Maiden voyage.

After a trip to the hobby shop I noticed that the wind was within limits for a test flight. We loaded the plane and drove to the field. I warmed the engine with hot water and put 3 ounces of 10/22 Omega fuel in the tank. It started right up and ran steady. 7700rpm at launch. I didn't time the laps but I can by watching the video.   I thought the wing was high both ways but the video don't show it. I added an ounce of tip weight,  none for the test flight.

Dabbling in the dark side.

The teacher at the high school gave me one of the left over kits from last year. A micro telemaster.  I've been ignoring it until today. I built the fuselage in an hour. The wing in a couple hours. I used strips for the spars and then found the proper spar in one of the laser cut sheets. It will fly anyway. The kit uses magnets to hold the hatch on, I can see that, but it also uses magnets to hold the wing on. The leading edge has a plywood hook that engages a slot and two magnets at the trailing edge holds the wing in place. I was wondering why there wasn't any dowels for the rubber bands to stick through the fuselage.. I used the wood that was supposed to be used on the stabilizer so I have to cut some.
  I have a test going for min wax poly urethane clear. If it turns out to be fuel proof I'll use it on the planes. It does amberize a bit but my planes don't last that long anyway.
 Maybe I'll be able to get in the test flight tomorrow, 12-24-13.

Ready to fly.

I waited a full week and applied the clear yesterday. I noticed the nozzle was spitting but not before it dripped in the fuselage. Then it attacked the yellow. Then I uttered a bad word or two, changed nozzles and finished the painting.  After the paint dried it doesn't look too bad so I'll go with it. I installed all the equipment and plumbed the tank to engine. Final weight is 59.6 ounces and the clear helped move the c/g back another 3/8" so everything has worked as planned/hoped.
  The temp. is 60 degrees and wet, the snow is gone but not raining with a bit too much wind for a test flight.
  I got the Eagle 63 ready for New Years first flight. The Bearcat is coming along and I probably will get some light fiberglass to cover the fuselage. I had to make a tongue muffler for it and the engine in the Polynesian as the bought ones are too short and I didn't want to buy one for the Super Tigre .60. Du-Bro has blank stock 6 inches long for this purpose.
  The winds looked like it was time to go flying. I loaded up the new plane and headed for the field but as we turned into Wauregan the trees were swaying a lot so we turned around and went home. Tomorrow looks better.
 I was tidying up the basement and came across the Monokote SmartCut trimming tool. I had tried to figure it out before but couldn't. I tried to find it on ebay and there it was. Then I did a search and found it again. Tower has it listed so after some button pushing I found the directions and printed them out. It may come in handy.

The new plane.

After having old number 7 removed from my upper jaw this morning I got the ambition to install the flaps and elevators for the last time. I have to wait until next week some time to spray the clear coat and install the engine. I'm hoping the nose heavyness is lessened by the paint and coverings.

It did it again.

There was about an inch of snow on the ground at 8pm last night. Not enough to push off. As forecast it snowed harder later in the night. Then it rained hard. When I got up there was about two inches of snow on the ground and most of it was rain water. I couldn't push it very far so I fired up the track snow blower. It managed to clear off the slush and only plugged up twice near the end. I found the salt and spread some on the drive and several hours later I went out and scraped off the remnants of the slush leaving a clean driveway. It's supposed to get colder again for a few days.
 I spent most of the day adding trim to the Polynesian and making a tongue muffler for the Super Tigre .60 that will be powering it. Then I got the ambition to weigh the parts to see what the weight will be. I came up with 47 ounces without any balance weights. A super light for a plane it's size. Never mind, I found an adding mistake. I used a calculator and came up with 57 ounces.
  I also found out that using the same can of spray paint of the same color you need to follow the directions for a second coat. I sprayed it yesterday and tried to fix a mess today and the paint wrinkled. I read the directions and it says to apply all coats within a few hours. Additional coats have to be applied after 7 days. Some time next week I'll hit it with the clear and do the final assembly. I aim to have the school make some graphics for it.

Building season in spades.

The forecast is for up to 6 inches of snow tonight. The temp has been steady all day at 17 degrees F. Very light snow has been falling steady since 0800 with just a dusting showing so far at 1430. It's supposed to snow hard over night which is the worst for me. I don't have the chance to push the snow off the drive before it gets too deep to push. The snow blowers won't throw it far enough to clear the big square in front of the garage. It happens almost every time it snows.
 The school class is coming along well and a few have finished building and will be adding the landing gear very soon. A late arrival came in Friday and got started on one of the spare kits. Maybe I can get him going and have the plane framed up by Fri. I haven't heard from the dist. one vice president about doing an article. I don't think he is interested as well as the education column guy at headquarters. They always want young people to get into the hobby but you can't prove it by me.
 I finally painted the Polynesian. Not the best paint job but it will fly. The bottom is curing now and I will take the masking tape off tomorrow. Then a clear coat or two and final assembly. The Bearcat is progressing. I don't like formers and sticks construction but I'm working through it. The wing is tack glued in and the sheeting for the bottom is soaking. Another easy paint scheme, all dark blue. After that I have the plans for the Legacy 40. I'll need to order some balsa to built that one.

So far so good.

The electrician came yesterday and fixed up half the basement. Four new Four way outlets with conduit to the ceiling as per the rules for basements. He couldn't make it today but I had to install the new water pump in the El Camino. That went well and it's dry. The old pump was rattling for some time and finally let the water out.
 The school class is going well but the covering has them working hard. There was little problems with the wings. If they would follow directions it would be easier. A first grade teacher at another school asked the teacher if they did robotics and wants to animate a gingerbread house. I think a string of LED's would be better.