Mid morning I was out in the sheep pen to trundle the last few rounds down the hill that the boys had missed. This is the huge mushroom that had not yet opened a couple days ago, now it is opened fully and over 6" across.
I tossed the rounds down the hill then hiked up to the top of the hill and wandered around the upper pen for a while. I found feathers beneath the preening tree while the white head looked down at me from the nest tree nearby.
I finally figured out the stand for the tail of the plane. I have old metal crutches that I had taken apart and had the metal tubes in the tool shed. I find it kinda funny that I am using crutches to hold the tail of the plane up. It was rather easy as I just needed to bolt the two together then I bolted a chain across the legs to keep them from spreading to far. The cross sticks work perfect to hold the tail of the plane up and the nose down.
The engine has seemed a bit off on the low end so I pulled the bowls off the carbs and then pulled the main and idle jets to make sure they are clean. The screens were fine and the needles looked okay. I put them both back together to later start up.
After watching Man Utd surprisingly win their match I went out to try and get the wings up by myself. It was a major step in determining if I will be able to take it to the tarmac by myself. It took a bit of figuring out but eventually I figured out how to get them mounted fairly quickly.
The key to the process is having a stand for the wingtips that holds them in the air while I attach the main struts to the frame.
While I had the wings up I did not need the rear stand as the weight is balanced better then. I got the engine running and have figured out the carb issue I think. It takes the engine a bit to warm up and I think it is likely a vacuum stumble with the fuel pump which is actuated by the compression from the block. Once the engine is warmed up it pops up to high RPMs and purrs right along. On the low end it is a bit rougher and wants to bog a little bit still but the low end is not what I am really concerned with as that is not where most of the run time will be spent at. I got a good few minutes of it running and running well.
It was then time to try stowing the wings by myself and it was a bit tough at first. The ballistic reserve system is mounted atop the boom but the rocket had been mounted to the left side which made it so I couldn't fold the wings properly. It took a bit of finagling but I managed to get the rocket mounted to the front of the chute container which makes it so the wings can now fold correctly.
Wings stowed correctly now. The trailing edges now touch such that I can fix them together easily and they now sit straight along the boom. I stood to the side and the name hit me quickly. I dub thee,
DAMSELFLY
I will be putting the lettering on the fuselage at some point this winter most likely.
I got the fire going in the pit for the evening and then grilled out burgers for dinner. It's really nice to be able to have big fires again.
No one really went out paragliding yesterday, just one to Tekoa. I finally, finally got my Bitbay wallet synced and am now back to staking which I have already got 16 blocks in 12 hours. I'd really like to get to top 100 on the rich list since I am not far away.
It's raining this morning so I am not sure if the group will be heading north to Chewelah to fly today or not. The boys have a birthday party this afternoon they will be going to, I have to design and build 8 foot ramps for getting the Damselfly onto the trailer, I have to pick in the garden an hope that I will have enough cucumbers for tomorrow morning delivery, and I will have to sharpen all my chains as Tuesday I am going to cut some trees down at our friend's house up north.
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