Great Planes Twinstar EP

I love a twin. If it had stayed in production, I really was looking forward to picking up the Eflite Twin Otter was my dream aircraft, but they discontinued it before I could get one (they were quite expensive).  I was very excited when Great Planes announced it was coming out with the Twinstar EP.

Given my doldrums with the RCGF 10cc engine, I made myself happier by pulling the trigger on the Twinstar, from Tower Hobbies for $139 delivered. I first went through my stock: I have nearly everything I need. I have a HURC Power Up 480, close to the Rimfire 30-35-1250, so I only had to buy one more. I have a HURC 40A ESC, but decided to buy two new Sky Power 40A ESC, and another Power Up 480 Plus motor to pair up with the one I have. I have 4 Hitec HS-82MG micro servos, NIB, perfect.  I also have a Spektrum AR600X receiver, and a couple of 3 blade Dynam 8x6 props (or I could use a couple of the Master Airscrew 3 blade 7x4 props, but I really don't like the short chords on Master Airscrew props). I decided to use a voltage regulator rather than the Linear BECs that come on the ESCs, not being a fan of them. The only thing left is to see if I can use the 4S 3300 mAh batteries I already have, or if I need to buy the 3S 3800 mAh batteries they recommend. All of my 3S are 2200 mAh and 2650 mAh. I will pick up a couple of APC 8x8 props since they are recommended. I'll have to wattmeter and time the different props when I am all set up.

I am pretty excited!

"If you don't want to crash, don't fly."

Its been a rough couple of months. I have had 3 crashes, 3 resets of my "Time since my last crash" clock (scroll down). Two were pilot error, both loss of orientation when I flew into poor visual conditions (one sun, one poor contrast sky), and one was structural, the plane simply folded up and died. All were complete losses. I got to thinking, I don't have many planes that I haven't had to repair, minor or major. Most have been victims of my flying skill, or lack thereof. For those others, there is plenty of time...

The first Twinstar was inverted as I crossed the sun line, too low under a tree line. I lost her orientation as I was turning and banking out of an inverted flight path and threw her into the ground so hard she literally became toothpicks and powder. I managed to recover the important parts, and quickly bought a new one. The price is too good, and she is fun to fly. I have only flown the new one once or twice.  (Twinstar links on my blog).

The Twinstar disaster.

A couple of weeks ago, my beloved but much abused Eflite Ultimate 20-300 was flipping around, when I thought I was too close to another plane and in the gray skies over the woods I lost orientation and could not figure out where she was going, until she arrived at the scene of the crash... An ambitious man might have rebuilt her, but honestly, she had been through enough. It was time to let her go. I won't replace her... can't, they don't make her anymore, and right now I can't afford the Precision Aerobatics Ultimate, a long time dream of mine.

The Ultimate FU.

And lastly, I am sure not my last crash, my fourth Eflite Pulse XT 25e simply folded up in mid flight and died an ignoble death falling into the trees and mud between the Merrimack River, and our flightline. Simply. Fucking. Folded. In. Half. At $200 a pop just for the airframe, I have spent almost $1500 on that model of airplane. The first three I admit I killed, but this last one... damn., just broke my heart.

The end of a legend.

I have lost planes. Everyone who flies has. Paul Verger, an AMA hall of fame pattern flyer I am sure, once told me, as we watched the confetti that was once a multi-thousand dollar 100cc plane he had been flying a moment before flutter to the ground, "If you don't want to crash, don't fly."  I get bummed when I crash, but I really don't see the point of getting angry. If you don't crash, you aren't trying hard enough. But its not cheap, and there is a lot of time and effort put into the building. Nothing, for sure, like a kit builder who puts his or her soul into each frame member they glue together, but its still a lot of time, and effort. 

So why am I having this run of bad luck? Have I always been a marginal pilot? WTF is my problem?

Most of my early crashes, or really, all of them, were due to learning where the flight envelope ended, either exceeding the capabilities of the model through ignorance, or just losing control. None of this required skill, I was just a talented member of The Society for Aircraft Demolishers, SAD for short. I am literally a sticker carrying member. It took me while to learn, for example, that even if the Eflite Stearman can twist a tight turn, aerodynamically she can't pull it off and will instantly enter The Spin of Death. I had to learn that several times. Its one of the reasons I am such a good MacGyver builder: I could and needed to fix those bonehead crashes, and I gave myself plenty of practice. I tore landing gear off more times than I can remember, broke engine boxes, crushed wings, broke the underside of frames. put holes in wings, wings in trees, grass and brush fields, crashed in roads, snapped props in half and clean off. Given enough CA, epoxy and wood, I can rebuild anything. Most of the time it was coming in too hot, coming in too low and landing in the trees, practicing the art of the 3-in-1 landings (a Bouncing Betty). failing to flare, or flaring too soon, ran out of gas in the wrong place, learning how not to spin, and that not all stalls are recoverable, and that depth perception matters.  Flying is costly, in time, money and energy. But like any addict, I keep going despite the pain.

Now my crashes are usually mid-flight loss of orientation. I can land anything eventually, and generally intact. But I think my depth perception, which has always been an issue, is getting worse. I also can't always see clearly in my contacts, or even sometimes my glasses, sometimes getting a floating contact while on final. Older eyes. Contrast is a problem: in dark gray skies, even with amber/yellow lenses, I am flying a black silhouette. I have watched a lot of my older flying buddies give up the hobby because they can't see well enough...

I also haven't been on my A game. I have noticed of late I have trouble finding the right DR and expo for my planes, even ones I have flown for a while. I am sometimes heavy handed, other times too light on the controls. Sometimes I watch my aircraft start to stall and am a bit slow to react. Or I do a an aerobatic maneuver too far away in the line of the sun... Its like sometimes when I fly lately, I am not paying attention to flying, and am worried about the tree lines, or the wind. I think a big part of it is that I am not flying nearly the hours I used to, back when I really could fly anything, focused.

But that's changing. I am flying with a club again, and enjoying the friends I am making at the field. I enjoy watching others fly well, poorly or not at all and enjoying it. I like seeing other mortals make mistakes, and marvel as Tommy tosses a plane around in a planned frenetic dance that shows his intuitive flying skills. I love watching the arrogant guys fly and ignore others less worthy around them, a clique of there own, and I love watching Dennis, the new guy, cursing with joy as a plane is taken through its paces, a grown up kid. Everyday that I am working, I wish I was flying. Every day I am flying, I am wishing it wouldn't end.

That's the real change. I am enjoying flying again. I don't think I realized that in the past couple of years where I wan't flying with others or at a club, it wasn't fun. I wasn't flying the hours I usually did. I wasn't sharing this experience with others, and I missed that. I miss Kenny Chandler, and my friends at MCRCC, where I would spend 12-14 hrs a day flying.

So I am trying not to take these crashes too seriously. I am sure I am responsible for 2 out of the last 3.  But that is just the way it is. I am learning, every day I fly, I learn. I need to let these lessons sink in, and become a better pilot, and not get discouraged.

And I am loving every minute of it.  If you don't want to crash, don't fly.

And come on... every pilot knows a crash is just an opportunity to get a new plane.

Twinstar Number 2

Lets hope I don't powder this one...

I pulled the trigger on number 2, the Great Planes Twinstar EP. One Hitec HS-82mg never made it home from the crash, one is running a touch more noisy than it should, so ordered two of them. I don't like the red spinners that come with the ARF, and they were damaged so, two of those. Everything else I have, and a $15 discount on the ARF from Tower Hobbies.

Twinstar Number 1.

Great Planes Twinstar EP Ready to Maiden!

Well, that's embarrassing... So I am watching the cat play with a white piece of plastic down in my shop... Wait a minute. Let me see that. Sonofabitch. It's the plastic Nose Gear bracket thingy. (Apologies to Great Planes...).

So I installed the nose gear and the nose cone, on the Twinstar EP, put a fresh 3S 2200 mAh battery in, checked CG (fine), and ran the motors at 50%.  Got almost 7 min, but it took them down to 3.5V. I need to see how it does with a 2650 mAh, or I will need to get the recommended 3800 mAh.

Trimmed that...

 

Bench test. Power to spare.  50% Throttle, 3S 2200 mAh, got close to 7 min but went down to 3.5V/cell.

I find their lack of faith... disturbing.

Twinstar 2 Begins

Always a sucker for a multiengine, when I powdered the Twinstar and was walking across the filed to gather her bones, I was already plotting the next one. The UPS man dropped off Number 2 the other day, and the replacement parts have come in. Late this afternoon I started the build.

The obligatory box pic.

New HITEC HS-82mg servos for the ailerons.

Both wings done and engine nacelles installed.

Tomorrow I will finish installing the motors, ESCS and completing the wings, may even get to the empennage.

I spent the morning fixing the aileron on the Eflite Ultimate and replaced the wheels, and since I am flying off a runway now, I put the wheel pants back on the little Great Planes red racer the name of which escapes me at the moment.  Hoping to get up in the air tomorrow!

Flew the Waco, New iCharger in

Windy but gorgeous day on top of Mt Hudson. I had to go up.

Took out the Twinstar, the so long not flown Cosmic Wind, and the Waco 26cc. The wind was a gusty 90 deg crosswind from behind me. One moment almost calm, the next roaring. Usually Mt Hudson conditions. I stood and waited, trying to decide to flymormnot, understanding that as I had in Mississippi, if I want to fly I need to learn to fly in the wind.

The Twinstar flew well, but was 45 deg off centerline on approaches, which was challenging, and she for some reason needed to come in hot or she sunk hard and fast. Flew a couple of packs, and more or less did fine with landings.

The Cosmic Wind is one fast little bugger, and needs to go fast. And I found out she really doesnt fly upside down at all. At. All. I took her inverted and she dived despite full elevator and power. At the last moment I pulled full up and she looped hard, disappearing below the hill line, and whew, came screaming back up! Aviate, navigate... Landing this tiny plane not on Geotex is always a challenge. She comes in hot, and the moment her gear touch the grass she flips hard and fast. I brought her in, hot... can't lift the nose or she rockets up. Last minute cut the throttle, and ease back on the elevator, and FLIP! CARTWHEEL! Battery comes flying out, ESC comes off its velcro in tow. This plane is all fiberglass, so she now has few cracks I am repairing. But man, did she fly sweet and fadt, even in the wind.

Ah, the Waco, my favorite plane. She started sweetly, ran smoothly. She has an OrangeRx stabilizer system on her, but I took off without it. The crosswind was brisk, and on takeoff she dropped her upwind wing hard. I corrected, and she was off. She did keep wanting to drop the upwind wing, and it took a few minutes to get her trimmed in the wind. Constantly correcting dips and dives, she gets pushed around with thw wind. I turned on the stab system and everything smoothed out! She became a joy to fly and her behaviors settled down predictably. Landing in the crosswind was a challenge, she really floats with it, and I managed a decent 45 deg approach. She floats on any up elevator. On touchdown I botched something and her wheels touched and she flipped coming to an unseemly wheels up rest. No damage, but I really sucked the landing. Needs work. I flew her a couple of times and each landing ended rough. 2 out of 3 flipped. One take off she flipped on takeoff power despite up elevator, apparently not enough. I was rough on her, but she took it wel, no damage.

The new iCharger arrived today. Slipped right in, fired up familiarly despite being 8 yrs newer than it predecessor. The quality of the build is better than its already quality build. Glad I stayed with it and ProgressiveRC.

New shoes for the Twinstar

The Twinstar has plain wire landing gear. Not much fun. I have toyed with the idea of putting oleos on her.

And so I did. I cut the gear struts down long enough to accept the oleo gears and leave a small space to allow them to flex a bit without striking the wing. Making them retracts isn't really reasonable as the wing isn't built for them, but who knows...

The nose gear I initially cut a straight rod for, but it came up a little short, and I didn't include the coiled spring. I regret that now, so I ordered another steerable DuBro wire gear set. I will trim it down but longer and include the spring. Right now the nose points a bit down and the props are only about 2 cm above the ground. It's been shipped and once I install it I'll update this post with new pics!

Twinstar back to flight status

There was that day last week where I took up knitting. Part of the excitement was dropping the very fragile (now we know...) Twinstar, having the nose cone shatter and the wing crack in half, breaking the spar and the small thing that stuck out of the front securing it to the fuselage.

I put the wing back together, made a new notch thing, and after a couple of days I laid down two layers of fiberglass cloth using epoxy resin. Let that dry a few days and then today I sanded it smooth, covered it with white cote. Smooth as a baby's bottom.

Nice glass work! The middle 4 inches is fiberglass.

The nose cone arrived just as I finished the wing and reinstalled it onto the plane.

She is ready to fly again!

Twinstar maiden goes perfectly!

The 4S, I learned, is a little tall for the hatch, so a piece of Velcro as tape holds it on. As an experienced builder ya think I would have test fit the battery before I left the shop...

Early afternoon, cold breeze from the south, sun
low on winter horizon standing unfetteringly bright just a few degrees above the southwest tree line.

The fall grass is thick and clumpy, but there are parts where its almost mud. I carry the Twinstar over to one of these barrens and face her south, down field. Check control surfaces, check flaps, check full power run up. Look, listen, feel. First flight. Be a good girl.

It's time. Full throttle, and she fights her way down the runway, such as it is, and as she clears the grasping grass and gains speed, the powerful torque of twin props rolls her to starboard. I easily correct and take her into a right climbing turn to clear the western tree line, avoiding the sun line. She gains altitude too easily. Nose down trim, a bit of left aileron trim, a tweak here and there, and in a few passes she is trimmed out despite a choppy wind aloft.

The power setup is spot on. The 4S nestled in nicely and she is balanced now. She won't go vertical, but she is aerobatic. In fact, my low aileron settings are too high for even high settings, and I had the low rate tuned to about 35%!

I try to slow her for a landing approach, a long one, but even with 50% flaps she is fast on the final. I need the higher aileron throws at approach speeds with the flaperons down. She descends nicely, predictably, but fast. Several landings and approaches, its just the way she is. And she puts her nose down when those back wheels touch the thick cabbage, and she buries her nose wheel and abruptly stops, stuck where she came to rest. It's a walk in taxi almost everytime.

A couple of times I manage to find a muddier less grassy spot and she rolls out. But her props are green with grass she had cut and thrown into her wings, and the green slaughter coats her props, belly and nacelles.

I fly two or three packs, at 10 min a piece I have already forgotten. She was quite an easy flier.

I had brought the 30cc gasser, but even after this fine flight set, I really am not in the mood, so we pack up and head home.

Flying is better with friends, but no one is home, so I fly alone, and thus my stay is brief.

It was a great maiden, good design, good build, good engineering.

Nose wheel is bent back by the grass.

When will I learn?

Every time I fly at Joppa Hill something gets torn off a plane. Today I went out to fly at Joppa, and things got torn off a plane. Two planes.

Took the Twinstar, the Edge 540 and the 30cc MXS-R out today. The winds were calm with reasonable gusts from the south.

Today's Brood.

Landed.

And this happened...

Twisted the gear right out of the fuse.

The Twinstar, a sweet flier! You can see how tall the grass is, even though it was freshly cut. 

She always get grass stains on her from the props cutting through the grass. I had to walk around to find a patch of grass worn enough to let her get off the ground. Landed her in the grass the first time just fine. On the second time everything seemed fine.

But I noticed the wing was coming off, and when I flipped her over, I found that the wing hard point had ripped through the fuse. The wheels in the gras pulled the wing off.

The balsa isn't thin, but the grain is not cross so it popped though. I glued this, and used a popsicle spar across it also CA'd in place, and covered it with white cote (don't have the blue). Looks great.

The repair.

After flying the MXS-R a couple of times, some people came out to walk their dog and jog around the field. I won't fly the gassers with anyone on the field, so I just hung out a while, then left. Took a short video of the field.

Well, that was a waste of time.

It began with having to solve a cat problem... Move one, the other two show up.

First flight with the Twinstar and her new nose gear went fine!

Started the Pulse XT60 RCGF-USA 26cc, and noticed the muffler shaking again, loose. Started to remove the engine to fix it, but without my bench tools it was going to be a painful and long process. Screw it, will fix it at home. Put her back in the car.

Second flight landing and the nose gear did not bend, but broke the forward bulkhead off. I saw this coming.

Quite the angle there.

Keith and Jason were tooling about, walked over before I left to say hi!

Spinner off, prop off, cowl off, engine off. Used J-B Weld as a gasket sealant and as a Locktite, having read it as a fix for this, and having it on hand. Sucker is snug. I also found a couple of lock washers, for whatever difference they make. I also found the throttle control arm nearly off, it's set screw held there by the choke arm! Jeez, this thing is shaking everything off. Standard blue Locktite, tight as I could make it. Engine back on, cowl back on, prop back on, spinner back on. Check pak charge. Ready to try again tomorrow. Really wasted time at the field.

Put the Twinstar aside in the shop, not in the mood for its foolishness. 

Think I need a second plane for tomorrow, since the helis are grounded until Spektrum fixes the software issue with heli DR/Expo. Hmmm... probably the Stik!

Preflighting the Twinstar

Preflight testing of the Twinstar this morning, planning on a maiden today after some Honey-do's.

She has Sky Power 40A ESCs. The 480 Plus motors are rated for max 450 watts, but they caution running more than 400 watts sustained. I am running a switching voltage regulator instead of the BECs.

Ran the motors using the 3S 2200 mAh. I got about 7 min, 350 peak watts, around 35 peak amps. On the 4S 3300 mAh it peaks at over 700 watts, 37 amps! On time testing I got 15 min with some cells dipping to 3.4 V.

I need that flight time, so I set up a throttle curve and at a top curve endpoint of 50% produced around 430 watts, around 27 amps. At 50% of that throttle curve it produced around 230 watts and 12 amps, and gave me that 15 min runtime. The 3S 2650 mAh gave me about 10 solid min before.

So I plan to fly her 4S 3300 mAh set at 10 min with 5 min bingo, using a throttle curve to bring the power down so I don't blow the motors. I can fly the 3S 2650 mAh if necessary but would need to remember to remove the throttle curve. Not likely to do that.

More on the maiden later today!

Twinstar Tail Fix, 30cc MXS-R Prepped

The other day pulling the Twinstar out of the car I somehow caught the tail just right and she snapped clean off. I removed it, held on by the edge of cote, and cleaned the surfaces, sanded where it was needed. the used 30 min epoxy over the middle where the tab used to be, and CA along the flush edges.

Gave it a couple of hours, and it's set nicely.

I will add a small line of wood along the bottom of the stab to add a little base support, then cover it all in cote. May even try to match the swoops. I will also be changing out the nose gear. The small twin wheels looks great, functions poorly, and the thinner wire that came stock was constantly bent and wobbly, so I will also be replacing that with the hardier wire, which necessitates replacing all of the mounting hard/plastic ware as well. I will bulk up the bulkhead a bit too, to handle the stress.

I brought the DLE 30cc Breitling MXS-R down from the ceiling for cleaning and inspection, replaced the Tygon fuel line/clunk with Viton, and replaced some of the other lines with Tygothane, using the Viton for internal clunk lines' stuff at cheap. I had a bit of charge in the NiMH batteries that I accidentally left from last fall, but topped them off, need to deep cycle them... and tomorrow I will program her into the iX12, and do some run ups on the engine. 

I also finished up a few things on the MX-Bach, fixed the wheels which were a tad wobbly on their axles. Put the cowl back on and she is done, ready to fly!

I spent the better part of the day cleaning the shop, and found a way to hang the helis off the floor. I also didn't like having the big 30cc planes hanging from the ceiling upside down, so found a way to hang them, moved a few of the others around to accommodate the new plan. Once they are all on the wall I'll take a pic.

Today was a very good day.

Made it out to the SNHFE field in Merrimack today.  I brought out the MX-Bach having changed the old red Sbach Thunderbolts to green to match the MX-2 color scheme, the 10CC Sukhoi, and the new Great Planes Twinstar.

For a long time I have wanoted to change the red bolts and make the wings match the fuse, I finally bought some thicker self adhesive flourescent green cote and traced out the bolts. I used some lime green cote to edge it for comtrast.

I have some work to do learning how to fly her, and my other large scale planes. She flew well, despite me. Now she looks awesome!

First flight in her new colors!

Just before the maiden of the new Twinstar. She flew tail heavy despite her being on CG, so I had to make some adjustments. She is amazingly fast! Flying her 4S.

The RCGF 10cc Sukhoi 26 flew well, also despite me. On both her and the MX-Bach, and I suspect the 30 cc MXS-R, I have to figure out what the DR and Expo settings are that work best for me. I love this plane, and how that RCGF engine sounds. Others loved it too, and asked me about it. Hope I developed some more fans!

Kenny, Bobby, Tommy and new guy Dennis, working on Dennis' Kaden glow. Dennis got it free. He's worked a lot of RC cars and trucks, but is new to flying. Tommy and Bobby put it together for him and "maidened" it for Dennis. Hopefully Dennis will get to learn on her, and fly her soon.

It was a bit gusty, and the winds were from the north making the 36 Runway necessary, with its challenge of coming in over the Ents of the South. All in all it was a great day of flying.

My Hanger 9 Power Pro Starter has always had a twitchy switch. Hate it for that switch. I had taken it apart to try to fix it, which require disassembling the whole damn thing. It finally gave out completely today. Having nothing to lose, I bought a push button switch at Radio Shack and replaced the switch. It's fixed... there is still something not quite right about it, but it's working again. If it fails again, screw it, I'll get a different one.