New handle.

I sent one of my handles to a guy in England two others are in Texas. I posted some pictures of how to make the handle on one of the forums. I got a response that mentioned carbon fiber plate for the handle. I watched a video on cutting the material and didn't like what I saw. I had already ordered a thiner than recommended plate. I saw that my band saw has an outlet for a vacuum cleaner hose so I rigged it up and cut out two handle blanks.I've been flying one of the handles and so far it's working very well. I don't have any reinforcement for the line clips but the plante is holding up quite well. I timed the second handle to see how long it takes to make. 22 minutes. It takes a lot longer for the ply and aluminum handle. The weights are really close around a half ounce for both kinds. I thought the carbon plate would wear kinda fast but so far not so much. It's been raining every afternoon for over a week. The park is having trouble mowing and the grass is making take offs and landings harder that usual. I may have to bring my mower again. We finally needed tires on the Tundra. We went to Costco and got 4 new ones yesterday. I thought they did alignments too but they don't. I went to a local shop this morning and got that done. The temperature wasn't too high so I went to the park for a few flights with modified stabilizer leading edges. I think it made an improvement in how the plane flys. Then it started to rain.

Moving on up.

I've been having real good luck with the Brodak .40 enbgine. I had machined (hacksawed and drilled) a second universal motor mount and installed a second Brodak .40 on it. Today,after flying, I removed the first universal mount/brodak.40 and installed the second engine/mount. Same propeller so it should be the same I made a new handle with more overhang on the down line to dampen the outside turns. I tried that this morning and it works well so I'll keep it for the plane.

Mowing and testing.

The long holiday weekend and rain kept the park from cutting the grass last week. I brought a push mower and cut enough to get my planes off the ground safely. The Wild Thing and .40 engine is proving to be a great combination. I don't think the engine likes my low nitro fuel so I added some nitro to the can and will give it a try in the morning. I can get in an hour of flying before the temperature gets to high. I also changed to a 10.5 x 4.5 APC propeller from the 11 x 4. They both work very well but the smaller one gives me a bit more ground clearance. I'm flying with 57 foot lines and thinking about 55 or 56 footers. I have plenty that I can shorten. Although it flys very well on the 57's.

It fits.

I ordered a piece of 3/16 6061 T-6 aluminum plate from Amazon for the second universal motor mount. That came in today and I got to work. The Brodak 40 did fit the first universal mount so I used that to machine the second. After a lot of filing to fit and using counter sink head screws I got the .40 mounted and ready to fly. I changed the wheels for larger ones to handle the long grass even where it's been mowed. I went to the park this morning and set up where they had mowed and was able to get in a couple flights with the .35 powered plane. I still only had a half circle but it was mowed Wednesday. This plane has been really tortured. First with the .25LA that I couldn't get running the way I thought it should run. All kinds of nose stiffeners as I thought it was vibration causing my troubles. Then with the .20FP that went pretty well, then with a used .25 that took a few needle valve assemblies before I got one that gave me some adjustment in the rpm range I needed. Then I figured I could install a larger Max S-35 with the use of the universal mount and that went quite well. The Brodak .40 is only 0.2 ounces heavier than the Max-S .35 so I figured with the universal mount I could put that engine on the plane and that has worked out nicely so far. I plan to give it a try in the morning. A 35 ounce plane with a .40 in the nose should be just fine.

It should work.

With the .35 engine on the New Mexico Universal Engine Mounting Plate that was built for the .40 and.46LA engines I wondered if a forth engine would fit. The logical next step, mainly in weight, was the Brodak .40. I grabbed one and put the calipers to work and found it should fit. That would be great so I'm going to get in a few more flights with the .35 then remove it and see if the .40 will bolt right on. If it don't fit but is really close I'll look into opening the mounts holes a bit. What's nice is that I built a second one and it's an event winner already so I can take liberties with the original.

Another trial.

I put the APC 9 x 4 on the .25 and flew it this morning. With all the stock stuff on the engine and an O.S. through the venturi needle valve assembly it pulled the plane through the pattern with authority. AT and T is making a mess out of this computer. Nothing is working right. I installed one of the Max-S .35's I have and hope to get it in the air tomorrow. I got to the field at 0715 and the grass was in need of cutting. The park handles that Wednesday and Thursday. I set up and hoped for the best. The first takeoff had couple grass snags but the plane got off the ground and flew very well. The .35, with a Zinger 10 x 6 spinning at 8000 rpm pulled th plane very well I was pleased. On the second takeoff the grass won and the prop broke. i went home.