The Don't Hit the Balloon Funfly!

Lots of fun today in the funfly that Jeremy was CD for, aided by Tad.  Congrats to Rudy for the WIN!  I did well, in the events but picked a lousy deuce in the card draw, for only 200 points, the least possible.  That dropped me from 2nd spot to the bottom half of the competitors, haha.  Good fun anyway, and it was a great day of flying and banter with the guys.  Sandy, Becky, and Rachel watched and helped score from the tailgate of Jeremy's truck, so that made it more fun to have them there!  Anyway the SNAFU performed well with NO deadsticks.

Flight Log: 06/29/12

Day before the funfly, so I flew the SNAFU today about 4 times. Darn if the engine did not die once and I nearly splatted the SNAFU.  It died in a hard place going away from the end of the runway at a low altitude. I decided last second to yank hard left towards the small area of rough grass we have near the windsock.  Luckily, the plane did not stall, stayed flat and landed safely.  Whew, thought I was going to lose my funfly plane!  I richened the needle valve about two clicks and she ran fine but not real fast after that for another flight.  This OS 52 is so finnicky about the needle valve setting as the temperature changes!  Just 2 clicks makes a BIG difference.  I also got the Toledo Special up for a flight, its first after the wing tip damage and subsequent repair.  It flew well and is like its old self again.  Glad about that!  Lastly, I took the Blade 400 up for 2 battery packs.

AW Ultimate

Didn't fly this today, but am preparing for the next outing.  I added 2 ounces more of weight on the engine box next to the ignition battery.  That brings nose weight to 4 ounces of lead.  I recall the plane was still a tad tail heavy last time I flew it, requiring no down elevator when inverted.  I like my planes to require slight down elevator pressure when inverted.  This added nose weight hopefully does not give the plane a tendency to nose over during taxiing!

Related to this plane, today Alex helped me design a t-shirt with the following photograph on it.  He had a $10 off coupon from some place called Zazzle.com where he bought a self-designed t-shirt himself.  We also included the KRCA Krosswinds "logo" on it that I designed for vinyl stickers.  Photo of t-shirt will follow after I receive it in the mail.  The layout on the shirt is something like below with the KRCA logo under the picture.  :)

Mowed and SNAFU'd

Mowed yesterday, then flew the SNAFU for 5 flights of practice for the funfly on Saturday.  The OS 52 did not die once, so hopefully it stays that way for the funfly.  It is taxiing well, as long as I don't go too fast and actually lift off the ground, and the loops are staying nice and vertical from the end.  Should be a fun funfly.

Flight Log: 06/25/12

Kind of an ugly day with slight drizzle at times, but I got in 4 flights on the SNAFU, and one battery pack on the Blade 400.  Decided to give up after that, with the drizzle continuing, and the JB guy adjusting nearby sprinklers.

Dumb Thumb!

Well, either I dumb thumbed the Toledo Special today, or I got hit by a sudden crosswind on takeoff.  Almost up to take off speed, in fact maybe I was lifting off, and something happened so fast that I can't even recall exactly other than the plane was jostling from one wing tip to another, to a main gear to another, and soon the engine was dead and the plane was upright with the left wing tip hanging and crushed, and the left main gear arched downward, not upward.  The prop did not even hit, the firewall is intact, and I was embarassed.  How do I mess up a takeoff after probably hundreds with this plane?  Well, I had one great flight with it today before then.  Flew the SNAFU 5 times today, in practice for the funfly.  It only died once.  BUT all it takes is one dead engine for a zero score on an event, and there goes any chances to place.  Other than that, the plane flew well and I am ready for the funfly.  I do have to make sure the plane does not take off on the fast taxi event though!

Rudy flew his newly re-covered electric stik (looks great), and Quang flew a 40 size Seagull Ultimate with a Magnum 91 four stroke powering it!  Rudy and I had fun practicing lots of landings for the funfly coming up.

Update:  Here are the repairs I made to the wing tip.  Too bad, I should have taken a before pic of the damaged wing tip hanging down!

Some braces and gussets can be seen, but this doesn't capture how many
broken or bent pieces there were!  CA is a wondrous thing!

I used the best color match in my Monokote scraps that I could find.

NOT BAD!  Most folks won't even notice from 10' away.

I CA'd both wheel pants in a few places...damage was not bad there.  Also I bent the aluminum LG back into shape so the wing and stab sit pretty level with the ground.  She is ready to take to the air again!

Stinger II

The morning was rainy as forecasted, but it began to look sunnier close to noon, so I headed out with the Stinger II.  When I got there, Bruce and Brandon were there too, but a thunderstorm with rain was heading our way from West Salem.  I could just watch it approach, so I assembled the Stinger but put it back in the truck under the tonneau cover, with the flight box, etc.  Sure enough we had 10 minutes of really hard rain, and then it was done and gone, with sunshine and mostly blue skies!  Bruce and Brandon had to leave, but I put in 5 flights pretty quickly on the Stinger and had my fun.  Nobody else came to fly.

Before and After

The C5 with the stock thin spokes and Goodyear runflat tires:

Here are the new repro Z06 rims from West Coast Corvettes, 

with Hankook Ventus V12 Evo tires:

Half and half?

Rarin' to go with new rims and tires:

Mowed, flew, hovered

Mowed the field as soon as I got there since nobody was around.  As soon as I was done, Don showed up, so we both flew.  I took my SNAFU up 4 times and Don flew his electric cub.  On the first two flights, the engine sure wanted to sag when the plane was inverted, moreso than other days.  Checked the fuel lines and found one badly beaten up by vibrations against the engine, and this was the line to the carb.  Luckily I had an equal length of new tube in my flight box and changed it out.  Crossing my fingers that the worn fuel line was possibly leaking air even though I saw no cracks or cuts through it, I flew again.  No sagging now, so that was the prob, yahoo!  Later flew the Blade 400 through two packs.  Good day with no damage, and one cured SNAFU.

Fathers Day 2012. June 17th

Flew the SNAFU about 4 times, and the Imagine 50 three times today.  Very nice flying weather with wind mostly down the runway from the West!  What a novelty, not having a strong crosswind.  Jer and Tad came to spend time with me on this Fathers Day.  :)  While I had the Blade 400 with me, I never got around to fly it before the wind increased, and I was fatigued anyway.

Flight Log: 06/16/12

Nice weather, but the JB sprinkler guy was making a nuisance of himself all day by walking all over the field, primarily near the runway,  to adjust the new layout of irrigation pipes and sprinkler heads.  PAIN!  Anyway, I ran through  4 battery packs on the Blade, and flew the SNAFU a few times and the Yak 54 once.  Still it was a nice flying outing.

Sbach and Blade

This plane is too gorgeous, lol, so I gotta start the flight log with a pic.  Flew the Sbach twice today, and landed without incident on our postage stamp runway that is now outlined on all three sides with JB sprinkler pipes and heads that are 2 to 3 feet tall!  Great plane eaters.  Also flew the Blade 400 for all four packs and felt much more comfortable today.  I tried turning the chopper to each side about 45 degrees during the flights, tried maintaining eye height for long periods, but also ventured up to 15' high just to broaden the experience.  I feel like trying some forward flight soon!

Foamy Bay

Found the energy to paint a seascape yesterday, and am pretty pleased with the result after not doing a seascape for almost three months.  I remembered how to do most parts of the painting.  The main wave with all the foam is the best feature to me.

Flight Log: 06/10/12

It was a really pleasant morning with calm air and temps starting at 55F and climbing slowly.  Started off with the Blade 400 and used two batteries hovering.  No damage again!  Flew the SNAFU 3 times and the Toledo Special also 3 times.  First flight on the SNAFU ended with a dead stick after trying to hover too late in the flight.  Seems to be running ok now after fiddling with both the needle valve and the low idle/mixture screw.  I want it to be running good for the funfly in a few weeks.  The Toledo Special just flew like on rails with the replacement Saito 82a up front.  Fast and groovy.

Lotsa Flights!

For ME, it was a lot of flights that I had today.  Really nice weather, just overcast, but cool, calm, and no rain to speak of.  I flew the Stinger 4 times, the Intruder 3 times, and the Blade 400 through all 4 battery packs.  All came home in one piece, and I did not damage any blades on the Blade 400.  Although it was a great flying day, there were hardly any fliers today.  Bob R left when I arrived at 9AM.  Rudy came an hour or so later.  Rudy successfully maidened his second new Osiris with great success...looks like his new fave plane!  Anthony and Quang beat the air to death with electric and nitro choppers.  Quang remaidened his big chopper after totalling it a couple weeks ago at his other club when the clutch went out at 3' off the deck.  Mike came but not to fly, just to train Ken late in the day.  Shane came late, as did Joe.  Most of the time, it was just Rudy and me flying, with Mike kibbitzing.  Made for a great day , and I came home totally spent.  With so few fliers, we actually had more spectators than fliers, with Dan and Matt saying they just sent me their membership forms and fees, Dave and sons watching, asking, and showing much interest in the hobby, and another fella from the Mt Angel club who came to buy a Cub from Joe, but spent a couple hours watching and talking to us.  Came home around 3PM after about 6 hours at the field!