Still winter.

Well I finally did it. We went to the Oneco town hall to fly and as we were leaving I figured I would see about mowing a spot instead of waiting for the town to mow the field. The first selectman wasn't in so I left a message. He called back a few hours later and gave me permission to mow the circle. 150 feet diameter. Probably take an hour or so between the rain showers. I have flown there since the school was first built in the 50's. The town bought the field later and I started flying in the field several years ago off and on. The farmer still hasn't mowed the r/c field and the grass is getting too high in the ball field in Moosup. I'd like to take the rider but I need a bank to unload it and I don't think there is one usable nearby. Oh well, it's flat ground.
I checked the timing on the El Camino and decided it's time to get a new timing light. My old one is close to 40 years old and the flash isn't that bright. I have to use it in the dark.

Winter is back.

After 3 days with temps. in the 90's the temps have dropped into the 50's with thunderstorms, wind and rain. Whoopie.
I did manage to get in 5 days of flying before the bad weather hit. I made sheet aluminum landing gear for the Twister but haven't been able to try it out. A couple more flights with the Pathfinder and I'll put the engine back in the Lightning. I made a hole in the firewall and the hatch cover and removed some wood from the hatch cover so heat can escape. I'll cut into the fuselage sides if this don't work. Only one contest in New England this season.
We got the email instruction manual for the a/c test rig to print. I moved it from email into my saved emails and then it would print normally. Except the printer acted up and needed tweaking. I can't figure why it came with the brief instruction sheet and not the full data that I needed. China's attempt at garage humor I guess.
I may have to mow a circle at the Oneco town hall field and/or the Sterling school field. I'm sure mowing won't be high on the list of things for the town crews to do with budgets tight and all. I probably should get permission.

It is summer again.

I loaded the El Camino with the Pathfinder and went for coffee. The engine ran better with the distributor vacuum line on the other port. I got in two flights and headed home. The engine that was giving me trouble is running very well on the profile. I removed some of the shroud on the other plane so it should run good there too. The stump is still cooking. I cut more of the top off and have a plan to burn the outer ring of wood that is so hard to cut with the chain saw. It burned about a foot into the ground.

A good day finally.

We went to the Harbor Freight store in Warwick, RI yesterday. They had an air conditioner hose set with gauges on sale. I haven't charged the A/C in the El Camino and needed a set of hoses as Richard won't have his once the garage is sold.
The winds are light today and I went to the Oneco school/town hall to fly the Pathfinder with the problem engine. The field had been mowed and the engine ran very well. So I figure the trouble had to be from overheating in the other plane.
I've been burning the oldest stumps. Both are cored out by the fire and one is still smoking. I trimmed the outer ring with the chain saw. I have one bag of briquets left and will start on the tamarack stumps with it. the outer wood is very hard.
I did some trouble shooting on the El Camino engine today. I checked the timing and it was about 14 degrees BTC with the advance inop. I felt the rod that pulls the timing ahead while I worked the carb and found a lag in response and no movement when the carb is opened slowly. I moved the hose to another port and things worked like they should. The directions point to the first port as the distributor advance port but it don't work right. I'll test it in the morning.
Horseshoes at home are going great. But not as good against an opponent. I'm pitching to get muscle memory for the league.

A nice day.

I may have fixed the problem we are having getting on the blogs. Probably not, we'll see.
We went to the school this morning and I got in some flights with the Little Lightning. There may be an overheat condition because of the cowl I made. It fits close th the head of the engine and could be trapping heat. I removed the engine and installed it on the profile Pathfinder. I hope to test it in the morning. Other than that the temp. was 42 this morning and barely got above 70 this afternoon. Light winds though.

Play ball.

With the hay at record heights I plan on flying in the ball field at the Little League park here in Moosup. It's a pain to get into with the fences and all but it's close by. The town of Sterling is remiss in mowing any of their fields. The school isn't too bad but getting there and the field in Oneco isn't flyable. The ball field should be mowed as it's the season now.

We are heading into RI for gas and breakfast in a bit. Probably eat at Earl Hopkins place, Shady Acres.

Summer is here.

The hay at the flying field is 3 feet high and rising. I got in a flight this morning and called it quits. I've been trying different things to get the engine running properly and finally installed an unmodified head and the metal tank I made. The engine ran like it should. The El Camino is running much better since the rear float bowl stopped leaking. I had to lower the float more to get the fuel level below the sight hole. When that happened the engine ran rough in gear as the idle mixture was way too lean. It's much better now.

The small mower engine that Roy threw away many years ago has finally shit the bed. Every year the first time it was started it took less than 4 pulls to get it running. This year I've had to prime fuel into the cylinder to get it going. Priming the carb. wasn't enough. Yesterday it wouldn't start no matter what I did. I put another mower into service and got the lawn cut. Today I removed the old engine and installed one I got from the dump several years ago. I primed the carb and 4 pulls got it going. Then I noticed I had installed the engine 180 out. Another 15 minutes to set it right. I need the spark plug pointing to the front so I can short it out when I finish mowing without getting off the rider. The fill in mower did a good job and has a bigger cut so the job is quicker. I also adjusted the wheels to get the slop out. I had to use a washer as a spacer and then cut the wheel boss to get the right clearance.

The big stump is still cooking as smoke still rises from the ashes. When that stops I'll set the real big one on fire. I got 3 bags of briquets left.