Cubby 2 is on its way back!

Finished the repair work on Cubby 2 today. I put Econo-cote on the forward part of the fuse, and across the wing (leaving the end 7 inches uncoted only because I wanted to use the width, not cut a long length). I really worked the wrinkles out and it looks really great!

I need to order another canopy and motor, then she's ready to go! I will also stock my backup repair parts, as I am sure this will not be the last of my Cubby crashes.

KAMS Fly-In Ocean Springs, Mississippi

Today Luke and I spent several hours at the KAMS Fly-In. I brought several aircraft to display (did not intend to fly, I have enough stress flying without doing it in front of a crowd of strangers...). We enjoyed watching several pilots, including two of my favorites, Paul and Bobby, put their aircraft through their paces. We also enjoyed watching Alex Ayler from the Azealea club in Mobile, Alabama, fly his 1/3 scale Piper Cub. Wow, can he fly! Special thanks to Lee Carroll and his group from KAMS for a great time!

Me and Luke with our aircraft (the MX2 is behind us).

Jerry's club hat with the MCRCC logo.

My PT-19 Cornell by E-flite.

My HDX 500 and Frankenheli 450st.

My PT-17 Stearman from E-flite.

Stuka Dive bomber.

MCRCC gang at lunch.

Al Warburton, having lunch with his friends...

This amazingly accurate 1/3 scale Piper Cub was something else to behold. It came with a pilot figure.

Even the engine was completely accurate!

Luke with Jerry's hat.

Alex Ayler of the Azalea City Model Aeronautics flying club of Mobile, Alabama, with his Cub. Amazing pilot.

Bobby and Al firing up Bobby's plane. Very nice watching Bobby's graceful style.

Paul Verger with his Aeroworks Extra 300. Paul's pattern skills bring flying to a fine art!

We had fried chicken for lunch (I am told it was from Walmart. Wow, who knew... best fried chicken I have ever eaten!). Looking forward now to our MCRCC Fly-In on June 18th! I hope to be ready to fly all my aircraft by then!

Flew My First Full Pack, then...well, you know...

Yeah! I hovered a full pack without corkscrewing the heli at Bob Miller field today! I went on to hover a couple more packs. I never could really relax though, as I tend to over control and plant them, but it was going too well. I did have a problem with a low voltage brown out. It happened first on the ground after a couple of long hovers, when I heard the motor pitch of the sound change, and did not take off. I noticed the controls were no longer responding, hit throttle hold, and nothing happened. The blades kept going for another few seconds, then spun down. I checked the receiver and sure enough, one blink. I changed out the battery, hovered again, and after about 6 minutes I noticed the heli starting to act odd, not responding well, so I landed her just as she browned out again...

I decided to take a break from the ERazor 450 and wanted to take my CopterX 250 for a spin. I hovered a couple packs, and on the third one I put her down a little hard during a practice landing, and suffered a blade strike... Since she is sooo small and light, it tore her up pretty good.

Bummer, as I was doing a fair job of hovering her twitchy little self. This is going to take a lot of work... What happens in a blade strike in this situation is when I landed her hard, the blades momentum and pitch angle kept them moving down and they dipped, snapping the feathering shaft that secures them to the main rotor head while striking the tail boom (that's why the tail boom is so mangled). Looks like the main shaft is also bent. Will know more when I work on her in a week or so... gonna let her sit for nowas I am going to have to take her completely apart, inventory and order parts.

I wanted to fly my airplanes, having brought the MX2 and the PT-19 Cornell, but there were no Instructor Pilots to box with and I don't feel ready to fly them without an IP. My Cubby's are in the hurt locker. So... I took the ERazor for another spin. Flew wonderfully, but started to get away from me too far. I tried to bring her back but couldn't, and started to lose her orientation. I turned her a little, to the right (she had been tail in to me), and I think she was starting to return to me when I felt I was not in control; I felt she was starting to roll hard. I hit throttle hold and she dropped. I think if I had not lost my nerve and waited, I could have hovered her down or even brought her back, but I freaked out when she rolled. She smacked into the berry's on the far side of the field, and the walk of shame was made worse by my having to walk around in circles until I could find her. She wasn't in too bad of shape. The elevator servo, one that always goes, was stripped, the blades were toast (nice CF ones), the requisite feathering and main shaft bends are there and a few teeth are missing from one spot on the main gear. The landing gear are broken (one is missing). Not too bad, all in all. I am waiting on a bunch of 450 blades, and I don't have the landing gear (Xheli has been out of stock for a while on those, which could be a problem. When I bought her I wasn't aware she was not an Align clone, so I am dependent on Dynam ERazor parts).

Looks worse than it really is.  Good thing I had the animal crackers to make the owie go away...

After a couple of days of this, despite the good company, I was done and decided to pack up and head home. I didn't fly my airplanes, though I did run the MX2 motor (only got about 6 minutes at 3/4 to full throttle). I had let it sit in the sun for about 20 minutes, and when I went to pick her up to pack her, I noticed this:

You can see that the cockpit EPO got all cobblestony in the sun... Hmm....

UPDATE (5/7/11): Turns out it also melted the paint behind the canopy gluing the canopy magnets together... Also caused the elevator corners to droop.

Well, tomorrow is the KOAST Fly-In over in Ocean Springs at their field (their website is wrong, it IS on Saturday, May 7, starting at 8 am). Fly fee $5, Lunch of fried chicken and fixin's $5. I won't likely fly again for a week, unless I get lucky and some parts come before I leave for Meridian for a week, so I may not have much to post.

All in all, while I feel a bit bummed (just tired I think), it was a really good day!

Unwhoomping Cubby2

This afternoon I started debriding the remnants of Cubby2, and began the process of rebuilding her. The problem will be waiting for the canopy and motor. I have many of the plastic bits and struts.

I used cuts from the old wing struts as spars for the fractured wing. I glued it with Beacon's 3-in-1 glue, and held evything in place with package tape, which I will remove tomorrow. In a few days I will use the Cub Yellow Econo-cote to cover the wing from end to end.

I had to work the the bent and broken parts of the forward fuselage together and glue them, using packing tape to hold them in place. You can also see the wing, which is looking pretty good. Like the wing, I'll remove the tape tomorrow and let the glue set for a couple of days before I cote the fuse. Not sure I will do the whole fuse, maybe just the forward half.

Took the shiny off the new Cubby...

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

But I still have my record for whoomping every heli I fly at BMF (Bob Miller Field).  I spent about 5 hours flying today, and it was worth every second! But let's start with my taking the shiny off the new Cubby, which I maidened today.

Today is a beautiful day. The winds were very calm with occasional gusts, nothing much. I found myself all alone at BMF, that is until Greg came to cut the grass. I flew the Cubby, and on the first landing bumped her a bit hard. I find I fly better when my hands are shaking, but it makes it tough to land. Not so badly hurt though...

First landing, bent the landing gear and broke the flangey thingy on the starboard strut. They always break. And the little plastic and spring X-shaped shock absorber wanna-be they put between the wheels. Yeah, that broke off too. Those never stay on either. Knocked off the faux cylinder head on the port side, and broke the prop. That was it. Had her up and flying in a few seconds. Flew her, and flew her, and flew her! It was awesome! Great landings, some minor aerobatics, all a good time!  Then I took off on another flight, and she wanted to stay downwind at the south end of the field. It was hard bringing her back upwind, though there wasn't much wind. I just could not get a grip, and so I ended up barrel rolling her firmly into the edge south woods...

Broke her wing clean in half, just like my first Cubby and her bout with the Ents. No other damage though!

McGyver'd her back together, 'cause daddy is out here to fly, dammit. Used a tongue depressor as a spar; it was all I had. Worked pretty good!

Joined the halves together wonderfully with some 3-in-1 glue and some package tape. One of the aileron servo wires had come off the plug, so I had to cut it off and solder a new one together...

Top shows more of the damage...

And here she is, risen, ready to go again!

So, I took her up and flew her fine for about 3 more packs. On that 3rd flight I heard something funny from the engine, like it was cutting out. But it's electric, that can't be good. Brought her in with a very nice landing. Turns out the pinion screws that hold the motor to the mount had vibrated out... Pretty sure I Locktited them during the build, but there they weren't. Motor drilled a bigger hole in the cowl, but other than that no damage done. Fixed in a jiffy. Then my wife calls me and asks me if I am coming home soon for kid patrol. I tell her, "Not unless I crash my Cubby again..."  Wife sends out bad karma... I take off, and something ain't right... Wobbly, not feeling in control. Turn her back to bring her onto final, and suddenly she dives, I pull her up, apply power, she tears upward, I back off power, she stalls, I drop the nose and apply power and before I can finish the F word, she slams full speed into the ground...

At this angle it doesn't look so bad... but... The wing has sheared off the fuse, and the plastic canopy to which it's bolted is fractured in half, and most of her parts came home in a bag...

This is what she looks like on the bench. Wing's broken, all the plastic parts are toast...

Fuse is cracked in the usual place, and the motor is smushed with the prop rotor sheared off.

$25 and a long wait for Hobbypartz to get around to shipping a new motor and the plastic canopy and bits (or Nitroplanes, depending on which is out of stock and which isn't... HP has no shipping charge so sometimes they are out of parts when NP isn't... and they are the same company). I won't see Phoenixcubby's parts until Monday, if I am lucky, and these parts won't be here for another week.  I'll be starting on her repairs tonight.

Oh, and about my EXI 450. It actually was kinda fun until it wasn't. I hovered her up high, about 30 feet, and was doing a pretty good job! For some reason, as I decided to bring her back to the center (she had drifted left) I thought I lost orientation for a moment as she pitched up, then tailed towards the ground. I managed to yaw her around so she hit sideways, avoiding a tail plant, but WHUMP!, she slammed into the ground... Broke the blades, bent the usual main and feathering shafts, and the tail boom has a small S in it if you stare at it. I see that the elevator ball joint came off the servo arm... I had just replaced this ball and added a little CA, but apparently it wasn't enough. I don't think I can blame it on the ball coming off, but I'll tell you, I was doing a really good job hovering for the 3 minutes of flight. I have the parts, but i am waiting on a bunch of 325mm blades to arrive any day now.

I had taken the Alpha out of the car earlier, but Ron had suggested I not solo her yet, and when I planted the Cubby, I put the Alpha back in the car. I had also brought the MX2 in case an instructor came by and could box me on it, but I WAS FLYING ALL DAY ALL BY MYSELF!*  That's okay... there's always tomorrow, if my wife will let me borrow her car again (the MX2 won't fit in the Lexus IS 350, go figure...).

Meanwhile, Greg was still cutting the grass when I left.

* Ron and Craig had been at the field very wicked early and were leaving as I got there...

Hey... what the?

Hey, wait a minute there... is that Jerry Gollot flying my PT-19?

Wiiinnnnddddyyyy.....

Drove all the way out to Bob Miller Field hoping the winds would stay calm, but...

Here's hoping the winds die down... I really want to crash something...