Video - Flying on a warm Winter day in January

Mid 60s and not a cloud in the sky, with a gusty 10MPH breeze. I stayed out at the field for about 3-1/2 hours. I flew the Baby Streak-II and the Li'l Satan, and left the neglected Streak-I in the car. I feel like I'm disappointing it lately, taking it to the field and not flying it. But anyway, I'd fly some and take a break to walk up to the RC field and yak with those guys. I offered, but none of them wanted to try the handle. I did get a compliment that CL is ten times harder than RC. I don't know about that, but I'll take it. I said, yeah it's a full body experience, and quick 1/2A is an exercise in controlled panic. They had a YAK and a Piper Cub, an F16 and a nice self-designed tri-copter that he flew with video glasses.

My intention today was to experiment with different props. I took a fistful out there and started with an APC 6x2. The Big Mig liked it and spun up pretty fast. I launched it and did a few laps to make sure my latest trim job was adequate... it was; stable but leaning toward twitchy, which is what I was aiming for. I've been receiving tutoring lately from Ken. The plane needs a few grams up front and I reduced it to about 3 grams and slid it farther forward than it was last week. The plane was nice and agile and the poor inverted performance I mentioned last week was now corrected. I also cured the odd flutter I had last week, when it felt like I was flying a fish that would wag its tail when the wind blew. It was just the overly relaxed Ultracote. I took an iron to it and tightened it and I think that helped a couple of problems I'd had on the maiden last Saturday. It might have been the inverted instability problem too.

So, she's trimmed out very nicely now. All I have left to fix is the uneven elevator throws. I have a new favorite flyer. I didn't do as much as planned with the propellers. The APC 6x2, though it let the engine rev up, flew the plane too slowly, especially for a stiff gusty breeze. But it did allow me to make my wingovers a lot prettier. I decided to go back to my 6x3 MA to get a fresh a baseline for comparison, since I had re-trimmed the plane since the maiden. But I was so happy with the performance on that flight, I just decided to leave it on and have some fun flying. Sorry, Ken, I can't report on the results of the other APCs. I'll get around to it, maybe next week.

I am getting more used to needling the Norvel and I think I can now consistently identify its sweet spot before I launch. Sometimes you really have to milk those Norvels with the hemostats to get the engine running. That's something I haven't had to do with the Tee Dees. And I think I was blaming the 6x3 for my inept needling in the past, even going back to the Refried Bean flights. This is the engine that used to have the loose venturi. I had tried silicone tube as a gasket, and Permatex too(bad bad idea), but nothing was dependable for long. A few weeks ago I tried a piece of latex bladder tube to seal it and it worked perfectly. I figured it would rot in the fuel, and I meant to replace it, but just slam forgot. And it still worked great, no leaks at all. I never imagined it would last, but it did. I will put a fresh one on before next week.

I've been practicing wingovers, overhead loops and 8s It was too windy for my own comfort for the overhead stunts, but I did a bunch of wingovers with both planes. The Li'l Satan is really easier even though it's a bit faster. I have trouble with my pullouts and sometimes climb instead of leveling off. The streak with all that wing really floats if i slightly over control it. Some of that maybe my too-short elevator horn, so that needs attention this week. I pulled a few out low and flat, while others shot back up high. It's hard to watch the wingovers on video, but hopefully you can pick out the good ones. I'll get it. I know I'm a stupefyingly slow study, but I intend to add new stunts fairly regularly, so as not to bore either myself or my movie viewers.

So, I'm happy to report, I had a great time today. Depending on the honey-do list, I will be back out next week. Or as soon as possible. It was great to be home alone for a whole weekend. I had plenty of shop time, ran my MP Jet, balanced props, made bladders and took as long as I damn well wanted.

Ain't life great!
Rusty

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