Thursday, April 16, 2026

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!

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