Super Cub Un-crunched Pt 1

This afternoon I began rebuilding the crunched Super Cub. I had no idea what I was going to do. I started by cutting the two sections free and seeing what fit and what didn't. I realized early on that the shelf in the middle was not going to fit back in properly. I also realized that the rather fragile fuse connections that fractured were mostly not going to bring the fuse back together. The only good connections were the two on the bottom... I really did a number on this one in this last crash! So... here's what happened:

The start. Held on by a small piece of cote...

Divided the sections and removed the electronics. It was a fairly clean break, but a lot of the pieces were shattered into chips.

I decided to start by reinforcing the existing firewall. It was crushed in one spot but unbroken. I used a lot of popsicle sticks on this rebuild.

I decided that a popsicle stick down the side with one cross member would reconstruct the battery box/nose  section frame nicely.

The shelf wasn't going back in, but I could build one out of popsicle sticks, but they had to go in with a bit of a V shape.

I wonder how this is going to work at the main body end? I fit the sections together and the shelf sticks were a bit long, but would work marvelously!

Now I had to turn my attention to the body. I trimmed back the sheared off sections to give me a more square boundary.

I created a strong joint surface with popsicle sticks.

The check fit the sections together. Spot on! I was using the bottom connections to indicate to me the length the nose section would require.

I CA''d a couple of match stick spars, and CA'd the sections together. I filled in gaps with scrap chips and CA'd them into one piece, more or less.

Same with the other side.

I slipped a piece of sheet balsa trimmed to fit wall to wall along the length and breadth of the nose section.

 I used the shelf as a width wise securing joint with CA.

I hand drilled a lot of holes in the sheet balsa. I used a piece of tongue depressor across the section. You can see how I cut the popsicle stick V shelf a bit short. I couldn't measure it and came up a bit short. Using the balsa sheet shelf as a joint surface overcame that mistake.

I put the battery cover on, perfect fit! I got the section's length perfect. Under the air holes of the cover you can see a piece of popsicle stick running width wise. I needed to strengthen the underside of the nose section with this cross member as the bottom sections had sheared at this joint.

I added a small rectangle of sheet balsa to either side over the piecemeal upper joints to consolidate the connection and strengthen as well as smooth it out.

Here's the other side.

I will let it sit tonight, inspect it in the morning and cote it all white tomorrow. Not sure how I will redo the red stripes. They were printed on the original cote. I will likely continue it forward with some kind of single strip of red.

The cowl took a beating, lots of cracks, no complete breaks. I have CA's the cracks, and will likely epoxy them tonite. Plan to repaint it tomorrow. I think it's going to look pretty good. Will need to recheck the CG after reinstalling the electronics. I had an AR 6100 on this bird, but will be replacing it with an HK Orange receiver and satellite receiver. I think the Master Airscrew props will be arriving in the mail tomorrow, and she'll be ready to fly again. Hopefully the two of us will figure out our relationship and the flying will go well, perhaps Wednesday? Yay!

Super Cub Crunch

It was a good day at BMF! The winds were persnickety, calm one moment, blustery the next, from the east one moment, the south the next.

I flew the Stearman and and Cornell, and even got the new Super Cub to fly. The rightish thrust vector solved the loop and roll problem, but she proved a twitchy flyer. As I flew her I found she still had a left roll tendency and had to trim in full right to compensate. Once I did that she flew well. I took her up again later and she threw herself nose in from 3 ft. Changed the prop and fixed the gear, she was otherwise fine. Took her up again later and she was super twitchy. Dropped to lower rates and she was hard to control. Took her back to full rates and toodled around a bit more, and she was still twitchy in the wind, but flew fine. I tried lower rates again and she became uncontrollable in the wind. I switched back to high rate but it was too late and she slammed nose in... She's repairable, but its going to take awhile.

I enjoyed the company of Ray, Jerry, Ron, Joe and the newly wed Kenny, with whom I had a cigar to celebrate! The weather is going to deteriorate over the next few days, so I don't expect much flying. I will likely work on the Super Cub again!

Pirate Squadron on a Piratey day!

MUWAHAHAHAHA!

Getting more comfortable with the Cornell and the Stearman. Flew them both several times today and landed sweet every time. I realized I have been flying 3S 3300 mAh batteries in the Cornell, when the stock setup calls for around 2200 mAh. I have had no problem with the 3300s, but flying 2200s would free up the 3 (soon to be 5) 3300s for the Stearman, and I have 5 of the 2200s (one is actually a 2650) batteries for the Cornell. So I flew the Cornell exclusively on the 2200's today with no issues! Great! Time tested today; on landing after 10 minutes of flight, she ran another 7 minutes on the ground at a bit more than half throttle, where I fly her, on the 2200s. So I bumped her timer to 15 minutes. Later flights that worked just fine, coming in with plenty of bingo amps. I remain amazed at how beautifully the Eflte PT-19 flies, from graceful liftoff, through flight, to landing on rails... why did they ever discontinue her?

Almost lost the Cornell today. Doing touch and goes, when taking off a strong crosswind gust lifted her right wing. I compensated, but she started a hard left turn and was flying right at me. Stayed cool, she passed to my right by a good margin and struggled in what was now a strong tailwind. Structures coming up, stayed with her, got her up past them, waffling, and powered through over the trees. Regained full control (was just trying to keep up at this point) and she flew the rest of the pack fine! Damn near pissed myself... but proud my skills stayed with me and I remembered to fly the plane through this pucker.

Everything flew well today, though I lost my mind flying the Trojan and busted the wing. I was screwing around right over the runway when she was flying weird to begin with. Controllable, but I had full left trim in because of that already thrice repaired wing. When I got in this evening I put the new one on. In that crash I cremated the last of the 3 blade stock props, so I have to wait for the Master Airscrew ones I ordered last week to come in,.

Flew the Piratey flag over the field today to give the curmudgeons something to complain about. It actually looks pretty rad!

UPDATE 8/29/11 @ 2200hrs: Hoping its not a stock mistake! I found a new Elite PT-19 Cornell at SRI Hobbies in Louisville at the $70 closeout price. They charged me $31 oversize fee an $11 for Priority shipping, but hey, if I have it coming for real its a bargain!!!
UPDATE UPDATE 9/1/11@1612hrs: Crap... of course it was an inventory error...no joy.

So, you're mad...

A friend posted this on Facebook, and while its got nothing to do with RC it bears posting after how bent out of shape some constantly angry people had gotten over what they percieve as my calling them out in my post 12 Angry Men.  This cartoon was originally posted here and is way too apropo to pass up! I got off at Level 2...

Toolin' about

It started a a vid of me doing elevator's with my Alpha Sport 450, but the best ones were too high to be seen well, as to elevator a trainer there has to be a good headwind and that's where the wind was. After editing out what wasn't really clear due to the altitude, here's what's left. A couple minutes of me having fun toolin' about! Can you recognize the soundtrack (until Youtube pulls the audio)? Enjoy!

4 outta 5 ain't bad!

Today I started early, flying the Trojan, the Sopwith, the Stearman, the Cornell, and tried to maiden the Super Cub. They all flew marvelously, except the Super Cub.

She would roll hard right, and nose up in a loop immediately after takeoff. I think its a bad torque roll. Every single time, 'cause you see, if you keep doing the same thing over and over again things don't change... I ended up spending a couple of hours rebuilding the wing and firewall as she isn't very sturdy. She did it one last time, broke her prop. I accidentally throttled up and the motor shook itself free of the airplane. Damn. I'll rebuild the broken parts, including resetting the wing (a cracked spar). I think I'll try a right cant to the thust vector and see if that exorcises this recent voodoo. She is soooo pretty... I know once I solve this problem she will be sweet!

 I flew the Trojan several times, on the last flight I flipped her inverse a little low, which would have been fine if she climbed well inverted. She doesn't, and she dips when I roll her back up, this time right into the ground. Cracked wing (the old one, already beat up) and trashed her prop. That was it! Sturdy little bugger. Found her gear down, cockpit ejected, sitting pretty.

I also flew the Sopwith a couple of flights. She is so dainty. She struggles on the ground but once she breaks free she flies so gracefully and with such beauty! She lands like a child doing somersaults as she just can't deal with the terrain. At least she handles it well!

The Stearman flew marvelously! The first flight my heart was pounding and I held my breath in turns as that would be when she would spin the spin of death. But she never even hinted departing stable flight, and I just had a ball after that first nervous flight! She makes a wicked cool sound in the air, and is something else to see flying. I even managed to land perfectly every time! Wicked fun!


It was with a little apprehension, but a heckuva lot of determination that I rolled out the Cornell to the flightline. She kept getting tripped up with the turf. I got her running off and pulled back a bit more on the stick, and she lifted gracefully into the air! On rails! I took her to altitude and trimmed her a bit, and she was like the dream I have had again and again. She flew perfectly with excellent manners, predictable and stable, fast, slow, glides forever and stalls only with difficulty! On landing she comes in sweet to a nice controlled flare, even with a cross wind, and sets right down. I was thrilled! She flew consistently again and again, and finally I set her aside and counted myself very lucky. I need to tighten up her cote on the wing a little, but other than that she is primo. I am glad that Bobby got to see her fly today, after the craziness of Cornell #3.

I'll be away from flying this weekend doin' family stuff! Can't wait until I can get back and fly some more!

PowerlineHobbies-Green RC Models Super Cub

After completing the Cornell this morning, I set about building the Powerline Hobbies-Green RC Models Super Cub. There was no manual, really, just a build video. I did the best I could. It was rather straight forward, really, just not sure which screws went where.  I made one mistake, missing putting the tail wheel assembly together before I put the tail feathers on, but it worked out. I did change the aileron servo to a spare EXI D213f as the stock one didn't center well. The red wing struts didn't fit, being too long, and one side broke (the black shrink wrap over CA repair. I decided not to cote over it).  I took an AR6100 from one of my heli's and installed it. The quality of the kit is good, very good for the price I got it for all up! The pics aren't so good... it was a bit dark for pics in the workshop. I had fun adding stickers!

She looks really, really good! She is very light weight, but the landing gear are sturdy.

Check out the very cool articulated and spring levered tail gear.

I'm looking forward to flying her tomorrow!