Double Triple.

The contest at El Dorado was a success. I was able to place third in Profile, third in Warbird and on Sunday I got third in Precesion Aerobatics. Then in the raffle I won a Brodak .40 engine, a gallon of fuel and a Brodak kit of the Vector plane. I had an ARF or the Vector and it flew well while it lasted. I had been shortening the lines I use on the planes and during the contest one of the much better flyers said I should shorten them even more. I'm down to 60 feet from 63 and the planes look a lot smoother in flight now. I had figured that if the better flyers are usning shorter lines than you are all your maneuvers will look larger, which they are, and get a lower score. Even though both are at 45 degrees of line angle to the ground. I think that helped me. The weather has been dry lately and I got the Twisterrific painted last week and ordered some clear. The paint came in Sunday so I sprayed it while the dryness persisted. Today I got it put together and reday for a test flight. I still have to make a line for the stooge.

Getting ready for El Dorado.

I will bring the old red Pathfinder for profile, the L-17 Navion for Warbird and the electric Privateer for P.A. on Sunday. I finally got all of the planes controls set up right and they all fly a lot better. In 74 years I've been setting them up wrong. The full fuselage planes now have a decal covering the hole in the fuselage that gave me access to the controls. It was worth it for the better flying. The profiles were not as invasive as the controls are all external to begin with. The Navion has an Evolution .60 engine in it and I was using a BY&O propeller. I tried an APC 12 x 5 and the engine really ran better with it so I changed to the APC. I had one on the Ringmaster Excel when I hit the ground inverted. That plane needed another go around on the controls and it's ready for a test flight and should be much better. The Privateer is now using 5 cell 3000 mAh batteries as the 3300's I was using are heavier and I don't have many of them left. I think the lighter batteries are what is helping the plane fly well. I have the full fuselage Twister mostly assembled with the flaps and elevators attached. I used cloth hinges again as they are very free moving and they seal the hinge gaps some. I haved named it "Twisterrific". I hope the weight will be around 48 ounces one it's done and painted. It's strange that the plans say 490 sq in wing area and it's really 470. With the extended wing I built it's now 490.

It stopped

The winds have finally died down and flying is good in the morning again. The weather prediction for warmer and humid came true today. Thunderstorms from 0430 to 0800 followed by the increase in humidity. When he's right he's right. The new Twister is coming along. The wing and tail are built and waiting for sanding and covering. The fuselage is half built. I made the top and got the canopy carved out. That will take a lot of sanding. There is no molded plastic canopy for this model and I didn't want to search for a close look-a-like. The electric Legacy I nw cll the Privateer as I made several changes to the fuselage and wing shapes so it no longer looks like the original Legacy. I've been using 5 cell 3300mAh batteries and they are failing. I have 5 cell 3000mAh batteries in the Nomad 6 so I took the timer from that plane and put it on the Privateer. That should put the speed and duration in the ball park. I hope to test it soon. Electric power is more sxpensive than glow fuel power.