El Dorado, Ar.

The weather was warm but the winds were light and right into the sun. My latest Nomad picked up a second place finish it's first time out. I got another second with the Gypsy and a third with the P-39. I got some good items in the raffle. Two kits, a quart of fuel and several small items. I managed to get several sets of plans for an old plane out of the 50's called Chief. I plan to sell one of the kits and scratch build the Chief.
  The best part was the nice comments I got about the Nomad, how it looks and how it flys. That made me happy.

Something old I just remembered.

I got to the field early yesterday and the helper was mowing. I got in a flight with the Nomad 5 as he was coming closer every pass. The air was as smooth as I have ever seen it and the plane performed perfectly. I went home and let the field get mowed. I returned this morning with the P-39 and Gypsy to get the final trim set for them. At home I started cleaning the lines I'll be using at the contest, the same ones I use now. After cleaning I remembered something we did to the granite surface plates at UNC when I worked there. We did a lot of measuring on those plates with gauges that slid across the stone surface. If the surface wasn't perfectly clean the gauge would catch and mess things up. After we cleaned the plate with "surface plate cleaner" we would take a piece of plastic sheet and rub the surface plate with it to polish and somehow dry lubricate it. There was something about the plastic sheet that really made the stone surface slick. Anyway the reason for cleaning the lines is to have them slide over each other as they twist in the maneuvers. A maximum of 4 twists during the inverted flight portion of the pattern. I end the flight with 3 twists for the last 6 maneuvers. So I thought of using a piece of clean plastic to rub the lines with before flying. If it works on the first flight I'll rub all the lines but not until it lessens the friction of the twisted lines.

What a day this was.

I had trouble with the yearly auto inspection on the truck. The backup lights are out and I couldn't find the switch that controls things. I wasn't able to get it inspected and there was a problem with the windshield. Today after flying I went to an inspection station near the park. I figured they did repairs and asked if it was possible to have them fix the lights and do the inspection. He said he could work with me on the lights and proceeded with the inspection. They don't do repairs as I found out later. But they do sell vegetables in season. As I was looking for information and not expecting to get the inspection I didn't have enough money to pay for the procedure. I zipped home and got the money, zipped back and settled the bill. I figured that while I was in the mood I would bring the El Camino. It was running on all 8 and there was 2 car ahead of me when I arrived. I shut it off and waited for my turn. When that came the tester took the keys and the battery was dying fast. He had to get a jumper box and it started right up and he completed the inspection and without shutting the car off I got home and put it away. The date on the battery is from 2002. I got my moneys worth.
 Then we figured we would go shooting as the Ruger .22 was back from repair and needed testing. The gun was jamming just like before. We went to the desk and the head person took it and did some magic to it and we went back to the range with the store's ammo. It still jammed. Another employee tried it and it jammed. Then the boss came and tried it. It didn't jam as much for him but it did jam. We are getting a refund and will buy a better (hopefully) gun. It's all packed into it's original box with all the things that came with it. We must have put 200 rounds through it during the testing. That episode took over 2 hours. We got home in time to eat early as the wife had a date to go to church with a friend. Well, that fell through when the friend didn't show up on time and said she was at a doctors or something.  I still have to make an appointment to get the backup light switch changed.

And the winner is....

I have decided on using the Nomad 5 for the profile and regular stunt events. The Gypsy for classic and the P-39 for war bird. That will get me more flying time for the Nomad, 4 flights to get it right instead of two.
  I've been taking the Nomad to the park every day plus rotating the other two. Yesterday after flying the Nomad I got the Gypsy and found the leadout slider had broken loose. I had to fix it before flying so I went home. I hope to try it today.
  I've been thinking about stripping the Gypsy and re finishing it as the old finish is in bad shape. I used Dupli-Color white and I've found that it crazes after a year or so. The covering on the wing and tail is pretty bad also. 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53lloi0LXtk

I gave my old Harley FX to my son several years ago. He has been thinking about restoring it for several years also and lately he got into it. He has a bunch of You Tube video's on the things he has done to the bike. Today he took it out for a short ride for the first time.

Selections begin.

  I went to a Dodge dealer this morning to get a recall taken care of. It was the second recall on the same air bag. The local dealer put me on a 75 day waiting list and the other place would have taken me last Friday but I waited until Monday.
  The wind was blowing by the time I got back but we went to the park anyway. I brought two planes to fly and decide which was the better to take to El Dorado. The Bearcat is better looking than the older P-39. But it is less stable in inverted flight. The P-39 is a profile and is easier to adjust and handle. The P-39 flew a bit better than the Bearcat so the P-39 wins the first of the fly offs. Tomorrow I'm comparing the Mo'Best and the Nomad 5 for the profile event. I may compare the winner with the Nomad 1 that has never failed to get a podium finish. After that it's the Legacy 40 and the Hound Dog for precision aerobatics on Sunday.

New boots.

Flying after a rain can be a problem. I have shoe rubbers but the water in the ditch can be deeper than the rubbers are tall. I looked at Amazon and found a pair of boots for $25.00. I flew with them on today just to see what they are like. The dew on the grass wasn't a problem.
  I've been slowly moving the leadouts forward on  the planes and they are flying better. Up until this afternoon the planes have been very slightly nose down when hung from the leadouts using a level on the nose. Today I figured that since I put almost 4 ounces of fuel in the tank maybe I don't need the nose to hang low at all with an empty tank. I hung the Mo'Best and put a 2 ounce fishing sinker on the nose in the tank area and set the leadouts to where the plane is very slightly nose low. So when the fuel load is in it will hang nose low for half the flight and the engine offset will help keep it out on the lines. That's the plan anyway. I plan to test it in the morning.
  I flew the Legacy 40 I built several years ago today. It's flying very well. This is the first time since I added 1/2 inch to the elevator. It was a good move as the plane is stable in level flight and has a real good corner. I may take it to El Dorado.

Bearcat to Blue Angles.

Several years ago I won a Bearcat kit in a raffle at the Baton Rouge contest. Building it challenged my skills but it came out pretty good. I added decals to make it look like a run of the mill Navy Bearcat. Recently the guy that I get my graphics from made Blue Angles graphics for the B
earcat that I built. After some thinking I asked how to get the decals off without pulling the paint off with them? I got some good advise and removed the decals with very little damage. I did some research and saw where the new graphics should go and got them applied. What I didn't realize is that the top of the wing is mostly bare as it can't be seen while the plane is flying or sitting on the ground. So naturally the graphics are on the bottom of the wing where it can't be seen on a model airplane. It seems to me the Navy should have left the star and bar on the top of the wing.
 This is one of the planes that I put one of the new engines in. I haven't flown it yet with it's new engine and colors but I have flown it in the past. I may take to the El Dorado contest next month. I was told that the number 52 represents the years the Blue angles had been in existence when the real plane was restored. The number 2 on the fin represents me trying to hide a bit of damage from removing the old graphics. I needed a wide number.