Two Man Cruise

Tad and I decided on a little romp through the countryside before the next rain comes, so off we went for a short cruise this morning.  It was just 16 miles but pretty spirited and lots of grins.  He led this time, winding out on Eola Hgts, west onto 22, north on the next road beyond the cemetery, looping east then south to turn left on Orchard Hgts, and whizzing down that road to my house.  It was nice to see the back end of the Cayman R and to hear it when my own engine was not roaring, haha.  Tad likes to drive a little energetic, so it was fun reining him in.  Very FUN outing today!!!  While the pic is from our 4 car cruise a couple weeks ago, it shows today's participants.  I  ABSOLUTELY LOVE THE C5 and CR!

Flight Log: 02/23/2012

Bummer, it was a great day weatherwise, but my T-28's muffler loosened up at the field after one flight.  On the second flight, I got a dead stick and discovered the issue.  With so many things to remove before getting the cowl off, I opted to do it at home.  At home, I tried the easy fix with wrenches through the cowl openings, and it worked.  I did not have these wrenches at the field, so could not have fixed it at the field.  Anyhow, the day was successful  because I got to mow the field, did get 1.5 flights of relaxation, and got to shoot the breeze with Mike, Rudy, and Shane.  :)

Flight Log: 02/19/2012

Brrrrr, it was cold, maybe 40F but with a slight southerly breeze into our faces.   Bob Ross was finishing up when I arrived, then I flew alone for awhile till Jeremy and Mike showed up.  Got in 4 flights in all with the SNAFU, using the N/S runway.  A bit too cold with the breeze, Jer and I decided it was time to leave.  I had the Imagine 50 and the cellophane Extra 3D with me, but did not bother to unpack them from the truck today.

Flight Log: 02/12/2012

Turned out better weatherwise than yesterday, due to more sun and less wind, but it was still a two hand warmer day.  My Intruder was great fun for 3 flights, and the Citabria for 2 flights till I broke the tail skid and some foam off.  Also managed to dislodge the control rod guides from the fuselage, but all is well now after a brief repair session with foam safe CA and accelerator.  Loved the Intruder and its whoosh and precise rail-like handling.  Landings were steady all the way down the final path to touchdown just the way I like em.  Hardly anybody came today...Dick Smith, Doug Brown, Mike, Brandon and Bruce, then Joe as I was about to leave.  Oh, Chris and Nick came for some lessons from Mike...both are doing well.  That sounds like a lot, but very few were there at the same time.

Flight Log: 02/11/2012

It was calmish but dry and not too cold at 45ish, so it made for a good day of flying with a hand warmer in each front pocket of my jeans.  I flew my new foamie Citabria gifted to me by Joe, my Toledo Special, and my Stinger II.  I had 3 flights on the TS, 2 on the Stinger, and 2 on the Citabria.  I let Jer fly the Citabria for the other two batteries.  Both batteries (350mah and 500mah) provide the same punch.  I like the 350 for being lighter though.  Jer liked the plane too and of course can do much more with it than me, but I am going to practice on it a lot.  Bad news...Jer crashed his Yak 54 on a low knife edge over the runway, and it rekitted into many small pieces, including even denting the muffler of the OS 70 Surpass II!  I missed the crash as I was refueling my plane with my back to the runway.  I heard the plane flying by on the low pass, then the crunch, and the ensuing silence.  Argh, too bad.  He checked the radio afterwards and the receiver and servos seem to working fine.  Jer does think it was just a high speed stall and dumb thumbs.

Successful Sbach Start-up

It was a great day for taking the new Sbach 342 out in the backyard to try to start up the DLE-30 for the very first time.  This plane has been sitting ready to maiden for weeks now, so I really needed to get the starting kinks worked out before taking it to the field.  I assembled the plane outside on the pack patio, and hooked the tail down with my rope and stake system.  I fueled her up and crossed my fingers for no issues.  I used the exact same technique that I have used for the DLE-55 in the Ultimate and the DL-50 in the Extra 330L.  With ignition on, choke on, and throttle set at full, I hand flipped the prop while wearing a leather glove.  I was wondering how long it would take for the first engine bark since the engine was brand new and dry.  Happily, the engine barked at about 25-30 flips.  I closed the choke, kept ignition on of course, and set throttle to low.  After about 10 flips, the engine started and stayed idling!  Yahoo, great!  It needed just a click or two higher of throttle trim to idle smooth without acting like it would die soon.  I ran her like that a minute or so and then tried different higher throttle settings and the engine responded smoothly and reliably.  Full throttle came at about 5/8 of stick movement like with the DLE-55.  I ran the engine for about 1/4 of a tank, perhaps 5 minutes, and shut her down with the opto-kill switch on my transmitter.  It worked like a charm, instantly.  SUCCESSFUL start up!  Later in the house, I created a throttle curve on the the transmitter to give less engine response at low throttle settings, and more response at the upper end of the stick movement were none existed.  The Sbach is ready to maiden now!  :)

Flight Log: 02/05/2012

3 flights on the CG Ultimate and 2 flights on the GP Shoestring (40 size) made my day today!  The planes were really grooving, and it was just a day where my timing was right and I felt in close touch and complete control of both planes.  Some days I feel out of touch with the planes, and today was one where I felt zeroed in on the planes...great feeling.  I did the usual pattern style maneuvers with the Ultimate.  The Shoestring was just a ball on those passes, pretty fast and low.  Crazy fun to bank left and yank up pretty hard for a tight turn, then roll out fast for the next leg.  Landings were good today on both planes.

Yakkin' and Cruisin'

Took the Yak to the field on a gorgeous day of mostly sunshine, dry, calm to light winds, and over 40F.  Had 4 flights filled with many slow rolls, 4 pt rolls, rolling circles, loops, square loops, cuban 8's and reversed ones, avalanches, stall turns, and spins.  The Yak and OS 120 Surpass III performed very reliably and smoothly.  Jer flew his Yak too, as well as his small electrics.  Joe flew his Sundowner, whistling fast and low.

After flying we went on a cruise with Tad, and Joe joined us with his Honda S2000.  I led in my C5, followed by Tad in his Cayman R, Joe in his S2K Club Racer, and Jer in his MR2 Spyder.  We went out west on Brush College, North on 99W, east on 153 in Amity, south on 154 at Hopewell, then south on Spring Valley Rd, Brush College and Orchard Heights.

Parked at the side lot of the new Straub Middle School for a photo shoot, then headed back to my house just 1/4 mile away.  Great fun in great weather...Jer and Joe even drove with their tops down.

Crashing Waves

This is painting #58, and 8th for 2012.  I watched Bob Ross do this painting this AM on OPB, and tried to emulate it from memory a couple hours later.  Key notes to myself are the undercoat for the ocean is alizarin crimson and van dyke brown on the top half, and sap green and van dyke brown on the bottom.  Ocean and tall cliff are both on top of the base of acrylic black gesso, allowed to fully dry.  The sky is yellow ochre on right side, cad yellow in the center, and indian yellow on the left, with white mooshed in the center and blended outwards.  Sky perimeter is bright red.  Clouds are variations of lavendar blended in quite a lot.  Typical is the liquid white base under all of the sky.  Too much FUN!  Waves keep getting stronger with improvements to the foam, done with the larger fan brush, starting with the lavendar and topping with the titanium white, being careful to retain some dark lavendar spots for depth.  I really like the different colors used in the ocean on this painting.