A little spit...

...and she's ready to go!

I trimmed out the cowl and it went remarkably well. It lined up nicely with the engine. I have some black silicone exhaust connectors coming that I will use to extend the Pitts muffler pipes below the cowl. I also decided to replace the 4V ignition pack and the 7V receiver pack with new ones by Turnigy. I decided to make the ignition pack 7V too. I had to order a screw for the nose cone as I could not find an M5 40mm bolt anywhere locally.

 

Underside. So shiny it's reflecting everything under the aircraft.

 

Once the final pieces are installed I will retune the engine with the cowl in place, then man up and fly her!

 

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Can you hear that?

It's the sweet sound of my DLE 30 running perfectly! She doesn't even 4-cycle like she used to. She started up this morning almost right away. Cleaning the carb is all she needed. Somehow I knew she would not disappoint! She idles a bit rough, the airframe shakes a lot without the wings, but after a gallon of gas she already runs smoother. I later put the wings on to save the airframe. She runs wonderfully, clean throttle response. I put in a throttle curve with expo to smooth out the advance, and increase resolution. Now a sweet run from a bit rough idle at 1800-2000 to sweet 7800 rpm.

She liked having the wings and the canopy on. The last thing I have to do is cut and install the engine cowl.

 

And from our "It's Always Something" department... I kept having problems with the right elevator sometimes not responding. It would just ignore commands. This would have been deadly in the air. I ended up replacing the Spektrum AR7010 with a new AR7610 from my local hobby shop. Problem seems solved. We'll see!

In a few days I will get the balls to trim the cowl for the spark plug and the exhausts. After that... She will need to fly.

 

 

Model Aircraft Fabricators, Merrimack, NH

 

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Tomorrow

As I wrote previously I haven't been able to get the DLE 30cc to start after it sat for almost a year. I got some carb cleaner and soaked it for hours, picking it up and shaking it and using some spray carb cleaner to blow the ports. I had removed all of the needle valves, and cleaned their ports. I completely rebuilt the carb, and then the engine, and reinstalled it with a new Hall sensor.

Tomorrow, we try again.

I also applied the lettering and some labels. I think I did a pretty decent job laying out the BREITLING logo! The kit came with the letters but I had to apply them one at a time on both sides.

 

Tomorrow we find out if I am buying a cheap Turnigy gas engine to replace the DLE...

Flew this morning. The Cosmic Wind hates the tall grass on landing, even without the wheel pants. She is one faaaast flier. I flew the second Alpha Sport 450 before selling it to Jerry, to make sure she flew well, and she of course flew marvelously! The Pulse XT went up and as always flew smartly.

Now, tomorrow.

 

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No Pants for You!

People have told me not to wear pants on the grass field, and time and again I get them knocked off. In fact, I don't recall the last time I flew this MXBach without some how damaging one. They get caught up in every blade of grass, twisting and tipping planes on landing, and fouling take off runs. It's a real pain in the ass.

Today two pants came off. This one cracked on the MXBach, and I flew the Cosmic Wind today. She too depants herself.

Fine. You win. Ugly ass depanted wheels.

 

The tiny Cosmic Wind. Damn she is faaaast.

 

The MXBach.

I am keeping them on the Pulse XT. She almost never tips on her pants, being a lady and all that.

 

 

I flew the MXBach today, both sets of dual 5S. She and I are starting to come to an understanding. Although today she did something bizarre. In flight on final she decided her center rudder was hard left. Scared the crap out of me. Got her on the ground, skidding off to the left and sliding on her gear. That's how that pant leg broke. I taxied her over and at center rudder it was well off to the left. I have no idea what happened. The trim was centered on the DX8 for the rudder. The rudder bar was tight on the servo, it didn't strip. To get it recentered took all 125 right subtrim. When I got home I had to remove the servo, the top screw would not budge. On the servo tester she was way off left on center signal. So, I cut the top screw off, recentered the servo and the control wheel with the bar, and reinstalled her with 12 right subtrim. WTF?

On another note, I hovered the Trex 600e. Her tail had a fine wag. No matter how low or high I set the gyro gain. It was almost off. What is it with every single Align gyro'd heli I have, the tail wags? Don't even...

 

Charged the MXBach reciever pack, and her 5S batteries. Fly her again tomorrow. Without her pants.

 

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No gas for you!

For a couple of days I have been trying to get the DLE 30cc gas engine from the Sbach, now on the MXS-R, to start. Several times...

I know the CDI is sending a spark to the plug, or was, but more on that in a moment. I know gas is getting through the QuikFire to the engine, but it doesn't seem like gas is getting to the cylinder. I have taken the carb apart and cleaned it, again. Then realized that the hall sensor wasn't picking up as it usually registers every prop start attempt on the inline tach. And there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with it. I confirmed that it's no longer sending a spark to the plug.

Well... They are hard to find, but I have ordered a couple of niverslamhall sensors. I bought a couple as rcextreme says it's a sensor and bracket but on the PayPal order it says bracket and doesn't mention the sensor. Then I found one at GravesRC, which I have used before, they call it a Valhallsen sensor, which I hope is what I am looking for.

A couple of days break from the gasser is just what I need. It has been a downer. Work tomorrow, then three days off with flying friendly weather!

I think it's time to start building the Eflite PT-19 Cornell.

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MXS-R Ready For Shakedown!

 

Today was a bit of a marathon build day. I installed the engine, fuel system, electronics includingThe new electronic ignition, the old igntiion pack and reciever pack, and the reciever. I checked things out electronically, the kill switch light illuminates when the ignition switch is powered on, the receiver bound fine and all the servos seem to do what they are supposed to do (though in after thought the throttle servo needs to be reversed). I set a few limits and tweaked a few programming settings in the DX8. I essentially just renamed the old Sbach and adjusted the settings. I haven't checked the wing flap and aileron settings, instead using extra servos just to make sure the signal was right.

 

I installed the QuikFire fuel filter and sump, and a nice big fuel dot. I built up the fuse for the dot and the screw for the QuikFire. The tank is 380cc. I soldered the third pipe closed and its setup as a two pipe system: fill/vent and fuel-to-engine. Pic is before electronics installed.

 

I installed the ignition pack behind the firewall, and the reciever pack just forward of the rudder servo, right behind the Spektrum AR 7010 reciever.

The red thing is the ignition pack. In addition to the fuel lines you can see the carburetor metering vent tube ending in the orange cap. The blue control horns are the throttle linkages. You can also see the back of the Miracle switches, and the tachometer (the dark rectangle just behind the firewall at the top of the pic).

 

The Miracle switches and charge ports. I built up the wall f the fuse for the switch too. Repaired and reinstalled the LED for the ignition power on indicator.

Tomorrow I will pick up some two-cycle semi or synthetic oil, and gas, and see if I can get her to start!

 

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30cc MXS-R Build Update

Well, I'm a bit behind on updating the MXS-R build, but it's going rather well. A few minor headaches, but all in all well. Skyline usually provides good quality ARFs, and this one isn't an exception, but there were some hardware issues uncharacteristic of them.

A few days ago I installed the tail assembly, including the surfaces and the servos salvaged from the 30cc Sbach. This went pretty smoothly.

 

 

Installing the Pull-Pull rudder system met with a fit challenge. I made a minor fit error that made me short on wire, but Macgyver'd a nice fix.

 

Today I setup the drill map for the engine hard points after gas-proofing the wood of the anterior half of the fuse (15 min epoxy diluted quite thin with alcohol, brushed on). I like to think it also adds some strength to the frame.

 

To get the right distance for the prop to clear the front of the engine canopy, I need three wooden spacers and a washer. I considered using nylon spacers, but think this is better distributing the forces of the bolts. The original 25mm bolts are fine, but tomorrow I will pick up some 35 mm bolts (I think they are M4) for added security and strength. Then I can install the engine.

 

The tail wheel assembly was a problem. None of the parts were correct. I took some of the parts that did come with the assembly and Macgyver'd them together. It was like the wrong hardware kit was tossed in. The rudder wire's soldered in wheel collar wouldn't fit over the wheel strut. It was too small. The tail bracket was a bit shallow so the screw in collar (the black both headed piece) was too long. So I have to cut the screw shorter, drill the strut hole wider, and adapt the rudder position transfer wire to the cap that secured it to the strut. It's a bit looser than I would like, but I couldn't tighten it further. It worked out pretty well otherwise. I think I will add a piece of wood under the carbon fiber wheel strut to raise it away from the fuse. This will allow some space for the wheel assembly to flex without hitting the fuse.

 

One of the main wheel axles went together fine, but on the other the collars wouldn't fit. They all came from the same bag, but two of the four were too small. Fortunately I had some new Dubro one's that fit perfectly.

 

On her wheels for the first time! I had some ideas to give the main gear strut some fore-aft freedom/shock absorbing capability, but I couldn't come up with something simple that worked, some just bolted them on.

 

Cowl fit test sweet!

 

Electronic ignition installed. I bought a new one since the spark wire on the old one was burning through. I also wondered if the motor was 4-cycling because of the old one? Not sure how that would work.

 

I had ordered a carb rebuild kit for the motor, in case the year of sitting around ruined the gaskets and parts, but when I rebuilt and cleaned the carburetor and the engine today it was in really good shape. I also installed a servo horn onto the throttle linkage. I think it will give me better throttle resolution than the very short stock linkage. I painted the muffler black with high heat tolerant paint (for grills), and I installed the new ignition sensor and wire. I am a little anxious about the pipes being long enough to clear the engine canopy and am not looking forward to cutting the muffler holes in the fiberglass canopy. The motor fits entirely inside, but the pipes will need access outside...

Tomorrow I will get the longer engine hard point bolts, and install the engine (a DLE 30cc) and the fuel system with a Quick-Fire filter. I am eager to start the engine! I love that sound!

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