Flying, Blackhawks and a Sunset

 

We went flying at Toledo today.  I had a great time shooting touch and goes with the Skylane and Vortex.

I test flew Joel's Spacewalker for him, it flew great and once it was trimmed I passed the transmitter to him.  Joel flew it a few minutes and handed the transmitter back to me, right after I took it the plane dove towards the ground.  I gave full up elevator and throttled down but nothing changed and the engine was still running full bore when it hit the ground.  It appears the switch for the receiver failed.

Mt St Helens sure doesn't have much snow left on it.

Mt Rainier has plenty of snow.

As I was loading up two Army Blackhawks made a touch and go at the Toledo airport.

They turned South as they left so I got a pretty good shot of the crew.

When we got home the sunset was kind of pretty through the maple trees.

F-22 Raptor

I got tired of looking at the insulation in the back window of the motor home so I ordered this poster of the F-22 Raptor to cover it.  It turned in to a little bigger job when I decided to add some more insulation.  Now we wouldn't have cool air flowing down around our necks at night.
 

Shelton Swap Meet

Yesterday I picked out three planes to sell at the swap meet.  I ended up selling one and then buying a plane from one of the other sellers.  I got the Vortex Delta out and flew it a couple of times during the day.  The designer and manufacturer of the Vortex kit came over after my last flight and said I was doing a good job of advertising his kit.   I had met Bruce at last year's Winter Build event and had a nice visit with him.

This is a view from the other end of the swap meet.  They had a thousand feet of runway so it was easy to maintain social distancing.

They passed out the plaques for participating in the 2020 Winter Build Challenge even though it was cancelled because of Covid-19

On the way home we stopped at the South Lewis County Park and had dinner.

I counted about a hundred geese in the pond when we went for a walk after dinner. 

Kitfox

I took the Kitfox out today and tested the power.  With a six cell pack I didn't have enough power even with the biggest propeller I had so I will have to order some bigger ones.

I spent the rest of the day charging batteries and loading planes for the Swap meet in Shelton tomorrow.

Projects

Tuesday 9-22-2020

Yesterday and today I worked on putting new caulking on the top edge of all the window frames.

My next project showed up today and I had a nice visit with the UPS driver.  They have just bought a trailer and the stories they put on Facebook of their first weekend outing were hilarious.

Wednesday 9-23-2020

The window caulking got a good test today as it rained like crazy at times.  I went out to the shop and worked on the Kitfox.  I ended up getting the seat cushions  finished.

Thursday 9-24-2020

This is the project that came Tuesday, a new toilet for the motor home.  It fit perfectly where the other one was and I got the bolts through the holes on my first try.  We had to make a run to Home Depot for fittings to hook up the water, the local hardware store didn't have what I needed.  Of course a trip to Home Depot means we can go by Dairy Queen on the way home and have Blizzards.  Once I had the right fittings the water line turned out pretty nice.

Friday 9-25-2020

I spent the day working on the Kitfox, they are giving out the plaques and tokens for the Winter Build Challenge this weekend and I am planning on going.  By the time I quit tonight the only thing left is screw the windshield down.

It is nice to get back to normal

 9-19-2020

I got a frame for the Kitfox's seats made this morning.  I hope to have it done for this weekend so I can fly it.

I found some EPP foam that was the right thickness for the seat cushions and some thin vinyl upholstery I had left over from another project.  I got one cushion covered before dinner.  

After dinner we went for a ride out Tower road.  It was sure nice to see some blue sky and clouds, this picture was taken up by Toutle on our way home.  Then to add a little interest to the ride we went by a pickup in the lake with lots of police there arresting a couple of people.

9-20-2020

The forecast was for light winds and mild temperatures so we went flying today.  We were the first one there but seven other flyers showed up before the day was over.  I had a great time visiting after a week and a half of no flying because of the smoke.  I got in plenty of flying also, I flew the Slow Stick, Skylane, Corsair, Sukhoi, F-4 and P-51B.  On the way home we stopped at the South Lewis county park and had dinner while watching the geese in the lake.  It was great getting back to our normal routine.

Smoke, Kitfox, Thunder and Lightening

 

9-16-2020

Because of the smoke the first thing I have been doing each morning is take a picture out the front door.  It didn't look too bad this morning but we spent whole day inside, Vera knitting while I built planes.

9-17-2020

The smoke today was the worst so far.  We went for a ride in Delameter Valley and it was so bad there that we headed home.  I took this picture as we were going into the house when we got home.

9-18-2020

Vera had a video visit with her new doctor this morning no problems, the doctor just wanted to meet her.  After that was done we made a run to Fred Meyer and picked up our grocery order.  This afternoon I got the instrument panel for the Kitfox finished and installed.  I mounted the receiver and got most of the wiring ran.  Now I can start on the seats and interior.

Boy did we get some thunder, lightening and rain this afternoon.  The thunder was so loud I could feel it.  Of course my rain gauge quit registering so I will have to pull it down and see what is wrong.

Flying, Smoke and Kitfox

Wednesday 9-9-2020

Vera had bible study and the wind forecast looked pretty good so I went flying.  I made it a warbird day by taking the P-51, F-4 and the Corsair.  Of course I had the Skylane along to shoot touch and goes with.

It was a small group today, just five of us.  I took the five ingredient cookies that Vera had made out and let the guys sample them, they went over great.  Then I took the two ingredient peanut butter fudge I made out and it was a hit also.  I left fairly early as it was really hot out there.

Thursday 9-10-2020

When I came out of the shop this afternoon I noticed the sun looked almost red so I took a picture.  Of course the red didn't show but little did I know this was just a preview of things to come.

Friday 9-11-2020

We could really smell the smoke today.  I worked on moving the TV in the motor home and installing a digital picture frame in it's place.  We picked up dinner at Burger King and went down to Lions Pride Park to eat.  As smoky as it was I was surprised to see fishermen set up on the other side.

Saturday 9-12-2020

I went out and took a picture of the smoke first thing this morning.  It also smelled pretty bad so I spent most of the day working on the Kitfox and the motor home TV.  We did make a run to Home Depot for some raceway to put the TV wiring in.

Monday 9-13-2020

Smoke plus fog made it really bad this morning.

We got the TV and picture frame working today.  We are pretty happy with the way it turned out.

The screws I needed to attach the Kitfox's ailerons showed up today so I got them installed and the linkages made.  Now I just have to make covers for the aileron servos and the wings will be complete.

Tuesday 9-15-2020

Smoke and fog again this morning but it didn't seem to smell as much as other days or maybe we are getting used to it.

We got a little rain last night but not enough to register on my rain gauge.

Debbie and Jordon stopped by for a short visit after Jordon's preschool class.

The sun tried to come out a few times today and we could actually see shadows once.  It has been an interesting week that was mostly spent in the house, shop or motor home all three have air filters running in them.

Painting, Josie and Flying

 9-1-2020

The paint for the air conditioner covers showed up yesterday and I got them painted.  Today I put them back on, I sure like that step ladder for working on the motor home roof.  I can step from the work platform right onto the roof.

Vera found this recipe for cookies that have no flour in them.  This is the second batch she has made, they taste great and neither batch has lasted very long.

9-3-2020

There is a ceiling up there somewhere!  I was working on my planes and decided to take a picture of the planes in the shop front room.  My back has been a little sore so I have been taking it easy for the last couple of days.

9-4-2020

I was watering the flowers when I noticed that Laury and Josie were over at Steve and Dianne's so I wandered over to see what was going on.  They were just visiting but Josie sure kept an eye on me.

Here is the happy grandma with her first granddaughter, Josie was still keeping an eye on me.  While I was there I got to check out Steve's deck project.

9-5-2020

There was a cooler and light wind forecast for today so we went flying.  Shortly after we got there I got to test fly Dan's new A-4 Skyhawk.  It flew great and one of the few planes I have test flown that did not need any adjustments.

I haven't had the Corsair out for quite a while so I loaded it up last night and had a great time flying it today.  I also flew the Skylane, F-15, F-4 and SU-27.  The SU-27 has never been one of my favorites so after one flight I gave it away to Jim and Teresa.  Actually I pulled the receiver out of it, sneaked down and left it in the bed of their truck.  They liked the plane but wouldn't take it when I tried to give it to them.