flyboy2610

My Feedback: (1)

Good luck finding a new place, Donny! It can be frustrating, I know, but hang in there!

Michelvr

Good evening,

I’m sixty two and when it come to our wonderful hobby my journey started in 1966 with a Guillows balsa stick airplane. My most memorable event was in 1970 because I had built a u-control Mitsubishi A6M Zero airplane which had retractable landing gear!

You see when I had my Zero ready to fly with the motor screaming I yelled to my friend who was holding the airplane to let it go! The airplane started to gain speed and when the tail lifted up I moved the u control to make the plane fly and that is when the main landing gear retracted. Meanwhile after a few more seconds the firewall separated then all hell broke loose with the sound of kerplunk! I was eleven year old when that happened. I have been flying radio control since 1980 and loving each and every thing about this wonderful hobby!

otrcman

That Hall Bulldog is really something else, Donny. Has it been flown yet ?

Dick

Michelvr

Hello Donny,

I felt heartbroken when I read about your predicament and I hope you will find a solution, soon. When I looked at your picture of the Bulldog. All I could think of was, WOW! What an outstandingly beautifully hand made by plan, scratch built Bulldog! Beautiful I had to write that again and is it ever magnificent, well done!!

I live in Ontario, Canada and the prices for everything is just going up and up and people everywhere are having a hard time dealing with it. You’re not alone in this tight squeeze for money and a place to live. I wish you well and I hope everything becomes better for you.

aymodeler

My Feedback: (3)

Hey Donny, that is one beautiful Bulldog!

Sorry to hear that your having a tough time finding a place to move to. It seems to be a common problem these days as housing costs are in a bit of a bubble right now. But if were a betting man, I would bet on housing prices coming down soon (of course, that's because interest rates will be going up), so if you can hold off for a bit, you might actually be better off.

p.s.; Agree with you about Model Airplane News, I canceled my subscription to years ago.

acdii

Well, Donny, I saw the same thing last year when I was trying to decide on my retirement plans 10 years from now, and found the same situation up here. Real Estate is just out of control. When a run down place on a couple acres out in the middle of nowhere exceeds $300K, it makes you think if you really want to start over again. I decided to take some equity out of my place and put the money into it instead and just deal with the high taxes. Since I can drive over the border in less than 10 minutes to save money on fuel, and it doesn't take much longer to drive to stores in Wisconsin to save on taxes, it was an easier decision to make to stay here. I found out that income tax would be much higher in WI than it is here, negating any saving advantage on Real Estate taxes, and motor vehicle registrations are not that great of a spread. Still pisses me off they haven't reverted the 3K TA plates back to $18, or even $36, but still are $118. They came up with a new trailer class, 2K for $36. Great, that covers roughly 100 trailers in the entire state. Vast majority of small TA trailers are 2900 pound GVWR.

Anyway, I am looking to consolidate my trucks, I have an F350 and F150, and after adding up everything, if I were to replace both with a new F350 I would be $400 ahead each month. I would have one less truck to maintain too. So I looked into one, I might have one 9 months from now, it is taking that long for them to be built. I ordered one today, I have 9 months to decide.

donnyman

Thanks for the well wishes and pats on the back, that bulldog is hanging from the ceiling collecting dust. It would not have it in my possession if the guy I built it for hadn't died and willed everything about it to me. It has not been flown because I have so many other things in the works as a matter of fact It's for sale! even the engine is new. I wasn't going to show this but what the heck, the mustang below is my last large scale model to much scale detail! so I'm in the "for sale mode" with all the stuff I have accumulated. that is a very old picture. getting back into the build mood is difficult for me but the desire is there.


I was just speaking with my in-law in Arkansas and he says house prices are on the rise there also. The price of housing isn't my main concern as the sale of the one I am in will cover all the cost and more but I don't want just anything it has to meet what I want in a home and not be sitting beside another structure so I need a acre or so to put it on.
we have looked almost coast to coast and can't seem to settle on any one thing to make us stay.

My life has been made so much more complicated in the last few months for the first time in my life I am not sure as to my next move.

Right now I am preparing to face a ice storm freeze for the next few days, I am concerned the electric company is not going to be able to handle the demand, the last big freeze hit me pretty hard when they shut down the power.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Donny, it looks like you got the snow and ice both falling. We are just getting snow after a little ice fell. Stay warm! Oh, that Mustang is impressive!

acdii

I got NO snow, but 10 miles south, BAM, 8" LOL

donnyman

I have not seen any snow but I am watching the puddles of water freeze you can actually watch it crystallize. The temp. is still dropping, the mornings here will be in the teens.
the fear we have is the loss of power, if that doesn't happen we will be OK.
We had to get help from the fire dept. last night our furnace vent leaked and it got the ceiling wet in my wife's sewing room but they put a bucket to catch the leak and it's doing the job for now, the wife is real upset.

Stay warn and safe!

acdii

I finally got our septic replaced, just before we got our first snow. Still waiting on Morton to start the repairs on the front barn doors. Got the trees all down and most of it split for firewood, but still have a huge pile to burn this spring. I got a pellet stove installed in the converted garage which connects directly to the kitchen, and figure it uses about $500 in pellets all winter where it takes 1200 gallons or more with LP for the whole house, it appears that we are using less LP even though we aren't fully letting the heat flow into the kitchen, but I have plans that will help the air flow with a closed door. I am considering installing a second pellet stove in the basement, piping it through the fireplace down there, and putting some vents in the stairway wall to allow heat to flow up it. With a fan or two to distribute the heat to other parts of the basement, I think we can knock our LP use down to half or more, and heat the house using Pellets with the LP furnaces as back up. As long as I can get a ton for under $250, I can heat the house for $1000 all winter instead of nearly $3000 for LP.

I still have bathrooms to replace, a kitchen to replace and come spring get the field seeded and ready for hay production, and get the equipment up to speed. My hay baler just needs a little work but is 100& functional, the mower needs new sickle bar and some welding done. I have a new tractor on order to drive the equipment, but waiting on the loader to be delivered and no clue when it is coming in. Going to be a busy year here.

donnyman

ACDII
what the heck is a pellet stove? I am interested in some sort of heater for my home but everything produces carbon monoxide and I can't have that. If these turkeys cant keep the electric flowing I will need some sort of heat source but nothing is safe except electric's

It seems you are going to do a number on your home, I'd like to do my own repairs but this old body wont cooperate. and If we move we wont recover the cost.

For now the weather here is easing up a bit and the ice has just about melted away but it is still cold (Below 40) it is only freezes after midnight till dawn.

Ayway clue me in on this pellet stove thing. ............Thanks

aymodeler

My Feedback: (3)

A pellet stove is a wood burning stove specifically designed to burn processed wood pellets instead of rough logs. You buy the pellets in bulk and feed them into a hopper on the stove, so you don't have to keep feeding logs. Overall, they are quite bit less messy, less work and can produce a LOT of heat, but you have to buy the pellets vs scrounging for firewood. I live on a heavily wooded lot and have a regular wood burning stove. When we first moved in about 20 years or so ago, we took down a lot of trees and that kept us in firewood for a few years. Now we have an occasional tree that we take down, but I end up buying most of my firewood, so I am not really saving much over what a pellet stove might cost to run.

We are expecting temperatures to drop back down into the single digits overnight again this weekend up here in Connecticut. If I needed to, I can keep my house reasonably warm with just the stove. The family room (near where the stove is installed) is typically around 75 - 80 deg, and the upstairs bedrooms in the mid 60's.

The dog in the picture is one of our Siberian Huskies. We lost him some years ago to Lupus . He was a beautiful and such a well behaved dog, we all really miss him.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Nice stove, dog, and blog! Did you ever finish the 182?

aymodeler

My Feedback: (3)

Thanks! No, I haven't progressed beyond what's in the blog. The last few years got kind of complicated for me, including some health issues which are (hopefully) all behind me now, and I didn't really spend any time on RC activities. I did spend some time restoring a few old hand tools and learning a bit of hand tool woodworking. Something that I can do with a little bit of time here and there. I do plan to retire later this year, so I will get back in gear with RC then. I have a bunch of projects to finish up and handful of planes I need to maiden. I also have a big stash of kits that I have been collecting for some time now that I am looking forward to digging into!

acdii

Yeah, what he said. It's like a wood burning stove, but smaller, and not so radiant that you need feet of open space around it, and has a blower to circulate the heat. It is auto regulating in that it shuts off when the temp is reached and starts back up when needed, much like a regular furnace. Feeding it pellets is the only downfall on mine, it holds 1 bag, no more, so when it is mostly empty you have a partial bag sitting around. I just filled it a few minutes ago, it had 1/3rd last night, but apparently not enough to make it through the night, and it was 49* in there just now. Takes about 40 minutes to warm back up and shut off when that happens. It got much colder than I thought, should have checked the weather and topped it off last night.

Only needs 6" clearance on the sides and 4" behind the vent pipe. The top rarely gets too hot to touch and is usually pleasantly warm when running. Can't say that about a wood stove. Since we have cats, it is the perfect solution if one jumps they wont get burned.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

I have gotten a little father along but haven't finished mine either. I plan on using the CAP livery too. I had Callie make the vinyl decals she did a bang up job. I added a luggage compartment door to hide the switches, remote glowplug connection and battery compartment for the lights. Inside I will add a shell to cover them that looks like luggage.

aymodeler

My Feedback: (3)

Looking good! Gives me a bit of motivation to get started again.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

I have a lot of work to go it but I'll get back to it sooner or later. I have a J3 Cub in CAP livery too. It matches the one in the Air Force museum. I loan it as a display to my son's CAP unit (He is the adult in the dark shirt)and for one of their conventions. Its a big hit with young and old. In this picture I forgot my Allen wrenches so I couldn't bolt the wings on.

donnyman

AYMODELER

That is a beautiful animal. The stove is what I thought it to be, I just did not know it by that name. I would have to install a vent pipe to use it so that's out.

acdii

Yeah, the good part is though they can vent out a wall and not have to go up through the roof like a wood stove and they are 3" vs 6-" and that was my #1 selling point. I installed this one for under $2K including the first ton of pellets.

aymodeler

My Feedback: (3)

That looks like a beautiful bird!

donnyman

Callie graphics has a good reputation I have never heard one gripe against them. The cub looks very nice I built one in 1958 but it never flew I couldn't afford the radio. I think it was a Berkley kit.

aymodeler

My Feedback: (3)

Yeah, I really miss that dog. He would run around in the snow all day in sub-zero weather and not think twice about it, but when the stove was going he would huddle up as close as he could get. We would have to drag him away because he would get overheated and start panting.

If you live in a single story building, I know people who have just run their wood stove pipe up through a hole in the roof. Of course, you need to use brackets to mount the pipe safely away from any framing and add flash around the pipe where it exists the roof, but it can be a pretty low cost installation. The stoves are HEAVY though.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

They are heavy for a reason, the metal gets hot and holds it as it slowly releases it into the room. More bang for the buck like that.