MCRCC Spring Fly In 2011!

What a fantastic success our MCRCC Fly In was today! Great work by all involved. The field looked awesome, the prep and PR work was wonderful, the food and the "snow balls" were rockin! And the planes, helis and pilots! Thanks to the crew at MCRCC, our vendors, sponsors and guests! Here are 49 photos and two videos. Enjoy!

Aerial video of our Fly In Day!

Elite 3D flying. Yes, he does "parachute" it upside down to the ground...

Still from the aerial video of our field.

Bill Page's (MCRCC) F7F Tigercat

MCRCC Officers 2011

Luke and Maria (my son and wife)

Jerry, Paul (MCRCC) and Jeff (PBRC)

Me and Luke

Me and Luke

MCRCC President Dickie Ober

Cubby's trick of the day was to lose her spinner mid-flight...

Paul Verger and Kenny Chandler officially maidening Kenny's Extra

Kenny with his new Extra!

We had a wonderful time! I flew the Alpha a bunch, the Cubby once (and she lost her spinner. Since I couldn't find another or a 4mm nut, she was grounded for that mis-behavior...), and I lastly flew the Stearman once, had a rough landing. It was weirdly windy; we were sitting facing north with the wind in our face, but with the flag showing a wind from the south. Crazy! We enjoyed 3D pros, scale magic, and 3D and sport helis, jets, static displays and trainers. Looking forward to next year!

Its an odd numbered day, so Cubby flies!

Okay... I suppose its because its a Friday. Or maybe because its an odd numbered day. It could be because its conspiring to have me fail publicly at the Fly-In tomorrow. Whatever it was, Cubby #2 flew like a dream today! She took off clean, flew some sweet basic aerobatics, and even did two touch and goes without cartwheeling or somersaulting down the runway! Two whole packs! Though she did come up short of the runway when I brought her in after her first pack and misjudged her glide; I had the choice of full throttle (around which she can be squirrely) or just letting her bounce onto the ground. I chose the latter and she came away unscathed 2 feet short of the runway.

Which, by the way, has been lined in paint with help from our friends from the Rec Dept! Check out this still from some video Kenny Chandler and I shot from his Stryker:

Sweet! Looks really good after Greg cut it, and some Rec Dept and MCRCC guys painted the lines early this morning in preparation for our Fly-In tomorrow. Thanks, Guys! Sorta looks like the Space Shuttle could land there!

Kenny and me (I'm chewing on a burger...) checking out the Stryker cam.

Tomorrow is the Fly In! Come on out!

Crooked as a witch's broom

Cubby #2. Not a straight line on her. She curves where she should be flat, and is flat where she should  be curved. She's uglier than snot, and I suspect she's got a hex Other than that, she might fly just fine...

I refurbished her. Stripped her down, epoxied the firewall and the whole front end back together. I glued several cracks in her fuse. I spackled over her really rough areas and sanded her down, then gave her a light coat of Cubby Yellow paint. I re-coted some sore spots on her wing, replaced the tail wheel, removed, flattened and reinstalled with a few shims her motor mount. I think her firewall cants left and her thrust vector goes sorta that way too despite the shims. It looks like her wing and tail are more or less aligned. New prop.

Tomorrow we see if she can fly a crooked line straight!

Weighty Situation

My previous posts have talked about issues trying to bring the CG forward on the Eflite Stearman. I bought another 2 oz of weight and glued it on top of the existing weight in the cowl, with one piece on the top of the motor mount. I had dry fit the new weight, but when I first put it in with epoxy, despite the dry fit, the cowl would not seat properly. I had to carefully cut out and pull the new weights off and try new positions, which worked fine. But I am starting to get to a point I will make her piggish if I have to add anymore weight. I plan to trim her out again tomorrow, looking to remove some of the mechanical down elevator I currently have on her. I think there is about 5 oz now.