Its an odd numbered day, so Cubby flies!

Okay... I suppose its because its a Friday. Or maybe because its an odd numbered day. It could be because its conspiring to have me fail publicly at the Fly-In tomorrow. Whatever it was, Cubby #2 flew like a dream today! She took off clean, flew some sweet basic aerobatics, and even did two touch and goes without cartwheeling or somersaulting down the runway! Two whole packs! Though she did come up short of the runway when I brought her in after her first pack and misjudged her glide; I had the choice of full throttle (around which she can be squirrely) or just letting her bounce onto the ground. I chose the latter and she came away unscathed 2 feet short of the runway.

Which, by the way, has been lined in paint with help from our friends from the Rec Dept! Check out this still from some video Kenny Chandler and I shot from his Stryker:

Sweet! Looks really good after Greg cut it, and some Rec Dept and MCRCC guys painted the lines early this morning in preparation for our Fly-In tomorrow. Thanks, Guys! Sorta looks like the Space Shuttle could land there!

Kenny and me (I'm chewing on a burger...) checking out the Stryker cam.

Tomorrow is the Fly In! Come on out!

Crooked as a witch's broom

Cubby #2. Not a straight line on her. She curves where she should be flat, and is flat where she should  be curved. She's uglier than snot, and I suspect she's got a hex Other than that, she might fly just fine...

I refurbished her. Stripped her down, epoxied the firewall and the whole front end back together. I glued several cracks in her fuse. I spackled over her really rough areas and sanded her down, then gave her a light coat of Cubby Yellow paint. I re-coted some sore spots on her wing, replaced the tail wheel, removed, flattened and reinstalled with a few shims her motor mount. I think her firewall cants left and her thrust vector goes sorta that way too despite the shims. It looks like her wing and tail are more or less aligned. New prop.

Tomorrow we see if she can fly a crooked line straight!

Weighty Situation

My previous posts have talked about issues trying to bring the CG forward on the Eflite Stearman. I bought another 2 oz of weight and glued it on top of the existing weight in the cowl, with one piece on the top of the motor mount. I had dry fit the new weight, but when I first put it in with epoxy, despite the dry fit, the cowl would not seat properly. I had to carefully cut out and pull the new weights off and try new positions, which worked fine. But I am starting to get to a point I will make her piggish if I have to add anymore weight. I plan to trim her out again tomorrow, looking to remove some of the mechanical down elevator I currently have on her. I think there is about 5 oz now.

Blustery day!

I had a great day out at BMF today! I took a couple days off from flying, and was itching to get back out. I flew pack after pack on the Alpha 450 and the Stearman. There was a brisk and shifting crosswind, ranging from NW to SW, to dead calm, all in one flight, so I enjoyed working on some tough crosswind landings and takeoffs. I did pretty well!  I am starting to get used to the Stearman. I fly her on low rates with about 40% aileron, 70% elevator and full rudder, with 20% expo on the ailerons and elevator. I still tend to over control a little more with full rates as she is a tad twitchy. Arnie Miller and I flew her in a couple different configurations and this seems to work best. She is still a tad tail heavy; I need to add some more weight to the nose, somehow. We tried the 4S battery and it overheated the EC5 connectors somehow... It also added a bit more weight than the aircraft wanted and she was a bit sluggish in low speed flight. That's part of the problem of adding more weight to the nose, it might start to add too much to her AUW. All in all it was a great day of flying! Looking forward to going out again on Friday, our prep day for the Fly-In, and then the Fly-In on Saturday!

Bill Page and his beautiful Extra 260. Arnie Miller in the background. Small crowd today, with Vinson being the only other pilot besides them and myself.

We were having depth perception issues today along with some squirrely winds. There were several missed approaches, and I found myself coming in over the blackberry patch when I thought I had turned much later.  Bill got caught in a dangerous corner (the SE corner) and came down a little early coming into contact with the tree tops. That's all it took to total his Extra 260. It doesn't look bad at first glance, but had some significant structural damage. Its a shame, Bill was flying her wonderfully and enjoying himself... Sorry, Bill.

Anticipation!

Its a Fly Day!

Somebody stop me...

Here I go again...This time I am literally piecing her back together.

MX2 Mystery Unfolds...

I started work on rebuilding the MX2 this afternoon. I immediately noticed a combination of problems that may have been the cause of the funky flight characteristics and the final spin to crash. I had just added CA hinges as the plastic miniature hinges were failing one by one. While I had tested control surfaces before flight after the repair, today I found the range okay, but they were difficult to move. I worked them loose. I subsequently found the elevator servo and one of the aileron servos had stripped gears at center. They would move the surfaces but slipped about center. Curiously, I also found the rudder servo with the same center stripped gears that still moved the rudder, but I didn't put any CA hinges on the rudder and it moved freely. There is no damage to the surfaces that might indicate crash damage, so I suspect the gears stripped trying to move the surfaces in flight.

The repairs moved along fairly easily.

The servo mount board for the elevator and rudder. This piece keeps me from using spars as I will have to slide the ends together side to side, instead of being able to push them together end to end. I will likely run spars crosswise instead lengthwise.

I replaced both 9gm aileron servos even though only the right one failed. The cover for the wires is glued into place and at first I didn't think I could slide extensions I don't have down the wing. I wasn't even sure if there were extensions in the wing already I could plug in. It didn't matter, I like soldering the wires anyway. I installed TP 90MG digital servos and plan to replace the rudder and elevator servos with TP MG19 digital servos. Digital all around, ordered from HeadsUpRC.

BananaHobby's website says the servos are all 9gm, but as can be seen here, the one on the left, the elevator and rudder servos, (one shown here) are clearly larger. They are as big as the MG19's I ordered. The TP 90MG is in the center, the right one is the stock aileron which is a 9gm.

Better seen from the top.

Silvering the tips.

Two soldered and covered with heat shrink.

All 3 leads soldered and shrink wrapped.

While the servos are the same size, I had to cut a little out on the fuse side to fit the tabs in the wing. 

Post cutting the fuse end.

I also had to cut a little from the rotor end to give just a little more space.

Aileron servo glued into place all 90'd up.

I glued the forward fuse halves back together as they were parting and the firewall was loose. I used epoxy to secure the firewall and the wheel base wood to the fuse, and to bind the larger section below the wings together, and foam safe CA for everything else. I dry fit the ends of the fuse together and as I noted above, it won't be possible to easily place spars between the glued parts. I have to think about that a bi, but I think I will go widthwise. I am also trying to decide if I should use the Beacon 3-in-1 glue I have very reliably used with the Cubby, or if I should use epoxy, which might add a bit of weight aft of the already aft CG. Waiting for the MG19 servos and a new prop adapter to arrive (ordered today) from HeadsUpRC before I join the fuse as it is easier to replace the servos into the plate before it is installed. I will need to use an standard 3 blade spinner as the original one is damaged, and requires a custom prop shaft (the original bent). I have written BananaHobby a couple of times (in regards to the MX2 and to cancel another order) and they are selective about responding. The decal and paint on the MX2 peels so easily that anywhere I put packing tape to hold the fuse together will have to have the tape on it permanently or it will pull the paint and decals. Its already looking a bit ratty, and I truly hope it doesn't become another Cubby with funky flight characteristics after these repairs...