Running good.

I went to the park early to beat the forecast winds. I got in three flights with the Nomad and the fixes I made worked. The fuel burn is back to where it should be and still getting 10 laps after the pattern. Next time out I'll reduce the fuel load some. I brought the Chipmunk and tried to get in a flight but the winds had picked up and the controls are over sensitive. At home I drilled another hole in the control horn and reduced the elevator travel about 75%. I can increase it to get it flying like I want.
 I stopped at the Office Depot and got their email so I could send them the pdf files of the new Wildcat plans. This plane can be used in two events, profile and warbird. I was waiting for the designer to make a set of plans for engine power vs. electric and got them sent to Office Depot. I'll check on it this afternoon.
 I finally got around to trimming the bushes near the fence so I can get through with the push mower without getting scratched up. I filled 4 trash bags with the branches. Three bags fit into the trash can.

Another fix.

I was pondering how to reduce the area of the muffler exit gracefully. The rubber hose didn't work. I took one of the original mufflers and that has the right size exit hole and the outside barely fits into the Fox muffler exit. I cut off a short piece of the stock muffler end and with a little persuasion got it into the Fox muffler. Now it's got the right size exit hole and it won't burn up. I'll give it a try in the morning before the wind picks up.
 My next project is going to be a profile version of the Grumman Hellcat. I have to get plans made from pdf files first.

Fixed vibes.

I tried the plane with the Fox muffler attached and the engine ran well. I put the tongue muffler back on and the engine went wild again so I put the Fox back on. That changed the balance so I made the proper changes and added an extension to the muffler to redirect the exhaust away from the plane. I also put a restriction in it to reduce the opening. I used gasoline rubber hose of 5/16 i.d. I flew it this morning and was getting 30 laps after the pattern. I reduced the amount in the tank to an unheard of 3.25 ounces and still got 15 laps extra. At home I removed the head and looked things over. Nothing seemed out of the norm. I took the extension off and it looked good. I put it back on and then off again and removed the reducer. The inside end had burned and closed up some, I figure, causing the extra run time. I have the head and bolts soaking in Castrol Super Clean to remove the burned on castor oil and will reassemble it in a few hours. Test flight tomorrow. First time I flew the engine with the Fox muffler I couldn't get enough fuel in to complete the pattern. Oh well the vibration problem is solved anyway.

Bad Vibes.

At the park this morning I flew the newer Nomad. The engine was vibrating  a bit and just after lift off it went into high speed. This has happened to other planes in the past so I'm pretty sure it's because of the vibration. I checked the prop balance and it's good. I looked at the other profile planes I have and all run  well and all have a normal muffler. Thinking that the extra weight could control some of the vibration I removed the light tongue muffler and put a 2.5 ounce muffler on. The winds are above limits again so I have to wait until tomorrow morning to test my theory. I have a rubber diverter that redirects the exhaust and that ads a bit more weight and I have the stock muffler which is an ounce heavier still. The first Nomad didn't have this happen and it has the same tongue muffler. I may swap engines with that plane.
  There is a couple carnival trailers left at the park still. The grounds keepers were filling ruts yesterday.

Got it.

We went to the park this morning and the carnival people were still there. The end of the field they are on is torn up by their tires and not usable for model planes. I went to the soccer fields across from the carnival and got in some flights. As I left I dropped one of the log books I keep on each engine so I can fuel and tune it the same each flight.
  At home I drove back to the hardware store with my 5 gallon pail and got 5 gallons of methanol. $3.50 a gallon at this store. That brings my cost per gallon down to $9.50. I now have enough fixin's to make over 30 gallons of fuel. If I win some fuel at the contest raffles that will reduce the cost a lot more.
  Back at home I noticed that the log book was missing. I coupled a trip to Home Depot with going to the park to retrieve the book. That worked out as planned.

Wasted trip.

After buying methanol from the carb. shop I still needed 3 gallons to be able to use up all the castor oil I bought. I had called the hardware store and they had some. I bought 15 gallons from them several years ago and had no problems with it. I fixed up 3 one gallon plastic jugs and drove to the store. I asked for 3 gallons of methanol and was told that there was a 5 gallon minimum. RATS!! I went back home and figured out a way to use one of the 5 gallon pails I already have. I poured the methanol from the big jug into the 5 one gallon plastic jugs I had in the shed. Problem solved.
I took a chance and went to the park with a couple planes. The carnival was breaking down and packing up but the far side of the field was flyable. Very little standing water to worry about unlike the place the carnival was in. Which is now rutted with tire tracks.
 The Nomads I built use the Legacy 40 wing. Brodak Mfg. sells the kit and the already built planes. Called ARF, which stands for Almost Ready to Fly, and ARC, Almost Ready to Cover. I bought laser cut ribs for the second plane which reduced the amount of work required to build the wing. The other day I wondered if Brodak has already built wings from the ready made kits for sale. That would really speed things up. I'll call them later today. The ARC version would be perfect as it's bare wood structure.

Fuel testing.

I started to use the new fuel mix in my biggest engines and so far they are responding quite well. I used to use fuel with 10% nitro in those engines which is more costly. My mix runs longer on the same amount and produces as much power. These engines are old school and newer school and limited production engines. All from Europe, Japan and China. Doing this has made me make some changes to a plane built in China and that made it fly very well. I made the same changes to the plane that I built from a kit of the same plane. Of course the winds are too high and the carnival is still at the park but by the time the winds calm down the carnival will be gone. I looked over the park this morning and there is lots of usable space to fly away from the carnival stuff. Maybe if I can get out early enough before the winds pick up I can test the last of my .60 size engines.