Fail then Succeed

Went fly yesterday...total failure.  It was windy at home and unfortunately the same at the field.  So I did not get the helis out.  Instead I put my Aero 40 on the table, and as I reached for the wing, the fuselage got twirled by the wind, rolled to the far side of the table out of my reach, and proceeded to do a nice left roll upside down as it fell to the ground.  Landed upside down of course and snapped the stab off the fuse on one side.  Yay, day done, went home.  Fixed the stab with lots of thin CA and accelerator.  Good as new.

Today I took that plane out again, and my G630 and X5.  Got in 4 flights on the X5, 2 on the G630, thereby consuming 8 packs for the day.  I did not charge more as I was expecting wind again, and maybe rain.  Instead it was perfect and I wish I had my other 4 packs!  I don't know why I was very tentative on tight and flat right turns today, but I was.  I forced myself to do lots of them to get over it, lol.  At least I did not have any crashes.  I believe I did my lowest back flips to inverted today, and a couple inverted pyros.  Still not enough cajones for doing more than that.

Followed that with two 9 minute flights on the Aero 40.  Fun plane to fly low, and do lots of touch and goes on the NS runway.  The volt meter read 3.82 per cell after 9 minutes, so I am going to up the timer for that plane to a nice round 10 minutes.  I bet it will still come down with about 3.80V per cell.

Dozen packs!

Yes, I got two new packs so I am up to an even dozen 6s 4000mah packs for my three helis.  The new packs are the new heavy duty Turnigy packs, and they did seem peppy when I used both as a pair in the G630 today.  I split the 12 packs today so that I got 3 flights each on the 3 helis...the Goblin 500, Goblin 630, and Gaui X5.  Lots of fun, but also scarey at times because today the sky was solid overcast, which is the worst visibility conditions possible for me.  ARG!  I lost orientation on the G500 a couple times, scaring myself, but never got in danger.  Whew.  Due to the poor visibility, I stayed close, mostly slower, and I did not fool with too many flips.  I had to do some though!

I also flew the Aerostar 40 today with great pleasure.  And today I also had a new battery for this plane, a Zippy 4s 2650mah pack.  This supplements the single Turnigy pack of the same capacity that Dick gave me with the plane.  The packs seem to both be capable of 9 minute flights, and there is about 3.8v per cell upon landing.  That is a plenty safe landing voltage that stores well.

Started off the day flying my helis, before the wind picked up, which it turns out did not happen while I was there from about 8AM til just past high noon.  I got in 6 packs on the X5 and 4 on the G500.  Very nice day of flying with 5MPH+ but the helis don't seem to mind.  Visibility for me today was good because the sky was cloudless per the pics!  Today I gained confidence just flipping the helis on their back at various heights, and then holding a hover followed by slow forward inverted flight.  Also did some starts and stops, and a pyro turn or two.  Been flying the Goblin on IU1 instead of IU2 for lower head speed.  Seems calmer!

I also flew the Yak-54 just one time due to the heat and fatigue, lol.  It was the right plane to bring given that the field is full of netting and long parallel lines of fixed sprinkler pipes and heads, including along the entire south edge of our runway.  The engine ran good and the Yak always lands soft and slow, so little rollout is needed.

Aerostar 40

Yesterday, I maidened the new to me Aerostar 40, which i bought from Dick a couple months ago.  Finally installed the Futuba receiver, programmed it, programmed the ESC, and it was flight ready.  The wind was greater than I would like for a maiden, but there was an hour to kill before the noon club meeting at the field, so I took her up.  It needed a bunch of down trim and a couple clicks of right aileron, and she was happy.  Slow flying with the leading edge lift plate, but still all kinds of fun.  Sure has a slow roll though, almost as lazy as my Bravata's roll.  Take off and landing are a piece of cake.  The plane is odd that it sits on its tail when on the ground under no power.  As soon as power is applied, the nose sits down and the nose gear is effective.  It will be great as a trainer, as intended, but also a fun flyer for me.  I seem to have a real affinity for Aerostars since I own three made Dick now, lol.

Designer Dick Smith and his 3 Stars that I own, lol!

Goblin 500 is ALIVE!

Yes, the remaiden of the G500 was uneventful today!   It is great to have it back after about a 40-day absence.  As soon as i got to the field, i put the Goblin up first.  Slight nervousness abated after 15 seconds in the air.  No vibrations, no trim issues, no problems at all.  I ran 4 packs through the machine, 5 through the X5, and 2 tankfuls of glow through the Yak-54.  The Yak is a smooth flying aircraft worthy of retaining longer...i had considered selling it after i ran over the left wheel pants with my Boxster, lol, and since it sits on the garage floor for storage, thereby getting in the way.

Just a great day in perfect weather in the mid 70's, very little breeze, and partly cloudy skies.

Goblin 500 Revived

Out with the Pulse edition crash victim

The Dragon edition rises again!

I crashed the G500 back on May 29, 2015.   That day, I took the mangled parts off and kept the salvageable parts in a box.  As time passed, I thought I would buy either a new Gaui X5 or a new G500 and reuse the electronic components.  Finally a week ago, I was bored, so decided to remove the components from the victim.  As I did so, I found that I could reuse some heli parts, take spares from the spare box, and order just about $100 of new parts to get the heli back in the air.  That is much less than purchasing a new heli, of course, but it is due to convincing myself to repair and use an old canopy from a prior crash, reusing the slightly damaged main frame, etc.  So the list of actions follows, for my own records.

1.  Frame:  damaged right side is missing the battery latch part of the frame, plus has a crack in one place on the outside only.  By switching the left and right sides, I hide the slight surface crack, and put the battery latch on the correct side where it should be.

2.  LG mount:  took spare part to replace one broken/lost.

3.  Main blades:  bought new.

4.  Tail control rod:  bought new.

5.  Main blade holder:  took spare part for one side, including ball link arm.

6.  Radial arms:  used two spares.

7.  Nylon bolts and nuts: bought new plus used a spare.

8.  Tail belt:  bought new.

9.  Canopy and tail boom:  repaired spare Dragon canopy in a few spots with FG cloth and CA,  and used with spare Dragon boom.  Tossed demolished Pulse canopy.

10.  Tail skid and main LG:  used spare Pulse edition parts, tossed broken Pulse parts.

11.  Servo arms:  Used new Dubro arms for all servos.  Tossed old ones that all were broken.

12.  Control linkages and ball links:  Used spare used parts to replace all broken or lost ones.

It feels absolutely awesome to have my heli squadron back to full force of three.  And there is a fourth one on the building table!

From back: G630, X5, G500

Compass 7HV being assembled very slowly!

Got to go flying again, early to beat the expected mid 90F heat.  Flew the X5 five times, and the G630 twice.  Also put in four flights on the mini Star...that little bird is fast and groovy.  Re helis, not much progress is being made.  I might be getting a little lower when I flip to inverted, but still am not making inverted turns much.  I hope it comes when I get comfortable enough.

Yakking it up

Flew my X5 for 5 packs first thing in the cooler morning air, just around 7:30AM.  Next up was my Yak-54 interspersed with Apache flights.  The Yak was super good like days of old.  Steady flight speed on the slower side allows closer in controlled flights.  Landings are just so slow and pretty with the Yak.  THere was some light air but no boomer thermals while I flew the Apache.  Unfortunately the elevator servo started to be unresponsive, so after a shallow dive into the north field, I stopped flying it.  Great fun today with all three aircraft.

13:48

The Apache DLG clocked a long flight of 13 minutes and 48 seconds today.  I hopped into a couple big thermals that I had to bail out of due to height or proximity to the full sun.  Also had two 3 minute flights and host of short ones.  There is nothing so pure as hand launching a glider and then hunting, finding, and working thermals for good duration flights.

My 9 battery packs again split 6/3 for 3 flights on the G630 and 3 on the X5.  Lots of fun, and I am getting lower on my inverted and flips, but still not making many turn attempts.  I am not flying enough to feel comfortable on the first flight, so I take many flights just to get acclimated again before trying anything new.

And while I had the mini Star and xmitter, I forgot the batteries exactly where I left them at home, bah.