MX-Bach Flies Again

 Took the MX-Bach 30cc RCGF equipped gasser out to Joppa Field for the first flight since the repairs. No winds to stiff gusts. It flew better than ever. Once I got the feel for it, practiced landings in the tall grass. Enjoyed every minute of it. Still having occasional double vision at a distance but sharper and clearer.

I'll allow it.

At the end of this post I described crashing the MX-Bach, and this was the result. Over a few weeks I worked on the repairs.

I fiberglassed the inside of the plastic canopy and filled in the gaping hole on the front starboard side of the top. There is still a dip on the port side front that has been there forever, but I wasn't willing to try to melt it back into shape. The paint and cote stripes came out pretty nice.

Is it perfect? Not even close. But yeah, I will allow it. 

I put a smaller prop on it as I think it's actually a 30cc engine. My blog says it came off the Sbach, the first gasser I ever owned, and that it's a 30cc. That's the plane the MX-Bach's wings come from. It's an OG RCGF engine (though when I asked RCGF-USA about it, sending pics and the serial number, they claim it's not theirs). It's stamped RCGF, but no size. It was made before the RCGF/VVRC-RCGF debacle, so it is definitely theirs. An 18x8 works well on a 30cc. Will fly it at some point and see, but on static testing it seems great.

The airframe is old and getting tired ... I suspect it will die soon and not be resurrected. I will probably replace the bent muffler when I can. I am also getting concerned that the prop screw plate is stripping. That would be expensive to replace.

It is a good day to fly.

Saturday's are always busy, and one with perfect weather, very. I was there for almost 4 hrs and got maybe 4-5 flights. I took the Pulse XT60 and the Ultrastick out. I just flew and didn't bother with pics or video.

As I was getting ready for the first flight of the Pulse XT60 I warmed up the engine and thought the cowl was really shaking (I think I saw the muffler jiggly too). Had a nice flight. As I was setting up for a second flight I realized I didn't have two US 4-40 screws (I think that's the size) and that's why the cowl was loose. I taped the loose side and taxied out to the runway. As I turned to take off I saw the muffler was really dancing so taxied back and saw it had come lose. I taxied back to the bench. A flying buddy, Larry, gave me two screws for the cowl (he has a small hardware store in the back of his car). I removed the cowl to fix the muffler and being rear mounted I would need to remove the engine. I really wasn't in the mood to do this at the field, I came to fly, so I set the Pulse aside for the day. 

Flew 2-3 flights on the Ultrastick over the next 2-1/2 hrs (a lot of waiting my turn). I had it dialed in. At the end of my last flight I realized I was getting tired and my vision unreliable (cataracts, need good lighting and cloud clover was moving in). I wisely called it a day.

You can see the muffler hanging loose. One bolt still attached. Thought the other lost but it fell out of the cowl when I removed it. Pulled the engine, reinstalled the bolts with a friction lock washer and some thread lock. This one always shakes loose. This is an real RCGF 20cc (which Joe Nelson told me is actually a 26cc). The muffler has come loose on this engine a few times 

One thing I later noticed as I worked on the firewall for the MX-Bach, is that the exhaust tube got bent back. It's straight back, no cracks. I forgot to look but I think this 35cc is a DLE. It doesn't need replacing, which is good as I can't afford one right now.

The firewall is coming along nicely. Had to Dremel and hack saw the notch flanges at the four sides. Tomorrow I will drill it for mounting the engine, the center hole for the fuel lines and a small hole for the throttle control rod. I had to cut the original one to get the engine free of the firewall, so I'll be making a new one. I noticed that the flange holes on the engine box to which the fire wall gets attached did not appear to have epoxy in them... I am not sure why, though I see this on landing gear hard points that are also installed using flanges so that it can break out clean. Is this what they had done with the firewall? I am not sure I will, I think I will epoxy all the way around. If this plane crashes again I don't expect it to survive, and I would just as soon the engine breaking free in flight not be the reason it crashes

I knew I had a large set of aluminum landing gear. They were not drilled so I was able to custom drill them. Here they are installed. They are curved, which I don't think I have ever had on a plane before. Terribly upset the carbon fiber ones were broken in the crash.  These I'll work great!

Tomorrow I will install the firewall and the engine. Then I will need to repair the under cowl and the canopy. I got some metal L brackets I may use to repair the cowl mounting tabs, but that's an idea still in the works. This hasn't been too difficult a repair so far.

The Good and the.... Not so good.

This morning I finished up the wiring on the Morane Saulnier Type N. It came out great and looks awesome! All it needs is the cowl (awaiting M2 blind (T) nuts, and I'd like to matte epoxy the cowl and plastic top, but that may come later.

Scotch taped the cowl for pics.

And then I went to fly. I had been delaying because storm clouds were moving in and while winds weren't bad there were some gusts. For the big planes, the 26cc Pulse XT60 and the 35cc MX-Bach these shouldn't be a problem, but something just felt off. I went anyway, because if it was good to fly there would likely be no one there and I could fly the whole time instead of standing around waiting (tomorrow is going to be excellent but crowded). So, I went.

The crash is, of course, at the end. This was the first time I had flown it in over a year, as I didn't fly last summer.

On approach It got wobbly in a tip stall, started to recover enough I crashed nose down wings level. Initial butchers bill looks like the landing gear are toast, the firewall and forward motor box, a hole in the plastic canopy, the under cowl. All fixable though I am not sure how I am going to fix the plastic canopy.... Maybe fiberglass it?  Wings and the rest of the fuse are fine. Prop, of course, is toothpicked. A deconstruction will follow and I will have a better idea. This was a save, could have been a lot worse. Crash clock is nevertheless reset.

PM UPDATE: I removed the under cowl and the engine. The under cowl will need to be repaired and re-fiberglassed. The cowl mounts will need replacing as 3 out of four are broken. The canopy hole (rather curious) will need fixing and I suspect that will be fiberglass work as well, though I am not so sure how that will work. The engine is fine as far as I can tell, the 20x8 prop will be replaced with a 19x8 I have on hand. I changed how the throttle servo was mounted as it was in a tray I had made that wrenched loose and I don't like it. The firewall got broke-out attached to the standoffs. The wood is old and frequently drilled from the conversion from electric, so I am rebuilding it. I don't have my jigsaw anymore so will need to hack saw the edge notches. It looks like the firewall sprung out pretty cleanly. I will very much reinforce it, it will be sturdy. The plywood I have is a bit thicker than the stock so it will be stronger. I haven't looked into what I have for landing gear. Nothing as nice as those sweet carbon fiber ones. Such a shame. Glad they gave way and didn't rip out the landing gear hardpoint from the fuse. That would be a mess. All in all not so bad after all. 

The Cote Gods Have Smiled Upon Me!

 I was taking a break from the Morane Saulnier Type N because I was struggling to get the cote to work properly. I am no fan of Ultracote.... I was unable to get it to shrink properly without suddenly melting and the edges wrinkling and retracting. It was incredibly frustrating.

I got some new Ultracote since I had started with it. I also decided that the conditions in the environmentally uncontrolled garage (temps in 90s, high humidity) were not helping. I brought my cote stuff into the air conditioned house.

The first couple of attempts didn't go great, but were better. Then on the third try the Cote Gods decided I had taken enough abuse and cut me some slack. It just started working! I was done with all of it in an hour. It's not perfect but actually looks really good! You may notice only the forward dowel is present. I am thinking of screwing the wing in place, and securing the front under the front deck with the pegs I installed in the front of the wing, and crossing them with rubber ands across the fuse. John was worried the front wasn't secure enough, but the rubber bands should secure it with the pegs.

I am very happy with it! The only cote challenge left is making the tricolor rondels. I would like one on each side and two on the top and bottom of the wing. That's 4 large and 2 small. Callie Graphics has them, and if I can find out what the sizes are I may just buy them.

According to the British rules, scaled to a 12" chord, the rondels on the wings should be 10"-6"-2".  By math, my Morane is 1/6th scale (26'9"scale wing span, 26*12=312"+9=317"/56" model wingspan = 5.7, so 1/60 scale 

I'm going flying tomorrow, should be near perfect conditions. Taking the 26cc Hangar 9 Pulse XT60 and the 30cc MX-Bach. Set them up for the season today. I changed the Pulse's receiver pack from LiPO to a 2400 mAh LiFe battery as the IRs in the original LiPO were poor. The MX-Bach IRs were fine so I am keeping it 

What a wonderful, wonderful, day...

I had today off for an appointment with my eye surgeon who unexpectedly dilated my right eye, because you know, I had a car-full of airplanes I was taking directly to the field... Dammit... Winds were going to get even better and I was off on a sunny day. I. Am. Going. Flying.

But even though I am an idiot, I waited a while and made sure I could see well enough to fly. I had also brought the Ultrastick to maiden today, but not with one eye, no matter how perfect the weather. The field will require me to fly high with that one and I wasn't going to risk losing orientation.

I did get over a dozen great flights in, and even trialed my field charger setup.

Hanging in the gang cover at NH Flying Tigers Field,

Derry, NH

Wanting to tune up my go-to plane and continue to re-train my thumbs, as well as  make sure I can safely fly with one eye, I flew half a dozen packs on the Alpha Sport 450 first. I have flaperons on it, to slow it down on approaches, but it's already really, really floaty. I think I am going to try spoilerons, and see if that will slow it and make it less floaty. I am beginning to see this revived version really wants to be nose heavy.

For the first time in years I took the vintage Eflite PT-19 Cornell out and up today. It's so light I put a Hobby King Orange stabilization system on it, and it makes a tremendous difference. Speedier and snappier than I recall, it flies on rails. Really enjoyed flying it after the first flight jitters, did about 3 packs.

Flight of the Cornell

I came with only four of ten or so 3S packs charged, so I got to trial the lead setup I ran from my hybrids auxiliary battery. I have to leave the engine "on" so the computer can sense when to, and to charge that battery. Worked perfectly!

I had psyched myself up to maiden the Ultrastick 10cc today, and by late afternoon the conditions could not have been better, and only one totally non-judgy pilot was there. I was sooo tempted, but my right eye didn't un-dilate until a couple hours after I got home. I was not adding that crash variable to the test flight. Benched. I am itching to get that plane up.

The even more exciting part of the day was when I got home, I used a suggestion from John Hayes to make it so the throttle closes when throttle cut is turned on. I had gotten the engine easily started on the first try after years of sitting, and tuned to to run superbly, quite easily. I did have to adjust both needles. But the throttle barrel would not close completely, so I had to manually choke the engine to stop it. John showed me which screw to adjust. There is a spring loaded screw on the back port side of the carb (top in the photo). This screw stops the throttle barrel at the desired position, which for me is fully closed. This is the last pic of that screw, because I didn't realize it was spring loaded, and to allow the throttle to close completely, it had to be fully withdrawn. Yep... Shot out of there like a bat out of hell... It went where screws go when the cross the edge of the workbench...  My vintage garage has a stone and dirt floor. 

It's in there somewhere, I think. Couldn't even find it with a magnet, but tons of iron chips and aged metals were everywhere.

Nice idle, nice slam to FOT, smooth mid-range, 

and throttle cut works now! I got an exhaust extender today 

and will install it soon.

Have to work the next 3 days. Sunday's weather is stormy, Monday winds 7 mph but not much gusting after 2p. Hope to maiden the Ultrastick. My rule is only one maiden a day, so the Goldberg Falcon 56 will follow that another day, unless the weather is pristine. A little nervous as I have never flown 3-channel and this field is tight. John says it will be fine!

Flight schedule is to get the Pulse XT60 26cc gasser, the Eflite Stearman (the real balsa one, not the overpriced foamie thing*), and the massive 30cc MX-Bach (MX2 fuse, Sbach wing). I also have the Cosmic Wind (I think a Great Planes 450 size speedster), and my helis airborne. Full summer. Need good weather matching days off.

* I so hate that Eflite went from making affordable beautiful and desired balsa ARFs to selling foamy overpriced crap. This is what kills this hobby. Foamies are fine, l just waaaay overpriced, and just don't fly like the balsa planes. Good small to medium balsa ARFs are hard to find. Muss my Eflite Ultimate, my Pulse XT25 (my all three me favorite plane), and eventually my Cornell and Stearman may expire with no decent replacement.

FINALLY! Awesome flying day!

Today was that perfect golf swing kinda day! That one where you getting kinda frustrated, depressed even, and then you hit that sweet spot with a graceful fluid swing and the ball sails. It was that kinda day!

Yesterday was disappointing. The PulseXTs RCGF-USA 26cc was still misbehaving, and the once perfectly fine RCGF-USA 35cc decided it wouldn't start. Today I decided to see if the M4F sparky was the same as a CM4, it fit in the 35cc, and it ran sweet right away, so yes! I couldn't find M4Fs anywhere, so this was great! Have 3 CM4s. Since this worked, I decided to replace the M4F in the 26cc as well, and damned if that wasn't the cure! I thought I had changed it last year, but it being the unfindable M4F that wasn't possible. That was easy. She too now runs pretty smooth!

Beautiful day to fly! Solid steady cross wind, but easily handled.

PulseXT 60 with its now sweet RCGF-USA 26cc!

Sweet once again!!

Straight out 90 degree wind! At least it was consistent

The innards of the MX-Bach. So glad she is running wonderfully, and flying well. She is super sensitive to control inputs. Dropped the DRs and found the expos a bit much making her a bit sluggish (55% on the ailerons, 80% on the elevator). I dropped the DRs, and next time will change the expos (forgot to give that a try today). I had to dial in a minuscule amount of up elevator on the flaperons. These humongus control surfaces have such profound effect. The full down flaperons need me to max the DR for any control authority, so I need to decrease the throw of the flaps to give it some more authority and less drag. The winds were getting gusty up high and she spooked me a couple of times, so I landed and called it a day. Every takeoff was smooth, every landing greased.  I love the way these heavy planes land. Awesome day.

New spark plug, all is well!

Next, I think I need to fix the Waco! Ground looped it into the weeds and that torqued the wing. I think it won't be as bad I as fear.

So great to have an awesome flying day, that perfect swing kinda day!

RCGF-USA 35cc MX-Bach Ready for 2021

Today I took down the MX-Bach and fired her up. She started right up, of course! No setting changes required.

The fill-drain tube inside the tank broke off... pulled the tank, cleaned it, and replaced the short piece of tubing and reinstalled the tank. Will need to remember to out her nose down to get it all.

I also discharged the ignition-reciever pack and recharged it. She is all ready to fly!