More Corsair

I started fitting the vertical fin today, they have quite a procedure in the manual and I followed it to the letter.  This is the test fit where it gets marked so I know how much covering to remove for the glue.  I took a break at noon and ran up to William's to give him a little advice about a problem he was having with his speed control.  I also took him a bunch of my radio control magazines that I am done reading.

After I got the covering trimmed and tested the fit one more time, I epoxied it in.  The instructions have you put tape around the opening to keep the epoxy off the finish.  They want you to remove it after 30 minutes and clean up the joint.  As I was coming back to do that, I remember I had not checked to see if the fin was straight.  The epoxy was still soft enough that I could make a small adjustment, but my square would not go clear against the fin because of the fuselage side.  I hustled around and got my laser level out, I had to put the tape on because the laser did not show on the blue covering.  It turned out my eyeball adjustment with the square was right on, that was a good thing to end the day on!

Black Friday

I was still full this morning from the dinner yesterday, so I had a small breakfast.  I did some Christmas shopping online and ended up getting two gifts taken care of.  I got the wing fitted on the Corsair and started installing the horizontal stabilizer.  This evening, Vera and I settled in and watched Punkin Chunkin 2013.  It is amazing how much effort are put into those machines.

Thanksgiving

For the first time in quite a few years we did not go to the Mansion for Thanksgiving dinner.  Debbie and Josh had invited the family to her place for dinner.

This is the first thing I checked out, the dessert table, lots more was added after I took the picture!

Lots of good things to snack on, which I did most of the day.  I forgot to get a picture of the turkey and ham.

OK, I found a picture of the turkey getting moved to where they could slice it up.

The football crew, they were watching the Cowboys/Raiders game while the last of the dinner preparations were going on.  Dinner was great, I was so full I had to wait a while before hitting the dessert table.

 Michelle, Mik and James had gone to the Mansion earlier, so they came to Debbie's for dessert.  I got this picture of Bev and Michelle just after they got there.

Not long after that, I got a picture of the girls together.

The shoppers planning their trip to Walmart.  They ended up getting two big screen TV's.

While the shoppers were gone, we had a great time visiting around the table.  It was nice having all the family there.  Everyone was in a great mood, it made for a great day with lots of laughter.

Winters wood!

I got the motor mounted on the Corsair while Vera was at bible study.  The instructions call for a 46 sized motor, so naturally, I installed a 60!

I was down to 3 bags of wood pellets, so we went to 4 Corners and got a ton this afternoon.  I took this picture at 2:00, by 2:30 we had them all unloaded and stacked.

After I took the pallets back, I picked up dinner at the new McDonald's, our first time trying it out.  I went out and did some more work on the Corsair landing gear.  I wanted the gear doors on it, most of the models I see pictures of don't have them and that little skinny strut just does not look right.

I finally figured out a wire loop around the strut that pulls the door shut.  It is not a perfect fit, but it will be hard to see as it flies by.

Not a lot to report!

Sunday was all football, they were all close exciting games and the team I liked won every time.  Maybe I should have gotten into a football pool somewhere.  Monday I messed around on the computer and worked on planes all day, we did not even make a mail run.  Monday night was football again, not nearly as good a game as the Sunday ones.  Tuesday, we started walking again, Pastor Pam organized the Tuesday Walkers as we get used to it, the plan is to do more days.  It was about 31 degrees, but we were all dressed for it, so it was a nice walk.

Since I had sold the big J-3, I had some room to move the F-4 out of the building room.  That five and a half foot fuselage and big tail really take up a lot of room, I was forever running into it.

I also got the fillets on the Dirty Birdy done and made a decision to glass the whole fuselage, if I am careful, it will not add too much weight.

The Corsair's pilot got finished up today, I added clear paint to his glasses so they would reflect light, looks pretty darn good!  As I sit here looking at the picture, I realized I have not put the boom mike on the helmet!  Oh Well something for tomorrow!

Another great day of flying!

This is how Rainier looked at 11:00 today when we arrived at the LCRC flying field.  Four other members were there flying already and we ended up with 10 people out there today.

I had brought the heater, but it was so nice out that I never did light it.  I did have to add another layer to be comfortable.  I got in 10 flights while we were there.

I got the little Spitfire finished last night and tried one test flight after dark using the shop motion light.  It got kind of exciting when I flew a little too high and could not see it.  This morning while I was waiting for it to warm up, I put a couple of test flights on it in front of the shop, while making adjustments.  I flew it twice at the field today and it flies great.

When the sun got lower it started started getting cool pretty fast so we headed home.  I unloaded, put the motor home away, exercised and fed Sam before heading in for the evening.  As I was coming in the sun was setting, not a spectacular sunset, but a nice way to end the day. 

Making headway!

No snow today, but plenty of frost and 25 degrees.  About 9:30, I warmed up the Blazer and we made a run to get the mail and some groceries at the Kelso Safeway.  It was one of our shorter trips to town, only 2 hours.

After lunch, I want out and worked on the planes.  I finished up getting the right retract blocks level and checked the operation.

Now I just need to mount the gear door like I did on the left gear and make up link that keeps them attached to the strut when it moves.

When I got tired of working on the Corsair, I glued in the blocks to form the fillets on the wing of the Dirty Birdy.  When the glue dried, I started grinding on the right one, I can see this is going to be a long process.

Just before going in, I glued in a magnet to hold the wing on the little Spitfire.  There are just a few more steps to do and I can see if this conversion flies.

Winter is here!

Vera had bible study this morning, I started the Blazer a little early so it would be nice and warm for her.  I did yesterdays blog, then I got started winterizing things.  I had to set this hose reel in the sun for a while as the nozzle was frozen and I couldn't drain it.  After Vera got home, we ran to 4 Corners and got the propane tanks filled, one for the motor home and one for the heater I use when I am out flying.  I made a trip over to see the twins today, they had a little disagreement and I didn't know I could hear that high a frequency.  I did some work on the Corsair this evening, fitting the retracts, I found one of the mounts was a couple of degrees off and it took quite a bit of grinding to make them match.  Vera and I spent the rest of the evening watching Weather gone Wild and Short Course Off Road Racing.  One race was really exciting, a driver rolled his truck 11 times and walked away!

More Corsair

I headed out first thing this morning and got the right side of the Corsair wing epoxied on.  I checked back on it several times to make sure it was staying lined up and to clean up the epoxy that oozed out.  It finally set up enough that I could leave it, so we made a mail/recycling/grocery store run.  I ran into a couple of my classmates in the grocery store, it was nice to see Jerry getting around again, he has been having trouble with his ankle.  Yesterday, I sold another plane, a 1/4 scale Cub, so I spent most of the afternoon rearranging to fill in where it was.

 Michelle came up after school with a project she needed for her robotics class.  She needed these different shapes of blocks cut for their assignment tomorrow.   We cut 91 of the one inch square blocks, I am not sure how many of the other shapes, some were 13 and others were 26.  It went pretty quick with Michelle and Vera doing parts of it.  I sat down in my recliner after that and Vera brought me a great hamburger and it was nap time shortly after that.  A full tummy and leaning back in the chair gets me every time!

An airplane day!

I worked on the Corsair today, the painting of the pilot is coming along pretty well.  I still have a few details to paint, but he looked good enough for a photo shoot.  I also got the left wing epoxied to the center section.  The new motor for my little glider showed up today and it is installed and ready for a test flight.

I was going to put a quarter by the motor for a size comparison, but I found out it was way too big, so I used a dime instead.

Of course, the whole plane is pretty small, going to this brushless motor made it over an ounce lighter.  I came in about 7 and settled in to watch Monday Night Football which had an interesting finish.

Sunday Football and Planes

Vera in her new sweater, all ready for church this morning.  While she was gone, I watched football and printed out an instrument panel for the Corsair.

It has much more detail than the one that came in the kit, I took it out to the shop later and sprayed a coat of clear paint on it to protect the ink.  I really enjoyed the Seahawks game this afternoon, a good win!  I  finished the day watching Sunday Night Football, it was not nearly as interesting as the Seahawks.

Done

Vera finished up the sweater she had been working on today.  The yarn was her birthday present, we picked it up in Everett when we went up for JP's birthday.  I have been working on 3 projects out in the shop the last couple of days, the Corsair, Dirty Birdy and a little Spitfire.  I spent a bunch of time hunting for the rest of the Dirty Birdy parts, I looked in every cupboard before finally finding them under a set of plans.  The only good thing is, I now know where a lot of my other parts are.

Another visit from UPS!

Tuesday

Not too much went on here Tuesday, we made a run to Longview for my Protime check.  Then stopped at Fred Meyer for a couple of things.  As we pulled into FM, the car in front of us had a Ham licence plate I recognized.  When we got into the store, Stu was buying bananas also.  I had not seen him for many years and it was nice getting caught up.  Tuesday afternoon, I spread a bag of Weed and Feed on the lawn, when I was cleaning the shop a couple of weeks ago, I came across it.  No telling how many years it has been there.   I also found a bag of azalea and rhododendron fertilizer, if you think about it, remind me to put it on next spring.  

Wednesday

UPS showed up this morning with the batteries I had ordered for the little quadcopter.  I was amazed when he handed me this big box for two little batteries.  The is about 12 X 12 and 6 inches deep for those two little batteries that were in the small white boxes.  I put my cell phone in there for a size reference.  The batteries are a little bigger than the original, so I had to modify the battery hatch a little, but I get six minutes of flight time now.

I spent most of the day putting up trim and installing another section of baseboards.  Slow but sure, I am getting this job done.

Flying or Mowing?

Flying or mowing, that was my choice this morning.  I went outside, it was cold and damp, plus we had a couple of packages being delivered, so I decided to mow.  The first thing I did was use the mower to clean off the driveway, it picked up some rocks, so I sharpened the blades, changed the oil and filter and put on the bagger.  The leaves Vera took the picture of yesterday are history now.  I always get a sense of accomplishment when I look at the lawn after mowing.  We went to the 49er for dinner and then headed up to Centralia for the LCRC meeting.  Tonight was nominations and it looks like I am secretary again.  When we got home, I settled in to watch my recording of Monday Night Football, I was rooting for the Buc's and they won, they were 0 - 8 coming into the game, the only NFL team without a win.

Another great family get together!

Vera went to church this morning, and I watched football.  I watched the Ravens and Bengals game until enough of the Seahawks game was recorded that I could watch it without any commercials.  It was good game for Seahawks fans as they won easily!  When Vera got home, she took this picture of the multi colored leaves on the lawn.  This afternoon, I made a special card for Steve's birthday party this evening.  I used mostly family members pictures from 1999 when I first started taking digital pictures.

It was great getting together with the family.

Everyone was catching up on the latest happenings.

Emmy and her boy friend Dan, I don't think Emmy was quite agreeing with her mom.

After the family version of Happy Birthday, Steve blew out the candle, the other seventy would have probably burned up the cake!

Almost every card had some reference to age, and most were pretty humorous.

Michelle and James came up to the party, James' knee is feeling much better.  Just before we left, we got Steve and James together for a picture.  Michelle and James came over afterwards and we watched the rest of the Saints and Dallas game.

Swap Meet

We went up to Olympia today for a swap meet at the Olympic Flight Museum.  The place was packed, lots of good deals and lots of people.  We had a good time looking and visiting with friends.

I only made it part way down the first aisle before I bought the helicopter body, I packed it about 2/3 of the way around and decided to take it to the car.  Later I found a couple of sets of landing gear struts and a pilot.  After about 2 hours, I had seen enough, so we got ready to leave, but first, I had sent four planes up with Jeff to sell, 2 had sold, so I went and got one of the ones left and gave it to a new 12 year old club member.  Vera reminded me I wanted a new tee shirt, so I picked out the one in the picture as we were leaving.  Then Vera and I had lunch, made a stop at Costco and headed home via the swap meet again.  I went in and visited a little more, tried to give the last plane away, but ended up trading it for a little P-40.  We went home on Old 99 through Tenino and stopped to see Marie when we got to Centralia.  Her rib is doing great and she doesn't have any pain from it now.  From there, we stopped at our friend Bob's place and had a really nice visit.  About four, we left there so we could get home before dark.  It was a great day, but it always feels so good to get home.

Good News!

OK, I stole Dianne's picture of James last night when they stopped by.  The doctors appointment Wednesday went good and they did not think the MCL was torn.  He had an MRI Wednesday afternoon and we got the news this afternoon that it showed the MCL, ACL and cartilage were all OK!  What he has is a bone bruise that will probably take about 6 weeks to heal.  I will probably sleep much better tonight!