Ron Gray

Mine had a hard top which was only taken off in the summer.

Spitfire was great until it rained and you went fast into a bend and it tucked the inside wheel in due to the rubbish transverse leaf spring suspension. The GT6 was much better as the suspension was ‘proper’.

Buckminster, 27th - 29th September

That’s a shame Jon, maybe see you at the Lazy BoB weekend at the end of September?

Used it to pull out of a tight spot (as above) and 'played' with the auto parking in a car park, works very well but a bit scary when you're not in the car!

Finding it next to impossible to get into your car because someone has parked far too close, no problem, activate auto '(un)park' and the car drives itself out - brilliant.

It is only MT (Optifuel) that has dramatically increased in price (nearly 50% increase) in the last year, ok they use Klotz but even factoring that in you’re still left wondering why such an increase. As an aside, my last flying day was using SMC Laser low oil and I didn’t notice any difference in performance from that when using MT.

I’ve given up trying to highlight that fact Pete. No-ones denying that flying is still cheap fun.

Yes they have, many times!

I use that method too, but I would suggest giving in 2 or 3 coats over the panel lines, the extra depth really does help.

I apologise for posting these vids again, what a great machine

Nope, Old Git, a bit like me (and probably most on this forum!)

From yesterday's flying session

You sure look happy DD!

An update. Well things were a lot better yesterday with the Bearcat but it still needs fine tuning as it appears to be a bit lean in flight but the motor is no longer cutting out. I didn't fly it with the cowl off as I have modified the baffling but the biggest change was to do what I did with the Super Sportster and run silicone inlet pipes back into the fuse to draw from undisturbed air (I know that I said that I wasn't going to but...). This has made the engine running a lot more stable so it is 'easier' to determine the state of tune when in the air imo. Flying it was curtailed as I had 2 depth perception aberrations (🤔) which resulted in it landing in the field when I thought I was on the strip! U/C stood up to the rough surface but it flipped at the end of the second one and broke the rear internal fuselage former which is going to be a challenge to fix in a composite fuselage! I also flew the Hurricane to test out a small air scoop I fitted to the underside of the cowl. Checking and comparing the front and rear cylinder temps with that I had recorded the last time I flew shows that the scoop really works well and cuts the difference down by about 40%. This has made the decision for me that it will be converted to have a tropical filter fitted to the nose which will house an air scoop for the rear cylinder.

Neither do we but even I got fed up with the noise!

Yes please to replace mine I ‘lost’ last year.

I used to use canisters on mine (not fitted to warbirds, only sports or aerobatic types) but it was still difficult to get the noise down to acceptable levels and they were rather expensive. I ended up selling off all but one of them and that one will be sold at some point.

That’s what DLE stands for, Darn Loud Exhaust.

I spent a while in the garden annoying the neighbours as I re-tuned the engine. On an 18x8W APC prop it's pulling 8000 and holding that for at least 10 secs. Tickover is a nice steady 2000 and transition from ticker to WOT is good, no bogging and no hunting. So all is ready for tomorrow - third time lucky I say. Im also taking a 17x8 APC with me, if the 18x8 is successful I just want to see what it's like with the smaller prop (noisy I reckon).

A lot of public shows use the B cert as their standard for entry to flying, Buckminster is different so you won’t have an issue there.

They don’t want to be too soft or you’ll break a wheel or too hard which will make it bounce.

My Tasman has had a hard life being used as both a ‘taster’ model for newbies and also as a trainer. It’s had its nose broken off, it’s U/C ripped out (replaced with far better wire U/C) and damage to both wing tips through numerous ground strikes and ground loops but it still comes back for more. It’s specialty are vertical landings in strong winds.

But even with those wheels it prefers a neatly trimmed strip 😲

It can also cope with unreasonable conditions too!