It is summer.

The weather has been good enough that I'm able to get to the flying field every morning. Every plane I fly I remove some of the nose weight. Mostly I change to a lighter muffler. I ordered 3 tongue mufflers today. They weigh 2/10 ounce each. That is helping the planes turn a lot better. I got a larger tank for the Legacy and it will get through the pattern now.
I bought a kit of the Mo-Best that I've been looking at for several years now. It just came out as a kit in early spring this year. I have most of it framed up and the wing just needs sheeting. The kit has a built up leading edge and trailing edge. I was hesitant to try building with that system but did. So far it's working out well. I'm pretty sure it's called Lincoln Logs system.

I was right.

After a bit of thinking I checked the tire rotation diagram in the owners manual for the truck. I had put the tires in the proper locations.
 After installing a new glow plug in the problem engine it came to life. Then I turned my attention to the plane with the hungry Super Tiger .60. That engine runs great and I got a baseline comparison with the other plane as to how it flys. I added 3/4 ounce of tail weight and that should make the controls more responsive. It needed more up control as it was and this should take care of that and make the down control too touchy. I can fix that with handle spacing. Luckily the plane has a plastic clunk tank so I can put in a few ounces for testing and not a half tank full. I'll get in a few test flights after mowing this morning.

Another first.

 I've been thinking on it for a few years. Today I got the tools out and rotated the truck tires. It wasn't too easy as I didn't use the spare. I removed the right side tires and put the back one in front and front in back. Then I did the same to the left side. After washing and cleaning the rims I tightened the fronts and installed the hub caps. I jacked the rear up and removed both rear tires and swapped sides. All four wheels were rusted to the brakes and it took  from a kick to 4 whacks from a sledge hammer to get the rims off. I put a thin coat of grease on the problem surfaces so they should come off easily the next time. By then I probably will have looked up the right sequence for rotating the tires in the owner's manual.
  I was out flying this morning after driving around the circle several times to flatten the tractor tire marks from the hay mowing. On the second flight the engine quit way early. I found some raw fuel dripping and called it a day. At home I removed the tank and found a slight leak and a rattle inside the tank. I found one of the tubes inside had broken it's solder joint and needed fixing. The slight leak was in the feed tube solder joint and I found some crap inside the tank. Probably flux. I cleaned the tank and the spray bar on the engine. I kinda like flying the Strega now that I trimmed it properly. And set the engine up per the guy I bought it from instruction. Funny how that works. The amazing part is that the .60 size engine only uses 4.20 ounces of fuel for the pattern. The Super Tiger .60 uses 6 ounces for the same flight. Both on store bought 10% nitro fuel.

It's official.

The club is having the monthly meeting at the new field tonight. We have permission to fly there and the AMA has been notified of the addition of the field and the deletion of the Thompson land fill site. I still don't have any information on how to unlock the gate.
 I did a post mortem on the P-63 and found no problems with the control system. A few days later I was flying the Ringmaster 576 and got hit by wake turbulence on the same maneuver in the same place. The 576 was in a better state of trim and flew out of the upset. The hobby's best trimmer has been writing about trimming and I'm following his advice. It would have saved me a lot of trouble if he was doing things more like I do.
 I've been flying the A-36 lately trying to get that trimmed better. I had to go back to first base and slowly worked up to third base. The handle is even spaced and the control throws are pretty even. I've added an ounce to the tail and an ounce to the tip weight box. I have some fuel coming and had to call the engine guy as Sig stopped making the fuel he requires you run in the engine. Sig's 4 stroke fuel is equal so I got 4 gallons coming. Omega fuel is the same blend and I'm using that for the time being.
I installed a garage door opener last Friday. It actually works as advertised. I had to find some soft item to kneel on as I had to reduce myself to read the instructions from start to finish. Humiliating. I got the inside controller working and then the portable remotes and then the outside wireless controller working. The car has 3 buttons for extra controllers but I have enough working now.
 The registration runs out in late October. Tough titty CT.

Another flying site.

The club has the use of a rec area in Thompson not too far from the float fly site on the lake. It should be ready for use July 1. I checked the place out several days ago and the ground seemed kinda rough. But it is open and flat. All we need is access to the gate lock and get it mowed. Should be done July 1. The club had done some construction work on the site years ago but soccer moms got the full use of it. Now they are not using it too much and we are back in.
  I've been flying the Ringmaster 576 for several years now. It's been recovered 3 times. I never thought it was flying as well as it should. I checked and found the control throws it should have and made a new flap horn that was the right height and moved the elevator horn so it is on the hinge line. Now it has equal throws all around and shorter lines with smaller wheels. I think it flys like it was designed to now. The smaller wheels have less drag and relocate the vertical c/g. I also removed the stock muffler and replaced it with a Fox .35 muffler that is over an ounce lighter which moved the lateral c/g aft. Along with a new handle I was able to reduce the line spacing as the new c/g requires less control throw to get a good corner. I removed some nose weight on the Shark 560 and evened the elevator throws some. I'll have to test that soon.

Updates and stuff.

The electric car is still at the school. It's up in the air whether the kid will get the car.
  I found out, again, that changing wheels on a plane can change the way it flys in good and bad ways. The Shark has been flying well since I stiffened the nose and with the not too smooth grass circle I put on larger wheels. The plane flew awful so I put the original wheels back on and it flys like it did.
  The club has got another field in Thompson. We had been using the land fill there and now we can use a flat rec. area on the west side of the lake called Bull Hill.
  I took the Privateer out today and it was too touchy on the controls. I went home and removed the tongue muffler and installed a stock muffler and made a new handle so I could decrease the line spacing. We went back to the field and it flew quite well. I finished off the first gallon of the season too.

Bad vibes.

The Shark 560 has a problem with poor engine runs. Against my better judgement I built it as the plans showed. I generally use long wood engine bearers and the plans had 3 inch long ones. That leaves several inches of balsa that isn't very stiff. The engine would start off fine and then speed up about a third of the way through the run. I tried other props, fuel tanks and engines. All with no change. The other day I made a 1/2" cheek piece to go over the original cheek piece. I made two saw cuts length wise and glued in two strips of 1/32" plywood to stiffen it as much as possible. I should be able to get in a test flight today after the car show.
 After coming in second at the electric car race the car was used to give anyone that wanted a chance to drive it around the running track at the school. On one outing the kids managed to break the rear wheel spokes. Luckily there was another wheel on a bike that was a bolt on replacement.  One of the kids that drove in the race asked for the car and the head teacher gave it to him. Without the electric parts. I removed the wiring harness and motor and boxed it up for the next car if one is to be built.