Still trimming and other problems.

I removed the gap seals on the Legacy and made more room for the elevtor pushrod as it exits the fuselage under the stab. A test flight was kinda better but the winds were causing a lot of turbulance. I flew the repainted Nomad and the trim stayed on. On the last flight, of course,as the plane came around the circle into the wind the stab. started to flutter. It happened just after completing the pattern so there wasn't much fuel left. I figured the stab. would rip off and crash the plane. I held it high and the fluttering stopped until it ran out of fuel. At home I removed the covering from the stab. and didn't find any broken parts. I scabbed some thicker balsa over all the ribs on both halves. That stiffened the stab. a lot. I had some covering and ironed that on. It's ready to go again. The Ringmaster Excel has a small area to install a fuel tank. I had a 4 ounce Du-Bro tank but it was barely large enough to get in a complete flight. I installed a 6 ounce tank, again plastic, and that caused a lot of trouble as it gets forced into the tank compartment. I removed that one and decieded to build a metal tank. I had 4.5 inches of room and had to trim the metal down to 3.75 inches so I could put the tubing in. After adding one end cap I checked the capacity and got 5.5 ounces which is more than enough to do the flight. Maybe a test flight today.

Maybe it worked.

I flew the Legacy and the thrust change might have had an effect if so it is too small to be of any help. Next thing to try was removing the control surfaces gap seals. I could feel that the controls were a bit more free. While I was working the controls I could hear a tiny squeek. That means the leadout line is touching a rib someplace. Before doing anything to the ribs I got in a flight and found that the gap seals were causing a bit of binding. The plane flew steadier in l evel flight. At home I loosened the leadout slider and moved it aft about 1/16" and the squeeking stopped. I'll try that next time out.I really want to get this plane flying well as it's the best looking of the bunch and is a full fuselage plane which is what the judges want to see and not a profile. My opinion.

Good intensions anyway.

The contest in El Dorado went well. I got a second in Old Time and a third in Profile. I did poorly in the raffle. I had a chance to fly the Nomad with new trim on the wings. After the first flight the paint was peeling off in large pieces. Once home it was easy to remove the rest. I think I used dope and not Rustoleum on the Monokote. I masked the wing agin and sprayed some Dupli-Color red and Rustoleum yellow. I have others to test before flying the Nomad again. I changed lines on the Cardinal from ones from the Ukraine to .015 7 strand. That needs testing soon and I checked the thrust on the new Legacy and found a bit of up thrust. I shimmed that to a bit of down thrust and that needs testing as well. I would like to use it for P.A. on Sunday at contests as a profile doesn't cut it. My HRB batteries are not giving me good service. About 20% are still flying the full pattern. The others will only do a 4 minute flight before crapping out. So I found some 5 cell Turnigy batteries and ordered 4.