Neither rain nor snow.....

Al Gore is an asshole. 20 degrees below normal and rainy here.
I went to the dog track during a lull in the rain and had to wear a coat. 3 flights and the Fox .45 ran 7 minutes 22 seconds on 4.3 ounces of fuel or 135 cc's I didn't expect that brute to be fuel efficient.I counted 50 laps after finishing the 300 point expert pattern. I put a four ounce tank on and twiddled with the elevator neutral setting as it still turns harder with down elevator. I may trim the outboard flap and make a tab out of it.
I met up with Dave Miller and bought a gallon of methanol from him. I mixed up a quart of fuel and will test it in the morning. What time depends on how much noise the people across the street make tonight. I put 7 ounces of oil, 1 ounce of 20% nitro fuel and the rest methanol. I figure 22% oil and a tad of nitro. Less than 10 dollars a gallon if it works.

Back at the dog track.

I checked the old school yard in Oneco and it hadn't been mowed so I took my oldest plane and went to the dog track. There is a picture of it way back in the blog someplace. It's the yellow one along side the red one. Anyway I had tried to set the balance to the print but the print didn't show a c/g. I also re-installed the Fox .45 instead of the .40 as I needed the extra weight for balance. It proved to be a good match as it flew quite well. I had flown it a bit after I built it but never got it right until I added the bigger engine, which I had installed on it at first but changed it to the .40. Lap times are slower than I'm used to at 5.4 seconds but the lines stay tight. I moved the leadouts forward a little as I could see both wheels in flight. I tweaked the flaps to get the outside wing lower too, may need a tab. It turns better with down elevator that up elevator so I made a change at the handle to try and even things up. With a 12 x 4 Zinger at 10300 it uses 1.33 ounces of fuel a minute so I put on a 6 ounce plastic tank to get in the whole pattern or my interpretation of it. I'll give it a try again tomorrow.
My brother gave me a Homelite weed wacker and a 22 inch mower with a 3.5 hp Briggs engine. The Homelite wouldn't run unless the choke was almost full on and the mower has a bent blade shaft. I removed the carb. from the homelite and cleaned the dirt out and it runs fine. I rotated the blade shaft on the mower and found the high spot and hit it with a large hammer. Only once. It runs smooth now and cuts very well. Dont tell my brother.

Trip report.

We got to LA on time and I assembled the Ringmaster. On Fri. we headed for Iola, TX. 365 miles of mostly hard top roads but there was some dirt as we neared the flying site. I had put two planes in the Durango and a tail wheel poked through the Ringmaster wing. Some epoxy and a Subway sandwich wrapper patched it up. On Sat. I flew in the stunt contest portion of the Roundup and came in second in my class. Lots of pictures at http://www.brotherhoodofthering.info. We got back to Slaughter,LA Sun. afternoon and proceeded to cut three trees down to make a flying field in the back yard. We missed a limb but the Ringmaster didn't. Took the right wing off. It's repairable though. I spent the rest of the week visiting with a friend down the street and we got in some flying and '72 Volkswagon bug repairing. My son and I and my friend installed a wiring kit to upgrade it to 12 volts. A bit tricky as the kit was for US made cars but it worked. The trip back to CT was on time. I got in some flying and today I went to a grass field instead of the dog track parking lot. It's a good thing as I bottomed out in the square eight. Took the fin off but no other damage. I flew it again and it seemed OK. I'm planning on getting some methanol and mixing my own fuel. Some drag racing friends have some and maybe I can buy a few gallons from them. If not I can get some at the track.

Finishing up.

I got in some more flights today and packed up the lines and handle and some other stuff I might need for the contest and sent them to LA. I added a bit more tail weight to the ringmaster and it turned much better.
The trouble with c/l stunt rules is there is only two patterns. Beginner and expert. Expert is separated into groups by the number of points you score at a contest. Advancing from one class to another is optional at best. One person flies advanced locally and will fly in a lower class at the Nats. Another scored higher than the expert class at a local contest and he was in the bottom of the expert pattern classes. Beginner, intermediate,advanced and expert is class line up. I will fly my last beginner class at the round up next week. Then it's off to the expert pattern in intermediate. I have 14 planes to help me learn the maneuvers. I hope I don't need them all. I will need a grass field as crashing on asphalt is expensive. I'll have to look at the Yankee Flyers field.

New things and old stuff.

I went to Benny's today to get some more silver fishing lures. I looked at their supply of mostly salt water gear and finally found the lures I was after. It looks exactly like a Kastmaster lure but comes 3 to a pack for less than 3 dollars. The name brand is 3 dollars each. I bought 3 three packs.
Back in 2006 I built two planes and designed one for the Fox .45 and the other for a Fox .40. I had some balance problems and swapped engines and that seemed to cure the problem. One plane got taken apart and one I still have. I worked on it today and found it needed 3 ounces of lead in the nose to get it in balance. I remembered the .45 engine and weighed both it and the .40. A 3 ounce difference. I installed the bigger engine and the balance came out right. I took the .40 and put it on a Twister that is waiting for an engine to came from Fox. Fox has some kind of problem with the person that builds the engines. He's sick or something so I have to wait.
The weather yesterday was calm wind and decent temps. The planes flew as steady as they ever have. No turbulance at all. Today really sucks. Rain, wind and low 50's.

A good provider.

After getting in 3 flights at the dog track I went fishing again across from the house. I rigged up another plastic worm and had no luck with it. After getting both feet wet by tripping on a vine I put a silver lure on. The same one I used to catch fish with a few days ago. I cought 2 brown trout in 5 minutes with the lure. I went down river a bit and then back up river and hooked a nice brook trout. Probably catch and release from now on.
The new Fox .35 that was running so well has started to develop a personality. I took it apart and installed a stick in the bypass port to speed up the fuel velocity into the cylinder. This should cure the problem.

Plans change.

The site for the Ringmaster Roundup has been changed from Houston to College Station TX. Some of the entrants wanted to move the date to the fall but a poll showed in favor of keeping the Memorial day date and moving satisfied the flu worriers. I canceled the hotel in Houston and am waiting for word on the new one.
The winds have slacked off and are quite flyable if it wasn't raining. I went fishing to try and catch a second fish to make another free meal yesterday. I had rigged a plastic worm with hooks at each end and one in the middle. I almost got a fish but it dropped off. Then I hooked a submerged branch and lost the worm. I had a silver lure with me so I put it on and after a fashion landed a 12 inch brook trout. I hooked another of similar size but it spit the plug out and the recoil shot the plug into the brush near my leg. It wasn't long after that I cast too near a rock and hooked another submerged limb and lost the plug. I have 2 more of the same plug to use. I'm running out of line, though, a few feet at a time. I've lost a bunch of hooks and now lures. Now with the rain the water level will rise and ruin my chances of a next meal.
Mothers day is next week so we will go out to eat this week end to beat the price increases and crowds.