Slow going.

The balsa order arrived just as the band saw blew a tire. I tried to fix it but the spray glue wouldn't hold. I ordered two new ones and the other one split. I can't cut the fuselage parts until I get that fixed.
I've been working on the 610 wing halfs and I skinned the 610 fuselage with balsa just to keep things moving. My back is coming along now that I figured out what is really causing the problem. My bed is too soft so I put some boards under the mattress. This is making me miss a lot of good flying weather.

Wrong calculations.

It seems that my way of figuring things wasn't quite right. The wing area I was hoping for won't come out using my 109 figure. The person that designed the original I was trying to enlarge says my figure is 665 sq. in. not 610.. He agreed to lazer cut me some parts for the right size and sent me the plans. While waiting for them to arrive I started on the larger model. The plans answered some questions on where the parts go and how the wing should be constructed. Anyway I have the wing half built and the tail built and some of the nose pieces. I need some 1/2 inch balsa to make the fuselage and that shipped today.

At it again.

I got to the park to fly every day this week. Almost, Sat. I went to a friends house to fly. I took the electric plane out this morning after some trimming. I put 2 ounces of weight in the nose and it flew quite well. I made a change to the lead out location after getting home. I flew the Shark a couple times. At home I got the plans out and went to Office Depot and had them enlarged 109%. That should give me 59/59 inch wing span and a bit over 600 sq. in. of wing area. It builds very light so my usual engines should have no trouble pulling it around. The Mo' Best is that size. I ordered some wood and forgot to get some 1/16 plywood. I have enough balsa to cut the ribs out.
  I ordered two more batteries for the electric plane. That will help.
  The weather has been great all week and is forecast to turn windy and warmer shortly. I'll have to get an air conditioner for the shop pretty soon.

El Dorado weekend.

It started raining about 70 miles from El Dorado. It stopped mid morning the next day but the wind was strong. The coast of La got over a foot of rain and there was over 5 inches at our house.
  I managed to tie one of the best flyers in the south in the warbird stunt  event with my own design P-39 and had to fly again to break the tie which went to the other guy. I'll take a second anyday. Late in the day Sat. the winds died down and we got in the flying that was delayed in the morning. On Sun. I got the Hound Dog out and got some very good scores with it but not enough to get a prize. I got two gallons of fuel in the raffle, I wanted a kit.The GPS and WAYZ took us over to Monroe then down through Natchez, Ms to home. Nice country, even has hills.

Early flights.

I left for the park earlier than normal today. The forecast is for rain. I flew the Hound Dog and then the Mo'Best. I couldn't find the balance point on the plans so I emailed the kit maker. He didn't know either. I flew it anyway and it flew well. When I got home I remembered that I had an article on the model written by the designer a long time ago. Included is a half page set of plans that has the balance range on it. My model is within the range so I'm happy.
  After cleaning things I was thinking how to improve the performance of the Fox .35. In my collection is an Enya .35 with an r/c carb on it. It took an hour to free it up from the gummed up castor oil. I removed the carb and looked for a venturi but didn't have one that will fit. I noticed that the one I do have the spray bar holes line up with the holes in the engine. I put a larger O-ring on the venturi and chamfered the i.d. so things would line up. Then I spread some blue silicone on the venturi and stuck it in the engine followed by the spray bar to keep thing in place while the silicone cures. Then I made a test mount for the engine and bolted it to the mount. The muffler has long disappeared  so I rummaged through the spare stuff and measured several other mufflers before coming to a muffler for the OS .25LA. It's a perfect fit. Now I have to find a place to clamp the mount so I can run the engine. The prop shaft is .025 larger than the rest of my engines so I drilled out an old prop so as not to ruin a good one.
  I had to make some line length adjustments on the Dog. At home I swapped the two lines and removed one of the larger clips I used for the adjustments and put the original back on. I have to get in a test flight before going to the contest this weekend.
  The builder s that put up my shed are working on building a neighbor's shed. The neighbors looked at mine and I gave them the name of the builders. They haven't come over and borrowed any tools yet.

Shorter seems better.

I took the Legacy out yesterday and it only has 60 foot lines. I consider those short. The plane flew very well which caused me to rethink the length of the lines on other planes. I took the lines from the best plane and shortened them a foot. then I shortened the leadouts 5 more inches. I flew it this morning and I noticed an improvement in how the plane flys. I also flew the Shark/Fox .35 with a Zinger wood prop and is still don't have any zip when released for takeoff. I put another design prop on for the next time out. I also put a 10 x 6 wood on the Gezer/ OS .40. It ran very steady on the test yesterday. I changed lines on the Shark to 58 feet. With the new flying site (South park) 5 miles away and open at 0700 I can get in flights before the heat set in..

A Phoenix flys again.

Several weeks ago I was given a plane that was crashed by the owner. The nose was snapped off at the rear engine mounting holes in the wood mounts. I installed a firewall and r/c motor mount then filled in where the cowl had been. The balance seemed good and the control throws gave me cause for concern. I put enough fuel in the metal tank to run for 3 minutes and pulled the release. My initial set up was pretty close so I put another 3 ounces in the tank for a second flight. After some maneuvers I ran the tank out and landed. Next time out with it I'll try a full tank and try the pattern.
 I also brought the Shark that I put the Fox .35 in. I did a short test flight and then a 3.5 ounce flight. I got the pattern in and 1.5 laps extra before the engine quit. I don't have the right propeller and that will effect the flying ability a lot. The local hobby shop opens in 90 minutes.