Summer rain.

For the past two months it has rained every day. There was only two days that it didn't rain. The park has stopped mowing because the ground is too soft for the mowers. I stopped flying there a week ago as my planes would tip over on landing. I don't have a small trailer to bring my own mowers to carve out a circle. I figured that the park in the next twon would be suitable for flying but their grass is longer that the park here. We finally got in a couple passes with the 37 Ford. It took two weeks to get a dry Friday night. It was the first outing for the newly completed car and the new transmission and suspension and roll cage. We found some areas that needed attention and they have been handled along with some other things that would have gone unnoticed.We head for Noble, Ok Friday morning. It should be a great adventure.

Testing a new theory.

I saw what is being called "Gurney flaps" in the spring. I have tried them on several of my planes with some success. Mention was finally made of them on a forum. I have found that they work on some planes and not on other designs. I have 18 planes to test with. I think the thickness of the elevators has something to do with how effective the "flaps" are. (The flaps are only 1/8 x 1/4 strips on the elevator trailing edges.) If the elevators are tapered to a point the flaps may be more effective than on a thick, 1/4 inch, elevator trailing edge. I have two Twisters with stab. and elev. made from the same, 3/16, balsa sheet. I didn't taper anything so the elevators end in a square edge. I put strips of 1/16 x 1/8 balsa on the trailing edges of the elevators and will give that a try as soon as it stops raining. The curret design philosophy is to have the stab. thicker than the elevators. Why is not up to me to know and I don't. Generally the elevators are 1/8 inch thinner than the stab. If you sand the elevators to a point the elevators are slow to react. By putting a thick piece (1/8 high) on the trailing edge that puts the flap 1/16 into the airstream at all times. There are some that are about an inch tall total but not full elevator span. Plus there is a bit of drag induced by the strips which helps keep the tail in place. Much like an arrow with no feathers vs. an arrow with feathers. The arrow with feathers will go straighter than the other one. Which brings me back to my early childhood. I was less that 10 years old helping my father make a concrete step. I was out of position, according to my father, and he told me to "get your ass behind you". If I had feathers I may have understood what he was trying to say. He did finally explain what he meant. "Turn around and face the other way". At the field with the Twister I got in a flight and the Gurney flaps didn't do much of anything on the flat plate elevators. I didn't think they would as the elevators are in the air flow at all times not like ones that are thinner than the stab. and tapered to boot.

Some success with the cute little plane.

The up thrust helped even out the up and down control. That is what I was trying to do but the design just isn't up to standards. It will be a fine plane for a rank beginner to learn on and do loops and round eights but any squares will bring out the Charmin. It has a nasty stall at the bottom of the inside square and triangle. So it's going back in the raffle.

Some success with the Go Devil.

After putting the back plate back on the engine it ran a lot better. I got a few flights this morning and the controls are a lot more even. I still don't like the way it flys so it's back on the raffle list. The second plane with the same control problem is up next. I added a one degree shim under the engine and will fly it in the morning to see how well that worked.I measured the up/down thrust and found a 7/16" difference between the prop at top and bottom. I don't know what it was before adding the shim but it couldn't have been much at all. That should be enough to make a noticable change in how it flys. It's a pretty little plane but if I can't get it to fly the way I want the raffle is waiting.

The multi winged plane is from a contest in Wrentham, Ma several years ago. I needed to put it here so I can use it to post on a forum.

More Go Devil.

I flew it yesterday and the engine was low on power. I didn't think much of it being a .40 in a good size plane. Today I got 2 laps and the engine quit. I couldn't get it started so I took out the Jamison. At home I removed the engine from the Go Devil and the back plate stayed in the plane. The screws had fallen out and they were still hanging around the engine bay. I bought parts for 3 .40's and returned them back into usable engines. I probably didn't tighten this one as the other two are in Twisters and working well. I suppose I should check those back plates to make sure they are tight. I was trying to check the changes I made to the controls to even the up and down control. I may be on the right track. I have two planes with the same problem and I'm using a different fix on each one. Something as to work.

The "Go Devil" saga.

I had the almost finished plane given to me a year ago or so. When I flew it the inside turn was slothful and the outside turn was viscious. I tried several fixes to no avail so I set it aside for the raffle. Having nothing to do and doing it quite well I tried one more fix. I adjusted the bellcrank to flap push rod so I only have about 15 degrees of down elevator and a lot of up.I put a spare O.S. .40LA in the nose with an APC 11 x 4 prop.I'll give it a try in the morning after I check the thrust lines of the engine. I've been having perfect weather for trimming flights all summer so far. It has rained almost every afternoon for a month now too. But not enough to fill the ditches too much.

On again, off again, back on again, back off again.

The raffle plane flys pretty well in level flight but I can't even the turn rates out. Sluggish in inside and sensitive in the outsides. So the raffle plane is a raffle plane once again. I'm always trying to make things cheap but effective. I came across an empty jug of Tide concentrated laundry detergent. The inside of the jug had a coating of the detergent so I put some water in and swirled it around to incorporate the soap with the water. Then I added half a spray bottle to my plane cleaner and I'm using that to clean the planes It works quit well so far.