Flying and Waxing

On Wednesday Vera had bible study, the forecast looked pretty good so I went flying.  It was pretty foggy when I first got there but it was a beautiful afternoon once it lifted.  I made lots of touch and goes with the Kitfox and Steve's Plane.  I got some higher voltage batteries for Steve's plane as it does not have quite enough power for some of the aerobatics I want to do.  Now I need to put the ammeter on it and make sure the speed control will handle the extra power.

I flew the B-36 for probably the last time this year, it is going in the shop for some maintenance and repainting.  Leonard had his Vortex out today and we got to fly together.  It was sure fun seeing them side by side, mine is just a little faster but not much, I would guess Leonard's is right at one hundred miles an hour.

I got this ten dollar fifteen inch prop in the mail this week, I was amazed at the size of the box and the amount of packing inside.  Thursday I spent most of the day waxing on the motor home and got of the right side finished except for a couple of storage compartment doors.

Friday I was determined to finish the job before the rain that was forecast started.

I am putting on the final coat of wax on the last storage compartment door in both pictures but Vera asked me to look up for the second one.  After letting it dry and polishing it we gathered up the tools and put everything away.  It was about an hour or so later that it started raining.  That turned into a big job, I started the first step on August first.  I shouldn't have to do the three step process again, I will just use a good cleaner/wax each time.  Today I woke up with a really sore left wrist from all the wiping and polishing.  After putting heat on it for awhile it started feeling better and I did some hunting for a box of foam sheets that is lost in the shop.  I didn't find it but I did throw away a bunch of things I would never use.  I had a nice long visit with Barry on the phone today, later I went over to Dianne's to deliver Jordon's school photo and had a nice visit with her and Steve.  There were lots of rain showers today, my rain gauge shows 1.14 inches as I am typing this.

Radio's and B-36

I got back to the exercises this morning. They sure get me limbered up for the day. Vera and I made a mail run about noon and hit BK for lunch. Then I worked on the B-36 until the baby sleeping sign was down. I took our Walkie-Talkies with me and had a great time with the girls. The look on their face when they heard a voice was great.

I think this is my favorite picture from today, Ava hugging the dog and holding on tight to the radio.

Auna talking to Ava. They came over to the shop later, they are getting pretty comfortable in there. They started opening cupboard doors and looking to see what was in them. Ava took the radios home when they left.

Dianne's friend Taylor had her dog with her. Auna was trying to get them to pet it, but they were being pretty cautious. The dog was enjoying it and didn't want to leave.

I finally started covering the B-36 today. That color change is scale, the nose of the real one is aluminum and some of the other sections are covered with magnesium. I finally got the air intakes on the right wing shaped today. Just the final sanding and the wing will be ready to cover. I feel like I had a pretty successful day, hope you did too!

Boys trip to the bridge

Before we went to the creek, I had James pose with my B-36 fuselage. I put the picture on the forum where I am showing the build so the guys can get an idea how big it is.

James and Parker just North of the bridge. It was a first today, James didn't get any water in his boots.

Nice and peaceful down there, I zoomed up on the this area that looked interesting.

James loves to roam up and down the creek.

James crosses the creek every chance he gets.

Project day

When I talked to James last night, he mentioned he needed to build a simple machine project for school. After I picked him up today and we went to Panda Express for dinner we came home and started on the project. After some discussion he built a Hot Wheels Car Tester. He did all the measuring, marking out and cutting on the band saw. Then he marked the holes and drilled them with the drill press and a cordless drill. Of course he and Parker had to do a little modifying of Hot Wheels with the drills. We sacrificed two Hot Wheels to that idea. Then James finished gluing and assembling the hoist.

Next we headed into the house to test it by knocking down domino's. It worked good and we had fun making it. That led to several games of Domino's. While we were in the shop making the last adjustments I had James hold the wing to my B-36 project. This is the first time the wing tips have been on the center section, looking pretty darn big!

Here is a short video of the first domino test.

Building Planes

Boy is it cold, 14 when I came in from the shop tonight. The cold weather did make the waterfall look nice, but it froze the duck in the ice. We have had that decoy forever is seems, we found it years ago while looking for a lost airplane at the Goble field.

What I have been doing the last couple of days when I have time. The right wing for the 108 inch B-36. It is taking longer to plan out the details than it will probably take to build it. Perfect project for these cold days.

Today we did our Christmas cards and got them mailed. UPS showed up with more presents and one of Vera's was at the post office. My team won on Monday Night Football so all is well around here.
Therapy on my shoulder is helping, I slept all of last night without it waking me up. Another appointment tomorrow and then off for lunch somewhere with Vera.