I did it my way, I think.

I can't figure out how anything can survive in 3000 degrees F. plus for zillions of years. I don't think there is life on the sun for instance. Then how did we get here under those conditions? Here is my opinion.
 When the earth was molten it was rather dry and dead. I mean grave yard dead and Death Valley dry and magma hot.
Comets are ice balls this is a fact. Giant ice balls must have come in contact with the still hot but kinda cooling down earth a while back. It's a fact that some organisms can be frozen and then thawed out and come back to life.  The ice balls that fell to earth must have contained such organisms and after enough ice fell and shock cooled areas of the earth enough that puddles formed, life must have thawed out and thought "damn". So the Star Trek Next Generation episode where "Q" takes Picard to watch life begin on earth is false. I thought Q would have known the truth being as smart as he is.
 It's also a fact that ice traps air. With the amount of water on the earth that would explain our atmosphere. It's possible that large ice balls fell to earth given the depth of some parts of the oceans, many miles in a few spots. So when the dinosaurs saw the comet coming down they probably thought "oh well another ice ball", WRONG O!!!!
  So in conclusion some monstrously huge water world planet came apart, the big bang maybe, and all it's water froze into huge ice balls preserving organisms, and eventually found it's was to earth and here we are. I'm glad the other world had balsa trees.

Things to ponder or not.

The air gets it's warmth from the ground, being heated by the sun, radiating heat into the air. Now the earths core is very hot. Possibly over 1000 degrees F &C. I'm sure the molten mass is not in the exact same spot it was last year. As it moves around down there it comes closer to the surface in different places that other places. This will cause the ground to be a bit warmer in one place than another which will cause the air to be warmer in one place than another also. Which explains why we have harsh winters, like this one, and not so harsh winters or warmer summers and not so warm summers.
 Further proof of that is Newton's law that says for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. So when one place is having a hot spell another place is having a cool spell.
 Melting of the ice pack will not flood New York City. As much as that would be a good thing. I did an experiment using a chunk of ice and an aquarium. I put the ice in and added water until the ice floated. I set it in a stable level spot and marked the water level with the ice floating. Then covered the thing and waited for the ice to melt completely. As I figured the water level was noticeably lower than when the ice was floating. How is this possible? The ice has trapped air in it which is why it floats. The air makes the water expand when it freezes causing it to take up more room in the water tank/ocean and breaking engine blocks, water pipes and rocks. So as the ice bergs melt and lower the water level the glaciers melting will bring the water level back where it was. Another good thing about melting the ice caps is that the air trapped in the ice will be released giving us more, better, cleaner, very old and smog free air to breath.
  I don't see a down side to the melting ice caps other than New York still being there.

Some how an opossum found it's way into the garage a few days ago. Things have been falling to the floor for no reason. I found more stuff on the floor today and gave the garage a good look see. It was lying on the floor under a lawn chair. It didn't move as I pushed it out of the garage with a shovel and carried it behind the garage. I tossed it into the brush.

Two more ready to fly.

I had to change the trim tape as the stuff on the stab bled under and created a mess. I stripped the paint with acetone and a rag. Gone in 60 seconds. That's a nice thing about Monokote. I applied two coats of Chevy engine red to the wings and stab. I installed the engine, tank and muffler and put it on the scale. 50.0 ounces without tip weight. The plans I enlarged from the magazine show the c/g around 2.5 inches and the web site says 4-1/8" The actual c/g is between those so it must be good.
  The Bearcat weighs 49.5 ounces with a Higley Heavy Hub on the engine for balance. I made the outboard fixed aileron piece into an adjustable trim tab. It wasn't an easy kit to build.
  We still have 6 inches of snow on the ground and temps well below freezing so that should give the paint a chance to out gas.

The real McCoy.

I answered a question about McCoy .35 needle valve assemblies. Then I figured on giving my advise a try. I took a spare OS remote nva and installed is on the McCoy. Everything bolted right in except the spray bar was .136 dia. and the McCoy venturi has a .155 spray bar hole. I used a thin paper gasket on each end of the OS spray bar to seal it.  I ran two 3 ounce fuel loads and the engine liked my 2% mix better than the 10% store bought fuel. The remote nva worked quite well.

I was watching the Daytona 500 when it rained causing the race to be stopped. Seeing as I had painting conditions again I sprayed the white on the Legacy. After an hour or so the white had hardened enough to mask the white for the Chevy Engine Orange. After that had dried a bit I figured it's time for the clear. Not enough in the Dupli-Color acrylic enamel can. I did have enough in the Dupli-Color Wheel Clear can so I heated that and put two coats on the fuselage. It's hanging up curing now.
  The new gas cap cured the check engine light. Now it's going to get cold again. In like a lion out like a lamb. "Yer ass too".

I couldn't stand it any longer.

 With the temperature getting above freezing And the school project winding down I masked off the Bearcat just in case paint conditions arrived. As luck would have it my wife is off baby sitting until late. The paint conditions arrived. I put a fan in the window of the dark room and took the spray can of dark grey primer off the furnace exhaust pipe that kept the can warm and sprayed two coats on the fuselage. Then I grabbed the can of Ford engine blue, that very closely matches insignia blue Monokote, and sprayed two coats on the plane. The dark primer helped darken the blue even more. After that I grabbed the can of clear and sprayed two coats on the plane. I didn't want to but I followed the directions and let each coat sit for ten minutes before applying the next coat, I don't count the primer, and applying all coats within an hour. It's looking pretty good.
  The Dodge "check engine light" came on this morning. I checked all the important fluids and they are all right and the truck runs like it always has. I'll get it checked out as soon as I can find someone to do it for free. I got the free information and bought a new gas cap. NAPA had the right one and I put it on. At home I removed the positive battery wire for a bit to re set the light. The original had a lanyard on it and the new one didn't have a hole to install the lanyard. I measured the hole in the old cap and drilled a hole in the new cap. I heated some water in the micro wave and stuck the lanyard end in the hot water to soften it. It popped into the new caps hole and now all is well. If the light stays off.

Cabin fever.

As I stared at the uncovered Acromaster I couldn't come up with a design. I finally started with white as I had enough left over. As I was shrinking the covering with a heat gun I burned a hole between ribs. In my usual keep it simple style I decided on a wide stripe to cover the hole. Then I put another on on the other wing. Then the tail. The final weight is 20 ounces with a half ounce in the tail. An old Fox .19 and a re worked 3 ounce tank.

Brodak

WiFi battle.

The old WiFi radio has been acting up lately. I tried to fix it by reading the book and the radio responded by not working at all. I checked my manhood at the door and called the C. Crane company. The lady on the other end took pity on me and spent about 10 minutes talking me through the process of going back to the factory default settings and re programming the stations. Then she told me that having the radio one floor below the router isn't good as the router shoots out not down. I have no choice but to put it one floor down as that's where I listen to it in the building area. I used an extension cord and placed the radio on the water pipes a few inches under the ceiling and about 6 feet from the router, as the termite bores. So far it's working well. I was able to get the Baton Rouge station finally. Rolands Rockin Cajun show too.
  It looks like the monthly club meeting will be cancelled because of the storm that's coming. Right now it's located in the Carolina's icing things up as it goes.
  As I looked at the Acromaster it has the look of a P-51. I added a turtle deck like the B & C models and a belly scoop and reshaped the fin and rudder. It weighs 16 ounces in the bones with the tank and Fox .19 and prop. I glued the leadouts where the plans said so The balance has to be close. I think it may be a bit nose heavy.
 I counted 16 planes ready to fly at the school. Three more to finish up next time there and it's wait for good weather. Another student is going to finish the last plane to be built. He may get the fever.

WiFi and cabin fever a deadly combination.

More snow for tonight.
My WiFi internet radio from C. Crane has been acting up lately. It would cut out about every 4 minutes for a few to several minutes then after a while doing that it would stop altogether.  I finally got tired of diddling with it and took out the manual. I had been using it for a kneeling pad for quite some time. It's good for that. I found the the site map and found a spot that said "upgrade firmware". After searching for a while I found it and hit the go button.  The directions said not to touch it while the upgrade was going on or permanent damage would be done to the radio. What does a knee pad know. After a bit the radio started playing. I will let it play for a while to see if it starts cutting out again. Maybe there are stations that weren't there before there now. I'll have to check.
  I started to build the Acromaster from Sig that I won at the Baton Rouge contest last October. The parts fit isn't a parts fit, more like a parts misfit. The ply doublers and the fuselage have different wing cutout shapes, the spar cutouts don't line up and the die cutting is, well, die cutting. Not a beginners kit. I removed the Fox .19 from the MI Bipe and will use it.  That required  opening up the engine bearers to make it fit. Sig should redesign the kit and use laser cutting. This is the second Acromaster kit I've won at the raffle. A descent trainer after it's built though. I'll buy one less ticket this year.
 For Valentines day we have a 42 inch TV coming today. Big Y flowers have lost their luster.

Back to school.

 The High School newspaper did a story on the class that's building 22 model planes and it finally got posted to their web site. The link worked for me when I typed it in. The article starts on page 4.

http://www.plainfieldschools.org/uploaded/schools/PHS/Issue_4_Jan._2014.pdf
Enjoy.

Slow going

Snow yesterday and snow tomorrow makes for a long wait for flying weather. I managed to get out  three times last week though. The engine on the big Ringmaster was acting funny and I went through all the hoops to figure it out. Cleaned out the spraybar twice checked the tank for leaks twice and finally noticed the uniflow tube was way out of position. I haven't had a chance to test it since that.
  I picked up a plane that was donated to the school by one of the club members last week. I put the servo's back in and charged the radio. On Sunday morning I went to the field and flew it. It's a trainer. The flying weather has been quite good considering things. Light wind and decent temps.
 The electrician finished re wiring the house. We changed over to the cable company as ATT didn't have very good service in the area.