More snow, rain, wind, low temps and engine tests.

 The forecast was for winter warning for the north west section of the state. This morning it snowed there and then moved to the CT river valley and stayed. Good for them.
  I went to the Hyundae dealer for an oil filter and then had to go home to get money for oil. As I got off the highway I could see a column of steam or smoke ahead of me. I couldn't recall any industry left that would be making steam so smoke it had to be. As I neared Plainfield Rd. I could see black smoke rising from near the intersection of River Rd. and Sterling Hill Rd. Out of town fire trucks were coming and more trucks were coming from another direction. Probably under control by now.
 I save any engine parts that are salvageable after I toast an engine. I had a piston and liner for an OS .46LA doing nothing plus two for the .40LA. The new .46LA had not been running right and I found that I had drilled the nva hole off towards the front where the exit hole is. I ordered a new block and venturi then proceded to put the hole where it should have been. I got it close by elongating the original hole and sealed it with fiber gaskets with the exit hole in the proper place. I tapered a piece of popsicle stick and jammed it between the spray bar and venturi to force the spray bar towards the middle as much as possible while I tightened the spray bar nut. I took the engine apart to do this because of the filings I created. I took the spare P&L and installed it and saved the new set. I put the heat gun to the engine and set it in the test stand and fired it up. A great run by any standards. I'll have to mount it back on the Ringmaster in a couple years when global warming kicks in.

Almost a flying day.

With the temp. near 30 degrees this morning I packed up the Ringmaster 576 and heated some water and headed to the field. I had removed the engine from the Ringmaster and swapped it into the Legacy and it was a good thing I did. The new .46LA ran awful. I got in one flight and came home. I tied the plane down and ran 4 tanks of my fuel through it. I didn't like the way it was acting and removed the needle valve asm. and installed another. I enlarged the hole a bit and ran a couple more tanks through it  and it ran more to my liking. Hot starts by hand are coming along and it runs the tank out at a steady rpm. Maybe I'll get out again this weekend.
 I was putting the 200 foot tape measure back in the garage and something bumped near by. Nothing should have bumped as I was alone and the bump was from an unusual place. I looked around and saw nothing at first the there was movement inside the El Camino. A squirrel got inside through the open drivers side window and was trying to get out through the closed passenger side window. I went to the right side and the culprit egresses through the open window. I shut the window. Now that I think about it I'll check for a nest.

Muffler's here.

The  tube muffler for the Super Tiger .60 came in today. No rush on getting it on the plane with the wind at 30 gusting to 40.

Finally found a muffler.

After looking for several months and coming up with empty promises and no gots I put a wanted ad on a forum and bought a "Big Art's" tube muffler. It should be here later in the week. The only reason I want one is that it will direct the exhaust away from the wing. The tongue muffler I made works well but messes up the wing.
 The weather has gone back to winter in January. 16 degrees this morning with a brisk wind. Tomorrow night there could be a bunch of snow depending on how the storm tracks. My son is heading back home early Tues. morning. We hit the Bridgewater, MA swap meet on Sat. but didn't find much of interest. We did find a better way to get to the MBTA station at South Attleboro. Going from here to Providence to get on I-95 north is awful on a good day. Now I'll take I-295 around to 95 bypassing Providence altogether.

Good first flight.

  My son and I went to the local high school track/football field this morning with the Legacy 40 I built over the winter. I had a brand new engine in the plane and then smartened up and put an old one that I'm confident with in. After some hot water warming it started right up and ran very well for the 3 ounces I put in the tank. Aaron and I both liked the way it looked in the air and I liked the way it handled. Especially the part about not quitting when inverted. Aaron says the outboard wing is very slightly high upright and inverted. Maybe a bit more inverted than upright. Anyway I'll put a bit more tip weight in for the next test session. I am surprised about how much pull the plane has with the LA .46/APC 11.5 x 4. A real good start. Tip weight, wider handle spacing and lower the tank a bit for the next time.

Another greater than great invention that won't make me rich.

I bought an ethernet cable for the wi fi radio and today I ran it from the router upstairs through the sun porch window down through the floor then through the wall and around the room to the radio. I followed the directions and it worked. While listening to the radio it occurred to me that I could cut some foam into thin slices and use the slices to insulate the wing tip weights in my planes. I've been using pieces of foam up until now and they are quite bulky and get blown away at the field during changes.  The picture says it all.

A long winter and still going.

Starting last September these are my winter projects. Two scratch builts two Brodak kits and one Sig kit. I won the Bearcat and Acromaster at the Baton Rouge contest raffle. I still have plenty of snow in my yard and the circle has too much to be useful. The runway is clean though. Maybe I should think about relocating the circle. Some club members want to fly from the north side instead of the south side and that would open up a spot for the circle and bother the farmer a lot less. That all hinges on being able to cut a new access road and that won't be easy with the wet lands and all. Plus moving the storage shed.

Where are the vendors?? I don't like being left hanging.

Google has been screwing with this computer and I finally figured out how to unscrew it. Bastards.
Anyway,  about 2 months ago I contacted "C. B." about cutting some graphics. We went back and forth a couple times about the sizes and content and finally got it straight. I've always found him hard to do business with. I waited a week or two and nothing. I re sent my last reply and then still nothing. Then I contacted another, no relation, and we went back and forth a couple times about the graphics, all numbers and letters, and he said he could do that and got my address and then he dropped off the end of the earth like C. B.. I ended up enlarging some numbers I had and cut them myself with an exacto knife. Now I've needed a muffler for a Super Tiger .60 and I've been watching some vendors and finally emailed S. D. You guessed it,almost, he hasn't even answered me. I feel like chopped liver. I hope I see these guys complaining about how bad business has been lately.
Brodak is out of stock but I've queried them about that and Randy Smith is next on the contact list. WT capitol F over. Called him, he's out of S/T tube mufflers maybe have some in a week or so.
  I did find some vinyl sheets on Amazon that are used for the cutters and they should be in today. Go Amazon Prime.
 As soon as the frost melts off the truck windshield I'm going to check on the field. Maybe get in some flying today.
 I went, I saw, I came back got the Acromaster and went back to fly. After roofing it trying a reverse wing over I re set the controls throws and put a 3 degree shim under the engine and put a smaller tank on. And I installed the OS remote needle valve on the Fox .19. All worked well. I had  about equal control up and down the engine ran quite well too. I'm using 50 foot Spectra tied using the sleeved granny knot.

No time to spare.

I got the picture of me and the plane just in time. The weather had been good for a few days and today the temp is in the low 20's with wind gusting to 40 mph. If that wasn't enough it snowed all morning. About 2 inches worth. I got the driveway cleared and the roads are just wet now.
 The high school got a copy of the King flight school private pilot knowledge course. I've been reviewing it and things have changed since the early 90's. Medical's are good for 5 years if your under 40 instead of 2 years. Over 40 is still 2 years. And to get an ATP certificate after Aug. you will need training in a full motion simulator. Only the airlines will be able to do that. John and Martha are still weird.

First time outdoors.

Scratch built from enlarged centerfold plans.

Granny shoulders the load.

I measured out 30 pounds of quarters and set up the pull tester. the Spectra lines tied with a dacron sleeve and granny knot easily passed the test. The best part was getting the lengths equal. I make one line to the length I want and then tie on a thimble to one end of the second line. Then hook one thimbled end of each line to the same spot/nail and mark the length of the finished line to the unfinished line. Then sleeve and granny knot tie the last thimble to the second line. I put a knot in the tag end and run the knot up close to the granny knot for security.  I tried to get the needle into the 20# backing but it didn't go for beans. It looks like 30# is the only usable option.
  I tied a ferrule using the same method as the lines and then tied the other end of a 2 foot long piece of Spectra to my Exacto handle using the fly line backing also. Then I hooked the ferrule end to a fish scale and did a destructive test of the granny knots. The Spectra line parted about in the middle of the run at 25 pounds. I don't have  the Chatillon pull tester the factory uses which accounts for the large difference in pull test measurements. But the test did prove the value of using the dacron sleeves over the Spectra line and the granny knot. This method allows you to get two lines close to the same length every time.

Spectra update.

I found some 30# fly line backing on Amazon and it came in yesterday. I shortened a set of lines using a granny knot and the backing as a sleeve. I'll try a pull test today sometime as we have a new dryer coming this morning. I'll have to try the 20# line again as I was using the needle point first instead of  eye first to put the backing on the Spectra. Eye first works a lot better.Insulating the Spectra makes a lot of sense.

El Camino update.

The last time we had the car out was in early Dec. When the gas pedal was floored not much happened in the way of blazing acceleration. Today I got a new catalog from Jeg's and as I was perusing it I remembered about the go problem. I opened the hood and found that the carb was only opening about half way if that. The pedal just didn't have that much movement. If I cut the rug away it would work right. I pulled the cable through the pedal arm and there was an inch of cable not being used. I made a spacer and put it between the cable end ball and the pedal arm. Now the carb opens about 95%. I may have to drill a hole in the carb throttle arm closer to the pivot.

A surprise. I messed up the sequence here.

 I was looking for something upstairs yesterday and saw one of the old Futaba radios we first used to fly pattern with. Channel 48. The receiver was there so I brought it down and checked the battery and put it on the charger. This thing has been sitting for 20 years or better. After an overnight charge the voltage was over 11V. Still good. I took the tiny servos out of the micro telemaster and put the s-48's in. Not much room but they fit along with the receiver. I had a charged flight battery and we headed for the dump. On the first take off attempt the nose weight came off and hit the prop which came loose and took off the cowl extensions or cheeks. A few adjustments and the second attempt saw the prop zing off between the cab and box of the truck. The prop wouldn't stay on at all. It's held on with an 'O'-ring. We went home. I installed a wood Zinger 8 x 5.
  Cabin fever is getting worse by the way.

Whoopsie.

We went to the dump to fly the Micro Telemaster yesterday. For some reason the prop kept falling off under full power. This is with the old Futaba FGK radio and one s-28 and one s-48 servo. Real old. The battery was still good and took a charge.  I made some changes to the prop by throwing the plastic one away and installing a Zinger 8 x 5 wood. It's held on with an O ring. Anyway I figured I would give it a try in the yard today. I flew it around one circuit of the garden and then tried to maneuver through the mimosa tree. That didn't go well at all. I removed all the pertinent stuff and threw the rest in the trash. The wing is usable.

Came in second.

 After posting my thoughts on creation I figured I had a scoop. Last night, for some reason, I watched the History Channel,I think it was, and they said the same things I did. That was the first I've heard of it being old news. But the show didn't take up the how life got started part that I did. At least the snow missed us.

Light snow, mid 30's test flight.

I've been wondering about the new school in Sterling, if the track has been cleared. I took a ride over and the track is about half clear. Not enough for 60 foot lines but 53 footers might fit in. Back home to get the Acromaster and my wife for a helper. Then back to the school. When I ran the lines out, Spectra, I noticed they went past half way to the other snow bank. Too late to back out now. I put 2 ounces into the 3 ounce tank, poured hot water over the old but hardly used Fox .19 to warm it and it started after clearing out the flood. The take off was kinda loose on the lines but after a circuit or two the plane stayed out and I managed two inside loops an inside square loop, inverted flight and some lazy eights. The engine started slowing down and the plane landed before the engine stopped. The fuel line had partially come off the nipple. Back home I cut 3.5 feet off the lines and put a piece of shrink tubing over the fuel line to hold it in place. Somehow the wing seemed to be built straight and was level in flight. I tried to use the kit method to build the wing but it wouldn't work. The die crushing was awful. Less line spacing at the handle and/or push rod in the furthest hole in the elevator horn or removing the half ounce tail weight. will help the jumpyness. The c/g is about an inch from the leading edge with the .19 and a wood prop. I put a half ounce on the tail to get it that far back. All in all it flys pretty good and has room for improvement.