Bushed the Cub, Rocked the Sukhoi

The weather was perfect, really, so I was going to fly today. I loaded up the Sukhoi 10cc, which I haven't even started since last fall, and the Eflite Cub, then headed out to Joppa Fields, just in case they fixed it. Which of course they haven't. The grass has been cut, but its still tall to mask the clumpiness. I've really just had my fill of that. I got back in the car and drove out to Merrimack and the field for the Southern NH Flying Eagles.

Its a nice field with a geotex runway and very nice recently mowed grass, but I don't enjoy flying there, with having to fly in and out of the hole formed by the surrounding trees, which you pretty much have to fly over at least 100 feet in the air to avoid, and the wierd wind patterns that come off the river and spin into and out of the bowl and around the trees. I think I have not flown at a club with more crashes, which I attribute to the trees, the bowl and the winds.

And pretty much everytime I go there something crashes due to the heights, the winds or the trees. Today the Eflite Cub got wisked sideways then into a spin, in the corner over the creek at the northern end, after flying with busy fingers down into the bowl. She ended up in a bush just short of the creek. Motor is loose, right wing came off clean and has a break in the outer leading edge. Meh, easy fixes, already in progress.

The Cubby is a very nice 450 sized balsa framed plane. A nice predictable flier.

In the bush...

Right wing took the brunt, but came off clean. Well designed to break like this instead of being so strong the energy turns it into matches.

The leading edge. I used 15 min epoxy to allow me to work the pieces into place.

I placed a piece of balsa sheet cut to fit perfectly between the wing formers, and to fit behind the rejoined leading edge. I need to get some Cub Yellow cote. Thought I had some, but nope.

This is the trickier part. Do I want to drill out the joiner spar, which would be strong and easy to do, but will take some work, or drill a hole and run a carbon fiber rod between the two. This latter option  requires a little more finesse ensuring the rod is in the same place on both sides joined. This option is weaker. Meh, I think I will take the time to drill it out and make a new plywood spar joiner. That is a project for another day.

I love this plane. My RCGF 10cc powered SU-26, is a lot of fun to fly, especially with the Orange stabilization system. The system is switchable allowing nice clean aerobatics with it off, and with it on, nice handling in windy conditions. She started right up and needed NO adjustments! Ran sweet and reliably.

On the geotex runway after a flight. Flew a couple of tanks, 15 min each.

Then the plastic control rod end that was embeded in the rudder broke off. I could fly her castering, but with the cross winds this was a bit tricky so I called it a day. This took about 10 min to fix at home, and I decided to double up as these take a beating on grass. Fixed. I also took some time to straighten and align the aluminum landing gear that also took a beating out at Joppa Hill last fall, another reason not to fly there. Recall I have had a lot of landing gear ripped off there.

Sean showed up. Twice. Forgot his wing tube the first time. Flew his glow 0.55 equipped Phoenix Cub. Ran sweet, took off fine, and then I left him to the winds.

It was a good day. Not sure I will fly there again, but its a great club, some really great folks. I just have better options than flying in and out and over the hole.