Windy days.

I went to the Doyle's Bayou park to help get the circles prepared for the Oct. contest. We made cement pads to stand on when flying.
  My covering came in and I got the Wildcat wing covered yesterday. Today I put on some fillets and will give the fuselage a coat of primer when the fillets are ready. Shortly after that I'll try the aluminum paint.
  The winds are forecast to be within flying limits by Monday. I want to test the longer lines on the Hound Dog and a few other things before the contest this coming weekend.

Coming together.

I went to the park this morning with the Pathfinder and Hound Dog. The Pathfinder flew very well with the nose weight. The Hound Dog with the Fox .35 muffler flew well also but it always has. I'm hoping the extra weight of the muffler will help it in windy conditions. I made up a set of lines 63 feet long for the Hound Dog which will give me a bit more time on the maneuver segments. Both Nomads fly very well on 65 foot lines.
  I figured out a way to align the wing in the fuselage and set in and lined it up and glued it. The covering should be here today, UPS. I bought a can of aluminum paint and it's a metallic and could create a streaky mess, the way I do things. I was able to temporarily install  the stab./elev. and the hinges.

Nose weight = good.

After breakfast we went to Central to the bank to get some money. That's the closest ATM that doesn't charge us to withdraw funds. It's about 12 miles away. When we got home I loaded the electric Pathfinder and the Shark 610 and we headed to the park. I was happy that the Pathfinder flew much better with the 1.1 ounce .57 caliber bullet in the nose. It rattled around a bunch but the pin held it in place. The Shark started off well but within the first lap it went off the rails. The outboard wing was high causing control problems. I flew the tank out and found the wing tab missing. The tab compensates for a warp in the wing I can't get out otherwise. I picked it up for a look see and found the covering that the tab is secured to had come loose and was flopping around now that it was on the ground. At home I heat sealed the covering back  onto the wing and put cellophane tape over the seams. I removed the bullet from the Pathfinder nose and squirted some black gasket sealant in the scoop and placed the bullet back in. It's curing and should be ready in the morning.
  I got two Fox .35 mufflers the other day and one was a "tilt up" style that I've been looking for. Fox makes tilt up and tilt down mufflers but the tilt up is rare and is needed for an engine that's inverted. The normal tilt down muffler will point at the leading edge of the wing the tilt up muffler will point under the wing as the engine is inverted reversing things. I want to try it on the Hound Dog.
  Tomorrow may be too windy to fly but Thursday is forecast to be much better.

More progress.

I had to wait until afternoon as rain was falling in the morning. The wind was not too bad and I got two flights each with the .40 engines. The first had a tongue muffler and went kinda OK. The other had a stock muffler and I hooked the tank up to muffler pressure and that is the answer.
  I didn't have enough fiberglass cloth to cover the Wildcat fuselage so I made a side trip to the hobby shop. I had to settle for 3/4 ounce cloth as they didn't have 1/2 ounce which I prefer. I covered one side of the fuselage and it's drying, I'll finish the fuselage tomorrow.
  I haven't been flying the electric planes as I couldn't get any weights on the nose of the Pathfinder. The motor shaft is way too big for any of the spinner weights I have or can find. It occurred to me today that I could hollow out the fake air intake under the motor and put some weights in there. I was able to get about an ounce in and it's ready for a test flight sometime.

Getting somewhere.

The original tank cured the engine run problem in the Nomad. I ran 3 tanks of fuel with half synthetic oil to clean out the castor build up. Then I got in 3 more normal flights with it.
At the park this morning I brought the Shark 665 and 610. The .40 size engine on the 610 has been giving me problems for a long time as has the other two .40's I have. At home I installed a venturi with a smaller hole to help with fuel draw. I figure that the bigger venturi flows too much and the engine can't get enough fuel in flight. I tested it here and put in 2 ounces of fuel. It ran for 5 minutes which proves something is happening for the good. I changed a second engine and it ran for 5 minutes also. I think I'm on the right track. I'll find out for sure in the morning.
  I'm up to filling and sanding on the wildcat. I found a color scheme that was used by the Navy before WW2. Colorful to say the least.

Together again.

I managed to put the Wildcat together and see what needs more attention. Not much as it turned out. I started on the wing tips and glued the balsa skin on one side of the fuselage. I'm thinking of fiberglass cloth to cover the bare balsa. I got two more Fox .35 mufflers and two stanchions  for the Ajusto-Jig. I put one of the mufflers on the first Nomad. I changed tanks on it too and that didn't work out too good. I put the original back on. I'll bring a round tank with me tomorrow as I can't get enough fuel in this one.

Things are coming together.

I've got the major parts for the Wildcat cut out and mostly glued together. The wing is up to leading edge sheeting and the fuselage is ready for skinning. The tail pieces are made and hinged. I may have to use a 3 inch bellcrank instead of a 4 inch as the hobby shop is out of 4 inchers.
 At the park this morning the winds were about perfect except for being variable in direction but not too much. I got the handle and lines on the Hound Dog set and the Nomad+ is flying very well. I removed the restriction from the muffler to up the power a bit. I snagged the release line on the first landing with the Nomad and that pulled the tail wheel off. I used two elastics to put it back on and fixed it good when I got home.