Winter project No. 1.

I have the new plane assembled enough to get a weight and balance. 53 ounces with a wood prop and tongue muffler as it's nose heavy. I figure that 2 ounces of lead in the tail will correct the situation. That leaves me 5 ounces for the finish. I've got the school class going well. The first half has the plane almost built. Enough so that they don't need the table and the second half can start on theirs. Between the two they should be able to wallow through it until I get back. They are running out of glue and still need covering, wheels radio's and motors. At least the planes will be built into a flyable condition when the other stuff gets bought.

Whipping them into shape.

Another club member and I are involved with a high school class that's building 22 small r/c planes. In the first week they have the fuselage just about built. I am able to be there every day and that is keeping problems to a minimum. I want to have the fuselage finished and at least half the wing built by next Friday. The students are paired because there isn't enough table space for all to be building. The wing shouldn't be too much of a problem and after that the other student can start their plane. I told them to be real careful to build a right and a left side, so far I'm the only one to build two right side fuselage sides. I traded it with another pair that hadn't gotten as far so it all worked out. No one but me has stuck their fingers to the plane either. I told them not to blow into the pippette to see if it's blocked and you guessed it. I chewed at the glue on my lip for a while. To start we gave a flight demo on the running track/football field one morning. It was calm winds and fog. I got in several flights as the r/c portion waited for the fog to lift a bit. Several other students walked by and some towns people too. I didn't know it but I cracked the stab on two planes. I didn't touch the ground or land hard so the corners must have done it. I repaired both and they are flying well again. I have found that using long lines, 64 feet, on .46 powered planes causes control problems. a few months ago i tried shorter lines and noticed a big difference in how the plane flew. I tried others with shorter lines, down to 61 or 62 feet, and they flew better. Now 62.5 foot lines are the longest I'm using. I had retired one plane because I couldn't get it trimmed right. Yesterday I removed an engine from one of the planes with the cracked stab. and put it on the retired plane. Today at Wrentham, MA I flew the plane and there was a noticeable improvement in the way it performed. I took the engine off the other plane because it wouldn't run right. I put it on the retired profile plane and that ran perfectly. I'm thinking it's overheating in the other plane. I took the Strega to Wrentham and got in two flights with it. Both flights had not so good engine runs. When I got home I ran it and tweaked the needle until it sounded right and put the tach. on it. 7400 rpm seems to be the magic number. I'll have to fly it soon to be sure. The club has a float fly tomorrow, Sunday. I'll probably pay a visit. The winter build has progressed to the point of installing the wing into the fuselage. I molded a turtle deck for it and it is looking like the drawing I made. I'm lucky to have bought the wing cores. I'm going to run the elevator push rod out the side of the fuselage for ease of adjustability. My Guru design has that feature and it works very well. I don't have to build in a hatch to get at the clevis. Of course I haven't had to touch the clevis on the Guru since it's out in the open. The McDonalds drinking straw sticking out of the wing will be to allow me to remove the push rod, cut the straw to length and tuck it into the wing which will allow me to slide the wing into the fuselage with out cutting the bottom off thereby making a weak spot. After getting the wing into position I can slide the push rod through the straw and find the heim joint on the bell crank. I've used that trick several times in the past. It's always worked. I re-located the upright on the flap horn to the right so the push rod will have a better angle out the rear side. The flaps and elevators have brass tubes for the horns to slide into.

Proof positive.

I ended up leaving my glow battery and chicken stick. I contacted one of the NEST members and he has them. I'll get them at the October fun fly. I've been flying the big ringmaster and it's flying well. I plan to bring it to LA along with the P-39 for the military stunt class. I started on the winter projects. I built a foam and balsa stab/elev for the new design plane. I plan to call it "Polynesian". .60 size, foam wing and stab.

Yesterday I couldn't spell 'expert" now I are one.

During the few years that I've been competing in control line stunt there has been one thing that stood out. Today at the contest there was two entrants in old time stunt one being me. I launched for the other guy who flew first. After his flight I retrieved his plane and carried it by the prop as the plane was really oily. A gust of wind caught the wing turning the plane and causing contact between my fingers and the hot muffler. I fumbled the plane breaking the tail off.

I got gas, well almost.

We got a phone call before 0800 today. It was the plumber and he would be here shortly. He was and they connected the furnace to the gas service. The building inspector came about 2:30 and liked what he saw. The plumber made the last connection and I tried to talk to the gas company to have them return and install the meter and turn the gas on. On hold, elevator muzak. I left a message at the tone and then used the email and said the same thing. I taught the plumber something while he was here. He was working on the piping and wondered why the threads and sizes were non standard for the meter. I said it would prevent someone from removing the meter and installing a jumper. Kids. 12 years he's been at it. My balsa order came in today while I was mowing the lawn. I just now remembered why I ordered 3/16 sheets. It's for the hinges. I sand the slots in two pieces and glue them together to form the trailing edges and leading edges of the elevator and flaps. Shoulda asked the plumber.

Good score on the second flight lands me in 4th.

At the contest today I didn't score well on the first flight. I was 8th out of 9. But others did have good scores and the best of the two scores is the one that counts. I put up a barn burner for the second flight and was second highest for the round. A 529. I'm not sure where I ended up but it wasn't last. The winds were calm for both days. I hit my wake a few times making the plane bobble. I brought 3 planes and 9 engines to sell on Sat. The planes and 4 engines sold. On Sun. one of the planes had one of the engines mounted and was flying in beginner. He finished second. It flew better than when I had it. $25 for the plane and $10 for the engine.

A nice gift.

On Sunday morning I met my new flying buddy at McDonalds and led him to the field. He had a new plane and needed to tweak the electric motor a bit. He flew it well and plans to be at the contest A Lee, MA next week. I went to the field on Monday and the farmer had run the tedder over the mown grass. Bunches of grass were thrown onto the circle but it wasn't a problem. Today I went to the field and the circle looked different. I took a close look at the ground and it had been rolled. The grass was flattened in the direction of flight. I looked at the r/c field and didn't see the same flattened grass. I was able to get good takeoffs without being bounced into the air. Real nice. When I left I noticed a trail left by the roller and followed it down around the town garage buildings where it faded out. I didn't see a roller on the property and didn't want to ask the workers about it as that may get somebody in trouble. The club meeting is Thursday and I'll ask then.