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.