HISTORIC DAY!

As of today I can truly call myself a heli pilot! 

I flew 4 packs on the HK 500 FBL back to back, 20 min of almost uninterrupted flight, cool as a cucumber, all phases of basic flight. She and the BeastX FBL system performed flawlessly! I fly 5S 4500 mAh Turnigy packs. I practiced basic level flight in circuits and figure 8's, flew squares and circles in bothe directions, at low speed and low altitude, nose in and out hover, and landings, including auto rotation.

I love helis because they are unforgiving. The engineering has to be perfect, the programming in the FBL system and the transmitter has to be perfect, and the pilot has to be perfect, or very quick at recognizing trouble and getting out of it.  I decided that after my last flight, my first true and complete success, that I would no longer be afraid of flying my helis. Curiously, thats exactly how it went. I set up, spun up, and flew. I fly far more focused than when flying the planks, and I think thats why I enjoy it more.

There were a few pucker moments, where I lost orientation for a few seconds, where I over corrected a bit. But each time I remained calm and recovered easily, albeit with a moment of sphincter tightening. The flights were otherwise controlled and what I intended. It was fun! I am looking forward to geting my other helis in the air.

Oh... and then there was the A-10.

First she ran across the dirt infield, started to rotate and hit the grass, kneecapping her and tearing off the nose gear. Oh, well, we'll hand launch, which I hate especially on a maiden. It went poorly. I am sure I can fix it. Just need more runway next time.

And the Hacker MX2 flew really well once I got her CG on spot. Flew 3 packs. On the last one she over ran the field into the grass and flipped, breaking her prop. I love the Xoar wood props  but they break if you sneeze on them.

But who cares...

I AM A HELI PILOT!

A-10 ready to fly!

Finished the reconstruction work on my A-10. I am not sure which make it is, I think FMS, but its an early one, about 8 yrs old or so, I think. I have flown it only a handful of times because I don't have a good field to take off and land it on. I know some of you have enough power, but with 3S she doesn't move well on any kind of grass. Once up she hauls though. Two 70mm 6 blade fans.

Spackling out the rough spots

Gluing some of the gaps.

Decals. The material I use isn't very good, or I am missing some step to help them adhere well. As they dry many tend to peel up, even under the clear coat of polyurethane.

Finished up in NH ANG Marine Group colors (I made the squadron up).

In the flock!

Waco up!

I had problems with a bad Optical Engine Kill Switch on the RCGF 26cc equipped Phoenix Models Waco. On the field I had tested the circuits and found that the switch was bad. Taking it out of the circuit the engine and the engine ran fine. So I purchased a new Optical Switch. As I reconfirmed the issue on the workbench I found the ignition battery pack was shorted, and had to replace that. It came in yesterday, so I installed it, checked everything out, and found out the LED that was part of the original Optical switch was burned out. Did it short too? What the hell? I had to leave it in place because it was glued in, and had soldered a new plug in, cut the wires on the LED attached to the new switch and put a plug on there too. I ended up having to force the old LED out, and put in the new one I had just cut off the switch, repeating the solder work. Jeez...  This RCGF 26cc engine is one of the best running engines, and represents the brand well, and she has a sweet sound. She is happy again, and I am happy again.

Yay! New LED works! Thosre are the aileron leads hanging there, Y into the Stabilizer.

Everything tucked in and clean. The Waco is sporting a Hobby King Orange 3-Axis Airplane stabilization gyro there in the middle. I had bought the Spektrum Alpha 6 system that I could never get to program right (so I have two little Alpha 6 bricks), but this one is on a couple of my planes. The Spektrum Receiver is on the port wall across from the foam cover and its satellite is forward in a 90 degree orientation form the receiver. Underneath that is the gas tank and battery packs.

When I pulled out the old Optical Switch the VHB tape holding it in place pulled the wall of thick balsa behind it right out leaving a jagged hole in the balsa but the cote intact. It was right above the switches. I had to put a plate of balsa over it on the inside, leaving a funny dent in the cote. I ended up having to cut that cote out, filled in the space between the new piece of balsa and make it level with the surrounding original balsa, and re-cote it. To get this smooth took a couple of tries, but I got it. You can't see the seams unless up very close. I had to redo the switch labels. When I replaced the LED and housing just forward of that I reinforced the balsa skin and used the same outer hole in the fuse; the balsa patch actually holds the housing for the LED, neither of which I glued in this time. I put the black cote there to cover the edges of the hole and to contrast the switch for better visibility. All in all I am quite happy with it.  One of my favorite planes, I can't wait to get her in the air!

RCGF 10cc Piston Ring

My oldest RCGF 10cc engine in the Stik had been acting the fool. I decided to clean out the cylinder and plug, rebuild the carb. It was an all day project. When I put it all back together I couldn't get it to run...  and I realized that the engine didn't have the compression on turn over that I was accustomed to. Something I did screwed it up. Its got spark, so ignition and plug are good. I decided to pick up a new piston ring and gaskets. I went cheap with Hobby King, after all they advertised as RCGF. They arrived from Hong Kong yesterday, and I tried to install the piston ring

It seemed to fit the cylinder. when I slipped it in off the piston. I have no experience with these, so I watched a few You Tube videos. I don't know how tight it should be, but it fit without a struggle. I cleaned out the piston ring slot, and easily got the ring on the piston. When I tried to get the piston and ring into the cylinder it would not go, no matter how much I worked it, nor how many times. I tried re-cleaning the ring groove to see if something was preventing it from sitting in full ring compression, and tried again. It went in too easily. I pulled it out and a piece of the ring was missing; it simply broke off.

I decided to get the parts from a real RCGF seller and went back to the gang at RCGFUSA.com. I ordered another set of gaskets and the cylinder ring. I put my order in this morning.

Here's why you buy quality from the dealer and not the reseller. This afternoon I got a personal call from Joe Nelson, the owner at RCGF USA as he had seen my order. He wondered what I was up to with a cylinder ring, wondering what had gone wrong with the engine, and he called me to see if he could help. THAT"S CUSTOMER SERVICE!  He told me that the counterfeit rings sold by Hobby King are often slightly off and that is why I had so much trouble with it. He is sending my order out today, with some of the new RCGF USA stickers. They will be here soon, coming out from Arizona instead of China.

I figure if this doesn't get the engine running I will send it out to RCGF USA and have no doubt they will get it fixed.

I fished out the broken ring from the crankcase and any metal shavings using a magnet.

More to follow!

The Bad, The Good, and the Awesome

The Bad

Maidened the Hacker MX2 today (see Good, below). First landing, the right wheel pant came right off. These things are hard enough to keep on planes, but the foam ones never survive grass.

Screw them, tore off the left one by hand. No Capes and No Wheel Pants!

The DLE 30cc on the Breitling was idling a bit low but didn't quit on start-up, thought it would come up as it warmed up, gave it a few notches of subtrim and took off. Few moments later as I idled out of  tumble she quit. Dead stick: remember up elevator is never good. I could and should have turned right in and landed her awkwardly even, but she was going from left to right and right in front of me at altitude, so I thought I would just keep going. This unexpectedly put me in a tail wind on final (learned after the crash; winds shift on Mt Hudson and there really wasn't one, so...). I tried to keep her nose up in the turn which was a mistake, and that was all it took, she dropped nose first, I let her to gain airspeed, then at the last moment as she disappeared over the edge of the hill I pretended I was landing her normally but with full up elevator. That worked! This is how I found her.

From engine quit to hard landing was less than 10 seconds

She pulled her landing gear back, very little apparent damage anywhere else, as designed.

Gear is somehow still attached aft... Will get around to this repair next week. Another pilot was there and he likes to really reinforce these. I prefer they be strong but able to break away and it works every time to save the fuse from severe damage.

She just looks so sad sitting there like that...

Well, I guess its time to reset the Crash Clock.

The Good

Maidened the Hacker MX2. The light breeze surprised me at how much it blew her around, making the trim out a bit challenging. She is a touch nose heavy (up-line, inverted, tended to drop). The Battery Cover came off in flight, seems I didn't close it right. Took me 15 min to find it. She flew wonderfully though, snappy and responsive. A few more familiarization flights and I will be able to fly her anywhere!

The Awesome!

Flew the HK 500 FBL "Drone" with the canopy mod allowing the 5S 4500 mAh battery to fit underneath (damn, I am clever!).  I took a moment to clean up the blade tracking, then I flew the entire pack for 5 min, with two landings, one tail in, one nose in, flew her in hover, in circuits, back-and-forths and figure-8's with total control! I had her going where I wanted her to go when I wanted her to go. My hands were shaking so bad at the end I decided to take the win and walk away. Now I need to fly one every time I go out so that the shakes stop. I am super excited, love these helis so incredibly much! Sim time pays!

Reconditioning the A-10

I don't know who the make is, but my A-10 hasn't seen much flight time because it doesn't do well off grass. I cleaned it and filled in wrinkles and cracks with lightweight spackle last night. I sanded off the outer crude layers today and will let it dry, fine sand it tomorrow and prime paint it.

Before the work begins.

Everything works fine, lousy landing gear not withstanding. She will be fun to fly again!

Hacker MX2 Ready to Maiden

Finished up the Hacker MX2 today. This is a nice aircraft. I am a bit suspicious of the flimsy landing gear, but otherwise she is really solid. She is over powered with an Eflite Power 10 motor, a 12x6 Xoar prop and 3 or 4S battery pack (I will fly her 3S). Nice looking plane! Sad its been discontinued, I literally got the last one from Tower Hobbies.

A series of unfortunate events.

I am not sure WTF...

So the other day the Waco wouldn't start and I figured out it was either the hard switch or the RCExcel Opto Switch. Today I verified that it was the Opto. I installed the new Opto (not wanting to force the Ignition  LED out of the socket I soldered in a plug on the LED and the new Opto after cutting the LED off the new Opto). I installed everything and now the reciever won't turn on. I figured out that my Ignition pack is bad, removed them both (they are attached) and find that actually BOTH of my packs are bad, Reciever and Ignition. That just seems really unlikely. One registers zero Volts, the other 1 Volt and some change. This is a pair of Turnigy 6V NiMH packs. WTF is going on?

So tomorrow I will visit ABC Hobbies and see if I can pick up a new set of packs.

Annoyed.

UPDATE: Put the packs on a charger and the Reciever pack is fine, the Ignition pack is toast. Curiouser and curiouser. 

Things I learned again today.

That plane you think, "She always starts...", Will be the one that doesn't. I preflighted her at home for her first outing, and everything was fine. I figured this is my best running engine she'll be fine. I'll do the first season start at the field. I drive alllllll the way to the field, set her up, turned on the receiver, everything looks great, flip the ignition switch and the red ON light isn't on. Huh. Check the transmitter switch... Its fine. Flick it a few times... Nada. Check the battery voltage, it's fine. Check the wires, they are fine. I rewire things so the ignition is directly connected to the ignition battery. Ah! She starts right up, and runs great. Have to grab the prop hub at idle to stop the engine . It's either the RCExcel Opto electronic cut out, or the switch. Its likely the switch, not the first one to go bad. I will find out when I get home. Pack everything back up, drive alllllll the way home.

I also learned that just because it's a 500 size canopy that doesn't mean a 5S battery will fit under there... All set to fly the HK 500 Marine Drone, but the battery doesn't fit under the hood.

More to follow.

A Day in the Life of an RC Pilot

Beautiful weather for today, minimal winds with acceptable gusts, clear skies with thunderstorms moving in during the afternoon, time to go fly! I thought I would document the steps of a good flight day.

First, top off charge the ignition and receiver packs. Charged them the other day.

Pack the car. Only taking the 30cc MXS-R and the 10cc Sukhoi. The Stik's 10cc is on the fritz, and I don't feel like flying a heli today.

Check the winds one last time before committing to the 12 mile drive.

Drive...

I-93 and whatever road it is that I am on...  NH 102.

SNHRCC's Wagner Field is located on the top of a closed landfill that I lovingly call Mt Hudson, so we have to drive through the Hudson Town Dump. Its usually locked, but town workers may be there as the gate is unlocked. Our club gets a key.

The gate to Mt. Hudson, club members only have a key.

Park the car... unload. Must be in the front row!

Set up a plane.

Fuel up and preflight, including warm up.

Sweet.

Check settings, check controls, last engine check.

Taxi out.

Take off!

After a few touch and goes I suddenly had trim issues and brought the Sukhoi in for inspection. Weed stalks stuck in the elevator.  The grass weeds grow overnight here, so the grass is low cut, but the weed stalks are too and snag on the controls. Freed up, problem solved.

Taking a short break, cover the canopy. Its 95 degrees and canopies melt in direct sunlight just sitting.

Happy shirtless guy selfie. Mild sunburn, will be a tan by morning. The harness around my neck leaves a nice V shaped tanline...

Break out, set up the 30cc MXS-R. 

All set up, ready to go. These bigger planes are so much more fun to fly, so stable and powerful!

So love this 30cc Engine. If I remember correctly its a DLE.

Pee break. 140 degrees inside there, at least...

Water break, sitting under the covered picnic table area at the field.

Like a boss. 

Refuel.

Repack the car at the end of flight time, and ready to go home. Spent about 3 hours flying.

Lock the gate on the way out.

Drive back home...

Unload the car and cart everything into the basement workshop.

Clean and inspect, make repairs as necessary. The Sukhoi runs rich so gets a coating of unburnt fuel and oil, the 30cc runs clean. The grass cuttings end up all over the wings and props. Good time to inspect the cote and balsa for dings.  Put everything away.

Sit back, have a beer, pet cat.