USA AMA (almost) profile.

I won a built and sheeted wing at the local contest in October. I had a magazine size plan of a plane called Stunt Machine but bettter known as USA AMA or Oosa Aama. It had the letters on the wings in huge type that just begged for the other name. Which the designer hated. Bob Hunt built a copy in honor of the designer and published the plans in a magazine centerfold with a scale. I used them to come up with a profile fuselage shape and the twin rudders on the stab. ends.The wing shape isn't right but it's what I have. I'm planning on using the Super Tiger .51 engine on it. That engine is on the New Plane now. I'm also figuring on using an O.S. .46LA. It may be light enough when done.

Another new plane.

This is the one I made from the extra set of ribs that came in the J D Falcon kit. The fuselage is a copy of the Mo'Best as the ribs are close to ones from that plane. I got a short window of low humnidity today and the temp was right so I took the oppurnity to spray the urethane clear. I puty all the pieces on the scale and it should end up at 53 ounces. I won a complete wing with flaps in the raffle in the Zacharyt contest last month. I drew up a fuselage for it based loosely on the old Stunt Machine design. I need to get some 1/2 inch and 3/8 balsa to get that one started.

Something bad, something good.

I had installed an OS .46LA into the Dixon Ringmaster Excel last week. It had an Evolution .52 or an Evolution .60 in it and they just didn't work the way I figured they should. At the park I was flying the Ringmaster and something happened to the control system and the plane hit the ground. Not fixable at all. I think the bell crank pulled out but I can't say for sure. The wing broke in half at the glue joint without much damage to the two halfs. They had good balsa sheeting and it is usable if I can get the foam off it. I was planning on harsh chemicles to melt the foam but then I remembered the foam cutting bow I have. I threaded the wire through the wing and turned the heat up and cut the foam from the balsa giving me some nice usable sheet balsa. I painted the new plane with a white base color and it sits waiting for a color scheme to appear in my mind.

Another find.

I got tired of looking at the new not quite a Mo' Best plane and started to paint the base white. When I was done with the first coat I found that you can't sand Poly Span covering against the grain. No matter how light you try. After the white cured a bit I gave it a light sanding with the grain and the fuzzys were cut off. I have to get another can of white to finish the base coat. I also got tired of the Evolution engines I had put in the Ringmaster Excel. I weighed it as it was and got 52 ounces. I removed the Evo engine and had to epoxy some shime to the motor mounts so the O.S. .46 would fit. That went well and I spent a good hour installing the "T" nuts under the wood mounts. After getting it back together it weighed 48 ounces ready to fly. I went to the park this morning with the Ringmaster and it flys quite well as the new weight is well within the capabilities of the O.S. engine. 48 is the weight I shoot for when building a plane for that engine.

Progress.

We went to the contest at El Dorado, Ar and didn't get any kits in the raffle. It's the first time in over 10 years that I've been skunked in the raffle. I didn't make out very good at my own club's raffle either. I did get a first, second and a third place finish in "Old Time, Classic and Profile" stunt events. The new plane is coming along nicely. I ordered two rolls of covering and then found the two that I had but in the wrong place. I was able to cover the wing and other parts with only one roll so I will have three rolls when the order arrives.

New plane and findings.

In the J.D. Falcon kit I won at the El Dorado contest in May there was an extra set of wing ribs. Laser cut and mis marked. They wern't Falcon ribs but I held onto them. The Mo' Best I built as electric is working well in spite of the printed motor mount wanting to come apart. I would change it to glow power but it would make a mess of the nose and paint job. Then it struck me. I could use the extra ribs and scratch build a glow powered Mo' Best. I had enough balsa to piece together the fuselage and tail pieces but I had to buy some sheet balsa to cover the wing. I'm up to covering the wing but I don't have enough Poly Span covering to do it. I'm trying to get the dealer on the phone as the web site won't take my order. I've been flying one of the Oriental profiles and it's the lightest plane I have built of that size. Today I put a friends engine on my rebuilt Nomad and flew it after flying the Oriental. The Nomad is heavier and it flew smoother than the lighter Oriental. So when I got home I removed the light weight tongue muffler and installed a stock O.S. 3030 muffler and another half ounce of tail weight to bring it back into balance. If that improves the flying I will ad another ounce or two of nose weight and coresponding tail weight.. The Oriental fits into three classes at contests. Profile,Classic and precision aerobatics. Makes transporting planes to contests a lot easier.

Another quick and dirty win.

A few years ago I cut a piece of the nose off Nomad 2 and installed a firewall for an r/c engine mount. As it happened the bolt pattern for the mnount and the electric motor mount are the same. I switched back and forth between electric and glow power frequently. Lately there has been a lot of vibration when using glow engines and I had to do something. The tonneau cover on my truck was at it's bitter end and needed replaceing. After changing covers I salvaged all the aluminum parts from the old one. Two of the parts were 1/2" x 2" x 5' thin wall aluminum box tubing. I knew I could find a use for it somewhere. Back to the plane. I cut off a piece of the aluminum tubing and cut an opening that would fit the engine and a notch that goes around the wing leading edge, installed wood motor mounts and filled the rest with balsa. Then I cut the planes nose to fit the new engine crutch and started filling the open space with balsa sheet and the aluminum crutch. After some sanding and a layer of 1/2 ounce fiberglass cloth it was ready for paint. I had some left over butyrate dope and brushed on a few coats of Miami Blue and some kind of red. I didn't want to brush the clear so I used a Pre-Val sprayer for that. It's good for small areas but will freeze up on large areas. I got to South Park early today, 9-6-25, and got in a test flight in the fog. Nice and steady with good corners inside and outside. The engine ran very well with the new set up and the weight gain was miniscule if any. All up weight is 50.4 ounces without the spinner. I was able to remove a 1/2 ounce weight from the tail as I shortened the nose by a 1/2 inch to improve the corners. It took a lot of sanding to get a good snug fit on the engine bearers and balsa filler pieces but it was worth it.

More new planes

The red one was a kit of a Classic model I won at the El Dorado contest raffle. The blue one was a kit I bought of a classic model because I didn't have a classic plane and after winning the red one I now have two classic planes. The red one called J. D. Falcon built quite light at 43 ounces and has an O.S. .46LA engine and the blue one is smaller and has an O.S. .25 engine. I flew the Falcon for the first time yesterday, 8/4/25 and the red one, called Peacemaker, today the 5th. The blue one did a loop right off the ground and almost crashed but I got line tension back in time. I made several adjustments to it when I got home. The Falcon started with 59 foot lines then 61 footers and today I made some 60 foot lines for tomorrow sesion. The paint I used I got in a tool box I bought at the hobby shop. There was 4 bottles of "Aero Gloss" 4 ounce paints. I had the same colors in Brodak paints so I mixed red to red, blue to blue and white to white. Something happened during the mixing and what happened was all colors went from gloss to flat. I didn't worry about it as I was going to clear coat it with a gloss urethane 2 part paint. That made it shine. The park has agreed to mow a place for me that is shorter than the rest of the grass.

Experiment findings.

I haden't noticed it when flying the first two planes but the Nomad test mule showed it. The wings were level and didn't flip when I did a hard corner. It's called "hinging" in the hobby. I set up more planes like the others and flew them finding the same wings level with no tendency to wiggle in hard corners. It makes the maneuvers look cleaner and should score higher. I've tested several types of planes from different designers, some with balsa rib wings and sheeted foam core. Some profile fuselage some full fuselage and one with no fuselage. My Swizzle Plane. And one electric powered plane. All with the leadouts adjusted so that the plane hangs a little nose up with an empty tank. All gave me the same level and steady wing. I even set one up with a 2 ounce weight on the nose. Then at the field I flew it with the weight on and then took the weight off and flew it again with no change to the leadout position and no change in flight charastics that I could see. According to Voo Doo logic the plane shouldn't have flown at all. I'm saying that everything we have been told about setting the leadouts is that it works but not very well. On top of that I found that I'm the only person in the world today that knows where his leadouts are. Every one else only knows that his plane flys well the way he wants it too but he don't know why.

Experiment time.

My Swizzle plane was not keeping the lines tight in flight. That has to do with many factors but one is the location of the leadout line along the wing tip. I have been setting them so the plane hangs a bit nose down when hung from the leadouts and measured using a line level. Empty fuel tank. While off the ground speed and centrifugal force will keep it out on the lines. I figured that using a half tank of fuel and setting the leadouts so the plane was level would maybe help because the fuselage would be more in tangent to the circle producing less drag. I set up the plane this way. At the field the plane took off normally and flew normal until I starte to do maneuvers. Then the changes took over and I had a lot more line tension than before. That gives me more direct control which is a good thing. I did the same thing to the sister plane that was still in one piece. Overall line tension was better on this plane also. So I took the test mule Nomad and did the same change to it. Maybe fly it in the morning.

A bit closer.

I have the Falcon and Peacemaker just about at the same point in the finishing process. Everything is installed and fillets are laid in. I had to buy another quart of clear dope to apply the fiberglass and/or silk span. The humidity is high and I have to wait until it lowers to do much more painting. I had to leave South Park the other day as a dog was running through the circle and wanting to play. The grass was getting too high again there anyway. I took the Swizzle plane out and got in some flights. I went to 54 foot lines from 58 footers and installed aluminum landing gear from the wrecked Nomad. I flew it this morning and everything is working nicely. I managed to get in the first full pattern with it also. The winds were calm making some of the maneuvers tricky.

Getting there.

I have three coats of clear dope on the Falcon wing and it's ready to install into the fuselage. The Peacemaker is close to being ready for final assembly but it needs filling and sanding as will the Falcon.

More planes

I didn't have a plane for the clasic event and I didn't want to build one that was too complicated or big. I found one that should fit the bill called "Peacemaker". I started building it and then the El Dorado contest came up and at the raffle I got a kit of the J.D. Falcon. Not too complicated but on the large size, the same size as my others. Again legal to use in the classic event. I started building it even though it didn't have the instruction booklet. My plan is to get both planes up to the same build sequence spot so I can work on both at the same time. I need to fill and sand the Peacemaker and put a couple more coats of clear dope on the Falcon wing then install it into the fuselage. That will bring both planes to the same build place. I've been having run issues with my engines and after much trouble shooting it seems that the fuel needed some Armor-All to stop fuel foaming. Now if the rains will slack off so the grass can be mowed I will be happy.

A fire drill of unknown parentage.

Getting ready for the El Dorado contest was a chore. I have always had time to select a plane(s) and practiced with it. This year there was rain and then wind and then more rain. I grabbed the planes I was most familiar with at the time and went. The Navion flew good enough for a second place finish in Warbird. The Nomad 6 blew/shook the vent plug off two flights in a row. Real unusual for that to happen. On Sunday I flew the Nomad 6 again and the plug stayed on but the wing tip weight box cover fell off causing the weights to fall out which caused the plane to do strange things during the flight. Just as I was about to start the engine for the second flight I saw the engine was loose. One bolt was missing and the other three were loose. I called it a day and put the plane away. I did get a kit in the raffle and we got home before dark. I got the Nomad fixed on Monday and ready for test flights but it started raining again.

Too much power.

I've had a few flights on the new plane. The Brodak 40 proved to be way too much for the plane. The vibration shook a glow plug to failure but the stick fuselage held up. i removed the 40 and installed an OS .25LA. That is a much better choice for the plane. I'm going through flap tweak sessions now and have huyng it up as I need to prepare for the El Dorado contest in a few weeks. The park has mowed enough grass so I can fly wqithout getting the plane overturned on take off. I learned how to patch a leaking tire today. The local tire shop, Mavis, won't toucj a tire that has been plugged and won't plug a tire either. They patch the leak from the inside. I had to buy a new tire and took the other one home to experiment on. The parts store has "radial tire patch kits". They install just like an inner tube patch. I now have a good tire waiting to be used.

It's ready for test flights.

Another new design.

The Swizzle Stick was an old r/c design that was cheap and easy to build. That came to mind when I had a usble wing to play with. O don't know what category it will fall into as it has no fuselage to speak of, like the Swizzle Stick, and it's too wide to be in the profile category. I'll think of something.

Winter stuff.

The Oriental kit I won in the raffle is built and flying quite well. The local hobby shop had a kit from and estate sale for sale at less than half price of a new kit so I bought it. I figured that I had already built one this should be easier. It was about the same to build and is waiting for the kit of the Yak-9 to be finished so I can clear coat both at the same time with the last can of 2 part spray that I have. Hopefully there is enough to do the job. Our son has been getting the hot rod ready for a "drag and drive" scheduled for the end of Feb. at the local drag strip. It's a 3 day event using the same track so there isn't any hotels to pay for. He is planning on bringing his camper to the track for the overnights. We have been testing and tunning at the track trying to get the Holley Sniper fuel injection working properly. He finally got it clost to what it did on the first ever pass that bent the rear suspension. This starts on Feb.28.

Good idea, bad planning.

A couple years ago I had a flat tire on my Dodge pickup. I wasn't home and had to use the scissor jack that comes with the truck. It took a long time to get the flat tire off the ground and changed. After that I figured that a small hydraulic bottle jack would be much better at lifting the future flat tire off the ground with a lot less effort. I didn't have the chance to try it out on a flat but whenit came time to rotate the tires I gave it a try. It did the fob but was very slow pumping up. After that excercize I realized that the bottle jack just fit under the front "A" arm with the tire at full inflation. If the tire was flat the jack would be useless and I'd be stuck having to use the scissor jack again. I looked at Amazon for small floor jacks and they had one that would fit the bill. I asked my son about a small jack and he pointed at the one he had and we had used at the drag strip. He got it at Harbor Freight. I went to the Harbor Freight store in Zachary, La and bought two of them, one for each truck. I'm ready for a flat now.

Trouble at the hangar.

Last year I was given three O.S. S-35 engines. I didn't really have a need for them at the time. I also got 2 more Brodak .40 engines that came to be a real good engine for my small designs. I put one of the 40's in my Jamison old time stunt plane to replace the heavier more powerful LA .46. Then I won a kit of the Dee Rice designed Oriental. I never had one and it turned out to be a good flying plane. The plans show a Fox .35 engine whick is very light at 6.5 ounces. The LA weighs around 9 ounces. The plane camne out quite light at 40 ounces so I decided to install one of the Brodak .40's and remove the LA .46. That was just what the Oriental needed as the performance improved quite a bit. Then I got the idea to install one of the .35's into one of the small models, my design "Wild Thing".I flew that and it's another winner. The local hobby shop had a kit of the Oriental on the shelf at about half price so I bought it. I'm about half way through framing it up and I needed to install the engine to move along with the fuselage. I amd going to use the Brodak 40 in this plane so I went to the Jamison that I had put one in and removed the engine and installed it in the Oriental fuselage. A couple hours later i remembered that I had removed the Brodak and installed a .35 in the Jamison and them used it to mark and drill the mounting bolt holes. I didn't realize that I was using the wrong engine until too late. When I got home I removed the brodak from the first Oriental and fitted it into the new Oriental. Luckily the holes are the same for the O.S. 35, the LA 40/46 and the Brodak 40. Even the spinner clearance is good for both engines.