After a day spent listening to training it was nice to pick up a cleaning cloth and wipe down the upright covers and burners... The training was good and a joke or two in there were pretty funny.
A conference call in there as well that went just over an hour and was for the most part interesting but somewhat frustrating.. It shouldn't be since everything the govt does it does after much deliberation. Not sure if the thought isn't echoed by the others on the call. The one major we were all on was brought up ages ago and now its being handled like it just came to light. Kinda crazy... Oh well.. We will push on.
After a snack this evening I hit the upright covers... two rounds of conditioning and a pre wipe down. They look good and feel supple.... The poles also got wiped down but there isn't much that needs cleaning on them. The burners were or are another story. Covered in fine dust.... Also soot and other discolorations to the stainless steel.. I rubbed some out but I cant get a lot of it and the inside of the cans is pretty black... nothing I can do about that. They would need to be completely disassembled to clean it right and then the next time I went flying they would be back to the same condition. I will be wiping them down again with a nice lint less cloth when I fly next though. Some water spots I saw only after taking pictures.
Oh.. ah... pictures below.... More information on how a Lindstrand is put together...
Just hanging around after being conditioned. The hanger worked nicely. These clips you see connect to loops on the burner frame to keep them in place if you have to remove a fuel line from behind thier protection.. Or at least that is what I think they are for... Nice not to lose them.
Here they are zipped up and the three integral equipment straps are velcroed.
Cover, pole, cover, pole, cover, pole, cover, pole.... The discoloration on the ends of the poles is because they slot into the burner frame metal and slots in the top of the basket.. I showed you one of those with the leather cup around it the day before yesterday.
Little loop is for the clips on the upright covers.... The tab there with the holes through it ( there are two there ) is where the support cable comes up.. sits in between and a carabiner is slotted through the right side the cable eye and left side of that tab. Then the carabiner from the envelope lines come down and connect to that carabiner... Nice and strong. The green tennis ball is stuck on the pole tops so they don't tear up the burner case.
Here is one pole into the burner frame corner. Lindstrand has fixed pole ends. Most others have a joint here with a nut and bolt. I have seen them come loose and that ends your day of flying right there. See the two tabs now for the cable and carabiner to sit in.
A better view of the tab. Serious strength and robustness of purpose! Lol.
Fuel line ends with nice caps on them to keep junk from getting where it shouldn't be. These attach to the tanks in the basket or in my case.. one tank and one manifold.
Link you might like to see.. refrence...
http://lindstrand.com/products/accessories/burners/
Jetstream Series 2 Doubles... Standard on all 105,000 to 210,000 cubic foot balloons... and my little 69,000...HAH! A shot looking all classy. Toggles and cross bar.
All cleaned up and in a nice clean case. Fuel lines are looped around the top to keep them from getting damaged. Tied off with two of those funky rubber coated wraps. You can see the squeeze toggles in the center there. You can also see clearer the red whisper toggles.. ( blast valves ). The pivot ( black square in the middle of the picture with six bolts in it ) is wonderful. you can pivot up and down and left and right. Two of those inset allen headed bolts are pressure adjustments to tighten the movement of loosen it up. Mine is slightly tight. I want to be able to move it but not accidentally shoot flame where I dont want it to go if I didn't look up first.
Zipped up and resting... The black pads you see are for the fan and also the basket or envelope, depending on if the envelope has to sit on wet grass or if I need more protection for the edge of the basket. One goes under the fan so it wont pick up rocks and fling them about.
So now everything is clean...everything is fueled. I have to put it all back together though... but before I can do that I have to buy an old truck bed liner to put in the trailer. I want to get this all done before the next AAAA rally in Rio Rancho. Right after that she will go in for annual inspection... Then a few more flights and it will be Fiesta... wow .. so fast... 65 days to go...
My facebook banner and logo today are from 4th and Montano.. another tile piece of art.. This one I like.. Its nice and Beasty too..
That was a long on tonight... Now you have seen every part of a Lindstrand hot air balloon. I really should do a video on putting it all together but that would take forever and I have videos I have yet to touch for friends still to do.... And I get farther and farther behind.
PS.... this is a shot from 2007.... three years before I wanted a Lindstrand... Look in the back there.. Its my ( almost ) system basket....Different colors in the center and black rope instead of red but you get the idea...
