Progress report

The Vertigo is just over two years old, and has accumulated 70 flights, for a total of 10 hours and 40 minutes of flight time. At eight hours, I switched out the Magnum .61 XLS for an O.S. .65 AX. It has been in two contests, and took second in Master's at Lancaster.

As with any high performance vehicle, it is starting to show some wear and tear. The Elevator linkage has developed a lot of slop. The Robart ball joint horns seemed like a good idea, but unfortunately it turns out that hey are not up for the job. I replaced them with some Hangar 9 horns (the same ones that hey use on the P-7) as they have an almost identical screw pattern.

While I was replacing the horns, I found that the bottom rudder hinge was broken. I used some old school Klett hinges, so I was able to remove the hinge pins and take the rudder off. That saved a lot of work. I doubled up the hinges at the bottom like I should have done in the first place, I should not have any more trouble with them.

The source of the mystery oil that was appearing all over the nose turned out to be a cracked header. I'm lucky that it did not fail completely in flight. I ordered a replacement item, I may see about having the old one welded up and keep it in stock for a spare.

The RX battery was no longer holding a charge, so it was also replaced. A battery cycler is a worthwhile investment. It more than pays for itself with the first airplane it saves.

Now she is all good again, ready for the 2013 season.

-Robert