using the tip as an injector needle I squirt some glue into each hinge pocket and install the hinge. I glue the hinges to only the flap or only the wing at a time not both at once. You don't have top work as fast and you have time to straighten the hinges. Once the glue has cured you can final assemble the two items. You don't have to worry about the hinges moving around while you work.

Waiting for the engine.

I ordered the engine shown on the plans for the Strega. The person who sells the Double Star engine only does business through the mail or fax. It's a bitch not knowing if the engine is in stock or in transit.
 I've been working on the wing and tail pieces in the meantime. This airfoil reminds me of the EU-1A wing. It's 2 7/8" thick at the root. Huge. On top of that I think the designer has a rib fettish. 38 of those buggers. 1 1/2" rib spacing. After sheeting the center section I still had to apply 60 cap strips. The wing tips are blocks. I roughed them out on the band saw then carved them to shape. In order to hollow the blocks I sawed them in half chord wise. After some die grinder work I glued them back together with a 1/32 ply spacer to take up the saw kerf and add strength. I cut 4 pieces of 1/8" balsa and sanded slots for the flap hinges. Then I cut the flaps and glued the hinge slot pieces to the flaps. I am leaning towards using Poly-Span for the wing covering.
 The Yak 9 old time stunt model is coming along nicely too. I opted to use Jap tissue instead of monokote on the wing. It takes paint better. I couldn't find a picture of the plane in anything but camoflage. So I'll try that. I got a jar of light blue for the bottom and will go with grey primer for the top with a cream color for the camo. OS .25LA for power.

  With the snow,rain and wind I figured it would be a good day to hit the hobby shop. 37.6 miles to Hog Heaven from here. Luckily most of the stop lights were set to blinking yellow. I got some 4-40 blind nuts,some 4-40 threaded solder on ends for the push rod, the blue paint, some 4-40 threaded rods and 2-56 stuff that I didn't need after all. Just for giggles I wrote the number for the fuel tank down and did find it at the shop. That saves a shipping charge from Brodak.

And then there were two.

 The weather was cloudy and not too windy Sun. morning. After breakfast at the Roadside Diner in Central Village I loaded up the former PT-73, now the Honey Bee, and headed for the land fill. I had installed an APC 11 x 4 but took a 11.5 x 4 just in case. After getting the lines out and clips evened out, one was longer than the other, I changed the props. The engine started up with a little lighter fluid and I set the needle for 9000 rpm. With only an ounce and a half of fuel on board i pulled the release string and the plane rolled a bit and lifted off. The winds were 10 mph or so, not too much for some straight and level test flights. The plane flew very steady unlike it did before the rebuild. I did some inside and outside loops and the planes controls felt real close what they should. Before the lines were about 3/4" difference in length because of the clips and the handle was offset to give even up and down control. I didn't change the push rod length only "zero'd" the lines and handle. Just like the red and white plane it flys very stable now with a good turn and level wings. In the words of Phil Robertson "I'm happy, happy, happy.
  Storm update; Several trees in town have been completely denuded of leaves because of the 20 mph winds and ,so far, 1/4 inch of rain. Film at eleven, or maybe not.
  I have to order some drill rods to make a wing jig for the Strega kit. The engine will run close to $350.00. a .61 rear exhaust. There are blocks up to 40 inches long by 1 by 3. I'll try to mold sheets instead of carving.

First full patterns.

The winds have been light all week. I've been able to get in several trim flights with the red and white plane. I've been through a couple different size props trying to get the right speed and line tension. Today I put an APC 11.5 x 4 on and it came alive. I got in 2 full patterns and it flys very well. Steady as a rock in level flight, the only plane I got that is. The controls are in the middle and I've had to lessen the elevator throw instead of increasing it. The engine was loose after the first full pattern and when I got home I took out the too short screws and put in longer ones with lock washers.
  I've been finishing up the yellow and white rebuild of the PT-73 as well. I think it is ready for a test flight maybe tomorrow if the weather holds out.

Some real winter projects.

After cleaning up at the Baton Rouge contest, placing second on Sat. and first on
Sun. I won two model plane kits, a glow plug battery, which I needed badly, a spinner and three gallons of fuel. Value of about $300.00. I had bought $40.00 worth of raffle tickets and shipping for the kits to home was $36.00.
  Last year at this contest I finished third but because of some error I was given second and the second place guy got third. This year I won second by one points over the same guy on Sat. And won first by one point over the same guy on Sun.
  Today I removed all the hardware from the plane so I can re paint it on the next trip.
I will have to strip all the paint and fill the grain but I should be able to do it in a week or so.

Winter projects.

I got the new plane and the re done PT-73 painted and covered last week. I'm getting the new plane finished and ready for test flights. I need 2 pilot figures for the PT-73 as the new canopy is long. I also forgot to cut the hole for the muffler on the PT-73 before paint.

 At the club meeting it was noted that the local high school is having a plane building class. I said I was available to help when they have the plane kits and other stuff.  

Fun fly weekend.

After messing up getting free plans at the Wrentham contest I got an e mail about a fun fly at the same place. I should be able to pick up the plans this time. i am bringing 3 planes, the Banshee, the Lightning and Red Molly. I put wheel pants on Red Molly with 2 inch wheels. I don't know how well that will work on their grass but I have larger wheels just in case.
 I've been trying to figure out how big of a square will fit into a 150 foot circle. I have to stake out the circle every 45 degrees as the maneuvers should be within 45 degrees or 90 degrees for figure 8's. I came up with 106 feet but 107 worked better. Google didn't help much. From what I can see I need a better turning plane to get some level flight at those measurements. Even the loops don't look right within 45 degrees.

Cement work.

I've been wanting to install a cement pad at the Brooklyn flying circle for quite a while. I'vew worn a spot down to dirt and it gets stuck in the tread of my shoes. Today I finally figured out how to make the forms and other small steps. I cut four pieces of plywood three inches by 48 inches for the forms and bought 3 bags of quick krete. I used the water tank from the pop up camper to bring the water and loaded the truck with tools. After getting the forms made and in position the 3 bags didn't look like enough to fill the forms. I walked over to the edge of the dump and got a wagon full of sand. I leveled that in the forms and started to mix the cement. The forms took every bit of the 3 bags but they are full to the top. Just as I was mixing the last bag it started to rain lightly. By the time I finished it was raining a bit harder. I covered the cement and went home.
  My order from Tower Hobbies came in today. I've change the PT-73 quite a bit and I'm in the middle of sanding and filling. The new plane is ready for covering then paint.
 I mailed a quart of castor oil to LA on Mnday.

Winter stuff.

I have the new plane up to covering the wing and tail. The Mass Cup winning plane, the PT-73 got my attention too.  I cut off the nose, hogged out the engine crutch and glued in a firewall for a glass filled motor mount. I ripped off all the covering and used acetone to strip off the blue paint. Top Flite Luster Kote is crap. The paint started to turn brown on top where the sun hit it. That wasn't the only reason for the re finish. I had monokote hinges and they wern't the best for the plane. I made new and slightly larger but shorter flaps, a new rudder that is like the ringmaster and doesn't fit between the elevators.It ends at the hinge line. I filled the gap in the old elevators and will go with them. I need to make up a new nose to fit a 2 inch spinner. I had forgotten that the flap horn had broken during a tweaking session years ago. I had to solder a piece into a brass tube then solder the tube onto the part of the horn that was captured in the fuselage and not removeable. It should work. I ordered monokote and stuff from tower and should be flying in a few months.

Rainy day stuff.

  It started off quite innocently. I was working on the new plane and then got the idea to change the landing gear set up on the Banshee. After all was said and done I had bent wire for a trike gear set up and painted the spats. I flew it today and it flys great. Very stable and has a good turn. I removed a bit of nose weight from the Ringmaster 576 and it has a better corner than before. I'm on a roll. The new plane is nearing the tissue paper installation process. I'm going to use poly urethane thinned with alcohol as it's not smelly like dope.

Contest report.

 On Sunday I got a long look at the Classic score board and it didn't look right. My fears were affirmed when one of the officials said he had to re-calculate the scores.
  The winds were very light and shifting around. I was first up in my class and got 485 points. After the first round I was in first place. I didn't figure that would hold up after the second round as several others had put up pretty good first flights. The second round was closer but my 492 was 3.5 points ahead of the second place finisher.
  That class win put me in the fly-off for the Mass Cup. All the class winners fly again and the best flight wins the cup. I was flying my scratch built PT-73 that I've had for a long time. It was my back-up plane at Lee, Ma but didn't see action because of the winds. I figured I owed it a shot at a contest as it's been flying for several years. I put up over 100 flights between Lee and Wrentham. The engine ran very well and it beat several much better planes both electric and fuel powered. One of the planes we beat was the $3500.00 Shark/electric that was up after me at Lee but didn't fly. I only got 8 appearance points but the Shark being an RTF didn't get any. Anyway I walked away with a first place in Classic, after re-tabulating, a first in AMA Stunt and the Mass Cup plus Best Classic Model.
 Over the winter I plan on re-finishing the PT-73.

  I started my first winter project and have it framed up and the wing installed into the fuselage. I made wing mounted gear and am carving the top block and canopy now. I installed an r/c type firewall and motor mount as it's said to be lighter than the all wood crutch normally used. I bought a wing kit from Brodak and will use the only piece usable from the Pathfinder wreck, the stab/elev. This is the first plane built on the old dining room table I inherited.

Wrentham contest.

The wind started to blow early this morning. Nothing since the Lee, MA contest. I got to the site about 0900 and the others were already talking about the wind. My first flight wouldn't get off the ground. The tail kept coming up and grounding the prop. After 4 attempts it finally got airborne. I got into the overhead eights when the fuel ran out. I knew it would be short because of the many attempts. I bent the tail wheel wire to lower the tail and it helped on the second flight. I got a full flight in and got applause after landing. I also got 502 points for first place in Classic stunt. It's the same pattern as normal stunt but with older design planes. It's blowing pretty good even now. Tomorrow should be much better conditions. Regular stunt classes too. I flew the Ruffy with the Fox .35 I won in the raffle at Lee.

The doldrums.

Ever since the hurricane at the Lee, MA contest the winds have been very light and almost non existant. A real pain when you need some wind to hold the plane out on the lines and blow the turbulance away.
I moved all the branches to the other side of the garage and then figured I could run the small stuff through the shredder. I cut all the finger size branches off the big stuff and the shredder did the rest.
Some time in the fall I will burn the pile and the remaining branches.
 I called Brodak and ordered a wing kit for the plane I have drawn up. It's based on the plane that crashed and will use it's stab/elev. Full fuselage and inverted engine with an r/c motor mount.

Another present.

We got home from New London at 1230. I looked out a little while later and saw branches sticking out from the end of the garage to the bird house. We didn't notice them when we drove into the yard. I went to investigate and found a large limb had broken off of a Maple tree. More work. I got the chain saw out and started to cut branches. The chain was old and not that sharp and wouldn't cut into the thick part of the branch which is over a foot. I made a few phone calls and found a place on rte. 6 that could make up a chain. With that installed the saw came alive and made short work of the limb. Now to find someone that wants the wood and get a chipper for the branches.  In the second picture of mostly leaves you can see the broken limb on the tree. Above that limb is a broken limb that fell several years ago. There's my beer can in the last photo.

Deer 3, Ma 0.

Nuff said. This one's out for revenge after the rocket attack last week.

Deer 2, Ma 0.

Nuff said.

A deer, oh shit.

We have been bothered by a deer eating the garden lately. It has been spotted at the top of the hill last week. Last night Ma turned the outside lights on and saw the deer at the buffet. She scared the deer out of the garden but not off the lawn. It just stood there at the edge of the light looking at her. I got a rocket from the pile and a bottle and a match. I aimed the bottle at the tree tops towards the deer and lit the fuse. With a loud screetch the rocket took off but the trajectory was too low.  It headed in front of the deer who headed for the spring end of the property. As luck would have it the rocket hit the ground just in front of the running deer still spitting sparks. The deer slid to a stop looking at the rocket and for the briefest time the deer was still. Then the rocket exploded in the deers face. Off to the races. The deer headed for the small opening in the wall near the spring but found it covered with mulch. She slid to a stop looking for the door and alsmost ran into a tree. A few stumbles later she bolted over the mulch covered opening and vanished. I fired off another rocket this time aiming the rocket instead of the bottle and it went over the trees and blew up. Hopefully ending the destruction of the plants in the garden. Those rockets are an easy 25 years old and still working. Made in China.

Chipping away.

I got out the chain saw and started cutting/wearing away at the high spots on the stumps.  I couldn't cut through the ridges so I made cuts across them where I could. Then I got the ax and a BFH to use as a big chisel. That worked pretty good. Now I want to get the Troy Built out and till around the stumps to make the transition smoother. By then I'll have a good idea on how much dirt will be needed to finish the job.
  I cleaned up the last stump this morning and dumped the stuff on the wall, If we hadn't toted away many wagon loads there would have been enough to cover the whole wall. Only about 15 feet left as it is.
 When I started the truck to dump the last chips I noticed a dash light that read "lamp out". I had to get the book out and find what that meant. It's a warning that a headlight, tail light or stop light is out. I ch3ecked all the lights and found the left stop light out. Not the ordinary bulb with the lugs and a quarter turn  it has wires sticking out of the end like the tiny dash bulbs. $2.50 at NAPA. Warning light went out.

About two full truck loads total.

I filled the truck to overflowing this afternoon. I emptied it along the wall by the horseshoe pits. I started on the last two and got one cleaned up then I watched the start of the last lap and shut the tv off and started to work on the last one when it started to rain. I'll finish tomorrow. Then it's what to do to smooth them over.

Whooda thunk it?

 We have been planing on having the tree stumps ground down for quite a long time. Having them removed will make mowing a lot easier. About half way through  grinding the two big stumps I was looking at a big pile of chips. I didn't figure on having to get rid of the mess only getting rid of the stumps. The stump guy worked a full 8 hours on the 5 stumps we had removed putting 6 in on the tamaracks alone. I started hauling the stuff away using the wagon but that is lots of work. I took about ten loads away and gave up on that plan. I got the Dodge backed in next to the pile now and I'm shoveling the chips into it. Probably have more than one load. I'll have to check on the re cycle center to see if they take wood.

Finished again.

  I started to add aome wire to the ground wire but found that it was longer than the others and that I had coiled it inside the plastic channel. After pulling the coil out the wire is long enough.

  The spring lowering has been bugging me lately. I had bought some cut off wheels at Wal-Mart but they are for a circular saw not my grinder. The guy that got me the camper offered to burn the shackle perches off at the shop. I got the idea to use the circular saw and my die grinder to do it myself. I had intended to use the recriprocating saw but the other tools would be smoother to operate. I couldn't get the bolt out of the shackle and had to use the die grinder and small cut off wheels to slice through them. I started to use the circular saw on the mounts but the flat base got in the way. The die grinder cut enough of the base off that made it very useful.  The first one took a couple hours to get cut off but the second one took 45 minutes with all the tools at the ready.  The bolts are 9/16 diameter and the mounts are 1/4 inch thick.  The springs are raised 3 inches. I have 3 1/2 inches clearance between the axle and the frame.

"And there ain't no good chain gangs".

I loaded the mowers on the trailer and found that tieing them down isn't easy. I need to get some swivel tie down rings. When I got to Oneco I found one of the straps off and almost dragging the road. A note to self, Don't roll the mower off, Start it and drive it off the engine will brake it's speed and distance traveled and I won't look stupid chasing it. I changed the ball mount when I got home to raise the front of the trailer to keep the jack wheel from hitting humps and lower the back end. And TLAR don't work for setting the length of the wires that plug into the truck. It was very close though. All I have to do is add 3 inches to the ground wire. Some stops at the front of the trailer would be handy too.

Done.

I spent about 4 hours finishing the lights and cutting the plywood for the deck. I used some 1/4-20 bolts to hold the wood on then figured I could use screw bolts as I needed to get more fasteners. NAPA had some and I drilled pilot holes to make it easier.  I started to brush on water seal but got sick of that and got the Wagner spray gun to finish it today. I don't like the number plate bracket, it's plastic. Maybe screw that to the bumper under the night light.

Almost done.

I checked on line for tail light kit prices and then we headed for Wal-Mart. I got a kit, 3 cans of paint and two quick links for the safety chains. I found the plug in the truck has a plug for a 4 wire connector and I didn't have to wire the thing. I hooked up the lights and plugged it into the truck and all the lights worked. Then I snaked the wires through the trailer frame and set the plug length so it will reach the truck with a little slack. I need to finilize the light location and install them and it's done. Except for lowering the tail a bit. I can re drill holes for the spring shackles and lower the whole trailer if need be. Thunderstorms all around right now.

Ready for lights.

I tried breaking off all the heads of the screws that held the camper floor to the frame but most didn't break. I got the die grinder and cut a notch in the screws so they would break. I noticed that some moved when I touched them with the cut off wheel. A close look at the type of recess in the head revealed a 'clutch head recess". I had one of those tools and started to take a screw out. Too much turning for me so I removed the handle from the tool and stuck it into the drill motor. A few minutes later all the screws were out. I oiled everything that moves on the trailer. The front jacking wheel was bent backwards and I removed it and pounded things until the unit was straight again. The trailer hitch worked but something wasn't right. After oiling that I figured that a piece was moving and I figured that if it didn't move things would be better. I hadn't used the wire feed welder in a while so I hooked it up and put two tack welds on the moving piece and now it works very well. Agway didn't have the type of hooks I need for the safety chains. I re-installed the winch cable and need a hook for that too. A quick swipe with the wire brush and a wipe with a gas soaked rag and the frame is ready for about 3 cans of Rustoleum semi gloss black to match the registration. I found the V.I.N. tag and it got removed. The date of manufacture is April 1985.
  We went to the new school in Sterling and put up a flight with the Flite Streak and then I test flew the new plane. It went very well and I let grandson get in two flights with it. The fuel tank had to be mounted sideways and didn't work quite right. I removed it and installed a small metal tank in the standard way for the next outing.

Cheap trailer.

I mow the field on Friday now. I started getting ready and it started to rain as I got to Cozy Corner restrant. and I went back home. I went back to removing the aluminum from the trailer sides and roof. Around 1000 I went to the field again and this time the town garage gate was closed so I went to the usual gate and found it locked wrong and I couldn't get in. I went back to the trailer. The sun came out but the grass was wet so I kept stripping the trailer. I loaded all the aluminum and steel from the trailer onto the Dodge. Then I chain falled the original El Camino engine on board along with all the other junk I had been saving. I went to the scrap yard and found I had to remove all the metal myself. One worker helped me roll the engine off. The iron went in one pile and the aluminum went to a small scale. I ended up with $114.00 for my troubles so the trailer so far cost $22.00. I went to the field as today is dump day and the gate is opened at noon. I got the field mowed and then loaded up all the wood and crap to take to the town re cycle center tomorrow. I was going to take it next Wed. but that is July 4.
  I built a plane for grandson and hope to test fly it tonight. I'll bring the Flite Streak for him to fly and I'll let him fly the new one if it flys good.

Demolition in progress.

The new format has me all messed up. Here is a picture of the Scamper trailer as a kit.