Decent weather for a change.

We went by the r/c field to see if the hay had been mowed and it hasn't.
I've been to the Oneco site during last week and got in some flying. I have to enlarge it about 6 feet so I can have room to set up and not have the handle in the center circle. I made a pair of ramps to get the mower on and off the truck and it will fit through the gate that is the only open entrance to the field.
The 576 Ringmaster has been giving me trouble with level flight. When the engine quits it noses over towards the ground on top of things. When I got home I checked the thrust line and found a bit of up thrust in the engine. I adjusted that into a bit of down thrust. And I figured the nose over could be a nose heavy condition too. I got the plans and transferred the c/g to the model and put it on the balancer. I come up with a rather severe tail heavy condition. I installed a 2 ounce hub to the engine and got the c/g within a 1/4 inch still to the tail heavy side but a lot better than it was. I put some grease on the leadouts as they were scraping on the guides. I may have to move the leadout guide closer to the wing tip. The engine has been running well and changing from a 4 stroke to a 2 stroke in maneuvers. The change is very abrupt and powerful. Like a .60 on a short pipe. I put one of the modified heads back on to quiet that down a bit and it worked pretty good. I'll give it a try tomorrow.
I found 2 more dead squirrels while mowing the lawn. The foxes are not going hungry.

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.