Life on the other side IS better...

I haven't flown the 30cc MXS-R for some time, and there was no reason not to today. Wow, was it beautiful.

Its late fall, and the sun is making it ever harder to see aircraft silhouettes to the south end of the fields at Joppa Hill. I had often toyed with the idea of flying from the far (west) side of the field, putting the afternoon sun behind me and the a/c. I had flown a couple of circuits from the usual side and decided to pack up and mosey on across to the other side. It actually is very much worth the trip!

The set up on the west side, looking south, the sun is off pic to the right. You can see the famously clumpy grass that rips landing gear  from planes (and I expect, ankles form kids). Used the post to hold the plane back on a rope.

Looking back across the field to the east side.

You can see how deep in the grass the big 30cc gets, so you can imagine how high the grass is on the smaller planes. Little electrics have a bit of trouble here. Those are 4" tires! I can imagine how sweet a geo-tex runway would be here.

The tarmac.

Flew several tanks. She of course flew very, very well.  Upped the aileron differential to 40%. I had been planning on putting a stabilization system on her, but I would lose my flaperons and things like differential, so meh. Decided not to. She is a very stable flyer, though she does have some elevator differential I need to tune out.

I think I will make the trip across the field to fly every time I come out here. I liked having a better view of the plane, and the sight lines are better. I seemed to be able to see where she was in relation to the Ents at either end much better, and since she wasn't flying over the eastern forest, I didn't have them to worry about either. I do have to be careful not to overfly the road or the lot if there are people or vehicles there. I do still have to be aware of the goals... almost nailed one again today but for luck.

Ooooh... New Shiny!

The bullet spinner I bought for the Waco was ginormous... too big, but pretty. It is a 2: spinner across the broad base. I bought a Tru-Turn 1-1/4" (1-3/8" across the base) bullet spinner, and its perfect.

The larger 2" one and the Ttu-Turn 1-1/4" spinner.

Much nicer fit and look!

Tactic Servo Spline Mystery

Now its just annoying.

I built and flew the HK Sbach 1200 EPP with a hodgepodge of various micro servos from EXI and Solar, and they worked quite well together. My OCD wanted the servos to all be of the same make, so I bought a set of Tactic TSX-10 micro servos. High speed, metal gears. Nice servos.

The arms were just long enough, but they tapered at the end, so when I drilled holes big enough for the control arms there was so little plastic left I did not want to use them. I thought,"Meh... I can order some longer ones on line." So I went in search of the spline. Most of what I read was consistent. Tactic, seemingly a Futaba servo, used Futaba splines. Ok. So I ordered some Dubro Futaba Micro Control Arms, and they were too small. Maybe they meant the Standard 24T spline. Nope, don't fit, too big. Okay... Maybe they used the Mini Spline? Hmm... nope, they don't fit either.

Nobody lists the spline, not Tactic, Hobbico, Servo City, Servo Database... no one. I got the info from RC Groups and other forums, that they use the equivalent sized Futaba Spline, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

I have an email out to Hobbico. We'll see. So for now, I can't fly the Sbach.

Damn OCD.

Wing came off clean at least...

I am resisting putting a 3-axis stabilization system on the Big Stick, in part because there is really not a place for it, its a very stable flier, and I like having some planes without it. But today made me rethink that.

Took her up for a flight, and on the first landing a brisk wind, about a foot off the ground, the left wing dipped suddenly, struck softly and came right off. Clean. Off. No damage to the fuse, which humorously continued along on its way for about 30 more feet. The wing did split along the center seam on the underside, pulled the fuselage wing attachment block off cleanly, and broke off the leading edge tip that secures it to the fuse, but there is no other damage to the wing or the servos. It yanked the servo wires out of the receiver, and tossed the receiver* from the fuselage breaking off the side of the receiver next to the plugs. The wires all survived, nothing parted or pulled out from the servos, all the servos work and the receiver works. Basically, wing only. It is easily fixed, but I want to also make the seam stronger.

*I noticed the receiver was missing when I got home and was looking to plug the wires back in and it wasn't there. I drove back to the field and found it half way between where the wing had landed and where the fuse ended up.

That's the wing block attachment dangling from the back of the wing. The aileron servo wire extensions were pulled right from the receiver.

You can see the plastic end of the receiver is gone. It works fine.

Drill and battery pack is my favorite workshop weight. I gapped the crack and packed it with epoxy.

After laying down the fiberglass. Underside where the crack between the halves is. I epoxied the halves back together by opening the gap on the bottom, let that dry an hour or two with the weight on it, then laid three layers of fiberglass and epoxy thinned with alcohol out 1 inch out either side from center.

A little over 1 inch wide on the topside. I can't say how far down toward the top of the wing the split between the wing halves might have gone, so I decided to lay 2 layers of fiberglass on the top too. I have a couple of days at work, so I can let it completely dry. I will sand them down smooth and re-cote or paint them on Wednesday.

And with that I reset the Crash Clock.

And I am okay with that...

Chasing Daylight

Went out to Joppa Hill this afternoon and took her up, only to have to land because a women's lacrosse team showed up for practice. Came back a couple of hours later and got in a flight before it got dark enough I couldn't see her orientation and landed.

Tomorrow.

Waco Maintenance

The grass at the Joppa Hill Field has always been hard on my planes, in particular the landing gear. Today I had to repair the wheel pants, and re-install the rudder. The latter was a bit of a surprise as the bulk of the vertical stress from the tail gear is on the fuse, but the tail wheel gets banged back and forth by the clumps of grass. I think that yanks the tiller and stresses the rudder hinges.

As seen earlier, the wheel pants take a beating.

Repaired the rudder, removed the wheel pants.

Rebuilt both. The port one broke in half, and the other was splitting. just finished repainting them.

I frackin' hate the Rustoleum rattle can spray caps. it took a lot to get it to spray. i just bought a bunch of replacement caps on eBay hoping that helps.

I noticed a crack in the cowl. The muffler header is apparently right against it and its cracking.

This bears close watching. Not quite sure what to do about it. Notice the grass stains on the muffler... cutting grass just taxiing.

Today I also ordered a smaller bullet hub for the prop from True Turn. I think it will look much nicer. Can't wait to get it.

She sounds amazing, I wish I could capture video of her in flight. The sound is so scale its scary.  She has so much power I flynher mostly 1/4-1/2 throttle.