a Flight on the Trivial Pursuit

[Matt Colan]

I got the bolts and header from RO, and put the motor back in the plane.  Tomorrow, I'm hoping to fly that, test out 2 carbon props from Kent (yes, chicken stick will be used), test out the new metal tank in the Oriental Plus and hopefully that will work perfectly.

Tomorrow is shaping out to be a day where we'll be in the backyard all day, flying multiple planes getting them ready for the NATS.  Weather forecast is 82 degrees, partly cloudy, and winds from the northwest at 5-10mph.

Edit:  This really doesn't pertain to flying, but it could for next year.  This winter, I'm thinking about designing my own airplane, making it a take apart, and naming it Crossroad, because I will be at a Crossroad in my life, transitioning from High school to College (I've figured out, that unless I get an internship, I will be able to fly during the summer and maybe attend a local contest).  I've already got some sketches going, and trying to find what I like best in terms of asthetics.

[Bill Little]

(Snip)
Edit:  This really doesn't pertain to flying, but it could for next year.  This winter, I'm thinking about designing my own airplane, making it a take apart, and naming it Crossroad, because I will be at a Crossroad in my life, transitioning from High school to College (I've figured out, that unless I get an internship, I will be able to fly during the summer and maybe attend a local contest).  I've already got some sketches going, and trying to find what I like best in terms of asthetics.

Go For It, Matt!  Great time to start.  You already have an idea of what works, and you can put your own "looks package" (aesthetics)  on it.  Like Mr. Robin Hunt always says, "Change the clothes on the Mannequin".  That 's all I did on the Geo Juno, my first real "design/redesign".  Use what you know works and add the touches you like to see.  Everyone does it.   Just don't stray too far from the reservation!

Big Bear

[Matt Colan]

Go For It, Matt!  Great time to start.  You already have an idea of what works, and you can put your own "looks package" (aesthetics)  on it.  Like Mr. Robin Hunt always says, "Change the clothes on the Mannequin".  That 's all I did on the Geo Juno, my first real "design/redesign".  Use what you know works and add the touches you like to see.  Everyone does it.   Just don't stray too far from the reservation!

Big Bear

That's the plan Bill!  I even already have a paint scheme in mind.  On one wing it would my current school colors, and on the other wing, it would be the school colors to whatever college I decide to go to.  Also on the bottom, I would have the team name, in my case, Thunderbirds, and whatever the name of the school is I decide to go to.

I have onethat I'm looking at here that is really really cool in my opinion.  You can tell it resembles Bob Hunt's Crossfire, but it's different enough to call it my own (the cowl shape is interesting as well as the canopy and wheelpants)

[Matt Colan]

So today I got 3 flights on the plane, and I would've gotten about 3 more except the header broke on the end of my 3rd flight. 

What we think happened was last night, when we put the plane back together, we noticed the header was overbent, so we heated it up and bent it back.  However, this happened when the header was bolted onto the engine, so I think when we bent it back, we put stress on the weld and after 3 flights, it finally gave away.

But other than that, I was getting some of the best flights I've flown this year with the plane!  I tried a Brian Eather (I think it was an eather prop) 13.75-4.25 and the TP just took off!!  It flew faster on almost an entire 4 cycle throughout the flight.  It also just about pulled my arm off (this was 3hours ago, and my arm is still tired).  I'm going to try a thin tip prop 14-4 and see what happens with that one.  But overall, I still like the Rev-Up better on the and the plane handled a bit better also.

[FLOYD CARTER]

Matt. So you are running a header pipe on your RO-JETT76.  The stock muffler bolts are 5-40 X 1/2".  Could be the header is thicker and a 1/2" screw is too short?
As I mentioned, I dropped one and no amount of cussing would bring it back.  I took the remaining screw to the local specialty store here in Eugene, and got an exact replacement.  Nice to live in a place where that is possible.
The place is called "Eugene Fasteners:".  They have everything.

Floyd

[Matt Colan]

Matt. So you are running a header pipe on your RO-JETT76.  The stock muffler bolts are 5-40 X 1/2".  Could be the header is thicker and a 1/2" screw is too short?
As I mentioned, I dropped one and no amount of cussing would bring it back.  I took the remaining screw to the local specialty store here in Eugene, and got an exact replacement.  Nice to live in a place where that is possible.
The place is called "Eugene Fasteners:".  They have everything.

Floyd

Floyd,

the bolts we have are the correct length, and size.  Last time the header came off was the screws backed themselves out.  But the header, the new one we just got, broke clean right where the weld is.  It snapped off a few laps after the 4 leaf clover and quit a few laps after that.  The motor got really loud, richened up, and sounded awful!  We took the cowling off and found that the bolts were still in the engine nice and tight.

What I think happened was, because the header had a slight curve down, we decided to heat it and bend it back.  We did that with the header attached to the engine, and I think we stressed it a little too much where it's welded and there wound up being a hairline crack in it, that eventually worked it's way around and had the header snap off.

[Matt Colan]

well I got the header fixed by taking it to the welder in town.  Richard Oliver told us they had a string of bad headers that kept on breaking, and he thought he got rid of them, well it turns out he didn't and we got one of them.

I put the header back on the engine, and we'll try it again tomorrow, or Friday.  The next flying day is unknown since it's supposed to rain the next few days.