Trex 600 Flybar See-Saw Arm Issue

I took the Trex 600 Flybar up today. It seemed odd that I could not get the tracking of the main blades to hold in flight, they went way off one another, but at zero pitch they matched. During the flight I suddenly developed very wishy-washy control and auto'd her to a lamding.

On inspection of the head she had thrown the see-saw screw and flange bearing... This was the same thing that happened before and I thought repaired. I took the entire flybar cage apart and found that theatttachment for see-saw screw that secures the flange bearing is stripped. It barely holds the screw. It seems snug, but a gentle tug pulls it. I need to replace the see-saw.

Parts for the flybarred Trex 600 main rotor system are getting very hard to find. You can't find a replacment head. Even HeliDirect is NIS for many of the parts, but I did find a new see-saw, but got the last of their replacment flange bearings. I am about to start the build on my Trex 600 EFL, so really dont want to conver this one to flybarless. I really like the old school flybarred heli.

I'm not afraid of no wind...

But flying, that still scares me.

I flew more flights than ever today in a light gusty wind out at Joppa that grounded a pair of Timber drivers for whom it was too much. I took the 30cc MXS-R up and trimmed her out a bit. She still rolls with full elelvator at high rates, even though I now have the elevators tracking precisely. I need to learn to throw in a aileron mix on my DX8 to take the right roll out. Its kinda disorienting when she comes out.

Clearly have my landing mojo back, all perfect.

But I still shook like a leaf and held my breath for the entire first few flights...

Replaced Prop Hub Assembly

Flying with Gary Hoffman the other day out at Joppa Field as he was helping me get my windy day mojo back, I mentioned that I had snapped off a prop mounting screw in the prop assembly hub of my DLE 30. He noted this was an easy fix, about $20. Later he sent me link for the part ffrom Valley View, $21. I ordered it and today in 20 minutes it was installed.

Old prop hub assembly off. Took some oomph...

New prop hub assembly on.

That was easy!

Solid flight, solid flier.

It kept calling so I finally gave is and headed back to Joppa Field with the Big Stick 10cc. Started her up and had to re-tune her as the idle, set fine last time in the garage, was running very high. Played with the low throttle servo limit and the needles. Same gambit of low acceptable idle would stall if running half throttle and cut to idle, try to if pulling back from full. When pulled to idle it dips briefly and rebounds to idle. If it dips too far she quits. Found a nice balance where the idle and the needles are all happy, though the idle is still a tad high. The engine runs a bit rich in the mid range and maybe a little at full throttle but leaning out the high drops the rpm, and she needs all she can get. She flies solid, is so incredibly stable on landing, but loses velocity in vertical. She flies sport just fine, is fast, but lacks power. A 15cc motor would do well on her. I flew for a tank and a half to an audience of a family that I then invited down from the parking lot for show, touch and tell. The kids loved it! I put her through some simple aerobatics and when he called out hoping to see her land I brought her down for a sweet one. She comes in on rails!

I love this plane! With some more time she will be very predictable.

The engine running for 7 seconds. Doesn't sound too bad for a gasser.

Road flying and Rockets

I got it in me to try flying off the road at Joppa Hill Fields. Across from the sports fields is a huge field they just mow once or twice a year and do nothing else with. I wondered last night if I could take off and land from the road and fly over the field. Turns out yes, quite easily. I parked at the lot entrance, and would walk my plane or taxi to the main road, and take off, walk across the street to the field and fly, reversing the process on landing. Of course the traffic, normally sparse, picked up. I brought Luke along as a car spotter. It worked out pretty well, but I would need a spotter as its impossible to fly and check the road for cars, bikes and people. I meant to have him video, but forgot to ask. I found it was best if he gave me a running description of the traffic while I was flying, which was no fun for him. If I decide to do this again I will need a spotter.

I was doing this flying the new HobbyKing Edge 540 EPP, and pulled a blender into an inside loop and the right wing came clean off. It was kinda cool as it didn't just drop out of the sky. The wing fluttered down and the rest came down in a slowish roll that impressed even Luke.

Of course nothing survived of the airframe... When I get home I'll take a closer look at the electronics. The battery is toast.

With that done, Luke and I launched rockets for a couple of hours. We went through a package of dud igniters (not enough of the burny stuff to ignite the motor), but got in over a dozen awesome launches. The Bulldog likes to arc, I think by design with the weight they have you put in the nose, and the Crossfire reaches at least 1000 feet, or so it seems. All came down, with some trajectory managment, on the field.

I'm walking back from a recovery, Luke is preparing another launch.

Luke waiting for the gust to drop.

My favorite is the USAF Bulldog.

I maidened the Slipstream Extra 540 with the Stabilizer system and she flew very nicely! I had found a nice patch of dead grass without clumps to fly off and land on. It was a touch gusty, and by then we'd knocked a fin or two off, and burned out one parachute, so called it a day after a single flight. The 12x6 worked fine, will probably keep it on.

Other than the Edge committing seppuku, it was a nice day. May go out later with the Ugly Stick. I had been eyeing the Hobbyking 1200mm Sbach EPP made the same way this one is, but with how easily this one came apart I think not...

Slipstream Extra 540 EP 450 Done

Today the Emax GT2218/09 motor arrived today from HeadsUpRC today, always quick shipping. I installed it with only one issue: the mounting screws are not included and the M4's I started with were a little longer than I needed so that trapped the outrunner. I replaced them and the motor runs fine. Other than that, it went well for once.

By the way, looks like Hobbypartz is sending me a replacement servo for the D654 that arrived non-functioning! Sweet.

Its AUW was 2.2 lbs. With a 10x6 APC prop and a 3S it pulled 260W something like 24A, not what I wanted. I put a 12x6 APC on it and its pulling 363W and 32 amps. Now that's what I am talking about!

Looking forward to the maiden (realize I still haven't maidened the Mustang...)!

This is a big 450 motor... and the requisite long shaft to get past the firewall.

The motor mount is installed. This whole plane is light and fragile.

All done.

Sweet lines!

So, Gary, how long before I bend it?

Slipstream Extra 540 1000 mm 450 size

(Gary Hoffman pointed out to me this is a Extra, not an Edge).

A few weeks ago I bought a Slipstream Extra 540 450 size (you won't find a link, I think they don't make it anymore), an Eflite 450 motor and a Castle 35A ESC from my friend Gary Hoffman. It was lived in by a chipmunk, both other than that was new and unbuilt. I bought it as I was looking for a light weight plane to toss around (when I got my Hobbyking Edge). I can't program the ESC (tried using both my Castle program card, and my Hobbywing program card.

I finally ordered the servos (see my last post), and set about putting this thing together. It came with the Chinglish instructions on CD which weren't very helpful. Its a nice plane, but its very light and I think not long for this world for being so fragile.

The only annoying thing about this plane is the motor box. Its designed such that the firewall is immediately at the end of the cowl. Its not the easiest design to work with as it requires the shaft pass through the firewall so it needs to be longer, usually requiring replacing the shaft with a longer one if its not designed to fit this way. The Eflite motor isn't, so its shaft is too short. I tried changing it to a longer one, but it would not run, and on replacing the shaft I found it wound not run. I did when I first set it up to test the Castle ESC and the motor, so I have somehow bricked it. I have changed a lot of shafts from my early flying days, and with the original shaft the motor manually turns clean, but it just sits and jitters like its out of sync... I looked, the inside of the outrunner has no metal parts stuck in there, the connections are good, and it doesn't matter what ESC I use. I also tried the motor on other ESCs.

I purchased an Emax GT2218/09 1100kv motor from HeadsUpRC, my go to electric motor guys. This is a powerful 450 sized motor, generating 300W on a 3S battery with about a 10x6 prop. This plane come in under 2 lbs AUW, so this will be very nicely powered. Its designed for both through the firewall and standard shafting, so it should do nicely. If there are any issues I will build a new engine mount.

I used the stock tailwheel, the gear of which is flimsy, so its going to need to fly off very good grass or the Geo-tex. I did replace the tiny stock wheels with slightly larger ones, so won't be using the wheel pants.

The geometry on the ailerons is off. If you put it straight-ish like I did here, the control horn, which presses in on two plastic pins and is not screwed in, it lies at the edge of the hard point on the aileron. You can see the wrinkling of the cote where the right pin on the horn is just in the wood.

I installed the other one stock, and its angled funny, but the pins for the horn are both in solid wood.

I have everything on board except the motor mount and the motor, which should be here in a day or two. Pretty plane!

I took the 3-axis stabilizer from the Cornell, which I rarely fly, and put it in the Edge. I programmed it and its all set. One precess is to turn the gain up on each of the three axes one at a time to magnify its behavior so you can see that it responds opposite to the "unstable" movement. For example, if you roll the plane right the ailerons should move to roll it back left. There are small switches on the gyro that you move to change the direction, easily, then turn the gains down to barely move. If they are too high you'll get a lot of oscillation as airflow alone causes subtle changes in pitch, yaw and roll, most notable during a dive.

I like these 3-axis systems from Hobbyking which incorporate a Spektrum compatible receiver. For some reason they are NIS at their warehouses, so I need to wait to buy replacements.