Finally a good day!

 
Got out to the field today! Blustery cross winds over calm. It took a few landings this time before I stalled her a foot off the ground and broke another prop. No other damange.

The RCGF-USA 35cc runs so frickin' sweet with this 20x8 scimitar prop! She hummed, reacted perfectly, had good vertical, idled perfectly. This is the prop of this engine, no doubt!  Reset the crash clock.

Flew two packs on the Trex 500! First pack was all nerves, hands shaking, sometimes over controlling, but no mistakes! Approached and landed nose in!

Me after that first pack. Thousand mile stare. Took a 15 minute break before the second pack, and it made a great difference! Flew calmly and confidently, put the heli where I wanted it, and enjoyed it. I need to keep flying my helis so it becomes as common to me as flying my planks. 

Flew the Twinstar with the heavily fortified bulkhead, first time since making the repair. The nose gear stood up to the stresses, the main gear still took a beating. I should probably put stronger gear wire on them. Eventually.

The back securing screw was along as the front one and the backwards flexion pushed it into the wing cote. Repaired that after this pic, but had already trimmed the screw. Did this on both sides.

When I got home I took another look at the bearings in the new red swash arm. The installed ones are new design, using 2.5mm bolt, the old was 3mm. I decided that they weren't helping sitting there with the tight bearings that are too small. So I took a mallet and Phillips screw driver and punched one bearing out, the one already damaged by my previous attempts. I had to work the other one out and that took some doing, but I finally got it out without damaging the arm. So I installed it and now have two matching swash followers!  So this will be a problem. Heli Direct confirmed that Align changed the part, and the part number, but discontinued the other part. So when I bend one I will have to pound out the smaller bearinings. All the more reason not to damage them.

Now THAT's a bulkhead!

Constant problems with the bending of the front landing gear on my Greatplanes Twinstar lead to replacing the gear with a much hardier gauge. This worked great, transferring the energy to the bulkhead, so that broke. Finally got around to rebuilding it. I think I was building mad, because like the chimney at a house fir, this is all that will be left standing next time!

You can see the thinner plywood of the original bulkhead that is also the front landing gear hard point.it was all pushed in, so just pulled it out, cleaned up the spot.

3mm plywood.

I put in a couple of layers of 5mm plywood, dammit.

I  the end 3 layers! I have issues.

I  the back I added a small piece to add some support to the deck.

Used the same hardware.that is one solid hardpoint.

Sits perfectly!

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!

MXS-R Flight Ready, Battery Changes

As I was getting the MXS-R ready to fly and charged the old NiMH 6V receiver and ignition packs, I got this feeling that they just were old now and needed replacing. They were holding a charge, but the meters were all showing different numbers (unloaded) and they weren't getting past 8.5V, and got there kinda quick. I cycled them on the charger down to 6V, and then recharged them, and they didn't take much to get there. Unlike LiPOs where an internal resistance can be very useful to indicate a battery is getting its end of life, I don't know of much else by which one judges the life cycle of an NiMH battery. I have been changing all of my aircraft on NiMH over to LiPO for the charge capacity, the voltage, and because I am more familiar with them, though I have been using NiMH for over a decade. So on a whim, and because I could, and because the 9 year old (few cycles, don't use it) 7.4V 2S 4000 mAh battery I have has IR of 14 and 15 and it takes a charge well, I decided last night was the night.

This is a post pic, but I removed the receiver pack pictured above, and the ignition pack that was just aft of the firewall, without any drama. Snip their ties, pull them off the Velcro (I never understood padding them). I didn't date these so have no idea how old they are, but I figure at least 4-5 years as I don't think I have ever changed them in the MXS-R. I built a small platform aft of the wing tube, CA'd it in place with a pair of servo screws (RTL Fastners, awesome utility screws!) for security, thought that thing isn't going anywhere. The net effect will be minimal weight difference and nil on the CG, I am confident. 

I "soldered"* a new harness using two "Futaba" J-connector servo power plugs and an EC3, and ran both through their relevant switches (bottom right), the EC3 of course going to the battery. Voila. New electrical power system in place. Tested perfectly. 

* I don't like large solder joints, I don't think you can reliably join them without a lot of heat, and the wire gauges were remarkably different, joined two black and two red small gauge wires from the Futaba plugs to their larger counterparts to the EC3 using these heat shrink butt connectors. I love these things! Have never had one fail. In this case the red ones worked, fitting the large leads just tight. Just use the air heat soldering iron or the heat gun to melt them. I then covered the two connectors (red, black) with that yellow shrink wrap.

The old packs. The greasy looking one was exposed, then newer looking one was under the front end covered behind the firewall. They are probably still good, I may use them for servo and ESC testing etc.

Forgot to mention a Pirate Captain Duckie has risen to the challenge of flying the MXS-R.

I mentioned I decided to paint the spinner "cub yellow". Damned if the paint, Rustoleum Golden Sunset gloss enamel, didn't match perfectly. A couple of coats of clear gloss enamel over that. It's a carbon fiber spinner that was scratched badly a ways back, but is otherwise in perfect condition. 

The spinner looks amazing!

So she is already to go, the DLE 30cc is rocking it, and I have also charged up a few batteries for the Twinstar with her new legs, and the Sukhoi is charged and ready to go as well. If I can get motivated, today isn't a bad day to fly, but a case of the blues is making it hard to get motivated. Wx has been so unreliably lately I almost feel forced to go, never a good mind set to fly with.

Twinstar Tail and Landing Gear done

Finished the repair on the vertical stabilizer. I installed longitudinal runners along the base. Not as pretty as I would have liked.

Port side. This thing ain't goin' no where.

When 

I had tried out the cool jet front landing gear expecting it to fail, and it did not disappoint. Today I installed the 5/16" wire front landing gear. I drilled out the existing hardpoint, and used the lever from the bigger kit, but the hardware is otherwise the original. I am using an original wheel from the Eflite Alpha 450 Trainer (thing is over a decade old!). Drilled it out, a bit off center, but meh. This baby is rock solid.

Very tall, so maybe now I can keep the props out of the grass. Thin profile, less drag.

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.

A Magnificent Day with My Flying Machines!

Heading out with my trustworthy aircraft with the intent to fly and not fiddle! And this plan survived the day, perfect flying and no damage at all!

The Twinstar with her new shoes. I am not so sure the small front gear will tolerate the clumpy grass...

She does look good though!

Yeah, it took a beating. I had to find the thinnest part of the grass to get her able to attain Vr, as otherwise she was just driving through cutting the grass; too tall and too clumpy. This is 3 mm rod without a spring. I don't think it is a good idea to keep this small gear on here. I would like a shock absorbing gear like the back two. Need to see what I have. The new Du-bro steerable front gear arrive, and its the thicker 5/16" wire, too big, but probably what this will need. Even with the original single coiled spring gear it wasn't sturdy enough and was constantly bent back and to the side. She does need the thicker wire. Set her aside for now. She is covered in thick grass spray.

Just like watching her spool down.

The Stik and her RCGF 10cc gas engine wanted to play the fool with initial idle issues, but a small tweak to richer was all it took. She is fast and flies so amazingly well. Despite that as the wind conditions changed a bit and the rollers at either end of the runway started to enter the approaches, it took some convincing to get her down. Love this plane!

Idling well, ran great! A bit noisy under stress in the air (4-cycles a bit), but powerful and dependable.

The Sukhoi with her RCGF 10cc. This is my best running 10cc, the others being the one on the Stik, also an RCGF, and the cantankerous Evolution 10 cc on the Sbach. This plane is a bit of a pig, nice but not great speed, and she can't vertical long at all. I wonder if I should just use that new 2 blade I got for the Sbach with its Evo? Hmmm... I think I will give that a try. This plane really needs a 15-20cc engine. That cowl just creates a lot of drag. The landing gear are a bit soft, even with perfect landings a slight bump in the grass causes a prop strike enough to stop the engine, and they bow a lot on landing. They are only 3.5 mm thick. I saw a nice more Sukhoi like rounded CF set on Amazon that will fit, and I may commit to using that.

Sweetness. 

Again, just because I love this idle!!!!  Right after a 20 min flight, with another 10-15 min in the tank!

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!

Beautiful day, same problems...

Such a beautiful day, and only 4 people out at the field all day!

The Twinstar flew marvelously with her new Master Airscrew 8x6x3 props. Her nose fear has always been wonky in the grass, and the beating made it come loose from its turn control arm, ending its flight day after two batteries. I have toyed with the idea of putting ole gear on her... Fund flights!

I didn't take any pics of the Sbach, but she made an appearance.  Despite running great here at the house, and when I started and ran her up, then flew her, she suddenly dead stocked again on approach. I got her down, and in an hour of trying could not get a nice clean reliable idle.i tried super lean, super rich an everything in between.

She threw a lot of oil a fresh gallon today I put 3.2oz in a gallon for a 40:1and she was still covered with a ton of oil, thickly. 

The MX-Bach did what the Sbach did. Despite running awesome at home, at the field she would idle for a minute or two then suddenly stop. No slowing  just suddenly stop.  Though she often did slow her RPms in two steps then stop. I had to set the end point for a rather fast idle. 

Even with a slower landing idle she was too fast, even with full flaps. I went to hit the kill a foot above the ground and when I did I accidentally pulled back on the elevator and she floated to there feet and stalled. Only damage was the gear snapped off just above the wheel.

I mentioned the fuel mix above at 40:1. I threw another 1/3 gallon of 93 octane in the can, and will see how a more dilute mix works out. There is something I am doing that is not letting these engines idle well. There is something I am doing wrong,