Goldwing Sbach 342 1500mm

My next plane! Click on images for a link to the item. I have set this up for high power performance, and will fly it with two 3S 3300mAh batteries in series (6S 6600mAh), and start with a 15x8 or 14x7 prop.
 

Goldwing Sbach 342 1500mm from General Hobby.

Turnigy L5055B-600kv 1500w motor from Hobby King.

Hobbywing Platinum 80A ESC (Opto) from Hobbypartz/Nitroplanes.

ExceedRC UBEC (6V 5A) from Hobbypartz/Nitroplanes.

Hitec HS-225 MG servos from Horizon Hobby.

Spektrum AR600x DSMX receiver from Horizon Hobby.

Very exciting stuff!

Crash-A-Day Program

It feels like that...
 
Took the PulseXT, Sbach, and Stearman out to BMF today. Perfect flying conditions. Kenny brought out his Stick, always fun to watch him whip that thing like a 3D machine (man can that boy fly...). Add that he's just plain good company.
 
The Hobby King Sbach 342 1000mm v2 flew wonderfully after her recent repairs. Had to shorten the canopy to get it to sit right; the firewall is pushed back about 2mm after that crash... hmmm. The cowl looks good too. I will need to get around to some cosmetic fuse work, but overall she looks good and flies sweet. She is a 3S machine. She flew well as a 4S, but heavy, slagging through turns, landing hard, and she tried to burn out her motor, curious since its rated for 4S. With a 3S 2200 - 2650 mAh she flies sweet. 3300 mAh bogs her down weight wise just a bit, but noticeably. With the 3S 2650 mAh she isn't super zippy but gets around well and has very good vertical. She snaps clean, accelerates well, and lands easily (though even with flaps she will stall a wing if one lands too slow). I did lose the tail wheel... tore right off in the hard scrabble grass. Fortunately had one I kept from the first Sbach. So, Power 15, 12x6 prop, 40A ESC, and 3S 2200 - 2650 mAh for a good 6 minutes of flight with 1.5 min bingo fuel. Rates are 30/30, 50/30 and 100/50. Flaps 20 and 40, though I may back the full flaps to 35 as she doesn't stall a wing at 35. I flew about a dozen packs with flawless performance, and I am starting to get used to her. Really love this plane and am already looking to get a 1500mm (55") version!
 
The Pulse, of course, flew flawlessly... practiced approaches and landings, long and short, with and without spoilers. Always predictable, stable and fun!
 

Then, there's the intrepid Eflite Stearman, pictured here just before she crashed. Last time I flew her I burned out the motor... or the ESC, not sure because they both work, but the motor fails at full throttle. Its also rated 4S, so I don't think its the motor, but that I am over peaking the amps on the ESC with the 12x6. I tried flying it 3S 3300 mAh today as its was designed for (so many repairs, I think its too heavy now, as evidenced by...) and she flew okay, a bit sluggish compared to 4S, working hard through loops and vertical. It was a fresh battery, 3 minutes into 8 planned climbing out of a low fly by the motor slowed then stopped and she dropped like a stone... managed to get the nose up at impact. Snapped a wing connection tab on the lower left wing, easily repaired. Snapped the landing gear clean off and chiseled off the bottom 2 cylinders of the mock motor, and broke the prop. No other damage. Spent the evening repairing the tab, building the landing gear block and recoting it, and cut two cylinders off an old Stearman cowl (I had just replaced this cowl the day before!) and grafted them onto the "new" cowl, with a near perfect repair. Needed to place a cowl tab, too. I also replaced the Hobby Wing 40A ESC with the Turnigy Trust 70A I had laying around. I haven't been using this ESC since programming it is a nightmare: the tones don't match the manual and the programming card is NIS at Hobby King. I mucked through the programming, and the only thing I need to test is the low voltage cut off... rather important, but otherwise the brake is now off and she runs sweet (In a curious set of design issues, Trust is the only Turnigy ESC I can't program with a Hobby Wing card, and the usual throttle range setting maneuver actually sets the brake as the throttle range is auto-detected). I believe I have auto-Lipo detect, brake off, auto timing and I have no idea what voltage cut off is... I ran the motor briefly at full throttle without load and it ran fine. I will power test it with a 12x6 prop and check the low voltage cut off. Need that damn programming card...
 
I was pretty pissed, mostly because this crash-a-day BS is annoying, and I am tired of repairing my planes... At least it wasn't the Sbach!

I flew the Sbach, so of course it...

It was a beautiful day to fly, no winds, no clouds, coolish temp, and only a handful of regulars at Bob Miller Field. I went straight from work having loaded the Three Musketeers into the car, the Pulse, the Ultimate and the Sbach!
 
I flew the snot out of them! I was practicing aerobatics, basic maneuvers, landings including short field landing and cross winds when a breeze came up. Great time to get my fingers flying again, much needed practice after such a long dry spell.
 
I even figured out that what the Sbach wants is a 3S 2200 to 2650 mAh battery with that 12x6 prop. Great performance, vertical, aerobatics, and with the improved wing loading, sound stable slow flight. She likes no more than 40% flaps, which slows her down nicely. I flew the snot out of her too, and was preparing to try a 3S 3300 mAh in it when I put her into a spin I could not get out of... and put her down hard into the tall grass. Minor damage to the fuse, cracked up the cowl again, and bent the gear. Already have it all repaired, except for the paint on the cowl! So I have a record of a crash for every day I have flown her... every frickin' time. I do push her way hardso its inevitable, but its getting old, especially after today when I finally had her flying perfect!
 

Today I CA'd the cracked through parts, then later epoxied them from the inside, sanded it down and did the Bondo work. Tomorrow sand the Bondo after letting it set all night, paint over the next three days (one for each color), and put her back to rights. Need to watch those spins. She does not like elevator in a spin, or hard elevator at all as it makes her roll... which is how I lost her. Now I know.
 

 

The Sbach today at the field, before the frickin' spin of death...

 

Really?

Flew the recently repaired Sbach today.
 
Crashed the recently repaired Sbach today.
 
This plane is small, a 1 meter thin profile wing. Its designed for a 450 sized motor and a 3S 2200mAh battery. I am flying it with a Power 15 Sport from HeadsUpRC on a 4S setup. Where I screwed up is I have a 10x5 prop on it, what the HURC site recommended for 4S. She flew okay with this setup, a bit piggish today though. She flew better last time. Long roll out, little vertical, mush through turns, struggle in a cross wind, needs to land hot even with flaps. Too much wing loading, not enough prop. Jim Farned was watching, and he agreed (see, what happens is his fault, just so you know... ). We thought maybe putting a 3S 2200 mAh battery might be better, being significanlty lighter. Well, wouldn't you know, its not...
 
She took off, same long roll out, but climbed sluggishly. She flew sluggishly, wouldn't power through a loop from level flight. So when I did get her to loop, she came out of it slow, and stalled when climbing out, rolled and landed hard on her belly, ripping her gear off and significantly damaging the cowl and the airframe.
 
 

 
 
So... I am rebuilding her, again. Spoke to Kenny and Jason (visited Jason at his Hobby Shop, Orange Grove Hobbies). Realized that this prop is way small. The wing loading may be high, but she got nothing from the prop. Jason suggested an 11 inch, but didn't have any in stock. I am going to try a 12x6, which the Power 15 is rated for, and keep her heavier 4S setup for power. Just keep in mind she glides with a fast sink rate, even with flaps, and needs to come in hot.
 
Why I didn't prop up when I motored up I will never know.
 
For the rcord, I also flew the Ultimate today. She seemed sluggish to me too. There were good crosswinds, but she usually handles them well. I noticed her rudder servo started having centering seizures, so grounded her until I can replace that. Nice to get the rust off.
 

Wingmasters, Dayton, Ohio

I am moving to Dayton, Ohio, to take a position as a neonatologist at Chirldren's Medical Center of Dayton! I have been looking for a new flying field, and didn't see much on the AMA field finder, so imagine my surprise when surfing through the Radical RC website and their Workbench Blog I ran across a link to the field they use, in a discussion about the recent FAA rules. I found out it was the Dayton Wingmasters field, and wow, what a field!
 

Very excited to see that they have electrifed their club, since I am an all electric flyer. They have a huge heli group too, so I can finally learn how to master those bugs!
 
This is a great find! I saw several rules that limited the utility of flying at the Wright Patterson AFB field near the USAF Museum, such as no flying weekdays before 1700 hrs... no electric power, and no club strucutres that I could see. I found another field in Byron that looks nice, but the field in Dayton used by Wingmasters is exceptional, and with the addition of electric power, its totally where I want to fly!
 
Its a chartered club, so I don't know why I didn't see it on the AMA Club Finder...
 
Hope to get out to MCRCC today. Its been a dry spell for flying what with the job search travel and work eating into my flying time. Now I can get my priorities straight and fly, dammit!
 
Exciting stuff!
 

The end of the Edge

Kenny head wedged his beautiful Seagull Edge into the ground smartly. Knife edge, turned in towards himself, "righted" her about 20 feet AGL, pulled back on the stick, and... well, you know.
 
He's still sobbing. Like a little girl.
 

Kenny and his Seagull Edge during better times.

 
 

The Edge at home.

 
 

The site of the murder, I mean, crash...

 
 

All the kings horses, all the kings men, couldn't put the Edge back together again...

(Talk about turning a plane into dust).

 
 

All that could be salvaged.

 
 

Where he put the rest.

 
 

And now there's room for the new Ultrasport!

All teasing aside, sorry for your loss, Kenny! You are still one of our best pilots!

 

New Shiney!

I was having trouble securing the white plastic cone to the ultimate and getting it centered. Its held on by a couple of screws into the plastic back plate. It was always likely to be off kilter. I ordered a nice inexpensive aluminum Electrlfly nose cone from Tower Hobbies a couple of days ago, and like always, fast shipping! Put the puppy on today. Nice and shiney, perfectly true!