Progress on the El Camino.

I finally got the front fenders, grill and bumper on the car. It looks like a car again. It still needs a bunch of stuff to get it road worthy. I attacked the bumper with steel wool and coarse polishing compound to get the shine back. Not to mention Super Clean. I have to get front shocks too. It's getting near. After all the stuff from Richards gets done I'll give it a coat of red primer to hold it until final paint later on.
The Primary Force is nearing completion too. I got some transparent blue covering at Brodaks hobby shop last week and covered the wing and stab. I painted a white stripe along the bottom of the fuse. and red along the top. The Twister will get red transparent on the wing and stab. I'll probably leave the fuse. natural to save a little weight. Both powered by Fox .35's. Seeing as how I've modified the kit shape I think I'll name it "lil Hobo". I tried to get in a flight today but some one was working on the entrance to the field gate and the grass hasn't been mowed either. School ends this week so I'll have more choices by Friday.

Brodaks

The pictures below don't do the contest justice. The blue scale model of a Super Tucano is built from plans by 23 members of the team from Brazil. Each member built one, not all worked on this one. It is a stunter that flew very well. They were powered by 2 strokes and 4 strokes with one on a tuned pipe. The facility is in the back yard of John Brodak and lasts for 7 days. Old time stunt, AMA stunt,( 4 classes), carrier, speed limit combat, and some novelty events. Some of the ringmaster models were built so light that the wings folded in flight. Other pictures can be viewed on www.clstunt.com www.stunthangar.com www.brotherhoodofthering.info. Look for mention of Brodaks or stuff by Elwin Aud or Bill Mohrbacher. Bill also goes by G.WillyFox. And also PhotoJoe has some shots.

Brodaks fly in

Brodaks' fly in 2008, Carmichaels PA.

I spent two days at the largest control line contest in the world 6-12 and 13-08. Temps in the low 90's and very light winds.

Some progress.

The last of my order with Year One came in when they said it would. Mid 90's and humid. I tried to install the heater blower box but it has a different bolt pattern and is much smaller that the a/c box. I couldn't make it fit as the holes for the a/c weren't covered by the new box either. I would need a new firewall. So I gutted the a/c box and re-installed it. It took several hours to figure out which wires went where but with the help of the assembly book I got it figured out. I put the right fender on and ran out of bolts. Again in the high 90's I started work on a portable wind sock for the places I fly. There has been a tent in the woods in back of my house for at least 30 years and I figured I would have a use for it some day. I took the fiberglass poles that hold the tent fabric in place and tied a piece of plastic surveyors tape to one and stuck it in the ground. Urethra, it works. Now I have three extras. Each one comes apart in 4 pieces about 18 inches long each.

Mice and hot weather.

June 6 was raining here. And getting warmer which made driving tough as the windshield kept fogging up. Turning on the heater/defroster produced a rattle then nothing. Driving at 65 should produce enough airflow through the system to clear the windshield but it didn't. When I got home I checked out the system and found a blown fuse. Then I took the blower motor out and found the reason for the blown fuse and poor air flow. A mouse nest completely filled the cage fan and most of the heater box. I had the shop vac. and sucked the family into it along with the soccer ball size nest. I replaced the fuse and everything worked again. I checked the engine compartment and the trunk. Nothing else was there. On June 8 I looked at the engine and there was another nest on top of the manifold. I got two boxes of mothballs and some poison and spread it around the garage inside and out. I put some balls under the hood and in the insulation the mouse chewed up for the nests. This happened last year too. With gas prices so high I have reduced the use of the car so the mice take over.I hope to make their lives miserable.
The weather turned hot and tropical humid in a day. The cement floor in the garage was still cold and condensed the air into water under the cars. I started the hot rod and got it outside and washed it and put a fan in the stall to circulate air under the car. The last time I saw it rain under a vehicle like this it was in Panama after landing. The fuel in the C-130 wings condensed the air and it rained under the wings. The fuel was way below freezing because we flew at 24000 feet from Florida.
I had planned to have the El Camino finished by the time the heat came this summer. But because of the various back ordered parts I lost almost three months time. Now that the heat is here the back orders have been shipped and are due here today. Mid 80's with a dew point to match. It looks like I'll be able to send it to the muffler shop, front end alignment shop, windshield shop, and radiator shop in a couple weeks. And the tire shop. All this will be taken care of by my son-in-law.

All my stuff has shipped.

I got an e-mail from Year One on the 4th saying the battery tray was on the way. The next day I got another saying the heater box and a bunch of interior stuff that was back ordered had been shipped also. I got the battery tray yesterday the 6th. I checked the tracking no. and the second bunch should be Mon. the 9th. I had hoped to have it one the road by now.
I got the Primary Force framed up and put together then started on the Twister that I Fancherized by adding 3 inches to the fuse. and a top deck to the fuse. It's framed up and assembled also. I am trying to come up with a color scheme for the two planes. Both will be powered by Fox .35's.
It finally get quite warm here today. A big change from what we have had lately.