It's odd how these things turn out. After my previous musings about the early days,yesterday was the "Old Farts' Club" weekly gathering.

We fine retired gentlemen chose a day to tie up the field,other than the weekend , in deference to those still employed, rather than retired....-our field is busy, thus this solution.
My point is, it was like old times...Several oldies with models we built, and many electric arfs,which we didn't...
The comaraderie is still there,and the attitude has changed,so I must change mine.
I'm not gonna change my attitude on 3-D-(I think it's like 'rappers'-they can't sing so they curse that fact,the whole time they're talking)...3-D'ers can't fly straight and level,(maybe accidentally),so they pretend they "meant to do that"....but I'm working on the ARF thing.
Our discussions included the fact that Bob Karlsson handed the scale co-ordinater reins over to Jeff Foley this weekend, after 38 years.
Thank you for your service, Bob. Welcome aboard Jeff.

to be continued.....

I'm an old man......well-old enough..I've made 72 circuits around the Sun.

Yesterday, after the rain, I headed to the field to get in a little evening flying..I hoped to run into some cronies for a hangar session, like we used to do.
But nobody showed.
Of course, a lot of them can't...When you get to my age, a lot of those flying buddies have gone on to fly at the perfect flying field.
Saturday was the day when everybody was at the field....We started about 8 am, and it was a rotating clientele, as some came and went,to be replaced by others doing the same.
This memory is about a Senior Falcon, built by Robert Barrow. 69" of marvelous Balsa construction, with a 1/8" x 1/4" piece of bass or spruce glued to the spars ,top and bottom as indicated by Mr. Goldberg.
Covered in nylon,it was not a thing of beauty. Painted with dope, and finished to the box design,there were scars where the dope had migrated through the porous nylon, and gathered in puddles on the reverse side.
It had a used Veco .61, with a flow- through 'muffler' that had no idea of it's purpose. An 11-7 nylon prop, (boiled for half an hour for some unknown reason,(but they said to do it )), and some PURPLE Missile Mist, because we were into Hot Rods.
A specially made "chicken stick" , (a 3/4" dowel wrapped with duck tape), and a Burgess 1-1/2 volt doorbell battery completed the ground support system.
A few drops of fuel in the carb,(always a few too many,it seemed)...Continue Reading

I, (and apparently several others) am suffering a minor 'burn-out'....

The rush to repair and recover the Midwing has taken it's toll.

I've reached a point that even the Cub doesn't inspire me to fly-I just got back from the field,no more satisfied than when I left to go....

The weather last week was the mid nineties, today it's 77,and I have no energy.

I've started a Contract build on a BUSA 1/4 scale Cub, with a Magnum 1.60 twin.It's the first time I've split a cowl horizontally. Lotsa work to fit it back with rigid joints, for mounting screws.

Maybe with a couple of day's rest, we'll get back to a "Sea level" altitude.I hope.

With the weather threatening, we expected participation to be down, but that wasn't the case.
Guys who couldn't gamble on a wasted trip were replaced by those who could.
The Wisconsin regulars were back, in force,for what I believe was the longest distance traveled......Carl and Paul, a special thanks.
MY buddies,(that Balsa USA Crew) brought interesting aircraft, and mucho balsa wood....but nobody's buying, anymore. I bought a stack, but it was a drop in the bucket....and it was cheap! I sent them on their way with a jar of pretzels,and a thank you...Have a safe trip..
WE renewed friendships,shared memories,and made new ones of each.
When those guys are helping push busses out of the mud,slogging through slop, and flying their models with aplomb,you know you're doing something right.There were smiling faces everywhere, and almost every 'goodbye' included "see you next year"!
A special thanks to the Malcciones for ramrodding this,and to all the Delaware R/C club members who helped , or gave up your flying field for 5 days....
Put this on your list for next year.....

The Midwing's first flight went well...A couple of easy passes around the patch,a loop and a roll, and a greasy landing were very satisfying.

We inspected her for loose things, fueled her, and took off again.This time we were going to do a diving 180 to the field and make a high speed low pass,smoke on.

Flew it right into the ground.

Although I was holding full "up" (all 35 degrees) the airplane still sank into the meadow.
A picture just before the crash shows NO up elevator!!!.....All controls worked perfectly on the wounded bird-(don't they always?) so it was head scratching time.
At home, we discovered a dead servo.I had two servos ,side by side,with a 'walking beam' between them...The pushrod was connected to the center of the 'beam'.Theoretically, in the event of a servo failure, the sister should maintain partial control.
In this case it just rotated it the opposite amount, not moving the elevators at all !
Now ,-the servos are mounted in tandem connected together.I can unplug one, and the second can move the elevator,and the dead servo !....a MUCH better system.