Another plane gets the saw.

I did some measuring on the other Nomads and found the nose to wing measurement to be inconsistent. Good old number 2 has been the test bed for other changes so I figured why not? I planned on using the rear engine mounting bolts only in the front engine holes. That produced a 3/4 inch set back. After a short trip to the band saw and some hole saw and chisel work I got the engine installed. The new rear mounting holes were very close to some holes already in the plane. I plugged those holes and drilled new ones for the screws. I needed 3 degree offset wedges to rid the plane of left engine thrust. I was able to use the same spinner on this one. I sprayed some paint on the newly blended nose and got it all together. I should be able to test fly it in the morning. Two months ago we saw a turtle laying eggs in our lawn at the edge of the street.The ground had hardened quite a bit and I figured I would dig the eggs out and let them hatch in softer ground. I had a lot of trouble digging them out and found that they had already hatched. I rescued 10 newborns and the neighbor released them into the woods behind his house.

Temp. change made permanent.

The engine on Nomad 4 is an ASP .52 r/c engine converted to control line use. At $75.00 new I couldn't turn it down. It's flying a lot better with the engine set back that I took the spacer and engine off and band sawed the nose off. I removed the engine offset wedges and re installed it so I could figure out what spinner would be the best to use. I had the nose blended into a 2 inch diameter spinner but with the changes a 2 and 1/4 inch spinner is the best choice. A little carving with a razor plane and sanding and paint and the plane is ready to fly again. The Georgia contest is a couple weeks away and it's time to fly the planes I plan to compete with so I know they are ready. The grass at the park is growing and the rain isn't helping any. The staff was out mowing this morning but hadn't got to my spot so I got in two flights with Nomad 5 and headed home. Tomorrow the staff should be done with the mowing. After that I need to mow my grass. I was down to using the last gallon of my home brew fuel. That gallon was down to 2 quarts so I mixed another 5 gallons that I will start using tomorrow. The timing is perfect as I need to tune the engines for the new mix as I went from 22% oil to about 20% oil. The same nitro %. I need to know if the engines need more or less fuel for the pattern but less than 8 total minutes for the flight. If I have an over run I loose up to 65 points. That's 40 points for a perfect landing and 25 points for "pattern points". You get pattern points for doing the maneuvers in the right sequence and the right number of repetitions of each maneuver. e.g. 3 loops not 2 or 4. That goes for all the maneuvers.

Another change.

I built Nomad 4 using measurements from another plane. The nose moment was 10 inches from the prop washer to the wing leading edge. My other Nomads are less than that and have a better corner. But what to do about it. I thought about cutting an inch off the nose and relocating the engine but that could be a poor decision. I had two prop shaft extensions 3/4 inch long. I had let one go with the Gypsy as it needed it and I still had one left. I planned on just moving the engine back 3/4 inch and using the extension the prop would be in the same location without cutting anything. I did have to remove a barrier between the engine and fuel tank but that was no problem. I put the engine in place and installed one screw to hole it while I did same measuring to get the thrust vector right. I got the extension and put it on the engine shaft and a propeller but the internal thread of the new elongated nut was too big. I needed a new nut the right size. I called Brodak but they were out of stock. Then I emailed Lee machine shop and he had one that will do the job. I got it 3 days later and it's the right piece. Now I was able to set the thrust line and finish screwing the engine in place. I flew it this morning and it's a lot more stable in level flight and has a better corner. Now I'm fighting with the engine trying to get it to run where I want it. More nitro next time out.

Mods for Nomad 1.

A while back I found that a larger stab/elev. gave better performance. I added a half inch strip to the trailing edges of Nomad 1 and 2. It worked but then I built Nomad 5 with a longer span tail and that worked even better. It's my contest profile plane. Then came my electric powered Nomad 6 with squared off wing tips and tail. That got the longer tail and it flys very well. I measured the span of the stabilizer on 5 and made some pieces to stretch the tail to 5's length and to square off the stab to boot. That gives me even more elevator area than the No. 5 design. I trimmed the half inch piece down to 1/8 and glued the extension on. I flew it this morning and it corners better than anything I have. Still stable in level flight. Maybe it will be compete with 5 for the profile spot. I took the engine out of the SV-11 and put it back into the Mandarin. It was giving me problems with running steady. I changed fuel and propellers before the swap but it didn't make a difference. A while ago I put a velocity stack on the venturi to control the raw fuel coming out during the run. The venturi is very short. I flew the Mandarin and the engine did the same thing. I removed the stack and it seems to run like it should again. I have another stack on the Legacy so that will be removed as well.

Back to glow power.

It took longer to change the front hub on the truck than I figured. It was three hours of hammering and chiseling to get the old unit off the truck. I was exhausted to say the least. I put the electric planes aside and got back to glow fuel power. It doesn't take long to get spoiled not having to wipe oil off the planes and then clean them when I get home. I do have the Twisters flying the best ever and I got some mods planned for the Nomad 1 and maybe 2. I found a piece of balsa interfering with the bellcrank on one Twister. The controls on both were not symmetrical either. I mixed up some fuel with more nitro in it as the temperature here is high. I'm planning to bring the glow powered SV-11 and the electric Nomad to the park in the morning. I flew the SV-11 today and it just didn't have enough power in the heat so I upped the nitro content and put the bigger propeller back on.

Electric P-40B ARF update.

I finally got the plane flying better than it has. I had to drill new holes in the flap and elevator horns so that I got a bit more down than up control. I removed 4 ounces of nose weight but kept the one ounce spinner for looks mainly. One the first flight yesterday I had too much down and had to make a handle adjustment for the second flight. There is a marked improvement in the corners. The driving force behind all this trimming is that the plane is very stable in level flight both upright and inverted. No other plane of mine has ever been that stable. The balance point is a bit behind where the plans say so I'll start moving it back a bit more as I go. It's raining today so I'll prep the pickup for the new front hub that's coming today.

Brodak P-40B Electric.

A couple years ago I bought one with the power system. I've flown it a few times with poor results. Now that I have more batteries I've been flying it more and trimming. The thing has a problem in cornering. It likes to stall or mush. I added two ounces of nose weight and there is some improvement but it still mushes in outside corners. Today I made a new control horn for the flaps. The original was plastic and kinda bendy. I made a copy of it out of aluminum angle and made the flap pushrod hole higher than the plastic one. The flaps move too much, I think, so I took some movement off while keeping the elevator movement the same. Tomorrow morning I'll try it. Maybe shorter lines as well. It has occurred to me that in the profile and sometimes the warbird events appearance points are not awarded so you can fly an ARF if you chose with no penalty. I have the big Nomad and Pathfinder electrics and the P-40 ARF for warbird. I may have to use one for two events or all three events as getting two 60 inch wing span planes plus the 54 inch P-40 into the Hyundai back seat is quite a problem.