Sometimes it just takes a good shove...

It was beautiful out at BMF, but way, way too windy to fly. One moment calm, next moment small farm animals went screaming by in 20 mph gusts. The trees were dancing as if the Ents were having a hoe-down. A perfect day to hover a BeastX equipped Exi 450!

Took her up into a hover, and she handled so well it was inspiring. I could see her tail responding to the gusts, but she was holding her head hard and was rock stable. I took her up to about 30 feet, and turned her 90 degrees. A gust caught her, I made a mistaken input and she was screaming away sideways! In trying to get her back from the wind, I had her going in all different directions of orientation, but soon got her under control. This was amazing! I kept telling myself not to panic, I have been doing this on the Phoenix sim for days now. I got her settled down, flew her back and landed sweet. After I stopped shaking I took her up and this time decided if I can do that certainly I do fast forward flight, pirouette and come back, going back and forth from left to right. She did awesome despite the wind (I LOVE THE BEASTX!), so I started doing full turns instead of just pirouettes, and then threw in a couple of circles one way, then the other, tossed in a couple of figure 8's, and was zinging around like a kid in a candy shop! Eventually I got confused and lost control, she headed sideways and angled down to the ground and I knew it was over, so I hit the Hold, as she crashed sideways. Bent the main shaft, feathering shaft, cracked a blade, sheared a Jesus bolt and snapped off a blade grip control horn. No other damage.

IT WAS THE MOST AMAZING 5 MINUTES OF FLYING I HAVE ENJOYED IN A LONG TIME! There is nothing like watching a heli fly forward in controlled flight for a guy who has mastered hover and needed to move on. If it wasn't for the shove of the wind, I would have become increasingly bored with hover but scared to push forward. I am by no means ready to do this with my 500 size heli, but my 450's are shaking in their hanger knowing the bird is out of the nest!

YAY!

Can't find just a replacement grip control horn, and for the cost of a new set of grips I can get a new head, so I ordered one today. Totally a BeastX fanboy!

New Badass!

Today I ordered my new replacement Eflite PulseXT 25e! I am excited to get her back, even if she is the third one... My love affair with this plane has not been cheap. Here's hoping she's my last one... I have been in a funk since I drilled the second one into the ground...

The Little Guys!

It has been a long time, too long, since I have flown my fixed wing heli's. The little one that started it all, my Syma S107, and the twins, the Walkera CB100's, troublesome, dainty things that they are. The Syma is a 3 channel, and the twins are 4 channel helis. The Syma has an internal battery, small, get about 4-5 minutes of flight then have to plug it in again. The CB100's use a 1S 650 mAh 20c battery, of which I can charge only two at a time over about 30 min. Fortunately I have a dozen. These little guys are so much fun! It is interesting as its been at least a year, and what I have learned since then has changed how I look at them. I understand a lot more about them. I want to fly the CB180 tomorrow if its flight ready!

Assan GA250 Test

In my last post I pointed out the wag my Align GP780 developed. Two of them, actually. Using the same heli, I installed a Assan A250 MEMS gyro, a $10 gyro from Hobby King. Yup, $10. I am not sure it is much better than a piezo... Here's a short vid of the test (I flew several). It works fine, no wag. This also illustrates that the tail system is otherwise intact.



UPDATE 2/29/12: The seller of the second gyro has kindly responded to my refund request. They are interested in helping me solve the gyro problem if they can before refunding, and offered up another 780, or the new 790. What I know of the 790 is that its a step back, a budget 780 using SMM instead of MEMS. This might be a good idea, they work fine, but are "softer" than MEMS. Along with a hinted at software update, maybe it will be less sensitive than the 780?

How not to make a canopy...

I blogged last week about losing the canopy of my Sbach 342 in flight. I also wrote about how I was not optimistic about getting a replacement from Hobby King (still waiting as I write this). So, I made one. Despite my having absolutely no idea, it came out alright, and more importantly, I learned a few things so version 2 will be even better!

I made a paper mock-up of the base.

Transferred it to file folder cardboard.

I then cut out a styrofoam copy, and sanded it to shape.

Took a little work getting the angle. I have better ideas but at the time, this was my crappy method.

And then I completely ruined it when I found out Bondo melts styrofoam... 

I peeled off the Bondo and tried to save it with Hobbico filler. Didn't work either.

So, I made a wood frame. Got the angle right this time.

Covered it with sheet balse, trimmed it and sanded it.

Used the filler to, well, fill the rough spots.

Sanded it smooth.

Sanded out some spots to lighten it.

Then primed it.

Painted it with black gloss lacquer, several coats.

Applied Monokote points in red and white. Bolted the canopy on, taken from salvage of the Eflite PulseXT. I had to work it on, and found that window glue, nor CA worked well, and made a mess as the canopy didn't fit perfectly. I used felt to line the edge of the canopy to help it fit. 

Its hard to tell, but one of my failures was getting the back of the new wood canopy to segue into the back of the fuse. There's a large gap and the canopy comes out high. But it works! 

I plan to build another one using the lessons I've learned, and I think it will be perfect!

By the way, I ordered a canopy for a 1250cm Sbach sight unseen from Nitroplanes hoping it would be a complete one like the original. Its not... its a ginormous piece of clear plastic. It covers the whole plane...

Align GP780 Tail Wag

My 4 month old GP780 on a seasoned 450 heli started to wag. I tried decreasing the gain, and it slowed the wag, but did not abolish it. Increasing the gain sped up the wag. I changed everything that might cause a vibration, no joy. I tried it on another heli, still wagged. That gyro just left for Align USA for eval. It will turn out to be fine. Some on Helifreak say its just too sensitive to vibrations and many have had to abandon it for this reason. Well, a new GP780 arrived today and guess what... same wag! I doubt these are bad gyros, just too sensitive which makes them unusable. I am trying to return it to the eBay seller for a refund so I can buy a Spartan Quark from Helidirect. I love Align, and am looking forward to building my Align 600e FBL heli soon, but maybe without Align parts as I had planned?

Here's vid of the wag, even though its strapped down tight!



UPDATE (2/25/12): See the Assan GA250 MEMS test.

HDX 500se Main Gear Grind

I have been shearing teeth off the main gear of the HDX 500se pretty much every day I fly her, without explanation, usually when bringing her up to speed while the rotor was already turning. I had read that the main gear one way bearing can get gummed up and lock once in a while causing teeth to grind off. When I replaced the main gear this time, I took the one way bearing out and soaked it in acetone, shaking it and the bearing. I was amazed how much crap came out as I cycled through the washes. Then I dried it, and soaked it in silicone lubricant, and reinstalled it. It actually turns much cleaner. Looking forward to seeing if it solves the problem!