A North Easterner.

With the cold I've been able to get a lot of work done on the new plane. It's up to paint now. Yesterday the latest storm came through. The temp has been in the 50's so I don't mind the high winds. The weather man called for high winds up until 0600 this morning and the wind was slackening off at that time. It has changed direction by 90 degrees, from the Northeast to the Northwest. It's still blowing up to 30. I washed the car as the roads are drying off fast.

Two puppies.

We had an appointment for the Hyundae at 0800 today. I brought it to the dealer in Plainfield and dropped it off for the 30,000 mile check. I walked over to the Dunkin Donut shop and had a coffee. When I got back the car wasn't ready so I went into the lounge. Two others were there and one had a Datona on his lap. I sat next to him and made friends with the dog. A few minutes later a lady came in with another Datona. The two made sniffing friends and we had a good time with the pets. Another guy came in and showed pictures of his puppy. I felt left out. When the car was ready I went and paid the property taxes.

Feckin' snow and feckin' cold.

I've been abvle to get a lot done on the new plane with the bad weather and all. The forecast calls for rain around Tuesday. That should be nice with the cold roads and all. I got the plane together today for the first time. It came out to 57 inch span and 664 sq. in. I didn't weigh it. I have drilled it for the OS .46 LA. The bacis set up is based on the Pathfinder that crashed last year. It is a large plane with 54 inch span. The wing tips are where the extra span came from. I'll probably get into covering the wing and stab next week.

Cold.

I got started on building another plane a few days ago. The cold weather has put a stop on most outdoor activities. I have plenty of olive drab paint so I figured on a P-39 Airacobra looking thing. I used a spare rib from the Strega kit and a P-39 looking profile fuselage. I have the main components framed up. I need to make wing tips and stiffen the nose a bit with a balsa tripler. Things are taking more time as fine work is needed from now on. I got the engine mounted today and need to drill for the nose gear.

Fecking snow.

2 inches of heavy wet snow. Ruined the whole day. Fecking snow.

Trimming the Yak.

Sun., Mon. and today the weather has been good for flying. I took the Yak-9 and have been doing the old time stunt pattern. The fuel tanks have been a problem. The plastic ones have touched the engine burning a hole in them and the metal ones have not worked right. I repaired the holes with urethane windshield glue. Then I got the idea to reinforce the repair by glueing an extra piece of sheet metal over the patch. Both tanks are curing now. Should be ready when the weather is good for flying again, snow for tonight and tomorrow. I did find another metal tank and have it on the plane now. I'll try it first. I took a chance and drove down to the field. The ground is quite wet but not soft and muddy. I stayed on the grass on the way out.

January thaw.

I had figured that the snow would be gone by Sunday and I could get in some flying on the circle. I did dare to drive down so I walked. The ground was firm but muddy too. Tire tracks were visable without spinning so someone had made the trip. I brought the Yak-9 and after the hot water warm up it started on the first flip. The first flight was close to the last as the added spinner made control sluggish at best. I spread the lines at the handle and the second flight was a bit too sensitive. I took half that change out of the handle and the third flight was pretty good. I had forgot how to enter the maneuvers on the old time stunt schedule but stunbled through the pattern. When I got home I looked up the rules and the eights are done backwards. Instead of the plane pointing up in the horizontal eights it points down at the intersections. And it starts at the far loop with a 3/4 inside loop then a full outside loop and going on from there. It really is like doing a lazy eight which is what the pictorial view in the rules shows. But the description says the model should be pointed vertical at the intersection. I saw an ad for the Oct. contest in Baton Rouge and the profile event has been changed to everybody in the same class. It is figured that that will shorten the event but I don't think so. Maybe flying a different event at the same time on the other circle is the game changer. Crafty people those Southerners.

Slow times.

I was nominated for club president last month. As has been the case in the last 30 some years no one elsa will step forward I should be elected tonight. I went ahead and made a gavel for the occasion. I'm not sure but I think I was president back in the 80's. I had to get a new battery for the truck. I think the old one was original as it was a Mopar brand. I got a call on Monday that the battery was in and I went to get it. I had installed one from the El Camino that had the battery from the hot rod and didn't need a spare so I put it in the truck. That gave me the confidence to put the new one in myself rather than pay $56.00 for the dealer to install it. I lost the radio presets again. The new battery has a lot more cranking power than the others. The strange thing is that the terminals didn't have any corrosion at all. I tried to paint the up leadout white this morning on the A-36 but the spray can wouldn't spray. I poked a tiny hole in the top and let the air out while I went to Lowes and got an empty paint can to pour the paint in. While there I looked at the Poly Crylic paints in spray cans and bought a can of clear satin water based paint. I figured that I couldn't wait any longer for the graphics and that the poly crylic could be used for the clear coat. I did the wings and stab/elev. and it was milky something awful. I let it sit for a while and it cleared up. Being water based I think it should go on milky. The fuselage will be a test as I have to be careful of runs on the top rounded surfaces. I plan on doing the least possible on the bottom as the rear exhaust engine shouldn't blow too much oil on the plane. About half way out on the outboard wing and the right half of the stab/elev bottom. I questioned the guy that's making the graphics if he had enough information to do the job. No reply so far. The local cutter hasn't gotten back to me in two weeks. I went to the field this morning and checked the tires on the mower. The problem tire was holding air and that is good. The runway is just about useful with the warmer weather but the circle is still covered in snow.

It runs.

I removed the engine from the plane and mounted it on a board. Three ounces of the fuel I bought for it and after a few tries I got it running. I had a 13 x 6 prop on it and it sounded happy right around 8000 rpm. I didn't time the run but it seemed to run a while on the 3 ounces.

In one piece.

I put the plane together this morning and it weighs 60.7 ounces. I am waiting for the nose art to come through and then a final coat of flat clear. The c/g is 3/4 inch aft of where it should be but shouldn't be too much of a bother.

Problems with the blog.

I tried to insert a picture and the page has changed. Now it wants me to "select a file" I want my "browse" back.
This can't be good.

A little more progress.

Last week we went to Hog Heaven to get some trim sheets for the A-36. They didn't have the right color so I had them ordered. On Sat. I called and they were in so I headed for the shop. I got one sheet of cub yellow and looked for some flat clear but there was none except some  Top Flite Lustre Kote flat clear. I thought about it but didn't know if it was compatible with the olive drab and light blue so I left. I sat in the car for a minute and deceided to get a can anyway and test it as the can was cheaper than getting a half pint from Sig. When I got home I sprayed the cowl with the clear as the cowl has both colors on it. Nothing happened. As soon as I get the nose art I'll spray the clear and be done with it.
  I applied the yellow wing stripes this morning. I looked up the reason for the stripes and the only thing I could find is"all group planes" had the stripe. Three or four colors were used.

Musical batteries.

About a month ago I removed the hot rod battery and installed it into the El Camino to keep it charged through the winter. Then I deceided to keep the hot rod in the garage instead of behind it. Which meant the truck would be outside in the cold. With it near the milk room it has started but with a slow wind up on the battery. I moved it next to the garage and this morning was too much for it's battery. I took the spare battery that came from the El Camino and jumped the truck to get it running. I did some errands and then swapped the truck battery for the El Camino battery.  I called the nearest Dodge dealer, in Putnam, and got a price but none in stock. I'll have to get it changed soon. $122.00 + $56.00 + tax. I've had excellent luck with OEM batteries in the past.

  I put the decals on the plane in the meantime. They are waterslide and went on with difficulty. I had to use the large one that should have gone on the wing bottom as the top one wouldn't glue down.  The smaller ones on the fuselage sides went on much better. I looked up Major Decals for pressure sensitive decals and they don't take credit cards and I couldn't down load their order sheet without getting the whole catalog. I gave up on it for now. I got the tailwheel on and the white bars on the rudder. I think the white is the trim tab. Other units A-36's have the same white bars. I have to find some flat clear for the final coat of paint.

It's painted.

 After seeing how far 4 ounces of dope will go and having 4 ounces for the rest of the plane I ordered 4 more ounces and another pint of thinner from Brodak. Yesterday I started to paint the olive drab and started with the original spray gun from over 20 years ago. It didn't work. I quickly changed to the detail gun I didn't want to use and got the job done. It didn't work well as the paint wasn't thinned enough but the paint flowed out very well and looks good with just one coat. After cleaning up I poured the leftover paint back into the cans and I ended up with a bit more than I started with. I'm guessing 4 ounces of paint on the plane and 4.5 ounces of thinner gave me the extra usable paint left over. Now to apply the stars and bars and I'm waiting for the trim coat sheet and vinyl letters.