Zachary contest.

I flew the Mule and the engine is using a lot of fuel. More than when it was on the other planes. I have the largest tank that will fit and it should be more than enough. There may be a leak someplace. The contest here was good. The weather was light winds but clear skies and the wind was blowing right at the sun. This is the first contest I have attended that had light winds. I competed in profile and warbird on Saturday. I signed up for Old Time Stunt also but I was judging another event and scratched out of it. I got first place in warbird and second in profile against two of the top fliers in the district. I could have been first but two maneuvers weren't up to snuff. On Sunday I flew the Legacy and it wasn't up to the task. The judges told me I did a lot better with the profile electric Nomad 6 I flew in profile on Saturday and should have used it instead of the Legacy. I built the Nomad using the Legacy wing but the Evo .60 wasn't turned up enough. The big for me is the raffle. I generally clean up but this time I didn't get much of anything. I put what I did get in a box to be put in the raffle at my contest in April. I'm getting ready for the El Dorado contest and probably only bring one plane, the electric Nomad 6. Maybe the Nomad 5 as a backup. That being the best flying plane I have right now. After that I can get back to playing with the other Pathfinder trying to get the engine to last on what fuel I can put in the tank. I have been having some noise from the Nomad 6 and today I found out what it was. The first flight got off the ground and the prop came off. I found the pieces and the adapter had bent and was unusable. I had the electric Pathfinder so I used it's prop adapter. It's a lot quieter with the prop tight. I ordered 3 more from Brodak when I got home and 2 12 x 6 propellers as I only have the one on the plane. I've been having trouble with the pickup shifting. I figured that I wasn't pushing the pedal to the floor causing a bit of drag on the clutch. I added a 1/4 inch spacer on top of the 3/4 inch spacer on the pedal and moved the seat closer. I changed as much of the fluid in the clutch master cylinder as I could.

The Nomad mule.

We went to the park early this morning and I brought the P-40 and the Pathfinder. I made adjustments to both after the flights yesterday. A metal tank for the P-40 that holds over 5 ounces of fuel and larger screws for the engine rails on the Pathfinder. Both worked well and I got in two flights each as it started to rain a bit. At home I wiped the water off the planes and cleaned them up for the next outing. Then I had to mix up another 5 gallons of fuel as I don't have enough to go through the weekend contest. I had to use a gallon of 15% nitro fuel for the mix so I'll have 3% nitro in this batch. My tanks are big enough to handle it. With the engine swaps I ended up with the Stalker .51 sitting on the shelf. Then I got the idea of putting it on the Nomad 2 which I use for testing changes to the design. The bolt holes for the O.S. .46 on the plane didn't come close to matching the holes in the Stalker so I found the engine rails I used to put the Stalker in the Legacy 40. I had to trim a little off the engine cutout on the plane to get the Stalker to fit. Then I had to fill in where the OS sat as the rails would sit on top of the wood on the bearers. The whole swap went smoothly and I found a metal tank that fit in the tank space as the Stalker sits back a bit taking up room for the plastic tanks I like to use. All the while it had been raining and the rain stopped for a short while so I put some fuel in the tank and ran the engine for a few minutes to set the needle for easier starts later on.The OS engine had a plastic prop on it and those are not light. About 2.5 ounces. The Stalker engine is 0.9 ounces heavier than the OS and I'm using a wood prop on it. To get the same balance I used the stock muffler and that brought the balance back where it was. If the rain holds off in the morning I'll bring the Legacy, Legacy 40 and the Nomad test mule to the field. I wane to see which flys better the Legacy or the 40. I want to see which will handle wind better. Then I can test the Nomad.

Changes again.

I built the Pathfinder tail heavy. Using the Stalker .51 I needed a plastic prop, the muffler that came with the engine, a 2 ounce "heavy hub" on the engine and a half ounce of lead stuck to the nose to balance it. The engine had a vibration as it gets up to speed which bothers me. On the P-40Q I have an Evolution .52 r/c engine that I had converted to c/l use. It's a good running engine and weighs more than the Stalker. The bolt holes in the Evo don't match up to the Stalker so to swap them would be a problem. I did it anyway. I found some 3/16 x 1/2 aluminum pads that had 6-32 threaded holes already in it that matched up with the Evo. I marked where the fuselage that needed trimming and opened it up so the engine and pads would fit. After a couple coats of paint on the bare wood I screwed the engine in place. With a wood prop and stock muffler it balanced in the right spot. I had taken the Evo off the P-40Q and now I needed something for that plane as I use it for the warbird event at contests. On the Mandarin I have an Evo .60 engine that is made from the Evo .52 case. That means it is the same size outside as the .52. Just like the small block Chevy engines it can be swapped out without any problems. I removed it from the Mandarin and bolted it onto the P-40. I made a second trip to the park to check on how the swaps worked. The Pathfinder and the P-40 stay out on the lines a lot better now which I could have used at the Tulsa contest. I may use the Pathfinder for the profile event this weekend as it's always windy on contest days. I may have to get a larger fuel tank for the .60 but the 4 ounce tank should be enough for the .52.

Prepping for the next contest.

I have to decide which planes to take to our contest in Zachery, La net weekend. The P-40Q for sure but the electric Nomad and the Pathfinder are both flying very well for the profile event. The Legacy and Legacy 40 are flying well also for Sunday's event. I'll hit it hard this weekend and next week.

On Tulsa time.

We left early on Friday morning to beat the traffic on the bridge. The WAZE got us to The hotel without any detours like the last time. The contest on Saturday was a bit windy but my electric Nomad handled it well and got me a first place trophy. The Jamison flew quite well and would have got me a podium finish except I was doing the horizontal eights wrong. I've been doing them wrong in the last few contests but the judges didn't notice. I practiced them when I got home. On Sunday I flew the new Pathfinder and it and me didn't handle the wind so I only did one flight. I should have used the Nomad. After the contest we had time for a side trip to the Will Rogers museum along old route 66. We left early on Monday morning to beat the traffic as our route South was on the other side of Tulsa. Again the WAZE got us there. We stopped at a McDonalds that wasn't open. The next one wasn't open either even though it was many minutes past opening time. We finally got one around 0900 in Paris, Tx. After getting to US 190 in Oppolusis it was clear sailing until we hit La 415 when I spotted the low tire pressure light on. I kept going and at home I checked the pressure and it was 24 psi so I added air and planned a visit to the tire store. I found a nail head in the tread and the tire store fixed it. All in all it was a good trip. I added nose weight to the Mandarin and it's flying well now. I increased the elevator throw and it makes a competitive turn. I made up some lines a foot longer and will try them tomorrow. It's a bit fast on 61 footers. Most of my other planes are on 62 foot lines anyway.