Changes worked. Burned another gallon.

I did what the directions said to do. I adjusted the elevator on the Privateer. First I put 4 turns into it and that gave a ton of up elevator. It didn't look right so I gave it some thought and took 2 and a half turns out. I moved the leadouts back a bit and added another piece of tip weight. I flew it a few days later and all was well. The turns are just about equal now and easy to control. The plane is steady in level flight both ways.
 I took the P-63 out today and got in 3 flights. That is flying pretty good too. The turn could be a bit sharper so I removed the Big Arts muffler and put the tongue muffler that came with the engine on. That took about one and a half ounces off the nose.
  I have to mix another 5 gallons of fuel. I emptied the container a few days ago and the last gallon is going down.

Close call and wet feet.

The Privateer has been flying pretty good except for the difference in up and down. At the field the other day I flooded the cold engine and it let me know it by kicking the prop loose twice. I finally got the spinner and everything lined up and tightened and the engine started running normally for a second when it kicked the prop, spinner and hardware off the engine. The ensemble zipped by my face and hit me in the temple which was covered by my hat. No damage and I found the parts several feet away.
  I made a turn and a half adjustment to the elevator pushrod which brought things into sync. The pressure line fell off half way through a flight but I finished the maneuvers without too much trouble.
 I took one of the fish poles I got at the dump and went to the river. I caught a brookie about 8 inches long and slipped on a rock putting both feet into the water. The ensuing antics that looked like some old guy break dancing caused my hat to fall into the water also. Then I loaded up the plane after fixing the pressure line and went to Lowes and got a handle for the conduit bender and got in another flight with the Privateer that was pretty good...

Almost free to a good home.

Because of the weather we didn't go to the fly in at Wrentham on Saturday. I did pack up 4 planes and go on Sunday. Two of the planes I hoped to sell, $30.00 a piece of two for $50.00. Both served me well and did fly pretty good.
  I got in 3 flights with the Legacy and did sell both for $50.00 by noon.
 I packed up and went to the Hess station and put the money in the gas tank. Then we stopped at the 99 restaurant in Dayville.
  Windy today but I managed to get 4 students in the air. One plane had a warped wing and was a real handful to fly. I used a heat gun on it and got the warp out.
  I cut the welds on the electric car frame and will redesign it. The bender and weld wire should be in tomorrow.

Another bad weather project.

The new Privateer  paint scheme is a bit bare. I figured  a set of wheel pants would help a bit. I took the outline off the plans and got some  light ply and  some scrap balsa and started cutting. I made them like the Primary Force wheel pants and got them painted and installed today. Little bit is right.
  I went to Lowes and bought 5 pieces of 3/4" EMT tubing and started to rough out a frame for the electric car. I bought a hole saw to cut the tube ends to fit into the other tubes and that went bad quick. My drill press isn't  strong enough and the teeth are too far apart to cut the round tube. The chuck fell off and a couple teeth broke off the saw. I ended up cutting the ends with a  hacksaw and finishing on the bench grinder. After a couple pipes I was faster than  the saw was. Then I looked at the wire in the welder and There wasn't much left. I just ordered two pounds more. The  ten pound spool ships in 3 to 6 weeks. The spool of wire that came with the welder lasted about 5 years.

Good day before the bad.

  The weather for the next 3 days at least is forecast to be rainy and windy. With the meeting tonight and the winds way down I went to the field and got it mowed. I brought the Legacy and the Privateer for it's maiden voyage. I moved the leadouts back a 1/4" on the Legacy and with the added tip weight it flew very well. The engine burped in the first loop of the clover so I bailed out and let the fuel run out.
 The Privateer was up next and I put in 1 and a half ounces of fuel. It felt good on the lines and had lots of down and just right up. The engine ran poorly and the second flight was a bit better but the engine still leaned out a bit too much. Not a runaway as such more like some object flopping around in the tank. I may try uni-flow on the next outing as that will open the needle a turn more or so.
  With the meeting date change from Thurs. to Wed. I figure the turnout will be light.

Last one for the winter, really.

When it snowed last month I had just received Control Line World with the plans for 2 more of Allen Brickhaus' planes. I enlarged the Privateer as it has a straight wing with the same rib throughout. Yesterday the tem. got into the low 80's and the plane was masked off for painting. I let it warm up with the paint all day and gave the fuselage 3 coats of white and 3 more of clear. I was going to apply Chevy engine orange to the fuselage top but deleted that thought and went with all white. Today I masked off the wing for some orange stripes and got that done a couple hours ago. I installed an OS .46 LA and had some trouble getting the muffler off so I could remove the engine from another plane. All the holes lined up with the engine holes which is good. The c/g is very close to the spar and with a half ounce of tip weight it weighs 50.6 ounces.  Next good day I'll give it a flight or two.

Happy_______ing mothers day.

Fed Ex stopped a few minutes ago and delivered two boxes. Both from Sharies Berries. Upon opening them we found one from our son and one from Tom, Sharie and Zeke. I checked the shipping label and both had our address on them but one was supposed to go to a mother in Naugatuck, CT. I called Sharies Berries and they couldn't find any record of the wayward order and said to keep both and they would square it up when the other people called. Just for giggles I googled Margaret Dasilva, the non recipient, and found a phone number and had to leave a message. I told her, I hope, what had happened and what was said and what Tom, Sharie and Zeke should do. Before I ended I did wish her a happy mothers day.
  I have the Polynesian flying pretty good. I had to ad one ounce of tail weight and ended up with about one and a half ounces in the wing tip. I made up a shorter set of lines, 65 to 64 feet eye to eye, and it flew well. The warmer weather made a half turn in on the needle and the lap time dropped exactly 0.1 seconds. Just like the big boys said.
  I also installed the rigging to tow the extra mower behind the Cub Cadet. The Craftsman goes way too fast in 4th and too slow in 3rd.

Now the hard part.

I had just enough Monokote to cover the wing, stab., elev. and flaps on the Privateer. I masked off the wing and stab and gave the fuselage a coat of primer. Some sanding and filling and more sanding and I'm stuck trying to figure out a paint scheme again. After some pencil work I think I have something that will work. As usual it's not fancy. Just enough to hide the primer.
 I got three of the high schoolers into the air  with their planes this morning. Between hyper ventilating, high fives and huge smiles it went well. Them not me. Tomorrow the teacher and me are heading for Lime Rock race track to check out "Electrathon CT". It's a competition between schools that make their own battery powered vehicles. The high school may have found a source for money for the program. It should be interesting.

Houston, we have fillets.

  After school this morning the winds were not too bad so I packed up two planes and headed to the field. As usual when I pulled the release the winds started to move around. Up high I couldn't tell which way the winds were coming from and almost lost a plane  in the square eights. Next up was the Legacy. I wanted to check the adjustments I had made and the winds were getting worse. I ran the tank out and went home.
  I started to put the covering strip on the wing in preparation for the fillets.  I finished that and mixed the 5 minute epoxy and micro balloons and continued with the fillets. One thing led to another and I installed the stab and secured it with the fillets and then the fin/rudder. I was on a roll. Now it's on with the Monokote.

Back to school.

 I got the call and went to the school to give my presentation on weight and balance math. The school bought the King dvd's and I had reviewed them here at home. I worried after I did that that the video's might not work on another computer and I was right. The teacher should have called King schools and got the code to activate the course on the schools computer. I charged up 5 batteries getting ready to fly the planes when the opportunity arises.
  I made the trip to Hog Heaven and got some light fiberglass cloth for the Privateer. I wanted to cover the fuselage before installing the wing but that wouldn't work. I used Polycrylic to adhere the cloth and it went on very well. I put 4 total coats of slightly thinned Polycrylic and the weave filled nicely.  I think I have enough Monokote to do the wing and stab and that is the next step before adding the fillets. I'll put an inch wide piece around the wing roots and then the fillets just to the edge. The main sheet will stick to the strip and will be removable without lifting the fillets, if the plane lasts long enough to need re finishing. I contacted the person that built the model for the article that appeared in Flying Models a while back and he suggested moving the stab back an inch. I had the push rod installed and it's not that adjustable. I was able to extend the elevator clevis about 3/8" longer though. The clevis was kinda far into the threaded end and was hard to get a pry into to remove it from the control horn. That is fixed not by lengthening the push rod.
  I was going to sell one of my planes that didn't fly that well. I've been flying it to get it ready for sale and I got it flying pretty good and I'm having second thoughts about getting rid of it. But it has seen it's share of use.