Back in the Saddle Again!

Yahoo, I got to fly again after missing the last two weekends due to the trip to Hawaii!  I had 3 flights with the Toledo Special, wanting to try something tame.  My takeoffs were great but the landings were all slightly bouncy.  Temp was only around 50F, foggy at first, so I mowed the field before flying.  The TS needed a bunch of up trim, and I don't recall it needing much trim adjustment due to seasonal changes in temp.  Oh well, it flew great after that.  I maidened Rudy's new blue and white Osiris to get it trimmed out for him.  He made several successful flights and trimmed it more to his liking after the maiden.  Nice flying bird.  He said he bought the larger 62" one when on sale a few weeks ago too, and it will be his Winter project.

Cove Breaker

You've heard of code breakers.  Well this is the Cove Breaker, my 71st painting, 21st for 2012.  I don't know that I will make 30 for the year like 2011.  I watched Bob Ross do this painting on Monday, four days ago.  I decided to give it a try today and naturally I forgot some of the things he did, but that is fine because just getting practice is the main objective.  Felt good doing most of it.  I think the ocean came out well, but I am not real fond of the land.  Sure was fun to paint it no matter what.  :)

AW Ultimate

With some hesitation, I took the AW Ultimate to fly today, just a few days before our trip to HI.  I did not want to damage the plane and spend a few days fixing it just before the trip.  Luck was on my side and the plane flew beautifully and I did not bung up any landings.  I had 3 flights and I feel like the plane is getting more and more dialed in.  I did not change any trims or mixing today.  The only adjustment needed was to richen the high needle about 1/8 of a turn or less.  When I first started the engine it was missing at full throttle, I let it run a minute then tried full throttle again, but it still missed, so I killed it.  After the adjustment it ran fine all day.  Attribute it to the colder temps today as Fall is upon us.  I did many slow rolls and point rolls, stall turns, a few rolling circles, avalanches, cuban 8's and reverse ones, some harrier flight.  All went well.  Landings were perfecto from the left, over the nearby wheeled irrigation pipes, and onto the runway by carrying some throttle all the way to just a foot above the ground then idle down and flare out.  Did a left circle in harrrier, the smallest one I have done, and it looked good.  Constantly pulsing the throttle sure works.  I think this plane has become my fave in the fleet.  Why?  Definitely it has the most presence of any of my planes, not just because it is one of the largest, but because it has great lines and a beauty of a color scheme, probably my prettiest plane.  And then there is its presence in the air...BIG looks good, is easy to see, and the DLE-55 roars as the plane does fast low passes.

I flew the Apache after the Ultimate, but found no thermals.  There was some light air here and there but I could not buy a thermal today.  Sometimes when it is so calm, the thermals don't form, or they don't drift by. I seem to be much more successful when there is wind up to 5mph.

Ultimate and Apache Flying Again

The winds looked iffy in West Salem, but I gave the field a go anyhow, and am glad I did.  The wind was most times non-existent, and sometimes just spotty and always less than 5mph!  Flew the CG Ultimate three flights and the old Sullivan tail wheel bracket replacement works great.  While it makes the tail sit up higher, the takeoffs seemed unaffected.  It's a great flying plane.

The Apache flew with the new transmitter than it has in a while.  It had been touchy to trim and I never thought about it, but the new transmitter makes the plane easy to trim and much smoother in the air.  While I did not catch any boomers, I did find several small bubbles of light air for some nice flights.

Flight Log: 10/07/2012

Arg, it was a short session of flying on a perfectly beautiful and calm day.  I had my CG Ultimate out for the day, and messed up the landing on the 2nd flight.  Came in too slow, added power, had to adjust quickly as wings tipped, and started to envision a cartwheel down the runway.  Luck was with me and the plane righted in time, but bounced around enough to flatten the main gear a little, and break the tail wheel bracket.  I expected to see broken FG wheelpants, but they were fine.  Expected to see dents in the bottom of the wing due to the wheel pants, but there were none.  The tail wheel bracket is plastic/nylon and the plane is 20 years old, so I think it just got old and brittle enough to break under a bad landing, lol.  I then wanted to fly the Apache, but the elevator servo was real touchy around neutral and would not return to the same position often, and I mean it was 1/8" off...pretty bad.

I came home and got to work fixing both planes.  Finished the Ultimate first.  I could not find another identical CG tail wheel bracket anywhere in my parts, so I went with a used Sullivan tail wheel bracket that I fortunately kept.  I had to straighten it out, but I got it on and it should work well.  I did not use the coiled spring connection between the bracket and the rudder because I have seen enough of those hopelessly bent, so I substituted in some thicker piano wire.  For the main LG, I removed both, along with the leggings, and bent them back and more with my adjustable wrench and body weight.  I got them pretty even and had to go back and forth between them, and trying them on the plane to test for level stab/wings.  Came out good, and I mounted them back on with the leggings too.  She is ready to go and show who's boss again.  (I do think this Ultimate flies truer than the larger AW Ultimate which has fair amounts of roll and pitch coupling when rudder is applied in KE.)

For the Apache, I thought the servo was worn out at neutral, so I removed it, and found another HS-55 which had stripped gears.  I switched all the gears out of the stripped servo, and put the good gears inside.  Mounted it back in the Apache and expected success.  The servo still acted the same way yet it had been fine on my servo centering device!  Humbug!!  Aha, the transmitter became the suspected culprit.  I switched the crystal from the transmitter to another one, and sure enough the elevator servo acted smoothly at neutral and all other deflections.  Joe gave me this brand new transmitter years ago to try with the Apache because it has basic programming capabilities.  Well, it came in very handy today!  While in the Apache, I noticed the servo tray was loose from one side of the fuse, so I CA'd that back in.  Also, the sliding canopy was getting loose, so I used CA to build up the bump inside the canopy that holds it from slipping off the fuse.  These planes do need TLC routinely to ensure they treat the pilot nicely!  The Apache is ready for the warpath to thermal heaven again!

Big Shoe

Finally a day came that was not too windy to fly this week!  Flew my new 60 size GP Shoestring today, making 4 nice flights.  First one surprised me at the end as I came in on final, and discovered the engine stopped in the last few seconds.  Luckily the plane was set up for landing perfectly, and it just rolled to a stop after a gentle touchdown.  The Saito 100 is a great engine for this plane.  I might not need to add any tail weight at all if the plane keeps flying like it has been.  If I do add tail weight it would be to keep the plane from nosing over during taxiing, which it has done just once, but it is obvious to me that the tail is bouncy on the runway.  The Saito 100 was not making much smoke on  the first flight, so I opened the needle valve a couple clicks and it seems to be as powerful and makes a nice smoke trail now.  The plane flies great, and will be a keeper.  It could be better only if the roll coupling when rudder is applied in KE was less prominent.  Hmmm, would tail weight help reduce that roll coupling?  That might be another reason to add some sticky lead under the stab as an experiment at least.

Snow Mantled Sunset

This is my 70th painting in the Bob Ross method of wet-on-wet oil painting, which I began learning in January 2010.  Here we are 2.75 years later, and I finally made a breakthrough today on how to put snow (or fall colors) on deciduous trees and bushes.  Not saying it's perfection, just saying I made a giant leap in execution today.  Mainly the paint has to be thinned, and this time I used liquid clear mixed with the white instead of using thinner or liquid white.  Bob Ross doesn't usually do that, but he did on his program today, so I gave it a try.  The other trick is to be sure to use a light touch AND to not kill off all the dark spaces.  The snow or color highlights need the dark background to stand out from, and to create depth in the trees.  I like how these trees turned out today and will work on executing this even better with each future painting.  It's so satisfying to have one of these "Aha" moments after struggling with this aspect so long!

NOTE: gifted to Syl and Rich during their visit.  11/12/12

Hangar Hangers

The wind has been outright obnoxious this week, so I have not been able to fly.  Today I decided to install two more hangar hangers in my garage.  These are made of rope, pulleys, utility hooks, rope cleats, snap hooks, and pipe insulation.  The hangers made today are those for the Alpha 40 trainer in the foreground, and the 46 size Shoestring just behind it.

 The materials for each hanger averages out to about $15.  Basically there is a utility hook with a pulley in the ceiling, and another hook and pulley high on the wall at the ceiling.  A rope cleat is located at a desired height just below the latter hook and pulley.  A snap hook collects two ropes that are lined with pipe insulation to hold and protect the planes.  3/16" braided nylon poly rope runs from the snap hook to the cleat.  The only "hard" step is to locate ceiling joists and wall studs to accept the utility hooks and cleats.

With the two new hangers, I now have 5 assembled
planes hanging with this system.

Two more assembled planes (right side of photo) that are not
flown anymore are hung without the rope and pulley system.

Wings are stored on shelving brackets lined with pipe insulation.

Fuselages for unassembled planes are held
by shelving brackets lined with piping
insulation, or just left on the floor if too large!

I have to hang planes using these systems to be able to store the planes in the garage.  The rope and pulley system keeps the planes that I fly as accessible as possible.  I wish the two 50cc and one 30cc gas planes could be hung as easily, but I fear doing so due to soft underbellies combined with greater weights could damage those planes.  You are looking at about 20 planes in the garage in these pics.  I have 4 ARFs awaiting assembly in the bonus room right above the garage and will have to make choices on what to sell before the new planes can be completed and sent to the garage!  Still, I cannot just stop buying new planes, can I?  :P  NOPE!

Fall Flavors

Here is painting #69, Fall Flavors.  Inspired by Bob Ross today, so I gave it a try after watching the show on OPB.  I couldn't remember the whole layout, but never do, lol.  Still struggling to paint trees and shrubs like he does, but practice, practice, practice will help.