Prior planning prevents piss poor performance...

 

The great news is my friend, John, whom I suspected was a master builder, will take on the repair of my Alpha Sport wing. I had almost opted to just by the latest generic trainer that looks very much like the Alpha Sport, but mine is part of my story and I couldn't just let it go.  He's an Engineer, and I mean capital E Engineer, as I realized when I saw his workshop. Over 40 years of RC experience, a lot of it hanging from the ceiling in his ginormous spectacular and manufacturing level equipped workshop. So much history. Next time I am there I will take pics, I was too awe struck to think of it today. John's skills at expert building and cote work just dazzled me?. So many complex surfaces that look painted smooth as clear ice... My little project is but a sneeze for him. Dude is a legend.

The lack of planning that bit me in the ass was me rushing out of the garage grabbing two planes without inspecting them. After visiting John, I headed out to the Flying Tigers field in Derry. It was a bit awash with recent rains, but flyable. Turns out the tail wheel connected to the rudder of the MX2 had broken off the bottom of the rudder. Also, the ailerons went literally juggy with vibrations intermittently.  You no fly. Turned to the Cubby only to find the model wasnt even programmed into my iX12...  I had purged a few planes, but I wouldn't have purged that one. No problem, its a simple setup, made q model and programmed my DR/Expo. Ok, the reciever, into which I need to plug in the bind plug, under the wing, attached by two 2.0 hex top screws. Easy-peasy. Except I don't have a 2.0 hex driver in my go box. Son of a ....

The gods have warned me its time to go home. Several times.

Got home and went straight to the garage workshop. Easily fixed the rudder thingy. Epoxied it, and added a popsicle stick along the bottom to add structural strength so this won't happen again (will add a pic tomorrow). Then I decided to swap out the aileron servos as the jigging kept happening. Made sure it wasn't the reciever, it wasn't. Should be an easy pull and replace.  Well...  the plane is sealed and the leads wind their way through the fuse to make it to the instrument compartment. The fuse is made rigid by a wood box that runs thru most of the fuse and a center wall to wall plate of thick foam There would be no simple pull and replace. Had to crudely tunnel along the wires to release them and pull them. Then to pass the new leads, more tunneling thru foam. That wasn't so bad. 

The servo arms laughed at that notion. The small arms had a special extension arm of brittle plastic on it held together to the servo arm by a very tiny screw. Had to carefully take it apart, and reestablish it on the new one. Hand drilled a small pre-hole, and replace the tiny screw. Of course the screw has a 1 mm hex head hole, my smallest driver being 1.5. Used needle nose pliers to extract that. Replaced the screw and the new arm, and installed. All's good. Started out smoothly with the other one right up to when the special arm snapped while screwing in the retaining hole. Great. That's just great.  Found a plastic part I could trim and make new extensions. Yes, extensions, as they need to be identical on both sides.   And... it won't accept superglue, which I need to hold them. I sanded them, glued again, clamped, and walked away.  I hope the sanding creates a bondable surface. I just need it to hold long enough to put a couple of retaining screws in, very tiny ones. This plastic won't split. We will see how that goes tomorrow.

Never got around to binding g the Cubby, that for tomorrow too.

Having an awesome time!

Introducing my RC Sailboat (and tug) fleet!

 Last year I plunged into a new RC hobby I had yearned for years about doing, RC Sailing. I have always loved sailing, but found the scale hobby too expensive and time consuming to get into, though I have had sailing lessons. Like flying, actually, I moved into RC and flight sim because real flying is expensive and I would never be able to afford the flight hours I would want to remain current. So RC has been my weakness and I have indulged deeply. I have been blogging my sailing adventures on Facebook, for some reason not moving to this blog for sailing, but I am remedying that today! 

These boats are essentially "plug-n-play", in that you need only supply a radio receiver (you only need 2 channels, but the smallest commonly are 6-channel). One is for the rudder and the other is for the sheet (one servo controls both the jib and mainsail). I use standard Spektrum/generic receivers and my Spektrum iX12 transmitter. Since you can't reef the sails, they come in 3 basic sets: A- Set for normal conditions, the smaller B set and for some C set for higher winds.  Standard is A-set. They are fun, easy to maintain, and easy to sail! When not racing (which I have yet to do), its a lot like I imagine fishing is... standing calmly, quietly and just being there.

Here are the boats in my fleet:

My first sailboat is this gorgeous Dragonforce 65. Its a 65cm class racing boat with one of the largest sailing populations world-wide. On Facebook: Dragonforce 65. Mine is modified with sails from a talented sail and graphics maker, Stefano, in Italy, START1969, otherwise it is stock. Its a low cost boat and I would highly recommend it as a first boat.

My second boat is the Kyosho Seawind. Its 1m long, 1.8m tall. These have been discontinued, but about a decade ago sold for $500. You can only get them used, as I did. Mine was in very good condition though the main mast was a bit soft and a top joint, so I replaced it (a few parts are still to be had). Like others, I didn't like how ineffective the rudder is when healed and into the wind, so I modified it replacing it with a true 1m sailboat rudder, and it handles fabulously!  My sails were also a bit rough, so I purchased a stunning A set from Simon at ERA Sails of Falmouth, England, and just love them. This set was one of the first he had made so I got them as a great deal. Kyosho still has them on their website, and rumor is they will come back into production. Like most things we love there is no understanding why they stopped making them. This boat is also a club racer, but in smaller numbers worldwide. On Facebook at Seawind One Design Class.

Wanting another inexpensive 1m boat (about the biggest I can get in my car without disassembling it), I got a Volantex Hurricane. This is more of a hobby boat, not a class boat that people race. I find it fun and exciting to sail! The only modification I did on this boat was to install an external on/off button so I wouldn't have to remove the deck between every sail. Its rudder is large so it didn't need replacing. I sail this one otherwise stock.

My last current sailboat is the much smaller Kyosho Fortune 612.  At 61cm it is a little smaller than the DF65. This is another hobby boat, not a class sailor. It is stock, though I didn't install the deckhands. It is alight wind boat. I am not fond of her sail material, for as you can see here, its a bit stiff. It sails great and is a lot of fun. I got her mostly because I love the detailing. I found her sail booms to be way too soft, so reinforced them with carbon rod. Otherwise they bowed under loading. I installed an external on/off switch, it is otherwise stock, though I would love to get better sails. I have toyed with the idea of putting the original DF65 sails on her... need to see if they would fit. Fun to sail, but needs light winds.

This is my rescue tug, Zaphod, named after my kitty who died in 2026. The Heng Long 60cm long electric tugboat I bought from Motion RC. Its surprisingly agile, powerful and useful. It comes in handy with a boat gets stuck, if there is no wind and a boat is out a ways. Its also fun to just putter around with!  It runs on a brushed electric motor, in which I installed two 3 cell (11v) 2200 mAh batteries in parallel to make for a long, long running 4400 mAh. It has proven useful a number of times.

My Dream Boat, the Volvo Ocean 70 (without foils)

There is a real life Volvo Ocean Race boat class called the VO70 (there is a smaller VO65 as well). I don't know a whole lot about the race, but I really love this boat design. The wide hall, the bowsprit, the sail configuration, the twin rudders! No company makes this model, but several industrious people have 3D printed the hall in sections, molded them together and built them up from acquired parts. There is a facebook page where they post their builds called Ockham Radio Controlled Sailing. The nearly completed (as I write this) Team Brunel VO70 is stunning!  A quote for all up was only $250 (I suspect less sails), so these could be made, affordably for < $600. 

It will be some time before I can afford one, get my hands on it. So for now, dreaming and watching!

Stayed tuned! I will hopefully be posting some videos, may start with a couple I already posted in Facebook.

Cosmic Wind Updated and the Ultrastick Wing Repaired

Busy day today. Feeling a bit under the weather, so hung out in the garage workshop. I really hate having to work out there... the dirt floor being the biggest negative. At least I have a space.

I have rarely flown this speedy beast. My reinvigorated interest stems from Flying Tigers field having a geotex runway which is perfect for this plane. This is the Cosmic Wind I built back in 2011. It has been a hangar queen for so long it isn't in the iX12. I updated it today adding a OrangeRx ORX Rx3S gyro stabilization system. I had pulled the original receiver, I think an OrangeRx, and so today put in the old version Spektrum AR6100 from the Alpha Sport. I set up the gyro, but it will take a few flights to tune the sensitivities. I don't know that it needs it, but its nice to have it when I need it i. Such a small plane Everything works fine. It uses one servo for the ailerons. It has a powerful motor and ESC. Screamer, will need to be careful.

I am building the 3rd (is it my 4th?)  Ultrastick 10cc finally. I have built them too heavy, using a large battery, and having to add a lot of weight to get CG when the tail servos are installed in the tail. I will build this one with the servos in the center and a standard smaller battery. In the last crash that weight made it hard for it to come out of a hammerhead. The fuse was totalled, but the wing came thru pretty unscathed, so I am going to reuse it. Same one as in this pic. The other day I fixed a transverse crack in the middle, and today re-coted it. This was a bit of a challenge as my cote skills are rudimentary at best, and the repair required a thin rectangle of balsa that I found hard to smoothly cote around the edges. I managed, not too shabby!

Its nice to be getting back into things again. Today I also joined NH Flying Tigers, so I can now officially fly there. I hope to get out there and get used to flying again, which has me a bit nervous since I crashed the Alpha Sport 450, my go to "new experience " (ie, new fields new season) plane. I do have a couple of 450 sized planes I can use instead, so its not all bad. Hope to have the Ulteastick build finished during this staycation so I can maiden it there.

I asked a friend, who builds, if he would be interested in rebuilding the Alpha Sport's wing. I might be able to, but  don't know how I would make the replacement ribs. I took a better pic of the damage so you can see its totalled...

I may have no choice but to take a swing at it.

A busy day. My spirit is willing, but my body is saying I need to take a break.  I am not used to having time off so I feel I need to rush back out, but that's how mistakes get made. I can, however, get some sim time in!

Dongles for Flight Sim: WS2000, RX2SIM, WS300T

I have been using my Spektrum WS2000 USB dongle for over a decade to connect my Spektrum transmitters to my RealFlight RC sim (RF), and more recently to AccuRC heli sim. It has never impressed me because other than the gimbals, the switches that work are not generally the ones I want to use. I end up without a functioning heli HOLD or FMode switch, and can't use my own dual rates/expo. I would swear I did get them to work a few times with it never seems to hold (I don't know anymore, RF Evolution seems to forget what I finally set up, so many times I can't even recall when/what works, and just expect to have to spend time resetting it up every time I use it). Default it has the channels/switches and exes all wrong, and I had to go into the model to get the flaps to work properly, but still can't figure how to program a mix. I had been solely using RF, and only recently got AccuRC because it promised more real relationships between the game and my transmitter. Not so much, a lot more issues with channels/switches not being seen, or being consistent.

I read that a dongle, the RX2SIM by Freakware (the BeastX people) would solve that. I ordered this device for my AccuRC 2.0 heli sim as it promised to easily connect my Spektrum DSMX satellite to my sim so that I could use my iX12 transmitter's programming, allowing me to use all my transmitter's switches, DR/Expo, pitch/throttle curves. This would allow me to fly as I will in the field. I did this because the Spektrum WS2000 dongle does not.  Again, not so much.

It was easy to connect the DSMX satellite or a receiver to the dongle, and to bind it to my iX12 or Dx7s. It never saw my transmitter's programming (maybe the pitch curves>), and would not give the gimbals their full range of motion. The switches wouldn't program correctly since it wouldn't detect the switch/channels properly or consistently. I tried my DX7s, my iX12, my satellites, various receivers (even bought a new one). Purple mode light, DSMX connecter light for the satellite, Single Channel light for the receivers. Never could get it to function properly. The kicker is there is NO TECH SUPPORT, so no one to call (Helidirect said, nope, not them). I tried so many in game setttings, transmitter settings (using RF base ACRO model, a heli model with 1-3 servos, a copy of my Trex 600 DFC FBL model from my iX12). It would not see the full gimbal range of motion (curiously it still seemed to function as if it did). No FMode, DR/Expo, Hold, etc. Essentially worse that the WS2000. 

I even tried updating the firmware: downloaded StudioX Flow, put the RX2Sim in bootload mode, but the software never saw the device so I couldn't even to that! I am sure others have had much better success as this comes highly recommended. 

I am returning it, at the loss of the cost of shipping both ways. Kinda fucked...

While looking for info on how to get the WS2000 to communicate better with the sims, I ran across the newer Spektrum WS3000T. I don't know what the T means... anyway, it promises 20 channels. Does that mean it will allow sims to see my DR/Expo, Fmode, Hold, etc?  AccuRc doesn't have it as a device, only the 1000 and 2000. Will it give any advantage over the WS2000?

So for now, I am back to the WS2000 for both sims, using the same ACRO model in my DX7s. In RF it works fine with planes in that I can control the gimbal axes, and when it wants to I can control flaps with the flap switch. No mixes though: the instructions I find online for Flap-Elevator mixes doesn't work, and It won't see my DX7s DR/Expo etc (I have to use the RF DRs mapped to the Gear channel which I could move to the Mix switch). 

I just want to be able to use my iX12 airplane and heli models in my flight sim as I do in real life. Is that too much to ask?  For now I live with the game internal settings. I think I have my pitch curves in AccuRC, and I think I have an Expo of 20 for ail/elev/rdr. My hold switch works, I think, if I flick it back  and forth, but no FMode...  In RF I get my flaps and that's about it.

It would be nice if things just worked.

Second Wind

 Well it took a year but I am getting back into flying.

Last week I took my venerated Eflite Alpha Sport 450, discontinued years ago, and flew it right into a line of trees I thought were much further downfield than they were. I was stunned. I have never crashed it. She was my woobie. I flew here for the first flight each season, and at new fields. I knew her instinctively. And now she is badly damaged. While it may not look like it, her wing is destroyed internally on the left, hanging by a bit of cote. The right wing is crushed i. But likely repairable.  Minor damage to the engine mount. I need a new wing but since she was discontinued over a decade ago, no parts are available, let alone new kits. Devastating.  I don't have the skills to make the pieces required to reframe the wing.

I need a new real field. I and many others have been fieldless since the town of Hudson reclaimed our field for a solar farm. Many members apparently have transferred to Londonderry NH and the New Hampshire Flying Tigers.  I took a road trip (40 min) out there today and met Paul the prez and two other very friendly fliers. I tend to solo flying as a master level introvert, but these guys were pretty awesome. I think the only thing the field lacks is a charging station (I wonder if the solar one from SNHRCC is available?). Nice field. Geotex runway, lots of linear space. Some power lines on one edge of the field opposite the flightline (low voltage), reasonable overflight restrictions. I will be joining them as my new fields, and I think I will like it! Renewed my still valid AMA, checked to see that my FAA license is still good. I am all set,

To get my head and thumbs back into the game I upgraded my Realflight Sim to the last version before it became orphaned, RF Evolution. And since it doesn't do helps great I bought AccuRC 2.0, nicer for helis,  but also orphaned (I have seen mentionn of v3, but its not on Steam). While good, still a bit unrealistic especially for planks. But extremely useful for training. I have been using my Spektrum WS2000 I bought years ago and for simming, it totally socks as no matter what they say you can't use your own programmed radio settings. I ran across RX2Sim, a USB device that actually allows you to connect a reciever or sat antenna, which ostensibly gives full programming control to the radio. We'll see, it arrives tomorrow.  All if this costing me borrowed joney.... expensive.  More o. The sim sitch later.

Today I started sorting thru the parts I recovered from my last (3rd) Hangar 8 Ultra Stick 10cc. The wing is pretty much undamaged so I will be using it for the NIB kit I have also had for years.  The old Evo 10cc gas engine should be fine, and I think the AR7010 Spektrum reciever is still good, and I have another satellite for it too. All the servos, etc. In a week starting thei Friday I begin a 10d staycation and plan to build version 4.

So thats whats is up today, The hiatus is over and I will be destroying aircraft in no time.

EDIT:  better pic of the wing Trying to find someone who can affordably fix it.

My New Workshop

 

We moved a year ago, and I had not flown or worked on aircraft that entire time. Work had, and continues to do so to some degree, dominated my life. There was no time to play (isn't capitalism awesome!). Recently my wife noting my despondent mental state pushed me to just get in the garage and set up a workshop. This was complicated by its being rather full of shit, and that we had to move more shit from our storage unit into the garage so we could stop paying for it. In the process we managed to reduce the amount of shit, and I had a surprising amount of space to work with.

The floor is partly wood covered but mostly its dirt, so its going to be dusty and difficult to keep dirt out of the  instruments and aircraft. But its works, and its better than nothing.

Now I need to find an AMA club with a field I like. Of those in the area, the only one to come closest to meeting my wishes was of course, Hudson and SNHRCC. But we lost our access when the town decided (and it seems a lot of butt hurt politicians made some crap pup to disparage us) took the land back and plan to build a solar field on it. Merrimack has a nice field with a great geotex runway, but sits in a hole cut into the forest so its tight, especially out of the south end. Others are kinda far. So for now I fly out of Joppa Hill fields, but its not an AMA field, and the grass is never short enough making decent takeoffs and landings nearly impossible, esp for my park fliers.

I have had my first 3d weekend off work as a letter carrier, I was wiped out yesterday and took the day to recover. Today is rainy and stormy. Tomorrow I hope to be able to take the Waco out, and if it will fit, charge the received pack on the PulseXT60 and take her out ass well. Since I expect the grass to be too much for my park fliers, they will necessarily remain hangered.

Goals are to get a couple helis up, and I really want to start building the U10cc Ultra Stick, my all time favorite. Learned I need to keep the weight down and keep the rudder/elevator servos centered rather than the more wishful aft (looks good, more stiff and direct, but move CG aft considerably adding a ton of weight needed forward to counterbalance. This weight and a huge receiver pack as well as a generous fuel tank just added to much weight for her to fly well).

A good day!

Memorial Day.

I took the Alpha Sport 450, the Hacker MX2, and the Pulse XT60 out to my old flying field, Jopa Hill Fields in Bedford, NH. 

The grass is nice but too long, so the Alpha and Hacker has issues. Then a cheesy wiring solution converting the Alpha from EC5 connector to EC3 went wonky, so she didn't even get off the ground. Fixed that when I got back, did it proper.

The Hacker could get off the ground with max elevator and gunning the throttle. Flew wonderfully and I flew 6 batteries, just practicing basic airmanship. Landings were a bust due to the the long grass, she would just tuck in and flip.

After that I felt more or less ready to take the pulse XT60 up. She started right up and ran wonderfully. She still is a bit rich in high, manifesting as a step down when the throttle is quickly brought from full to idle, but it's quick and she reduces well to a good steady and reliable idle. Full open she rocks! As expected, the 15 inch prop doesn't provide enough clearance in grass, so the first landing she prop-stoped herself, and in the second she just broke the prop. I ordered the 14x9x3 I should have done before (am adjustment from 14x7x3). This will give me another half an inch which I hope suffices as I can't go lower on the diameter. I also went up to 9 from 7 on pitch. This should be a nice prop.

I still don't have a formal field with a proper grass or geo-tex runway. Hudson hasn't found a new home, Merrimack is a tight hole in the forest and a bit far off. There's a club in Serry, I think, but they are also in a tight niche with high power lines right there. So I will need to deal with the grass at Jopa. At least it's so much smoother and not as clumpy as several years ago when I last flew here.

Good to be back in the air!