Bad Decision, and a Dogfight with a Hawk!

I had written about the Stik and its aileron twitch problem. I have changed out a lot of the electronics, kinda lost track of what I have and have not changed. Most recently I thought padding the receiver solved the problem as it seemed to have stopped. Certainly it really, really improved.  Today I noticed a fine twitch intermittently. What I also saw was the ignition armed light flickering, but the engine didn't care, even when the light went out for several seconds. Loose bulb? Hmm, was this a battery voltage issue? The NiMH batteries were due to be swapped out for LiPO, but I hadn't committed to it. These two serious, obvious, and definite "Do Not Fly!" signs that were ignored. Like all ignored warning signs, this was a bad decision.

So she was flying wonderfully, and I was having a blast! I was thinking just how much fun she is to fly, how she handles well and allows me to just swing her around. Then she twitched, bad. Stabilized. I backed off the throttle, and she did it again, got her back, and then just started a high rate death spiral and just drilled into the ground. It was loud, it was powerful, and there was nothing I could do about it.

The front end was vaporized.

The wing is badly damaged. The underside is just fractured on the left side. The servos were ripped from the frame by the impact.

The powdered front end.

I found the tank. The stopper was ripped from the tank by the impact, and it tore it.

That's the engine in the middle.

The path of the carnage.

The parts pieces.

When you don't have a bag, you carry out the dead parts wrapped in a sweatshirt.

Damn, she was a favorite. 

I am already planning to get a Hangar 9 10cc Ultra Stick when I can.

Hunted by a Hawk!

I also brought out the Align Trex 600e FBL. She flew amazingly well. 

She flew so well she caught the attention of a hawk that started circling her, and began to hunt her, zigging to her zag. I was flying a heli in a dog fight with a hawk! Closer and closer, more aggressively. I knew if he went for her the heli would tear him apart, so I brought her down in a turn, fast, and she was still sliding a little sideways and fast, a little forward, then her tail dipped as I pulled the collective to stop her momentum and the tail blades hit. They delaminated and it looks like the only other damage is the tail power take off gear stripped. Easy fix and I have one. There is a tiny chip out of one corner of a tooth on the autorotation gear I am not worried about. Whew. Hawk lost interest and glided off, laughing a hawk laugh.

Damaged the tail blades, ordered new ones, $23 a set... I have the tail power take off gear set. 

No other damage so far!

HK 500 FBL Refit Underway

Began the refit of the HK 500 FBL today, deconstructing it and assessing the damage. The boom was pretzled of course, but the rest of the tail assembly is fine. I will check the servos here soon. The main shaft, not unexpectedly was bent badly and has been replaced. The main block upper bearing is bad, so today 

I ordered a new block set from Medusa Heli on eBay. I think the old one was going bad for some time. That will be here next week. I may have to open the frame to get the lower one swapped out. The upper one had one of the canopy struts on it that snapped off and I can't get the bitter end out, so it was a waste anyway. Two reasons to replace it. I don't like have the struts embedded like that, so I will move them back a little on the frame. The canopy will allow it.

The gears are all fine, so all in all, not too bad. I decided to sand and repaint the landing gear, as I had painted them black during the US Marines Drone phase of its life, and I hadn't prepped it so it was flaky. I like the bright orange tail, and am thinking of adding a splash of color on the skids, maybe yellow, maybe white. We'll see. 

Looks worse than it really was.

Took the MX-Bach RCGF-USA 35cc on it, and she flew marvelously!

She is a pleasure to fly!

Her idle got a bit higher with each flight so that on the last one she was flying too fast to get her down on the ground. After several passes I tried a procedure I have failed at because for some reason I am unable to hit the kill switch and fly the plane at the same time... well, she landed but tipped forward as I hit the kill and broke her prop. That was all that happened fortunately. But, that ended the day. She was very touchy, and I flew her on low rates. I lowered the rate even further and she is still touchy, despite 40% expo. I may have to bump that up too. Her engine ran fantastically other than the idle shift. Even with my 3 idles, the landing one was still too fast in the end. That will need some tuning,

 

I flew the HK500 FBL a few times, and ended up losing control and pretzeled her after I had a "WHOA..." moment.

Enjoyed a couple of flights on the Align Trex 600e Pro. There is such a huge difference between flying a 450, 500 and the 600, each getting more and more stable. I really enjoy flying the 600 sized helis, and will someday get a 700 just because I can.

So it looked like it went worse than it really did. Ir was a great day of flying!

Death and Reincarnation HK 500 FBL

I took the HK 500 FBL out, with a Trex 600 and my MX-Bach (more in that later), and she flew very well!

At the end of the second pack I had a close "Whoa..." moment tail out, and recovered , but she was flying off to my left, and I kept compensating in the wrong direction, still a bit shocked by the close encounter, and I rolled her into the ground. Pretzeled. Broke one blade, cracked the canopy thrown by the battery, and bent the tube. A swash control arm bent. Haven't gotten to the main or feathering shafts. The battery took a hit, so I have since recycled it.

I immediately started planning the rebirth, and I could replace the swash control arm, or, I can turn her back to her previous 4-blade head with the Align 4-blade head I have had for years. I use 450 sized blades with it, I have four similar blades and a new 500 size tube. I am considering using 500 blades, especially if I am going to 6S.

So that is the plan, I will make her a 4-blade heli, and probably fly her 6S! 

Now THAT's a bulkhead!

Constant problems with the bending of the front landing gear on my Greatplanes Twinstar lead to replacing the gear with a much hardier gauge. This worked great, transferring the energy to the bulkhead, so that broke. Finally got around to rebuilding it. I think I was building mad, because like the chimney at a house fir, this is all that will be left standing next time!

You can see the thinner plywood of the original bulkhead that is also the front landing gear hard point.it was all pushed in, so just pulled it out, cleaned up the spot.

3mm plywood.

I put in a couple of layers of 5mm plywood, dammit.

I  the end 3 layers! I have issues.

I  the back I added a small piece to add some support to the deck.

Used the same hardware.that is one solid hardpoint.

Sits perfectly!

Of course the engine ran fine...

I had omens.

Every one in! We be flyin'!

As before, runs smooth on the ground, in the air, sputters like crazy, but runs like crazy!

I noticed something fall off in flight, no effect on controllability. Turns out she tossed her nose cone, broke the head of the retaining hex screw right off.  Louis helped look, but no joy. No problem, she hand starts fine, just one of those annoying things. She flew wonderfully, did several 45 deg landings into 90 deg crosswinds with no issues.

I started the Evolution 10cc on the Sbach. My first inclination was it was too windy for this small 10cc, cranky touchy on a windless day, but the gust, while magnificent (20-25 mph), they were not frequent, and always that 90 deg cross wind. I started her up wingless and with one small Hi needle adjustment she started and ran better than ever! Consistently. I decided to put the wings on and take her up. She flew her usual touchy self, 20% DR with 30% Expo and she was still touchy. The occasional gusts tried to flip her, and in controlling back she would be a bit over controlled. at altitude this didn't matter. Made a couple of missed approaches not because of the crosswind, but because she responded very aggressively to the changes. On final she dropped flat as a pancake from about 10 ft up, and broke her back, snapped the wing spar. Unrepairable, but I am kinda done with her. She has never been fun flying. I am not at all sad. I am annoyed that I just got the engine to run sweet. She crashed because of course the engine finally ran fine.

Opportunity to find something new. I have not had a good relationship with the Sbach or the spitfire. I don't want another Edge/Cap/Sukhoi stunt plane. I don't want an Ultrastick while my Stik is still flying fine. Not sure what I will do. For now she is on the Morgue Bench and we will strip her for parts.

I was putting batteries into the Trex 600e Pro, but the gusts were aggressive and I was no longer in the mood for excitement, so I decided that waiting was the better part of valor, the better part for which I live to fly another day.

Maxxpacks.com 1S 10,200 mAh Panasonic Transmitter Pack for iX12

My Maxxpacks 1S 10,200 mAh transmitter pack arrived within a few days, about $35 delivered. As promised it is quality in build, exact same dimensions, same plug; simply remove it from the box, and plug it in. I simply removed the OEM battery, plugged in the new one, and that was it. Charged overnight. Works fine!  Glad to have done this, makes routine use, leaving stuff on, no longer a problem! Highly recommend.