Making a kit.

I scrounged around and found enough wood to make the stabilizer and elevators for the Legacy. I noticed a fat line on the plans and being unlabeled I figured it was 1/32 ply running across the stab trailing edge. It built up and this piece stiffens the assembly a lot. Good to know after having the stab on the P-63 fold up this past summer. The elevators are solid 1/4" sheet and I had a piece of hard balsa just big enough for the job.  Today the balsa order came in from National Balsa so I grabbed a sheet of 1/4" and cut the flaps out and made the hinge pocket assembly for the flaps and cut the end shape. The fin/rudder says 3/8" tapering to 1/8 at the top. I used 3/16 for the whole thing. I got the 1/32 and 1/64 ply fuselage doublers roughed out but can't go any further until the rib set from Brodak comes in. I ordered the control horns and the instruction booklet too. The designer makes the flaps and elevators like I do. Flat sheets rounded a bit at the trailing edges. No carving and sanding a taper in the parts. A lot easier to get the control horns in perfectly aligning the parts also.
  The Bearcat has been fiberglassed successfully. It layed down flat all over. I have to start covering the wings and stab. so I can start priming and sanding. I bought a pilot figure for it but the scale is off. It's too big for the model. I'll have to get another.
  My older brother called this morning. It seems that 'his' sister borrowed his pump log splitter. She figured she would keep my younger brother busy and have him split the wood with it. That was against my older brother's wishes. younger brother managed to break the log splitter and bend the pump handle about 30 degrees off straight. Not to mention straightening out the return spring. And then when he left he ran over her "somebodys in the yard" detection system rendering that useless also. And he don't drink. The kid could break a crow bar in a sand box. I figure he's our uncle Si. Older brother brought the broken parts over and I welded them back together.

Just before it rained.

  The winds were minimal so we headed to the field to test the latest tweakings. I sealed the hinge gaps, widened the handle spacing to 5 inches, set the flaps even and lowered the nitro % to about 5.  Still trying to master the video portion of the camera. I'm thinking set it on manual focus as it wants to loose focus or not focus on automatic.
  The lower nitro made me turn the needle in a turn to get the rpm back to 7850. That proved to be too much so on the second flight, shown here, I slowed it down to 7700. I like that better. I also timed the run on 3 ounces of the fuel and got 3 minutes 59 seconds. So 5 ounces should get me close to 7 minutes which is plenty for the pattern. I can cut down to fine tune the run to complete the pattern and an extra 7 laps. I did at least one of each maneuver almost. I wanted to see how it felt doing the pattern and under no wind conditions it went fine. Now I know why everyone raves about the Super Tigre .60 engine.
  After the second flight we packed up and on the way home it started to sprinkle so we planned it perfectly.
  I built the engine crutch for the Legacy the other day and got what balsa I had together and found two pieces for the fuselage sides. I had to ad 2 inches to the tail end and drew the fuselage shape on one. I tried to order a rib set from Brodak online but couldn't. I'll give them a call Monday. That will save me a lot of trouble.
  When I checked the forums this morning I found that the designer of the Legacy had died of a heart attack. Bummer. Alan Brickhaus has several designs to his credit a couple have been kitted by Brodak the Legacy 40 included. He was the c/d of the fly in for many years too.

Made it to the field.

We shot some more videos of the new plane. The shorter lines and 150 rpm increase put the lap times at 5.44 seconds. Just right in my book. I'm still chasing the level wings though. I made a tweak to the flaps and the stooge line got wrapped on the elevator and pulled a hinge loose. I had to roll things up and head for home. I pinned the hinge.  I'm using 3 ounces of fuel for the test flights with a 6 ounce round plastic tank. One of the videos runs close to 3 minutes so a full tank should get me through the pattern. I'm using 10% nitro now and will drop that to 5% and if that goes well down to 2%. That will give me an even longer run time. I don't know if it's the conditions or not but I can't see a smoke trail in flight. There is plenty while on the ground though. 22% oil Omega fuel.

Plans for today.

The teacher that is in charge of the shop class that built the planes is trying to get me and the other club member together for lunch. I had an electrician coming this morning so I couldn't make it today but I could make it Monday. The other member could make it today but not Monday. Tuesday was offered and I can make that I don't know about the other member. A half hour ago the electrician called and cancelled so I emailed the teacher that I could now make it today. You can't herd cats. The weather is getting favorable so if I don't hear anything I'll go flying later.
  I found that the flaps needed tweaking on the new plane so I need to try that adjustment out. I also put on 55 foot lines and 4-5/16" handle spacing. It may want a bit more nose weight, I'm not sure yet.
  The garage has an open bay for a while so I took the motor mount stock for the Legacy out and cut it to size on the table saw. There are cutouts for fuel tank adjustment and for fitting the mount over the wing. All in all it makes for a light assembly. I'll be able to drill holes for the engine after the epoxy cures on the motor crutch assembly. That piece sets the tone for the rest of the fuselage. The balsa order hasn't come in yet.
 

"E" is different.

I covered the  Micro Telemaster in two sessions. The servo's and motor weren't too bad to get installed, the servo's are tiny. The speed controller connector is too big for the motor and the prop is too big and is held on with an 'O' ring. Coulda' knocked me over with the weather. I searched the web site of Hobby Lobby and there was a video on the motor. I wouldn't have figured it out otherwise. I might be able to scrounge up enough parts to get it in the air. And the wing is held on with a plywood hook in the front and two magnets in the trailing edge. I used the 1/32 ply control horns but glued them in well.

The darkest side.

December 22 and 23 I was waiting for better winds and the Bearcat waiting for a decision. I started building the micro telemaster. It went together quick. I had been given a motor and 2 micro servo's 2 batteries and another thing that is too big for the system. A speed controller for the motor I think it is. It's obvious the kids removed some of the parts here and there as the prop shaft is missing. I placed it on the pipes close to the ceiling for safe keeping. The elevator and rudder hinging is ignored in the instruction book. The fin and rudder have tiny holes in each and it looks like it should be sewed together. I have never seen that on a kit before and thought it was only used to replicate some old time model.
 I got some 0.6 oz. fiberglass cloth for the Bearcat the other day. So it's back to filling and sanding and waiting for the balsa order to come in for the Legacy 40 build.

Maiden voyage.

After a trip to the hobby shop I noticed that the wind was within limits for a test flight. We loaded the plane and drove to the field. I warmed the engine with hot water and put 3 ounces of 10/22 Omega fuel in the tank. It started right up and ran steady. 7700rpm at launch. I didn't time the laps but I can by watching the video.   I thought the wing was high both ways but the video don't show it. I added an ounce of tip weight,  none for the test flight.

Dabbling in the dark side.

The teacher at the high school gave me one of the left over kits from last year. A micro telemaster.  I've been ignoring it until today. I built the fuselage in an hour. The wing in a couple hours. I used strips for the spars and then found the proper spar in one of the laser cut sheets. It will fly anyway. The kit uses magnets to hold the hatch on, I can see that, but it also uses magnets to hold the wing on. The leading edge has a plywood hook that engages a slot and two magnets at the trailing edge holds the wing in place. I was wondering why there wasn't any dowels for the rubber bands to stick through the fuselage.. I used the wood that was supposed to be used on the stabilizer so I have to cut some.
  I have a test going for min wax poly urethane clear. If it turns out to be fuel proof I'll use it on the planes. It does amberize a bit but my planes don't last that long anyway.
 Maybe I'll be able to get in the test flight tomorrow, 12-24-13.

Ready to fly.

I waited a full week and applied the clear yesterday. I noticed the nozzle was spitting but not before it dripped in the fuselage. Then it attacked the yellow. Then I uttered a bad word or two, changed nozzles and finished the painting.  After the paint dried it doesn't look too bad so I'll go with it. I installed all the equipment and plumbed the tank to engine. Final weight is 59.6 ounces and the clear helped move the c/g back another 3/8" so everything has worked as planned/hoped.
  The temp. is 60 degrees and wet, the snow is gone but not raining with a bit too much wind for a test flight.
  I got the Eagle 63 ready for New Years first flight. The Bearcat is coming along and I probably will get some light fiberglass to cover the fuselage. I had to make a tongue muffler for it and the engine in the Polynesian as the bought ones are too short and I didn't want to buy one for the Super Tigre .60. Du-Bro has blank stock 6 inches long for this purpose.
  The winds looked like it was time to go flying. I loaded up the new plane and headed for the field but as we turned into Wauregan the trees were swaying a lot so we turned around and went home. Tomorrow looks better.
 I was tidying up the basement and came across the Monokote SmartCut trimming tool. I had tried to figure it out before but couldn't. I tried to find it on ebay and there it was. Then I did a search and found it again. Tower has it listed so after some button pushing I found the directions and printed them out. It may come in handy.

The new plane.

After having old number 7 removed from my upper jaw this morning I got the ambition to install the flaps and elevators for the last time. I have to wait until next week some time to spray the clear coat and install the engine. I'm hoping the nose heavyness is lessened by the paint and coverings.

It did it again.

There was about an inch of snow on the ground at 8pm last night. Not enough to push off. As forecast it snowed harder later in the night. Then it rained hard. When I got up there was about two inches of snow on the ground and most of it was rain water. I couldn't push it very far so I fired up the track snow blower. It managed to clear off the slush and only plugged up twice near the end. I found the salt and spread some on the drive and several hours later I went out and scraped off the remnants of the slush leaving a clean driveway. It's supposed to get colder again for a few days.
 I spent most of the day adding trim to the Polynesian and making a tongue muffler for the Super Tigre .60 that will be powering it. Then I got the ambition to weigh the parts to see what the weight will be. I came up with 47 ounces without any balance weights. A super light for a plane it's size. Never mind, I found an adding mistake. I used a calculator and came up with 57 ounces.
  I also found out that using the same can of spray paint of the same color you need to follow the directions for a second coat. I sprayed it yesterday and tried to fix a mess today and the paint wrinkled. I read the directions and it says to apply all coats within a few hours. Additional coats have to be applied after 7 days. Some time next week I'll hit it with the clear and do the final assembly. I aim to have the school make some graphics for it.

Building season in spades.

The forecast is for up to 6 inches of snow tonight. The temp has been steady all day at 17 degrees F. Very light snow has been falling steady since 0800 with just a dusting showing so far at 1430. It's supposed to snow hard over night which is the worst for me. I don't have the chance to push the snow off the drive before it gets too deep to push. The snow blowers won't throw it far enough to clear the big square in front of the garage. It happens almost every time it snows.
 The school class is coming along well and a few have finished building and will be adding the landing gear very soon. A late arrival came in Friday and got started on one of the spare kits. Maybe I can get him going and have the plane framed up by Fri. I haven't heard from the dist. one vice president about doing an article. I don't think he is interested as well as the education column guy at headquarters. They always want young people to get into the hobby but you can't prove it by me.
 I finally painted the Polynesian. Not the best paint job but it will fly. The bottom is curing now and I will take the masking tape off tomorrow. Then a clear coat or two and final assembly. The Bearcat is progressing. I don't like formers and sticks construction but I'm working through it. The wing is tack glued in and the sheeting for the bottom is soaking. Another easy paint scheme, all dark blue. After that I have the plans for the Legacy 40. I'll need to order some balsa to built that one.

So far so good.

The electrician came yesterday and fixed up half the basement. Four new Four way outlets with conduit to the ceiling as per the rules for basements. He couldn't make it today but I had to install the new water pump in the El Camino. That went well and it's dry. The old pump was rattling for some time and finally let the water out.
 The school class is going well but the covering has them working hard. There was little problems with the wings. If they would follow directions it would be easier. A first grade teacher at another school asked the teacher if they did robotics and wants to animate a gingerbread house. I think a string of LED's would be better.