Completing the Pulse XT

Pulse XT build Part 1 and Part 2 outlined the first couple of days of the build of my Eflite Pulse XT 25e. Today I installed the aileron servos and their control rods, installed the wing and set up the flaperons. Ran her up and holy guacamole, has it got some scary power!

Aileron servo and the under-surface of the wing.

Balance is just at the forward CG line.

Underside.

Underside of the attached wing.

The ESC is on the right, the battery on the left. Tight fit. The red velcro is to allow me ot pull the battery out.

The name plate on the side of the cockpit.

She is all set for her maiden flight! 

Some screws for the 25 motor mount (I used longer screws for the 32 motor mount), There are 4 1" square pieces of hardwood, with holes in each corner. They don't show up in the instructions, and I have no idea what they are for...

Kenny Chandler and I set up shop at the KAMS field in Ocean Springs today. Way too windy... Flew the Alpha Sport, and the newly reconstructed Trojan T-28. It was challenging, but fun to finally get to fly after almost 2 weeks. Tomorrow I an thinking about heading out to BMF to see if I can fly off the runway or not. As soon as I know the field is open for sure, I'll take the Pulse out to BMF for her maiden. Tonight I will start work on the Nitroplanes C-47 Transporter.

Eflite Pulse XT Build Part 2

Part 1 done yesterday. Today I wanted to get the wing epoxied together, and get the cowl and air vent (not pictured) done.

After taping the adjoining edges with painter tape, I used 60 minute epoxy on the wing joiner, and then on the adjoining wing surfaces. I will remove the tape for nice clean surfaces. I used rubber bands to force the wing halves together, and the clamp at the end to ensure they join flat and flush. The wing joiner inside the wing keeps the front part flush and level. 

52" of lift surface, baby!

I read a post by one of the designers of this plane in regards to suggestions that the wing needs to be strengthened at the joint. He said that when the wing is joined in accordance with the manual (attached to the plane), some did not come tightly together, held apart a bit by the screws. He recommended NOT doing  it per the manual, but joining them off the fuse ensuring they join tightly. He notes that the joiner when properly epoxied joins each wings main spar into one large spar, and that the wing is solid and strong. I am still debating what I am going to do... In the meantime I used my CA edge method and cut the fiberglass cloth to fit, in case I decide to do it. The piece on the left is cut, the right one is ready to be cut. I found that the cloth did not stick to wax paper I set up the CA on. Nice.

I did decide to fill the landing gear box with Gorilla Glue. Its an expanding polyurethane foam glue that is as strong as, well, a Gorilla. I flooded the box with about 1/4" and you can see the hump of the foam through the middle hole. The two pegs are bamboo pegs I screwed into the landing gear nuts to keep the glue in the box and out of the screw holes.

Canopy is in place, landing gear reattached, sweet!

Tomorrow I will install the aileron servos and if I decide to glass the wing, I'll do that. Otherwise I'll be attaching the wing, completing the build.

Eflite Pulse XT Build Part 1

My Eflite Pulse XT arrived yesterday from Horizon Hobby. Today was a busy build day, and per usual, its always something. A couple of minor techincal glitches, overcome by some MacGyvering, and all's done but the most critical part, the wing.

Das box!

Das parts!

The first step was cutting off the extra 1/4" of axle, to allow the wheel pants to fit. The axle comes long so that the float modification can be attached, but if one uses the wheel pants instead of the floats it needs to be shortened. Easy peasy. This was a lot more sparkly than the photo lets on! (I like sparkly...).

Posts on the Pulse XT 25e discuss the weakness of the landing gear box, between my fingers. This one is rather built up, so I wonder it Eflite already addressed this problem? I had planned to glass this, but I can't see how I would or how it would add strength... 

But I did epoxy all the joints in the area, here the underside (also did the top, into the battery box as well). I think this will be helpful.

Landing gear and tail assembly comptleted!

To help support the model during the build I cut one of the boxes from the packing with the cutout seen here.

Into which the fuse fit nicely! This proved quite useful! I am so clever...

Elevator and rudder servos installed. JR MN48's. I wish now I had mounted them towards the center, rather than to the outside of the cut out. The geometry of the control rods would be a little betteras they come into the compartment a bit more along the midline. I may redo this, but it is really minor and moving them will just weaken the tray.

Control rods completed, servo's centered and servo arms trimmed. The Spektrum AR600 DSMX reciever can be seen here.

I had to re-engineer the motor mount. In this pic you can see that the HURC Power Up 32 motor's mount holes don't line up with the Eflite Power 32 mounting holes pre-set in the firewall. I gave this a lot of thought, and rather than build a new firewall, I opted to grind and drill the X mount to accommodate the original mount holes. I am not sure if it will vibrate out of center... but it seems secure and come out properly positioned and centered on the cowl. You can see that it is mounted slightly to the aircraft's left. It is also angled slightly right. 

The re-engineered X mount.

She went together pretty well! The ESC is ginormous (Emax 70A) and the 4S battery fills the battery compartment. Its a snug fit. I'll post a pic tomorrow. I also got the aluminum spinner and it looks sweet! That's a 13 x 6.5 APC eprop on there. Tomorrow the wings and canopy and she's all done! With the Power 25 setup she is wicked fast. With this Power 32, she should be a rocket!  

The Hangar 9 Sopwith and the Dynam C-47 Transporter arrived this afternoon. I think after I complete the Pulse I'll start work on the C-47. Its huge... 

Not sure what the status of BMF is. I wonder it they've completed the work. I need to fly something!

Fiberglass Test

Fiberglass cloth is traditionally laid down with a fiberglass resin/hardner, essentially epoxy, but apparently not exactly epoxy. Discussions and what I have read suggests for heavy duty applications using epoxy rather than fiberglass resin is recommended. It also learned that using alcohol to thin the epoxy can make it easier to spread. I wanted to try this out before using it to join the wing and strengthen the fuse over and just behind the landing gear and the wing along the middle joint on the EFlite Pulse XT, suggested by many posters on RC Groups and RC Universe. These are real weak spots on this aircraft. The fuse cracks and breaks at this point and the small wing joiner allows the wings to fold under aerobatic g-forces.

I learned that the cloth will unweave and fall apart very easily, and that obtaining a sharp edge on the cloth is nearly impossible. I ran some CA along the edges then cut along the CA and it held together very well. It was challenging keeping the CA'd cloth from sticking to everything... I may try another glue to keep the edges of the cloth sharp maybe some thin epoxy.

Yeah, Baby!

I have finally stopped dry heaving... I bought a few planes today, and when I spend money I've put aside like this I start dry heaving. Its just a thing I do.... But I have cleaned out my wish list!

The Hangar 9 Sopwith Camel is an amazing work of art. A discontinued work of art. Why do I fall in love with discontinued models? I had been searching the web for some time and found it at RC Hobbies and More. It was the last one, as they are now out of stock! I then spent the afternoon buying all the parts, though I had planned to wait.... Kenny Chandler had given me a HeadsUpRC 4260-06 motor a while back and it is the perfect motor for this plane. I ordered Hitec HS-485BH servos, and a Turnigy Trust 70A ESC. This is a power hungry bird, so she needs two 2S 4000 mAh batteries that will have to run in series. Just need a receiver! UPDATE: Before the ink dried I also picked up an AR600 for it.

I have had my eye on this one for several months. I have always loved the C-47/DC-3, and bought this one from Nitroplanes. The C-47 has been discounted so I decided to pull the trigger on this before it gets discontinued. I can use batteries I have, and will be putting an Orange receiver and satellite in her. Psych!

And finally, I have also bought the EFlite Pulse XT that I have been planning to buy for a long time. I am setting it up with the Power 32 performance package which will run 4S 3300 mAh batteries. I have a couple and bought a couple more. I went all stock Horizon Hobby on this one but will be using a 60A HiMax ESC that Kenny also gave me a while back. More savings! Also using a Spektrum AR600 receiver.

All of this should be arriving next week while I am off. I will focus on building the Pulse, and will wait a bit before undertaking the Sopwith project. I want to learn how to fly the Pulse well before moving on. The only thing I want now is an F-86 Sabre.... Hmmmm....

Panorama of BMF

CJ Bordelon sent me this beautiful panorama pic. He used Photaf for Android. You can see the runway work over on the right.

KAMS FALL Fly-In 2011

Today was the Koast Aero Modelers Societyn Fall Fly-In at their field in Ocean Springs. It was breezy, occasionally gusty, and sometimes calm. It was the calm that eventually got me...  More on that in a moment. Some pics from today! It was a small crowd, but the field was in perfect condition and our hosts very welcoming!

This little guy is called a Lazy Bee. It was anything but lazy!

So, about that calm. We, (Steve and I) were waiting out the windy day. Around 230 p it seemed to calm down, a lot. It sang sweetly to me.. it lulled me in... Most people had left for the day, the calm was present more than the gusts, but the gusts were still very brisk. I decided after a lot of hemming and hawing to take the Stearman up. Took her out to the runway, and during a long calm period fired her up. Immediately a gust came from her left as she was slowly lifting off, and she flipped left wing over right and nosed down and crashed.

Butcher's bill: Cracked the lower wing spar, again, the tab to the right wing (its usually the left, I believe), and most critically, cracked the entire motor mount right off. Now, I have rebuilt this before, so its already a mass of sticks and epoxy (man, I love epoxy). I reattached it with CA and then built a box of popsicle sticks around the frame, and epoxied it all snug. After it dried I looked at it from the top and noticed that the spacers on the right had sunk into the cracked frame a bit more than I thought, so I pulled the bolts, removed the spacers and reinforced that side of the wall with popsicle stick, and epoxied the crap out of it. Its drying now. I'll drill the mounting holes tomorrow, replace the electronics, the cowl, the wing and she'll be ready to fly! If the winds are good, I may try it at KAMS again.