Testing.

At the park I flew the Nomad 5 a couple flights then brought the Nomad 2 with the new wing tips out. I re named it Nomad 11(2) for the occasion. It has wing mounted landing gear the others have aluminum fuselage mounted gear. I couldn't tell if it flew better or not. Maybe it did.
  At home I checked the thrust line of the engine and found a bit of down thrust. I adjusted that to neutral and will check it today. The plane turns better down than up and that may be the cause.
  The Pathfinder electric system acted strange on it's third flight the other day. I have to look into that.

More changes.

After hearing one of the "big guys" talk about wing tips I planned on trying it on one of my Nomads. My wing tips are the opposite of his designs. His designs are some of the best in the hobby and and have been for a long time. Yesterday I cut the tips off Nomad 2 and installed one tip copied from the Pathfinder. After flying today I cut the other tip off and replaced it with a matching tip. I forgot to stop at the hobby shop for some monokote and glue so things were a little harder to do. I covered the new tips with white monokote and may paint them. I also squared off the elev/stab to match. I'll try the new tips tomorrow.

Changes.

The weather is poor today but there was a respite around noon so I loaded the Pathfinder and Jamison and headed to the park. I had increased the elevator travel on the Pathfinder, added 3/4 ounce to the tail and increased the power a bit. I also removed the motor and re set the prop shaft so the outer can didn't move so much. That made a difference in power. The Jamison got less elevator travel and I adjusted the landing gear to get more prop clearance.
  I had 4 batteries for the Pathfinder so I flew it first. Real good cornering. I reduced the up travel at the handle and got in a second flight that was better. The winds are coming from a different direction 60 feet off the ground and made flying not fun so I packed up and went home.
  I removed 1/4 ounce from the tail of the Pathfinder. For once the bottom of the plane wasn't wet and full of grass clippings.
  I have some graphics coming for the Pathfinder and the Mandarin, "Pathfinder XL and Mandarin 720". Maybe I'll be able to take the Pathfinder to El Dorado. I've only flew the Mandarin once.
  After getting the compliment on my Nomad 5 I changed the canopy on the first two. I made a template of the 5 canopy and found enough 1/2 inch balsa to make two canopies. The original canopies were very low and didn't take long to shave them off with the razor plane. Some filler and primer and color and they are ready to go. I don't expect any improvement in the way they fly but you never know.

A great compliment.

I have flown the Nomad 5 at several contests this year. It is the best looking of the series that I've designed and built. At two contests, one in El Dorado, Ar and in Canton, Ga spectators have told me they like the looks of the plane while it's flying. This past weekend at Zachary, La contest one of the better flyers and builders asked me if I had construction plans for the Nomad he wants to build it. I brought what I drew up during the building of the planes and let him borrow them to build his own. I can't wait to see what he comes up with.
  I sent the paperwork for a contest sanction in and I'm waiting for an answer. March 30 - 31 next year at South Park 5 miles from home. I think it is the best spot for a contest as 8 hotels are within 2 miles of the field and lots of eateries right off the highway. No back roads to travel.
 We flew off the former practice circle at the Zachary contest this year. It worked out very well for all concerned. The winds died down right after the contest ended. We had some really good flyers in attendance.

Two test flights.

I assembled the electric Pathfinder, top photo, and tested it's flying ability before wasting time painting it. That's one good thing about electric power. The .60 size foam core wing plane, hanging on the wall, had to be painted first to keep the exhaust oil out of the wood. Both flew quite well. I still have the Jamison to test fly. It only weighs 35.8 ounces. the Pathfinder is 55 ounces and the big one is 65 ounces.

Moving along slowly and too fast.

As it turned out the new wing kit for the Pathfinder cost me $4.71 plus the $50.00 gift certificate from the kit maker. Last night there was a note that Brodak had given me a $5.00 credit on the wing kit so it is even cheaper.
  I set up the wing jig like I always do and built the replacement wing. When I got to installing the controls the leadouts seemed short. That didn't cause any concern. After completing the wing and installing it in the fuselage I measured to find the center and then things didn't ad up. I should have half of 27.5 inches on both sides. It really is 30 inches on both sides. OOPSIE. I set the jig for 2.75 inch rib spacing instead of 2.5 inches. Still scratching my head on that one. There shouldn't be any problem as the wing will weigh the same just be 50 square inches bigger.
  The new plane with the foam wing and the Jamison are ready to fly. I removed the engine from the Super Chief and put it in the Jamison yesterday. The other is still engineless. The Jamison is light at 36 ounces. the other one will be around low 60 ounces. I'll use the engine from the Nomad 4.
 I'm going to change the wing tips on 4 of the Nomads as an expert designer says the tips should be longer at the rear and not the front like I did it. Luckily the Pathfinder has tips I can copy as I have a new set of plans and the old set too.
  I should find out when I can schedule the contest at the park soon. It looks like late March of early April. Holidays, egg hunts, carnival and another contest in early May are messing things up.