Got tired of looking at it.

After many flights on the P40-Q profile plane and getting less appearance points because ,I believe, it had monokote film on the wings and tail I stripped the film and paint off the plane. I them made some changes to the fuselage and tail to make it look like an Navion that was used by the military after WW 2 and into Korea. I have some graphics coming from Major Decal and I'm working on others from a cottage cutter. After I get those installed and the weather dries up a lot it will be time for the clear coats.

Getting close.

As you can see I have entered another dimension. Twilight Zone kinda thing. I got the Legacy 40 painted and almost color sanded as much as I feel like color sanding which isn't much. The black was sprayed yesterday and needs a few more days to dry then a bit of sanding in preparation for the clear dope. It took eight hours of taping the checkers before paint and 2 minutes to paint and a half hour to remove all the tape pieces. The weather has been raining for over a month now and it's just too humid to spray the clear. The do over on the P40-Q into an L-17 Navion is just about ready for paint. I ordered some olive drab dope but they didn's have any so I back ordered it. They sent some enamel instead of dope. I plan to use that and spray 2 part clear over it for fuel proofing. The jury is out on the compatability of the two paints but I'll find out soon. I have to order some graphics for it. That is always a treat.

More engineering brilliance.

I determined that a dope paint finish was better than monokoting the wing and tail. Appearance Judges don't like to see monokote on a model and points are hard to come by. That cost me a second place at one contest. I stripped all the 'kote and paint and figured on changing the model from the P40-Q to the L-17 North American Navion. I had to square off the stab. tips which wasn't a big deal but changing to tricycle gear was a problem. The plane has a foam wing which is cored out to lighten it and to make a passage for the leadout lines. The resulting wall thickness isn't strong enough to mount the gear support blocks and the lines would rub against part of it also. After a few weeks of study I came up with the system in the picture. I cut a chunk out of the fuselage and epoxied in a block of 1/2 inch plywood with grooves for the torque portion of the wire gear legs. I removed a secton of balsa sheeting and glued in 1/16 plywood to support the wire gear. As luck would have it I was able to use some already used wire gear salvaged from wrecks. The nose gear was easy as it plugs into the motor mount as usual. I should glue on a layer of fiberglass over the 1/16 ply for added strength. I epoxied the bare balsa wing skins and that is up to sanding before priming. I finally got dry enough weather and finished spraying the white base coat on the Legacy 40. That is up to masking for the first trim color.

June 10th.

That was the last time I flew in preparation for the Dallas contest. I usually fly every morning so this is quite a lay off. We left Dallas Saturday afternoon and came home, busted wing/arm in a sling. My wife got a date with the orthopedic doctor and had a total shoulder replacement a week later. That was a week ago and should see the doctor next week. It was also a reverse replacement. From what I can find out that means the shoulder socket is now on the arm bone and the arm ball is now on the shoulder. I'll find out why next week. The conversion of my P40-Q into a Navion L-17 is coming along quite slowly because of the broken arm. I'm going to try epoxy finish on the sheeeted foam wing instead of tissue and dope. I've squared off the rounded stabilizer tips and made a new fin/rudder. I ordered olive drab paint from Aircraft Spruce and it ended up being enamel not dope. I'll use it anyway and for the clear coat I'll use 2 part 2K Max spray paint. That should make it fuel proof. The new Legacy 40 is ready for another coat of white as soon as the air dries up a bit. I ran out of white after one coat a month ago and got some more when the humidity shot up. Nothing to do but wait.

One up, two down.

We got to the hotel around 4 pm Friday. Saturday morning had a storm that blew through quickly and didn't impact the contest. Things progressed fairly quickly and I was to be first up in the Old Time Stunt event. Some other guy fell in the longish grass and sprained an ankle. As I was about to fuel my plane I was told that my wife had tripped over a speed bump and was hurting. I packed up and brought her to a hospital where x-rays were taken that confirmed a fracture. We went to the hotel and packed up and checked out and headed for home. On Monday she got an appointment at the orthopedics and more x-rays were taken and another appointment for a total shoulder replacement next Monday, 6/21. The next local contest is Labor Day back in Dallas.

New tech trial.

The elevator strips work. One side effect is they produce a lot of drag which is why they work. I have them on 4 planes and all benefit from them. I am in the process of trimming the strips down from 1/8" high to whatever gets me less drag and good performance. I think each plane will be different as some don't have as much drag as others now. I started wet sanding the white base coat. It's awful. I sanded a lot of it off and now I'm spraying primer and sanding that. It's looking a lot better so far. And with the extra time it's taking I've come up with a color scheme that should be nice. But I never can count on it.

New technology.

At the El dorado contest there was a plane with things on the elevators that didn't look right. The owner was explaining them to another so I joined in. The things are 1/8 x 1/4 rectangular cross section strips attached at the trailing edge of the elevators. It seems they make the plane more stable in flight and especially after a turn. Two weeks later I gave them a try on a plane that wasn't stable enough to suit me. I used strips of balsa stuck on with two sided tape. They create noticable drag and make the plane more stable just like he said. I figured that once isn't enough so I put some strips on my Nomad 5. Again the same very good result. I slapped some strips on the Jamison and it now flys a lot better.The only thing I can liken it to is putting larger feathers on an arrow.No matter what the strips work.I'll have to try one with the strips on the rudder trailing edge instead of the elevators. I had the chance to paint the base white on the Legacy 40. I still can't figure out what trim scheme to put on it. I've looked at a lot of pictures and nothing strikes me. If I run out of things to do I can start wet sanding the base coat. The lawn needed mowing as rain is forecast for a while again. Last week one of the mowers wasn't cutting at the same height as the other two. I thought it was just a wheel adjustment gone awry.I found out that the bad mower base was rusted so bad it was flexing and ready to break in half. In Moosup I had several extra mowers to pick from but I left them when we moved south. I was fortunate to have two mowers given to me since we've een here, both with solid bases and engines. I picked the better of the two and installed the attachments so it can be pulled by the riding mower. Then I removed all the hardware and engine from the broken mower, folded the base in half and put it in the trash can. The engine runs very well and will be used as a spare.