Gassers

Had a good day flying the AW Ultimate today, with Tad bringing his AW Extra 300.  I advertised a Big Bad Boys Bash to the club members a couple days ago, and it probably made no diff on attendance, but a few other guys showed up with larger planes.  Mike brought his Giant Super Sportster, Al brought his Ryan, and John De G brought his Tiger Moth.  It was fun.  Later, Joe brought his ZEN 90, Rudy his new Vyper, and Dick with his electric planes.  I got in 3 flights with the Ultimate, no issues with it today.  Tad had 2 fine flights with his Extra, and we both got pics and vids of the planes.

Failure to Launch!

Took the Sbach to the field today on a gorgeous day.  Got it all assembled and ready to go.  Did my control check and the throttle was dead silent.  Tried to see if I hit a switch that would turn it off.  Also went to menu to see if channel assignment had somehow changed.  Nope, all good.  Took it all apart and went home.  Tried an external battery witih a servo tester on the servo and it was dead.  Tried a new servo in the receiver and it worked.  For some reason the Hitec 110 servo just went dead electronically between the last outing and today.  Mysterious!  Luckily it did not go dead in the air.  And that I have some new 115's that are the same size, so one is already in the Sbach, ready to fly again.

Yak-ity Yak

The weatherman is all wet.  Yesterday was supposed to good, and it was BAD.  Today was supposed to bad, and it was GOOD.  Started stripping off my jacket then vest soon after I got to the field.  First alone, Dave showed up soon, and I took up his high wing trike electric foamy since he put on a new stronger engine, and wanted it declared airworthy.  Flew nice, trimmed it out, and landed.  He did good and is happy with the new found power.  I flew my Yak 54 four flights.  Still purring along, and it liked the weather today.  Richened the needle about 1/4 turn and it was really happy, with a nice smoke trail.  Just flew every trick I know and the plane was obliging.  Landings with this plane are the easiest, so slow and controlled.  Before the Yak, I flew my Blade 400 for two packs which is all I have now for that chopper.  Did ok, did not break it, and got some stick time.  I tried turning so the side faces me, going left ,and coming back going right.  Did not have the cajones to try a full circle yet.  It's getting close.

Gorgeous Weather

Wow, after 10 days of not flying, I had to fly today.  Took my Imagine 50 and Toledo Special out on a special day of nearly 42F when I got there to nearly 60F when I left for home, cloudy skies becoming sunny blue, and no wind.  Flew each four times, and I might have got five on the Imagine 50.  Great flights, engines purred, smooth landings for the most part.  OS 70 Surpass II in the Imagine sounds like it might need a bearing job soon.  Bob R flew his Pulse, Al was there with Twist and Escapade, Mike with Uproar and chrome Comanche, Doug B with his T-34, and even Ashton flew his Uproar today.  Later Joe arrived with his new electrified ZEN 90.  Oo la lah!  Flew great, but flights were short on those huge battery packs for some reason.   With only 2 packs, he did not get to fly much.  He needs to find at least a couple more for an honest day of flying the ZEN.  Joe had an extreme makeover...having cut his ponytail off AND arriving in a new 09 Scion TC.  That thing can haul big planes, maybe larger than his now sold Saab Viggen, which he said was starting to make sounds.  Having exhausted myself flying, I did some therapy mowing of the field since the last time was when I did it 10 days ago.

Build Log for 2013

Completed the SAB Goblin 500 in December 2013.

Completed the AW Bravata on 07/15/2013.

Completed the Hangar 9 RV-8 on 03/21/2013.

Sold during the Winter of 2012/2013:
---Extra 330L with DL-50 and all servos to Joe for Blade 130x and $450
---Shoestring 46 with OS 70 Surpass II and all servos to Doug for $250
---Nearly finished Ki-84 Hayate (Frank) with Sierra air retracts, Saito 180 and all servos(except throttle and retract servo) to Joe for GP Super Skybolt and $400

Build Log: RV-8

Finally completed assembly of a new plane, first one for 2013.  It's the Hangar Nine RV-8.  Power is a new used Saito 82a with one of those turbo mufflers.  It has two joints allowing pretty unlimited adjustments for angling the muffler exit from the cowling.  It yields very clean results per the photos.  I am using Futaba 3152 servos all around except for two Hitec 325 servos for the flaps, and an older Fut 3151 on the throttle.  There are 7 servos in this little plane!  The receiver is an Airtronics 8ch to enable use of the SD-10G transmitter.  This xmitter has variable levers on each side...I am using the left one for control of the flaps.  AUW is 120 ounces or 7.5 pounds.

It's a beautiful ARF, a gift from Becky and Tad for my last birthday!  THANKS guys!!

ON THE DRIVEWAY!

Giles Smiles

Nobody at the field today...calm and 50F!  Took 3 flights with the Giles 202.  Still loving it as it flies really big and smooth, then lands like a feather.  Gonna have to fix the wheel pants again even though landings were good.  They just take a beating!

Windy Day!

But I went flying with the SNAFU anyhow.  This plane loves to play in the wind, flying at a standstill, hovering, landing on the short N/S runway all day long.  The OS 52 FS is still running great and sipping fuel.  Wind was likely about 10mph from the South, making landings over the dirt road necessary and lots of challenge and fun, especially due to the lawn mower attachments on one side of the runway, and our own fence and pits on the other.  Nobody came, so I was up and down, up and down, and up and down in less than an hour.  I made the whole roundtrip from my house in just under two hours!

No Better Than This!

Holy moly, absolutely a beautiful day weatherwise with sunny blue skies, scattered clouds, 50F-60F, and very light wind from the North.  It was a great day with 2 out of 3 sons there.  Tad brought his AW Extra 300 and nano Blade.  Jer brought his Carbon Z Yak and mcpx Blade.  I flew my P-47 Thunderbolt four flights and declare it ready for Warbird Weekend at the end of May.  Also brought the Blade 400 which Jer flew for one pack, and I refrained when he said the wind was a bit much at that time.  All went well till Jer cracked the Yak in half during slow inverted flight.  Terra firma won.  Next Doug cartwheeled his Mentor on landing and tore off the fin and rudder.  Things happen in threes, so next up, Wilfredo lost power on his TRex 500, and autorotated it into the North field's grass.  Smashed a LG and tail fin, but remarkably that was all.  Sleuth work by Wilfredo found that the tank clunk line was disconnected, possibly and probably due to his filling the tank with the exhaust plug ON the muffler, which caused backpressure on the clunk and blew the line off.  Sounds plausible!  A small adjustment was needed on the P-47 to get it to roll smoother.  Apparently the main gear had too much toe-in, causing the tires to rub sort of sideways on the axles, and torque the struts inward.  I adjusted the axles, lining them up as straight as I could to minimize these effects.  I could not notice better rolling performance on the next takeoff and landing, but the adjustment had to help in my mind.

Ultimate Day!

After a foggy/hazy start, the sun burned it off and popped through to make today as nice as yesterday.  I flew my CG Ultimate three flights. That old OS 120 Surpass is just puttering along with strength and reliability after 21 years.  I am amazed the bearings have not worn out like on the newer Saito and OS four stroke engines I have.  A good day.

Stinger Time

Got in three flights with the Stinger II today in absolutely perfect weather...55F, calm, sunny with broken clouds.  Can't get better except if my sons were there too.  Stinger flew well, but I think the YS63 might be getting tired.  It does not zip along like it used to, and the lack of whistling in a shallow dive attests to the lack of speed.  Also, it does not have unlimited climb like I thought it did...it runs out and stalls in a long vertical.  Nevertheless it still flies nice but it's just not as exciting as it used to be!  Time to retire it?  :)

Holy Toledo, a Gorgeous late Winter Day!

The temp was 55F, sky blue, the wind...what wind?  I stayed home early on because I saw trees moving around and thought I should drive the Corvette instead.  After that, I washed the Winter dirt off it, in prep for selling it hopefully soon.  But when I was done and looked around, the sky was still blue and the wind was non-existent!  Decided to pack up the Toledo Special quick and go fly.  Got there to see Mike driving out, and Rudy packing up...all done already.  I unpacked and got in 3 fun flights with the plane, the Saito ran great and strong.  Just a relaxing time flying by myself in perfecto conditions.  With nobody else there to fly when I was done, I went ahead and mowed the field, and cut in a gasser pit area and taxiway in the longer grass on the east end of the pits.  Tad and I discussed this this weekend.  The short grass will help taxiing or dragging the planes in that area without damaging wheel pants.  Anyway, it looks kinda cool, haha!

Pass the Gas!

Tad and I took out our gassers today on a nice but cool and overcast day at the field.  He flew his 50cc Extra 300 for the first time this year, and I took out the 30cc Sbach.  Last time I had it out, the muffler came loose as usual, and one bolt was already lost in the air.  After cleaning it up, I used red thread locker ("permanent") on the bolts holding the muffler to the engine.  Seems to still be tight after 4 flights today.  The Sbach slows down nice for landings, but I still am not setting her down light enough to my liking.  I think this accounts for cracks in the wheel pants, although any grass runway will quickly crack FG pants even with consistently perfect and light touchdowns.  Anyway, I will continue to work on the landings, and to repair FG wheel pants.  Tad had 3 crisp flights with the Extra.

Trojan

While not 65F like forecasted, it was probably 55F and plenty "warm" enough to fly.  Winds were from the South at between 5 and 10mph.  I used the N/S runway for 4 flights of the T-28 Trojan.  Enjoyed playing with that plane again...fast, slow, flaps, high, low, rolls, loops.  It is fit for another season, and of course for Warbird Weekend at the end of May.  Used full flaps, some low-mid throttle, and down elevator to keep the plane on steady and gradual nose down descent to just over the dirt road, then letting off throttle and down elevator to settle early on the N/S runway.  Hope my new RV-8 does the same thing with its flap setup.