Ear to Ear from Bravata!

What a fun flying plane...I took it out today and had a blast with it. We finally had a warmer day of 40F, very light wind, no fog, even a little afternoon sun. I got 4 flights on my Bravata. It was fun doing stall turns, knife edge, Cuban 8's, reversed C8's, slow rolls, 4 pt rolls, and regular rolls, inverted, fast and low passes, slow and low passes with half flaps, flapped landings. It is all graceful and relaxing with the Bravata. Here is a pic of it on a day last month, with my son's heli. BTW, the wing is staying true after heat gunning it during assembly almost a year ago, and I am flying with no aileron deflection to keep her level. Gotten past the bad color match of all painted parts versus the red covering. It flies too good to notice that anymore. DLE 30 started up and ran so easily in 40F, same as in 85F! A grin of a day.

Bravata and Tad's Goblin 500

7 & 8

Tad and I were diehards today, flying in just around 40F temps, with grey overcast skies.  We were not the only crazies, with Mike and Chris there too.  Tad got 4 flights on his 130X and 4 more on his G500.  I put in 7 flights on the 450 FBL and 450 DFC.  No mishaps for either of us, and we were happy!  Tad said he got disoriented once on the 130X and once on the G500.  He flew both really good though, with inverted skills showing today.  I was lucky but also due to being more conservative, I did not have any disorientations or miscues today.  Both of my 450's flew well and came home well too.  After not flying a few weeks, it sure felt good to fly helis again, with no issues.  Loving them again!

7-7-7

Oh yeah, another great day at the field.  Temps were still chilly but not as bad as yesterday and not as good as Monday.  Best thing is it was mostly sunny skies with light winds to none.  Why 7-7-7?  Because it was the third day in a row to run all SEVEN packs through my two Trex 450 helis.  Both flew well today.  I did my first inverted flying, but I cannot call it flying for real.  It was momentary and only lasted till I could bail out and roll upright again.  The first attempt nearly made me shit myself. I actually unintentionally executed forward inverted flight at high speed, haha.  Headed for the walnut trees, I was able to roll out and not get close to hitting them.  I did a bunch of rolls, backflips, and forward flips, all of which are getting more comfortable and a little more axial.  All landings were on the mat and under control, many of which today were made in IU mode rather than normal.  It's easier to do that than to flip the switch and account for lower headspeed all at once.  Pretty thrilling day!

Lucky 7 again, plus Toledo Special

I got another 7 packs through the 450's today.  It was much chillier than yesterday though, so not as much fun.  Still the helis both flew well, no probs again.  I did my very first forward flip with one of them, can't remember which.  They fly so similar that I just do what I want with either.  Next time I intend to pause upside down and try a little inverted hovering, at least momentarily!  No dumb errors today, but I did get disoriented at a distance a couple times due to overcast skies and therefore less clarity in what I see.  Other tasks again were rolls, back flips, stall turns, FFF, slow circles, hovering.  Great fun.

Also flew the Toledo Special either 4 or 5 flights.  It is sounding like a tractor again as the bearings go out yet again in a Saito 82a.  Still flew great though.

7 Up

FBL on left, DFC on right, BOTH GREAT FLYERS

On a rare gorgeous day of 45-50F, today was my best ever day for flying helis.  Ran all my 7 packs through the two 450's.  Four through the DFC and 3 through the FBL.  The FBL is vibe free due to tightening the bolts that hold the blade holders to the feathering shaft.  AWESOME...it felt as great as before the motor was replaced (bearings went out in the Viper motor) and before I reset all the linkages and servo setups to be as true, centered, and equal as possible!  The DFC might be even better.  Like em both.  Used each battery to the 4 min timer, then typically took 30 secs to come down and land.  Did right rolls, left rolls, and back flips (stationery loops) with both.  No cajones to do the forward flip, but that comes next time, haha.  Also did a bunch of stall turns, fast forward flight, and threw in hovering in various attitudes and altitudes.  It is satisfying to say that I did not suffer even one instance of disorientation today, but sunny bright conditions can be thanked for that!

Only other guy there was Chad, whom I think Tad and Jer met...30 ish age too.  Good flyer, had glow, electric (Kadett from Joe), hotliner (also from Joe), and glider.  Good young man, easy to talk to, good addition to the club, and he is trying to get a friend to join KRCA too.  

Successful Maiden!

Yay, the conversion of the FB to DFC head on the Trex 450 Pro is a complete success.  I managed to fly between fog banks and misty air this AM, and of course nobody else was nutty enough to be there.  It was actually quite mild but the sun never broke through.  I took one 4 minute flight with the DFC and it was very exciting just because I did not know what would happen.  It was uneventful as the heli flew smooth and steady.  The BeastX setup worked fine for initial flights, and now I can change some settings if really needed.  

I also flew the FBL version again, but with a couple minor adjustments to linkages.  Never realized how it was not setup "correctly" till I got involved with the DFC.  More adjustments are needed since in normal mode at zero throttle, the pitch is significantly negative!  And then the heli does not get off the ground till around 2/3 of throttle stick movement!  I found some cyclic servos uncentered and one using a different hole on the servo arm than the other two.  All should be identical!

Also flew the 130X and it seems ok, but the tail blew out once.

Indian Summer Day!

Tad and I had a great morning of flying at the field under perfect conditions.  It was not even cold.  He flew his Goblin 500 with much flair and confidence....getting too good.  I will never catch up with these boys.  As I take a step forward, they take two!  Tad liked my flying of the Trex 450 though.  I am flying faster at times, did some stall turns, had my first back flip, then right flip with that heli.  In all I ran 5 packs through the 450, another 3 through the 130X, and I had two flights with the Bravata.  Tad had never seen that fly, so he enjoyed seeing it this time.  That plane is really a ball of fun AND relaxation.  Just a great day.

Blah

Felt good doing the sky, mountains, and distant tree lines.  Fell apart after that.  Failure to launch!  I think the prob was not using enough thinner to get the paint to stick when doing the Fall colored trees.  2 steps backward.  Better luck next time.  #80 overall, 9th for 2013.

You're Next!

2 New Paintings

This is my 78th painting, 7th for 2013, been a slow year for painting!  My other hobbies and new grand daughters keep me busy too.  This one I painted yesterday:

Winter Blush

And here is my 79th painting that I just finished today, 8th for 2013:

Seclusion by the Pond

The first one came easy yesterday, and I finished in a few hours.  Today's was a struggle towards the end, and I think I took 6 hours!  Oh well, still enjoyable either way.

Only a 6 pack today!

Got in all 5 packs on the Trex 450 FBL today.  I tried the 450 FB too, with more expo and a little DR to tone down the touchiness, but it's still a touchy beast, then gets more unresponsive with the expo.  That ends its days as FB.  Will decide on what path to make it FBL.  Flew the 130X just a single flight, and crashed out of control in a roll.  Just fractured the CF tail boom again.  I CA'd it on all four sides aft of the support and it is good enough.  I have a replacement boom which will go in as soon as this existing boom breaks enough, haha.  Really digging the 450 FBL and am getting tempted to flip that sucker!

Another 14 packs!

Had a good time flying the helis at the field today, in beautiful conditions.  Got in 5 packs on the 450FBL, 5 on the MCPX, and 4 on the 130X.  Did my first back flips, left flips/rolls, and right flips/rolls with the MCPX.  Did not have the cajones to do them with the 130X, but I think they will be much easier then.  The MCPX just is lazy and slow.  Did not crash at all on these attempts.  Felt very comfortable with the 450 FBL today, wow, such a pleasure!  Lots of slow and medium speed forward flight, lots of circles, some not vertical stall turns, and lots of nose in hovering.  Very fun all 5 packs.  Did try the 450 FB, and it was uber sensitive to me.  I should have tried expo and some forward trim, but did not.  I was so happy to get it down in one piece on the mat, after being all over the sky for two minutes.  Felt way too sensitive for me.  I just put it away after landing, haha.  Thought for sure it would be pranged when I was in the air with it.  I think I am going to convert it to FBL!

14 packs!!

Holy moly, I went through 14 battery packs today.  It was foggy at first but visibility extended about 100' out so I flew the new MCPX and 130X first.  MCPX had 4 packs, and the 130X had 5.  After about 90 minutes, the fog was burning off and the sun was shining through.  I had taken two flights with the Trex 450 FBL by then, and thought I would just go home, but with the sun shining , that allowed me to see well and burn up the other three packs for the 450.  It flew well.  Just did more of the same as I simply need lots of stick time.  I tried to hold better hovers in different attitudes...tail in, nose in, facing right, facing left.  I did them about 15' off the deck and also maybe 30' up.  Got to do a few more stall turns and moderate speed passes and turns.  Great fun.  On one stall turn, I had some negative pitch and that sure got my attention!  Quickly neutralized and went to positive as the chopper dove downwards.  No emergencies today, all landings on the mat, all in one piece.

5 packs

Ran 5 battery packs through the Trex 450 FBL, and it flew great.  I tried the FB version with the new tail servo, and it still had a twitchy tail, so I gave up on it and used the battery in the FBL.  Practiced some higher speed passes and turns, hovering at different attitudes and altitudes, and some stall turns.  Also did some low speed circles fairly low.  Transitions between normal and idle up got better today.  Also flew the Star for two packs.

Trex 450 Pro DFC FBL

Yeah, I don't know what the full name means either except the FBL means fly bar less.  Flew it through 5 packs today, and had fun.  Still stressful and still worry about losing orientation.  Good bright sunny day with solid blue sky helped somewhat.  Didn't do much except get more accustomed to hovers, forward flight, takeoff and landing, and using the normal/idle up switch more smoothly.  Getting there.  No miscues, no emergencies, all good today.

Flight Log: 10/17/13

Flew the Trex 450 FBL twice today.  Only twice because I did not know I was going flying till early this AM.  Tad wanted to go later in the day, but I was going out to SM with San.  Only able to charge two packs before going out.  Flew well enough to impress Tad with my progress.  He flew his Goblin 500 very well, lots of speed and grooviness like a pattern plane, haha.  Took her to high stall turns, inverted hover up high, and a lot of stationery rolls and tiny loops.  Good stuff.  Showing much comfort and confidence with the high quality heli.  Also flew our 130X heli's.  Mine blew out the tail again due to the crazy slider going beyond its normal limits.  Dunno why, but I have a new aluminum tail unit coming, so maybe that will solve the issue.  Tad ran 3 batts through his and did well.

Yay X 2

Today I flew the Trex 450 FBL and the Star.  Since I did not take the FB version of the 450, I had a good day of flying, haha.  I tried the FBL with NORMAL flight mode to tone down the sensitivity of the controls, but I did not care for it, so the next 3 battery packs were all in SPORT mode.  While more sensitive, it is also more precise and immediate response in that mode.  All 4 flights went well with no miscues, and I maintained flight orientation all the time.  I'm beginning to enjoy the flights and stress less, while  keeping intense concentration on the heli.  Also took 3 flights with the Star for complete relaxation.

Yay and Bah!

Yay for the Trex 450 FBL which flew good.  While I put the flight mode on SPORT, I think maybe that is where it was originally because it felt exactly the same today...sensitive but not uncomfortably so.  I have now set it to NORMAL for next flying day to see which I like better.  I got in two safe flights on the FBL today, and am liking the feel of it.

Bah for the Trex 450 FB because the DELAY did not help at all.  I tried various amounts of stick deflection, as well as gain settings again, and nothing really helped.  Probably I am just getting used to the tail jitters because it was more controllable to me today, lol.  I quit while ahead and will probably now resort to a new tail servo.  If that does not work, then the gyro is screwy.

Also got in 4 packs through the Showtime.

TREX 450 FBL and FB

New to the fleet are the Trex 450 Pro FBL (fly bar less):

And the Trex 450 Pro with fly bar (older technology):

I bought the FBL from Anthony a couple weeks ago, and Tad gave me the FB around the same time!  All of a sudden I went from micro helis only to two of decent size.  The FBL is flying well after a couple days of fine tuning with Quang and Jeremy.  The FB is doing some silly tail wagging which when I dial out with less gain in the gyro, then leads to sluggish response from rudder, neither being acceptable.  We thought Quang found the cause when he spotted threadlock causing binding to the tail slider.  Unfortunately, I got that all cleaned out so the mechanism is smooth, but the tail wag is still present.  I did more research today online and will try some DELAY in the gyro to see if that helps.  I notice that there is much less buzzing and jitteriness from the rudder servo, so mayhaps it will eliminate the wag.  I will find out next time I fly.

While the helis are a great challenge, they also are costly and exasperating.  I have established that I can fly them well enough in hover and forward flight.  If it doesn't get to be lots more fun and satisfaction, I might consider my accomplishments as acceptable and not put more money into something not giving me fair return in personal happiness!  My planes are much more trouble free and significantly less costly.  Choppers are in need of continuous maintenance and/or repair.

These are two pics of the same helis with the original canopies:

Bravata, 130X, and MCPX

What began as a foggy morning turned into a gorgeous, sunny Fall day by 11AM.  When the fog burned off, the JB sod cutters were revealed working on the south end of the farm.  They had been working the whole time but we just could not see them.  Luckily they worked just till about noon and then we were free to fly as usual over the JB acreage.  Tad was able to fly early as the fog allowed perhaps 50 yards visibility, so he got in 3 packs on this Goblin 500.  The fog was light by the time he did his 4th pack and he was able to turn loose a bit, flying stall turns, loops, and some inverted.  Great flying heli.  I flew my MCPX a few times, and the 130X a few times too, both without incident today.  After the fog and workers were gone, I had two nice flights with the Bravata.   It started and ran flawlessly.  Flew gracefully.  The down elevator that I mixed with flaps worked quite well, needing only a little more down to counter any ballooning.  I will leave it as set for now as it is predictable.  Landings were both from the West and were pleasing since the plane lands so slow and lightly.  Great fun today.

Yak it up!

Had 3 flights with the Yak 54 yesterday.  All landings were from the west due to workers on the east end of the field to harvest sod, and luckily a light breeze came from the east to make landings easier!  The OS 120 ran fine, and the Yak flew well.  I was a bit rusty due to flying too many electric planes and choppers recently, but all went well.  Speaking of choppers, I flew the 130X just once and was downed by a bee!  Yes, as impossible and unbelievable as it sounds, a bee kept flying around my face and lid of my cap, continually getting in my vision!  I ended up moving around to lose it, but could not, and finally lost concentration and crashed from about 20' high.  Ended up stripping a main gear and the D gear.  Luckily I had just got a new main gear in the mail the day before, and had several extra D gears in the parts bag.  I repaired the 130X and tested it in the back yard...good to go again!

Quantum Improvement

Created a new fave painting this AM!  I feel I made a quantum leap improvement in how I paint leafy trees and bushes.  Next one will be even better.  I can already see things to improve, but this one is a feel good painting.  Main thing to remember for me is to have very light touch and to use the right amount of thinner to highlight the trees and bushes with color.  Good step forward.

Heavenly Hues

This makes my 77th painting, 6th for 2013!

FINALLY Painted Again!

Gosh it was a long layoff.  I put my painting equipment away in mid January to build the Bravata, finished that a month or more ago, and have just been too lazy to paint.  I watched Bob Ross in the interim though, maintained a spark, and today lit the fire and finally painted again.  This is my own creation, using colors I had in my head during the layoff.  Will use them again because I love em....shades of lavendar and orange.  This one came out ok for the first painting in 8 months, but I do need practice again.   The colors are more vivid than the photo picked up.  I believe this is painting #76, and 5th one for 2013.

Sherbet Peaks

Forgeting the Flight Log!

I flew on Sat Sept 21, and Th Sept 19.  On Th, I think I flew the Stinger II, 130X and MCPX.  On Sat, I flew only the 130X and MCPX, all 9 packs, before it began to rain.  I assembled the SNAFU to fly, but heard the tune of the slowly increasing pitter patter twack on the covering of the wings.  At that point, I put the assembled SNAFU into the truck bed and headed home.  On Th, all went well with a couple flights of the Stinger II.  On both days, the small helis were great, no crashes  and it is getting to be more and more fun, still very challenging, and requiring full and constant attention while in the air.

Bravo Bravata!

Oh yeah, I cured my engine running probs with a new RCEXL optokill switch in the Bravata.  The first (new) one is defective and deserves a hammer death, or at least being returned to the vendor for replacement.  The dummy light for the ignition did not blink an iota today, which if I did not see, I would have known via a dying engine.  Where I got max of two flights per day on each of the first three days of flying this bird, today I got in 4 flights with nary an issue.  I am loving this big bird.  So graceful and impressive in the air.  It looks real up there and creates instant nostalgia on low slow flybys!

I landed twice with no flaps, and twice with half flaps.  Due to a sprinkler on the West end of the runway, I made my landings on the sod farm.  The Bravata loves landings, holding its tail feathers up after the main landing gear have touched terra firma.  The mix of down elevator with half flaps at low throttle seems to be about right.  With this mix, the plane has almost no pitch up when the half flap is deployed.  Takeoffs are easy too, leaving ground in about 25' with very little throttle.  The rolls are a little faster now, but still slow and easy, after I maxed out the upward movements against the hinges AND decreased the aileron differential on the down aileron.  The Bravata loves to loop, and inverted flight requires surprisingly small down elevator input.  And it's pretty awesome seeing this huge plane do knife edge pretty effortlessly, with the nose slightly high.  Stall turns are easy peasy.

LOVING IT!

Also flew 2 packs through the 130X!

Gloomy Day but Fun Flying!

It was a pretty ugly day that seemed like a good day in the middle of Winter rather than a late Summer day!  Cool in the 60's, grey, damp, but winds under 3mph.  Tad, Quang, and I flew...where was everyone.  Stephen flew for a little bit till he totalled a foamy, and Ken came a little later.  I flew my MCPX twice, 130X four times, and Star four times.  While I had my Stinger II, I did not unpack it due to the threatening rain in the distance that never came over the field.  Tad had four packs through his new Red Goblin 500, and it looked smooth and pretty.  Also flew his Kaos Two.  Quang flew his glow 700 and also Trex 700, what a great chopper pilot.  Also flew his very fast Revolver on 8 cells...easily quicker than the Kaos Two.

Flight Log: 09/12/13

Got in one flight with the Sbach but the JB boys were vacuuming the farm intensely at the north end where our runway is.  So I flew 4 packs through the 130X and 3 packs through the MCPX.   Just one low intensity crash with the 130X when I got disoriented once, but no harm done.  Did not put the MCPX in the ground at all, but it is vibrating a lot and needs a new main shaft or something else to calm it down again.  At least it still flies.  Beautiful weather, nobody from the club there.  Two non-KRCA guys were there but they had AMA so I let them fly as my guest.  One says he has the KRCA membership form and just has to get it in to me.  Both are apparently members of the FlyAways up in Hillsboro, but one moved to Salem and he intends to join our club.  Both are full scale pilots!

All Electrics Today

I went to mow the field but it was already done, so I just flew, flew, flew.  Went through all my packs for the Star, 130X and MCPX.  That is 14 packs of at least 4 minutes each.  Had a couple crashes of the MCPX and 130X.  Craziness overcame me and I tried a loop with the MCPX.  My timing was bad, I did not hit reverse pitch at inverted, more like on the way down.  Should have hit full up or full down while aiming vertically down, but did not think fast enough.  All I did was shut throttle.  I think I bent or split the main CF shaft.  I took it out at home and tried to wick in CA to strengthen it, but there is still a good vibration in the chopper.  Still flyable though.  For the 130X, I got behind me and lost perspective down very low.  It landed skidding with no direct impact, and I took off again with no apparent ill effects!  Getting better and better with choppers, as I was doing many many circles and 8's and fairly low passes.  Might need a bigger chopper to see it better!

Weekend Flying

I flew on Sat and Sun, with the Bravata, MCPX, and 130X.  On both days, I only got 2 flights each with the Bravata due to some malfunction of the ignition.  After two flights, I start the engine up and it dies.  Thinking it is just a low idle, I up the idle and the engine dies again.  Then I view the dummy ignition light, and see that it once again is randomly flickering off momentarily, which of course kills power to the ignition, and then the engine dies.  After this happened the first day last week, I thought it was programming of the xmitter that was the cause...I had not input an EPA for the kill switch channel.  So I did that and thought I had the cure.  Then yesterday it happened again after two flights.  Came home and scratched my head, and decided to assign the kill to the landing gear channel instead of Aux 1.  This is how it is assigned on my Sbach, so I thought this indeed would be the cure.  Happy after two flights today, the problem reared its ugly head yet again.  Mike thinks I need a bigger battery on the ignition since I said I am using a Nicad at 4.8V and only 600mah.  At home after flying today, I took that batt out and installed a 2500 mah 6V NiMh battery on ignition instead.  Let's see if that does the trick.

On the chopper side, I had a bunch of packs through both the 130X and MCPX this weekend, and am feeling pretty good about flying around in forward flight.  I made quantum strides ever since owning the MCPX that Tad gave me.  Soon who knows, maybe I will try flying backwards!

BTW Jer came out today/Sun and flew his choppers, Hyper Taxi, and the Showtime.  Great fun!

5X *, 4X 130X, 5X MCPX

Ok who deciphered that title?  I went flying today and had 5 flights/packs on the Star, 4 flights/packs on the Blade 130X, and 5 on the Blade MCPX, haha!  Fourteen packs in all, and I was at the field around 9:30 till noon.  Only Ken was there, the whole time.  With all those packs through the choppers, I am proud to announce that I did not crash even once today...quite a feat, lol!  I did lose orientation on the 130X a couple times, but managed to right the ship so to speak, and did not meet terra firma.  I had lots of passes back and forth in front of me, as well as many circles both clockwise and counter.  I also flew directly towards me quite a few times.  Great fun and maybe I should eventually get a larger chopper since I might actually be able to not crash it!  I like my yellow overglasses that block blue and UV, and sure brighten and clarify the plane and chopper in both grey skies as well as partly cloudy.

NOTE: by 1:30 the skies darkened with thunderstorms bringing rain, lighting, and thunder for the rest of the day!  I was so lucky to get all that flying in.

Stinger has a Stinger Again

Last time out the Stinger II stinked due to YS 63 problems.  I thought about it a lot...the first YS 63 had the same prob as the replacement I installed.  So that meant a tank or fuel line issue, or a check valve issue.  When I had the tank out for the engine switch, all the lines and stopper looked good.   I decided to switch the check valve with the one that came with my used YS 110.  I did this the other day and ran the engine yesterday at home, and it ran well.  Took the Stinger to the field today, and it was awesome.  It ran so well that I could again hear the plane whistle on low flyby's...music to my ears!  I was able to take 4 flights with great enjoyment.  After the first flight, I moved the elevator control rod one hole closer on the control horn to get a little more responsiveness.  Also reduced the expo from 70% to 40%.  Feels more reactive and positive now.

Before flying the Stinger, I got in all 5 batt packs on the MCPX and all 4 packs on the 130X.  Both flew well.  I dumped the 130X a few times due to disorientation, and knocked off most of one tooth on the beveled gear on the main rotor.  Still flies fine, and I will get a replacement, or ask Jer to get one for me.  It hardly sounds different with most of that tooth missing, lol.  I was able to do many circles, figure 8's, and much flying towards myself.  Pretty much a quantum step forward today.  Some circles were the tiny level ones and others were the fast forward  and banked big ones!

Dean came today and flew his Star MkII with great delight.  We both enjoy our purchases from Dick!

UPDATE: Found genuine YS check valves online so I ordered a couple.  Geesh it works out to about $10.50 each, including the shipping!  Talk about a ripoff.

Beautiful Bravata Maiden Flights!

My maiden went WELL today!!! It was probably my most relaxful maiden ever, thankfully. I will get to the point people on RCU want to hear about....aileron trim. Mine required just one click of right aileron trim, just ONE. Recall though that I warped my wings as close to resembling each other with my heat gun at the very beginning of assembly, which was Jan 2013 for me. Apparently that was enough, and it stayed put all this time while sitting in the house during assembly. We'll see how the sun affects the wings over time. Elevator trim was....none needed! Nor rudder. My engine started easy peasy and ran like a clock for both flights. I took the plane down the runway to test ground handling first, and it is very positive. Steered straight as can be, and turned around in half the width of our grass runway, which is 50' across. With that done, I brought her to the east end of the runway and took off. Gradually applying throttle, she ran straight down the runway with nary a rudder input, and she rose off ground before I hit half throttle, and in just at most 25'! Surprised me to be up so fast. She flies docile as can be. I think this plane could easily be used for a trainer! I did a number of inside loops (hey my wings did NOT fold), cuban 8's, rolls, inverted flight, and knife edge. All are predictable and graceful. Note that all rolls are basically slow rolls with this large wingspan. I will see if I can get more throw. It would be cool if the flaps could act both as inner ailerons while also being flaps...that would help the roll rate. Then again, this is a high wing plane with a huge span and not a 3D plane. Landings...piece of cake. I did not use flaps on both landings and wow the plane still comes in slow and drops in light as a feather. Winds were less than 3mph for my flights. I did deploy half and full flaps during the flights. There is lots of pitch up so I will mix in some down elevator with the flaps for further tests. I really like this plane now. My buddies at the field all oohed and aahed over it too. Might have to wipe off their drool from the Bravata! Few pics from today follow.

Some pics show how little trim my ailerons needed. These pics are with 2 clicks right trim. I later reduced it to one by recentering the left flap down a few more percentage points in my xmitter.

Note to self:  Next day, I programmed in -10% elevator with the flaps, so that means the elev will go down 10% of whatever the flap deflection is.  I had to give quite a bit of down elevator yesterday when I deployed the flaps.  I think the -10% amounts to about 3/16" deflection, not much, and it should be a good starting point for the next flights.  Also, I changed the aileron differential from 80% (down travel compared to up travel) to 90% in an attempt to get more roll authority.  Also moved the right flap up a couple more percent so it matches the right aileron even better, and I centered the left aileron down a percent or two to match the wingtip trailing edge and the left flap trailing edge.  Just trying to reach a good compromise on trailing edge settings to make it all look and FLY good, without right aileron trim that is unsightly and common among other Bravata's discussed on RCU.

Day of Perfection

What a gorgeous day, starting with coolish 65F and warming to 88F, with blue sky and sunshine all the while.  Light winds up to 5mph early and up to 9mph after noon were variable in direction (wind speeds based on my new mini anemometer!)  I flew the Toledo Special four times, the Star for all four packs, the MCPX thrice, and the 130X once.  I left the house around 7:30PM and got home around 2PM, haha.  It was just lots of fun.  Delivered the NIB RV-8 to Joe and met a new member Ralph.  Got him introduced to those present, and he learned a lot by talking to all of us as a group and also individually.  I think he will suspend his work-in-progress, a scratch Cessna 182, in favor of a cheaper ARF to get him in the air faster.  Looks like he will arrange training from Mike with the club trainer plane.  John DiG came with a nice clipped wing Cub that he made full span and later reworked to the current clip wing config.  Powered with a Saito 120 it was just a real nice flying plane.  John has a way with flying at low speeds in a very realistic manner.  My TS flew like a charm, and I had fun with the Star in both the early calm air and the later windier crosswinds.  Loved the time at the field today.

Too Zonked

After having Skylar overnight, keeping us awake to tend to her needs, I flew today but just a short time due to being too zonked!  Had one flight with my Intruder, and two packs through the Star.  I got there around 10AM, and most guys were already winding down, haha.  I stayed till 12:30 and headed home, but that includes mowing the field for the last half hour that I was there.  Did a bum job, but at least it is shorter.

Failure to Launch!

Bravata in the Scion XB!

It's so funny that my largest plane fits inside my smallest car!

Yup, 112" wingspan and 82" long fuselage!

Big Beautiful Bird!

Made up the Coke and tail stickers (variation in color
of the Hawaiian Airlines logo)  myself on the Cricut machine!

The pics came out good, that went well to start the day, then I could not get the DLE-30 to run right.  It would start easy peasy, but would falter when throttle approached half throttle and more.  I tried every manner of setting on the high and low needles.  Finally I gave up after over 2 hours of sweating in the sun and not getting any satisfaction.  Went home, got the manual out, and reset both needles to factory settings.  Tried again to tune the engine in the backyard.  No joy.  But while doing so, I observed a random flickering in the red dummy light that shows optokill and ignition functionality.  Resorted to asking for help on RCUniverse.  I thought it was either the ignition, optokill switch, or unintended mixing in my transmitter programming.  After much testing and isolation, determined the ignition and optokill AND batteries AND heavy duty switch were all AOK.  So what the heck.  I investigated mixing in my xmitter and found NO inadvertent mixing with the kill switch channel.  Then someone on RCU suggested increasing the throw on the optokill switch channel.  Doesn't seem to make sense, but I went to programming and found that the optokill channel (5) had NO EPA settings.  Default was 0%.  I increased it to 100% like almost any servo would be set at, and lo and behold the red dummy light ran steady for 5 minutes and did not flicker at all, so I knew the engine would now have good ignition power and would run well.  I tried the engine in the backyard again, and it ran like a top, strong, and smooth, with excellent transition from idle to WOT!  Great news, and can now maiden the Bravata with high expectations, lol.

Great Fam Reunion Flying Weekend!

Cousin Ron drove up from San Jose on Wednesday and went back home on Monday.  We flew with my 3 sons on Saturday and Sunday at the club field, and many times just in the house or in the back yards at Jeremy's and my house with the QX quads and nano and MCPX choppers.  Fun, fun, fun.  On Sat and Sun we flew basically starting at 8 or 8:30AM till about 1 or 1:30PM both days.  Wow!  Ron had his 130X, Warp 360, Goblin 500, and electric Katana and Slick planes.  He gave Alex his foam 540QQ.  Also, he introduced us to the little QX quad, so Jer bought one for me on Friday and I love flying the durn thing for chopper training inside the house.   Actually everyone enjoyed flying Ron's and my Quads in the house, and there is talk of purchasing their own, lol.

Let's see, Tad had his 50cc Extra 300, foam Mig, and nano Blade on Sat, then this red Goblin 500 and nano on Sun.  He successfully maidened the Goblin, the had two more flights...very smooth and impressive chopper.  Jer had his Carbon Z Yak for both days, foam Mig, and also his BL Blade.  Alex flew the Star, as well as his nano Blade, and then the 540QQ on Sunday.

I had my Sbach on Sat, with the Star.  On Sunday I flew the Yak 54 and the Star.  Also flew my MCPX Blade both days.  Tried to fly Ron's 130X on Sun and it just seemed way touchier than my MCPX so I hopefully did not damage it badly on a lopsided low crash landing.  Sounds like I grinded the main or pinion gear though!  Tried his Katana on Sat, which I did not like too much, but Ron says it likes calmer air.  Flew his Slick on Sun, which I really was impressed with, as was Jer.  It can fly on rails or do 3D, very wide performance range, big or small window.  My Yak 54 and Sbach flew fine both days, and the MCPX is getting to be a ball of fun at the field or in the backyard.

Ron fixed my 130X by the way, with replacement parts he thought were the culprit of the wild tail control.  Turns out he replaced the tail boom which was invisibly fractured, the tail rotor housing and the tail servo.  Jer nicely picked those up for me at Hobbytown, just a $26 repair job.  Ron also added tape to one tail rotor blade, and that greatly reduced tail vibration, so it looks like the 130X is good to go again.  While he wanted me to try it in the backyard, I elected to keep it for the wider spaces of the flying field.  He thought I should just forget the Blade 400 and get a new flybarless chopper if I want something that size again in the future, and I agree.  Choppers are lots of fun and very challenging.  I am making good progress due to the MCPX first from Tad, and now the QX from Jer.  The little vehicles reduce stress and cost of repairs, in prep for a larger airframe at some point!

It was a really enjoyable visit from Ron, and having all 3 sons at the field on both Sat and Sun!

Imagine and Stinger II

With the YS63 replaced in the Stinger II,  I had high hopes it would fly well.  Well, I couldn't get the engine to run well.  I tried all manner of high and low needle valve settings and nothing worked.  At least the engine started, but most often as I applied throttle, the engine would just overload, sputter, and die at about the half throttle point.  I even tried a different glow plug that seemed hotter.  No dice!  I gave up after fiddling with it too many times.  On the other hand the Imagine 50 ran and flew well, and I am glad nobody bought it when I had it up for sale, haha!  Still grooves well, but comes in hotter than I remember.  It can snap if too much elevator is applied at low speed. I witnessed it once today when high enough to recover.  Re the the Stinger, I might switch to an OS 70 Surpass II or an OS 46LA , both of which I have.  I am not so impressed with the two YS 63 engines that I have tried in the Stinger.  Interestingly, the first one ran well and made the Stinger a missle at first, but it has gradually become a dud and I have no idea why.

Flight Log: Aug 19, 2013

Took the RV-8 for a spin on Monday but it just would not run right.  The engine won't idle down smoothly from full throttle...it goes down to a high idle, then after a few seconds goes to low idle, basically hesitating to get to low idle when I move the throttle stick down all the way.  I tried a slew of low idle screw adjustments, and probably ended up close to where I was at the start of the day.  Ended up getting only 2 flights on the RV-8.  I took the Star up for all four batt packs, and also flew the MCPX once.

Not a Wiener, but WINNER!

The events were challenging, the 4 competitors were relentless, and the wind was calm but variable from all directions.  We began flying at 9:45 AM and were done by 1PM.  Bob Bevens ran a good show in the face of constant challenges from the competitors.  Tempers flared at times, but in the end we all got prizes and cash and went home mostly happy, lol.  Before the flying began I just told myself to rely on my comfort with the planes after flying them frequently the last couple weeks, and I challenged myself to not make dumb mental mistakes, and to get less than 100 points in deductions from the 500 total we all initially start with.  My competitors left the door cracked on a couple events where they all flew beyond the end lines and thus were not eligible for the 25 point bonus AND forgiveness of all point deductions attained on that flight. That meant all I had to do was not pass the end line on landing for those tasks!  I was able to do so, luckily, even as my engine ran too rich and slow on the last two tasks.  I made no unforgivable mistakes for the day, and ended up winning per the scoresheet:

Here is a link to coverage of the event at our club website: http://www.krosswinds.com/Filecabinet/VCF2013.pdf

And finally here is a pick of the victor and his spoils, haha.  That is $90 cash, a NIB H-9 RV-8 ARF, and the trophy to hold another year.

I garnered the victory flying the SNAFU for all tasks except Task 3, for which I flew the electric Star.

The following is boring to all but the most mentally disturbed folks; it is the rules and description of tasks for the VC:
Fellow club members: I have updated the rules  for the last time, I hope,
and since this is our club event, you may still join in Saturday morning.
The cost is $5 to enter. There will be a pilots' meeting at 9:30 AM and
flying starts at 10 AM sharp. We will go over all rules at the pilots'
meeting. If I have made a mistake on any task or there needs to be something
added, give me an e-mail. Thanks, Bob Bevens.








VALLEY CHALLENGE

                                                            2013



Task #1

Don't be early, don't be late.



Start your motor, taxi out to take off position. Time starts when the judge
says ok. When wheels move, time starts. Take off left to right, make left
180 degree turn, then perform one loop, one roll, turn around after you pass
east end of runway and perform one roll. Then, after passing west end of
runway, turn around again and on your way back, do one loop and then land.
Time stops when wheels touch ground and airplane makes a successful landing.
Ok, now you will be given your time and you have to duplicate it as close as
you can. Points will be deducted this way if you arrive too early. One point
per second if you arrive late, two points per second if you arrive early,
and the pilot with the closest time will receive an extra 25 points added to
his or her score, and, that's a good thing. Bad thing, the rest of the
pilots will have their points deducted from their score. 



Task #2

Hop and stop



The hop and stop starts out by pilot taxiing to end of runway. Wheels must
be on grass at east end. Ahead of you on runway is a row of balloons about
93.5 feet and further down, another row of balloons. Distance between both
rows of balloons is 106 feet. The object of this task is take off and lift
off before hitting any of the balloons in the first row. Now make two passes
around the field and set up for a landing between the two rows of balloons.
Motor on gas planes must be running after landing. On electric planes they
must be on their wheels and upright. Landings must be straight ahead, no
ground loops. One other thing, no adding power after touchdown. The reason
for that is there will be measuring done. The pilot that stops closest to
the balloons without breaking one, or, going past the line, gets 25 points
added on. If you go past the second line of balloons, no winning
measurement. 50 points off for all broken balloons. Plus for every foot past
two points off per foot. One point off for each foot on the short side. Over
the six inch mark  

measurement will be rounded up to the next foot. Glow motor stop 100 point
deduction and electrics must be on their wheels or same deduction.  

Task #3

Quick up short stop



Pilot taxis to east end of run way, wheels must be on grass. Ahead is a row
of balloons, beyond that a second row of balloons. Object of task is to take
off, clear the balloons in the first row, and land before hitting the next
row of balloons. Motor must continue to run on glow and on electric must
stay upright and on their wheels, no adding power after touchdown. Once
again, measurements will be done. Closest gets 25 points added on. If you go
past the second line of balloons, no winning measurement. 50 points off for
all broken balloons. Just like before, two points for every foot past and
one point for every foot short, rounded up at the 6 inch point. 



 Task #4


Narrowing center line



Pilot or helper will place airplane on east end of runway centerline for
takeoff. At this point the runway is 15 foot wide and narrowing to the west
end, and 12 foot wide at first row of balloons. The next row of balloons the
runway will be 8 foot wide and at runway's end, it will be 6 foot wide. The
object of this task is to start takeoff roll, at east end after passing the
second row of balloons, you may lift off and not before. Make two laps
around the field and prepare to land. On the landing rollout, come as close
to the second row of balloons without going past. As in all tasks we will
measure for the closest to the line without going past. Closest gets 25
points added on. All balloons broken, 50 points off. Same as the last two
tasks, long or short points deducted.






Read please



All pilots start with 500 points. In each task if they break balloons, 50
points off for each balloon and for each measurement deduction on the tasks
not won. A pilot may bring as many planes as he or she wants but if you
start a task with a certain plane you must finish with that plane for that
task. If at any time your motor quits or you crash, you are done for that
task, and a non complete 100 point deduction. On the narrowing runway task
#4, if you do not take off within the balloons at the designated takeoff
point, a 50 point deduction, and if you do not land between the balloons,
you are disqualified and a 100 point deduction.  At the end of all tasks the
pilot with the most points wins. Depending if other clubs join in, we will
send the top 3 pilots to the finals on August 17th.. If no other clubs
enter, there will be 4 pilots from our club who will compete on the 17th.
Our club will have its fly off on August 3rd.

We will pay the top four finishers and the top three will pick one of the
donated ARF kits. First place picks first, then second and third. Fourth
will only receive cash. Entry fee is $5, where $2 goes to the club's
treasury and the other $3 goes in the pot for the top four pilots. Plus,
Keizer RC is adding $200 more to be divided among the top 4 pilots. All
events will start at 10:00 am, weather permitting. Any questions call or
e-mail Bob Bevens at bj4648@gmail.com or call 503-393-7721. I hope to see
you there. Bob Bevens. This event is AMA Sanctioned. There is an attachment
showing runway layouts for the events.  

NOTE:  A 5th task was added for the finals on Aug 17.  For this task, there were 6 rows of balloons set up across the runway at basically 40' intervals.  A pilot rolled a die.  The number rolled determined the row of balloons that the pilot had to land his plane on.  A measurement from the spinner of the plane to the rolled row determined points deducted from his score.  I rolled a 3 which was good because it meant I had ample room before my row to land upon and rollout.  Broken balloons in lower rows were not counted.  

Stinger II and Star and MCPX

Nobody was there and the wind was calm so I ran most of batts through the MCPX first.  Not as good as yesterday, but no damage was incurred.  I did manage a few circles and some zoomy flying without crashing, so it's all good.  Later, Ken and Dave W arrived.  Then I tried the Stinger II today and after fighting the engine tuning, I remembered why I have not been flying it much.  First off it sounds like a tractor, so I think bearings are shot, and secondly it won't lean out nor idle well anymore.  Needs an overhaul, which for me is to remove it and stick the other YS63 that I have into the plane, haha.  Hmmm, I kinda wonder if my OS46LA would fit into this plane?  Also flew my Star for 4 packs and it did well.  I still cannot get the hop and stop down pat, so I think I shall give up and let whatever happens happen on Sat.  Too much depends on wind conditions and luck!

Practice

Took the SNAFU and Star out to practice for the VC finals this Sat.  Turned the high needle out just a click, and the low needle out just an 1/8th turn to avert a flameout like I had today, while on the ground.  Seemed better after that, but more practice days this week will tell the tale.  In a quandary which plane to use for the narrowing runway task.  The SNAFU is slightly more predictable on landings but the low wings makes it much easier to pop balloons, which I want to avoid.  The Star has the high wing to avoid balloons, but then has the sloppier handling in the air, and I need to make it through the entry gate without penalty.  The Star does lift off quicker on takeoff which  will be a benefit on lifting off the narrow end of the obstacle and hopefully avoiding balloons.  Hmmmmmm, what to do!  Anyway, I ran 4 batts through the Star and had 3 flights with the SNAFU.  Oh, also had only one batt for the MCPX but had a great flight and was able to fly the figure 8 circuit and some counterclockwise circles.

9 Flights!

It was grey, cool, and calm at about 8AM when I was first to arrive and stay.  I think someone else came due to the fresh tire tracks, but they left, likely due to the wheeled sprinkler being on the East end of the runway.  With that sprinkler in the way,  I flew my Star for 4 batt packs that I had.  Rudy arrived around 9AM and knew how to move the sprinkler, so he did that, and I was able to then fly my P-47 for four strafing flights.  Made my best takeoffs due to the hard, short, and dry grass runway, and due to the wind being directly down the runway from the West for some of the time.  WIth this plane, I need a ton of right rudder very early to avoid the torque pull to the left.  Landings were okay, with just two nose overs out of 5 landings, haha.  Lots of fun doing low flybys and various low rolls.  Only a few fliers came today: Rudy, Chris, Mike, and late arrival Harvey.

Star

The wheeled sprinkers were watering the East end of the runway and the pipe sprinkler ended on the West end.  Managed to mow nearly everything except where the pipe lay on West end.  Then proceeded to fly 3 packs through the Star.  Did not unload and assemble the P-47 due to the sprinklers and the SE to SW wind.  It just would have been hairy to takeoff or land with a bit of tailwind if going E to W on our runway.  I did not want to takeoff and land from W to E because of the wheel sprinkers off the edge of the runway...too risky.  Star flew well though!

Sbach 342 and MCPX

Took 3 flights with the Sbach today.  DLE-30 started and ran well, and the plane flew great.  Had one of those days where I could feel the plane in the air really well.  Also flew the MCPX for two batteries and it seems fine.  Made one full left circle on the 2nd flight and did not crash during that attempt, lol.  Felt good to get it in the air again after repairs left it side lined for a few weeks.  My Blade 130X and 400 are both still laid up for reasons not fully determined.

Ultimate and Star

Flew both planes in pretty ideal conditions today, except for it starting to get hot!  My first short hop with the AW Ultimate was a little hairy when the top right aileron came unplugged, most likely due to my failure to plug it in really tightly.  While in flight the plane rolled hard to the left momentarily a couple times, as the plug became looser and made intermittent contact. I landed safely in the sod farm, taxied back, and found the plug still in, but loosely, so I pushed it to its full depth and the aileron behaved properly all day.  The DLE-55 started and ran like clockwork.  I improved my landings today by coming in with more throttle and not so floaty.  The plane flew very well, and I probably had my best day ever at hovering it up high, and doing some harrier rolls.  Also ran through my usual pattern style aerobatics and felt good about it.  Flew the Star with two of the new Turnigy packs and they seem fine...a little more spunky but heavier than the older Hobby People packs.

Intruder and Showtime

I broke out the Intruder for 3 flights today, and the repaired and regapped OS 91 Surpass II is making the plane sing like when it was new.  I can hear the whistle of the plane during the whole flight when at WOT.  I also flew the mini-Showtime to see if it would do the Hop and Stop task, but I don't think I like for that task because the plane noses over easily.  That would result in DQ points of -100, so I think I will stick with the Star for the finals two weeks from now.  Gorgeous cloudless day with very light winds.

1st or 2nd place in Valley Challenge KRCA elimination round

I flew my SNAFU and Star to an official 2nd place in our club elimination round for the Valley Challenge.  Ashton came in 1st or 2nd too, haha.  Officially he got 1st and I got 2nd, but I found a major scoring error later which switches us around, but it does not matter.  Our top 3 finishers go on to the final in 2 weeks.  If other clubs do not send their top 3 finishers, we will also take our 4th finisher for a flyoff amongst our club only.  This is the money round so I get to fly in it, and it doesn't matter if I was 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th except for bragging rights.  I brought up the scoring error to Bob later by e-mail and do not want the finishing order changed.  Ashton is a good guy and deserves the glory, at least for 2 weeks, haha.  I flew decently today, and really only erred bad on one task...the hop and stop.  I used the Star expressly for this, and got the plane over the first row of balloons but the speed was too much to stop short of the second row of balloons.  I had the bad luck of crosswind and slight downwind at the time of my attempt.  All in all, a real fun day!

Official Results ( technically my score in Task 4 should be +25 while Ashtons's should be -86)