I use the winter up here north of the border to overhall all my flyers and to go over each plane I have to get ready for next year.

When I say overhaul, I mean I take everything out of the plane and do a detailed inspection and cleaning, I will replace whatever looks like it needs it. I will inspect all of the viable joints in the plane and repair as necessary. I check all throw rods, connections and control surfaces to make sure they are firm, I also do a close inspection of the covering, there are always a few small holes that have been repaired at the field with tape, I remove the tape and do a proper repair job. I take the engines off make sure they are fully drained of fuel, clean and oil them. I don't do much with the batteries, but should.

It is actually kind of fun to do this type of inspection, I generally find a couple of minor things to fix, but it is relaxing and something I can do with my 8 year old son.

I have decided this winter, rather than building a new plane, I would invest in what I already have built, but not flown. I built a spreadsheet that shows the various elements of each plane (I have 11, 2 are fully flight ready now, 7 have never flown, 4 can be finished with fairly minor effort, 3 have been crashed and need repairs to get back into the air, 1 is a display model not set up to fly at this time) I have estimated what needs to be done, how long it wil ltake and how much it will cost to get the plane ready for flight.

my winter project is to get the 4 planes flight ready, I estimate 20 hours and about $1,000 in total cost (mostly radio gear - one of the planes is a 1/4 scale that needs a bunch of high torque servos - that adds up!) After I get that done I will look at the repairs and the one plane I have about 70% built.

I am thinking I may get another day or two to fly, but not much, so I am already getting ready to start my winter work. I actually really like the building aspect of the hobby, so I am looking forward to winter. Have fun, the Winter is a great time to play with planes - I am also interested in getting some skis for my trainer.