A name at last.

Our daughter has a cat that is a Pixie Bob breed. When I heard that I named the plane. I got the graphics from Frogskin Graphics in Clinton, La. If I need more graphics I will give them a call. The new engine has been running well enough to be put back on the Pixie. I flew it on Nomad 1 several times to break it in a little bit. I bought a used LA.46 for 30 bucks a few months ago. I put it on the Cardinal and flew it. It had a needle valve assembly that looks like it came from an r/c carburator. It worked but not that well. I installed an.v.a. that we usually use and it ran a lot better. Nice and steady with power for an old engine. The kit I won at the El Dorado contest raffle is coming along nicely. It's just about ready for covering. I've been having good luck with silk span covering lately. It takes longer than monokote but lasts longer and looks better when painted. The weather has turned quite warm thispast few days and is forecast to be warm until mid next week. That puts a damper on flying as it's 80 degrees by 0700.

Happiness is a good flying plane.

I am amazed at how well the new plane flys. Very stable in level flight and has a pretty good corner for a first flight. I didn't do anything to balance the plane as it came out real close to the normal Twister. I went back to the field with it a few days later and verified it's flying abilities. The new engine hasn't broken in yet and is a bear to start by hand. I had to fly it without the spinner as the engine would backfire and spit the prop off. Without the spinner I could tighten the prop quickly. I am concerned about the metal tank as the engine quit in the top loop of the verticle eight. I'll get a plastic tank and fit it into the tank compartment. While I had the tank hatch off I reoved the new engine and installed one that is well broken in. I didn't know I had a spare .46LA. I'm pretty much confined to the property as I don't want to leave the dog alone for too long. I started on the Vector I won at the contest raffle. I had a model of this plane maybe 10 years ago but it was built and covered in China. It flew quite well as I recall but the elevator horn broke out and it crashed. The kit has the same set up as the other one and now that I know about it I'll reinforce the area so it doesn't fail again. I took the wing out of the jig this morning and have to build the wing tips. Each one is 9 pieces of balsa that is laminated, saw cut to shape, lots of sanding and then split lengthwise, hollowed out and glued back together. I have a die grinder and a rotary rasp that makes very short work of hollowing. A big mess also.