First Flights of 2015!

The weather has finally been warm enough that there has been no fresh snow, and the 4 feet of snow that covered the Joppa Hill sports fields in Bedford, NH, melted down enough to allow us into the parking lot, and to fly off the ground. Aidan and I went out with my Eflite Alpha Sport 450 today and flew 6 packs in very variable winds.

It was a blast!

 

 

Aidan shot this video on his iPhone for me! This wasn't technically the real first flight of the day...

 

 

 

After a fine landing, taxing off, stuck in the melting snow.

 

 

Looking forward to warmer weather, more sun, drier fields, and a chance to start flying my other aircraft and helis this summer, and seeing the Joppa Hill Gang and their Amazing Flying Machines!

 

 

 

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Align Trex 600e Pro Ready!

Finally! I have completed the rebuild of my Align Trex 600e! Followers will recall the exciting, albeit devastating crash that ended up totaling her on my last day flying at MCRCC last summer, which I entitled, Trash Day.

I noted my progress in previous posts, and today spent about half an hour fine tuning the CCPM programming, and checking her tail vibration (none). I put the cowl on and have set her aside for spring and her first flight after the rebuild.

This spring will be busy with new airplanes. I have the Eflite Cub I had planned on putting skis on, but there is no place to fly her (snow several feet deep in the parking lot of the flying field prevents access...), the rebuilt Hanger 9 Sopwith, the powered glider, and a 500 and 600 sized heli. I will be starting work on the 30cc MXS-R that replaces my failed 30cc Sbach, sometime soon. Looking forward to it!

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Align Trex 600e Rebuild Progress Report

 

The tail assembly, from the power take-off assembly on the left to the tail rotor assembly on the right. The torque tube and those two bearings with their housings are inside the tube. I like this arrangement as it is easy to remove the entire assembly from the frame to make repairs.

 

Tail assembly installed into the massive frame. This thing is well over a meter long, I think.

 

The other side.

 

 

Main gear/auto-rotation gear and the reciever battery pack, main shaft and the entire CCPM assembly installed. It took some time to adjust the control rods, since I had to replace two and wanted to get somewhere close to zero pitch. All the servos are functioning and the swash was essentially still flat.

 

Blades on. tough to balance since I don't have a balancer bit enough (will get one). These more expensive blades are always balanced, but I still like to check. All that is left is to check zero pitch and make sure the CCPM a pitches are still good, and to balance and install the tail blades. I will first remove the blades after setting up the CCPM to make sure everything spins clean without vibration.

This was a lot of expense and time, all for missing a loose elevator control ball snap.

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Hangar 9 Sopwith Rebuild Complete

With the arrival today of the new prop shaft from HeadsUp RC (the fastest shippers I have ever frickin' ordered from!), I was able to adjust the motor for centerline (no offset), install the prop, check CG and call her done! She is looking really good, and I can't wait for first flight.

 

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Chip's Frankenplank

Chip Young got a fuse from an estate sale, that needed a wing. The chord was a perfect fit for my old Eflite PulseXT 25e wing, so I gave it to him and he's installed it. It looks marvelous! Th margins and the tail shape make me think this is a model of an MX2 (UPDATE: Turns out Chip says its a SIG 4 Star, a 0.40 glow model). Will be fun to see it fly! Well done, Chip!

 

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Warping the Sopwith Wing

Worked a little on the Sopwith today. The more I thought about it the more I realized I really need to unwarp those wings. It's sloppy, non-aerodynamic, and adds too many lift variables and drag.

This is the pre photo, where you can see the bottom of the top left wing (on the right) and the top of the lower right wing (on the left). That top wing is really wacky.

 

 

I needed to twist the wings in opposite directions, brining the back of the left wing up and the bottom right wing down. I made a set of guide wires to induce and hold the wing twist. This is the guide wire I installed under tension on the left wing outer strut. It pulls the top wing leading edge down, and pulls the bottom left wing up a touch.

 

This is the wire on the right wing, pulling the front edge of the right wing up and the back of the top one down. You will notice that the right and left wing wires run in opposite directions.

 

The top wing is straight all the way across!

 

And the post pic. Both wings are straight. We'll see if the wires hold in flight, they are under a little tension. I suspect the tension will lessen as the wood begins to shift to the new stresses.

She does, by the way, lean a little to her right. This is the way the landing gear, which are flexible, settle. There are rubber bands acting as shock absorbers on each wheel, and the landing struts are mobile, able to flex side-to-side. She likes to lean right. I may work on this, not really sure what I can do.

Waiting for the prop adapter. I also wanted to do the guide wires, but some of them snap under load, so I thought some high test fishing wire? I may just start using the wires I have (a set of replacements I bought long ago).

 

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Hangar 9 Sopwith Rebuild

I started work on the Sopwith Camel today, cleaning up and patching the fuse, resetting the servos And control arms to make everything as zero/ninety as mechanically possible. This puppy has got some issues.

I found that the prop shaft is ever so slightly bent. Any offset will cause significant vibration, so I removed it and ordered a new one from HeadsUp RC. This motor is pretty ginormous, not as big, I don't think, as the one on the MX2. If I cared I could check the specs... I will be flying this 6S. It has a 100A HobbyWing Pro ESC, but it's not high voltage, and 6S is more than enough power.

 

I installed the wings after working the fuse. These wings are warped, always have been. The flaws seem to balance out.

 

You can really see the warped wings; looks worse in the pic than it really is. The upper left (on the right of the pic) and the lower right (on the left) are warped in opposite planes. The elevator is also warped on the right, and I will likely need to rebuild it. Right now I have it clamped, but I don't expect that to work, it never does. Tomorrow I will rebuild it. I just don't have the time, skills or supplies to unwarp the main wings. They were warped like this when I first flew her and it balances out. It probably is a contributor to her poor ground characteristics on take-off.

Waiting for the prop adapter, and I need some heavy gauge leader wire from a fishing shop so I can restring the guide wires. Then we shall she how she flies!

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