The PT-19 lives.

I got to the park early again to beat the heat. I had changed lines back to the 59 footers that was on it. The Evo .36 starteed quickly and I richened it a coupld of clicks on the needle valve. That got me about 9200 rpm. I got to the handle and pulled the release line and the plane had a bit of trouble with the high grass as usual but got off the ground smartly. i had put real 2 degree offset wedges under the engine as the others were 1 degree even though they had 2 on the wedge. That alone cured the tendency to track a bit into the circle. I managed to do the whole beginner pattern with it even though the down elevator was not equal to the up elevator. The engine ran steady through the flight which was nice. I got in a couple more flights and the engine performed well. At home I heated the solder on the pushrod clevis and adusted it so I could even out the up and down elevator movement. That should make it even better. All in all I'm really happy with how it flys and how the engine is running. I may have to install a different elevator horn if I need a bit more elevator travel.

Another good one.

I got to the park a bit early as I wanted to get in a few trim flights with the .46 powered PT-19 with longer lines. I made a change to one of the lines to make the plane fly a bit lower but still high enough for what I wanted to accomplish. When we got down to business things were going well until I tried to start the engine for about the 6th flight. The fuel line inside the plastic tank had fallen off and wasn't in the delivering any fuel to the engine. I hd brought a second plane just in case something happened to the primary plane. I got that ready and did a warm up flight just to see how it was behaving. I handed it over to the other person and he got in several flights with a competition proven plane. At home I removed the .46 from the PT-19 and installed the .36 again as it's running much better. I took the fuel tank apart and put the fuel pickup line back on and re installed the tank on the PT-19. Everything is set for the next session.

PT-19 problems and fixes.

The Evo .36 was too weak so I installed the OS .46. I went to the park this morning and got in two flights with the new comnbo. First up I tried a loop and it was so big the plane pancaked into the turf. It shouldn't have done that so I looked it over real good. I found that the clevis thats attached to the elevator end of the pushrod wasn't the same thread as the thread on the pushrod. Vibration had worn the threads down enough that the clevis had slid on the pushrod giving me very little up control. I squeezed the clevis to tighten the threads and flew it again. I had to hold a lot of up as the clevis slid on the pushrod again. I ran the fuel out and landed without too much drama. I also had to bend the landing gear back inot shape as they got bent backwards in the first flight. I tried to remove them to bend eash but the person that assembled the plane in the first palce had glued then into the wing. Notrhing cracked when I bent then so I guess all is well. I put the lines away in favor of a set of 62 foot lines. That will give me more lap time with the more powerful engine in the plane. At home I cleaned the threads on both pieces and tinned the pushrod threads. Then I slid the clevis on where it should be, I hope, and soldered it in front of and behind the clevis. I shouldn't move. I had run the Evo .36 yesterday and couln't get above 8500 rpm. Today I removed the venturi and ran a .250 drill through it to give it more room for air to pass. Then I ran the tapered reamer into the top and bottom of the venturi and put it back into the engine. I ran it again with the same propeller and was able to get 9800 rpm with a bit more on tap. Should the Os .46 prove to be too much for the plane I'll put the .36 back on.

PT-19 again.

I have a person to teach control line flying. I got out the PT-19 and started flying it to get ready. The Evolution .36 engine just doesn't have the power to do anything except level flight. I timed the laps and it's the slowest I have ever flown. Almost 7 seconds per lap. I'm shooting for low 5 second laps. I put up about 10 flights with different propellers and engine speeds but nothing helped. After flying today I removed the Evo .36 and put an OS .46LA in the nose. That should give me what I'm looking for. I'll try again in the morning as Saturday morning I'm meeting the new guy and hope to get him soloed. He flys r/c so it shouldn't be too hard. The park was mowing as I left this morning.

New handle.

I sent one of my handles to a guy in England two others are in Texas. I posted some pictures of how to make the handle on one of the forums. I got a response that mentioned carbon fiber plate for the handle. I watched a video on cutting the material and didn't like what I saw. I had already ordered a thiner than recommended plate. I saw that my band saw has an outlet for a vacuum cleaner hose so I rigged it up and cut out two handle blanks.I've been flying one of the handles and so far it's working very well. I don't have any reinforcement for the line clips but the plante is holding up quite well. I timed the second handle to see how long it takes to make. 22 minutes. It takes a lot longer for the ply and aluminum handle. The weights are really close around a half ounce for both kinds. I thought the carbon plate would wear kinda fast but so far not so much. It's been raining every afternoon for over a week. The park is having trouble mowing and the grass is making take offs and landings harder that usual. I may have to bring my mower again. We finally needed tires on the Tundra. We went to Costco and got 4 new ones yesterday. I thought they did alignments too but they don't. I went to a local shop this morning and got that done. The temperature wasn't too high so I went to the park for a few flights with modified stabilizer leading edges. I think it made an improvement in how the plane flys. Then it started to rain.

Moving on up.

I've been having real good luck with the Brodak .40 enbgine. I had machined (hacksawed and drilled) a second universal motor mount and installed a second Brodak .40 on it. Today,after flying, I removed the first universal mount/brodak.40 and installed the second engine/mount. Same propeller so it should be the same I made a new handle with more overhang on the down line to dampen the outside turns. I tried that this morning and it works well so I'll keep it for the plane.

Mowing and testing.

The long holiday weekend and rain kept the park from cutting the grass last week. I brought a push mower and cut enough to get my planes off the ground safely. The Wild Thing and .40 engine is proving to be a great combination. I don't think the engine likes my low nitro fuel so I added some nitro to the can and will give it a try in the morning. I can get in an hour of flying before the temperature gets to high. I also changed to a 10.5 x 4.5 APC propeller from the 11 x 4. They both work very well but the smaller one gives me a bit more ground clearance. I'm flying with 57 foot lines and thinking about 55 or 56 footers. I have plenty that I can shorten. Although it flys very well on the 57's.