Getting ready.

The park manager has retired, long live the park manager.  The new manager and his helper moved the two soccer goals and brought two aluminum picnic tables for us to use. I've got the two circles marked out and a third for practice. The weather is looking good for the weekend too. There's a lot of little things to do.
 I traded one of the engines I have that I don't use for an engine that I can use. I ran it and then tried to take it apart to find out why there is a drag when I turn the prop. The cylinder liner came out very hard. I needed to use a drift and tap it out of the crankcase. I made a hone and honed the liner bore so the liner just slid in like it supposed to. A spacer under the thrust washer and it felt right.
  Then I figured it would bolt on the Nomad 4, same brand smaller size, but that wasn't the case. After several hours I made an adapter and screwed the assembly into position. I'll fly it this morning sometime. I also have a  ASP .51 I can install if this one doesn't work out.
  I ordered a pair of inner tubes for the lawn tractor and installed them in the tires last week. I hope they will hold air now.

Hooda thunk it??

After winning the profile event with my then new Nomad I built another. This one has wing mounted landing gear and I reversed the wing tips. Instead of being longest at the leading edge the wing is longest at the trailing edge. After those two I built a third Nomad with a full fuselage that I crashed a little while ago. Then I had a foam wing doing nothing so I built a forth Nomad only bigger, that one is still in one piece. Then I built a fifth one with a change to the canopy shape and that one is the best looking and flying one of all the others.
  I got an idea to get all the important measurements from nomad 5 and apply them to Nomads 1 and 2. I didn't take much to get no. 1 to match 5 and a half ounce of nose weight on 2 matched it to 5. I set the leadouts to match and that was all it took. I took 1 and 2 to the park this morning and got in some flights with both. No. 1 and 2 flew better than before and as good as No.5 The weather was perfect for the flights which made things all the more better. Now if I'm asked how my planes are set up I will have the right info. The guy who is building one of the Nomads should be close to finishing it.
   The details for the contest are under control and everything is going forward. The food still needs to be ironed out but I have an alternate plan if the cook can't make it. It's all up to the weather now.

Some progress.

After several flights I adjusted things to balance the Legacy where the plans said to balance it. That took an ounce and a half of lead bolted to the tail. Anyway on the next outing it reacted much better. More stable in level flight and the turns are sharper. And with no fuel leaking out of the feed line the engine runs longer and the plane is a bit cleaner.
  The SV-11 is flying well also. I'm having a bit of trouble getting the right speed and I'm changing propellers to bring it in. The same with the P-40Q. It's flying pretty good but the speed is off. A bit too slow. Prop changes on this plane also.
 The wind is up today and is forecast to be high tomorrow and Friday.

More problems.

I've been flying the Legacy and SV-11 trying to get them trimmed enough to do the full pattern. I've been trying different propellers and line lengths. The Legacy engine has been throwing fuel all over the plane. After a short flight the sides are covered in oil. I noticed that the residue wasn't used fule but raw fuel that had the alcohol evaporate in flight. I removed the engine and put it on the stand for testing. I found that the mufflers end plate was not sealing. I fixed that yesterday and this morning went to the park. After a short flight the plane was covered in oil again.At home I removed the engine cowl and took it outside for a test run. While it was running I inspected the engine for leaks but couldn't find any. Then I looked at the fuel hoses and there was a pin hole that was pissing fuel out. I cut the hose at the pin hole and re started it. This time there isn't any leaks. The winds are forecast to be light tomorrow so I'll take them back to the park for some more trimming sessions.