Phoneixcubby Done!

The canopy came in today, so I fitted the foam under the wing and canopy, and screwed it into place. I screwed together the struts, and glued where the plastic bits were missing from the wing. She looks god, but man, she is bent... I shimmed the left wing where it joins the canopy, after I took these pictures, and it evened out a bit. It was difficult to say, but I think the tail empennage is a bit canted too. At least the wing is straight!

Looks good!

Here you can see the right wing is higher than the left wing. I later put shims of firm closed cell foam under the left wing to even it out a little.

Very pretty!

This close up shows the way I secured the landing gear flange inside the body so that it can move, but resists bending backwards by running into the fuse. I used a cut section of the old wing strut that I melted to a more acute angle after cutting it short. I think this will work out pretty well! I may end up securing it to the post with a plastic wire tie.

Looking forward to flying her! It ought to be an adventure. I haven't decided if I am taking any RC up to Meridian with me, but if I do it would be the Cubby. I will take the sim. This week I will order the parts I need for Cubby 2.

SOLO!

Call me Hans, and give me a beer!

Solo'd my Alpha 450 today with Arnold as my spotter/coach. Flew two separate packs for about 5 mins in moderate winds, with excellent take-offs and landings. It felt great as I needed to cut the training cord or else I would be waiting for IPs to be around to fly! I can't wait to fly the PT's.

Enjoyed watching Jim, Dick and Dickie fly their helis. Jim flew his 450 and Dick's 600, Dickie his 500 and then Dick flew his 600. It is really fun watching Jim fly with such precision!

I brought home all my planes, mostly because I only flew the Alpha and quit while I was ahead. It was wierd not bringing anything home in a bag! (I have always solo'd the Cubbies, and we know how that usually ends. I have been afraid to fly the balsa's because when they crash it is not nearly as easy to fix. So, soloing the Alpha was a big step forward in my therapy)!

Two finger Solution: Finally in a pinch!

I have been trying to switch to a pinch rather than a thumb control on my transmitter, but just couldn't get comfortable with pinch. I red a very nice piece in June 2011 Fly RC by Dave Scott where he describes a modified pinch, as I call it, taught by the 1st RC Flight School. I wanted to link to the article, but apparently Fly RC doesn't allow that...  Here's a pic of what my hands look like on the transmitter with this technique:

I don't know if the classic pinch is one finger fore and aft of the stick, or if this is the actual classic pinch, but this is much more comfortable for me. I have been flying the sim with this and I like it much better. Just as his article says, I find I had to reduce my expo to 10-15% when I was using 25% as my control immediately got finer and less jerky. I like a mushroom top on the right stick and a standard top on the left stick. Finally a pinch that works for me!

Cubby 2 is on its way back!

Finished the repair work on Cubby 2 today. I put Econo-cote on the forward part of the fuse, and across the wing (leaving the end 7 inches uncoted only because I wanted to use the width, not cut a long length). I really worked the wrinkles out and it looks really great!

I need to order another canopy and motor, then she's ready to go! I will also stock my backup repair parts, as I am sure this will not be the last of my Cubby crashes.

KAMS Fly-In Ocean Springs, Mississippi

Today Luke and I spent several hours at the KAMS Fly-In. I brought several aircraft to display (did not intend to fly, I have enough stress flying without doing it in front of a crowd of strangers...). We enjoyed watching several pilots, including two of my favorites, Paul and Bobby, put their aircraft through their paces. We also enjoyed watching Alex Ayler from the Azealea club in Mobile, Alabama, fly his 1/3 scale Piper Cub. Wow, can he fly! Special thanks to Lee Carroll and his group from KAMS for a great time!

Me and Luke with our aircraft (the MX2 is behind us).

Jerry's club hat with the MCRCC logo.

My PT-19 Cornell by E-flite.

My HDX 500 and Frankenheli 450st.

My PT-17 Stearman from E-flite.

Stuka Dive bomber.

MCRCC gang at lunch.

Al Warburton, having lunch with his friends...

This amazingly accurate 1/3 scale Piper Cub was something else to behold. It came with a pilot figure.

Even the engine was completely accurate!

Luke with Jerry's hat.

Alex Ayler of the Azalea City Model Aeronautics flying club of Mobile, Alabama, with his Cub. Amazing pilot.

Bobby and Al firing up Bobby's plane. Very nice watching Bobby's graceful style.

Paul Verger with his Aeroworks Extra 300. Paul's pattern skills bring flying to a fine art!

We had fried chicken for lunch (I am told it was from Walmart. Wow, who knew... best fried chicken I have ever eaten!). Looking forward now to our MCRCC Fly-In on June 18th! I hope to be ready to fly all my aircraft by then!

Flew My First Full Pack, then...well, you know...

Yeah! I hovered a full pack without corkscrewing the heli at Bob Miller field today! I went on to hover a couple more packs. I never could really relax though, as I tend to over control and plant them, but it was going too well. I did have a problem with a low voltage brown out. It happened first on the ground after a couple of long hovers, when I heard the motor pitch of the sound change, and did not take off. I noticed the controls were no longer responding, hit throttle hold, and nothing happened. The blades kept going for another few seconds, then spun down. I checked the receiver and sure enough, one blink. I changed out the battery, hovered again, and after about 6 minutes I noticed the heli starting to act odd, not responding well, so I landed her just as she browned out again...

I decided to take a break from the ERazor 450 and wanted to take my CopterX 250 for a spin. I hovered a couple packs, and on the third one I put her down a little hard during a practice landing, and suffered a blade strike... Since she is sooo small and light, it tore her up pretty good.

Bummer, as I was doing a fair job of hovering her twitchy little self. This is going to take a lot of work... What happens in a blade strike in this situation is when I landed her hard, the blades momentum and pitch angle kept them moving down and they dipped, snapping the feathering shaft that secures them to the main rotor head while striking the tail boom (that's why the tail boom is so mangled). Looks like the main shaft is also bent. Will know more when I work on her in a week or so... gonna let her sit for nowas I am going to have to take her completely apart, inventory and order parts.

I wanted to fly my airplanes, having brought the MX2 and the PT-19 Cornell, but there were no Instructor Pilots to box with and I don't feel ready to fly them without an IP. My Cubby's are in the hurt locker. So... I took the ERazor for another spin. Flew wonderfully, but started to get away from me too far. I tried to bring her back but couldn't, and started to lose her orientation. I turned her a little, to the right (she had been tail in to me), and I think she was starting to return to me when I felt I was not in control; I felt she was starting to roll hard. I hit throttle hold and she dropped. I think if I had not lost my nerve and waited, I could have hovered her down or even brought her back, but I freaked out when she rolled. She smacked into the berry's on the far side of the field, and the walk of shame was made worse by my having to walk around in circles until I could find her. She wasn't in too bad of shape. The elevator servo, one that always goes, was stripped, the blades were toast (nice CF ones), the requisite feathering and main shaft bends are there and a few teeth are missing from one spot on the main gear. The landing gear are broken (one is missing). Not too bad, all in all. I am waiting on a bunch of 450 blades, and I don't have the landing gear (Xheli has been out of stock for a while on those, which could be a problem. When I bought her I wasn't aware she was not an Align clone, so I am dependent on Dynam ERazor parts).

Looks worse than it really is.  Good thing I had the animal crackers to make the owie go away...

After a couple of days of this, despite the good company, I was done and decided to pack up and head home. I didn't fly my airplanes, though I did run the MX2 motor (only got about 6 minutes at 3/4 to full throttle). I had let it sit in the sun for about 20 minutes, and when I went to pick her up to pack her, I noticed this:

You can see that the cockpit EPO got all cobblestony in the sun... Hmm....

UPDATE (5/7/11): Turns out it also melted the paint behind the canopy gluing the canopy magnets together... Also caused the elevator corners to droop.

Well, tomorrow is the KOAST Fly-In over in Ocean Springs at their field (their website is wrong, it IS on Saturday, May 7, starting at 8 am). Fly fee $5, Lunch of fried chicken and fixin's $5. I won't likely fly again for a week, unless I get lucky and some parts come before I leave for Meridian for a week, so I may not have much to post.

All in all, while I feel a bit bummed (just tired I think), it was a really good day!

Unwhoomping Cubby2

This afternoon I started debriding the remnants of Cubby2, and began the process of rebuilding her. The problem will be waiting for the canopy and motor. I have many of the plastic bits and struts.

I used cuts from the old wing struts as spars for the fractured wing. I glued it with Beacon's 3-in-1 glue, and held evything in place with package tape, which I will remove tomorrow. In a few days I will use the Cub Yellow Econo-cote to cover the wing from end to end.

I had to work the the bent and broken parts of the forward fuselage together and glue them, using packing tape to hold them in place. You can also see the wing, which is looking pretty good. Like the wing, I'll remove the tape tomorrow and let the glue set for a couple of days before I cote the fuse. Not sure I will do the whole fuse, maybe just the forward half.