Legacy 40 again.

I had installed the Stalker .51 in the plane. It replaced the O.S. .46LA. I also lengthened the stabilizer 3 inches before installing the Stalker. It flew very well with that combination. I removed the Stalker and installed it in the new Pathfinder I bought with the gift certificate from the Canton, Ga contest. So I re installed the O.S. .46LA in the Legacy 40. This morning I flew the Jamison and the Legacy 40. I use the Jamison for the Old Time Stunt event. It took 2 short flights to get the engine set right for the Legacy and to get the controls adjusted the way I think they should be. I got in two full tank flights and the Legacy flew very well. I'm not competing with it any time soon so it's a practice plane for now. One of the grounds keepers has been telling me that he will give me some fuel he has. That is going on for close to a year now. Today he came through with a gallon of Traxxas car fuel. I tried to find the nitro percentage but came up empty. I did find that it's made in 10, 20 and 33% nitro. The oil is 11 or 12% which is dangerously low for my use. I can ad more when I use it in my next batch. I got permission from the parks board to hold the contest on April 4 and 5 next year. That is about 3 weeks from the contest in Tucson, Az. I can only hope for the weather. I checked on the weather at Catoosa, Ok and on Friday the winds are forecast to be in the 20 mph range. Hopefully on Sat. and Sun. they will be lower.

Our lucky day.

The other day I noticed the low tire pressure warning light on. We had got the light on other occasions also so I turned around and put air in the tire. As we headed out this morning the light was on again so I headed back to put air in it. I checked the pressure and it was a lot lower than the other day so I figured there was More to it. I took the tire off and found a nail head sticking out. A trip to the tire shop was in order. I looked at the inside tire wall and found two 6 inch cuts with de-lamination's. At first I thought it was cut but who would cut the inside of the tire and not the easier outside. At closer inspection I found dry rot that had separated and de-laminated in two places. So I brought it to the shop and had a new tire put on then I put that tire back on the car and drove it to the shop for three more new tires. We found the slip for the old tires we bought soon after moving here in 2016 and had 100,000 miles on the car. The tires lasted for 53,000 miles and had enough tread to hit 60,000. Too bad the side walls were crap. I didn't check the other tire's sidewalls. If it wasn't for the nail we wouldn't have made it to Tulsa.

Better than I expected.

Today was the second outing of the new plane. I changed propellers to a plastic one and added a two ounce weight to the nose. I filled the tank for the second flight of the day and did an exceptable complete pattern. There was some raw fuel on the wing so I put it away for the day until I could explore the tank. At home I pressure tested it and found two cracks in the vent pipe. I soldered them shut and got it ready for tomorrow. The electric version I flew last year handled a lot like this one. Steady in level flight and a real good corner. I may bring it to Tulsa at the end of the month.

First flight report.

We managed to get to the park early Monday morning. There was a bit of a breeze and that is a good thing. I only put one ounce of fuel in the tank in case there was a drastic problem I wouldn't have to fight the plane for a long time. To my surprise the plane flew very well. I missed the engine setting and it was very slow. Over a second per lap slower than it should have been. On the second flight, with one ounce in the tank, the speed was very close to perfect. The wings are level and it flys steady in level flight. I put an ounce and a half in the tank for the third flight and got in some basic maneuvers just to see how the plane reacts. So far so good. I added some nose weight when I got home by swapping the prop for a heavier plastic prop and a plastic spinner which fits over the heavy hub. The c/g moved forward maybe a quarter inch. Tomorrow I'll try the new combination if I can get out early enough and the grass has been mowed.

Something borrowed, whatever.

I finished the new Pathfinder on Wednesday. I put some paint on the wing bottom on Thursday and it's curing. I installed all the needed stuff and it's ready to go. I'm planning on a first flight Monday Sept 3. Before covering the plane I weighted all the parts including the covering with it's protective sheet and the cardboard core. I wanted to get a conservative estimate of the final weight figuring it would be lighter. 52.6 ounces said the scale. After everything was bolted on and ready to fly I put it on the scale again and got 52.0 ounces. Oh well. The paint scheme is a copy of another plane but in different colors that I borrowed from somebody else.

Mystery solved.

Last fall I built a wing to replace one that broke in flight. I bought a wing kit from Brodak, the mfg. and set up the wing jig using plans I had saved. I had two sets of wing plans for this plane and when I measured the distance between the ribs and set the jig to that the wing came out 5 inches longer than it should have been. I have pondered how that could have happened ever since. I ordered a kit of the whole plane and while waiting for it I set up the wing jig again and it came out to the right size. A bit later I measured the plans again and got a different dimension. It was the larger dimension from last year. I finally figured out what was going on. I separated the two wing drawings and compared them. One set was enlarged when I had some copies made at Office Depot without me noticing it. The other set was the right size. Last year I measured from the enlarged set by mistake and built the longer wing from it. I put the enlarged set in the trash. I got another set of plans with the new kit and they are the right size. The new plane is taking shape and I'm assembling the fuselage now. It should be ready to glue together by next week and flying in another month. If I can settle on a paint scheme.

Two for one.

At the Canton, Ga contest I won a $50.00 gift certificate in the raffle to Brodak hobby shop. I won one at the King Orange contest last fall also. The first one I used to get a new wing kit for the plane that folded it's wing at the contest. This one I used to buy a kit of the plane that folded it's wing. I got the new planes wing built and the tail. I'm starting on the fuselage and I'm going to use the Stalker .51 engine that was in the Legacy 40. That should be a good match. I managed to get a third place finish in the Warbird event. I got a call a few days ago and one of the club members wanted to know if I wanted to sell one or two of the planes I got from the estate sale. I agreed to sell both of them. So I'm only down one plane.