Good day, not as planned.

Headed out to SNHRCC in Hudson today with the 30cc MXS-R, the 10cc Stik and the newly rebuilt HK EPP Sbach. I started with the Sbach. She flew fine, but with the 3-Axis on it flew odd. A recheck of the settings mysteriously showed the aileron response on the stabilizer were backwards. I had tested it extensively when I set it up before bringing it out. This is quite odd. Set it right and really didn't notice a difference with it on.

I flew a couple of batteries. Even witth a little wind, she flew so much better than last time we came out here, stabilizer on or off.

I brought out the 10cc Stik. She had been nicely tuned, but for some reason she wasn't accelerating consistently.  She would quit on some run ups, or bog down. If I got her to run well, she stops when I pull the throttle back. To get that not to happen I have to set a high idle. I spent an hour on it and couldn't find a sweet spot. A guy named Ray (clearly a skilled builder and flier) was there and I asked him for help, He pretty much did what I did and couldn't get it to run right. He thinks the prop is too much. I have flown this prop before, and it ran fine. It also runs fine on the Sukhoi with the same engine (I checked). I wasn't going to fly her today. I decided to wrap it up for the day having wasted so much time. Ray and another guy were flying their Veloxities on the gas side and I didn't feel like asking them to go to the electric side so I could fly the 30cc.

I like 3 blades, not just for the look, but for the thrust. The loss of efficiency is insignificant compared to the increase in thrust, which is why full scale prop planes use as many blades as they can.

I drove by my new house in Chester. The closing is next week. It is on the way to Misfits in Auburn, so I thought I would stop there, then head over to Misfits.

I can't fly anything bigger than a park flyer at Misfits because I was by myself, and its too small for the 30cc anyway. I flew a couple more batteries in the SBach. I am sure there are occasional delays is response with this receiver. Since I am not really impressed with the 3-Axis system, I think I will just put a regular receiver on her. She was a lot of fun!

Headed home and took the 10cc Sukhoi out to the garage, and fired her up with her 3-blade 13x8x3 prop to see how she ran with the 3-blade. She ran fine. I changed the Stik's prop to a 2-blade 14x8. She ran pretty much the same as she did at the field. I still could not tune her. I took her to the bench, pulled the motor and cleaned the carb on both sides. The screen filter had a little dirt, but nothing amiss. I put it back on and started her, still can't get her to tune right. I gave up for the night. Since its not the prop I put the 3-blade back on, and will tune her with it on. I am at a loss. I may have to settle for having to set her up best I can and be careful making fast changes on throttle. I can find that spot, but will need to be ready to dead stick her. At some point I may send it to RCGF-USA to see if they can figure it out. There are a couple of things I can do still, clean the spark, change the carb flapper pump. I looked for the single needle carb, but I must have tossed it. I'll keep looking for that too.

HK EPP Sbach rises!

Its been a productive couple of days. Winds kept me from flying, moving preps kept me busy, but I finished rebuilding the EPP Sbach! She looks pretty good. Close up she has some scars, but really I am glad that I rebuilt her.

I noticed a few things. I had to replace the plastic control arms on the elevator and rudder. They were stripped, and the elevator servo was acting the fool. I wonder if these two things caused the crash? I installed a Spektrum AR600 rwciver I have and it burnt out two replacement servos before I realized what was going on. Threw it out. With the servo and horn issues as possible causes for the crash, not wanting to throw awya $25, and now lacking a reciever, I dug the HK Orange 3-axis Stabikizer-DSM2 reciever out of the trash and installed it. I also noticed that the gain settings on this reciver were way too high. WTF? I installed it, reset everything, retested the responses and dialed the gains down to a bit more than 50%. Everytning seems fine!

Ths spinner is wobbly. The prop shaft is true, and the blade is true, but the spinner back plate is wobbly. I may change it out before I fly her.

Set the reciever a bit aft of the carbon fiber wing tube to minimize signal blocking. I wanted the antenna pointing aft to prevent the battery from blocking the signal.

Before painting the black. I used a water based brush on paint.

All done and pretty!

Tru-Turn Spinner. Oh my...

Is this not something else?

I worked with Wendy at Tru-Turn to get the right adapter and spinner for my RCGF 10cc engine on the Stick. Wendy helped me by checking which adapter would fit, and pointing me to the right spinners.  Thanks, Wendy!  I got a TTH-1250-A 1-1/4" A-Style Prop Hub, and a TT-0140-A 1/4-28 W/1/4" Adapter Kit for the RCGF 10cc. Fit perfectly, of course.

I have always wanted to put a bullet spinner on her. I have a Tru-Turn spinner on the 26cc Waco that I bought last year. These spinners, while not inexpensive, are worth every single penny.  I had to trim about 1/4" off the spinner screw, but that ain't no thang.

Would ya look at that?

HK EPP Sbach Bebuild

Finally decided I was ready to rebuild the HK EPP Sbach I crashed back in April. She became uncontrollable and she crashed. I have to suspect that it was the HK Orange Reciever-3 axis Stablizer as there really was no other reason for it to fly the way that it did. A few weeks later the Edge 540, also equipped with that receiver-stabilizer combo was delayed responding to an up elevator command and came in a bit hard. I don't know that I will trust these reciever ones anymore, and threw out the one in the Sbach. I will fly it without stablilization for now. I just hate to throw them away, but its not worth the worry.

I collected all the pieces and disassembled the motor box. Looked over what I had and started putting things together. I missed a few pieces that I didnt recognize just where they went in the puzzle, which lead to some sequencing errors, but I was able to get a nice frame together.

The gear hard point after the major pieces were CA'd in place.

Front.

Back.

Epoxied wood into the front frame of the gear hardpoint to add strength.

The front fuse frame is also drying but thin CA. 

The epoxied wood supports. I laid up a lot of epoxy behind the wood to strengthen the puzzle pieces. There was a center piece I missed. I will look tomorrow at dropping a piece in from the top, but I think this is enough support.

Since the back of the hardpoint wasn't so broken up, I only added support to carry energy from the hardpoint into the fuse. If this comes out again the aircraft will not survive.

Tomorrow I will work on getting the motor box onto the fuse. I am gluing the EPP where its cracked and split, but its going to need some more support, and I am not sure how I am going to paint it. Not sure if EPP can take rattle can paint? I don't have air paint... some research to follow. I am sure I can find some brush paint.

The gear hardpoint went back together better than I expected. I am a little anxious about getting it to fit its tear away points, and know in the end this repair is adding some weight that will affect its CG and flight characteristics.

Either way, we are on our way.

Robart's Customer Service!

I love these 4" Robart tires and wheels! I have had them on the Stik since the beginning, liking oversize for thick grass. These tires look great and are soft rubber, not foam, and feel like a real tire. The spoke covers are snap in, and that rough landing at Misfits apparently tossed one. I didn't notice until much later, so I don't know where it really went. But went it did.

I emailed Robart's to see if I could buy some covers to replace them. Yup! Got two sets. They arrived and I painted them with white primer. Snapped on and voila, done!

It's time.

Phoenix Models Spitfire. I knew her well...  I built her, painstakingly converting it to a 10cc gasser. I flew her, and on her maiden, she struck a tree and died sadly. Every time I think about her, I know I will have another one, but I was, am, still so angry.

But, I think its time. My next plane.

Its time.

That was easy!

I put the new Hobby King Orange 3-axis Stabilization System in place of the bricked Spektrum Alpha 6 system. Took me ten minutes to install and set the jumpers. Done.  That's how its done. And no manual!

I don't think I like the one's with the receiver-3 Axis system, the OrangeRX RX3S DSM2 Receiver/Stabilization system. I think the receiver doesn't function as well as Orange Receivers usually do. I had trouble controlling the HK EPO Sbach and the Edge 340, both with the receiver-stabilizer system installed. The Sbach was really uncontrollable, though in the past she had flown fine, even after turning off the stabilization, and I lost control of her. The Edge failed to respond in a timely fashion to an up elevator command leading to a firm landing that tore off her wheels (anywhere else and it just would have been a firm landing). I will be staying away from those, but I really like these solely stabilization systems though. 

I had thought I might put a Felyutech FY-40 Stabilization System on the Waco, but wasn't too interested in making my way through a new system and Chinglish manual, if there is one. My thought was "it costs more, has a nice hard case, must be better", but I have had such good luck with the Orange systems on both electric and gas planes, that I really saw no reason to pay more. As long as I can turn it off, I have faith in them.

The Waco is by far my most favorite plane. Crashing it will surely end me... I cannot wait to fly her, probably at Misfits as I don't want to ruin the wheel pants.

The geometry on the Aileron Connectors, the rod that connects the lower and upper ailerons, is poorly designed. There is a slight angle and the ailerons on a side don't move the same amount. The stock rods were not long enough, so when I built here I made new ones. One had come out about 8mm short, so I today I lengthened it. She flies just fine with the geometry being off, and will be better now that the port ailerons are aligned.

Horizon Hobby/Spektum is letting me send the two Alpha 6's in for warranty. One was my original, the other the replacement Horizon sent me. While I would like at least one to be returned functional, I think they should fix both since I have had nothing but failure with them... We'll see.