Slow times.

I was nominated for club president last month. As has been the case in the last 30 some years no one elsa will step forward I should be elected tonight. I went ahead and made a gavel for the occasion. I'm not sure but I think I was president back in the 80's. I had to get a new battery for the truck. I think the old one was original as it was a Mopar brand. I got a call on Monday that the battery was in and I went to get it. I had installed one from the El Camino that had the battery from the hot rod and didn't need a spare so I put it in the truck. That gave me the confidence to put the new one in myself rather than pay $56.00 for the dealer to install it. I lost the radio presets again. The new battery has a lot more cranking power than the others. The strange thing is that the terminals didn't have any corrosion at all. I tried to paint the up leadout white this morning on the A-36 but the spray can wouldn't spray. I poked a tiny hole in the top and let the air out while I went to Lowes and got an empty paint can to pour the paint in. While there I looked at the Poly Crylic paints in spray cans and bought a can of clear satin water based paint. I figured that I couldn't wait any longer for the graphics and that the poly crylic could be used for the clear coat. I did the wings and stab/elev. and it was milky something awful. I let it sit for a while and it cleared up. Being water based I think it should go on milky. The fuselage will be a test as I have to be careful of runs on the top rounded surfaces. I plan on doing the least possible on the bottom as the rear exhaust engine shouldn't blow too much oil on the plane. About half way out on the outboard wing and the right half of the stab/elev bottom. I questioned the guy that's making the graphics if he had enough information to do the job. No reply so far. The local cutter hasn't gotten back to me in two weeks. I went to the field this morning and checked the tires on the mower. The problem tire was holding air and that is good. The runway is just about useful with the warmer weather but the circle is still covered in snow.

It runs.

I removed the engine from the plane and mounted it on a board. Three ounces of the fuel I bought for it and after a few tries I got it running. I had a 13 x 6 prop on it and it sounded happy right around 8000 rpm. I didn't time the run but it seemed to run a while on the 3 ounces.

In one piece.

I put the plane together this morning and it weighs 60.7 ounces. I am waiting for the nose art to come through and then a final coat of flat clear. The c/g is 3/4 inch aft of where it should be but shouldn't be too much of a bother.

Problems with the blog.

I tried to insert a picture and the page has changed. Now it wants me to "select a file" I want my "browse" back.
This can't be good.

A little more progress.

Last week we went to Hog Heaven to get some trim sheets for the A-36. They didn't have the right color so I had them ordered. On Sat. I called and they were in so I headed for the shop. I got one sheet of cub yellow and looked for some flat clear but there was none except some  Top Flite Lustre Kote flat clear. I thought about it but didn't know if it was compatible with the olive drab and light blue so I left. I sat in the car for a minute and deceided to get a can anyway and test it as the can was cheaper than getting a half pint from Sig. When I got home I sprayed the cowl with the clear as the cowl has both colors on it. Nothing happened. As soon as I get the nose art I'll spray the clear and be done with it.
  I applied the yellow wing stripes this morning. I looked up the reason for the stripes and the only thing I could find is"all group planes" had the stripe. Three or four colors were used.

Musical batteries.

About a month ago I removed the hot rod battery and installed it into the El Camino to keep it charged through the winter. Then I deceided to keep the hot rod in the garage instead of behind it. Which meant the truck would be outside in the cold. With it near the milk room it has started but with a slow wind up on the battery. I moved it next to the garage and this morning was too much for it's battery. I took the spare battery that came from the El Camino and jumped the truck to get it running. I did some errands and then swapped the truck battery for the El Camino battery.  I called the nearest Dodge dealer, in Putnam, and got a price but none in stock. I'll have to get it changed soon. $122.00 + $56.00 + tax. I've had excellent luck with OEM batteries in the past.

  I put the decals on the plane in the meantime. They are waterslide and went on with difficulty. I had to use the large one that should have gone on the wing bottom as the top one wouldn't glue down.  The smaller ones on the fuselage sides went on much better. I looked up Major Decals for pressure sensitive decals and they don't take credit cards and I couldn't down load their order sheet without getting the whole catalog. I gave up on it for now. I got the tailwheel on and the white bars on the rudder. I think the white is the trim tab. Other units A-36's have the same white bars. I have to find some flat clear for the final coat of paint.

It's painted.

 After seeing how far 4 ounces of dope will go and having 4 ounces for the rest of the plane I ordered 4 more ounces and another pint of thinner from Brodak. Yesterday I started to paint the olive drab and started with the original spray gun from over 20 years ago. It didn't work. I quickly changed to the detail gun I didn't want to use and got the job done. It didn't work well as the paint wasn't thinned enough but the paint flowed out very well and looks good with just one coat. After cleaning up I poured the leftover paint back into the cans and I ended up with a bit more than I started with. I'm guessing 4 ounces of paint on the plane and 4.5 ounces of thinner gave me the extra usable paint left over. Now to apply the stars and bars and I'm waiting for the trim coat sheet and vinyl letters.