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.
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.
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
Finally caught a break with marvelous weather and manageable gusts on a day off. Flew the Stearman several flights, love that it has stabilization, and maidened the Goldberg Falcon and the long awaited Ultrastick! Only a few pics and didn't do any video (forgot the cam).
One curious battery thin I have never seen before. Charged 4 3S 2200 mAh batteries at the same time (parallel? I can never remember). In all 4 batteries, one cell charged to only about 4v, the other full at 4.2v. This happened on all 4 batteries from the same charge. I decided not to fly with them so I didn't undevolt that one cell, ran them down on the bench while checking the voltage. At 3.8v on 2 cells, the third on was around 3.74v on each battery, so the gap narrowed. The IRs were all less than 6. They ran fine. I charged another set of 4, a different band, and they all charged normally. The affected batteries are about a year old. Curious if they won't charge properly again. Would be a bummer as in this eco no my I won't be replacing them anytime soon.
The gang is all here!
Little wheels and short nose make for easy flip over on landing when running into the clumpies at the end of the runway. The PT-19 flew like a charm! So love this plane. It's a shame Eflite moved away from these affordable balsa delights and sells overpriced foamies in their place.
The Falcon has flown, 4 flights. In the air 3-channel proved no problem for me to adjust to, just as John predicted. On the ground I kept trying to steer with the rudder instead of the ailerons. Of course I kept trying to coordinate my turns in the air. The Falcon has one issue that John is going to investigate. It has a constant hard right roll tendency that I had to control with left rudder. Wasn't able to trim it out with rudder in flight. The wing looks straight and not warped as far as I can tell, and the tail is straight. The Irvine 40 runs like a dream, no issues at all and pulled some nice vertical. I tried the 11x5 Scimitar, and it flew great, but losing just that 1/2 inch of ground clearance lead to one prop stall on the lumpy Geotex. It flies so well on the 10x6, may just get some Master Airscrew Scimitars in that size, but I want some more flight time with the 11x5 first. One thing about nitro is that shit coats this wing thick. I have a muffler extender, chose not to fly with it, but I just might. Also need to bring paper towels.
The tail looks good, in this pic the right side of the main wing looks a bit higher, maybe that's it? Maybe I do see a little warp, the ceiling edge on the right shows more underwing. I bet the wing does have a bit of warp and that would roll it right. The engine is rigged classic down and right so P-factor isn't an issue, and this roll tendency is constant. This made for challenging landings. Little dude is fast with both props. Once we get this roll tendency sorted, this will be a fun plane to fly!
I usually have bigger wheels on the Ultrastick, and am probably going back to them. Hit the taller grass and went right head over heels after a nice albeit floaty flaps landing. I am sooo happy with how it handled. Engine ran great, though it has a gravelly sound to combustion. This is the first time I have heard it without ear plugs. It was getting late what with all the waiting, I wanted another flight, but one of the leading edge wing pegs was a tad loose so I called it a day. Overall all, I am very, very happy. I got used to it running a long ways out, though I hope getting my cataracts done improves my clarity of vision. I feel a lot more comfortable flying the 26cc Pulse XT60 and the 30cc Sbach here. I will probably overfly the parking lot at the business next door on landings with the big boys but no one is ever there.... The Evo 10cc ran great, though I did lean out the low needle a bit more. The idle improved (it was a bit untrustworthy today until I learned it) as did acceleration to FOT. Pretty sure a gasser is going with me every trip to the field.
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.
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.
The weather was perfect, occasionally gusty, but right down the runway North-to-South. I packed out the RCGF-USA 26cc PulseXT 60, and the newly repaired RCGF-USA 26cc Phoenix Waco F5C. Excited to get to the field, and fly, fly, fly!
Love this plane, the Pulse XT60! It flies sweet, is fast as anything I have, with power to spare!
SO much frickin' fun!
Since replacing the sparky the is back to her old reliable self again. What a joy to fly!
The Waco was ready to fly, and fly she did!
I flew her for a 20 min flight, getting her trimmed out. She needed a bit of nose down trim, but roll was fine. It was a bit gusty up high, but she handled it well. Take off has to be done gracefully, slow power up, just like the real Waco. She is squirrelly on the ground with a tremendous P-Factor (that's how she ended up in the weeds last year). A bit touchy in flight, but I was getting used to her and in the end was feeling very comfortable with her.
On my second take off as I was gaining speed she caught a clump of grass and tipped enough to ground strike the prop, breaking it, and flipped. This side of our field (the gasser side) is lumpy, adding to the take-off challenges. Fortunately I have another 18x10 at home, and she is already back up.
I expect to take this duo out again next flying day!
In hopes of solving the sputtering and 4 cycling that has plagued my RCGF-USA 26ccsince last year. Yesterday I pulled the engine, rebuilt it (left the cylinder on the crankcase, those bolts weren't going anywhere), and completely dismantled and cleaned the carb. The parts and gaskets were all fine. On the diaphragm side there was a surprising amount of fine grit in the pump side. I wonder if thats what the main problem was? The enginenisnt running perfectly mbut its so much smoother. Right now the sputtering is softer and only at wide open throttle (WOT).
After yesterday's debacle, I moved forward with getting the rest of my fleet flight ready, today starting with the Pulse XT60.
Took her off the wall and out to the work table. Decided not to lug the wings out just yet. Spent an hour running her and tweaking the needles. She started right up and ran pretty well, but I felt she was running rich still.
After repairing the stripped aileron connector, I attached the wing and ran the engine to see if the ailerons wanted to play the fool and jitter, but nope, all is well. Has only been a problem on the Stik and the Stick.
I'm pretty happy with her and look to take her out tomorrow, weather permitting. I will do a few cosmetic fixes before then.
This is right after starting her having had her on her back repairing the lead. She had to cough up some air first. As I wound the needles to full closed to reset them I stopped counting after about 4 turns... I set them at 2 and 2, finding that's the min to start and run up, probably ended up closer to 2-1/2 for the high, but closer to 3-4 for the low to get a smooth run up. It still stutters a bit with crash to WOT, but its quick and consistent. Last year she ran smoothly on the ground, but 4 cycled in the air at WOT. Will see.
It feels like I got off to a late start this year...
I usually fly almost all year around, but work this past year took so much of my time that I left most of my hobbies behind. Now that I am "on sabbatical" between gigs, I have some time.
I updated the iX12, expecting that to derive any number of nightmares, but it actually went pretty flawlessly. I think. It may have this new trick where it needs to have the battery unplugged and plugged back in to turn on, but we'll see. I charged it up completely having let the batter die over the winter. Update done. Cleaned out the planes I killed last fall, no need to be reminded every time I scroll looking for today's aircraft.
I took the Eflite Alpha Sport 450 out, as the first plane I fly every season. It was my first real plane, the one I learned to fly some 11-12 years ago, and I know it so well that it's comforting to renew my thumbs every season, and settle the "new field jitters" when I fly somewhere I haven't before. I thought I had taken a photo at the field, but alas... I did take a pic of the Cubbie. I flew several packs on the Alpha, and then just one on the Cubbie. It was a bit gusty, so the Cubbie took a beating, but landed fine. The grass at Wason Pond, in Chester, NH, where I went today instead of hauling all the way out to Hudson, was long and clumpy, so I took off from the dirt on the baseball diamond. 8 packs in all, about 40 min of flight. The first flight I overcontrolled a little, but by the end I was hand launching with no issues. It really felt good. A dad with some kids had just finished flying a Blue Angels F-18 Kite, enjoyed the show and I invited them over for some show-and-tell! They loved it, and it was good to see them so happy. The dad has found a new hobby!
Tomorrow I think it's time to get the 10cc Ultra Stick flight ready, see if I can solve the "flickering left aileron" problem. Then the 26cc Hanger 9 Pulse XT going. Think the two 30cc's will follow. I am scared of maidening the 10cc Spitfire... past being prologue, but that too will come.
Brisk winds. Brought out the Stik with its RCGF-USA 10cc, and the Pulse XT60 with its RCGF-USA 26cc. Both worked fine last week. Neither worked fine today. It took some tuning the 10cc, but that wicked un-commanded aileron movement occurred and was pretty constant at high RPM. I just read a story about a plane crash where the prop was out of balance and generated a vibration freq that caused this to happen. Hmm.... will be checking the balance of the props.
I even had my son Luke with me to video... but alas, nothing flying today. The Pulse was not running right since getting her muffler tightened, and part of it was the fuel lines kinking. I knew this might be a problem at some point and it was today. And to boot, the screw that secures the spinner stripped. Grounded.
Got her home, fixed the fuel system redoing all the lines and making it a 3 tube system so that the engine gets its fuel directly. A new spinner screw was all it took to solve that problem. This all took about an hour or so. I was not in the mood for further foolishness so called it a day. Tomorrow will be too windy to fly, so I will once again tune the engine and get the cowl back on.
Same as yesterday, another waste of time.
UPDATE (5/28/2020): I took the plane out to the backyard bench and ran it up. Took about an hour to find decent settings. Still 4-cycles a bit at WOT, but now it has great RPM and Idle. I'll put the cowl back on, and next time I go out taker her with me to be disappointed again. There has to be something I have lost in tuning my engines for this to keep happening.
