Flight Log: 09/29/2011

Took the Imagine out for some stick time before our Valley Challenge Fly Off against the other two RC clubs on Saturday at our field. Just practiced a whole lot of landings, touch and go's, and general flying so that the plane feels comfortable on Saturday. I think I had 3 flights with it. Since the SNAFU will be the backup, I took it and had a flight with it too, and just had fun doing crosswind landings on the short runway.

Rudy brought out his new Vanquish electric pattern plane for help to maiden it. After checking all the controls (rudder was opposite), having Rudy increase rudder and elevator throws, and input expo on all flight surfaces, I maidened the bird. Flies really straight as an arrow, and quite quick but not super fast. Still has plenty of power for sustained vertical without struggling to steer it straight up. He will love it when he can fly it. He tried a flight with it himself, but said it was too fast and landed after one circle within maybe 30 seconds, haha. Landed it off the runway on the sod farm, with a flip on its back at the end, but there was zero damage.

North Shore Surf

This painting is my best seascape yet, in my personal opinion...I don't think Sandy agrees, lol. I call it North Shore Surf because it is something like viewing towards Kaena Pt, Mokuleia, Dillingham Airfield, etc. from Haleiwa town somewhere. Not sure if it really exists because I made up the lava flow and rocks with the two coconut trees on it. This is my 9th seascape. GOOD FUN and I like doing seascapes more than landscapes!

KRCA POKER FUNFLY

A week ago, I volunteered to our club president (Keizer Radio Control Association) to run the Fall funfly event if nobody else stepped forward. Of course nobody did, so I got the task a couple days later. I had some ideas, so I ran with them over the next several days, and it all turned out well yesterday, Sat, Sept 24, 2011. The following is a flyer of task descriptions which I handed out as each competitor paid his entry fee of $5.


KRCA POKER FUNFLY

Scoring: A playing card is awarded for each completed task. There are 5 tasks. The best draw poker hand wins 1st place. 2nd place goes to the next highest hand, and 3rd to the 3rd highest hand. Someone with only 3 or 4 cards could beat someone with 5 cards. Anybody can win!

Flight 1: Take off and land . Wheels up to wheels down must be between 70 and 90 seconds. You will be asked 3 simple questions sometime during the flight. You MUST answer.

Flight 2: Take off and get to your own comfortable altitude. Fly inverted for 8 seconds. You tell timer when to start, and he will tell you when 8 seconds are done. Land at anytime after that task, but kill your engine completely before flying over any part of the runway. Prop must NOT be turning when you enter the runway threshhold. Only landings completed on the runway will count.

Flight 3: Take off and clear the runway. Do a touch and go on ANY part of the runway. To count, the plane must then fly clear of the runway after the touch and go. Land at any time after that task, but touch down between the designated lines (spray painted yellow about 30 feet apart). Full width of the runway will be used. Plane may roll to stop outside of the touch down area. Only landings completed on the runway will count. If you kill your engine on the touch and go, it counts, but then the landing task is not successfully completed.

Only one attempt per task. Make sure your engine runs well. Flameout or crash ends the flight with remaining tasks on that flight counting as unsuccessful.


The funfly is all over, and I had FUN running it. I kinda liked being the dictator, haha. I think I was blessed with very perfect weather, lots of amiable competitors (12), and very little interruption by workers who were on the sod field at times.

Everyone seemed to like the poker card format. Our winner had 2 Aces in his 5 cards (one card for each successfully completed task). Next best was a pair of kings in 5 cards. Then a fellow took third with a pair of queens in just 3 cards. There were five other pilots with more cards them him, but he got lucky and they did not.

I must be efficient because we were done in two hours flat! I did not hear any flak, so I think it was fun, fair, and not stressful at all. There were hints that I should do this again, and I said nope! Actually I would but I did not admit that to anyone, and it would have to be after a rest of a year or two...we have two funfly events each year.

Cruzn in My Little Red Corvette

Needed a ride in THE car today before the good weather is gone for another year. Took her out to the north from West Salem all the way to Newberg, then back south on the east side of the Willamette River into Keizer. Just about 62 miles of smooth riding and listening to only the engine, tires, and wind. Did not turn the CD on even once. Odometer shows over 16,000 miles, for a car that is 9 years young. Need to make a real roadtrip with this sportscar and Sandy, perhaps just before or after next Summer, to beat the crowds, the traffic, the heat.

Painting #40

I completed painting #40 in the Bob Ross method, #20 for 2010, and the 7th seascape. I think it's my best seascape yet! I liked the previous one, but wanted to improve on it, so I went for it today. When I went for my walk this morning, I saw a sky much like this one, full of clouds in the foreground and clear light blue sky towards the horizon. Tried to emulate that. For the ocean, I tried to make the foam on the wave once and then not touch it again. I also used less foam where the wave is forming the curl but not breaking yet. From one of my pics of a Tabora seascape, I used the rocks on the left to create depth...rock in front of a wave in front of a rock, etc. I feel real good about this seascape, till the next better one, lol.

Flight Log: 09/19/2011

Had an urge to fly at least a little today after not being able to fly on Sunday due to weather and commitments (took Alex to OSU). Flew my SNAFU just twice, practicing landings from various directions, and trying to dial in the low mixture setting. Seems better now, not wanting to die on some inverted situations. Mowed the field after flying.

Seascape #6

This is my 6th seascape, which I did from memory after watching Bob Ross on OPB this morning. This one is a little different from the other ones with black gesso and liquid clear under the water. How so? While it has the black gesso, Bob did not apply liquid clear for this one, so neither did I. His base coat on the black gesso was dark lavendar for the top third of the water, prussian blue and yellow ochre for the middle third, and typical pthalo blue and pthalo green for the lower third. Blend the layers together a little. It makes the finished ocean have a nice transition in color from background to foreground. Had fun and only took 3 hours...don't tell!

Flight Log: 09/17/2011

Whooosh...windy and drizzly today, the 5mph windsock was stiff all the time, and my guess is we had 10mph+. Made one flight with the SNAFU when it was not so bad, took off and landed on the N/S runway, and had fun. Landed at a very slow crawl! Surprisingly other die hards came out but hardly anyone flew. Brandon had a few flights with a trainer and Somethin Extra, while Quang flew an electric Blue Phantom. Rudy and Anthony came and stayed grounded.

Flight Log: 09/16/2011

Nice but cooler morning...Summer is waning. Flew my Toledo Special twice after mowing. Replumbed fuel tank helped the engine run smoother and faster, yay. Rudy was there too, and is getting better all the time!

Toledo Special and Extra 300SP

Not sure why more folks aren't flying these days, but it was a gorgeous day. Enjoyed flying the Toledo Special 3 flights and the Extra 300SP for 3 flights. I couldn't get the TS to run super smooth, but noticed air bubbles in the fuel line feeding the carb, so I am going to pull the tank to inspect all the lines. I suspect a cracked line in the tank. Still the plane flew well.

The Extra 300SP was my most unfave plane in my 14 plane squadron. I even offered to trade it to Joe yesterday. Then I flew it again today and by gosh I was very happy the way it grooved. I think maybe I need just a little more expo to soften center more than my other planes, and then it will be as smooth as them. I must be getting adapted to its landing needs, much like the TS due to them both having very stiff LG, and am getting the right speed and alpha to set them both down real soft and with little or no bouncing, MOST times. As of today, I don't feel like trading it anymore! That says a lot about it. Most unfave plane now? Actually, I can't pick one anymore!

Update that night: Upon pulling the tank out of the TS, found all tubing had softened extensively and the one to the clunk had broken midway such that the clunk was disconnected completely. Also short fuel lines at the vent and drain tube ends (purpose is to not have hard brass or alum tube ends scratching the fuel tank walls) were possibly cracked. The tubes were clear stock variety, so I replaced all with blue type, and must remember not to use stock fuel tubing anymore. This should make the engine run smooth like a top!

Flight Log: 09/10/2011

Flew the Intruder 3 flights and the Apache a bunch of launches. Found no thermals with the latter, or could not center on them. There was some light air but I couldn't get a good ride. Intruder was real groovy and fun, just nice and reliable. Did many slow and 4pt rolls about as low as I dare, perhaps 25' off the deck.

SNAFU day

Took the SNAFU out today and had 4 flights and many, many landings for practice. Tweaked the low idle screw for better transition...it stuttered on instant full throttle commands at first. Flew great, hovering is getting easier and easier. Took 6 new pins painted red for the frequency box, and left a couple more membership applications in the forms box. Anthony was there but left soon after crunching his big Stryker foamie...he said he was flying inverted and dumb thumbed it, pilot error.

Seascapes

My last FOUR paintings have been seascapes, something I always wanted to attempt but was afraid to try. You can see on the right side of my blog page all of my paintings. Today I completed my 4th seascape and 37th painting overall in the Bob Ross wet-on-wet technique for oil painting. I created it after looking at a bunch of photos from Tabora's book on seascapes, and another bunch of photos of real waves at Sandy Beach, Oahu. (I just visited in August 2011 and snapped those pics.) This one took about 6 hours, not counting the time to prep the bottom of the canvas with black gesso and allow it to dry completely...I did that a couple days ago. I am really enjoying creating these seascapes, they actually are more fun than landscapes at this time for me, and are easier to create. So far two seascapes are created on the black gesso and liquid clear background, and two are on liquid white. While the latter are more realistic, the former has a better contrast and WOW factor, IMHO. Here are three of the seascapes in larger and expandable format (right column pics cannot expand).

Today's painting, "Stormy Coast"

"Storm on the Horizon #2"

"Seascape #1"

T-28 and Apache

Had a good day flying the T-28 and Apache. It was sunny, warm in the afternoon again, and hardly any breeze. Think I had 4 flights with the T-28, and a bunch of launches for the Apache. The Apache caught a strong thermal and rode it up for about a 14 minute flight. The thermal seemed very narrow, like a column just 5' across. I kept doing figure 8's to try to cross the thermal as much as possible and to keep the column located. The Apache rode it up till pretty much specked out for me. Any higher and I would lose wing and fuselage orientation easily. Only Anthony, Bob Ross, Mike, Rudy, Joe, and Stan flew today, but hardly anyone was there at the same time as anyone else.

Another Ultimate Day!

Wow it got HOT in the afternoon today, and I sweated just taking the plane apart when I was done around 1PM, but it was worth it for the 4 nice flights I had earlier! Cool at 9AM when I got there, the flying was good with no workers on the field today, and a small turnout of regulars, including TAD! He got in 2 nice flights. My Ultimate felt a little out of trim on the first flight, but I later noticed that the top wing ailerons were both setting a little high! Turns out I forgot to plug in the ailerons on the top wing when I assembled the plane. For the next 3 flights I had the ailerons all plugged in and the plane flew much nicer. The plane is a little tail heavy, and I guess I need to add some nose weight. Been reluctant to do so since the plane will then want to nose over on the ground, which would kill $30 props too easily. Basically I have to alter my stick inputs on some maneuvers such as the slow and 4pt rolls. I don't need any down elevator when inverted...if I add any, the plane climbs during that part of the roll. This plane is super handsome in the air as it is big, smooth, and powerful. Just loving flying it, but not assembling and disassembling it!

Joe had a misfortune with this big Extra powered by the Moki 2.10. Coming back over the runway from the left, he lost all control and the plane disintegrated when it hit the fencing. It was bad enough to put a hole in the orange material the size of a basketball, which is where the engine and cowl penetrated and got decapitated from the rest of the plane. The airframe totally splintered upon impact. The wings kept the whole plane from going through the fence. The engine, gas tank and spilled gas led through the fence into a pit table. Luckily nobody was pitted there and nothing got hit. I saw the whole thing. The plane looked like it was in a slow roll to the right, and impacted in right knife edge. Good thing the plane hit the fence or it might have reached parked cars. Mike was in the air at the time with his Uproar and the commotion was so distracting that he thumped his plane in the sod farm some 200 feet due south, and tore off his landing gear. He landed on the runway somehow, with just a broken prop!

An eventful day!

Flight Log: 09/01/2011

First day of September! Had my left eye rechecked yet again this AM at KP optometry, and it got dilated for the exam. Went to the field with the eye still dilated and sensitive to light, and still not focused back to normal. I wanted to test run the Yak and Toledo Special with the smaller props. While I mainly wanted to ground run them both, I could not help flying them for the true test. Just had to concentrate on watching them real close, with the fuzzy vision in the left eye.

First up, the TS flew well with the 13x8MAS prop, and turned higher RPMs, but I forget what the number was, haha. Closer to 9k like it should be though. I turned in the mixture screw too much, and the engine cut out when the plane was inverted too long, which it did not do before. I need to back it out and keep adjusting it till satisfied.

The 15x6MAS on the Yak was too small. While the engine really ran faster, 9k RPM, it made the plane fly slower in level flight and in vertical. Lots more noise but lots less speed! I switched at the field to a 15x8MAS and the plane flew much faster to my liking, and the engine still turned about 9k. I also leaned out the mixture screw a smidge. I tried to snap in vertical climb once, and the engine did not bog down after the snap like it did prior to this with the 16x6. I think I found the prop and mixture setting to stick with for now.