Color is on.

I bought some Dupli-Color Chevrolet orange engine paint for the Legacy 40 fuselage and wing trim. I sprayed the fuselage yesterday and it came out very nice. The best I've ever done in 70 years of doing this hobby. I ordered some Max 2K clear coat and I have to sand the first color after it cures. I figured out a way to get pictures on the forum that enlarge when you click on it. I use the IPAD instead of the camera, then email the photo's to me and pick the photo from the email and down load it onto the forum and hopefully here. Here goes.

A project.

I flew the plane and it is better. I can stand to fly it now. There has been talk about the Legacy 40 on the forum lately. I had scratch built one several years ago and didn't like the way it flew. I tried several remidies and they didn't help. I looked at the nose and it looked long to me. I asked on the forum and found my planes nose is too long. I have a band saw and I took 3/4 of an inch off and while I was at it sanded the paint off and I'm in the process of refinishing it at the same time. I had lengthened the stab/elev. a while ago so I trimmed some off while it was sitting there. I won't need all the leverage with the shorter nose. I never have enough time to do the job right but I can always find time to do it over.

More successes.

I designed and built a plane using a foam wing and a .60 size engine. It didn't fly as well as I thought it should so it has been a wall hanger for a while. So after attacking the controls to free them up, like I did on all my planes, I installed an engine and test flew it. Much improved. At home I measured the control throws and found the elevators moved more down that up. I drilled another hole in the flap horn and re located the elevator push rod and now the elevators move equally up and down. Hopefully I'll get in a test flight today.

Some findings.

The new Legacy's controls has slight squeek.I looked every where and couldn't pin point the location. It sounded like it was inside the wing. I figured that it was causing the controls to bind a bit which was causing the non stable flight. Finally I went postal on the plane. I hung it by the leadouts and dribbled some oil down the leadout wires oping that would lubricate things inside the wing. Then I cut a hole in the fuselage bottom and put some WD-40 on the bellcrank post. Then I oiled all the hinges. The squeek was still there. The last thing to check was the elevator horn assembly. I use a 4-40 bolt with a Du-Bro aileron connector and a Du-Bro 4-40 steel clevis. I drilled the hole in the connector larger and found the clevis wasn't any freer. I removed it and it struck me that I used a 6-32 bolt and connector this time. The connector is thicker than the 4-40 one and the clevis was closing on it and binding a bit. After some sanding it freed up. The next day The oil had worked it's way into all the parts and the squeek was gone. I flew the plane and now it flys like it should. With that bit of information I lubed all the hinges and bushings on all my planes.I did find a few hinges that were tight.

Old plane is new again and other screw ups.

One of the people I see at the contests I go to bought Tom Morris' stuff. Then he took on the Badass line of electric motors. I saw him at the Zachary contest and bought a motor I figured that I needed. Today I found a use for it. Old Nomad 2 has been sitting idle for several months. No power system in it. I fit the Badass motor in it. Luckily the new motor has the same mounting holes as the smaller motor that was in the plane. I had to trim a bit of wood to get the motor in position and shorten the nose about a quarter inch for prop clearance. With a 4 cell 3300 mAh battery in place the balance is at the same spot as before. I plan to use the weak batteries I ruined in it. I figure 4 minute flights should work and not over extend the batteries. Maybe get first flights tomorrow. Yesterday I made some changes to the Legacy. I added more down thrust in the motor and I wanted to try it out. It was raining lightly and infrequently. I headed for the field and got in two flights in the rain. I made some changes to the line lengths while I was at it. At hoem I wiped the water off and put it up. This morning I noticed that I had flown the Legacy with the wrong lines and handle. I had to fly it to see what the changes had done to the plane. I was able to re set the controls and now I need to fly the other one and re set the controls there.

Tanks and repairs.

We spent the Thanksgiving week in Ct with our daughter and family and visited relatives and friends. We quaranteened for several hours each night at a hotel in Plainfield. Drove all over the towns we used to frequent and shopped at Wal Mart for some cold weather gear we can't get in south Louisiana. I must say that the new Tundra ran perfectly getting 20 mpg on average and is more comfortable than any of the cars/trucks we have owned. Trip total mileage was 3606. Driving before daybreak on unfamilar roads with construction and heavy traffic at 75 mph was hairy. I flew the Ringmaster and the engine wasn't running right with the metal tank. At home I installed the 6 ounce plastic tank again and opened the metal tank to check it out. I think the uni flow tube was too close to the pick up tube causing air bubbles to enter the fuel flow to the engine. I cut a half inch off the uni flow tube and re soldered things back together. I'm going to fly the plastic tank again before meking any more changes. I could put the metal tank on another plane for a test. I flew the Nomad with the repaired stab several times and it flies better than it did. The stab must have been flexing previously. I had ordered 4 new batteries a few weeks before going on the trip and was concerned about them sitting on the mail box for two weeks. Luckily they arrived the day before we left. I had to change the plugs on all four and got a 4 minute flight on each yesterday. I have enough batteries for a while.