Good thrust!

The looks of the StarStream are growing on my quickly!

The right thrust adjustment I made to the StarStream worked well today.  If anything, maybe just a smidge more could be better but I am leaving it as is.  Plane tracks well on takeoff and climbout.  It goes vertical with just a hair left turn, but it is easily corrected with right rudder as the speed bleeds off in the climb.  The better thrust line makes the plane more fun to fly.  I have found one bad thing...the plane wallows on landing approach if no throttle is kept on, and then it will tip stall.  And that almost got me a couple times in the strong crosswind today.  It is not hard to keep some throttle on and blip in more as needed on final, but I must be mindful of this.  Cannot get complacent landing this guy.

The sprinklers were on final approach close to the runway!

 

Preceded the StarStream with 4 packs on the X5 and 6 (three flights) on the 7HV.  Both of those were a joy to fly again after 3 weeks hiatus due to sod farm operations!  Rustiness fell off pretty fast.  Just great fun flying both with hopefully enough control and gracefulness, lol.  Got into loops, flips, and some inverted hovering again.

Finally flying again!

Hate it when the field has to be closed for JB harvest ops, but it is what it is...their land, their business, their priorities.  At their mercy, our field has been closed for several weeks, but I believe guys are flying when they can, and maybe even if JB is nearby.  No prob with me if they are distant, but i am just guessing the newbs in the club just don't get it.  Anyway, tirade done, off the soapbox.  Today JB was only watering when I was there, and as I left I saw a mechanic working on the harvester, so maybe they were going to get to it by lunchtime.  I got to fly!

Both planes set on their tails without flight battery onboard,

Flew 7 packs of 3s 2200mah.  Three in the MiniStar, and 4 in the new low wing Star that I think I am naming the StarStream.  It was maiden day for the StarStream.  Dick designed and built it from scratch, and gave me a good deal.  It was designed with criteria I gave him to consider.  Two weeks later he had it built and maidened on his own.  So today I maidened her with my xmitter and setup.  Not bad at all, but it definitely pulled to the left under hard throttle.  And I think the flat wing with no dihedral probably lends to instability in some slow turns somehow.  My thinking is to add a smidge of dihedral on the next gen if there ever is one, such as for Tad if he still wants one.   With the four packs I got it pretty trimmed out, but do hate the left thrust.  At home I added a washer under the motor mount holes, and now I see definite right thrust in the prop blade.  Will it be too much or just right, next test is perhaps tomorrow.   I noted that speed is less than my high wing Star of the same wing span, but it has a different motor and a 10x5 prop.  The StarStream has the same motor as in the MiniStar and runs a 9x6 prop.  Also noted that battery voltage is much less after 5 minute flights, so I think the prop is too much, causing loss in speed and higher consumption of battery capacity.  With no other props to try at home, I am just trying the new thrust tomorrow.

RARIN' TO GO!

Bravata maintenance again

Last time I flew the Bravata was a few weeks ago.  At that time I had a couple deadsticks when going up vertical or sustaining inverted flight.  My guess was the clunk line in the fuel tank fell off.  I finally found the energy to investigate today.  Sure enough the clunk line had fallen off, and the Tygon line was actually in several pieces.  As I tried to remove the pieces from inside the tank with a hemostat, each piece of tubing would just disintegrate to the touch! A the last maintenance I think I replaced internal tank lines with a more flexible yellow Tygon line that I have in stock.  Today I installed slightly thicker walled and stiffer yellow Tygon tubing.  Hope that lasts longer!

While I had the cowling off, I noticed that a crack in the Jtec muffler had opened up and propogated further.  Hoping there is still enough solid connection, I used JB Weld metal epoxy to paste over the crack and hopefully get more service from a $90 muffler!  If it does not work, I will have to buy a replacement because I really like the Bravata and want to keep it flying a long time.  These gassers really do vibrate themselves to death.

Hot times!

Flew today early before 8AM and it was already 80F at home.  Luckily it did not rise fast while I was at the field, so I could take my time and utilize my packs.  Flew the 450 helis for a change, putting 3 packs through both of them.  They used to be squirrely to me, and not too fun, but today they were very manageable and I even did some back and forward flips, stall turns, and a little high inverted hovering and rollouts.  They also did not seem as super high RPM as I recall they were.  All in all, I can take them again and enjoy them too.  I think flying big ones has just given me lots of stick time to where the small 450 size is not so daunting anymore.

I also flew two DS planes, the miniStar and the Aerostar 40.  Got in 2 packs on the mini and 3 on the 40.  I had two more Turnigy packs for the mini but forgot they don't fit the battery compartment in the plane.  I was supposed to reserve the two Hobby People packs for the mini but in the excitement, haha, I used those early in the 450FBL heli.

Finished up by mowing most of the runway.  Could not mow east end due to irrigation pipes on our runway.

Happy Birthday Katie!!!

Our dear Katie would turn 29 today.  Seems like yesterday that she was here.

Tad and I flew this AM, but he took so long getting out of  bed that I finished all 7 flights of the helis when he arrived.  In fact I was just landing the 7HV when he parked.  I got in 2 flights of the G500, 2 of the X5, and 3 of the 7HV.  Feeling good about all three helis, except for the slight weird noise out of the G500, but it is less than before due to the changed tail assembly.  Tad got in 4 flights of the G570, very smooth.  I want to get that good, then I can be happy.  No need to even learn to fly backwards, but flying inverted is my goal for now.

X5 still ALIVE!

To wrap up, I did not know if the RV-8 would fly much less run, but it started up fine, and with a little fiddling of the high needle valve plus the xmitter throttle trim (needed to be upped a few clicks), the plane flew real good.  I forgot how good it flies, very much like a small pattern plane.  Still holds inverted with slight down pressure, and KE is clean.  There might be some mixing in it, but I forget since that was long ago when I maidened and trimmed.  I can see it needs a little up elevator to stay on a straight line in right KE.  I did not try left KE.   Landing with the about 2/3 flaps was fun and light and easy.  Should have taken a photo of the plane at the field!

Better but not perfect

The G500 sounded quieter/better but still not like normal/perfect.  I think I need to replace both tail bearings with new bearings.  Will check stash to see if I have any.  Still gonna fly the sucker as is.  I got in 2 packs on the Goblin 500, 2 on the X5, and 3 flights on the G630.  Good to have the bigger Gobby out again.  Like em all!  Too dumb to be aware of differences in handling...I feel some but not mind boggling kind.

Also flew my Ultimate two good flights after having trouble getting it to idle, transition, and hit a nice top end.  Turns out my settings were off after taking the cowl off to get to the fuel tank.  But with a little fiddling of the needle and idle screws, I got her running and flying for nice flights.

Dick brought his new 75" Aerostar, that I call the SuperStar!  It has flaps, and flies so dang well.  He has a 6s 3700mah pack in it, but it can fly with up to 5000mah packs, so my 4000 packs would be perfect!  Pic does not show well but it has a semi-symmetrical airfoil, so it is more graceful in aerobatics than any of my Stars from Dick, all of which have flat bottom wings.  I was enthused about the plane, and told Dick I claim first right of refusal if he sells it, lol.  It could happen...I have three of the smaller versions!  Dick is however, preparing floats for the plane so he can fly it at the pond on Patty Rd, site of biweekly float flying between Salem and Amity, off 99W.