Reconditioning the A-10

I don't know who the make is, but my A-10 hasn't seen much flight time because it doesn't do well off grass. I cleaned it and filled in wrinkles and cracks with lightweight spackle last night. I sanded off the outer crude layers today and will let it dry, fine sand it tomorrow and prime paint it.

Before the work begins.

Everything works fine, lousy landing gear not withstanding. She will be fun to fly again!

Hacker MX2 Ready to Maiden

Finished up the Hacker MX2 today. This is a nice aircraft. I am a bit suspicious of the flimsy landing gear, but otherwise she is really solid. She is over powered with an Eflite Power 10 motor, a 12x6 Xoar prop and 3 or 4S battery pack (I will fly her 3S). Nice looking plane! Sad its been discontinued, I literally got the last one from Tower Hobbies.

A series of unfortunate events.

I am not sure WTF...

So the other day the Waco wouldn't start and I figured out it was either the hard switch or the RCExcel Opto Switch. Today I verified that it was the Opto. I installed the new Opto (not wanting to force the Ignition  LED out of the socket I soldered in a plug on the LED and the new Opto after cutting the LED off the new Opto). I installed everything and now the reciever won't turn on. I figured out that my Ignition pack is bad, removed them both (they are attached) and find that actually BOTH of my packs are bad, Reciever and Ignition. That just seems really unlikely. One registers zero Volts, the other 1 Volt and some change. This is a pair of Turnigy 6V NiMH packs. WTF is going on?

So tomorrow I will visit ABC Hobbies and see if I can pick up a new set of packs.

Annoyed.

UPDATE: Put the packs on a charger and the Reciever pack is fine, the Ignition pack is toast. Curiouser and curiouser. 

Things I learned again today.

That plane you think, "She always starts...", Will be the one that doesn't. I preflighted her at home for her first outing, and everything was fine. I figured this is my best running engine she'll be fine. I'll do the first season start at the field. I drive alllllll the way to the field, set her up, turned on the receiver, everything looks great, flip the ignition switch and the red ON light isn't on. Huh. Check the transmitter switch... Its fine. Flick it a few times... Nada. Check the battery voltage, it's fine. Check the wires, they are fine. I rewire things so the ignition is directly connected to the ignition battery. Ah! She starts right up, and runs great. Have to grab the prop hub at idle to stop the engine . It's either the RCExcel Opto electronic cut out, or the switch. Its likely the switch, not the first one to go bad. I will find out when I get home. Pack everything back up, drive alllllll the way home.

I also learned that just because it's a 500 size canopy that doesn't mean a 5S battery will fit under there... All set to fly the HK 500 Marine Drone, but the battery doesn't fit under the hood.

More to follow.

A Day in the Life of an RC Pilot

Beautiful weather for today, minimal winds with acceptable gusts, clear skies with thunderstorms moving in during the afternoon, time to go fly! I thought I would document the steps of a good flight day.

First, top off charge the ignition and receiver packs. Charged them the other day.

Pack the car. Only taking the 30cc MXS-R and the 10cc Sukhoi. The Stik's 10cc is on the fritz, and I don't feel like flying a heli today.

Check the winds one last time before committing to the 12 mile drive.

Drive...

I-93 and whatever road it is that I am on...  NH 102.

SNHRCC's Wagner Field is located on the top of a closed landfill that I lovingly call Mt Hudson, so we have to drive through the Hudson Town Dump. Its usually locked, but town workers may be there as the gate is unlocked. Our club gets a key.

The gate to Mt. Hudson, club members only have a key.

Park the car... unload. Must be in the front row!

Set up a plane.

Fuel up and preflight, including warm up.

Sweet.

Check settings, check controls, last engine check.

Taxi out.

Take off!

After a few touch and goes I suddenly had trim issues and brought the Sukhoi in for inspection. Weed stalks stuck in the elevator.  The grass weeds grow overnight here, so the grass is low cut, but the weed stalks are too and snag on the controls. Freed up, problem solved.

Taking a short break, cover the canopy. Its 95 degrees and canopies melt in direct sunlight just sitting.

Happy shirtless guy selfie. Mild sunburn, will be a tan by morning. The harness around my neck leaves a nice V shaped tanline...

Break out, set up the 30cc MXS-R. 

All set up, ready to go. These bigger planes are so much more fun to fly, so stable and powerful!

So love this 30cc Engine. If I remember correctly its a DLE.

Pee break. 140 degrees inside there, at least...

Water break, sitting under the covered picnic table area at the field.

Like a boss. 

Refuel.

Repack the car at the end of flight time, and ready to go home. Spent about 3 hours flying.

Lock the gate on the way out.

Drive back home...

Unload the car and cart everything into the basement workshop.

Clean and inspect, make repairs as necessary. The Sukhoi runs rich so gets a coating of unburnt fuel and oil, the 30cc runs clean. The grass cuttings end up all over the wings and props. Good time to inspect the cote and balsa for dings.  Put everything away.

Sit back, have a beer, pet cat.

Now it won't run at all...

Took this poorly running 10cc RCGF motor off the Stik, took it completely apart and cleaned it, rebuilt it. And now she won't run at all. Good spark, fuel gettting to the intake, fuel all over the carburator. Just.Won't.Run. Not even a burp. I guess it's getting time to send her to the gang at RCGF USA and see what they can do.

UPDATE:  I realized the engine has almost no resistence, no compression. The gaskets are tight, the plug well seated. I suspect its the piston ring. Ordered a new one from Hobby King (RCGF USA has such steep shipping charges wanting $10 to send a $6 ring. I got it from HK for about $4 with about $3  International Airmail shipping).Will take a week or so to get here by airmail.

Sukhoi runs well, Stik not so much...

Winds were calm, gusts not so much. Took the 10cc planes out to fly.

The Stik wouldn't be the Stik if it didn't take 10 min to re-tune every time I bring her to the field. But today, she needed retuning not just on arrival, buf after the first couple of flights. I want to fly, not futz with the engine. She ran schizophrenically.  High needle is easy to set, low it a problem. If I get a smooth transition to FOT, she will either idle too fast, or stutter and quit. I tried moving end points, tweaking the low needle... nothing was sweet. This vid is from a relatively stable moment, but she would eventually stall in idle, or be unreliable in rapid movment to FOT. I gave up. I will need to take the engine apart and clean it, start over, clean if not replace the plug. I think she runs rich, and I cant fix that.

The Sukhoi's RCGF 10cc ran fine. I flew her with the 13x6 two blade and she was anemic. It was gusty, but still... really had to fight for control at times in the crosswind  she just didnt seem to have the needed thrust. The Stik, when her engine ran well, with her 13x8x3 did fine in the wind, buffeted but could fight through. I am going back to the 13x8x3 three blade prop on the Sukhoi.  Called it a day after a couple of hours. Didn't break anything, so a good day.

Chatted briefly with Clarence, a club member who likes to fly his electrics early in the morning, and who keeps the grasss cut. It was getting too windy for him, and he'd been there a while, so he left shortly after I arrived and I was there alone. I like flying alone.