Too Much To Catch Up!

 I can’t believe I haven’t added RC updates to this blog since Dec 2019!  How delinquent is that!?  I have had a good flying season in spite of COVID-19.  We have been flying and trying to maintain distance at the field.  Most guys fail to do so, and I am usually the only one to wear a mask.  None of us in the small group I fly with have got sick, so we continue to fly, trusting that each guy is taking care to stay well.

Wow, I can only summarize the last almost ten months since I sure cannot remember everything that’s happened in my RC world.  

First, I got some new planes!  My Stinson Reliant is completed and flying wonderfully.  It’s been out to the field several times now.  I think it might be a wee nose heavy given the way it seems to lower its nose in tight turns.  It rolls so axial to the right that it reminds me of a pattern plane, lol.  So I am still working on flight trim, might try a little tail weight.  Power is a DLE-35RA that runs great.

I got the Hangar 9 Ultrastick 30cc  from the boys for my birthday!  It is also completed and is a real go to plane because it fits under the tonneau cover so it’s easy to haul, and I love the VVRC 40cc twin in it that sounds great, starts easy, runs solid.  Still working on flight trim too.  I want to get the CG more rearward so it will do KE without so much down elevator mixing.  What a joy to fly even as is.  Spins like the devil.

One more new plane is a refurbished one by Don and I bought it from Cliff.  It is a cute old vintage SIG Kavalier.  I installed the engine and servos, receiver, battery, etc.  After trying to eliminate a fluttering sound by various means, I think the flutter is gone at all but the highest dive speed.  These means included filling the wing/fuse gap with hot glue, replacing the elevator control horn, and finally replacing the very thin ailerons with thicker stiffer stock.

Another new addition is the Robinhood 80 by Old School Model Works.  It’s my first kit in 28 years and is still under construction, but framed up!  It will have a Saito FG-21 gas four stroke engine it.

I’ve been converting all the gas tanks in the gas planes to the clear ones sold for $25 by VVRC.  I just had too many gas tank probs in the season with the white tanks provided in the ARFs.  The clear tanks have nice aluminum fittings , felt clunks, stiff fueling/defueling fittings that eliminate fuel tank issues.  I’ve been using only the 12 ounce tanks since the larger tanks were always too large for my flight times...I always land with more than half a tank left.

I sold several planes to make room for the new ones!  Gone are the Hangar 9 RV-8, the 76” Aerostar, and the small 50” Aerostar (Starstreak in my flight log reports).  It turns out I don’t miss them at all.

And lastly, today I did some small things for next flights on some of the planes.  I added another ounce of lead to the tail of the Ultrastick, as noted earlier for moving the CG back.  I changed the gas tank in my Sbach 342 from the old white tank to the new clear VVRC 12 ounce tank.  And I programmed more exponential into the RV-4.  The plane is sensitive in pitch and roll so that should help both.  If it is still sensitive in pitch, i might actually need more nose weight. 

That’s the best I can do to catch up after the long absence.  Been flying a lot but just too lazy to post!  suffice to say I have flown every plane and heli in the fleet with just a couple exceptions, and I have been enjoying the heck out of them all.

Flight log: 07/23/2019

I finally changed the LG on the Aerostar 76.  The wire gear was long for the thickness, so it was flexible and twangy when taking off and landing.  I found an old aluminum main gear in my junk, formerly on another plane, and drilled four bolt holes to fit the mounting bolt locations.  That worked out easy.  Didn’t have any axles, so I used what I could find in my spare bolts and bolts cabinet....mainly had to have length for the wheels to fit on.  Found some long 1/8” bolts with two matching nuts.  Bolt heads were smaller than the holes on the gear, so I had to find washers to block the bolt head from slipping through the gear.  Got that done, just quite a bit of play between wheel and bolt/axle but it was sufficient today....good in fact.  The stance is narrower but the plane did not tip over easily on turns, so all is well.  Landings were solid, plane flew good too.  Got in three flights on two sets of batteries.

Also flew the RV-8 twice.  It was good too. Nimble lil plane!

RV day

Yesterday, Ken, Bill, and I decided that today would be RV day, so they both brought their RV-4’s by Great Planes, while I brought my RV-8 by Hangar 9.  Virtually the same size planes.  I got in two flights, both good on takeoff and landings on our new mat.  Invariably I end up sitting with the guys and talking so i just don’t get many flights in like I used to at keizer.  Lotsa fun with this group of buddies.

STINGER II!

 Fun day of just two flights on the Great Planes Stinger II!  I chose it to fly today because I felt the need, the need for speed!  And I thought it could slow enough on landings to avoid running off the new pink mat, and becoming another dirty birdy.  It started great, ran fine, flew finer. Indeed it slowed enough to easily stay on the mat, plus the turn radius is small enough to turn around without stress.  Really enjoyed the fast low passes!  The YS63 is idling well and singing nicely at WOT.

Too bad Bill had a crash today with his Ugly Stick!  He was flying it well, then decided to do a medium speed, low inverted flyby.  That went well until he pitched up and added throttle...and the engine died right then.  Compounding the situation, the plane was right in the sun just past the east end of the runway.  Down the plane came from maybe 40’.  He couldn’t see it and did not put in up elevator, although I don’t know that the plane would have pulled up in time anyway...40’ up, no speed, pointed straight down.  The plane burrowed into the ground a few inches, demolishing the front end all the way to the wing saddle.  Arg!  Before we wrapped up an hour later, he already had a new one on hold at Trump’s Hobby Shop in Corvallis.  Attaboy!

Clean RV-8!

Flew with the guys this morning and had two good flights plus excellent landings on the new pink mat, with no dirt expeditions, lol.  Of course it’s much easier to land and stay on the mat with a plane that has flaps for slowing down!  Great fun watching everyone else deal with the new runway.  Poor Gary landed his Giant Sportster on the dirt and when trying to get back to the mat, got dumped on its nose in the dirt and stones, splintering his wooden XOAR prop, a $20 error.  Almost everyone had some off runway adventures with the dirt, but without serious damage.  Likely we will try it again tomorrow because the weather is good and we know the rain and cold are fast approaching.

Ah the life!

Yes life continues to be good, thank you Jesus!  Few aches and pains are nothing to complain too much about, they are meant to help me keep in touch with God.

Today I flew yet again.  This time the RV-8 had the privilege of gracing the skies, and risking its life, lol.  It started up well and flew better than I recall it ever did.  Why is that!  Dunno.  Just appreciating it more maybe.  I did add a click of down trim to keep her from climbing much at all at WOT straight and level.  The Saito FA-82a started with just a finger back flip, not needing the starter at all.  It was actually too easy on the second flight.  I was just moving the prop to the position I like for commencing the back flip.  The prop just fell in the direction for the back flip, and started up immediately.  One of the guys saw me yank my hand away, startled.  I have a healthy respect, a fear, for these props and engines.  All was good, the engine ran well, the plane flew on rails for the two flights I made with her.  Oh landings were nice with flaps nearly fully deployed.  They are sure effective for slowing the plane on final as I power her to the strip, and then to gently level for touchdown.  Score!!!

Bill and his Ugly Stick.  Three of them in this pic!

and a big 35cc Ugly Stick in this one!

Must've been Ugly Stick day!  Ken and Bill had their glow 40 size sticks out,  Pat had his smaller electric version, and Mike had his 35cc big boy out.  Don flew his venerable Pulse with Saito 115 in it...dang I love the combo he made.   The 115 is super powerful and mated perfectly to that airframe.

Tues and Wed flying

Yesterday was fogless.  Flew the Toledo Special twice, and the Starstream 4 times.  Good day with wind slowly building.  Today I flew the Shoestring 60 once and the RV-4 twice.  Fogless at first, then light fog blew in from the East where the river is.  Still a good day of flying with wind again slowly building.  I like the bunch of nuts flying at the Dallas field.  They all fly glow and/or gas, very little electric, and they sure are a quick witted bunch.  They make me laugh a lot!

Flight log: 08/10/2017

Flew at the Dallas field today, getting to know the field and guys better.  It's a good combo!  Took the RV-8 up twice, getting the Saito 82 dialed in closer and closer.  I have been richening the high needle to get a decent smoke trail without dropping off power, and then leaning or closing the low end to get a good idle and transition from low to full throttle.  I never really understood too much of tuning these four stroke engines, but I am improving slowly.  Flew the new Aerostar 40F four times today.  Nice plane, getting lots of fun with it, but kinda hate the caster tail wheel.  It is not positive and therefore not as safe in my opinion.  Too lazy to make a mod at this time.

Flight log: 08/09/2017

Went to the Dallas club this morning and had a nice time.  Only Doug T was there, later replaced by Joe.  I got in two flights on the RV-8 as i tuned in the Saito 82a on it better.  At least it stayed running in the air, but it sounded like it was hunting, and there was no smoke trail.  Concluded the high needle is too lean so i richened the high and screwed in the low needle.  The saito ran better the second flight but still hunted a wee bit and left no smoke trail.  So i opened the high needle another couple clicks, and turned in the low needle.  Ran fine on the bench and I taxied around for a few minutes.  The engine did not load up and die, and seemed to have a little bit of smoke trail, so I will see next time if it is dialed in or not.

The Aerostar 40F is growing more and more on me!  I think the right thrust issue is not bad now, so i am going to do some mixing of rudder and aileron/elevator to improve knife edge.

Catchup catchup catchup!

Been a lazy man and haven't been posting my flight days.  So many days have gone by that I cannot recount exactly, but this will have to serve as a catchup to fill the time between July 14 and today, August 8!  I have been flying lots.  Cousin Ron visited July 21-31 and I was flying helis lots in prep for that visit.  Then he came and we flew for 8 out of the 9 mornings available to us for flying.  Up at dawn, out at the field by 7:15 every day!  Kinda grueling at first but then just lots of fun, lol!  Then after he left, I was in the habit of getting out there so early and here we are over a week later, and I have gone to fly probably everyday but two since he left.  Been doing much with helis, flying all of my heli fleet while Ron visited.  Typically I flew about 5 or 6 heli flights everyday, and then another few plane flights.  Tad came out two days of Ron's visit, Jer two too, and Quang also two, but not all the same two days for each of them, except once.  Those days when the boys played with us, we flew Battle Wings like crazy and just had a ball.  Many midairs were experienced, and some videoed by Jer!  Nothing was damaged beyond repair.

Before Ron came, I bought another Aerostar 40 from Dick, this one with flaps.  Very cool plane.  I let Jer fly it and for some reason the plane became unresponsive on final about 30' high.  It just nosed over into a dive and crunched resoundingly.  The motor nose housing area completely came off the fuselage, and the structure between there and the forward wing bulkhead was obliterated.  Jer and Ron retrieved the plane and brought back every piece of wood they could find.  I did my forensic post crash analyses and guessed that there were elements of a perfect storm that caused the crash.
1.  Plane head on to pilot where receiver was blocked by large airborne battery pack.
2.  Large sprinkler system down runway edge, the one on wheels, running from pilot to past the plane.
3.  Steel fence posts and rails running in front of pilot towards the plane.
4.  Pilot holds xmitter with arms hanging low and xmitter pointing down and out.
Altogether, this led to blackout to the receiver.   Jer said there was full control of every surface and the motor at the crash site.

After a few days I decided to start repairs and see if I finished or just would give up on the plane.  I got her done, and it looks better than new, lol!  And today I flew it with the same receiver because I figured the same four conditions would not ever occur again, mostly because I don't hold my xmitter low like Jer.  As added precaution, I relocated the receiver up higher in the fuselage.  Due to one or both changes, there was no issue today with reception.  The plane flew fine...actually better because during the repair, I added a couple washers under the right side of the engine mount to reduce the right thrust built into the firewall by Dick.  It was too much, causing right turns under power.  Glad to have the new Aerostar 40 repaired and flyable again because it is a beauty and flies well.

For planes during the delinquent period, I flew the Battlewing, Aerostar 40F (flaps), Mini Aerostar, StarStream, Star, RV-8, Toledo Special, maybe something else!  And finally, I sold the Aerostar 40 to new guy at the field who could use it.  I don't need it now with the new Aerostar 40F in the fleet.

That will have to do as catchup for the several weeks of failing to report the flight log!

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!

RV-8 and X5

Yet another day of good weather availed itself, but this one fell on the weekend so Tad could fly too!  I got in 4 packs on the X5, and also had three nice flights on the RV-8.  Tad put in a bunch of flights on the Goblin 570 and 700.  Still working on eliminating the small tail wag on the 570, but fortunately he can still fly it and have fun and practice.  Dunno why I did not take pics of my own aircraft today, but I do have a couple of Tad and his!

Grey but Good!

Tad and I flew amid the pea soup skies this morning, but it was calm and there were no JB workers, so all was good.  Tad got in 5 packs on his Goblin 500.  I got in 2 packs each on my G500 Gaui X5 before Tad arrived, as well as one flight on the RV-8.  After he came, I got in one more pack each on the G500 and X5, and one more flight on the RV-8.  Quang maidened his Goblin 800, OMG that thing is HUGE, almost the full length of the flight table!  It flies well, and does 3D quickly in spite of the large size.  Anthony flew his quad, having no heli after his G500 crashed last week and burned to a black ball of toast.

My fleet for the day

The Goblin 800 is HUGE!

Seems to be a highly visible color scheme too.

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.

Practice day for WOK

Practiced with Tad for our duet demo on Saturday.  Flew my Intruder twice but came in deadstick on the 2nd flight.  Checking at the field, it looked like either a sticky lifter or a broken valve spring in the OS 91 Surpass II.  At home with a flashlight, I confirmed the latter.  Too bad I don't have extra springs, but I do have extra engines, haha.  I practiced the duet with my RV-8 after the Intruder came up lame.  We did ok, but not great.  Hopefully the spectators will still be entertained by the flight.  I think I got about 5 flights in with the RV-8.  Tad's Kaos Two ran and flew well.

Breezy but Doable

Made just one flight with the RV-8 today.  Was attempting another but the  brisk N crosswind tipped the tail up on the runway, so I just parked it the rest of the day and instead had 5 flights or so with the SNAFU.  That plane loves the wind, and I played with it on the N/S runway, and over that West end of the field.  When windy, the SNAFU is the best plane in my air force to fly.

Sunny Skies

What a nice day with mostly sunny skies, light winds from the North, and cool temps at first, then very mild warmth.  I flew my RV-8 and Tad flew his Kaos in prep for doing a duet at the WOK in two weeks.  We intend to just make a lot of passes together, and do some mild aerobatics on  the downwind leg that is a hundred yards out, such as slow rolls and loops.  It should be entertaining enough for the spectators.  Both planes flew well, the engines ran perfect and started easy, and we incurred no damage today.  Lots of fun.  I took my Blade 400 and Tad and Quang tried to get it trimmed and tuned in, with various fixes, but in the end the engine decided to die and we all gave up on it.  I think it might be ready for the boneyard, and if so I will just pull out the new servos I installed just yesterday!  Bummers.  Quang and Anthony flew their Goblins very well.  Roberto trained Teo via buddy cord.  Ashton flew his Uproar.  Al flew his Twist and Escapade.  Mike came to socialize and did not even bring a plane out of his van.  Joe came late and flew his new used Stinger 60 and BalsaNova, a pair of good looking acquistions!

For the first time since last Fall, I flew my Apache for a handful of launches but found dead air only.  It did catch one huge thermal while it was turned off and laying under a flight table!  The thermal picked it up, rattled it over the RV-8 and dumped it back on the ground 10 feet away near the grass taxiway.  Luckily no damages were incurred by either plane, except a very small tear in the covering on the wing of the Apache.  Whew!  :)

RV-8 and Star

Got to the field early to beat the heat today. Very nice and cool but sunny and bright.  Flew the RV-8 three times with Tad and his Kaos Two.  Also flew the Star for two packs.  Actually Tad flew it for most of one pack, had fun, and landed it very nicely too.  I helped Harvey with his electric Alpha by checking it out, and flying it for a short hop, trimming it in the air, and landing.  He did really fine flying it the rest of the day, and thanked me when he left for "babysitting" him, haha.  Tad also was a helpful resource by helping Ken check out and test fly his electric Sportster.  He flew it and landed it well.


Anthony, Quang and Tyra were there today too, and they flew their choppers again. Also flying today were Joe, Mike, Rudy, Chris, and Ashton.  The latter by the way had trouble the other day with his No Can Do...he was trying to get his Magnum 70 to run steady on that plane, and it was mounted inverted.  While inverted engines can be tuned to run fine inverted, it sure is easier to just avoid that often problematic issue by simply mounting the engine sideways.  I recommended that the other day, and Ashton had the engine side mounted today.  It ran great, and Ashton is a happy man again, lol.

Later we met Anthony, Quang and Tyra at the Brooks Heli Fun Fly and spent a couple hours together there.  Very entertaining to see good pilots and choppers fly.  And through all of this long day, little Tyra was an angel again...what a sweet baby girl!

Flight Log: 06/22/2013

I flew yesterday but forgot to post about it, and I also flew today.  Yesterday I flew the Star for all 4 battery packs, the RV-8 for two flights, and the Blade 130X for two packs.  All flew well, but I broke the tail skid on the 130X with just a light backwards hit on the mat.  The RV-8 was dialed in and on rails like a pattern plane, really scooting well, then slowing good with full flaps for touchdowns.

Today I flew the Star for all 4 of my packs as well as 3 more packs that Joe had with him!  I also let Anthony fly the Star for most of one my packs in between his flights of his Goblin 500.  He liked it.  Tried to fly my 130X but the tail would rotate around and I could not get it to hold still.  I think the rotor servo might be ill.  Also flew my Toledo Special 3 or 4 times; all is well with it.  In fact the Saito 82a was running very sweet today so the TS was quick.

RV-8

I RV-8ed again today.  I lost count of the flights because the engine was not running well, so I was tuning it and going up and down and retuning again and again.  I am guessing  at 6 tanks of gas, but many more takeoffs and landings.  For the last two flights, I think I was finally getting zeroed in on the right settings.  On most of the other ones, I was back and forth on the high needle and low needle.  Either the high end would be too lean or have that troublesome hunting hi and lo at full throttle.  Hate it.  Then the low end would race or it would not idle at all when I removed energy to the glow plug!  Hate that too.  So towards the end, I really had to turn the hi needle way in and let the engine pretty much run kinda lean, then I played back and forth with the low needle to get a good response without dying on application of throttle.  The last two flights seemed pretty decent without any deadsticks nor flameouts on takeoffs.  We shall see how it runs on the next outing, but I think it will be satisfactory.  The plane started to groove on the last flights, and it was fun again.  I have no idea at all why the engine ran so lousy today and on the last outing.  Hopefully it stays happy from now on.

Also flew the Blade 130x for its 2 packs again, and had fun.  I sure was tempted to try a circle in front of me, but ran out of nuts.  I did an interesting thing...I flew it nose out, but kept turning my body a full 360, both directions.  Just trying to get more comfortable before I try the circle.  Once I do that, I think progress will quicken.