Still trimming and other problems.

I removed the gap seals on the Legacy and made more room for the elevtor pushrod as it exits the fuselage under the stab. A test flight was kinda better but the winds were causing a lot of turbulance. I flew the repainted Nomad and the trim stayed on. On the last flight, of course,as the plane came around the circle into the wind the stab. started to flutter. It happened just after completing the pattern so there wasn't much fuel left. I figured the stab. would rip off and crash the plane. I held it high and the fluttering stopped until it ran out of fuel. At home I removed the covering from the stab. and didn't find any broken parts. I scabbed some thicker balsa over all the ribs on both halves. That stiffened the stab. a lot. I had some covering and ironed that on. It's ready to go again. The Ringmaster Excel has a small area to install a fuel tank. I had a 4 ounce Du-Bro tank but it was barely large enough to get in a complete flight. I installed a 6 ounce tank, again plastic, and that caused a lot of trouble as it gets forced into the tank compartment. I removed that one and decieded to build a metal tank. I had 4.5 inches of room and had to trim the metal down to 3.75 inches so I could put the tubing in. After adding one end cap I checked the capacity and got 5.5 ounces which is more than enough to do the flight. Maybe a test flight today.

Maybe it worked.

I flew the Legacy and the thrust change might have had an effect if so it is too small to be of any help. Next thing to try was removing the control surfaces gap seals. I could feel that the controls were a bit more free. While I was working the controls I could hear a tiny squeek. That means the leadout line is touching a rib someplace. Before doing anything to the ribs I got in a flight and found that the gap seals were causing a bit of binding. The plane flew steadier in l evel flight. At home I loosened the leadout slider and moved it aft about 1/16" and the squeeking stopped. I'll try that next time out.I really want to get this plane flying well as it's the best looking of the bunch and is a full fuselage plane which is what the judges want to see and not a profile. My opinion.

Good intensions anyway.

The contest in El Dorado went well. I got a second in Old Time and a third in Profile. I did poorly in the raffle. I had a chance to fly the Nomad with new trim on the wings. After the first flight the paint was peeling off in large pieces. Once home it was easy to remove the rest. I think I used dope and not Rustoleum on the Monokote. I masked the wing agin and sprayed some Dupli-Color red and Rustoleum yellow. I have others to test before flying the Nomad again. I changed lines on the Cardinal from ones from the Ukraine to .015 7 strand. That needs testing soon and I checked the thrust on the new Legacy and found a bit of up thrust. I shimmed that to a bit of down thrust and that needs testing as well. I would like to use it for P.A. on Sunday at contests as a profile doesn't cut it. My HRB batteries are not giving me good service. About 20% are still flying the full pattern. The others will only do a 4 minute flight before crapping out. So I found some 5 cell Turnigy batteries and ordered 4.

The little red Plane.

The paint had a few days to cure and the hurricane wasn't bothering much here so I took the plane to the field. I used the standard needle valve set up the engine came with and it works but not that well. I used 57 foot lines eye to eye. It's what I had ready to use. A 9 x 4 BY&O prop. I was pleasantly surprised when the plane got off the ground and held steady in level flight. It has a very good turn. I got in two flights and figured that I needed to install a normal needle valve assembly. I had a couple O S valves and put one in the engine. I ran it to get the setting close for the next time out. I also shortened the lines two feet. The graphics are by CFC Graphics and are over 6 years old and still usable. He uses good materials.

Getting ready. And a use for an old wing.

The weather has cooled and I'm flying the planes I plan to use at the Club's contest in Zachary in a few weeks. The Jamison gave me trouble with the engine coming loose and all. I removed the r/c mount and firewall and replaced it with wood bearers. It works a lot better now. I changed to 60 foot lines too. So that's ready for Old Time Stunt. The modified Cardinal is giving me stellar performance and is ready for the Profile event. I flew the P-40Q yesterday and realized that the metal tank just doesn;t have enough fuel capacity to cover all contingencies. I found a plastic tank that is 6 ounces or more and installed it. I need to fly it a few more times to check the tank and adjust if necessary.. I tried the unmodified Legacy, except for conversion to electric, and found four more batteries that were a bit low on capacity. I have 3 more of the same type and flew them with success. This Legacy flys much better as electric than it did with an engine. So I'll bring two planes to the park each day and sharpen my skills for the contest. Several years ago I built an Acromaster. It flew so so but I still brought it to Louisiana in the move. I got tired of looking at it and removed the wing and discarded the rest a few years ago.Last week I figured out a use for the wing and the unused balsa from the cardinal kit. I laminated the wood with the parts for the wheel pants to start the fuselage. I cut new pieces for the stab/elev out of the kits stab/elev. A fin/rudder that looks like the Cardinal and room for an LA .25. I installed the wing and stab. yesterday and started the covering process. I'm using some old Monokote I got in a reffle on the wing and tail and will paint the fuselage with butyrate dope. I'm installing flaps too. I don'think I will be able to get it painted before the latest hurricane hits. I covered the wing and found out why the monokote was in a raffle. It went on normally but didn't want to shrink without a lot of heat. I burned a hole trying to shrink it.. Update; with the hurricane coming in a few days I got the wing and stab covered. After that and before the humidity hit I sprayed on some coats of red dope I had left over. The monokote is red also. After cleaning the gun I sprayed 4 coats of clear. The plane is drying now.

More on the Cardinal.

I have several full flights on the Cardinal and it really flys well. I think it presents better than all my other planes. It handles the wind pretty well also. I attended the clubs 1/2 A day. A lot of planes with .049 power and some actually flew. My Wildcat got into the air and was a real handful. Something isn't aligned right and it was terrible. It sits on the desk now forever. I forgot to bring the scratch built Golden Hawk. We had a real good time even though most of it was spent trying to get engines to run. It looks like my first contest will be the one here in Zachary. The El Dorado contest in early Nov. will be next. I hate missing the raffles.

Another first.

I've been working on how to paint checkerboard for several weeks. After painting the trim colors on the new Cardinal I had a large open space on the wing bottom. What better place to try something new. If things didn't pan out it's not readily visible. It takes a lot of tape to do even the basic checkerboard. In the end the points were touching and very little cleanup of the bleed through. Now I have to wait for a dyr day to get the clear on. My cheap paint stand worked perfectly. It is made for the Brodak electric conversion kits. There is a piece of angle iron a steel rod and a piece of hose. All stuff I had on hand.