Mixed day

I got CB100 #2 up, trimmed and flying. Needed to move the pitch servo linkage out to the farthest attachment to get the control I wanted. I wanted to do that to the roll servo, but the end of it is broken off, so it stays where it is. I'll be buying another one of those...  But it hovered nicely in the Man Cave and gave me some satisfaction. Still waiting on parts for CB100 #1 which continues to be grounded.

Took the UFLYS out to hover, still a little breezy. The damn thing remains very unstable, not at all like others enjoy, even in dead calm. As it gets light on it skids it starts to get ziggy, and as it lifts, it is off an running in some odd attitude. It runs off in different directions each time, so its hard to figure out what is wrong.

I will never buy another shaft driven tail rotor heli unless it has its own motor at the end of the shaft as this UFLYS has been one problem after another. Despite my repairs, the slightest blade of grass causes the shaft pinion to grind unmoving on the main gear. The rotor shaft remains snug, so that's not the problem. Took the tail off and the pinion looks good. I did break the bolt connection to the tail "stabilizer", so I may have to buy a whole new tail assembly.  In removing the tail boom the connector piece that hold the horizontal "stabilizer" and the boom supports, as well as the rudder linkage broke. This thing is so fragile... I will need to replace that as well.

So far it seems these Walkeras, in my experience, are those "money pits" that John Salt warns us about.  I haven't gotten one to fly normally, except the single CB100.  Not sure I will buy another one.

Addiction is in coming back again and again despite the pain... I am addicted.

UPDATE: Hmmm... I wonder if the broken H guide of the rotor linkages is allowing the swash follower too much play? I thought about this looking over the a/c. This would be nice, because it means I could soon have that balanced heli.

rchelicopterfun.com - John Salt's exceptional contribution to the sport/hobby

An incredible resource from John Salt. Exceptionally comprehensive and easy to read, the go-to source for all things r/c heli. I visit nearly daily.

Geez, it's a little depressing...

Watching YouTube vids of other people flying there CB100, CB180D, and UFLYS put of the box with excellent stability. Exceptional stability. Mine were crazy out of the box... It's depressing.

CB100 is pokey outdoors, zippy indoors

I bought the CB100's because I thought they would be as zippy as the Blade mSR but wanted the Walkeras. The vids for the mSR show them very, very zippy. The CB100 is fine indoors, but outdoors it blew around a lot with the breezes. I couldn't get it into a banked turn. Tonight it was in full forward pitch floating backward over my backyard fence into my neighbor's yard, the little heli that couldn't. I think these will be my last small helis as they need more space than indoors of a house allows, but can't handle the outdoors well. I say this, but I recognize there are vids of Cb100s doing well in breezes, so it could just be my #2. More to follow!

"Trying is the first step towards failure!"

OH, YEAH, BABY, Homer Simpson was right!

Frustrated with helos that just aren't flying right out of the box, I took my CB180D, the one with the least issues, out to a large field. I just couldn't deal with trying to hover in the breeze within the confines of my yard, and wanted to let the bird run and see how I could do. I really felt like I was ready to fly.  I needed to see I could control the bird, and to get over my fear of failing, I mean, flying.

And boy, did I!  The soccer field was large, no one around. The wind was calm according to my wind vane, but with intermittent quick brisk gusts. I was going to fly, damn it.  During a calm I took off, and I had excellent control in hover, and then in flight. I let her run high and fast, great turns, tail flips, pirouettes, dive and recover! Gusts would take it on occasion, but I was on fire! Fly, baby, fly!  Giving up the fear of running into things in a narrow confine made a difference. I got skills, man!

Coming back in near the end of a run I turned left to bring her back, flying from right to left then making a left hand turn to final. A gust coming from the right caught her in the descending turn, and before I knew what happened she went to ground in a big hurry... Rotor blades went flying, knocked a ball off the training gear. "OH! The humanity!"

The pics show the damage. Looks like the rotor shaft is still unbent, but I'll find out.  I knew it was bad, but I was grinning from ear to ear!  These past lessons trying to trim and fix my aircraft had taught me I can fix it, and the parts are cheap. I also had learned my time on the sim paid off: I was flying patterns I had practiced on the Clearview and FMS and I had complete control, right up until I didn't. R/C FLIGHT SIM TIME WORKS!

So, the CB180D is grounded big time, the boys at Helidirect will get more of my money, I flew in conditions I knew I shouldn't and paid for it, I get to figure out how to get the rotor head off, and I couldn't be happier!!! I am no longer afraid of failure! I'm free!  I'm free!

UPDATE: Unfortunately Helidirect was out of stock of most of the parts I needed, so ended up ordering them from xheli. The rotor shaft is good. The main drive gear has a flat spot. Getting the rotor head off was a cinch. Pulled the pin (it was loose after the crash) at the linkage guide, disconnect linkages and remove the blade grips, then the whole thing lifted right off.  Not sure yet how to get to the main gear...

CB100 #2 is Flight Ready!

This morning, after taking my 15 yo out for his first drive ever (there's a stress reducer for you), I fired up CB100 #2, recalling that it rolled left and yawed left and pitched forward. Confirming this, I removed the swashplate linkages and lengthened them to level the swashplate by moving it aft and right. 3 turns each on the upper ball links. Fired it up, and there it hung, like a fruit to be picked from the sky! Hovered well with some active stick. There was a bit of rudder twitch I took for gyro sensitivity, took that down a half turn, and it resolved as well. Was comfortable hovering tail in in the confined space of our man cave where my work desk is, but don't have the skills to hover nose in in such a confined space.  Did manage to break yet another blade. Very happy overall!

CB100 #1 is down for now. I cannibalized a flybar linkage that broke on #2, and am waiting for the replacement grips and their micro screws before I spin her up again. I suspect once I get her flying again I will eventually put the tiny brite lights back on. I should have waited before... impatience.

Cannot stress how useful (and fun) the Clearview flight sim time has been. Plan to practice more nose in hover. Flying around has become much more enjoyable, but hovering is definitely the trick, especially in mis-oriented flight positions, like nose in.

Too windy these past few days to take the bigger helis out. Can hardly wait!  Buy stock in Helidirect, Lord knows they are making big bucks off me with daily orders for parts! Next time I am back up in Boston I will have to drop by Malden and say hello.

Difficult evening...

It took me some time to fly the first CB100 because despite a flight test at the seller, this thing was way out of trim. It took me most of the night trying to set the trim on the Tx, then finally leveling the swashplate. Unfortunately this was the heli I put the tiny bright lights on. They looked magnificent and worked exactly as advertised. Wow. But with all these control issues I decided to remove them for now, as I couldn't tell if they were messing up the receiver whose battery line I had tapped into (I balanced it, it wasn't a CG issue). Turns out it wasn't. Hours after I removed them, I finally got the helo trimmed and it flew great with one exception. At launch it will get this hairy high frequency oscillation going, After a few moments it will balance out. Occasionally it will return to oscillating. I took the gyro gain to both ends of the spectrum without change. I wonder if I did damage the gyro in the receiver. I suspect its a blade harmonics issue with poor tracking due to the replaced grip bolt. I'm going to ground it until I can replace the screw with a proper one. Waiting to fly the other one, but it too was way out of trim and I don't have the energy to tackle it tonight. Time to take a break!