Bobby,

No good news. The low end continues to be FUBAR, and seems to have gotten worse. It acts like it is sucking air somewhere. I did the usual checks for that sort of thing, with nothing immediately apparent. Again, my inexperience with gas engines is probably in play here. Tobe is still unavailable; but he tried what he knew last time we flew together, with no luck.

I'm pretty well tired of fooling with this airplane. It seems as if nothing I do with it is right. Its hanging on the wall right now, and will stay there for a while. I just don't need the aggravation. My plan is, once I get over being pissed , to get with Steve Reinke and take him up on his offer of help he made at Mt. Pleasant. Last resort is pulling the engine and sending it back to Keith; looks like its going to come to that. In fact, I'm thinking about just hauling the airplane over there and letting him check it out as is; if he'll do that. Could be it doesn't like the white gas; if that's the case, so much for "gassers" for me, since gasoline use is a non-issue in my situation.

Bottom line: no IMAC for me this year. Tobe has too many other commitments as well. We discussed it, and plan to practice well into the fall (if I can ever get the Extra going), with the idea of making a few contests next year. In the meantime, I'm back flying my slimers, and actually enjoying myself again. Normally, when something gives me this much grief, its sold and forgotten. But I've got so much invested in the airplane now, I have to go the extra distance to try and make it work.

I did buy myself a "depression present" the other day; a GP Matt Chapman CAP 580.... the little one with the paint-splat finish. I had an OS 91 Surpass lying around begging for a job; this little sucker ought to be a hoot.

BTW; Tobe scored a WH Extra like yours; his is blue. He's working on it sporadically in the evenings, using the gear from his Edge and his ZDZ 80. His Comp-ARF Yak came in too; he'll jump on that when he gets off the turn-around.

I devoutly hope I can make this BME do right. I love the concept of non-glow (remember, I'm running white gas/camp fuel) and the larger planes. But this is supposed to be fun, and all I've gotten so far is aggravation.

Anyway, all that is probably more information than you wanted to hear. But thanks for asking...

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