One more time.

I found out that all the wood that is being removed from the buildings is either long leaf pine, spruce or Douglas fir. No chestnut. I was surprised to see the wood peg joints and how evenly spaced the growth rings are in the wood.

Still here.

We just signed the fourth closing extension and sent it back into the fray. The mortgage processor, we found out, had quit. That left it untouched for 3 days. When another was given the job he had to go over all the paperwork again adding more time to the Asian fire drill.  (Can't say Chinese anymore or cluster fuck either.) So now we are looking at Dec. 11 or sooner for closing. At least the weather has been good.

Progress by Thanksgiving 2015.

The  building that was under attack has been taken down. Most of the wood is along side the fence in several locations. A shipping container was loaded the other day and probably on it's way overseas by now. They were working this morning and have been going 7 days a week.

When will they run out of shoes?

Last Fri. we were told that the person handling the mortgage claim took Wed., Thurs., and Fri. off leaving the paperwork on the desk. Now with Thanksgiving a few days away it looks like nothing will get done before next week. I'll have to call the movers again. They have already said we are the worst they have ever seen.
 The cable guy just left as they are trying to figure out what is messing up our service. A new mode-m and line to the phone pole this time. After service was resumed the first call was a robo call. It's back to normal.

Some progress.

I took a walk around the mill again to take some pictures of the demolition.

Another shoe hits the floor.

We signed another extension and the closing is set for Nov. 23. The buyers annuities are causing a lot of problems for the bank.
I called the movers and set them up for the two days after the closing and today they called back. They figure it will take 3 days now. The third day being  the 28th, Saturday. It looks like we will have to do some packing so they can get it done in two days.
Kaman is slowly disappearing. The amount of wood is amazing. Beams about 12" x 18" x long are coming out. They are working on the roof taking that apart now . 7 or 8 people just removing nails.

Progress Moosup style.

The tear down of the old mill continues. Picture 4 answers the age old question "what did they use before re-bar"? Why re-pipe of course, The elbow had to be an extra cost item. All of the cement fence posts have split.

Nothing left.

While waiting for the next closing date, probably end of month, we have gotten rid of everything that's not coming with us in the house. The garage is all but empty. I've been pulling nails I used for hanging stuff on and pounding in nails that have worked loose over the years. The toilet is the latest item to act up after the microwave crapping out. I'm having a new flush valve installed today. The more I look around the more I find to fix. The grass is growing in spots and needed mowing this week.

Getting close.

 Everytime I figure there is one more load to bring to the dump I find a bunch more stuff.  Today I took the bench grinder, drill press, wood lathe, vise and belt sander off the table in the basement. Then I popped the formica off the particle board and put the board in the to go pile. We cut the formica so it will replace the marble top in the dining room. Then I started to remove the stuff from the computer desk. After cleaning the drawers I moved the Sony record player off the table up stairs and brought the table down into the computer room. I slid the computer stuff off the desk onto the table. I found my missing WiFi radio. It's playing again. I found that the desk is a lot heavier than I figured. I removed the drawers and it was still too heavy so I got a pry bar and took the top off. After carrying the pieces into the garage I vacuumed the sawdust and we're back in business. The neighbor is supposed to take the futons tomorrow. That should be the last load of any consequence.

In the early morning rain.

I brought the last two r/c planes to the club meeting last night.  I donated them to the club to make money or whatever. That left 11 c/l planes to haul south.
  I went out before the temp got too high and found it sprinkling off and on. I put 3 planes in the truck bed and then the cross bars to hold the second layer floor. I cut new ones as the originals were too high. Then I replaced the floor piece with a wider and longer piece. A couple risers for canopy and fin clearance then a hole for a tail wheel to sit in. Then I cut a hole for the fin plus the riser. I got 6 in the bed with room in the back for some 5 gallon jugs of fuel fixins. And I can close the lid without any further mods. Two more planes to go when I noticed the back seat of the car has a lot of space. Just enough for the two planes. Problem solved, still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Load 13 this morning.

I went to the contest at Wrentham, MA on Sunday. More to support the thing than anything else. After the first round I was in second place so I figured it was good enough and passed on the second flight. As it turned out somebody got tangled in my lines so I wouldn't have flown anyway. I ended up second.
  As of today we got the movers and car hauler and a local motel booked for the impending house sale. I'm out $100.00 deposit and if it goes long enough another $225.00.
I read the U-Haul rules for tow dollys and made up a set of tail lights for the car. I didn't realize that the car needed lights. When the next shoe drops, by next Monday afternoon, we will make up another load to the dump and Salvation Army. I got rid of my work bench and other stuff today. The Jet wood lathe has been spoken for and there are some other stuff that would be nice to give away.

The end of Moosup. Pictures of the demolition of the old Aldrich Bros. mill.

Majestic Metal and Kaman Aerospace also occupied the buildings.

Still dumping.

All the stuff I put out to be taken was taken except for the mustang rear window. I included it in the latest load to the dump on Sat.
 One good thing about all this is I'm finding trouble spots here and there and getting them fixed. So which ever way this goes The place will be in much better shape than it has ever been. Except now I can't find anything. Until we get a definate yes or no we are in limbo. The house inspection is scheduled for next Fri. and another mover is coming this Wed. The car mover and U-Haul are on standby also. In order to be out by the closing date of Sept. 30 I need 7 to 10 days notice.
  While trying to smooth the lowering of the garage door I found one of the spring cables with only one strand of cable left and a wire in that strand was broken. A trip to Ace for  new cable and a clamp was faster than installing it. I did manage to get it fixed.

Loads 10 and 11

I got an early start on the garage today. I put some items on the lawn marked Free. They were gone by 1015. I removed a lot of stuff from the 3 bays and a lot more stuff from the overhang. I used the air hose and broom to clear the dirt and leaves. Then a liberal dose of Home Defence all around. The moving estimator came on time and and it took 30 minutes. Then I loaded the truck with books, about 200, and brought them to the Sterling library. I headed home at noon from that. I backed the truck up to the garage and loaded it with the stuff I had piled up in the garage and with a pile from the lean to. The small pile. In the morning the dump opens at 0700 and I plan to be there shortly after. There is a second pile that should fill the truck again with skids, mowers, roll roofing, wood from the old porch, snow shovels and some metal. After that I'll stop at the lumber yard for 2-2 x 2 stakes, for the raising of the tonneau cover thingy, and a bag of mortar mix. Then a stop at Agway for some bird seed and electrical plugs.
  We are still waiting for word about the inspection. The client has the funds.

First flight.

I let the paint cure for over 20 hours before installing the engine and other stuff. The all up weight is 47.5 ounces and the c/g is 1/4 inch aft of the fwd c/g location. I still have 1/2 inch to go aft and still be in the range on the plans. It just happened that way. I set the leadout position as I generally do and changed wheels to get more ground clearance.
  The first flight was a half tank and all that was needed was to shorten the down line 1/4 inch. Two more flights at 4 ounces of fuel and I was able to do the full pattern of maneuvers. Some crap in the home made tank played havoc with the engine run and I cleaned it out when I got home. I used the handle and lines from the Hound Dog and made up a new set for the Mo' Best with a new handle.I should be able to get in some more flights tomorrow morning.

Seven day wait is over.

After reading the directions on the can of spray paint I found that I had to get all coats of paint on within an hour or wait 7 days. I sprayed the base white last week and masked the trim color this morning. I put the plane in the garage where the temp. gets kinda high during the day so the paint would cure faster or something.  Anyway I sprayed the orange red trim color and then the clear within an hour to finish the process. I had the paint cans in the garage also and found that they shouldn't have been. The paint firmed up too fast at the higher temp. The clear got a bit of cloudy in it because of the faster cure. But that won't hurt it's flying ability. I'll install the engine and tank tomorrow.
  Since 1999 I've been saving the state quarters and then national park and other special quarters.  I figured I should cash them in so they wouldn't be home alone. I got $1653.50. I used a kids wagon to get the 4 jars from the truck into the bank.

It is summer.

The weather has been good enough that I'm able to get to the flying field every morning. Every plane I fly I remove some of the nose weight. Mostly I change to a lighter muffler. I ordered 3 tongue mufflers today. They weigh 2/10 ounce each. That is helping the planes turn a lot better. I got a larger tank for the Legacy and it will get through the pattern now.
I bought a kit of the Mo-Best that I've been looking at for several years now. It just came out as a kit in early spring this year. I have most of it framed up and the wing just needs sheeting. The kit has a built up leading edge and trailing edge. I was hesitant to try building with that system but did. So far it's working out well. I'm pretty sure it's called Lincoln Logs system.

I was right.

After a bit of thinking I checked the tire rotation diagram in the owners manual for the truck. I had put the tires in the proper locations.
 After installing a new glow plug in the problem engine it came to life. Then I turned my attention to the plane with the hungry Super Tiger .60. That engine runs great and I got a baseline comparison with the other plane as to how it flys. I added 3/4 ounce of tail weight and that should make the controls more responsive. It needed more up control as it was and this should take care of that and make the down control too touchy. I can fix that with handle spacing. Luckily the plane has a plastic clunk tank so I can put in a few ounces for testing and not a half tank full. I'll get in a few test flights after mowing this morning.

Another first.

 I've been thinking on it for a few years. Today I got the tools out and rotated the truck tires. It wasn't too easy as I didn't use the spare. I removed the right side tires and put the back one in front and front in back. Then I did the same to the left side. After washing and cleaning the rims I tightened the fronts and installed the hub caps. I jacked the rear up and removed both rear tires and swapped sides. All four wheels were rusted to the brakes and it took  from a kick to 4 whacks from a sledge hammer to get the rims off. I put a thin coat of grease on the problem surfaces so they should come off easily the next time. By then I probably will have looked up the right sequence for rotating the tires in the owner's manual.
  I was out flying this morning after driving around the circle several times to flatten the tractor tire marks from the hay mowing. On the second flight the engine quit way early. I found some raw fuel dripping and called it a day. At home I removed the tank and found a slight leak and a rattle inside the tank. I found one of the tubes inside had broken it's solder joint and needed fixing. The slight leak was in the feed tube solder joint and I found some crap inside the tank. Probably flux. I cleaned the tank and the spray bar on the engine. I kinda like flying the Strega now that I trimmed it properly. And set the engine up per the guy I bought it from instruction. Funny how that works. The amazing part is that the .60 size engine only uses 4.20 ounces of fuel for the pattern. The Super Tiger .60 uses 6 ounces for the same flight. Both on store bought 10% nitro fuel.

It's official.

The club is having the monthly meeting at the new field tonight. We have permission to fly there and the AMA has been notified of the addition of the field and the deletion of the Thompson land fill site. I still don't have any information on how to unlock the gate.
 I did a post mortem on the P-63 and found no problems with the control system. A few days later I was flying the Ringmaster 576 and got hit by wake turbulence on the same maneuver in the same place. The 576 was in a better state of trim and flew out of the upset. The hobby's best trimmer has been writing about trimming and I'm following his advice. It would have saved me a lot of trouble if he was doing things more like I do.
 I've been flying the A-36 lately trying to get that trimmed better. I had to go back to first base and slowly worked up to third base. The handle is even spaced and the control throws are pretty even. I've added an ounce to the tail and an ounce to the tip weight box. I have some fuel coming and had to call the engine guy as Sig stopped making the fuel he requires you run in the engine. Sig's 4 stroke fuel is equal so I got 4 gallons coming. Omega fuel is the same blend and I'm using that for the time being.
I installed a garage door opener last Friday. It actually works as advertised. I had to find some soft item to kneel on as I had to reduce myself to read the instructions from start to finish. Humiliating. I got the inside controller working and then the portable remotes and then the outside wireless controller working. The car has 3 buttons for extra controllers but I have enough working now.
 The registration runs out in late October. Tough titty CT.

Another flying site.

The club has the use of a rec area in Thompson not too far from the float fly site on the lake. It should be ready for use July 1. I checked the place out several days ago and the ground seemed kinda rough. But it is open and flat. All we need is access to the gate lock and get it mowed. Should be done July 1. The club had done some construction work on the site years ago but soccer moms got the full use of it. Now they are not using it too much and we are back in.
  I've been flying the Ringmaster 576 for several years now. It's been recovered 3 times. I never thought it was flying as well as it should. I checked and found the control throws it should have and made a new flap horn that was the right height and moved the elevator horn so it is on the hinge line. Now it has equal throws all around and shorter lines with smaller wheels. I think it flys like it was designed to now. The smaller wheels have less drag and relocate the vertical c/g. I also removed the stock muffler and replaced it with a Fox .35 muffler that is over an ounce lighter which moved the lateral c/g aft. Along with a new handle I was able to reduce the line spacing as the new c/g requires less control throw to get a good corner. I removed some nose weight on the Shark 560 and evened the elevator throws some. I'll have to test that soon.

Updates and stuff.

The electric car is still at the school. It's up in the air whether the kid will get the car.
  I found out, again, that changing wheels on a plane can change the way it flys in good and bad ways. The Shark has been flying well since I stiffened the nose and with the not too smooth grass circle I put on larger wheels. The plane flew awful so I put the original wheels back on and it flys like it did.
  The club has got another field in Thompson. We had been using the land fill there and now we can use a flat rec. area on the west side of the lake called Bull Hill.
  I took the Privateer out today and it was too touchy on the controls. I went home and removed the tongue muffler and installed a stock muffler and made a new handle so I could decrease the line spacing. We went back to the field and it flew quite well. I finished off the first gallon of the season too.

Bad vibes.

The Shark 560 has a problem with poor engine runs. Against my better judgement I built it as the plans showed. I generally use long wood engine bearers and the plans had 3 inch long ones. That leaves several inches of balsa that isn't very stiff. The engine would start off fine and then speed up about a third of the way through the run. I tried other props, fuel tanks and engines. All with no change. The other day I made a 1/2" cheek piece to go over the original cheek piece. I made two saw cuts length wise and glued in two strips of 1/32" plywood to stiffen it as much as possible. I should be able to get in a test flight today after the car show.
 After coming in second at the electric car race the car was used to give anyone that wanted a chance to drive it around the running track at the school. On one outing the kids managed to break the rear wheel spokes. Luckily there was another wheel on a bike that was a bolt on replacement.  One of the kids that drove in the race asked for the car and the head teacher gave it to him. Without the electric parts. I removed the wiring harness and motor and boxed it up for the next car if one is to be built.
 

Success with the electric car.

The kids got the car wrapped with printed vinyl the day before the race. I loaded it on the truck along with the batteries and tools. Friday morning I got more stuff to carry and headed off to Lime Rock race track. The bus with the kids got there 30 minutes later and we got the inspection process going. The amount of cars overwhelmed the crew and things got off to a late start. I was hoping we could get into the second race but had to settle for the third race. That started at 2:00pm and ended at 3pm. The drivers managed to get in 22 laps each and we didn't have much faith in the results. but with rush hour very near we decided to stay for the awards. We got second place in our class and everyone was quite happy. I think we were in the top ten overall. Not bad for a new car and greener than green drivers.

Almost spring.

The snow is gone but the temps are still low. Nearly or below freezing on most mornings. Windy and rainy on top of it all.
 I was able to complete the Gypsy and get it into the air. It flys quite well. I may have to switch engines as this one uses too much fuel.
 I  moved the El Camino over one bay and can put the truck in the garage now. I keep a close watch on the mirrors so I don't jam one into the garage and break it.
 We ran the electric car for a full hour last Friday. The batteries still had some juice left. It averaged a bit over 20 mph for the hour. All that remains is to get the graphics printed and installed.

No end to it.

Another 3 inches of snow with morning temps in the mid teens.
The basement looks pretty good. I put another coat on the stucco wall and around the stairs. I put the work bench back into the outer room leaving the work table in the inner room where the stairs are. Two more pick up loads to the dump and lots of stuff in boxes that I won't be able to find when I need it.
 The electric car is going well with the new roll bar design and hub adapter. One of the brake calipers broke during a test run. After carefully looking at the tiny pictures that served as directions I found that I had installed them in reverse. I cut off the brackets and turned them around and reinstalled the good caliper. The new set should be in late next week. All up weight of the       car/driver/ballast/batteries is 442 pounds.
 I checked on the flying field this morning and it's covered with snow with a large pile of plowed up snow blocking the entrance.

More paint.

I bought 5 gallons of floor paint last Saturday. I moved a bunch of stuff out of the first room in the basement to get at the floor. I found some dents that needed filling with cement which held up the painting until today. I got a coat on the floor with the heavy stuff in a path from the stairs to the doorway  which is now blocked until tomorrow afternoon. It took a gallon to do about 80% of the floor. The other room is several feet shorter so I should have plenty of paint.
  The temp is near 40 so I opened the garage doors and fired up the hot rod to check the thermostat housing for leaks. Dry as a bone. It's strange how the store bought gasket softened and couldn't seal. I had some rubberized gasket material from NAPA, as was the new gasket, and made one. I bought the stuff when I installed the old thermostat.
  Several people commented on the roll bar on the electric car being kinda short. I was looking through the rule book and found some pictures of other cars and one had a double roll bar like modern dragsters. I bent one up and had the kid weld it on. The sprocket hub adapter replacement should be in soon. Now to get them to print up the wrap and get it applied.

First run.

I had the electric car charged and ready to run by 1100 today. We pulled it outside and one of the kids got in, buckled up and started off. A little problem with the chain, or so we thought, so we ran it back inside. I made some adjustments and back out we went. The second kid got in and took off. A minute later he came into view. The rear hub assembly that goes on the tire to allow free wheeling came apart. 3/4 of the ball bearings were lost so we have to get a replacement.
 At home I drained the hot rod radiator and planned on resealing the thermostat housing. When I got it off I found the new gasket turned to mush. I made another and slopped some sealant on and re installed it. Maybe tomorrow I'll warm it up.

Almost done.

We bent a piece of plastic to act as a windshield. The batteries should be in tomorrow morning 3/10/15. I found that the steering box was at the wrong angle and there was binding in the U-joint. I redesigned the mount and welded it into place. I'll get 2 shorter bolts when I pick up the batteries.
 Hendrick driver J.J. took over the race lead so I went outside and got the hot rod started I let it run until the new thermostat opened. I had to tighten the housing bolts and wipe the leak up. The Magnaflow glass packs sound pretty good.

A month later.

Because of the cold and snow I haven't been able to do anything but clear snow. Today 3/7/15 the temp. got close to 32 and I was able to change the thermostat in the hot rod. The old one had a hitch in it last time out. I may be able to run it in the next couple days. No chance of putting it on the road with all the sand and dirty melt water puddles. I'm listening to WPAQ- am 740 Mt. Airy, NC. It's 50 degrees there.(wi-fi radio) It was 1 above this morning here.
  The school car is ready for batteries. Another rear strut and some side sheet metal then the kids want to vinyl wrap it instead of paint. That should be a hoot.

Update to the update.

After plugging the bleed hole in the replacement bleeder screw I tried it out on the car. I stuck the new screw in and put the syringe on it. I pulled a vacuum with it and took about a half ounce or fluid through the lines. It works very well. To use it with a pump designed for vacuum bleeding brakes you just need to plug the bleed hole and drill through the screw. Then hook it up just as you would if you were using the original screw except don't leave it loose.
  5 inches of white misery again today. And it's supposed to get cold, back into the teens for a high.

Another item that won't make money; update.

Being that is is very windy and the temp. is in the high teens I was looking for something to do. I've sunk so low as to doing crossword puzzles. Not finding anything of value I was staring at the bleeder screw I modified. I was imagining how the vacuum flow went and noticed that the original bleed hole, if left open, would interfere with the way it operated. The hole is still open to the vacuum and therefore would still pull air through the threads. I cleaned the hole and fluxed it and closed it off with solder. Now there won't be any air getting into the fluid stream except what is in the system.
  The parts for the electric car came in Friday afternoon and Monday we are looking at another snow storm and Tuesday I have a dental appointment in the morning so I won't get to see  them until Tues. afternoon at the earliest.

Another item that won't make money.

I was able to get out of the yard today after removing snow for two days. I headed for NAPA to get some paint and a part to help with the brake bleeding on the El Camino. After drilling through the screw I soldered a brass tube into the hole. Now I can install the new screw with a cheap syringe attached and vacuum bleed the brakes without air leaking by the screw threads. If the temp ever gets up into the 30's I'll give it a try. Total cost is under $5.00.
 The Yankee Flyers have started a facebook page. It's a work in progress so far.
 The parts we need to finish the electric car are in transit and will be delivered as soon as they can because of the storm. Now the fine tuning begins.

The bald guy is here. Made in Syria L.L. Bean coat and all.

The Weather Channel has it's minions in position for "the blizzard of the century". This will be the first blizzard so it seems it will have to be the blizzard of the century until the next one. Assholes.  The power company has issued warnings about outages. I fueled up the generator and positioned it for use. It's reported that someone bought a Wal-Mart out of bread and put it up for sale on Craig's List for $10.00 a loaf. We have light to moderate snow falling as of 1030am. Time to make cinnamon bread.
  I had another copy of the template sheet for the Shark 560 made up at the school today. You never know.
  I ran the El Camino out of the garage yesterday and washed the dust off it. The brakes worked well and are a little spongy but that's to be expected as I haven't bled the system yet. The other/original booster had several ounces of brake fluid in it and must have been leaking vacuum also. I had to lean out the idle circuit a bit.

Pedal at last.

First off I've been trying to link to the latest flight of the Shark 560. I'll try again here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z2V-KrZdGc
 Now back to the pedal. I got the new booster/master cylinder installed and the free play of the brake pedal set. Then it was off to bleed the master cylinder. I made the mistake of reading the directions and had to go get a part off the old unit first. Then I installed the plugs like it said and bench bled the cylinder. Didn't work. I'm used to putting tubes on the outlets and piping them back into the reservoirs then pumping the plunger. Anyway I kept getting the same bubble of air through the intake hole with the plugs installed and through the pipe with the tubes installed. A leak. I removed the plugs and applied some kind of sealer to the threads and everything worked. I installed the master cylinder and hooked up the lines and ran some fluid through the front caliper and then tried the pedal and it's working. I should bleed the brakes next.

Third time is the charm, I hope.

The brakes on the El Camino have concerned me for a while. I changed one master cylinder because it was leaking. I changed that one because it had a vacuum leak through a hole that wasn't supposed to have vacuum. Then that cylinder failed suddenly in early November. The next one wouldn't give enough pedal to suit me. I looked up everything I could find on the master cylinder and found that I had a part with a 1 inch bore and the one I needed has a 1 and 1/8 inch bore. That one is for the front disc brake car. The only problem is that the push rod from the pedal through the booster on the car is long requiring a deep hold in the master cylinder. The right cylinder has a shallow hole and would never fit on the booster in the car. After finding out about the large diameter bore I figured the only way to remedy this is to get a booster/master cylinder unit. I found on on line and went to NAPA and ordered it. Big core charge so I removed the old unit and traded it in. 4 nuts to remove 1/8 turn at a time. The brake lines route behind the booster and are screwed to the booster mounting bracket near the nuts. The studs prevented me from removing that screw until the  nuts were backed off most of the way. The factory must have installed the unit before the fenders were installed. Anyway I got the new unit and will attempt to install it maybe tomorrow. I managed to get the master cylinder bench bled properly, I think. My grandmother would have been proud of me as I invented a few cuss words she didn't. She used all of hers on me so I know them all by heart.

It's still winter.

 I figured out a way to warm up the basement so I can paint. I bought a dryer heat diverter from Ace hardware. I plugs into the vent hose and has a flapper valve to direct the exhaust outside or let it go inside. It works fairly well. Hopefully I won't forget to re set the valve to outside when I'm done using it.
  I priced flex hose for the hot rod exhaust. The glass packs don't make that much noise so I'm going to try straight pipes. That will have to wait until the temp gets above freezing.
 I barely got a design for the Shark 560 and still nothing for the Gypsy. Now the electric car is skinned and will need some paint. The wheels and drive stuff is on order and if it comes in we will have everything needed to run the car, except the batteries.

New mufflers.

  The  Magnaflow glass pack mufflers came in the other day from Jeg's. The temp was high enough so I finished installing them on the hot rod. I expected more noise with the engine running but it's still fairly quiet. After a fashion the noise should increase. It's still better than the original mufflers.
 I started to cover the Shark 560 today. I switched the landing gear from side to side and bent a nose gear wire. The plane should be able to use taildragger or nose wheel just by moving the mains around. The design kinda reminds me of the Primary Force set up but it should be better with the larger stab/elev and wing. I figure total weight in the low 40 ounce range. It weighs 37.7 now bare. I'm still trying to figure the colors on the Gypsy.