Hauling freight! And Sunday Flying.

I've been lucky this season with metal tanks, new and old. Last season all I used were Dubro and Sullivan clunks. One Dubro was plumbed incorrectly for uniflow but inexplicably worked great. When I tried to plumb the Sullivan for the Osprey I never could get uniflow to work ant the hitchhiker tandem was nothing but a technical mess. So I gave up and cut off the uni line just inside the stopper, used it as the fill port, and ran pressure to the overflow, and it worked great.

This year it's all metal tanks which I've aggressively pressure checked, all good and they are working perfectly. Two on uni-pressure, and the Fox's supply on the Yak is standard vent and works well. They all drink the last drop. Keeping my fingers crossed. I have not opened any of them up, as I don't trust my soldering any more than I trust the manufacturer. sooner than later, I'm going to have to get over that. I'm an expert electronic solderer anyway.

In my videos I can see an odd "correction" on many vertical legs that I don't recall making, wondering if it's the hitchy leadouts. I'll see today. I'm going to video a few flights so I can watch. I want to zoom in and just watch myself too. I know I have some radical handle movements that aren't helping. Especially in the OH8s, which I'm finally flying much better. Things are one by one beginning to click for me. It's kind of exciting, but I'm still a long way from the top of Intermediate. I want to get a lot better this Summer.

I'm collecting an Arf Nobler from Wayne today that we trimmed last Summer. I'll need an engine for it. Do you think a 35fp will haul it? I don't know the weight yet. We don't know who built it. Wayne found it abandoned with solid epoxy glued hinges. He went through it, re-hinged it and got it going pretty well. If it doesn't prove to be a good backup contest plane, I'll get another Oriental ARF. Now that I know all about them, I can assemble a new one in pretty short order.
Rusty

RknRusty wrote:I've been lucky this season with metal tanks, new and old. Last season all I used were Dubro and Sullivan clunks. One Dubro was plumbed incorrectly for uniflow but inexplicably worked great. When I tried to plumb the Sullivan for the Osprey I never could get uniflow to work ant the hitchhiker tandem was nothing but a technical mess. So I gave up and cut off the uni line just inside the stopper, used it as the fill port, and ran pressure to the overflow, and it worked great.

This year it's all metal tanks which I've aggressively pressure checked, all good and they are working perfectly. Two on uni-pressure, and the Fox's supply on the Yak is standard vent and works well. They all drink the last drop. Keeping my fingers crossed. I have not opened any of them up, as I don't trust my soldering any more than I trust the manufacturer. sooner than later, I'm going to have to get over that. I'm an expert electronic solderer anyway.

Having spent my lifetime repairing electronics I would like to suggest that for tanks, which require more heat than circuit boards you could try an 80-watt soldering iron in tandem with a light dimmer to vary the heat output.  You could even rig the light dimmer with an electrical outlet.  80 will have more than enough power for sheet steel or brass and when throttled down can run all day.

Best Wishes

Thanks for the info, Ken.
I think it was Joe Adamusko that lent a 30 year old plane to young Taylor Gunder to fly in Intermediate, and the boy took second place. Taylor's Dad, Craig Gunder might have been the builder of that plane, I'm not sure.

Today's flights were all radical survival. Nasty nasty wind. I was so excited last night, planning to fly the Oriental and hunt for that magic setting, nail it down with the tach, and then have some fun with the Yak-9. Also I wanted to mate my newest Tom Morris handle with the Ukey for now, and then later to the Oriental's more worthy backup. And then I can use my Mark Boesen handle for random sport planes, as it's more simple to adjust. But better sense forced me to ground every plane but the Ukey.

It's 3 oz tank kept running out of gas in the middle of the clover. I leaned it an 8th of a turn, same thing. Another 8th of a turn, yet again. One more 8th and it was flying screaming fast and still ran out in the clover. That's a new one for this plane. Following earlier flights I pulled nothing but air out of the empty tank. After the last flight I pulled 1/8 ounce out. Tank was aligned, padded shimmed out. A field pressure test passed with all the tubes on it. Strange. It's always had plenty for the pattern and ten laps more.
It'll get a thorough going over. Nothing has been changed since Huntersville, same fuel too.

Looks like June 4th will be my next day out unless I stooge it. I'm not wild about flying alone.
But the good news is, I got a nice well trimmed fairly light ARF Nobler airframe from Wayne. I'm going to use my 35fp in it and it hopefully will suit me for a backup contest plane. I also got a beautifully built I-Beam plane from Bob Zambelli that needs the wing mended and re-covered. I'll be doing it with silkspan, my first time. It's a flapless stunter called Piuma(Italian for Feather). It weighs nothing. My spare 25fp will work great for it.

Wayne maidened his Intermediate Death Star, aka the IDS, which I made the graphics for. Just flat laps with an LA46, so it needs more flights on a calm day. Nothing to video, but here are some pictures.

Hi John, maybe that's my problem. I've been using my dual heat Weller gun. I have 25W pencils but that's too weak. I'll look into a more suitable iron.

RknRusty wrote:Hi John, maybe that's my problem. I've been using my dual heat Weller gun. I have 25W pencils but that's too weak. I'll look into a more suitable iron.

Hey, Rusty,

I didn't want to lay it on you too thick since you and I have been in the same field a long time.  

This is more for other people that only solder occasionally.  80 watts is overkill for a tank but the light dimmer will let you set the heat where it is needed, not to the point where the solder joint becomes "frosty" looking.  With the right temperature it should be easy to solder tanks and also re-work if there is a leak.

Try it, guys and gals, don't let it "tank" on you!  

Later,
John

Dang, we shoulda strapped our gear to the roof of Z's Ferrari and driven up there for the day. lol
I'll get back and watch the movies later tonight.
Rusty

 Good stuff Ken , those PT's really look good flying in formation !! Rusty your going to need a bigger hanger soon with those big ole bird's nice haul !

Ken Cook wrote:I believe that's a brand new rebuild on that engine. His car reminds me of the James Bond Aston Martin DB5.  When Bob replaced the bronze valve guides, he saved them. They now happily reside in the crankcases of our Fox .35's. Talk about putting lipstick on a pig. That's a really neat car and I certainly like the sound. Ken

That's funny. Lipstick on a pg is right!
When he cranked it last week at Triple Tree, I got behind it just to listen. What a rumble. And the engine's cadence surprised me, I would not have known it was a V-12 if he hadn't told me.
Rusty