Some progress.

After waiting all week for the Strega instruction book to come from Brodak I found it on the porch Sunday morning. I don't know how long it had been lying there. I read through it to make sure I didn't miss any important steps. I changed the bottom sheeting from a molded part to a flat sheet on top of rails. I also made formers for the front section of the top fuselage and wrapped a wet sheet of balsa on it to form the top front piece. Weight now is 51 ounces. I should be in my target range of less than 60 ounces when it's done.

A dog.

 On facebook I saw a big black dog with a pink collar. Not as strange as it's name, "Danger". Right away I thought of the "professional stunt man" on Dumbest stuff on wheels. So I called the dog "Dangerwoof Ticks the professional black dog with the pink collar". Coulda knocked me over with the weather.

What next?

 A week or so ago I took Red Molly to the new school in Sterling for a flight or two. It acted real strange when I pulled a corner. I packed up and went home. I found that the tip weights had fallen out. I put some more in and all was well.
  Yesterday I went to the field to put air into the leaky tire on the mower using my new air tank. Too late, it was flat. I didn't have the right tools to re fill it as the bead had came off. I went home and found I had the right tools in the first place but got it filled from the compressor anyway. Back to the field to replace the tire and brought a screw jack so I dould get the wheel back on. After an hour or two the temp. had risen enough to let me fly in comfort so I went back to the field.
  This morning I decieded to make a new vertical stab. for the Banshee. The original didn't look right with all the mods I did to the model. I cobbled one together just like the one on the Guru. I wanted to fly it and Red Molly so I didn't cut the old one off. The color on the unit is Rustoleum John Deere green and takes a long time to dry. I planned to change and paint it after flying. I also wanted to test the metal tank on the Banshee using pressure and try a plastic one if that didn't work out. At the field I followed a car to the circle. The driver went across the circle and parked facing the center with the nose of the car inside the circle. He moved when I asked him to, he was letting his dog run around. I set up the Banshee and as I pulled the plane back to the stooge the rudder broke off. Less work for me later. The fin was still attached so I kept going. Once in the air it flew as well as ever. Except the engine ran out of fuel in the overhead eights again. I changed tanks and the plastic one, on pressure, blew the vent plug off and most of the fuel blew onto the wings. Red Molly is next. When I pulled a corner the wings flopped around. Tip weights again. I floundered through the pattern and upon inspection found the weights gone again. I didn';t have any others so I went home. I installed new weights and tightened the 4-40 bolt but it didn't tighten. I removed the weights and saw the blind nut was stripped out. Probably from being a metric unit. I got the glue and glued the weights in place. Then it was the Banshee's turn. I cut the fin off and sanded the fuse. top so the new one would have a good glue joint. Some super glue, epoxy and micro balloons later I masked off the area and sprayed the green paint on. I re installed the metal tank and will put 4 ounces in for the next outing. The rain had started before I finished the repairs so I'll have to wait to test the changes.
  I ordered an instruction book from Brodak for the Strega on Monday and figured it would be in today. Wrong again. The kit must have been donated for the raffle without the instructions. I want to double check my progress before assembling the plane.
 And the portable air tank I bought has metric pipe threads. I'll have to use hose barbs and couplers to change it over for the paint spray gun.

Yea for Poly Span.

   The play span finally arrived last Sat. in the mail. All 38" x 20' was neatly folded into a bubble wrap envelope. Not what I was planning on. I got it unfolded enough so I could wrap it onto a broom stick. It's a lot easier to handle when it's in a roll. I got the wing covered by Monday and started to seal the random weave with poli-crylic this morning. So far so good. I covered the flaps and they are drying.
  The new handles are working well on all the planes so far. 576 Ringmaster, Banshee, Twister, Red Molly and Honey Bee all are easier to fly with the newer handle. I did some research and found that the same design is used by most of the big boys. I did borrow the metal hard point design from a handle Brodak sells for $38.00. Mine didn't cost anything except a little band sawing, hack sawing, routing and drilling. I keep the same line spacing at the handle but with less overhang. It's working.
  I found a small can of gold glaze paint that was left from the previous owners. I mixed it up and made some test swatches with it. I sprayed clear over two of the test pieces and the brilliance of the gold faded severely. I need to put a swatch on one of the planes to see if it reacts with the fuel residue without being protected.
  I also ordered a 5 gallon portable air tank from Amazon this morning for $32.99 free shipping too. I will hook up the small spray gun and use the tank for the air source. The gun only needs 5 or less psi so a full tank should last a lnog time. This will save me from having to move the compressor into the basement. I can take the tank to the field and fill the tires on the riding mower. One tire goes flat about every 6 weeks.

On the way.

  After finding the colors needed for the plane down south I found some boxes and put the decals in one and the colors in another. I plan to mail them out when the P.O. opens this afternoon.

Getting things in order.

I had J&J signs cut some vinyl graphics for me today. Namely the LSU and Saints logo's. They came out very well. I also had names cut for the  Guru and Honey Bee. I found paints for the plane too.

Handle testing.

I brought a couple handles to the field this morning. The first was a wooden one made by someone in LA and I won it in the raffle. I had thin gloves on and the grip portion wasn't wide enough. I put on a wooden copy of the EZ-Just and used that for the rest of the flights. I can catch deviations  a lot sooner with the short overhang of the old design handle. The wind doesn't bother the plane half as much as with my handles and a lot of overhang. I shortened the overhang on the wood EZ-Just and widened the grip area on the other. Next time out I'll give them a workout. The plane feels different with the shorter handles too. I can get better bottoms and have more precise control. Too fast flights don't pose much of a problem either.