Glutton for punishment

I have related in previous blog posts my adventures with the Green RC Super Cub. It has never been one of my loves. Cubs are notoriously squirrely on the ground. This one would just never fly right. So I did what any good friend would, and I gave it to Kenny. Kenny tried, and it had its moments, but continued to be a POS. So, he did what any good friend would. He gave it back. I let it sit for a week and finally decided to do something with it. I don't know why this time would be any different...

Taken apart, no wheels, removed crushed motor, etc.

Rebuilt the front end. Been here before...

The servo box I built ln the right. I had no frickin' clue how I wanted to do this. I started with a horizontal servo position, realised I had no good way to secure it, then realized the servo would stand up fine in the existing space. Undid some work and made this box. Works perfectly.

The left box looks much better as this time I had a clue...

Servo and cote in place, all done. I installed a small piece of thick balsa sheet in the aileron to support the aileron control horn. I thought I had a photo of the plate I installed, but nope...

I changed the landing gear from the crappy wire ones to a set I took off the original Hobby King Sbach. They are a bit tall, but work great. I created a gear attachment with a piece of 4mm plywood an epoxied it to the bottom of the fuse, to which I bolted the screws for the gear. The design initally used embedded nuts, but they slipped trying to screw the bolts in, so I popped them out and used nuts and bolts. Came out perfect. If she flies well I plan to put big fat tundra tires on her.

I would like to fill in the chin, looks thin under there. She needs a better cowl.

That's a cowl from the a Parkzone cub, since I can't get one for this Green TC plane anymore. I need to find a better cowl, one with a chin on it.
So, here's hoping the remodeled Super Cub flies like an angel! I have no idea what themmotor is. She swings a 8x4 prop and seems to pull some decent thrust. A 20A ESC and a 3S 1000 mAh 25C battery, Orange reciever and satellite, two EXI D213f digital MG servos in the ailerons, and the stock 9g servos for rudder and elevator.
Here goes nothin'!

Flight of the Sbach: HOLD ON!

I have detailed my ongoing Sbach adventures and the build of my second one. Yesterday I got to take her up on her maiden flight. Conditions were very good. There were cross winds of 5 mph or so, clear skies, no turbulence.

I am flying her quite heavy. Her all up weight is 2.75 lbs, 1250gms. She is a 450 class airplane that is designed for up to a 480 motor, and her designed AUW is less than 2 lbs, around 900 gms. My first one had that motor and flew well (she died when for some reason she could not pull out of a dive. I think the 9gm servos could not pull her out of the dive as I was flying her with a 480 motor but this large 4S battery, so I am going with mini servos on the rudder and elevator with more than double the torque). I have her equipped with a HeadsUpRC Power 15 Sport motor behind a Xoar 10x5 electric wood prop from Graves RC. I power her with a 4S 3300mAh 30C battery, and a 40A ESC/L-BEC. She has two Fusonic mg-d-9g aileron servos from wowhobbies and JR MN-48 mini servos from Horizon Hobby (I prefer faster Hitec HS-82mg servos, but I have two of these MNs so used them. They are fine, just a bit slower and with nylon gears). I found a way described in my build post to get the wheel pants to work, and they performed flawlessly. They look very good! Check out the build post in the link above. My DX8 is programmed with flaperons, 30% expo, and rate sets of 30, 50 and 100%. I found she flew quite well on the mid rates. I usually fly 25% expo and may dial her down, but she seems pretty happy as I have her set up.

She takes a little more runway on takeoff, and sinks fast, but she is incredibly agile and fast! She had no problem with the cross wind. In the vids I am flying some serious aerobatics and she handles it all on 50% rates! The frame shows no stress issues. On full rates she rips the sky apart! She is stable, stops moves on a dime, but is so quick to respond that a moments inattention will end in disaster. In the vid there is one moment where I have to duck down under Vinsen's Revolver, and come withn a foot of the ground. Big time pucker factor, but she pulled it off.

I didn't film the first flight as my camera fell off my noggin. I didn't bother with it on the next two flights either. The video here is of the fourth flight, I think. I had evaluated her in takeoff, fast, slow manuevers, and light aerobatics, stall, approach and landing. In this flight I took her through rigorous high and low speed aerobatics. She is on rails and required almost no trimming. I planned the last flight to be an evaluation of the flaperons, but, well, the ESC failed and I had to deal with an inflight emergency where she glided marginally downwind with one heckuva sink rate.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

Antonio and Steve's Great Parachute Adventure

Antonio Vilchez and Steve Burton rigged Antoni's parachute to Steve's Radian Power glider with a command drop mechanism (an ingenious servo and rubber band system on the gear channel). It was simple and worked flawlessly. They leased the parachute man from a couple hundred feet up! how to turn grown men into little boys; we were all chasing after it!

 

 

Kenny mourns his Ugly Stick

My friend Kenny Chandler's Ugly Stick suffered a full lost bind at Pine Belt RC on Saturday and literally fell from the sky... He was flying a Spektrum DX600 on a Dx6i. So sorry, Kenny!

But, I still have you two for one on these lost comms crashes...

 

 

Antonio Rocks the 450!

Today I asked Antonio Vilchez (George's son) to take up my Eflite Alpha Sport 450, solo. Of course he did an awesome job! This is the unedited video! Enjoy, Antonio!

Sbach 342 v2 Number 2 Debute!

She's got her wood prop, so she's all done (see her build here)! Introducing my Hobby King 1000mm Sbach 342 v2, number two!

 

 

Everybody came home!

It was a beautiful day to fly at Bob Miller Field in Gulfport, MS. Occasional winds were variable, but consistent, if that makes any sense. It was a fun day! Big crowd, wide range of planes. Took Antonio up on my PulseXT with the buddy box. He flew awesome and really enjoyed himself! Later he took his Cessna up in a very good wind. Well done!

Dick and Arnie worked on Dick's Decathalon, which eventually threw itself into the ground in an uncommanded left turn. They were getting pretty close to getting her sorted out, and she needed some sorting out. Sorry for your loss, Dick...

I flew the trio, all behaved nicely! I still have to work ar relaxing when flying the Cosmic Wind. Darn thing is fast, fast, fast, and agile as a cat. Constant attention is required. I realized I have a nitro prop on her, and have ordered some lighter APC eprops, which I suspect will give me a lot more rpm, and even more speed! The Ulitmate is just one fantastic plane. Fun to fly, stable, reactive, quick! And the PulseXT is easily my favorite plane. Need to figure out why one flaperon drops differently than the other; causes the right wing to dip when the flaps are deployed. She definitley is easier to land with 45 degrees. With full flaps, she wobbles a bit. I suspect I just need a little more power, but then, what's the point of the flaps? I usually land with 45.

Waiting for the props for the Sbach. Cannot wait!