Test results.

I have flown the Pathfinder/Evo .52 combo several times and the burp is gone. The plug in the bypass port did the trick. I have it's bigger brother the Evo .60 on another profile plane and flew that just to see if it had the burp but it didn't. I really like the way the .52 flys the plane. I even made up a set of lines using stronger .018 dia. cable. Still 62 feet long.

Changes to the changes.

The Pathfinder flys very well. The Evo .52 engine is unreliable. I have tried many things to get it to run steady but to no avail. I installed a metal tank which helped a lot but it still has a hesitation when I give it a hard down control. The Fox .35 is famous for this condition. Someone found a fix for the "Fox burp". He put a piece of popsicle stick in one of the bypass chambers in the engine and it cured the burp. I did the same thing to the Evo engine today. Next time out will tell if it works or not. I flew the Nomad 4 today also. The engine on it seems to run well but it needs a lot more control. I swapped the plastic propeller for a wood one. That should improve the control. That engine may be a replacement for the Evo too. Both are converted r/c engines.

More changes and injuries.

I've been slowly building an electric "Jamison" for old time stunt. I modified an old fuselage from a "Smoothie" kit and built a new wing and tail. My attention got diverted to the Nomad Mule during this time. Why not convert it to electric? I had changed just about everything else. I bit the bullet and figured out how much of the nose to cut off to fit the new motor mount and electric motor. My band saw was too big to do the job properly so I attacked it with a coping saw and a hack saw. It worked pretty good. I had to open the other side of the fuselage where the fuel tank went so I could install a battery On the opposite side the fuel tank was on.. More coping saw work followed by a lot of sanding to smooth that out. The motor mount was drilled for the mount and glued in place plus a lot of balsa for fairing and reinforcement. After the motor was in the right spot I sanded things smooth and installed the electronics and tested it. Some white paint and a change of landing gear to shorter legs and it's ready for a test flight. At the field last week I managed to run a finger through the prop. It was a wood prop and it shattered the tips, not to mention my finger tip, so I couldn't get in any more flights. It's healing pretty good. I hadn't done that in a while. You would think I would learn.

Another first.

I finally got the mule engine running right. It looks like the fuel I've been using isn't the right fuel for this engine. Too much castor oil. I got a gallon of synthetic oil and mixed the right fuel and it I ran several tanks through it to clean the castor out. I flew it this morning and it ran fine. I took the advise of the judges in the Zachary contest and brought one plane to fly at El Dorado, the electric Nomad. On Saturday I placed first in the profile event and got the Pilot's Choice award for profile planes. It really does fly well. Last year I got the profile Pilot's Choice award with the slightly smaller original Nomad. The fifth one in the series, the elctric is number 6. On Sunday I managed my first 600+ point flight score. The winds were down and 4 others got more points than I did. I didn't finish last though. As a club the Bi-Liners got 3 first place wins, two Pilot's Choice awards, Steve got the other one and we got most of the raffle goodies. That's the last contest of the season around here. The next one is in Feb. in Dallas. Then mine here in Denham Springs in early April.