Finally got some.

I spotted an ad on a forum for parts that fit my Evo .60 engine. It's not being made anymore so parts are hard to come by. They arrived yesterday and I found the spray bar would fit the ASP .52 so I swapped it with the one I got from the machine shop that made the venturi for it. I'll give it a test flight in the morning.
   I built a plane a few years ago and it wouldn't fly right. I put it aside for a while and tried it again with the same results. I put it aside again and yesterday I installed an engine and set the controls to level. I flew it this morning and it flew quite well. I'll try it again in the morning. I may have to refinish it some day.
  My son sent the transmission from the SRT-10 Ram to be rebuilt and he has been collecting new parts to put it back in the truck. Yesterday he got the rear main seal, new flywheel, clutch disc and pressure plate installed. By the time I arrived it was time to put the transmission in. Using a floor jack to support it we guided it into place. After everything was bolted into place he started the engine and shifted into gear a few times and took it for a test ride. To the beer store. This particular truck has the V-10 engine from the Viper in it. Dodge made them for three years, 04, 05, 06.

A success and a few "Oh Shit" moments.

I got in two short flights with the Evo .52 powered P-39 this morning. The engine pulled the plane nicely and ran well doing it. I may change propellers next time out.
  Now for the news. In today's paper here in southern Louisiana there are some stories that caught my attention. One from eastern Massachusetts about road rage. A woman jumped out of her car ripped off her top and attacked another motorist brandishing a knife. Too bad the other motorist was an off duty policeman.  A teacher from Oklahoma did a cartwheel, wearing a long skirt that wasn't long enough, in front of a "choir" class. It seems she forgot she wasn't wearing any under ware. She can't teach for two years, indecent exposure, but she doesn't have register as a sex offender. A Connecticut man got two years for cutting a pet fish in half during a domestic argument. You can't make this stuff up.

Another change.

I got in some flights at the park this morning and kept an eye out for the bird. I heard his call a few times but he must have been shut in.
   I've been going to swap the ASP for the Evo .52 and today I figured out how to accomplish that without swapping. I've been looking at some of the other profiles I have and decided on using the P-39. I've had it for a while now and it's been flying well with the OS .46LA engine. I had to pare some wood off the motor mounts as the Evo is a lot wider than the O.S. engine. To help I made up some mounts that the engine would bolt to and then the mounts would bolt to the plane. It took a few hours but I got it done in time for tomorrow. It sticks out a half inch more than the O.S. but that shouldn't hurt things too much. I may need longer lines. I hope the grass got cut today.

A friend in need is a bird brain.

https://youtu.be/eJiD0301Zq8

We went to the town of Livingston to check out their parks for a flying site. No good. Then we went to North Park and walked around there for a while before checking with officials. They said we could fly in the driving range or ball fields but he didn't tell us that. Then we went to South Park where I usually fly to check and see if the grass was cut. Nope. I brought out the plane anyway and got in two short flights to check the engine run. It seemed to be running properly so i was getting ready to put up a full flight when I saw the Pea standing next to me. I was surprised he would come that close. It took a lot of persuading but I finally got him behind a fence so I could get the flight in. AS soon as I landed he came over to the plane again checking it out intently. I walked to the truck and he followed me and then wouldn't let me leave. We had to corral him behind the truck and speed away. I put some seeds in my box for our next meeting.
  The ASP ran very well with a different glow plug and the normal needle valve assembly on 2% nitro home brew. 4 ounces gave me 15 laps after the clover.

Back to where it was.

I got in 3 short flights this morning. Enough to see that the remote needle valve set up wasn't going to work. At home I removed all the stuff and put the original stuff back on. Some ground runs to get the rpm's in tune and it's ready to go. I tried 3 other glow plugs during the test and found one that worked a lot better than the others. That should help it a lot. When I'm satisfied with the way the ASP runs I'll change it out for the Evo .52.

Trying to improve the ASP .52.

The ASP is designed for r/c use and came with a carburetor and a remote needle valve bolted to the back of the engine so new people wouldn't be so apt to get their fingers in the propeller. Control line engines only use a venturi and a neeedle valve. I bought a needle valve from the guy that made the venturi for the engine and it doesn't work like I think it should. I tried to put a different style valve in but they are too short. I figured that I could use the original remote needle valve and another brand spray bar, that passes through the venturi and puts the fuel into the engine. The bottom picture shows the O.S. remote set up that comes on the LA series of engines and the longer one is an O.S. needle valve that is of a normal design that fits through the venturi and is long enough for what I'm trying to do. It has a hole all the way through the spray bar and that needs to be closed off and a new fuel exit hole drilled so it's in the center of the new venturi. The center picture shows the soldered up end of the spray bar and how close it is to not being long enough. The top photo shows the remote needle valve installed pointing up so I can get to it easily. The engine is mounted on the side of a profile plane which is the normal way to mount an engine on this type of plane.  I went to the park this morning and flew the new set up and it worked pretty good. The engine didn't like drawing the fuel over the top of the engine but ran well once it did. It started kinda hard because of that. Once home I turned the set up around so  it's at the same level as the fuel tank. Now the needle is under the engine and near the muffler. I had to make some changes to the extension that's in the needle, visible in the top photo. I ran it and got the rpm's in the ball park and made final adjustments to the extension so there is some travel for adjustment of the rpm. I may have to go to a smaller muffler, time will tell. I also changed propellers so the engine could run at a higher rpm and not fly the plane too fast. It's not a control line engine and should run faster. We will see.
After some thought I removed the stock muffler and installed a tongue muffler and added one .010 head shim as the compression is pretty high. I made a bit longer needle extension while I was at it. The needle is a lot easier to get to now. I ran the engine and re set the rpm's for the new set up. Flight test in the morning weather permitting.

Finished with the Strega.

I put a bit of red trim on the new rudder and sent a picture of it to the column writer of the AMA magazine. That should be the last thing to do with the plane. Final weight is 77.2 ounces. The kit plane was 11 ounces lighter but didn't fly as well. It required a lot more control input to get a decent turn. It's in the dump now anyway.

Wake turbulence.

The Super Tiger engine in the kit Strega worked very well this morning. The air was not moving and I should have been aware but I was enjoying the moment. At the last corner of the triangle I hit my wake and the plane hit the ground. At least now I won't have to re finish it as I finished it already.  At home I removed all the hardware and usable parts and junked the rest.
  The third rudder on the ARF Strega worked. I put  three short flights on it and not a wiggle to be seen.
  Next project is to put the ASP .52 engine on the Nomad. The Evo .52 isn't compatible with the new style mount. I'll be able to switch back to the .46 without a problem.

Lots of changes.

I got to fly the kit Strega more and found the engine lacking in power. I checked the head shims and found 4 at .011 thick each so I removed two of them and tried it again. There was an improvement but not enough. I figured that seeing as the engines made in China had the same hold down bolt pattern that engines made in Europe would also. I have a Super Tiger .60 in another plane which is made in Italy and the one in the Strega, a Double Star brand is made in Ukraine. I removed both engines and they do share the same bolt pattern. I put the Super Tiger in the Strega and the Double Star in a box. I should be able to test them tomorrow.
 The plane that had the S/T engine has an r/c engine mount bolted to a firewall. I figured that maybe there was a set of holes I could put the Aviastar engine in. I was right again. I bolted it down and ran it to set the rpm's. It's good for one flight an hour because of the lack of compression when hot. It's just the way it's designed as far as I can find out.

The same only different.

I figured that since the rebuilt Strega is useless to me for contests I would get the one I built out and dust it off. My field at the park hasn't been mowed in a while so I went to the club field in Zachary. The engine started up like it was used only yesterday. It flew well without the proper handle and the engine running a bit too slow. I checked the balance on the rebuilt one and the kit plane was a bit nose heavy. I put a half ounce weight on the tail and will check that change next time out. I'll widen the ling spacing at the handle also. If I can get it flying as good as the rebuilt plane I'm pondering stripping it and refinishing like I did to the other one.

It worked.

After changing engines on the Strega I made a one turn adjustment to the elevator push rod. After having breakfast in Livingston I packed up and went to the park. The grass hasn't been cut this week but I found a place to use. I fired up the Strega for a short test flight and it flew quite well and the engine ran very well. I made a second flight with it and got in a full pattern. Removing the vertical stabilizer (fin and rudder) and going with the tip fins has a down side. The plane wiggles during some of the maneuvers. I'm not going to fly it in competition so what the heck. The push rod change evened out the up and down control. Before I had more down than up control.
  Back at the shop I looked at the Shark 665 with the new Evo .52 engine. I removed it and installed the Aviastar .61. Luckily the Evolution engines, .53 and .61 and the Aviastar have the same mounting bolt holes and can be swapped around easily. I ran the Aviastar to get the rpm's close and will take it to the park, probably tomorrow.
  The water in the ditch wasn't too high from yesterday's storms so I was able to get the lawn mowed before noon and the afternoon rain storms.

Was a good day to fly, but...

The other day the low tire pressure light came on. It has lit up twice before several months apart so I just added air and went on my way. Today I had to get to the VA for a blood test at 0700. I knew the traffic would be horrific so I left at 0600. A 15 minute trip. I got out on the street and the tire light came on again. I figured I would get some air at the gas station so I pulled in and the air pump wants 4 quarters which I didn't have so I went inside. There was a line at both registers so I left and went home and put air in the tire. Luckily the traffic wasn't slowed by accidents or volume so I made it in 15 minutes. I was second in line. At home I removed the tire and found a dry wall screw near the edge of the tread and pointing towards the side wall. I was concerned. I went to the tire store and they wouldn't repair it because of the side wall so I ended up buying a new tire, store brand. By the time I got it reinstalled on the car the sun was too strong to go flying.
   In the shop I thought about the engine in the Strega and how I read about it on one of the forums. Someone mentioned that the Aviastar .61 and the Evo .60 were  bolt in swaps. So rather than trouble shoot the Aviastar some more I removed it and installed the Evolution. I should put the Aviastar on a board and run it some.

Flying in the rain.

I put out a notice that I would be at the field Sat. morning and it worked. 5 others showed up. It started to rain a bit after I arrived and continued until I left. I got ready to fly several times but the rain would return. After an hour or so the rain slowed to a sprinkle so I got the Strega out and got it in the air. I was happy that it was stable and wings level. The engine didn't run that well so I made an adjustment and tried again. Too much of an adjustment, it quit after a few laps. I got out the Wildcat and got a short flight in. I asked for suggestions on the stalling problem it has. One of the others looked it over and noticed that the pushrod from the bellcrank to the carbon fiber tube was very springy. That could be the problem so when I got home I was able to force a tube over the pushrod which stiffened it up a lot, that may be the fix. I checked the Strega engine over and removed two head shims and opened up the venturi for more power and , hopefully, more controlability. I removed the stock needle valve assembly and replaced it with a generic unit. I have the Evo .61 in case the other won't cooperate. We will see next time out on both planes.
   I have a venturi and needle valve assembly being made for the ASP engine and it should be here soon. I have that engine on the Chipmunk.

All together now.

I finished putting the Strega back together today. It weighs just about the same as it did before. I was hoping for  less but I put some stronger things in and That added weight aft of the c/g which made me use a heavier muffler to get the balance where it was before which brought the weight back to where it was. I got out a set of lines for it,64 feet long with a 65 foot set in the wings. I have a 68 foot set I could use also. Possibly in the morning I'll give it a try. May be happy, may be sad I don't know.  We went to the park this morning and it had been mowed. I brought the Shark 665 with the Evo .52 and a muffler from the ASP .52. That went well but on the second landing the left main gear collapsed. That took a few hours to put back together. It had broken before so I made a larger hole so I could get at it better. It should be fine from now on.

Dried out.

I installed the dehumidifier in the shop and let it run for 24 hours. Thsi morning after mowing the lawn I made a couple tests using two clears. I settled on Dupli-Color clear over the Rustoleum 2X clear. I got two coats on and we went to the movies to see Despicable Me 3.
 It's a Movie Tavern theater where you can get food and drink at your seat so you can eat and spill in the dark so no one notices. Unless you voice an expletive and jump up. I ordered a coffee and said if it's not hot don't bring it. I got a cup last week and it was tepid. I sent it back and got one that was a few degrees warmer, I should have sent that back also. The waitress came back after a while and said they didn't have any coffee. No more extras at that place.
The clear didn't fog or blush and is curing now. I screwed the landing gear on and have to wait for the fuel tank and engine. Once they are installed I'll take another picture and send it to the control line columnist so he can put it in the magazine.
 I don't think I will be able to fly at the park until they mow the grass. I don't think they are working today and won't be tomorrow either.

NASCAR or NASCRASH.

I don't like most of the Hendrik? drivers. Gordon's gone so that leaves Johnson and Jr. and Khane. After Jr. hit the wall early I was up in spirits. Then he came back I was concerned. Then he got taken out for good. Then slowly most of the big name drivers got taken out and by the end only Johnson was running but he finished out of the top 10. All in all it was a good race. Stenhouse won for Roush/Fenway. Boyer was second, that's how thin the field was at the end. Get rid of restrictor plates, lower the cubic inches or something for big tracks.

First photo's.

I got the wing tip stripes completed this morning. The stripes go around the tips and back under the wing. There was a gap between the top and bottom I couldn't get at the time. The blue is much darker than it shows. Almost an insignia blue.

Again and again.

The new light seems to be a gift from the power company. The neighbor only wanted the pole to elevate the wires but the company put a light on it also. It will be taken care of.
  The ASP .52 arrived yesterday and I got on the horn and ordered a venturi set up for it. The conversion for the Evo .52 came in at the same time so I installed it and ran an ounce of fuel through the engine to get it close for flying this morning. i should have gotten two of the ASP's as they are easier to convert to a venturi system than the Evo. and $25 cheaper.
 I got the Strega painted and almost assembled. I can't spray the clear coat because of the humidity. I'm looking at low 70 ounces. What I cut out just about makes up for what I put back. It does look a lot better.