chanlau1 - Moi 

Streak ARF - 2 

Streak ARF - 1 

Don 

Don's Plane - 2 

Don's Plane -1 

Two Of Us at Walkersville Heritage Farm Park!

We might be the two stooges. I stooged for Don. And Don stooged for me.
Don from the S.L.O.W. club called today to suggest a flying session locally. Don also lives in Frederick County. So we met near the field, and I showed him where the flying site is.
He brought a pretty neat warbird. But the Fox 35 on it chose to be cantankerous. So Don only got in about twelve laps airborne. But he did manage to do a couple of inside loops. I wasn't much help because I never was very good at running Fox 35s.
Did I mention that it was 95 degrees and humid here today? Hot as blazes! Kind of tough May weather for a Michigan man.
I brought my Streak ARF. It hasn't been flown for about six months, so it is about time. I managed to get in two pretty good flights. Lots of loops, wingovers, horizontal eights, vertical eights, overhead eights, and some inverted laps. Even managed an inverted landing because I tried one too many overheads and the engine ran out of fuel while the plane was directly overhead. No damage-no harm done.
Pictures to follow.

Circulator II - Home Safely Again -2

Circulator II - Home Safely Again - 1

Walkersville Heritage Farm Park-Stooging Again

Six more flights on the Circulator II today. Engine started easy. Plenty of insides, outsides, and wingovers. And plenty of horizontal, vertical, and overhead eights. The wind only took me out of a few maneuvers. And I was able to recover the plane without a crash each time.
The grass is pretty long at the field. So all the landings were noseovers. But no damage.
The Circulator II flies so well, I almost have trouble believing it.
Pictures to follow.
P.S. There was also an R/C flier at the field. He was flying a Tower 40 Trainer.
And a couple of teenagers also fired off about 12 model rockets.
And a Stearman biplane circled the field while I was doing overhead eights. That is a very cool backdrop for control line flying.

Circulator II-Back from the Farm Park-2 

Circulator II-Back from the Farm Park-1  

Walkersville Farm Park-Stooging

Three more flights on the Circulator II today.
Thank you Joe Wagner. You solved my Super Tigre 34 custom stunt engine starting problem.
A recent Engine Shop column of Joe's mentioned squirting 3 in 1 oil into the exhaust of engines with low compression to get them started. I remembered that my ST 34 starts well the first cold start (when it still has after run oil in the cylinder). But then on subsequent starts, it seems to have very little compression, and is hard to start.
So today I tried Joe's suggestion.
Of course the first start was easy with no special action required.
But for the second start the usual lack of compression manifested itself. So I squirted 3 in 1 oil into the cylinder. Voila! Instant compression. The engine fired right up after about three chokes and three flips. Much better result!
Same technique worked on the third start! So now I have an easy starting ST 34 that also gives me a great wet 2 cycle stunt run after it starts.
And the three flights were a lot of fun. Lots of loops, inverted laps, and wingovers. Also lots of horizontal, vertical, and overhead eights. And the takeoffs and landings were good too.
Too bad I had to leave the field early to go to work.
Pictures to follow.

Sidewinder Special-2 

Sidewinder Special Between Flights-1 

Stooging in Walkersville Part 2

Also took the Sidewinder Special out to the field today. Just wanted to have something tried, true and reliable with me. So after two test flights on the Nipper, I got out the Sidewinder Special. Managed to get in four good flights. The wind was kind of brisk and erratic. So I was a little inhibited. But I did manage a lot of inside and outside loops, a lot of lazy eights, and some wingovers. Did not bother with overheads because the wind and the sun worked to put the sun overhead while I was flying. So I passed on being blinded during the overheads. Still a blast to fly the Sidewinder Special.
Pictures to follow.

Yankee Nipper 2 

Yankee Nipper Between Flights-1 

Stooging in Walkersville

Good news. Two more flights on the Yankee Nipper. This time the needle valve assembly stayed together. The needle setting was fine. I fixed the needle problem by replacing the NVA with an O.S. R/C one purchased new from Tower Hobbies. The other part of the fix was to switch props. I switched to a Master Airscrew 10x4 prop. The larger prop resulted in lower rpms and I liked the engine behavior a lot better. And the speed of the plane was manageable. All in all, a good result. I am pretty sure I will be able to fly this thing often enough to get used to it.
The first flight was a fairly normal takeoff run. It actually took off level and reached flight altitude smoothly. I did a few climbs and dives. And I did an inside loop. And nothing fell off the plane. And the engine run was good. And the engine ran until it was out of fuel. So then I knew I finally have a working combination on this plane.
The second takeoff was a bit erratic. I had trouble getting the stooge to release. As it turned out, the stooge did release, but the string used to release the stooge also broke. The takeoff looked like a stair climb, but I got it airborne. The flight was good. I was feeling frisky so I did a couple of inside loops. Then I flew it inverted. Then I decided to try an outside loop. But the engine stopped just about the time the plane was vertical near the top of the loop. I was able to back up quickly enough to regain line tension. And the plane proceeded to fly into an inverted glide and a gentle landing. So no harm done. But why did it stop? Well I just remounted the plane on the stooge and fired it up. It ran for about 15 seconds. So the problem was I did not know I was almost out of fuel. Should have waited for the beginning of the next flight to start maneuvering. Just typical teething problems. I am not really used to flying this plane. It will take me a while to get a good feel for the amount of time this plane will fly on a tank of fuel.
It does seem to be pretty well trimmed. About twenty more flights on it should begin to give me the feeling that I know what I am doing when I am flying it.
Pictures to follow.

Flying Clown-3 

Flying Clown-2 

Flying Clown-1 

Yankee Nipper-3 

Yankee Nipper-2 

Yankee Nipper-1 

Stooging in Walkersville-Part 2

First, the promised pictures are not here. All of a sudden Hello is not working. Must be a problem with Google servers. Waiting for the server problem to be fixed.
Otherwise this will be a text only blog (ARRRRGHHH)
Went home yesterday after losing the needle for the Nipper and brought out the old reliable Flying Clown.
Took about 3 flights to reset the needle for this field. The engine kept running rich. Did a lot of lazy eights and loops, but just did not want to try overheads. The air at this field seems to require some reeducation on my part. I am used to flying at the SLOW Club field, but the air here seems to require completely different needle settings.
The last two flights were pretty good. The engine ran fast enough for overheads for the last half of the flight.
So I was able to have some fun with the Flying Clown.
If Hello ever starts working again, I will post some Flying Clown pictures taken at the field yesterday.

Stooging in Walkersville-Part 1

Went to the local Walkersville Farm Park to get some flying in. Seems like about a month since my last flying session.
Decided to take the Yankee Nipper although I am a little afraid of it. How can I get over the fear if I don't try to fly it? So I took it out to the field. Set it up on the stooge. It fired up right away. Screaming! So I ran out to the handle and launched it.
It took off straight up after I gave it up. But that's O.K. I recovered control. Climbs don't bother me much because they increase the distance between the plane and the ground.
Anyway, I did about four high, fast laps. It was really fun. And then the engine began to run erratically.
After about 8 low slow laps, the engine quit.
Examination revealed that the needle fell out. And I sure did not have much chance of finding it.
So it looks like I have to admit I have a problem with this engine. I have to find a needle setup which will be reliable.
So now I can say I have about 1.2 flights on the Yankee Nipper. If I can ever get the engine to run steadily, it should be a blast to fly...
Pictures taken after today's flight to follow.