March wind.

I've been looking at the Twister and it's getting worn. The winds started up and I started stripping the plane. I repaired some cracked balsa and added new wing tips. I will make new flaps and did make new stab/elev for it. I need a new rudder too but don't have 1/8 inch balsa yet. I just sprayed the first coat of primer on and it will need a lot of ding filling.
Two joints in the El Camino fuel system started leaking. I got a new fuel filter and a piece of 3/8 brake line and made up a new line from the pump to the carb. I washed and waxed it the other day, it was pretty dusty after the winter.

Still good weather.

I've been trimming the Pathfinder and the Ringmaster 576 and have them flying pretty good. I tried flying the oldest plane, the PT-73 and one of the newest the Parallax. Neither flew well at all. I didn't remember making any changes to the planes and they were flying good a while back. Last night I did a major tweaking to the elevator pushrods and evened out the up and down elevator movements. That required some handle adjustments also. I went to Brooklyn this afternoon and got flights with both planes and they are flying very well. I've gone through a gallon of fuel in 6 days. That's about 38 flights. Now I have to concentrate on the PT-73 to fly in the contests this year. Red Molly needs an outing sometime soon.

Light winds.

I borrowed a metal detector from the neighbors after finding an Indian head penny in the garden. So far I've found some nails, a corroded swivel snap and some sheet metal.
We went to the field yesterday and the town crew was adding chewed up asphalt to the access road. One of the workers said to use the town garage entrance as it's never closed. We left by that route. I made some trim changes to the Pathfinder and went back to the field this morning and got in several flights. I used the alternate entrance and it is faster. The town is still adding stuff to the road.

Spring is springing.

Close to 70 today. I went to the field early and got in several flights. Then I came home and checked the bird houses on the hill to make sure they are empty for the new season. I moved the truck to the milk room, the El Camino to the garage stall and the hot rod to the garage. The lawn mower started right up as did the hot rod. I let it run for a while with a fan blowing on the radiator. I don't know if we will put the insurance on it or not this year as the cost is high for what we use it. We have to keep liability on or the state will come after the registration but collision is the killer. A few years ago I ran over the car cover and tore it up pretty bad. I laid it out over the picnic table and taped it up using some tape I found on the road. Good stuff. Just like E.B. green.

Eventful day.

I made up a drag for my circle. A length of chain link fence and some 8 x 8 timbers with 5 cement blocks to hold it in the dirt. After a few trys I got the thing to stay together and dragged it around the circle several times with the truck. The speed bump turned out to be a depression and could use some filling. I spread some grass seed on the landing portion and went to the runway to try the Eagle. The engine ran well but the elastics wouldn't hold the wing tight enough. The leading edge kept lifting causing the plane to rocket upwards. I killed the engine and landed before the wing came off. Cheap elastics can only be used twice before they weaken.

Winds slacked off a bit.

I watched the winds around noon yesterday, Sat., and they looked like they might die down enough to get in a flight. Around 1430 I packed the Ringmaster and headed for Oneco. The rivers and ponds along the route looked calm and the smoke from the smoke stack at the tire burning plant gave further proof that the winds were not strong. I got in a short trim flight to check if the new covering had twisted the wing and to see if the lead outs were in the right place. Everything felt good so I fueled up for a full pattern flight and that went well. So I ended up waiting for the full paint cure time even though I didn't want to. Starting today the temp.s should be in the 50's or higher all week. I hope the wind stays down. It is March.
Today I'll do some field work on the circle in Brooklyn. There is a speed bump looking bump that needs flattening and I have some grass seed to spread. I'm taking the Eagle 63 to try the new engine. Should be a screamer.

Warm but windy.

After painting the Pathfinder and adding the black trim tape at the paint lines I have been looking at the Ringmaster. Without the black lines it just don't look right so I added the tape lines yesterday. I brushed on a coat of clear over the tape to hold it down. The plane looks much better now.
I took the El Camino out for a run this morning. It ran fine. I'm happy. Maybe tomorrow I'll fire up the hot rod. I tried to order a speedometer driven gear from TCI but they didn't have any. I got one on back order.

Oops.

The weather is quite cool today so I dragged the Eagle out to run the engine. It's a good thing I did and didn't head for the field first. I had forgot to re install the needle valve assembly. A little tinkering and I was back outside and got the engine started. Not much tweaking either. At least it's ready to fly now.

Ready for the weekend.

The covering and painting went faster than I figured. I had to go to NAPA for another can of white yesterday and after that cured for a bit i started masking off for the orange. I sprayed that after the race. This morning I tried a can of Dupli-Color clear and gave the painted areas a coat. By then the winds had picked up and the directions on the can of clear said to use it about 2 hours after spraying the colors. It came out well anyway.
I've had this OS .46 AX that came out of the plane I got at the Pawn shop and finally figured out what to do with it. I removed the Enya .35 from the Goldberg Eagle 63 and installed the OS. I slapped on a 12 x 5 APC prop and it's ready to go.
After that I returned an r/c combat kit to the owner. I used it to get templates for the foam wing but my foam isn't big enough. I was going to cut some cores for the club.
Now it's real windy so I started installing all the hardware onto the plane. Final weight is 46.7 ounces and the balance is right on with the small spinner. Now the paint can cure while the winds blow. As you can see I'm out of paint schemes.

Cool but calm wind.

After that I headed to RI for some methanol. I got 25 gallons and that will make 40 gallons of fuel. I used it at a gallon every 10 days last year.
I stripped the big Ringmaster during the windy weather and it's in the fill and sand phase. Could be flying late next week if the weather is bad.
The Pathfinder flew this afternoon and went well. I got in 3 short flights to check the wing level flight. It took a couple heavy tweaks on the adjustable tab I added. I did most of the maneuvers during the flights and added a half ounce of tip weight when I got home.