Monday sun day

NICE day again...so sunny and clear but crispy cool around 60F.  JUST PERFECT!  Loved the flying.  I got in 8 flights using all 14 of my  6s 4000 packs.  2 on the G500, 3 on the G630, and 3 on the 7HV.  Yes, same helis as yesterday since they were so fun.  Also I reduced tail gain on the 7HV by one point, and I wanted to see the effect today...it was great...no funny hunting sound on fast straight line passes.  All helis behaved well, as did my fingers and brain.  Lots of inverted practice with the usual 180 pyro stall turns, hovering, flip outs via forward, backward or right, and some at altitude and some lower.  Also did some coordinate half turns and those are getting better.  Right now they are pretty flat and big.  I want to tighten them up to stay in view better.  I can tell things are coming together.

7HV on the H spot upon landing, lol!

Sunday funday

Mighty great flying day with Tad.  Flew 2 flights on the g500, 3 on the g630, and 2 on the 7HV.  Did a lot of of inverted practice....stick time just has to be acquired to build the muscle and brain memory.  Also flew the Ministar four flights.  Tad impressed as usual with 4 flights on his g500 and 2 on his Forza 700.  While JB was harvesting, they were far enough away that we hardly had to stop flying.

Tad doing low inverted hover with Goblin 500...NICE!

Funtastic 4

Flying was exceptional this morning, again early bird style.  I was there by 7 and home by just after 9.  Got in 11 flights.  Eight were on the helis, with two each on the X5, G500, G630, and 690SX.  Gosh they all flew good.  It was clear and cool with JB way out on the south end of the farm.  Nobody else came to fly.  Flying was better than normal for some reason, perhaps due to no extraneous distractions, workers or other pilots and aircraft.  Felt very comfy doing inverted practice as usual.  Seems I might be getting a little lower at times due to the comfort level rising.  I practiced coming out of inverted by all means I know...pull half loop, flip forward/outside, roll right, and today I did many roll lefts too.  I can feel coordinated inverted turns coming soon!

 
I also flew the Aerostar 40  three flights.  Love that slow silly plank.

Early birds

Hit the road early again and was at the field just after 7AM in hopes to beat the heat and beat JB.  JB won, lol, as they were already loading the first semi trailer with sod.  Still they were distant enough that I flew my helis over the north field with no issues.  I got in two flights on each of the G500, G630, and 690SX.  Just relaxation and fun, more comfort and time at flying inverted.  All flew well, but I was most relaxed with the 690SX because by then JB had hauled the second load of sod out of the farm and I could fly unworried.  I was able to do a number of inverted high passes connected by shallow stall turns/pyros.  Getting more used to the negative pitch for maintaining altitude.  My early tendency has been to apply more than needed to assure no loss of altitude, but soon the heli is too high!  Today I maintained a more constant altitude.  Very fun.  Should have charged more packs!

Early birds

I was at the field just a few minutes after 7AM to beat the heat (expecting 100F) and the JB workers.  The temp was about 70-80F while I was there a couple hours only.  JB was there mowing and vacuuming, perhaps in prep for harvesting as the machine was nearby but not manned yet.

I got in eight nice flights, two with each of four helis:  G500, X5, 7HV, and G630.  No planes today.  Did many inverted passes and pyros  and shallow stall turns.  Great fun, all alone, sunny, mild, calm.  Oh, every heli had something different about it today.  Also, I resprayed the H on the tarmac a few days ago.

G550 has new XNova stickers, lol, but the motor is just on its 3rd day or so.

Put the Monster canopy back on the X5 for a change.

The 7HV has a brand new Scorpion 4525-520kv motor in it, and it ran fine.

First time for the G630 to wear this pretty new canopy!

Motor updates

Both the G500 and 7HV got new motors in August 2016.  The G500 has a new XNova 4020-1200 in it which pulls hard and quiet.  That solved an untraceable noise issue that I had for a couple months, and a super hot motor issue recognized by Ron on his visit.  New motor was $170 after $15 discount coupon at AMain.

Slick looking motor

Even matches the canopy!

Then after Ron left, the 7HV had superheating issues with the motor, esc, and packs!  Deduced that the motor was defective, certainly not overworked by my style and frequency of flying that heli.  I installed a new Scorpion 4525-520kv today.  When I removed the stock Compass motor, the mounting housing end of the motor basically fell off the can, and I found a magnet jutting out loose from the can.  Jeez, poor quality.  Anyway after a few issues were resolved, the Scorpion is in the heli and ready for flight.  I had to add three 1mm thick washers at each of the four mounting bolts holding the motor to the aluminum motor cage, to give appropriate spacing for the pinion within the cage.  New motor was $275 after $25 discount coupon at AMain.

That should not fall apart like that!

See magnet sticking up in center of pic?

Three 1mm washers at each mounting bolt location

ESC wires rerouted over top of ESC due to shorter motor leads that require center exit from motor

Back on track!

Well, actually this reports on yesterday's flying, lol, but I am caught up with this post.  Flew the G500 and X5 twice each yesterday.  Flew the G630 three times.  All are doing great.  Really back in love with the G500 due to the powerhouse XNova motor on it.  Runs silent and so dang strong.  I don't need much power since I fly slow and very beginner big sky.  But I pumped the throttle from slow forward flight to do a huge loop, and that heli shot off like a rocket, wow!

With all three helis, I did a number of flips to inverted, then 180 turns, straight sections, followed by either a half loop back to upright, or yet another 180 and straight section.  This is getting me closer to coordinated turns as I get comfy with managing speed and height with elevator and throttle.  I also get to correct lines with rudder, and drift with aileron.  Fun, getting better and not so scarey!  Very good feeling to make some progress...this is such a brain game.

Oh, I flew the Factor after a long layoff, for two flights.  Flies better than I recall, because I remember kinda hating the aircraft.

Still catching up!

Must be a lazy bones because I just am not blogging the same day as flying!  I think I flew three times more since the last post, including a day with Tad last Thurs on his day off.  My usual SOP of around 7 flights each day with helis, rotating among four (X5 left at home due to falling back in love with the G500 with its new XNova motor), so that is 21 total, or 5 per heli...G500, 7HV, 690SX, and G630.  I have had probs with the 7HV overheating...the motor, esc, and batteries come down super hot, so actually I have flown that a little less than the others.  Gear train seems smooth.  The can on the stock Compass motor is shifting such that it touches the bottom motor housing...burn marks from overheating are self evident.  Thus after much consideration, I blame the motor as the cause and have ordered a new Scorpion motor.  $275, arg!  Lucky I had a $25 coupon for AMain or it would be $300.

Been flying various Stars a couple flights on each day too, including the StarStream, Aerostar 40, and MiniStar.

Catching up!

I have not been blogging because Cousin Ron came for a visit from July 29 till August 8.  Out of nine days of his stay, we flew eight!  It is too hard to remember exactly what i flew how many tome, but this will be close.  I flew all five helis over the 8 days, and typically had an average of 7 flights each day.  That makes 56 total flights distributed over five helis, so that makes about 11 flights per heli over the period.  I also flew the Star, Ministar, and Starstream during someof those days.

Ron put all my helis except the X5 on governor mode in the Castle escs.  Seems to work fine except i am having a possibly unrelated overheating issue with the stock motor in the 7HV.

On one of the first flying days, Ron detected my Quantum motor in the G500 overheating.  Combined with the weird noise issue in the heli, which i have noted in other blog entries, i decided to replace the motor with an XNova motor like Ron did.  The motor came from Amain in just two days.  It solved the noise issue and is just lukewarm to the fingers after flights.

Here are a few pics from the 8 days we flew: