King Orange.

We went to Glen St. Mary, Fl for the King Orange contest I first heard about in the late 50's. It's been running every year for 63 years now. I had to go and see what it was all about. It used to be held in late December but after getting froze and wind blown every year they moved it to mid Sept. Even with the hurricane in the Carolina's there wasn't any wind and the temps reached into the mid 90's. I got a third place in profile stunt using my electric Pathfinder. On the second flight the outboard wing half broke off and that ended that. On my first flight on Sunday with the Hound Dog I scraped the ground on the wing over maneuver and stopped the engine. No damage though. The only thing wrong with the Pathfinder is the wing so I ordered a wing kit for it. It helped that I won a $50.00 gift certificate in the raffle to the place that made the kit.  It came in today.
  I painted the Jamison and the new plane with white dope as a base color. Today I sprayed some green trim and it looks like a flat color. That's it for dope and back to the Rustoleum.
  One of our neighbors put a push mower on the roadside with a sign that said Free. I grabbed it. Today I looked at it and started it. Lots of vibration. I removed the blade and found that it was installed wrong. i had to drill and tap the mount so the blade could be centered. It needs a new blade as the one that's in it now is bent and missing a washer. It runs smooth now.

Said I'd never do it but I did.

The large plane with the foam wing has been giving me trouble with the flaps. The first set was way too small. So I made up another set but they were too flexible. I figured that the expert on the forums could help with the design of  the flaps. The reply's have gone around the barn and are quite hard to build. Then another chimed in and mentioned a design that I could build easily. This is the same person had offered advise to someone else on a different subject and I tried it and the plane crashed because of it. He got it right this time and I just finished building the new flaps. The wing halves are ready to glue together finally.

  The other day at the park I set up the electric Pathfinder for the first flight of the day and the electronic speed controller shorted out and destroyed itself. I was able to get back to the plane and disconnect the battery before it burned up the plane. I ordered a new one and it came in yesterday and I got in two flights with the plane with no problems.
  I got some butyrate dope paint for the Jamison Special and the big planes fuselage. I have to wait for drier weather as it needs to have the fan going when I paint. I'm going to use iron on covering for the big planes wing and stab/elev.

Moving right along.

I'm in the fill and sand mode on the Jamison. It takes a long time to prepare the surface with dope paint.
  I got the foam wing cores on Monday. They are close to going together. I need to design the flaps and install the trailing edge.The foam stab/elev. cores have been sheeted with 1/32 blasa and are close to being joined also. I'll cut the elevators away from the stabilizer and hinge them together.
  I'm thinking about taking the electric Pathfinder to the Florida contest. It's flying really well.

The contest and more.

We left home around 0700 east bound on I-12. Left on I-65 into Alabama. Things were going well until we hit Montgomery, Al. Almost out of town and over the hill a pickup wrecked causing a 30 minute delay. That put us into the rush hour traffic on the loop around Atlanta, Ga. Not fun. We got to the hotel in daylight and it's run by, wait for it, The Patel's. The place we stayed in Plainfield, Ct was run by the same group along with the gas stations.
 Anyway we found the field and it's a nice venue. On Saturday I flew the Nomad 5 in profile and the P-40B in warbird. The winds were switching all over the place and the temperature was in the 90's. I was prepared for the light winds but not the temp. I have been flying in the low 80's for a long time but the 90's drained too much power from the engines. I had a poor first flight in warbird and turned up the power for the second flight and got first place. Not so in profile or the event on Sunday. They had a raffle and I cleaned up on that. A kit of the Jamison Special, a model designed in the mid 40's, a sheeted foam wing from somebody's project, an engine for the kit, some safety glasses, a fuel tank and a propeller. It's all about the raffle.
  We stayed over on Sunday and left around 0315 and beat the traffic on the loop. No accidents or construction delays all the way home. WAZE took us a different route home. 

I've got the Jamison built and being painted with dope this time. I brought some foam wing templates for the plane I have under construction to the contest as a foam wing cutter was there and the wings are being shipped today. I don't know exactly what I'll do with the wing I won in the raffle. It needed fixing as the controls were poorly installed but I got that fixed.

I met with the Park Board and they don't mind if there is a contest at South Park. I spoke with the person in charge and he is coming to look the park over. It may end up being the location of the local contest now held in Zackery if the park board (BREC in this case) gets too finicky.

Thinning the herd.

A day or so after the picture in the last post was taken I was flying that plane and directly overhead the engine stopped. I couldn't run fast enough to get the lines tight enough to regain control and the plane hit straight down. I salvaged the hardware and the engine is OK. I did a post crash inspection of the engine and fuel system and found that there was fuel left in the tank. Then I noticed that the clunk at the end of the fuel pick up tube had fallen off and was rolling around the tank. That is a first. I've had the tube fall off the pipe to the outside but this is the first time the clunk has come off.
I brought out the P-40B I got from the school and started flying it so I can take it to the contest.
 I started building another plane in the mean time. I'm using a foam wing and stab. on this one.

Cooler in the morning.

If I get to the park at 0700 I can get in maybe 2 flights before it get too hot. Yesterday and today the temp was below 75 at 0700 not 80 as it has been.
 We got there early and I got in 2 flights each with the P-39 and the Nomad 5. I had changed engines on the P-39 again. I put the LA .46 back on removing the EVO .52. It was a wise decision as it now turns a lot better with the lighter engine. I also put shorter lines on it. That will let me fly a bit slower and  that will let it turn tighter corners too.
  I'm not happy with the Gypsy after refinishing the plane so I won't bring it to the contest next weekend. Only the Tn Hound Dog, the P-39 and the Nomad5 will make the trip. When I get the Super Chief flying the way I want I can use it in 3 events.

This is a telephoto shot as the building is at least 500 feet away.

First flight.

We went to the park on the 11th. I took the Super Chief and the Nomad 1. I flew the Nomad first and then the Chief. It was a long trail as the clear coats attacked the yellow paint ruining the finish. I removed the covering and put some more of the same covering on and this time I didn't use any clear on it.  That held things up a couple weeks. The engine, a McCoy .35 was given to me sometime in the 80's and had never been run. I had run it a few times during those years and just before installing it in the plane. I got it started and it was running a bit slow and barely got off the ground. It flew quite well even though it was a bit slow. On the second flight I set the engine for a faster run and got in a 5 minute flight. I did several of the pattern maneuvers but nothing overhead. I should be able to get in a full flight next time out.
  I am building a smaller version of the Chief to be used a s wall art in the house. The other planes that could be used are too large. The "Squaw" is almost up to paint. It won't be a flyable model.