Almost worked.

After having success with moving the elevator horn up to and in fromt of the hinge line i tried it on the Primary Pupster that I retired a while ago. I put a free engine on it, an OS .40 LA. I went to the dog track this morning and got in 4 flights. The change worked well as the up had a lot more authority but so did the down. I moved the push rod to the outermost hole but it didn't calm it down enough. I tried the clover leaf and the plane as a whole wouldn't do it. So I gave up and put it back into retirement. I removed the needle valve from the engine and found some crap on it so I cleaned out the whole assembly and reassembled it. So when it comes time to use the 576 ringmaster it's on it will be ready.
I mixed the rest of the 20% nitro fuel and have a gallon and a half ready to use. I almost got into it today but stopped too soon. I need to get more castor from Brodak plus other stuff.
I'm planning on going to the body shop tomorrow and hope to remember to take a camera. The seat should be ready soon by my estimate.

Summer is here.

For 5 days now I haven't needed the quilt on my bed. Summer must really be here at last. I go flying in the morning to avoid the heat, nearing 80 degrees and 80% humidity.
The Fox .35 is still giving me trouble. I put in 3 head shims and a stock muffler to calm it down. On the ground it runs great. But when I pull the release the plane travels 30 feet and the engine goes into fast 2 cycle mode for the entire run. Not the famed thermal runaway as the engine isn't that hot at the end of the flight. I'm trying a different fuel mix. I'll try putting the original head back on as the hemi head is way too powerful and finicky.
I posted my question about nitro and oil on one of the forums and it has 2 pages of arguments so far. One respondent got a PhD friend to give an answer. I'm beginning to forget what I was looking for.

Finally figured it out.

I moved the elevator horn up past the hinge line to give me exponential on the up control and it worked. I reversed the problem and now have to be careful of the down. My wrist moves more down than up. I need to be aware of this and give more down than I had to before. I modified all my non flaped planes.
Electric powered planes have their own style of propellers. They are lighter and quieter and more efficient than the other props. I have talked with a guy who has been using them for a while with no problems. I found one and had been using it on the OS .25. The packaging says electric only. A lot of people are scared of them on fuel engines because of the electric only sign. I had no problems until I hit the asphalt.

I went to the Fair.

I had the idea that using 20% nitro fuel to make my blend of fuel would be more cost effective. I mixed a batch of 2.5% fuel using the 20% car fuel I had been given a while back. It runs as good as the mix I'm using so I figure a gallon of 20% will get me 8 or more gallons of 2.5% fuel.
An old friend of mine from the Oneco days plays in a bluegrass band. I didn't know about it until a couple years ago. I finally got the chance to see him play today. The band was at the Foster, RI fair. I spent the afternoon there and the band is pretty good. I don't know when he learned to play the flat top or where. I checked the web site, Pine Creek Bluegrass, and their next gig isn't posted yet.
I've been using an electric prop on my OS .25 with good results. It's quieter and more efficient. I broke it this morning at the bottom of the hourglass maneuver. All the experts said it would fly apart from the pulses of the engine. The experts are not that bright. Probably the same ones that predict the economy.

I'm getting there.

I forgot what formula I used in each of the jugs of fuel I had mixed. The solution was to dump them all into one jug. I did and with some old but still good glow plugs the stuff is working fine. I brought the Snow Fox out and started trimming it. It's a good flying plane. Designed by Leo Mehl as a full fuse. stunter I made it into a profile. I have an OS .40 on it and it has plenty of power. The winds are so light it's hard to find where it's coming from. Wake turbulence from the plane is a bother too. I did get 6 good glow plugs from Hobby People. I really think they are the old Hobby Lobby.
I had an interesting thing happen to my lawn tractor. I removed the carb. and gas poured out of the breather pipe that connects the air cleaner to the engine. Funny part about that is I have a shut off and it was closed and not leaking. I tried to start it and it wouldn't turn over. I removed the spark plug and the gas spurted out when I hit the starter. All tests have been negative for leaking anythings. A new carb. is close to $150.00 delivered.

Back to flying at the new school.

I brought Roy to get the bike yesterday. All went well, he's happy.
I went to the new school and gto in a couple flights the other day. I have come to the conclusion that some nitro is needed to get the engines to run smoother and cooler. The no nitro fuel requires you to lean the mix almost a full turn from where 5% nitro runs. This not only makes the engine run longer but cuts down on the amount of oil going through the engine which in turn makes it run hotter. I mixed some no nitro with 5% nitro fuel and ended up with 2.5% nitro whict runs better and a lot cooler. And this is with about 22% oil as opposed to 27% oil in the no nitro fuel. So with that in mind my next fuel order will be 4 gallons of 10% nitro fuel and I'll mix each gallon with 3 gallons of no nitro which should produce 4 gallons of 2.5% fuel. If I mix the no nitro fuel 1 gallon and 1 quart of castor oil that should give me 20% oil just like the bought fuel. And with 10% fuel I can make the blend stronger for cold weather ops. The glow plugs are less finicky with nitro too. I figure I can get 16 gallons of 2.5% nitro 20% oil fuel out of the 4 gallon case of 10% nitro fuel. And I'll have 3 gallons of no nitro fuel left over. Looks like I should stop typing and start flying.
Yesterdays weather was awful. Low 80's with very high humidity. And today is as perfect as you could want. All we had to do was wait a minute.

Flying off grass.

I went to the new school in Sterling this morning. The engines liked the fuel with less oil but not that much. They run great with the battery connected but really sag without it. The winds and turbulence is as bad as the dog track. I could feel a good breeze but the plane didn't. Real strange. Like a wind shear at 7 feet above ground. The wind changed directions many times during a flight making things worse.
I ordered some glow plugs from Hobby People in CA. Their ad looks like the old Hobby Lobby store. That should help the engines run better. I'm switching a plug that works a little bit between engines just to get in a flight.