Another quick and dirty win.

A few years ago I cut a piece of the nose off Nomad 2 and installed a firewall for an r/c engine mount. As it happened the bolt pattern for the mnount and the electric motor mount are the same. I switched back and forth between electric and glow power frequently. Lately there has been a lot of vibration when using glow engines and I had to do something. The tonneau cover on my truck was at it's bitter end and needed replaceing. After changing covers I salvaged all the aluminum parts from the old one. Two of the parts were 1/2" x 2" x 5' thin wall aluminum box tubing. I knew I could find a use for it somewhere. Back to the plane. I cut off a piece of the aluminum tubing and cut an opening that would fit the engine and a notch that goes around the wing leading edge, installed wood motor mounts and filled the rest with balsa. Then I cut the planes nose to fit the new engine crutch and started filling the open space with balsa sheet and the aluminum crutch. After some sanding and a layer of 1/2 ounce fiberglass cloth it was ready for paint. I had some left over butyrate dope and brushed on a few coats of Miami Blue and some kind of red. I didn't want to brush the clear so I used a Pre-Val sprayer for that. It's good for small areas but will freeze up on large areas. I got to South Park early today, 9-6-25, and got in a test flight in the fog. Nice and steady with good corners inside and outside. The engine ran very well with the new set up and the weight gain was miniscule if any. All up weight is 50.4 ounces without the spinner. I was able to remove a 1/2 ounce weight from the tail as I shortened the nose by a 1/2 inch to improve the corners. It took a lot of sanding to get a good snug fit on the engine bearers and balsa filler pieces but it was worth it.

More new planes

The red one was a kit of a Classic model I won at the El Dorado contest raffle. The blue one was a kit I bought of a classic model because I didn't have a classic plane and after winning the red one I now have two classic planes. The red one called J. D. Falcon built quite light at 43 ounces and has an O.S. .46LA engine and the blue one is smaller and has an O.S. .25 engine. I flew the Falcon for the first time yesterday, 8/4/25 and the red one, called Peacemaker, today the 5th. The blue one did a loop right off the ground and almost crashed but I got line tension back in time. I made several adjustments to it when I got home. The Falcon started with 59 foot lines then 61 footers and today I made some 60 foot lines for tomorrow sesion. The paint I used I got in a tool box I bought at the hobby shop. There was 4 bottles of "Aero Gloss" 4 ounce paints. I had the same colors in Brodak paints so I mixed red to red, blue to blue and white to white. Something happened during the mixing and what happened was all colors went from gloss to flat. I didn't worry about it as I was going to clear coat it with a gloss urethane 2 part paint. That made it shine. The park has agreed to mow a place for me that is shorter than the rest of the grass.

Experiment findings.

I haden't noticed it when flying the first two planes but the Nomad test mule showed it. The wings were level and didn't flip when I did a hard corner. It's called "hinging" in the hobby. I set up more planes like the others and flew them finding the same wings level with no tendency to wiggle in hard corners. It makes the maneuvers look cleaner and should score higher. I've tested several types of planes from different designers, some with balsa rib wings and sheeted foam core. Some profile fuselage some full fuselage and one with no fuselage. My Swizzle Plane. And one electric powered plane. All with the leadouts adjusted so that the plane hangs a little nose up with an empty tank. All gave me the same level and steady wing. I even set one up with a 2 ounce weight on the nose. Then at the field I flew it with the weight on and then took the weight off and flew it again with no change to the leadout position and no change in flight charastics that I could see. According to Voo Doo logic the plane shouldn't have flown at all. I'm saying that everything we have been told about setting the leadouts is that it works but not very well. On top of that I found that I'm the only person in the world today that knows where his leadouts are. Every one else only knows that his plane flys well the way he wants it too but he don't know why.

Experiment time.

My Swizzle plane was not keeping the lines tight in flight. That has to do with many factors but one is the location of the leadout line along the wing tip. I have been setting them so the plane hangs a bit nose down when hung from the leadouts and measured using a line level. Empty fuel tank. While off the ground speed and centrifugal force will keep it out on the lines. I figured that using a half tank of fuel and setting the leadouts so the plane was level would maybe help because the fuselage would be more in tangent to the circle producing less drag. I set up the plane this way. At the field the plane took off normally and flew normal until I starte to do maneuvers. Then the changes took over and I had a lot more line tension than before. That gives me more direct control which is a good thing. I did the same thing to the sister plane that was still in one piece. Overall line tension was better on this plane also. So I took the test mule Nomad and did the same change to it. Maybe fly it in the morning.

A bit closer.

I have the Falcon and Peacemaker just about at the same point in the finishing process. Everything is installed and fillets are laid in. I had to buy another quart of clear dope to apply the fiberglass and/or silk span. The humidity is high and I have to wait until it lowers to do much more painting. I had to leave South Park the other day as a dog was running through the circle and wanting to play. The grass was getting too high again there anyway. I took the Swizzle plane out and got in some flights. I went to 54 foot lines from 58 footers and installed aluminum landing gear from the wrecked Nomad. I flew it this morning and everything is working nicely. I managed to get in the first full pattern with it also. The winds were calm making some of the maneuvers tricky.

Getting there.

I have three coats of clear dope on the Falcon wing and it's ready to install into the fuselage. The Peacemaker is close to being ready for final assembly but it needs filling and sanding as will the Falcon.

More planes

I didn't have a plane for the clasic event and I didn't want to build one that was too complicated or big. I found one that should fit the bill called "Peacemaker". I started building it and then the El Dorado contest came up and at the raffle I got a kit of the J.D. Falcon. Not too complicated but on the large size, the same size as my others. Again legal to use in the classic event. I started building it even though it didn't have the instruction booklet. My plan is to get both planes up to the same build sequence spot so I can work on both at the same time. I need to fill and sand the Peacemaker and put a couple more coats of clear dope on the Falcon wing then install it into the fuselage. That will bring both planes to the same build place. I've been having run issues with my engines and after much trouble shooting it seems that the fuel needed some Armor-All to stop fuel foaming. Now if the rains will slack off so the grass can be mowed I will be happy.