Beautiful day to "maiden" the MX-Bach. Calm on Mt Hudson, sunny, a bit warm, and about 4 other pilots there.
I took the Sbach up and flew her smartly. Third pack and ( lost her is a maneuver in the sun haze, over corrected and drilled her in pulling up at the last minute. I once again knocked off the front end and turned it into powder.
After I moved her from the crash scene. I have an idea to build a firewall and install the motor on stand-offs, since I wont have a motor box. She's too sweet a flier and so otherwise intact, I can't abandon her.
UPDATE: Well, this explains things. The gears on the elevator servo are stripped... Maybe I didn't over control? Not that it matters, I had no idea what the hell was going on when she crashed. Ordered some replacement 12g Solar digital metal gear servos from Hobbypartz.
This was interesting. Yesterday I worked on gettingg the remote off switch for the OrangeRx e-axis stabilizer to work, and couldn't. Since it works otherwise fine and this twitchy beast flies well with it, i decided to fly with it on anyway. Took off and immediately things went boobies up, I had virtually no control and her tail dropped like a turd. Barely got her down with an inelegant "landing" in tall grass. I disconnected the stabilizer and put her back up, thinking there was just something wrong with the system. Again, barely got her back down. This time though I realized that last night I removed the nose down subtrim, thinking I had accidentally input it. What I had forgotten is that despite a pound of extra lead in the nose, this short fronted aircraft is tail heavy, and the subrrim lets her fly. Its easier than trying to trim it into the elevator servo. I dialed the subtrim back an and voila, she flew perfectly! Flew three more packs.
Then I fried my iCharger 208b. I had brought her put to recharge the 5S packs in the MX-bach. There is a battery based (DC) Solar Powered station there with 24V and 12V connections. I had checked and the 208b can take up to 32V DC Input. Plugged her in. Poof! Cute little puff of smoke and a soft zap. Dead. Stupid... should have just gone with the 12V, and I knew it. I think there is not a fuse inside, that the board is likely burnt, and I will be buying a new 208b. I'll open her up and check. I have had her since about 2008, so I have had a good run with her. Sad, she was one of my first major RC purchases, from ProgressiveRC. Will likely buy from them again.
UPDATE: Yeah, toast... In the pic below you can see that one of the microprocessors is burnt and cracked. Homie is buying another one.
Burnt and cracked microprocessor.
And it says right there, 32V DC...
After that little fiasco, it was time to fly the MX -Bach. Set her up, cal,ed my nerves, and took off. She tookmoff smartly, and flew wonderfully. Maybe its psychological, maybe its that she is a few pounds fat, but she pulled off the maneuvers like Gronkowski plays tight end for the Patiots, she seemed a bit of a lumbering lug. She felt heavy, she seemd slower, but really I think she flew as she always has. Landing with and without flaps required keeping some speed on or she sinks fast. It took a couple rough landings and I started to get the hang of getting her down. In the air I felt myself psychically holding her up in turns, tough she took them just fine. I think part of it was flying the two slower quicker planes before, some nerves, and my thinking about how heavy she is. I don't know how to make her any lighter.
After two flights, with no way to charge the batteries, it was time to head home. As I prepared to leave, I got in my car in the A/C, and watched John Warner fly a perfectly built, tuned and expertly flown plane, I think an Edge. Wow... If I had a flying ego I would have cried and thrown all my stuff out.
I will check out the 208b, expect to order a new one, fix the Sbach, and reset the crash clock from a record 123 days without a crash.
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