Building the Super Chief.

From the plans I got at the El Dorado contest i figured I could build a plane that will be good for Old Time Stunt and Classic stunt. The Gypsy is under going a re finish and isn't flyable. Anyway I've been scratch building the Chief from old plans. It has a pretty good airfoil and was the impetus for the Nobler design that is still being flown over 60 years later. It's almost ready to cover and I have enough Monokote for the wings and tail.
  I had an old engine given to me a long time ago and never used it in a plane until now. So it's almost new old stock. I found the callout for the Georgia contest and read it looking for hotel information. I found that mufflers are required and the engine was designed when noise wasn't a problem and therefore didn't have provisions for a muffler. I had a light enough muffler that will do the job and had to make an adapter clamp for it. As long as it don't fall off during an official flight I'm all set.
  It's been quite warm all month and I've been getting to the park early and only staying for an hour of so. The wind has been very light which makes it tough and the gnats are not being blown away. They are not afraid of bug spray either.

Cheese it, the cops.

I've been trying shorter lines on some planes lately. This morning it was the Mo'Best turn. As I was ready to pull the launch string a local sheriff pulled up and watched for a few minutes. The shorter lines will make the plane more sensitive to the controls because of the bow in the lines from the handle to the plane is reduced giving me a straighter path to the plane.
  I got the Chief fuselage sides glued to the formers and the balsa order came in this morning so I cut the wing ribs out and got them installed into the wing jig.

A big surprise.

I started building the Super Chief and today I was in the shed and heard a motorcycle near by. I looked out the window and in drove my old Harley Davidson FX. I gave it to our son and it's been sitting for several years at his house.He had bought a lot of parts for it and planned on restoring it one day. He's been working it for a couple months or so and got it running a few weeks ago. Today he rode it here after cleaning it up. It looks better than when I had it. He installed a new clutch and dry sump primary, a new oil pump, new front tire, a lot of hose and brake lines, rebuilt the brake cylinders and calipers, new wiring and headlight bucket. After 40 years I finally read the label on the handle bars near the front brake. It says to use Dot 5 brake fluid only. I used Dot 3. The fluid reacted and turned to a dry mushy stuff. They all work fine now.

Decal.

I generally get my lettering/graphics from a guy in Florida. A person we know started a graphics shop back in Ct so I ordered a plane name from him. I was surprised that it is more of a sticky decal than graphics that I'm used to. Anyway I put it on the plane and it looks good.

We hit the park this morning and I brought Nomads 2 and 3. I had made some big adjustments to both planes and I needed to try them out. The 3 plane had tricycle landing gear and I had changed it over to a tail dragger. On the 2 plane I completely re set the controls. They both flew much better. I'll take them again tomorrow and then it's the Mo'Best. That one is flying very good also. (It's not really a V1. The V1 has a thinner profile fuselage so it's a 5 1/2 but I don't think Roman numerals have decimals.)

El Dorado, Ar.

The weather was warm but the winds were light and right into the sun. My latest Nomad picked up a second place finish it's first time out. I got another second with the Gypsy and a third with the P-39. I got some good items in the raffle. Two kits, a quart of fuel and several small items. I managed to get several sets of plans for an old plane out of the 50's called Chief. I plan to sell one of the kits and scratch build the Chief.
  The best part was the nice comments I got about the Nomad, how it looks and how it flys. That made me happy.

Something old I just remembered.

I got to the field early yesterday and the helper was mowing. I got in a flight with the Nomad 5 as he was coming closer every pass. The air was as smooth as I have ever seen it and the plane performed perfectly. I went home and let the field get mowed. I returned this morning with the P-39 and Gypsy to get the final trim set for them. At home I started cleaning the lines I'll be using at the contest, the same ones I use now. After cleaning I remembered something we did to the granite surface plates at UNC when I worked there. We did a lot of measuring on those plates with gauges that slid across the stone surface. If the surface wasn't perfectly clean the gauge would catch and mess things up. After we cleaned the plate with "surface plate cleaner" we would take a piece of plastic sheet and rub the surface plate with it to polish and somehow dry lubricate it. There was something about the plastic sheet that really made the stone surface slick. Anyway the reason for cleaning the lines is to have them slide over each other as they twist in the maneuvers. A maximum of 4 twists during the inverted flight portion of the pattern. I end the flight with 3 twists for the last 6 maneuvers. So I thought of using a piece of clean plastic to rub the lines with before flying. If it works on the first flight I'll rub all the lines but not until it lessens the friction of the twisted lines.

What a day this was.

I had trouble with the yearly auto inspection on the truck. The backup lights are out and I couldn't find the switch that controls things. I wasn't able to get it inspected and there was a problem with the windshield. Today after flying I went to an inspection station near the park. I figured they did repairs and asked if it was possible to have them fix the lights and do the inspection. He said he could work with me on the lights and proceeded with the inspection. They don't do repairs as I found out later. But they do sell vegetables in season. As I was looking for information and not expecting to get the inspection I didn't have enough money to pay for the procedure. I zipped home and got the money, zipped back and settled the bill. I figured that while I was in the mood I would bring the El Camino. It was running on all 8 and there was 2 car ahead of me when I arrived. I shut it off and waited for my turn. When that came the tester took the keys and the battery was dying fast. He had to get a jumper box and it started right up and he completed the inspection and without shutting the car off I got home and put it away. The date on the battery is from 2002. I got my moneys worth.
 Then we figured we would go shooting as the Ruger .22 was back from repair and needed testing. The gun was jamming just like before. We went to the desk and the head person took it and did some magic to it and we went back to the range with the store's ammo. It still jammed. Another employee tried it and it jammed. Then the boss came and tried it. It didn't jam as much for him but it did jam. We are getting a refund and will buy a better (hopefully) gun. It's all packed into it's original box with all the things that came with it. We must have put 200 rounds through it during the testing. That episode took over 2 hours. We got home in time to eat early as the wife had a date to go to church with a friend. Well, that fell through when the friend didn't show up on time and said she was at a doctors or something.  I still have to make an appointment to get the backup light switch changed.

And the winner is....

I have decided on using the Nomad 5 for the profile and regular stunt events. The Gypsy for classic and the P-39 for war bird. That will get me more flying time for the Nomad, 4 flights to get it right instead of two.
  I've been taking the Nomad to the park every day plus rotating the other two. Yesterday after flying the Nomad I got the Gypsy and found the leadout slider had broken loose. I had to fix it before flying so I went home. I hope to try it today.
  I've been thinking about stripping the Gypsy and re finishing it as the old finish is in bad shape. I used Dupli-Color white and I've found that it crazes after a year or so. The covering on the wing and tail is pretty bad also. 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53lloi0LXtk

I gave my old Harley FX to my son several years ago. He has been thinking about restoring it for several years also and lately he got into it. He has a bunch of You Tube video's on the things he has done to the bike. Today he took it out for a short ride for the first time.