Survived first MXS-R Deadstick

A day off today with perfect flying weather, rare these past few weeks. Errands done, off to the field!

Warmed up with Ultimate, and cruised with the Cornell, then the main event. Kicked the tires and lit the fires and flew the MXS-R 30cc gasser. Tossed her around a little and on final in flight idle she quit. Deadsticked to a one bounce wings level landing. Sweet. Didn't have the nerve to fly her more than 3 times.

She tends to 4-cycle in low to mid throttle, runs sweet at the higher end. I decided this evening to pull the metering tubing that ran to the fuse out of the engine compartment so now the metering pressure will be what exists in the cowl. See if this makes a diff.

Tucked away...

Winter Project?

Hmmm....

Corsair for me?

RCGF 10cc Gas Motor Issues

UPDATE: Its running fine!  Read the UPDATE.

It's old news that I selected the RCGF 10cc engine for the Sukhoi SU-26. My initial impressions are quite good, but more because of the great support I am getting from Joe at RCGF USA.

I have always felt that most RC products are over priced. But both the Evolution and the RCGF 10cc motors were priced at $199 shipped. I chose the RCGF engine because it wasn't a pressurized tank system (a glow converted engine), it has a ringed piston,  it used the same fuel mix as my DLE 30, and it seems popular, well constructed, and simple in design.

I still like all of those things. The engine arrived quickly with a nice personal hand written thanks from Joe. Well packaged and protected. It installed easily, and I had the entire thing from ignition battery, to kill switch, recvr/ign manual switch, engine and electronic ignition installed in under a couple of hours. I am also using a Quickfire filter. I took the battery packs from the 30cc MXS-R since HK just got my order shipped yesterday.

Yesterday I tried starting it, it just didn't seem to be getting fuel. If I primed the lines it finally spun up but quickly quit. I wasnt sure if it was the pump, the filter, or the vaccum. It's almost never the spark. I quickly discovered a massive fuel leak in the tank from a pinhole in a corner, fixed it by replacing the tank, but thats not the problem. Made a mess of the airframe. Tried starting again, no joy. Gave it a break overnight. Was the pump position an issue? Was it too high? Should this matter? Maybe the vacuum is inadequate for the Quickfire; I can take it out of line and see, move the pump... Is there yoo much fuel line? Shouldn't be. What else could it be?

This morning I started where I had left off. I took the Quickfire out of line, still no joy. I moved the fuel pump lower (I really don't think that changed anything), primed the lines and put the Quickfire back in line. This time is rewarded me with a couple of 15-20 sec runs before it just died, then nothing. Well, we know its working, getting fuel, but why does it stop? I decided to check the spark plug to see if there was some reason the engine could not sustain enough compression to keep fuel coming.  I had done everything else I could think of.

When I removed the spark plug it came loose a lot easier than I expected, and there were metal filings around the threads. I checked ignition spark and it was hardy. I went to put the spark back in and wasn't surprised that it would loosely thread, not completely seal, it kept turning on finger tip pressure, and I could pull it out easily. The threads were stripped in the cylinder head and I hadn't even screwed it back in. I have to say, when it did run, it sounds smooth and sweet! It gave me chills, I was so excited. It made it clear I will never build another electric again!

Bummer, though. I think it was having trouble because the cylinder wasn't sealed during the compression stroke but for that couple of times it ran, and then only briefly. But who knows.

Now comes Joe. I called him and he was great, apologizing without blinking an eye,  and asked me to send the engine back, he would get it running. He noted there have been some manufacturing issues on some of the engines with tapping the cylinder heads, and my issue was not unique. I uninstalled it and mailed it out this afternoon.

I don't expect perfection. Remember, "Its always something." What keeps me a fan of this engine id how sqeet it sounded, and that when it had a problem I spoke to THE man and he is on it. Can't do better than that.

My usually well organized shop is a mess, I was so focused on getting her running. Back and forth to the garage, who has time to keep things neat?

So now we wait... 

Hobby King Disappointment

Love Hobby King, their quality products and awesome prices. But like McDonalds, even when service fails, I will still keep coming back because there is no competition.

Spent 20 min with Customer Service Chat online and left no better than when I called. About 9 days ago I ordered 2 receiver packs, a mini-tach, and some plastic hinges, all in stock, from the USA West Warehouse.  I received the order confirmation, but never received a notice of shipping, so I contacted them through a CS request on their website. They have no idea why it hasn't left the warehouse, but told me 2 days ago they were looking into it. I heard nothing, so today I contacted CS on chat. She essentially told me the same thing, so really, nothing has happened in these past 2 days. She told me to wait two more days. I asked if HK would send them by Express Mail to compensate me for the delay, and she said that they can't change the shipping method. It seems like no one is pushing this through, they are just waiting for someone else to do something. What am I going to do about it? On one hand of the thousands of dollars and dozens of orders over the past 7 or so years, this really is the first time I have had a problem getting my parts, so really, that's pretty damn good. Its just not getting the sense that anyone is calling to get anyone physically on this that bugs me.

2 more days, then 5-7 says in transit if this gets solved. The Sukhoi awaits.

UPDATE 10/19/15: On line chat with HK since I had some time to kill. After being told again they were looking into it and to check back in 2 more days I lamented why couldn't someone in CS just call the warehouse, or let me call. She noted thats not how they communicate with the warehouses, they do it my email and chat. After a few minutes she came back and had gotten it shipped and a tracking number. It's on its way.

Why couldn't they do that the first time? Well  either way, she did a good job helping me!

Sukhoi SU-26 10cc Gasser

I've been busy.

I crashed the electric Honda SU-26, (pic here) after only a handful of flights. I got another SU-26 Sukhoi 70 size. I don't know why, I like the Honda design, but for some reason I got the Aeroshell one. I really wanted this one to be a gasser, and I wanted a smaller gas. Pricing was right to go  RCFG 10cc.  I chose this motor over the Evolution 10cc as it was a ringed piston (break in is easy) and it uses the same fuel mix my DLE-30 uses, 30:1. The Evo would have required an extensive break in and a 40:1 mix.

I started building her last week, and would be near done but for an odd delay getting the reciever and ignition packs, and the in-line tachometer. It's been a week and they haven't even shipped. Hobby King says they are checking in to it, but its still not shipped. Can't touch the price they offer on these packs and the tach... Oddly, my Quikfire gas filter also was missed in shipping, and that's late too.

Here are pics of where she stands today.

Introducing my PT-19 Cornell!

Maidened my new PT-19 Cornell from Eflite today. She is my second one, and I was pretty green when I flew the first one, which I eventually crashed one too many times. This ARF is no longer available.

She has a 450 sized motor, a Hobby King Orange 3-axis stabilization reciever. This is the first time I have used a 3 axis gyro in a plane before. She is small and prone to being beaten up by winds, so I thought it would be a good place to try it on. I had increased the gain on all axes, and in flight in dives this set up oscillations so I took them all back to the stock 50% and it smoothed right out.

She has about 1.5/oz in the nose. Other than that she is unmodified and flew wonderfully!