Lots of wind.

After some cutting height adjustments I got all three mowers cutting properly. I measured the full swath cut and it's 72 inches. It's less as I need overlap on each pass but it still speeds up the process. I cut the runway, 55 x 380, the pits 175 x 200, and the circle 150 diameter in less than an hour. Thats 1.685 acres. Then I raised the mowers and trimmed about an acre of the grass in back of the r/c area. I did around the circle last week. The clubs riding mower was not charging properly and had a new battery that wasn't starting the engine. Using jumper cables didn't do much either. At the air show I installed new terminals on the battery cable ends and found the ground wire end bolted to the frame to be rusted badly. I cleaned the terminal and the frame area and the battery is getting charged now. When I finished mowing and returned to the parking spot I noticed a bolt on the ground. It had a pointed end that I knew came from the engine mount. Sure enough there was a empty hole. I had a bolt and nut in the box so I installed it with a lock washer and tightened it down. I tightened the bolts last year and found that chore quite difficult.
  The winds were gusting to 40+ on Friday and I had to lay down the basketball net as it was lifting off the ground.
 We are going to check out the newly refurbished pits at the Jogues club this afternoon. There is a horseshoe tournament on the clay pits today there too. And get cheaper gas.

Finally done.

  After a good 12 hours of work the furnace room is back to normal. I got everything put back into place after 0900 this morning. Most of the time was spent vacuuming old paint chips and dirt.
  The car got a new ignition lock this morning. The original kept malfunctioning.
  Tomorrow I'll get to try the newest mower in trail with the other two. It should make short work of the field mowing.

Success.

I took one of the spare mowers out of the milk room and got it running. I used a blade and blade mount from spare parts. I didn't know which blade mount came from the mower or if I still had the right one. I needed a 22 inch blade and I got one at Johnson's Hardware in Groton this morning. The attendant didn't like being there and wasn't of much help but I did get a look at the parts lay out on the computer. I did have the right blade mount and I installed the new blade and did a bit of mowing to test it.I removed the tag along hardware from the stand by mower and installed it on the other one so I have two tag alongs to use at the field.  I have to measure the width of cut with all three running.
 Fishing season started today. For the first time in at least 40 years I was fishing at the start. Seeing as I got to the river a few minutes early I didn't see any sense in waiting for 0600. After a couple shiners and small mouth bass I got a small brook trout and then a nice fat one. I threw all back in. I went back this afternoon and got another small mouth bass and went home.

More field trials.

I went to the field to mow this morning and one of the rods for the second mower hook up was too short so I only used one extra mower. I got the job done quickly and got in three flights with the Twister. I measured again and made up another rod when I got home. I went back just after noon to try the two mower hook up again and it fit this time. I mowed the surrounding grass with the decks at their highest and with three mowers cutting it didn't take long to cut a lot of grass. I figure I could cut the whole place in 4 or 5 hours. When I finished one of the new rods had bent at the end and had to be repaired when I got home.

Field trials.

A few weeks ago I found out that the club has the job of keeping the grass mowed on the whole landfill site. We have about a third of it mowed for the r/c and c/l areas. I think the officers were going to get a farmer to mow it but there wouldn't be much it it for him. As I have the mower hooked up to pull a push mower I made up a second rig so the rider can pull two mowers, one on each side. I'll give it a try when I mow Thurs. I need to drill two holes in the rider and get 2 eye bolts and it's ready to go. I'll raise the decks all the way up and see what happens. The only problem I can see is the clippings from the rider will blow on the second push mower and in it's path.

Good airshow weather.

The two day show the club put on went off quite well. A total of 92 planes lined the runway during Saturdays static display and on Sunday there was constant flying both r/c and me. A helicopter guy came and put on a show that had everyone amazed. It wasn't until the second flight that we knew he had control of the model. Only one mishap and that was on a hand launch of a electric foam model of the T-28 that got 28 feet after launch before hitting the ground. Some damage.
I did some maint. on the mower. The battery wouldn't hold a charge and needed jumping that didn't work well either. I changed the terminals on the battery cable ends and then found the ground wire end at the frame was rusted badly. I cleaned that and the frame. After charging the battery the mower started and I took the voltage. On Sunday I took the voltage again and there wasn't much of a drop. I started the engine and drove it over to the car and had another guy check the voltage with the engine running and it was higher than before starting so the charging system is working. Hopefully the cable maint. has fixed the problem. The tag-along mower hook up works well just like it always did. I had to raise the rider deck to match the cutting height of the tag-along and then added a spacer to the blade mount to lower the cutting height about 3/16. I had to mow at position 3 instead of position 1 on the rider to match the tag-along. Maybe I will be able to lower it to the 2 position next time out. Moving the tag-alongs wheels location is next as they are at their lowest position now.

A little rain with the wind.

For the last few days it has been spitting rain off and on. The winds would be very low and by the time I could get to the field the winds would be back up. Yesterday I tried in the morning but didn't beat the wind. That afternoon I loaded up and went to Oneco during a lull in the wind and actually got in two flights before it started to rain.
I had modified the club's mower to take an extra mower and I will test the system in a few hours. The runway has been rolled with the town's roller and I've been driving around the circle to flatten the bumps. Two or three circuits each time I fly is working.

And more wind.

I've flown the Twister 4 times so far and It's flying well. Not much trimming except for getting the turns equal in both directions. I mowed both circles and the runway for the r/c show this weekend.
We got a call today about taking a dog but we had to decline as were not home enough to be fair to the dog.
I made up an attachment to the clubs field mower so it will take a tag along mower and speed up the mowing.

And more wind.

I got the Twister put back together this morning. I put in a half ounce of tip weight so the final weight is 43.5 ounces. The balance came out 5/16 ahead of the spot on the plans and that is with the stock muffler so I have lots of room to move the c/g around if needed.
I went to leave with the El Camino this m9orning and the fuel lines were leaking again. I finally figured out that 3/8 fuel line is the wrong size. I make a new pipe from the pump to the carb. and 3/8 brake line had the correct flare nut so I used 3/8 hose. Well the original pipe must have been 5/16 as the fuel filter and carb. fitting are 5/16. I heated some water and put some lubricant into the 5/16 hose and dunked the hose in the hot water to soften it so it would slide on the 3/8 pipe. That worked well and the rest was a snap. We drove around for a while and when we got home I jacked the car up and changed the speedometer driven gear to the new one I got from TCI. It has one tooth more than the one I had that was reading too fast. I think it will be all right but I didn't give it much of a test.
I started the hot rod and backed it out and washed it while the engine warmed up and the battery charged a bit. I don't think we will use it very much this year.

Still windy.

I finished painting the Twister this afternoon. Final weight will be about 42 ounces. NAPA didn't have much of a selection of paint so I settled for "school bus yellow".

More wind.

Sunday proved to be the only good day to fly in the last week. I went to the field and got in two flights then stopped and chatted for a spell with the other club members. I've needed some 1/8 inch balsa and asked if there was any closer than the hobby shops. I was told about Michale's in the Dayville mall. It's a craft store. I went there and they had a selection of balsa that was just what I needed for the flaps. Medium hard. I cut out the strips and made the hinge pockets this morning. I finished and installed the flaps by noon.
Brother Roy called and offered his Troy Built roto-tiller and ramps for a good price so I went there and brought them home.
Tomorrow is the last day of horseshoes in East Hartford for the season. There will be a meal and payouts so I'm going.