Good weather.

I have about 40 flights on the P-40 and it's doing better. I've been adding more elevator and wider spacing at the handle and the plane likes it. The turn is manageable and the plane is stable in level flight. Still the elevator only moves 20 degrees up and 20 down.
 I'm tempted to remove the mufflers on the hot rod and go with straight pipes. I think the quiet is turning off potential buyers. A pair of two chamber flowmasters are in my thoughts also. It wasn't easy finding ones with 2 inch in and out.
 I mixed up 5 gallons of fuel this morning. I had bought a quart of synthetic Klotz and removed a quart of castor and added the Klotz. The gallon of store bought/raffle won fuel has some synthetic also. 3 gallons of methanol 1 gallon minus 16 ounces of castor and 1 gallon of store bought 10% nitro fuel. I have about a quart of the last batch left.

It is winter.

The 63.5 foot lines worked very well. I took a bit of nose weight out to get more turn back. I haven't tried that change yet.
 the brake master cylinder on the El Camino failed as I backed it out of the garage so the roofers could work. As usual I had a time getting a replacement. I settled on one that is square not oval and installed it. Today I made sure all the brake cylinders were working and bled the lines to get it working right.
 I had the school make a full size copy of a template sheet that was posted on a forum. I got the parts cut out and the fuselage about half built. I figure to use the new wing jig building most of the wing panels before removing them from the jig rods. The Gypsy is almost ready to start finishing but I'm just looking at it right now. I don't want to close it up and find something that I forgot to do.
 The electric car is getting an aluminum skin at the moment. We got the sides installed and the top is ready to be bent. The bottom will be bent differently as it doesn't need to be removable to service the car. We will be turning in a wish list of parts before the Christmas break.

Happenings.

I finally got one of the kids to come and fix the garage roof. Then I finally got the picker to come and look at the stuff we want to get rid of. Both on the same day. The guy that I gave the rock stairs to came a few days earlier in the morning and took the stones with a roll back truck. That was not fun.
 The roofer kids got here at 0930 and I figured on using roll roofing so I went to Lowes and got two rolls. Then we found that the roof is 8 inches longer than the roofing so I took the rest back and got two squares or 3 tab shingles. Then the picker came. After she left we found out that even with three people doing the calculations there wasn't enough shingles to finish the roof. Off they went and got some left overs from someone and just had enough to finish the job. A few of the roof boards that were removed were very wet and punky. They figured that the water was getting in under an improperly applied drip edge. That excitement ruined a good flying day to top it all off.
 I changed lines on the P-40 and to 63 feet from 60.5 feet. It made a big difference.  The wind will be light and variable again today so I'll get in some more flights with it.

Electric car chassis.

The "design team" drew up a nose that looked like the geodesic dome at Disney World and had as many parts. I simplified things with two parts and got the same look and a lot stronger.One kid really took to welding. Uprights, cross pieces and diagonals to go. Then it's on to the front and rear axles and sheet metal skin.

New wing jig.

I used the Brodak wing jig on the Gypsy kit wing. I followed the direction book and things didn't come out right. This jig builds the wing in two halves. Each half is glued together with a minimum of parts installed. I should have added as many parts as possible before taking it off the jig to start the other half. I'll watch for that next time I use it.
 The P-40 is coming along, I'm adding more turn back into it. The controls are neutralized at the handle and the down line is a tad shorter than the up line. Too windy to fly lately.

Getting cold.

I  added an aluminum prop nut under the plastic spinner and got in two flights today. That calmed it down a lot and it's flying like I think it should. I removed the aluminum piece and installed a one ounce spinner nut under the plastic spinner for the next time out. Maybe tomorrow.
 The parts for the Gypsy should be in tomorrow also. I should be painting it by now.

Trim flights.

I sprayed the clear Saturday afternoon. Sunday morning I took the P-40 to the field for it's first flights. All went well and I've gotten several trim flights in Sun. and Mon. I'm working on softening the corners. I slowed the elevator down about 30%. The flaps and elevator move almost the same amount of degrees now, that's what the plans show anyway. I haven't tried that change yet. I am pleased with the way it flys.  I called Brodak about the missing parts in the Gypsy kit but no one is around. I'll call back around 3 pm. I could have built it by now.
 I did some work on the schools milling machine this morning. It can be made to work using the key pad. I found a vise for it and I need to get some bolts to hold it to the ways. I also fixed the parting tool for the lathe so it will work. I plan to make a 1/8" copper tube bender with it. I have been using a wooden one I made at home. The copper tube fix I planned to use didn't work out so now I have 6 feet of 1/8" tube to play with.