A flying buddy.

While at the field Sunday another club member gave me the phone no. of a person looking for a circle. It happened to be a flyer that I know from local contests. I got in touch with him today and when he has time, He still has a job, we will meet and go to the field. He flys electric planes so being early won't be a problem. We will be in the same class at contests. I changed a burned out brake light bulb in the right rear light on the hot rod yesterday. Even though I removed the ground wire it still works. I also changed the oil and filter. It's been a long time. I ran some test flights on the Evo engine. I removed the muffler pressure and didn't see any change. Then I installed a free flowing muffler and it seemed to like that. I didn't have any fuel after that and couldn't get in another flight with it to be sure. I'll try again tomorrow. I have an edger coming in tomorrow. I ordered a new mower blade today too. The weather has been good lately but very wet in the morning. Lots of dew and it doesn't burn off until mid afternoon. It makes mowing very messy.

It's summer again.

After 4 weeks of high temps and humidity the temp dropped into the 50's with cold rain. Norwich got flooded with over 5 inches of rain. Today it's mid 80's and a lot dryer. I finally got the ambition to attack the panel dimmer in the hot rod. I clipped one of the wires and that took care of the panel lights dimming when I stepped on the brakes. I never did locate the radiator fan switch and it's been hanging down by the steering column all these years. Now with the dimmer rheostat out of the picture I have a spare hole in the dash. The fan switch had failed lately too. I bought another from Radio Shack and moved the wires for more slack and stuck the new switch into the dimmer hole. That should hold it for a few more years.

Winter arrives.

I went to Epping drag strip yesterday with a friend that lives nearby. It was test and tune day and he had concerns about a water leak in the engine. We may have had to tow the car back home for repairs. As it turned out he found the leak spot and after the engine warmed up and the radiator pressurized the leak was apparent. The engine builder used studs to hold the heads on. The coolant was following the threads out on top of the nut. He put two cans of stop leak in and the leak stopped. There were several very fast cars running and one pro stock from Tasca Ford. We watched as the car launched and started fishtailing down the track. Almost hit the wall but the driver, Carl Tasca, got it straightened out and stopped. They didn't make a full run all day. The track ambulance responded to a man down that we found out today had died. He was near the ATM machine, probably saw his balance. The temp. today is in the 50's and spitting cold rain all day. I had a coat on when I adjusted one of the down spouts. I got the Evo engine on Tuesday. They found a leaky front bearing, a scored cylinder and a faulty needle valve. They put in all new parts and it runs much better. I had the engine apart before sending it back and didn't notice any scoring of the cylinder. I got new parts though.

Another book.

The weather has been hot and humid lately, equal to the Baton Rouge forecast. Early in the morning for flying and mid day for mowing. The dew is too heavy to mow early. The heat is very good for grass to grow. I just finished a book written by Charlie Louvin, of The Louvin Brothers, about the Louvin Brothers before and after being country performers. One of their hits called "When I stop loving you" was mentioned several times in the book. Ray Charles did a version as did many other country stars. I looked it up on you tube and it's worth a listen by both Ray and Charlie and The Louvin Brothers. I thought we had an album by the Louvin's but it's only by Ira Louvin after they had split up. It was Ira's last record before being killed in a car crash, not his fault. The problem Evo engine is still in the repair shop. It was "checked in" on the 11th. No further updates. I changed all the ground wires over to a copper grounding block. The ones in the trunk were on an aluminum strip and I removed them and bolted them to the battery. No change in the dimming problem. Next is to remove the gauge brightness adjusting knob that was an option to the system. It doesn't do what it's supposed to I found out. Turn the knob and nothing happens.

Something lost.

The power or gas company was just here marking the location of the power line again. Hopefully they will get the connecting done soon. I had to admit defeat on the Evo .60 engine and send it back for evaluation. I tried everything in the book to get it to run with any consistency but couldn't. Next I'll be asking directions when I take the scenic route. I did some tricks to the original engine I had on the plane and re installed it. Maybe get in a test flight tomorrow.

It is still summer.

85 degrees and climbing at 1100. Too warm to fly at 0900 even. The repair parts I ordered from Brodak came in Saturday as I was mowing the lawn. Fed Ex. I masked the areas to be painted and brought the plane into the garage to warm up. I was going to bring the compressor into the basement to cool but it would take a long time. I mixed the paint and plumbed in the spray gun hose and gave the repaired areas two coats of olive drab. I have enough paint left over for another plane. I painted the underneath areas with light grey the day before. I glued the elevators on and waited until this morning to spray the flat clear urethane. It's drying and by tomorrow I should be able to re assemble it ready for test flights. I made a 6 ounce metal tank for it and cut out a pocket for the tank to sit in between the engine bearers. That worked well on the Banshee. I wanted to fly Red Molly today but it's too hot. Maybe this evening. I installed the wheel pants that came with the original kit that crashed. Mostly for looks.

It is summer.

Yesterday the temp was in the low 90's and the dew point was 75 degrees. Today the temp things are a tad higher. I found that I could put one of the tongue mufflers on my plane "Red Molly". I checked on the Brodak web site and found where the c/g should be for the plane that the wing came from. It is right on the money with the lighter muffler. A made few tweaks on the push rod and the handle too. I went to the Sterling school this morning and got in a quick flight. I was surprised that the turns are good and it's pretty stable in level flight. The wind picked up so I only flew the one flight. I sized up the Elantra and found that I can get a plane in the back seat area. I tried to find out how to remove the rear seat cushion but the instructions didn't match. I pulled up and the seat popped out of it's holders. Maybe I can get two planes in. I would like to bring one of the P-39/63's for war bird stunt and a good stunter. I made a line clip bender out of a 3/4-16 bolt and nut from a picture on the web. They want $25.00 plus shipping. I paid $4.75. Now I have to get some .035 wire to bend. They want $00.50 for 12 inches of wire. Last Saturday I saw a full size Mitsubishi pickup truck on the highway. I haven't seen one before or heard any advertising. There was a V8 emblem on the side. I also saw the Hyundai Genesis V8 brochure at the dealers. 429 H.P. out of 302 cu. in. None on the show room floor. The damaged P-63 is waiting for some paint to arrive. I was happy to have used up all the olive drab on that plane and didn't have any left over. Now I'll have lots after thinning. I made a sheeted foam stab and re used the elevators. That should prevent fluttering.

Victory and defeat.

The new Evo .60 wouldn't run the way I wanted it to. I tried many ways to win the battle but still not the way I wanted. There were some small wins like installing head shims and drilling more holes in the tongue muffler. Not until I accepted the fact that the engine would only run one way did I get the right combination. The flight was short because the stab. folded early in the flight. The engine did run properly though. The damage wasn't that bad as I built it with hard balsa except for the stab. The wing had some broken glue joints and ripped covering. I have a replacement under construction now. A balsa foam and balsa sandwich and I added diagonals to the built up original elevator. I started covering the stab. this afternoon.