First flight.

I put one ounce of fuel in the tank which would give me about 2 minutes of flight time. The plane flew perfectly without any tweaks to anything. The second flight will be a full pattern flight, it's that good. I'm getting better at "bench trimming" that's what it's called when you adjust everything to where you figure it should be before flying it. The new landing gear and gear covers are visible in the picture.

Gear change.

I didn't like the look of bare wire showing on the landing gear. I also had bent the wire wrong. When I bent the 90 degree for the wheel axle I had it pointing towards the wing tip instead of towards the fuselage. I noticed that a few days ago when I went to make some spats to cover the wire. I had enough 1/8 inch music wire so I made a new set of landing gears and cut out a pair of gear covers to hide the wire. A heavy coat of Gloss Cherry paint and some glue and the wires are covered.There's a good chance I'll bring it to Doyle's Bayou Park tomorrow and try to get in a first flight with it.

Ready to fly.

The new Nomad is done and waiting for the first flight. Tomorrow, Friday, or Saturday at the Bi-Liners field. The thing about doing it tomorrow is no one will see it. And if it doesn't go well the plane never existed. That's a big benny there.

A gathering of mowers.

Today is trash pickup day. Most everyone in the neighborhood put their trash out yesterday afternoon just to be safe, I guess. My wife noticed that one of the neighbors put a push mower next to the trash can. So she went and asked if we could have it knowing that I like to tinker with them. The owner said he couldn't get it started so out it goes. It's a Bohlens brand by MTD with a Briggs overhead valve engine and sold through Lowes. I started tinkering with it this morning and could barely get a pop out of the thing. I removed the tank and carb. cleaned them out and put things back together. The oil was way over full so I drained that and put fresh oil in. The old oil was a tan color which indicates it was in the flood. I checked for and found spark at the spark plug and removed the flywheel to check the condition of the key. I wasn't damaged so I put that back together. I squirted fuel into the carb. and after several pulls there would be a pop or two. I kept doing that until the primer would do the same thing. After several more primes it started up but stopped. After several starts and stops it kept running for about a minute and stopped again. It restarted and ran for several minutes. then it started and kept running. Probably water in the carb. bowl got flushed out. I removed the blade and sharpened it and re installed it. The thing I like about it is that it has easily adjustable wheel height. Now it's in the shed ready for use, I hope.
  While waiting for the red paint to dry I read the directions on the can and found that this paint only needs two days until re coating. I installed the control surfaces and the glue is drying now. I sprayed a test panel before painting the plane so I'll hit it with some clear I have to see what happens. I've been using a new formula Rustoleum spray paint and this stuff is the old slow drying enamel paint. While the other paint would dry and be swept up like dust after painting the old original paint made a big mess of the floor. I poured some lacquer thinner on the floor and tried to wipe it up with so so results. It's still a swirly looking mess.

Local business.

My lawn tractor stopped running after mowing last week. I checked things and figured that the fuel pump wasn't doing it's job. I looked one up on the Kohler web site and then found a local Kohler shop. Instead of ordering it through the web site I went to the local business and ordered one. I came in and when I got home the in and out connectors were not there. I couldn't use the ones off the old pump as they are different styles. I called the shop and they called the warehouse and ordered another one. It came today and with all the parts. I installed it and got the engine running again.
  I settled on a paint scheme for the new Nomad. Yellow wings and tail with red fuselage and trim.  Final weight should be close to 50 ounces. It's drying now. One flap and the elevator halves have been removed. I can't apply any more paint for 5 days.

Coming along.

I finished building the wing and fitting the flaps. Now I'm in the process of sanding, filling and more sanding.It's the worse of both worlds. It takes too long but I just look at the Smoothy that I started building and find the courage to keep going. I don't know what the designer was thinking or maybe the kit manufacturer changed the way it's built but I don't like it.
  I'm trying some of the planes on longer lines and they are responding quite well. I made a set of 65 footers today to complement the set I made last fall.

First fit up.

The new Nomad is coming along nicely. I made the landing gear and flap pushrod this morning. I need to sheet the center section, add cap strips to the ribs and build the wing tips.
  The winds were within limits so I brought the ARF Oriental to the field. I made some changes to the handle but the corners are still too soft. I'm going to try and remove some nose weight and see what happens. It was designed in the late 60's I think or earlier.