tell a Model A related story

[Mister Moose]

A few comments for Mr Woofa

Radials have to be pulled through a few revolutions pre start to clear the lower cylinders of oil, hydraulic lock will ruin your day.

Radials have no oil sump, and must have an external tank.

Some early radials had a fixed crankshaft, and the cylinders rotated.

I have a set of bookends made from a radial piston, sliced in half. It's enormous.

In this hemisphere we call it a hot section, not a fireplace!

[woofa.express]

Do read story number 1142 below before reading this responce

Originally Posted by Mister Moose

A few comments for Mr Woofa

Radials have to be pulled through a few revolutions pre start to clear the lower cylinders of oil, hydraulic lock will ruin your day.

Hydraulic locks in lower cylinders. I never experienced any in a Pratt engine but yes in a Pezatel (question spelling) engine. I would need to pull a plug to drain the oil and the engine was freshly overhauled (in USA). It was 1,000hp and a copy of a Wright Cyclone I understand. Both the engine and the airframe made my life miserable whilst I owned the horrible thing - a Dromader. The airframe was partly copied from a North American Rockwell Thrush (S2R) which was an upgraded Snow and like the name suggests, designed by Leland Snow. Who later designed and built the Airtractor. That and the Agcat are my favourites.
The Dromader was built by craftsmen but grossly overbuilt and heavy. Other operators had two failures in longerons and another lost a wing ending my friend’s life. The controls were so heavy and exhausting I always put another four more sandwiches in my dinner box the days I intended to fly the mongrel.


Radials have no oil sump, and must have an external tank.

Yes radials have an airframe oil tank. I once purchased 18x44gal drums of oil. Rotten Mobil didn’t give me a cent discount. The drums were a drab olive colour which would have been for the military. Bet they got a discount.

Some early radials had a fixed crankshaft, and the cylinders rotated.

Interesting rotary engine. It’s a La Rhone. The propeller was attached to the engine and crankshaft to the airframe. I bet pilot would need to open the throttle gently. There was one here on our local airfield. Not operational. The owner swapped it for a newly overhauled gypsy to power his Tiger Moth.

I have a set of bookends made from a radial piston, sliced in half. It's enormous.

In this hemisphere we call it a hot section, not a fireplace!

The location in a turbine where the fuel is ignited is also called the hot section here as well. Also cylinders frequently get called barrels. We have all sorts of names for all sorts of things. But beer is beer and that doesn’t change. I would suppose you folk in America have likewise expressions.

[40 Deluxe]

Originally Posted by woofa.express

Hello Allan otherwise known as 40 Deluxe.
Yes, control of insects, weeds, fungus and rodents are now protected by pesticides. These products allow the crop, whether food or fibre to produce to their full potential depending on soil moister of course. Yes, they make weed hoers redundant and out of work but there are no such jobs as insect catchers or mouse catchers or fungus killers. I do feel you are making light and jest of my profession but I take no offence.
Do let me make an example. If Ireland had fungicides and aeroplanes back in the 1840’s they would have saved their potato crop and thus countless lives. (Wikipedia say more than 1 million died). In the future neither fungicides or aeroplanes may not be necessary because of the development of genetic modification making the spud resistant to fungus. And of course this potato famine led to mass migration to both your country and mine.
As for tools of entertainment, ( you mention boats, golf carts, golf clubs TV, video games etc). I have no problem with those either for those retired, or work or those who cannot work. I do have a problem with those who choose not to work but live off welfare, which I feel is grossly abused.
Keep writing 40 Deluxe, I always enjoy reading your contributions. Cheers, gary.

Hi Gary, My apologies for seeming to make light of your career. That was not my intent. I just wanted to show an example of an occupation that went from being labor intensive to becoming automated, thus needing far fewer workers. There are many similar situations no matter where you look.

[woofa.express]

Originally Posted by 40 Deluxe

Hi Gary, My apologies for seeming to make light of your career. That was not my intent. I just wanted to show an example of an occupation that went from being labor intensive to becoming automated, thus needing far fewer workers. There are many similar situations no matter where you look.

Hi 40 Deluxe.
No apology required. I did not take the slightest offence. The point you made was simply a fact. Rest easy. Just keep writing. cheers, gary

[woofa.express]

Unfortunate and Foolish to drive too fast.

To clean the rust from the block and radiator I filled the cooling system with straight vinegar. The engine boiled and overflowed making quite a mess. The motorcar (my ute named Woofa express) was fitted with an overflow tank, the smart looking chrome type which is cylindrical, long with small diameter, the type sold by Snyder’s who do state it is not specifically for the A. It is also fairly small in capacity. In addition I have fitted a pressurised radiator which does have a smaller capacity and I am sus about the benefits. Also I was driving too fast- on the higher side of 45mph. I read the high speeds that other owners get which only makes me reiterate what I’ve always said-
There are more lies told about-
1. The size of fish that were both caught and got away.
2. The yield of crops.
3. The speeds of Model A’s.

I cleaned it up immediately then polished the body where the fluid had been.
Now, about 12 months later the black front guards have a light grey tinge. The ute still looks great but the smart lust paint job is no longer.

[woofa.express]

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Becoming trapped.

When I was younger my job was aerial mustering wild cattle in the Kimberly of WA as well as the NT. Traditionary mustering had been done and still continues by mustering teams on horseback of course. The riders are known as ringers. Another method was to trap cattle. This needed limited water that could be fenced off with a one way push gate to allow the bovines to enter and likewise a one way push gate for them to exit. When cattle became comfortable and a full yard could be achieved the exit gate would be closed and bingo you had a compound with trapped cattle. Cleanskin stock would be branded. Bulls along with the bullocks were sent straight to the abattoirs (slaughter house to the Americans) young bulls (known as mickeys) were cut and branded and released along with the calves and female cattle.
Now a change in species: from bovine to homo sapiens. For more than a year now Australian residence have been restricted in travel (commonly called lockdown) in an attempt to limit the spread of covid. People have been caught away from home including overseas and unable to return. Opinion has been mixed on these two things: limiting personal freedoms and whether it will be successful preventing the spread of covid. Because this is not a political forum I offer no opinion.
To go shopping in NSW where I live I need to wear a mask and to attend a restaurant or other public gathering place one needs to not only a mask but show proof of double vaccination, plus record your having been there, either electronically or by writing your data on a pad provided. As I don’t have a modern phone and don’t intend to purchase one so I write details. I don’t intend to be captured in the world of electronic junk, I have better priorities. I am currently spending my time gardening and planting daisies which to me is more important and more rewarding.
Several large supermarket chains and other retailers have asked that payment now be made by credit card so their staff don’t need to handle cash money. Not going there either.
Where is this world going? Well I know where. It’s leading to more personal public exposure for retail suppliers and those who harvest and sell personal data. And perhaps more seriously by government intruding into our lives with the biggest interest being the monitoring our money; they want a cashless society. This will allow them to collect more tax which gives them more cash to trash. It's not dissimilar to trapping cattle I have described in the first paragraph is it?

And who is the government being monitored by, not citizens but the UN on what we can do and cannot do, as indeed Britain was directed by the EU.
I can clearly see the advantage in living in a tiny remote town, and there are many in Australia. Americans reading this who also think a smaller town sounds appealing could try Slapout in Oklahoma. It’s tiny.
With more and more government control in our lives how do readers feel? Do tell me what you think. I won’t be offended if readers disagree.

[woofa.express]

Poor Engine Management was the Problem.

This story dates back to 1982.
The switch from a 300hp aeroplane to a 600hp Pratt radial aeroplane came as a bit of a shock considering the fuel consumption rose from 65 lph to 140 lph. To reduce it to what I felt comfortable with I flew at low power settings.
I found the oil consumption remained high: I think it was about 3 gph. It so happened the engine rebuilder, from Los Angeles, was in Australia at the time and the aeroplane sales agent sent him to me in hope that he may address this problem. His name was Vern Truman. It only took him only a few minutes to find the reason for this and it came from my mouth when he asked what power settings I was using.
Solution. Use more power and feed the engine Marvel Mistry Oil because the cylinders had glassed up. Apply this through the manifold pressure gauge line with the engine in idle- that is when a negative pressure existed in the manifold and the oil would be sucked in. Shut the engine down by turning off the ignition. An old engineer from nearby said I should put a teaspoon of Bonn amie in each cylinder. I much preferred Mr Truman’s recommendations.
Mr Truman, an elderly gentleman had worked on radials since he was an apprentice. And he was a gentleman too. Immaculate manners and a pleasant personality. His company traded as Aero Engines and I recall a Pratt representative once said they were one of three companies who could rebuild an engine to as new specs. These engines had long gone out of production and one could only purchase rebuilds.

I never considered fuel burn again. The productivity of this aeroplane increased disproportionately to the extra cost of the fuel. The picture is an Airtractor 301 from the internet. It is the type in this story. The only picture I have of mine is on the wall in my gallery. The engine, likewise from the internet looks likely to be in a Stearman because of the upper wing and undercarriage legs.

[katy]

Originally Posted by woofa.express

An old engineer from nearby said I should put a teaspoon of Bonn amie in each cylinder.

I've heard of dusting Bon Ami into the intake of a running engine for seating piston rings and/or deglazing cylinder walls.

https://www.bonami.com/

[woofa.express]

[SIZE="3"][I][QUOTE=katy;2069466]I've heard of dusting Bon Ami into the intake of a running engine for seating piston rings and/or deglazing cylinder walls

Hi Katy. I didn't ask the fellow how it should be inducted but I made the assumption he meant to take out the spark plugs and shovel it in through there. I never considered that but it would make a little bit more sense to induce it through the intake. Being a big fuel burner the carby jets would possibly handle that. Even so, Bon Ami didn't appeal. Would you have done that?
[url]https://www.bonami.com

[katy]

I would have tried "Use more power and feed the engine Marvel Mistry Oil" first, then if that didn't work I would have tried "dusting" the Bon AMI trick.

Still smilin', Ken

[woofa.express]

Originally Posted by katy

I would have tried "Use more power and feed the engine Marvel Mistry Oil" first, then if that didn't work I would have tried "dusting" the Bon AMI trick.

Still smilin', Ken

Hi Katy. Yes, it was your recommended procedure that rectified this problem. It is worth a mention as my confidence grew on production/fuel burn I began to use higher power settings and the problem became history. I flew radials for 15 years but I got to like turbines from the first time I pushed that throttle forward. I flew nothing but turbines until I retired some 23 years later.

[woofa.express]

Continued from story number 1148

Pennzoil
Further to time spent with Mr Truman the topic of oil was discussed. Mr Truman said the best oil in America was Pennzoil but added it was not popular. This seemed like a contradiction to me so I asked why. It’s expensive he said.
It so happened they sold here in Australia so I called them. To my surprise they were cheaper than the local oil companies and after a discussion I was appointed as an agent. I sold, at cost price to all the radial engine operators within a practical distance of Melbourne where the product was transported from. That would have been about 7 aeroplane owners, about 15 aeroplanes- all agricultural operators. The purpose of cost was to sell sufficient to maintain an agency. I remember it was 72x44 gals in about 2 years.
I was then to receive a call from Pennz to say I had not sold sufficient to maintain an agency therefore my agreement was terminated. Then about six months later another call from Penzz to enquire why I hadn’t sold any oil. I explained they had terminated my agency and the man became angry. Not at me but their own internal workings. It’s a case where the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing.
I had a friend in South Australia who always knew who sold the cheapest everything and he supplied me details of a local oil blender who had a good reputation with high performance engine owners. I called and he said he was once a blender with a big-name oil company and it was no problem and was easy so I made an agency agreement with him to supply. Sometime later a customer buddy who was taking this new supplier product called to say he was experiencing valve problems. So he called Penzz and established an agency and I became his customer on the same deal.

A things I learned in doing business. 1. Acknowledge the patronage of your clients and thank them for it. 2. Don’t bother advertising if you are not keeping your clients but rather look as to why.

[woofa.express]

I have had an email from Ford Barn Support to say my private messages box was full and 29 had endeavoured to contact me. I have emptied it and if any of you wish to make contact you will now be able to do so. I do enjoy receiving your correspondence. Gary.

[woofa.express]

Hotel Patricia on East Hastings Street- Vancouver.

I do not have a love of administration (except spending) and leave almost all to my wife Patricia who we all call Patsy. She also books accommodation for any travel we do. In this case it was an overnight in Vancouver. She found a hotel called “Patricia” and because both she and the hotel had a name in common she booked.
We took rail and taxi from the airport terminal to the hotel and we were quite dismayed at what we saw on the way. East Hasting Street. Two miles of homeless people, plainly on drugs. The hotel was old and tired. However they had an internal brewery and the most delightful beer. Likewise the evening meal was excellent.
However it became apparent the hotel was a brothel. Because I had been drinking beer I could not sleep so I sat on the end of my bed and watched outside. It was enlightening to this country boy. A woman standing on the footpath (sidewalk) who when approached disappeared for a minute or two. Clearly selling drugs in a dark lane. Another in skimpy clothing, (and it was a night with very cool breeze) standing on a corner by the traffic lights. She waved to every car that passed. She climbed into a total of four cars and each returned her about twenty minutes later. The experience was more entertaining than a late-night movie.
Whenever we mentioned this to any Canadian they all said “you didn’t stay there did you?”
I’m not being critical of Vancouver or Canada. We all have both homeless and drug addicted people. It’s a pitiful sight and a sad sight. It’s just that I have never had exposure to these type of people before.

[woofa.express]

This is just trivia. Total trivia. This is Fugs.

I have a friend Richard. Well that’s what his mother calls him. The rest of us simply call him Dick except a very select few of us who call him wombat. He has, at times a little brain but he has a big heart. He also has a dog with a flat face. I’m told it is an Irish breed, bred for chasing parked cars. Well it’s an ugly dog and wombat calls it Fugly, it’s name derived from the appearance I’ve described.
I bought home a puppy. A Smithfield (a breed with a short stumpy tail) crossed with a Blue Healer which is a cattle dog. It has Blue Healer appearance with streaks and both little and large black patches. Patsy doesn’t like black dogs and said it was ugly. So this dog’s name became Fugs, a derivative of Fugly.
Not only did Fug’s coat clearly resemble that of a Blue Healer but his behaviour distinctively likewise. He bites everything that moves. Particularly wheels. Bicycles, lawn mowers, ride on mowers, wheel barrows, the wheely bin all being popular with Fugs. However he has learned a few things. Not to bite the wood plane, the angle grinder or the chain saw but instead will bark at them all continuously. Drives me mad and when he gets to irritate me he gets told to fugoff. He can manage a few tricks. My favourite is when I command “show us what the doctor did” and you can see his reaction in the first picture and with your imagination you can guess just what the doctor did. Another is him swinging on a broken chord on the clothes line. I guess it helps dry the washing on a calm day.
I get along well with Fugs but he is not quite as smart as my all time favourite which was of course was Woofa. You all know Woofa Express is painted on the bonnet of my ’28 A. I have considered painting the name Fugs on my lawn mower. However if he does ever become useful I’ll consider upgrading his status and painting his name on my ride on mower.
Fugs has also learned not to bit the wipper snipper.

[woofa.express]

Is it trendy?

We all know of trends. They tend to be the status of the day, sometimes not a lot longer. They mostly are bragging topics.

Perpetually stupid is dress fashion. Always changing and returning to a fashion years or even decades earlier. The creators are just a big vacuum cleaner to suck up the loose change of the wealthy, the gullible and the foolish. I have a young talented friend who endeavoured to enter fashion designing. The clothes she put on racks at fashion shops disappeared for a short period and then returned to her as unsold. Identical copies sporting another manufacturer’s label were substituted. It’s an industry full of Puranas she says. The market represents the minnows.

Then there’s footwear, and yes there has been big advances in comfort and performance assisting soles. But there’s fashion. Pointy toes, blunt toes, genuine leather and no animals sacrificed in the manufacture, cool feet and now many bright attention attracting colours.

Motorcars. A selling point of the latest model motorcar is the “features” it has. These are the bells and whistles. Ego inducing components. The failure of a computer program can end the useful and economic life of your expensive investment. It can’t pass a roadworthy if it has a failure in just one of its eighteen airbags. It’s been fashionable for a while now to have a big 4-wheel drive SUV. If you live in the city or urban area you can make out it is to drive around your country property. If you don’t have a property drive to a dirt road to get it dirty or even better after rain take it to a mud hole and throw this mud all over it.

Perhaps the latest and one of the most foolish is the mobile telephone that can not only communicate with others but place bets on horses or footy games, keep you up to date hour by hour on the current temperature. Many features you simply don’t need. has. One must have the latest model. One may need to line up at the retail telephone shop for two days prior to release to ensure you get this latest model. Ensure you use it where others can see you are technically current.

Then there were in house coffee makers. Then came the pods containing coffee. These, with an additional add on extra can make froth for your coffee. That trend almost finished for it is now more fashionable to be seen at an upmarket coffee shop.

Back yard swimming pools were once the height of fashion and status but like all trends they seem to have faded now. Keeping them clean was not a consideration when ordering.

Racehorses. Yes they clearly indicated one simply had too much money. Just like the punters who follow horses that follow other horses.

Then there’s whale watching. Seaside communities have made a living from these suckers and boat owners quickly learned all about these big water mammals then conduct paid tours and spout their newly learned knowledge.

Plus iPad, large screen TV’s, home sound systems. When I was a kid it was Davey Crocket hats which was bad news for cats. Then fox tails tied to the antenna of your motorcar.

Dietary fashions and trends. Constantly changing. Too big a subject for me to enter with my limited knowledge. Then hair styles and popular quotes and sayings particularly from media copycat announcers and commentators with limited IQ.

The horses end up in tins with the picture of a most contented dog enjoying its dinner and wagging its tail. The others end up mostly as land fill.

What do you remember that I have forgotten? What has never gone out of fashion? The motorcar pictured below.

[katy]

What has never gone out of fashion?

Folding money.

[woofa.express]

Bert. Better than Walter Mitty.

He befriended me at the bar in the Returned Services Club and spoke about his services and exploits during both the wars. A pilot- he flew a Vickers Gun Bus which had a pusher engine prop combination. The gunner sat up front and had no worry about shooting the propellor unless he shot the pilot first. After the war he flew one of these around Australia mapping the coast line.
During the second war he flew Catalinas. Instructed both pilots and gunners, overhauled aeroplane engines and had engagements with enemy fighters. He spoke about the service medals he was awarded. After the war he delivered Catalinas all around the world. I was impressed with his war service and extra ordinary work that followed the war.
Next day at work I couldn’t keep him out of my mind and when we stopped for dinner/refuelling I mentioned him and his exploits to Laurie who was my work buddy. What is his name Laurie asked. I’ve been trying to recall but don’t remember I replied. Was it Bert XX he asked. Yes, Yes, that’s it. Laurie laughed in my face. He’s done nothing but work at the butter factory. He can tell stories better than Ian Fleming (the author of the James Bond stories). I felt so stupid. Shame Hollywood hadn’t known of him.
Post Script. I have not included Bert’s surname to save his family any humiliation in the event this story gets to them which is unlikely anyway.
Pictures (from the internet) of the aeroplanes Bert flew. Well in his imagination anyway.

[woofa.express]

Originally Posted by katy

Folding money.

Reply to 1158
Hi Katy. It's terribly persuasive isn't it.

[woofa.express]

post script to 1159

When my kids were at primary school we permitted them to buy their lunch at the tuck shop on the last day of each school term. This, to them was a privilege, a special event. Our eldest, named Dennis bragged to his young friend Stephan, who lived next door, that he had a pie and an ice cream.
Well Stephan couldn’t be out done. He had 150 pies and 100 hot dogs and 100 cans of Coke. !
Here’s another event involving Stephan. When Dennis stopped playing in the scrub across the road Patsy (wife) asked him why. He told his mum there were wild rhino’s living over there. Who told you that Patsy enquired. “Stephan” Dennis replied.
Yet another script writer Hollywood has missed.