Sunset Scurry

I had a crazy busy day. It was beautiful, almost no winds, Misfits had its field day, so I planned to get out to the Misfits field to help out and fly. One honey-do lead to another, and I was lazy, so... I did get to visit my new house being built in Chester, and since some wingnut left the back door unlocked, Maria and I did a walk through. A few more chores... Finally got home late in the afternoon. After a short break, I decided I wanted to take a plane out, the Alpha 450. I wasn't willing to invest a lot of time, so I drove out to Joppa Hill Fields and found no one there, so took the Alpha up.

Its always something.

Can't even see the 3 inch wheels...

The first plug in of the battery and the rudder/front gear went hard right. This has happened before, I wonder if its the receiver? Hmm... I have an Orange Stabilized receiver that needs an airplane. I replugged it and it went hard left. Jeez. I redid it again and it functioned normally. It would for the rest of the day. I have had it do that in flight before... First time I flew it out at Merrimack, in fact. Impressed the members there by not killing them when I over-flew the pits and parking lot. Once that was solved, the grass was so thick that she wouldn't take off, wouldn't roll more than an inch. Walked around until I found a barer patch that gave me enough runout to get her off.

Some guy showed up flying a foamy, and another guy a drone, then later a dad and son brought out a drone. The latter was novice. I stayed on my end of the field. Dodging Lacrosse and Soccer Goals, and a field net when low, made for a lot of fun! Flew with the sun to my back. Got off 5 packs! It was simply basic flying fun!

She's never been a great aerobat, but she let me put her through some moves. She really hates to aileron roll left, in fact, won't. But right was sweet. She loops great though, and handles the occasional gusts fine.

Great sunset scurry!

5 packs!

Deceiving Winds

Its a calm day, today, except when its not. Beautiful skies, hot temps, calm but the gusts are fast and variable. One moment nothing, then a huge gust. The calm periods are long, but sometimes so were the gusts.

I went out to Joppa Hill today because I just wanted to fly, and I didn't want to drive half an hour just to find out its too windy on Hudson Hill or no body else was present at Misfits. The grass was fine, a bit thick making the lumps less to deal with, hard on the wheels still, but I was okay with that. I took her up in a calm spell and immediately she got beat up. Worked her around, but she was getting tossed, which is a lot for a big 30cc plane. I landed her with some effort as the gusts shifted South headwind-North tailwind-West crosswind, and no damage was done. That was it, no fun, didn't want to persist. I was thinking of going out to Misfits as I've learned a few guys will be out there, but I am not sure the winds will be any better. We'll see. Its already 3:15p.

AWESOME day! First flight at Misfits

Headed out to Misfits in Auburn for my first day flying there. Made my way over from Bedford, GPS said 20 min, and that was about right. Off-roaded the last mile over sandy dirt and the bottom of my low slung car slammed into some ginormous rocks, threatening to gouge the oil pan. The field was worth it. I met several guys from the club, including David (the Pres), Doug, Lenny, Rich, and a couple of others. I was welcomed, more warmly than at any other club since MRCC! This is going to be a fun club.

The field is nice and wide open. You have to stay clear of the scale runway, but there is plenty of room all around. The Geotex is getting old, and they plan to roller it soon, which will make a huge difference. Its still great to fly off of but its wrinkly.

I brought out the Alpha 450, always the first plane at a new field, and she flew fine for 3 batteries, but then I grounded the prop in a cross wind save, and that peeled off the outer 1 cm. That was done. I flew the Stik a couple of times. When I put the wing on I noticed that the cote was torn on the end of the right wing, but a piece of duct tape solved that for the day. I later also grounded the prop, snapping that puppy clean off. And that was the end of that. The plane has no other issues, and it gave me the opportunity to put a 3-blade on her again! The winds were light and variable, until I flew the Cornell, and then the crosswind picked up. She still flew fine, though she got carried away a couple of times. Glad the stabilization system is onboard! She came home unscathed.

I watched the boys fly, especially enjoying watching Doug "maiden" his rebuilt Hanger 9 Sopwith with a 4-stroke Saito, I think 140. I had this same plane, built electric, until it bought the big one.

Some of David's motley crew.

David and Doug, with David's Quad. David is a pretty darn good pilot, handling the planks, the tiny drone and a 450 heli in 3D.

Das Stik with duct tape.

Das stik with the broken prop and dirt all up in her dress.

Doug with his Sopwith. Some quite puckering moments figuring her out, but this one is a winner.

I stopped for lunch at Goldenrod on the way home. Ordered a cheeseburger and large fries, ended up with large onion rings. Barely made a dent in it. All good, but I prefer the fries.

I went home, and changed the prop on the Stik to the Master Airscrew 3-blade, with a white 3-blade spinner. While she recharged her packs, I finished up the Cubby as the Cub Yellow Cote came in today. 

This morning I had epoxied the motor box back together. It had come off clean, so this was easy.

Coted the wing, installed the struts and put everyone where they are supposed to be.

The leading edge looks as good as new!

Meanwhile, the Stik charging the packs.

I just wanted to fly. I figured the kids would be off Joppa Hill fields after 3 pm, and I was right. I hate the grass here, so clumpy, its very hard on landing gear, but this plane is especially rugged, and the 3-blade is a half inch smaller all around, so ground clearance is better. I pulled in as the last coaches were leaving. Setup and spent a bit more than an hour flying 2-1/2 tanks! It was wonderful! She flew perfectly. I did take the weights off the tail. The CG requires the weights, but she flew tail heavy, so I took them off and she flew much better.

All this flying made me a goofy happy! I have to work a lot this week, so I won't get to fly again until next weekend. I think it will be time to fly the Waco!

Hobby King Orange 3-Axis Stabilization in the Eflite Cornell

I tried the Spektrum Alpha 6 system in the Eflite PT-19 Cornell. I turned on and let me set it up just fine, again would not see the Knob on the DX8, so put it on the Flight Mode switch. Got it set up just fine, but when I tried to turn it on again, time and again it just would not come on. So its not the Waco, or the DX8, its the unit.

I realized that I had an Orange 3-Axis Stabilization system, so I installed that. Took 15 min, including programming, gain setting, and it works just fine, including the remote Off via the Gear channel. If there was ever a plane that needed a stabilization system, this tiny light bird is one.

I realized that I had pirated the receiver for some other project, but had a Spektrum 6 channel (simple, old one I have had forever) laying around, so that's in there too.

I haven't flown her much. I have her because it was the second Cox 0.049 U control plane I owned as a kid. I am kinda excited to fly her off the Geotex at Misfits in Auburn. The picture below (from the interwebs) will bring back some memories! Thin plastic held together with rubber bands and flown with a wimpy simple handle. (The first plane was that Cox odd colored Sopwith Camel, and the third was the Stuka Dive Bomber).

Phoenix Waco 26cc Spring Start Up!

I have written about my issues with the Spektrum Alpha 6 Stabilization system, which I have finally removed from the Phoenix Waco. Today I took her out to the garage to run up the RCGF 26cc engine, and she ran perfect. Can't wait to get her in the air!

Sweet 30!

Got the DLE 30cc Breitling MSX-R out from under the winter dust to start her up. Fueled up, a couple of choked turns and she sputtered. Pulled out the choke and she started right up! Its so nice when things just work! She went full throttle just fine, idles sweet, and transitions the throttle smoothly and quickly. Made some adjustments to the wheels, gave her a bath. She's ready to go! I love this plane.

Spektrum Alpha 6 Sucks.

This is the Spektrum Alpha 6 Stabilization system, using their AS3X technology, installed in my 26cc Waco. I hate this thing. I hated the first one, that malfunctioned right out of the box. I hated it when it turned out only one guy at Spektrum knows this thing, the manual is useless, and you have to connect it to a computer to set the gains, which requires you buy a separate cable (they gave me one free as we were trying to fix the first bad one). They sent me a free replacement which worked with a bit of tweaking. I hated it when no one could tell me when I would want to fly Rate Mode or Heading Hold Mode (best I could find was that in Rate the response deflection is momentary, in Heading Hold it stays on until ??. I fly my helis in HH, but am not sure how this applies to a stabilization system). Spektrum said I would want to fly in Rate. Or was it HH? I hate this thing.

I hated it today when I turned on the receiver  for the first time since the fall and it all seemed to work just fine, thought he gains seemed kinda massive. Went to dinner, turned it on again and now it won't even turn on (the receiver is on), nor let control commands pass through. I saw a YouTube post from Spektrum about the 1.2 Update, and tried to install it, but it says its not for my device. I hate this thing. I tried just resetting it up without using the computer, and it won't turn on, though I see a momentary flash as I power up. I planned on trying to use the Aux Knob instead of the 3-position Flight Mode Switch, because the Horizon guy suggested that the gains could be set using the knob. He didn't recommend Rate versus HH. I hate this thing.

I hated it when I tried to connect it to the cable and the computer. The Spektrum software would indicate "Cable Connected, No Device", no matter how I turned on what. Then it would, but then it wasn't. 

I hate this thing.  I am going to spend a little time trying to get it to work again, then when it doesn't, I am removing it and throwing it into the woods as far as I can. I am recharging the batteries and will try again later.

I hate this thing. 

I really, really, hate this thing.

UPDATE (5/12/2017):  This morning after charging the batteries, I had the same result. I videoed my attempt to get the Alpha 6 to turn on, and it did once out of all the tries, about half way through the video. I also tried changing the switch to the Knob on my DX8, but when it did turn on, it wouldn't respond to the knob, only the 3 way.I have removed it from my Waco and will send it and the other brick, back to Spektrum to see if they can get it to work. I really think its just bad luck... I hope Horizon will make good on these.

Horizon Hobby replied to my review and shared the difference between Rate and Heading Hold. Rate will make adjustments for turbulence, Heading Hold will hold position. In HH, if I put the plane into a knife edge, the unit will keep it there. For most flying, as I think they told me once before, Rate Mode will be the choice. 

I may try to install it on another plane. If I recall, when I was trouble shooting this last year, changing the model on the DX8 fixed the problem.

ADDENDUM: Put it on the Cornell and it still didn't work...  Put an Orange one in and it works fine.