Funny how that works.

I removed the shear web that interfeered with the leadout cable and things went for the better. I tried a 63" set of lines and they worked well so that's what I will use from now on. No other changes to the power and I had good tension throughout the pattern. I re read the articles Mr. Cunningham wrote in a newsletter about the model and it's doing everything he wrote about. From what I can glean from the small plans the kit has the c/g a bit further forward. Which is good. Right now my c/g is close to the aft limit which would put it in the middle of the page size plans. And that's without using any special wood or going crazy with light weight stuff or super thin finishes. The battery makes it about 8 ounces heavier than a fuel load. It carries the weight very well.

Serious trimmings.

I've been paying more attention to the plane in flight. It's been hard to get it settled down. Today while I had it in the air I felt something in the handle I haden't noticed before. A scraping feel that said the leadouts are rubbing on something. At home I looked inside and spotted one leadout touching a shear web. I installed those to beef up the wing the webs don't come in the kit. It was tough to get the clearance needed for the cable but I managed. I left the nose weights in and will try again in the morning or when the fog lifts. I've had two Flite Streaks for a coupld of years. I built a new fuselage for one using the ARF wing. A new stab/elevator and fin/rudder. I covered it with poly span and painted it. I didn't like the way it flew and had we had the contest this fall I would have put both in the raffle. I took out the re built one and put an OS LA .25 on it. I ran the engine which didn't run well. I noticed that the back plate looked loose so I removed the engine and the plate was loose. There wasn't any gasket left either. I made a new gasket and re installed the back plate with lock tight on the screws. At the field it ran very well and the plane flew quite well too. I found some longer lines for it for the next time out.

A good find.

I had a sticky spot in the controls of the MO' Best. It turned out to be paint build up on the leadouts. I used a razor blade to scrape it off. I checked all the other planes and found those that were painted had some contamination on the leadout cables. The Monokoted wings didn't have that problem as no paint got near the cables. I've been using Monokote since it came out and just recently started using paper and dope again on the wings. Both planes, Mo Best and L-17 are flying. The L-17 has flown as the P40-Q for a few years so it didn't need much trimming. I did find the leadout slider loose though. It has a slider for each line and both had loosened and departed from the slotted piece. Luckily both bolts were still in the slider blocks. I found that the washers were too small and upon getting loose enough the slider block fell into the wing. I made a hole under the wing tip to get at the blocks and removed the bolt and replaced the washers with larger ones and re set the leadout location. It was an easier fix than the other plane. The thing is I flew it with the leadouts loose and did the pattern with it. Who knew?

Ready to fly.

51.4 ounces withour the battery. Ihave to double check the leadout position and it's done. I also finished the new remake of the L-17 Navion. That is ready to fly also. The clear coat is not too good as the plane sat around for 6 months before painting and has fish eyes.

Painted.

I got the graphics and then waited for the temperature to get up into the paint range, 70 to 80 degrees. I set up a fan in the window and opened the doors, put on the respirator, mixed the two part paint and had at it. I was surprised at how fast the paint flashed off. I cleaned the spray gun as best as I could. Maybe it is still usable. I used 12 ounces to put one coat on two planes. The Mo Best with landing gear on weighs 39.5 ounces. For me that is good.

Close to done.

My choice of colors didn't look good with the colors in the supplied decals. I got in touch with CFC Graphics and he is making some in black. After that I have the clear to apply and final assembly.

First flight.

I took the freshly painted, Base coat white only, to the park. I got in 3 short flights and found it worthy of painting the trim colors and completing the plane. I'm using a BadAss 3515-710 motor and a 5S 3000 battery. No problem with power. Now I have the Dupli-Color Chevrolet engine orange trim on and I'm waiting for more Fine Line tape to finish the Dupli-Color Ford engine blue trim. Then it's time for the two part clear and final assembley.

When the plane knows best.

After the Legacy 40 chewed my hand up and some healing had taken place I figured it was time to go fly again. The Legacy 40 was first up. After hooking the lines up I ran a cloth up the lines to clean them. While at the handle I checked to see if I had hooked them up properly. As I moved the handle I felt a crunch. I went to the plane and moved the leadouts the crunch was there internally. Then I noticed that the rear line was out of place and moved fore and aft freely. I put it away for further inspedtion. At home I found the slider had broken and the broken piece was in the wing. I shook the plane and the what I thought was the broken piece, came to the wing tip. I had already installed a fixed position guide by cutting the loop of the leadout end, poking a hole in the covering and threading the leadout wire through the new guide. As it always happens the broken piee wasn't broken, it was one part of a two part slider. I forgot about it and only tightened one screw and the other fell out. So I removed the fixed guide and reinstalled the original piece biting the screw end threads on both screws this time. So I figure the plane knew there was a problem that could end badly and let me know bu chewing my hand thereby giving me time to get my mind straight and find and fix the problem. I'm in the process of filling and sanding the Mo'Best. I'm using talc and dope as the filler. It works quite well.

Another alignment helper.

The slots for the flap control horns at the trailing edge of the wing cut out in the fuselage are on the wing chord line. Even though I make a mark on what I call the extended chord line to help with flap centering I can not guarantee it's perfect location. From what I have seen the 1/64 ply sides cut outs are perfectly placed. The wing built such that there was no sanding of the cutout to get the wing to fit. Same with the stab. cutout. And using an incedence meter the cutouts are zero zero. So I figured that the flap fairings could use the control horn slot to place them perfectly in reference to the wing chord line. I had to make new fairings that use a 1/8 center with a tab that plugs into the slot and top and bottom layers of 1/16 to bring the thickness up to 1/4 just like the kit pieces. The 1/8 needed a bit of sanding so it will fit smoothly without forcing it into the slot. I'm going to use Sig Bond so I have time to align the three pieces. After the flaps are hinged and glued in place I'll install the new fairings. Some sanding for good gaps is necessary.

Adding some fancy stuff.

This Mo'Best has flap and elevator fairings. They can be troublesome to get them perfectly straight in line with the center line of the wing or stab. The stab is 1/8 inch thicker than the elevators and the wing needs another method to center the flap fairings. That's why I mark the wing chord line on the fuselage side early in the building process. The stab is flat but thicker than the elevators. I used a dial caliper and measured the thickness of the stab. Then measured the thickness of the elevator. Subtract those measurements and divide the answer by two to get the shim thickness that will center the elevator in the stab. Do that for each side, my measurements were a bit different. The left elevator needed a .065 shim top and bottom the right needed .068 top and bottom. I got som two pieces scrap 1/4 inch balsa and clamped them to the stab in the area of the fairing. Then slid the fairing and shim sandwich between the 1/4 inch pieces, installed the elevator and fit the fairing to the fuselage concentrating on the gap between the fairing and elevator as that may need filling to get the proper/good looking gap. Both sides on mine needed about 1/32 fill. An interesting note is that the fairings have a curve to match the taper of the aft end of the fuselage so be careful which side you sand on. I used a straight edge, my trusty 6 inch scale, to double check the position of the fairing to the stab. Now you will find that the elevator can't be removed. You will have to rotate the elevator almost verticle to clear the fairing. The flap fairings will get added a bit later using the mark I made to center them. Using the stab fairings to set the flap fairings simply wont work.

Flap details.

Instead of using the supplied horn pockets I always use brass or alunimum tubing and epoxy to accomplish the same thing. The suplied hinge pockets will do the job if you lay it up this way. Both ways will account for any twist in the horn and produce perfectly flat control surfaces, elevators and flaps. The close up shot shows the tube installed after drilling a slot along the flap end to the pocket and another drilled hole from the slot to the hinge opening in the flap. I cut a piece of tubing long enough to butt against the inside end of the pocket end but not too long to stick out of the top and interfeer with the horn wire. This also keeps the epoxy out of both ends of the tube. I use a straight edge at the leading edge with shims to allow room for the horn upright and shims under the flaps to allow room for the bottom of the horn upright. A shim is needed under the horn ends to center them. In this case the flaps are 1/4" and the tube is 1/8" so that makes a 1/16" shim under the tubes to center them in the pocket. I used celophane tape to keep the shims in place under the pockets and mainly to keep the epoxy from running out. A few light weights on the flaps will keep them aligned until the epoxy cures. Make sure the weights are placed over the shims. Taper the flaps/elevators if you want, I don't.

Mo' Best

And there it is. The elevators are done and hinged the ailerons have to be hinged and set up for the control horn. The kit parts look interesting but I use brass tubing for the horn pockets.

Found something interesting.

I was given 14 boxes of avaiation books. I've been thumbing through them sometimes reading about a plane or battle. Today I was going through a book on B-17's and one picture cought my eye. I went back and there was a WW 2 shot of "909". I remembered that 909 had crashed at Bradley field a short while ago. The plane made over 140 bombing missions in a row without a miss. A record for the group. I found another book on B-17's that had a picture of 909 in it. I have a lot of books to go through and I may find more pictures of it. I came across another story on the 909 from Collings. They took another B-17 and fixed it up to look like the 909.

New version of the Mo' Best.

The insurance did send the insurance cards. My computer blocked their email somehow. I managed to find it and get the copies. I'm still fighting with the electic company, DEMCO. I'm getting return envelopes with different return zip codes. I plan to bring my next payment in person and find out what is going on. The BBB helped straighten out their double billing. On the forum there was a post about a new kit from Brodak of the Mo' Best. The price was under $200.00 so I ordered one. Two days later the price went up to $250.00. I built one several years ago from another cottage kit producer and it was very nicely done. Tab A in slot B kinda thing. I was oping the Brodak version would be close to that. I compared the plans for both kits and found them almost exactly the same. I have the wing almost done. I'm shaping the wing tips and that takes a lot of sanding and then hollowing. I bought a electric motor mount last year aand plan to use an electric motor on this one. It's slow going as the fence repairs have made my hands quite sore and sanding makes them worse. I did get some flying in at South Park. The grass was a bit long but not long enough to cause a problem.

South Park is open.

I had looked at the park in Walker last week and it was not usable. I tried again this morning and it was open so I got in 3 flights. The first in three weeks. When we got home I went to the bank, the parts store for some oil and a filter, South Park and found it open( they had lost a lot of big trees)

and then to the gracery store. I changed the oil in the El Camino and washed it. The dust has made the paint dull and it needs some polishing. The Holley carb. is working well on the engine. I called the insurance and told them to put the El Camino back on the policy. They didn't send the new proof of insurance so it has to sit a bit longer.

Hurricane aftermath.

I thought I had the fence finished. All the broken boards replaced, the posts cemented in, new 2 x 4's here and there and the mess cleaned up. I am planning on bracing the fence for the next go around and was walking the fence line counting the amount of braces I will need when I saw another 4 x 4 post leaning. I wiggled it and it is broken also. It's too far to reach with a cable and pull the remains out so I started to dig two new post holes, one on either side of the broken post. The problem is the posts are in a 4 inch deep puddle. I managed to get one hole dug and a temp. post installed to keep it from filling back in. It probably be a week or so until I can finish this latest fix. I contacted Lee Machine Shop to make two venturis for the two Evo .52's. He had made the one for the first .52 but didn't keep that info so we went over it again. I got the prototype and test ran the engine. I called Jim and ordered the other one. I may have to go to the park in Walker to fly if the local park isn't open soon. I finally got to see the graphics for the Navion. Right size but wrong font. I called and gave her tieh name of the right font so that sould be in soon.

Found another Evo .52.

A friend that gave me the used .52 told me about another one on Ebay. I bought it. It seems to be in good shape after a test run to get the oil out of it. I called Lee Machine Shop for a venturi to convert the engine to control line use. I have a venturi for the .60 size engine in the first used .52 and then measured the venturi I had made for the first .52 I bought new and it is smaller. So i'm having two made as the first one runs very well. A plus on the Ebay engine. I was needing a Higley Heavy Hub to balance the Pathfinder better and was planning on getting one at the hobby shop. The Ebay engine had one on the nose. I have extra pro washers and nuts so that's not a problem. The enginea also came with a muffler. I bolted it on and noticed it is from an O.S. engine. It fits and it works plus I have other Evo mufflers on the shelf if needed. The hurricane put a stop on my flying as the park is used for staging of power crews. There are trees down and hopefully the soccer goals have been severly damaged. I had a tree down and about 50 feet of fence down also. I have the tree cleaned up and the new fence 4 x 4 uprights installed. I need to remove stuff that's in the way before I can put the fence back up. I may need help on that one. I checked out the park this morning. lots of trees down and cut up already. The grass hasn't been mowed yet. The soccer goals are not in sight. I probably will take a mower to the park and cut a place to fly. I did that several years ago.

More changes to the Pathfinder.

I built the plane for the Stalker .51. That proved to be a poor combination. I installed an Evolution .60 and that was a lot better. Then I got an Evo .52 and put that on the nose. It worked well also. That .52 went into the new Legacy 40 so I put a well used second .52 on it. Then back to the .60. I started having fuel tank problems and prop clearance issues and finally gave up using the larger Evo engines and went back to the LA .46. I had to use a stock muffler, a one ounce spinner nut and a plastic spinner to get the balance close to right. It does fly as well as it did. I installed drag strips on the tail and now it's very competitive. My son told me about a friend that cuts vinyl graphics. I'm having her cut some for the Navion. I found a picture of one that has "US ARMY" in large letters across the right wing. Almost full span top and bottom. That should cover a few of my mistakes. So I'm having her make some for the plane.

First flight on the second Legacy 40.

I finally finished painting the plane and used a 2 part clear coat. The usual butyrate clear dope didn't act right and got put aside. I've been looking for another Evolution .52 engine for the Legacy but no luck. I took one of the Evolution .60's I have and put it in but it didn't fit quite right. I removed the .52 from the Ringmaster Excel and put that in the Legacy. I had built it using this engine so It's only proper to use it for flying. I went to the park early and got in 3 flights with the Cardinal then brought the Legacy out. The engine fired right up and flew quite well. I had to hole up control because I didn't notice that the handle and lines I used had different size clips. I dug out another set of lines and evend things up for the next go at it. One of the club members hs a Evo .52 that was given to him so he gave it to me. I ran it on the test stand and installed it in the Ringmaster. I may have to get new bearings for it. I'll take both planes to the park next time out.

Got tired of looking at it.

After many flights on the P40-Q profile plane and getting less appearance points because ,I believe, it had monokote film on the wings and tail I stripped the film and paint off the plane. I them made some changes to the fuselage and tail to make it look like an Navion that was used by the military after WW 2 and into Korea. I have some graphics coming from Major Decal and I'm working on others from a cottage cutter. After I get those installed and the weather dries up a lot it will be time for the clear coats.

Getting close.

As you can see I have entered another dimension. Twilight Zone kinda thing. I got the Legacy 40 painted and almost color sanded as much as I feel like color sanding which isn't much. The black was sprayed yesterday and needs a few more days to dry then a bit of sanding in preparation for the clear dope. It took eight hours of taping the checkers before paint and 2 minutes to paint and a half hour to remove all the tape pieces. The weather has been raining for over a month now and it's just too humid to spray the clear. The do over on the P40-Q into an L-17 Navion is just about ready for paint. I ordered some olive drab dope but they didn's have any so I back ordered it. They sent some enamel instead of dope. I plan to use that and spray 2 part clear over it for fuel proofing. The jury is out on the compatability of the two paints but I'll find out soon. I have to order some graphics for it. That is always a treat.

More engineering brilliance.

I determined that a dope paint finish was better than monokoting the wing and tail. Appearance Judges don't like to see monokote on a model and points are hard to come by. That cost me a second place at one contest. I stripped all the 'kote and paint and figured on changing the model from the P40-Q to the L-17 North American Navion. I had to square off the stab. tips which wasn't a big deal but changing to tricycle gear was a problem. The plane has a foam wing which is cored out to lighten it and to make a passage for the leadout lines. The resulting wall thickness isn't strong enough to mount the gear support blocks and the lines would rub against part of it also. After a few weeks of study I came up with the system in the picture. I cut a chunk out of the fuselage and epoxied in a block of 1/2 inch plywood with grooves for the torque portion of the wire gear legs. I removed a secton of balsa sheeting and glued in 1/16 plywood to support the wire gear. As luck would have it I was able to use some already used wire gear salvaged from wrecks. The nose gear was easy as it plugs into the motor mount as usual. I should glue on a layer of fiberglass over the 1/16 ply for added strength. I epoxied the bare balsa wing skins and that is up to sanding before priming. I finally got dry enough weather and finished spraying the white base coat on the Legacy 40. That is up to masking for the first trim color.

June 10th.

That was the last time I flew in preparation for the Dallas contest. I usually fly every morning so this is quite a lay off. We left Dallas Saturday afternoon and came home, busted wing/arm in a sling. My wife got a date with the orthopedic doctor and had a total shoulder replacement a week later. That was a week ago and should see the doctor next week. It was also a reverse replacement. From what I can find out that means the shoulder socket is now on the arm bone and the arm ball is now on the shoulder. I'll find out why next week. The conversion of my P40-Q into a Navion L-17 is coming along quite slowly because of the broken arm. I'm going to try epoxy finish on the sheeeted foam wing instead of tissue and dope. I've squared off the rounded stabilizer tips and made a new fin/rudder. I ordered olive drab paint from Aircraft Spruce and it ended up being enamel not dope. I'll use it anyway and for the clear coat I'll use 2 part 2K Max spray paint. That should make it fuel proof. The new Legacy 40 is ready for another coat of white as soon as the air dries up a bit. I ran out of white after one coat a month ago and got some more when the humidity shot up. Nothing to do but wait.

One up, two down.

We got to the hotel around 4 pm Friday. Saturday morning had a storm that blew through quickly and didn't impact the contest. Things progressed fairly quickly and I was to be first up in the Old Time Stunt event. Some other guy fell in the longish grass and sprained an ankle. As I was about to fuel my plane I was told that my wife had tripped over a speed bump and was hurting. I packed up and brought her to a hospital where x-rays were taken that confirmed a fracture. We went to the hotel and packed up and checked out and headed for home. On Monday she got an appointment at the orthopedics and more x-rays were taken and another appointment for a total shoulder replacement next Monday, 6/21. The next local contest is Labor Day back in Dallas.

New tech trial.

The elevator strips work. One side effect is they produce a lot of drag which is why they work. I have them on 4 planes and all benefit from them. I am in the process of trimming the strips down from 1/8" high to whatever gets me less drag and good performance. I think each plane will be different as some don't have as much drag as others now. I started wet sanding the white base coat. It's awful. I sanded a lot of it off and now I'm spraying primer and sanding that. It's looking a lot better so far. And with the extra time it's taking I've come up with a color scheme that should be nice. But I never can count on it.

New technology.

At the El dorado contest there was a plane with things on the elevators that didn't look right. The owner was explaining them to another so I joined in. The things are 1/8 x 1/4 rectangular cross section strips attached at the trailing edge of the elevators. It seems they make the plane more stable in flight and especially after a turn. Two weeks later I gave them a try on a plane that wasn't stable enough to suit me. I used strips of balsa stuck on with two sided tape. They create noticable drag and make the plane more stable just like he said. I figured that once isn't enough so I put some strips on my Nomad 5. Again the same very good result. I slapped some strips on the Jamison and it now flys a lot better.The only thing I can liken it to is putting larger feathers on an arrow.No matter what the strips work.I'll have to try one with the strips on the rudder trailing edge instead of the elevators. I had the chance to paint the base white on the Legacy 40. I still can't figure out what trim scheme to put on it. I've looked at a lot of pictures and nothing strikes me. If I run out of things to do I can start wet sanding the base coat. The lawn needed mowing as rain is forecast for a while again. Last week one of the mowers wasn't cutting at the same height as the other two. I thought it was just a wheel adjustment gone awry.I found out that the bad mower base was rusted so bad it was flexing and ready to break in half. In Moosup I had several extra mowers to pick from but I left them when we moved south. I was fortunate to have two mowers given to me since we've een here, both with solid bases and engines. I picked the better of the two and installed the attachments so it can be pulled by the riding mower. Then I removed all the hardware and engine from the broken mower, folded the base in half and put it in the trash can. The engine runs very well and will be used as a spare.

Together again.

I flew the Legacy with the .52 engine. The conbo didn't work as I hoped. The fasteners I used to hold the engine inplace would stay tight and the added movement screwed things up. I put the engine back into the Ringmaster and the screws came loose in that plane. A dab of thread locker fixed that problem. I may not be able to remove the engine as I use "T" nuts that are not accessable and they like to rotate if used in the wrong way. I'm testing other planes to figure out which ones to take to the Dallas contest. The newest one is coming along well. My fuel supply is running low and I tried to find a gallon of Klotz Original synthetic oil and could only find quarts at Summit Racing. I ordered four and plan to mix the next batch 50/50 with castor oil to stretch the oil. It's a favorite mix for this kind of flying. I saw a battery at the El Dorado contest and found it and ordered 3. I charged them today and may fly them tomorrow if the weather holds out. They are 5 cell 3000 mAh and weigh less than a 4 cell 3300 mAh battery. Plentyof power in the plane at the contest and they were barely warm after a flight.

Spare engines.

The engine I used for the Legacy 40 came out of the Ringmaster Excel. I have a spare engine even larger from the P40-Q that is getting re finished. Since the .52 I put in the Legacy and the .60 I took off the P40 are made from the same crankcase/block by the same manufacturer I figured I would put the larger engine in the Ringmaster. The engine is a bolt in swap but I'm using the tank in the Legacy so I had to produce a suitable fuel tank for the Ringmaster. That took several hours as there isn't much room in the tank compartment. It's finally ready for a test flight. Except it's been raining most of the day so far and the forecast isn't good for two more days. The next contest is in Dallas in early June. I plan to use the Jamison in the Old Time Stunt event and the Classic Stunt event. I've never did the new pattern of maneuvers with it just the Old Time pattern so I need to try that along wiht trim flights on the others.

The old is new again.

I built the Legacy 40 from plans enlarged from a magazine in the early part of 2014. I didn't know it but the plans gave the plane a too long nose. It didn't fly that well but I kept it anyway. After several years I found out about the nose and shortened it. It flew much better so I re painted it which came out better than my previous attempts. I got a kit of the same plane and started building it. I plan to use a larger engine as the one I have in the first one isn't quite enough. Today I flew the first copy and once home I removed the engine and re fit the larger engine so I can see how it will fly with more power. It took several hours to get the engine to fit and come up with a larger fuel tank. It's finally ready for a test flight.

After many flights with my own design Hound Dog I figured I should build another. I built the first one In 2012 and had many podium finishes with it at contests. I have 4 short trimming flights with it now and it flys quite well. I'm working on calming the turns down as they are too sharp.

The building season in spades.

I have one plane that is the best flying plane I have. I just the other day started to build another using the original as templates. I ordered parts from Brodak and got some balsa from the hobby shop and started building. I need the rib set from Brodak and the motor mounts to get the fuselage started. I have the fuselage sides cut out. I managed to build the stab/elev unit and get them sanded to shape. Yesterday I scored a Legacy 40 kit with the string attached that I frame up another kit in payment. I've already built one of the freeby and I'm using the same wing on my second copy plane. I should pick up the kits tomorrow so I can use the rib from that kit to mark out it's placement on the new planes sides and continue the build.

Ringmaster Excel photo's.

Some progress.

After several test flights and trim adjustments I felt confident enough to fly the whole pattern with the Go Devil. That led to even more trim changes. The landings needed fixing so I moved the landing gear aft about an inch. I reduced the effectiveness of the flaps and got more down authority from the elevator. I think the flaps were disturbing the air going over the elevator. That was the biggest problem with the plane. I changed the stock muffler for one that is a half ounce lighter. I have a lot of adjustability in the balance of the plane. I just have to find the right combination. Now with the time change I have more early morning calm air to test in.

Another Old Time Stunt Plane.

This one was given to me and the wing was built and covered. I had to get some plans in order to build the fuselage. The weather has been dry lately so I got the spray gun out and gave it a base coat of white. Then I found some left over paint from the El Camino and it proved to be compatible with dope paint. I used that for the red trim. I got it assembled this morning after spraying the clear. Total weight is 48.6 ounces with a 600 square wing area so things should be good. I had to use a 2 ounce heavy hub and the stock muffler to get the balance right. That is 5 ounces extra. Plus 1.5 ounces of tip weight. Back when it was first designed the engines were a lot heavier and didn't need extra weight.

More trim flights.

I remembered that increasing the overhang of the handle slows the control response. I also remembered that I never checked the engine thrust settings after I put it together. It needed the engine pointed down a bit and to the right a bit. I moved the elevator pushrod to the outer most hole. All that helped but the plane was too quick on the controls. I had an old handle that was adjustable for overhang and had less line spacing to work with. That really helped soften the controls. Overhang is measured from the grip of the handle, where your fingers touch the handle, to the attachment point of the lines. My favorite set up has three quarters of an inch of overhang and the one for this plane is about one inch more.

Off and running.

The weather turned dry and a bit warmer so I took the advantage and sprayed the clear on the new plane. As usual there were dirt and runs to contend with after the paint cured. I assembled the plane with the tongue muffler and found it to be tail heavy. I added a Higley heavy hub to the nose and that was good enough for a test flight. The first flight was good but the lines were not even, I needed to shorten the down line a bunch. The plane flew wings level and was reasonably stable in level flight. It had a very hard turn so I reduced the line spacing at the handle. At home I removed the tongue muffler and heavy hub and installed the stock muffler and plastic spinner for a nose weight gain of one ounce. That should ease the turns some and I shortened the down line some more.

Rainy Days and Mondays.

I was given an old design plane that had the wing and tail built. That came in handy as the weather has been very wet and then it got cold. Then cold and wet. The little plane has been ready for clear coat for a few weeks now and it's still quite cold. I got the 2 part clear in the but the can was very warm and waitring a day for it to cool proved wrong. The can is still sitting on the fridge ready for use. It doesn't matter one way or the other as it's beeen too wet and cold to fly anyway. We did manage to get the septic system re built after waiting over a week for a day without rain. We celebrated that victory at Big Mike's. Everything wa right with the world until the call that said there's no hot water. The hot water tank had sprung a leak. We managed to get a new one installed the next day. And it's still too cold to paint.

Re thinking completed.

After not being able to get two engines to run properly on the Little Red Plane, two Flite Streaks and the latest crash, I salvaged the hardware and designed another plane. It's a bit larger with a better airfoil and a full fuselage instead of a profile fuselage. I'm counting on vibration being the cause of the bad engine runs. The full fuselage is more solid and stiff. I ended up sheeting the wing with 1/32 balsa and covering it with polyspan. Sanding open bays is very challanging. I covered the fuselage with paper used by doctors on exam tables as the old standby silkspan is no longer available. It wasn't pretty and I had to do a lot of sanding and filling. Anyway I got the plane almost ready for paint before final assembly. I'm hoping that will reduce banging the assembled plane on tables and lights during the paint process. Plus I'm finding things to do that should be done before final assembly.

The clear coat continues.

After asking how long should I wait to final sand I backed that up by going to Youtube. Everyones advise seemed to mesh so I sanded. I bought some polish used on Youtube and put my buffer to work. It came out quite well. After doing this for 70+ years I finally got a shiney paint job. I had shortened the nose 3/4 inch as the plans I used to build were not quite correct. I re installed the engine and got in a few short flights. It flys better than before. I had to install a larger fuel tank and changed engines while I was at it. The one that was in spewed a lot of oil. I test flew that combination with good results. I should mention that I put a pallet across the ditch I have to cross to get to the field. When I had the plane for the first test flight the pallet slipped on the muddy ground when I stepped on it. Somehow I didn't fall with the plane and field box but the stabilizer got damaged. I had to replace several ribs and re cover the damaged area. All is well. A few weeks ago I flew the little red plane at my sons yard. I pulled up into a half loop to go inverted and the wing tip hit a limb. That caused a violent yaw which broke the fuselage causing a crash. I glued it back together and get in several flights here. Yesterday I was flying it and the engine went wild. I did some loops up high and the motor quit but the lines went slack. Then the engien re started and drove the plane into the ground. The fuselage broke in the same place again. I must re think this project.

Some repairs and a clear coat.

I took the small red plane tomy sons and gotin a flight. The engine went crazy right after lift off as it has been doing. It's still flyable so I did a half loop to inverted. Except I clipped a branch and the fuselage broke just behind the flaps. It was a reasonably clean breaak so I saved it. I fit the pieces together and put some super glue on then scabbed some 1/64 ply over the breaks. I installed the Os FP .20 and a new tank and the right size venturi. It had a .282 in it. Then I swapped the metal back plate to my LA .25 and the plastic back plate with needle valve assembly to the .20. I flew it this morning and it ran very well and flew very well also. On Monday I got the Spray Max 2K clear coat. The next day was dry and warm so I hosed 3 coats on the Legacy 40. I also did a quick clear coat on my Dodge headlights. I just found out that I should wait 7 days before sanding and buffing and I should use 2000 grit paper.