A name at last.

Our daughter has a cat that is a Pixie Bob breed. When I heard that I named the plane. I got the graphics from Frogskin Graphics in Clinton, La. If I need more graphics I will give them a call. The new engine has been running well enough to be put back on the Pixie. I flew it on Nomad 1 several times to break it in a little bit. I bought a used LA.46 for 30 bucks a few months ago. I put it on the Cardinal and flew it. It had a needle valve assembly that looks like it came from an r/c carburator. It worked but not that well. I installed an.v.a. that we usually use and it ran a lot better. Nice and steady with power for an old engine. The kit I won at the El Dorado contest raffle is coming along nicely. It's just about ready for covering. I've been having good luck with silk span covering lately. It takes longer than monokote but lasts longer and looks better when painted. The weather has turned quite warm thispast few days and is forecast to be warm until mid next week. That puts a damper on flying as it's 80 degrees by 0700.

Happiness is a good flying plane.

I am amazed at how well the new plane flys. Very stable in level flight and has a pretty good corner for a first flight. I didn't do anything to balance the plane as it came out real close to the normal Twister. I went back to the field with it a few days later and verified it's flying abilities. The new engine hasn't broken in yet and is a bear to start by hand. I had to fly it without the spinner as the engine would backfire and spit the prop off. Without the spinner I could tighten the prop quickly. I am concerned about the metal tank as the engine quit in the top loop of the verticle eight. I'll get a plastic tank and fit it into the tank compartment. While I had the tank hatch off I reoved the new engine and installed one that is well broken in. I didn't know I had a spare .46LA. I'm pretty much confined to the property as I don't want to leave the dog alone for too long. I started on the Vector I won at the contest raffle. I had a model of this plane maybe 10 years ago but it was built and covered in China. It flew quite well as I recall but the elevator horn broke out and it crashed. The kit has the same set up as the other one and now that I know about it I'll reinforce the area so it doesn't fail again. I took the wing out of the jig this morning and have to build the wing tips. Each one is 9 pieces of balsa that is laminated, saw cut to shape, lots of sanding and then split lengthwise, hollowed out and glued back together. I have a die grinder and a rotary rasp that makes very short work of hollowing. A big mess also.

Double Triple.

The contest at El Dorado was a success. I was able to place third in Profile, third in Warbird and on Sunday I got third in Precesion Aerobatics. Then in the raffle I won a Brodak .40 engine, a gallon of fuel and a Brodak kit of the Vector plane. I had an ARF or the Vector and it flew well while it lasted. I had been shortening the lines I use on the planes and during the contest one of the much better flyers said I should shorten them even more. I'm down to 60 feet from 63 and the planes look a lot smoother in flight now. I had figured that if the better flyers are usning shorter lines than you are all your maneuvers will look larger, which they are, and get a lower score. Even though both are at 45 degrees of line angle to the ground. I think that helped me. The weather has been dry lately and I got the Twisterrific painted last week and ordered some clear. The paint came in Sunday so I sprayed it while the dryness persisted. Today I got it put together and reday for a test flight. I still have to make a line for the stooge.

Getting ready for El Dorado.

I will bring the old red Pathfinder for profile, the L-17 Navion for Warbird and the electric Privateer for P.A. on Sunday. I finally got all of the planes controls set up right and they all fly a lot better. In 74 years I've been setting them up wrong. The full fuselage planes now have a decal covering the hole in the fuselage that gave me access to the controls. It was worth it for the better flying. The profiles were not as invasive as the controls are all external to begin with. The Navion has an Evolution .60 engine in it and I was using a BY&O propeller. I tried an APC 12 x 5 and the engine really ran better with it so I changed to the APC. I had one on the Ringmaster Excel when I hit the ground inverted. That plane needed another go around on the controls and it's ready for a test flight and should be much better. The Privateer is now using 5 cell 3000 mAh batteries as the 3300's I was using are heavier and I don't have many of them left. I think the lighter batteries are what is helping the plane fly well. I have the full fuselage Twister mostly assembled with the flaps and elevators attached. I used cloth hinges again as they are very free moving and they seal the hinge gaps some. I haved named it "Twisterrific". I hope the weight will be around 48 ounces one it's done and painted. It's strange that the plans say 490 sq in wing area and it's really 470. With the extended wing I built it's now 490.

It stopped

The winds have finally died down and flying is good in the morning again. The weather prediction for warmer and humid came true today. Thunderstorms from 0430 to 0800 followed by the increase in humidity. When he's right he's right. The new Twister is coming along. The wing and tail are built and waiting for sanding and covering. The fuselage is half built. I made the top and got the canopy carved out. That will take a lot of sanding. There is no molded plastic canopy for this model and I didn't want to search for a close look-a-like. The electric Legacy I nw cll the Privateer as I made several changes to the fuselage and wing shapes so it no longer looks like the original Legacy. I've been using 5 cell 3300mAh batteries and they are failing. I have 5 cell 3000mAh batteries in the Nomad 6 so I took the timer from that plane and put it on the Privateer. That should put the speed and duration in the ball park. I hope to test it soon. Electric power is more sxpensive than glow fuel power.

It's not stopping.

It's April 27th and the weather is still abnormal. The wind is very tricky at the park plus the rain comes when it feels like it. I've been able to get some flights in but not what I want. I've deceided on the Pathfinder for the profile event at El Dorado in mid May. The L-17 Navion will be the warbird entry and I'm trying to find the best plane for Sunday's event. I should be able to get that one by contest time. I was goint to scratch build another plane and was drawing one up when I noticed that the Twister has never been built as a full fuselage plane. I'm in the middle of cutting the parts out of the spare balsa I have. I need to make a hobby shop run for more balsa and hardware. I'm streatching the wing 2.5 inches to make up for the width of the fuselage. The fuselage is 2 inches longer than the plans show but that mod really helps the kit plane fly better. It's raining again.

Bad weather.

I figured out a way to use a spray bar that had no needle. Without both it's useless, until now. I do have remote needle valve assemblies that came with the engines but the spray bar is too small for what I want to do with the engines so I remove the stock one and replace it with an aftermarket unit. I have two units that didn't have needles. They got broke in hard inverted landings. I soldered closed the end that the needle goes in and installed the remote unit except for the stock spray bar. The weather calmed down a bit and I got to the field and flew the new set up. It worked perfectly. The weather turned bad again and I was sitting in the shop trying to figure out what planes to bring to the upcoming contests. The Mo'Bestgot the nod but I figured I could improve on the control system. I measured the plans for control system set up and found it to be less than optimum. I couldn't get the push rods in holes that were the same distance as the plans. I found a flap control horn that was made for the Pathfinder and after some work got it mounted and hooked up. A few other tweaks to the plane and it's ready for a test flight.