I knew it could...

I was having problems getting the usually reliable RCGF 10cc to run when I went out to Hudson the other day. I knew that it could run the 13x8x3, and now that it wasn't I was determined to get it to.

I took the engine off The Stik this morning, removed and completely took apart ths carb, from Hi-Lo needles, to metering needle and its lever, cleaned and adjusted everything, using GumOut and WD40. Removed and cleaned the butterfly in the fuel intake to the cylinder, cleaned the flapper valves in the Walboro carb, I cleaned the piston shaft and the cylinder, I cleaned the spark.

I set the needles about 2-3 turns out and she started up after spitting out the WD40. Tuned her in a few minutes and now she runs smooth and sweet! I did have to move the low throttle end point down to 22% (last time it ran well it was 35%). I had to work the low end to keep an odd thing from happening, I have noticed, maybe just this engine, but if I run for a few seconds at half throttle, then pull quick to idle, she would slow, stutter and stop, even thoguh the Hi and Lo needles were set. If I set the idle a little higher with endpoints, moving it from 35 to 22% in this case, she would not stutter, and if she did would return to idle no ptoblem. I had to work this end point down to find a nice medium. The idle is  a bit fast for paved, but grass will be no problem.

Too gusty to fly now, work for three days, then house closing, so it will be some time until I can fly again... When I can, Das Stik is going up!

Good day, not as planned.

Headed out to SNHRCC in Hudson today with the 30cc MXS-R, the 10cc Stik and the newly rebuilt HK EPP Sbach. I started with the Sbach. She flew fine, but with the 3-Axis on it flew odd. A recheck of the settings mysteriously showed the aileron response on the stabilizer were backwards. I had tested it extensively when I set it up before bringing it out. This is quite odd. Set it right and really didn't notice a difference with it on.

I flew a couple of batteries. Even witth a little wind, she flew so much better than last time we came out here, stabilizer on or off.

I brought out the 10cc Stik. She had been nicely tuned, but for some reason she wasn't accelerating consistently.  She would quit on some run ups, or bog down. If I got her to run well, she stops when I pull the throttle back. To get that not to happen I have to set a high idle. I spent an hour on it and couldn't find a sweet spot. A guy named Ray (clearly a skilled builder and flier) was there and I asked him for help, He pretty much did what I did and couldn't get it to run right. He thinks the prop is too much. I have flown this prop before, and it ran fine. It also runs fine on the Sukhoi with the same engine (I checked). I wasn't going to fly her today. I decided to wrap it up for the day having wasted so much time. Ray and another guy were flying their Veloxities on the gas side and I didn't feel like asking them to go to the electric side so I could fly the 30cc.

I like 3 blades, not just for the look, but for the thrust. The loss of efficiency is insignificant compared to the increase in thrust, which is why full scale prop planes use as many blades as they can.

I drove by my new house in Chester. The closing is next week. It is on the way to Misfits in Auburn, so I thought I would stop there, then head over to Misfits.

I can't fly anything bigger than a park flyer at Misfits because I was by myself, and its too small for the 30cc anyway. I flew a couple more batteries in the SBach. I am sure there are occasional delays is response with this receiver. Since I am not really impressed with the 3-Axis system, I think I will just put a regular receiver on her. She was a lot of fun!

Headed home and took the 10cc Sukhoi out to the garage, and fired her up with her 3-blade 13x8x3 prop to see how she ran with the 3-blade. She ran fine. I changed the Stik's prop to a 2-blade 14x8. She ran pretty much the same as she did at the field. I still could not tune her. I took her to the bench, pulled the motor and cleaned the carb on both sides. The screen filter had a little dirt, but nothing amiss. I put it back on and started her, still can't get her to tune right. I gave up for the night. Since its not the prop I put the 3-blade back on, and will tune her with it on. I am at a loss. I may have to settle for having to set her up best I can and be careful making fast changes on throttle. I can find that spot, but will need to be ready to dead stick her. At some point I may send it to RCGF-USA to see if they can figure it out. There are a couple of things I can do still, clean the spark, change the carb flapper pump. I looked for the single needle carb, but I must have tossed it. I'll keep looking for that too.

HK EPP Sbach rises!

Its been a productive couple of days. Winds kept me from flying, moving preps kept me busy, but I finished rebuilding the EPP Sbach! She looks pretty good. Close up she has some scars, but really I am glad that I rebuilt her.

I noticed a few things. I had to replace the plastic control arms on the elevator and rudder. They were stripped, and the elevator servo was acting the fool. I wonder if these two things caused the crash? I installed a Spektrum AR600 rwciver I have and it burnt out two replacement servos before I realized what was going on. Threw it out. With the servo and horn issues as possible causes for the crash, not wanting to throw awya $25, and now lacking a reciever, I dug the HK Orange 3-axis Stabikizer-DSM2 reciever out of the trash and installed it. I also noticed that the gain settings on this reciver were way too high. WTF? I installed it, reset everything, retested the responses and dialed the gains down to a bit more than 50%. Everytning seems fine!

Ths spinner is wobbly. The prop shaft is true, and the blade is true, but the spinner back plate is wobbly. I may change it out before I fly her.

Set the reciever a bit aft of the carbon fiber wing tube to minimize signal blocking. I wanted the antenna pointing aft to prevent the battery from blocking the signal.

Before painting the black. I used a water based brush on paint.

All done and pretty!

Tru-Turn Spinner. Oh my...

Is this not something else?

I worked with Wendy at Tru-Turn to get the right adapter and spinner for my RCGF 10cc engine on the Stick. Wendy helped me by checking which adapter would fit, and pointing me to the right spinners.  Thanks, Wendy!  I got a TTH-1250-A 1-1/4" A-Style Prop Hub, and a TT-0140-A 1/4-28 W/1/4" Adapter Kit for the RCGF 10cc. Fit perfectly, of course.

I have always wanted to put a bullet spinner on her. I have a Tru-Turn spinner on the 26cc Waco that I bought last year. These spinners, while not inexpensive, are worth every single penny.  I had to trim about 1/4" off the spinner screw, but that ain't no thang.

Would ya look at that?