Flight log: October 22, 2020

 Goblin 500 three times.  Sbach once.  All well.  Helped Dougie and Gary with their new Blade Fusion 480’s, stretched to 550.

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.

Sbach 342

Only one at the field today, except for Geno who came to watch and lend moral support, lol.  I brought the Sbach which has not flown in many months.  As I guessed, it was hard to start.  Probably hand flipped it a hundred times!  Checked ignition and the light was on, so I figured fuel was not getting to the carb.  But I tried switching the ignition to one of Geno’s 4.8v nmh packs although my 6v pack was reading slightly higher voltage than his.  In about another ten flips, the engine started!  Switched back to my 6v pack for the start flips with choke off, and the engine fired up like normal in a few flips.  Might replace my 6v pack with a new one that I have.  Anyway, the engine ran fine for the whole ten minute flight.  Plane flew great.  Still kinda flies real floaty on low throttle for landings.

Flight log for week passed

Geez, getting so bad about posting the flight reports!  I know i flew on Sept 16 because that was the picnic fly in day at the krca field. i recall flyignonce with the Goblin 500 because some folks never saw a heli fly before.  I also flew the Yak 54 a few times .  It flew well and pleased the fams of the newb member pilots Dave and Jon.

After that i dont recall exact days because i have been under the weather.  I know i flew the Sbach a few times one day.  The engine ran well with the reattached clunk filter in the fuel tank.  And another day i flew the Bravata three times because we had a big bird day...might have been Saturday Sept 23. That flew fine too.  Both mufflers on those gassers seem to be staying attached well with the red liquid gasket and red thread lock.

I will report in advance that i am taking the T-28 and Stinger II to Dallas today!  Gotta fly if feeling well during the last good days of Summer.  Rain is already breaking up good weather several days in a row at times now.  Fall and Old Man Winter are on the horizon.

Flight log: 09/12&13/2017

Flew yesterday...one flight on the Sbach 342 but i did not fly it again due to fuel feed issue at end of the flight!  Came home and pulled the tank out of the plane.  As suspected, the clunk with fuel line inside the tank had slipped off the tubing that runs through the tank stopper.  No barbs on the tubing but there was a zip tie cinching the tygon line to the stopper tubing.  With time the tygon compresses and stiffens, just slipping off.   I just replaced rhe tygon with a more flexible one and added a new zip tie.  It just needs to be checked annually.

I had my Aerostar 40F and knocked out five flights on it, playing with flaps all the time.  Just a relaxing aircraft!

TODAY,  i flew my P-47 twice.  The guys there absolutley loved the appearance, sound, and flight handling.  Landings were tail up main gear touchdowns, things of beauty.  Takeoffs were crap.  Too much torque causes the plane to veer left on takeoff.  I need to add tons of right rudder to counteract the veer.  Simply need to fly it more to get the blend of throttle and right rudder.  Not much of an issue at KRCA where the left veer is typically out over the sod farm.  At Dallas RC, the veer heads the plane into the pit area fencing!  It was a great morning of flying.

FLight log: 04/26/2016

I forgot to make a blog entry for flying this Tuesday.  I had 4 flights of the X5, 3 of the 7HV, and 3 with the Sbach.  I really wanted to see the latter fly well after the changes to the throttle servo, and gas tank internal tubes.  All worked well with just a slight throttle trim adjustment.  No deadsticks or idiosynchrocies of any kind with the engine and fuel system.  The 3 flights were each the full 10 minutes!  Great morning of flying, with nobody else there.

Sbach fix

Got into the Sbach tank today to analyze the deadstick during yesterday's flight.

You can't tell but the old tubes that are dirty are all soft like gummy worms!  Also each connection between tigon tube and brass tube was dissolved and those two tubes plus the filter were loose in the tank, lol.  That explains the deadstick due to lack of fuel feed to the DLE-30  engine.  It also explains why gas would not defuel below the tank stopper level.  All should be fine now, for another couple years, haha.  I am anxious to fly the plane again!

Sbach aches

Rats, took the Sbach out because it was so fun the last time!  About 5 minutes into the first flight, the engine quit and I had to deadstick into the sod farm just off the runway.  After I got the canopy off, I could see that the throttle servo was not moving on command, but it was clicking, so apparently the gears are broken inside.  I have not opened it yet, but replaced it with a new servo at home.  These planes need maintenance now and then...I have noticed the nylon wing bolt on one wing slips at full insertion.  I fly anyway because it would take lots to make the whole bolt back out.  But I found replacements in my spares at home, and have replaced both wing bolts.  Next up is the gas did not fully empty from the fuel tank while at the field.  It normally does.  I tested filling another plane and defueling it at home...the tank fully empties.  Something is wrong in the Sbach fuel tank or lines and will need to be checked before taking the plane out again, rats again.

Before flying the Sbach, I took my heli flights. I got in 4 flights on the X5 and 3 on the 7HV...a total of 10 packs again.  Great flying again, but I did one dumb thumb on the 7HV.  I hit top rudder while doing a roll...that is a no no.  I meant to do negative pitch while inverted, but got into my airplane brain and made the mistake.  I quickly saw the heli tail angle out and recovered.  YIKES!

Sbach back!

First flew my G500 for 4 flights, followed by the 7HV for 3...that consumed 10 packs.  Nobody at the field the whole time I flew my helis.  Good stuff today, making progress with inverted.  Flipped upside down, hovered, moved forward, pyro 180, then move forward again.  Loving this stuff, some progress finally.  It is all due to good vision.

Then I moved over to the big bird area near the shed, and assembled my Sbach.  With some slight doubts, I tried to start the DLE-30.  Doubts due to not flying the plane in 13 months!  Happily, the engine coughed after about 30 flips.  Then with choke off, it started up and idled after just 5 flips.  Ran fine all day, with no flameouts, even as I did some tall stall turns, and a long flat spin.  This plane flew better today than I recall it having such capabilities.  Enjoyed doing lots of spins, avalanches, rolls of various sorts, stall turns, and inverted flying.  Then it slowed down to a crawl for landings.  Had two nice flights and called it a very good and satisfying day!

Flight Log: 03/08/2015

Flew 8 packs on Sunday.  Took just the X5 and G500, and had 4 flights on each.  Another nice day of weather.  JB seems to have switched their weekend work from Saturdays to Sunday.  They were not here on Saturday, but very present Sunday, harvesting along Hwy 99.  Flying was excellent for me and my helis though, since I do not venture into JB sod airspace much at all.  I had the Sbach with me, but did not even assemble it when I saw JB on the field.  I wanted to do Tygon fuel line maintenance/replacement on it anyway.  Later when I got home and checked the fuel tank by removing it from the plane, I found the fuel filter clunk still able to flex and feed from whichever side of the tank I placed down.  In other words gravity was making the clunk feed from the bottom of the tank in any attitude...a desirable thing.  So I just reinstalled the tank and did not have to replace any fuel lines.

Toast

The Goblin 500 took a major dirt nap Sunday morning!  I had 3.5 great flights through it, and was on the 4th pack when it happened.  Flying towards me about 100 feet out and 30 feet high, the Gobby took a sudden pitch down and also dropped fast.  I tried up elevator and higher throttle to no avail. In just another second, it continued to pitch more and more nose down and might have been about 60 degrees nose down when it hit terra firma.  Not a pretty sight.  Tacoed the battery pack.  Came home and did an assessment of the damage, and so far it is about $350.  It would be higher than $400 but I already have a canopy replacement received as a Christmas gift from Tad and Becky.  Surprisingly the boom and all tail parts seem undamaged.  Pics to follow when I extract them from my cell phone and iPad later.

Taco supreme!

Oh, Tad and I autopsied the remains and our guess is the swash plate ring failed, causing an unavoidable catastrophe.  I researched HeliFreak last night and found many threads about the stock swash plate failing.  Too bad I did not know about it before the crash!  Oh well, let's move forward with a repair, and rise of the phoenix.

Ready for autopsy at home.
Surprisingly no damage to boom and tail!

Dirt in the motor.

Busted swash ring

Bent blade holder and spindle, maybe main shaft too.

Lots of canopy damage elsewhere too.

Both blades damaged enough to be unusable.

Right main frame and battery holder cracked.
LG and braces undamaged!

 I flew the Gaui X5 twice after the Gobby crash, and it was fine, so I ruled out (generally) the transmitter as being the cause of the Gobby demise.  Also had 3 flights with the Sbach 342, all very crisp.  Had actually another flight which ended in deadstick at the end of a long double spin.  The engine died when I reversed the spin direction half way down.  Made a safe landing on the sod grass just off the runway to be safe.  Increased the idle by a few clicks for subsequent flights.

Unusual!

I took only one aircraft out to fly today...a PLANE!  No helis as I deemed it too windy for me.  I was right, and actually it was too windy to have stress free flying with my Sbach!  I took one long flight, got down safely when I thought the wind was lighter and steady instead of gusting.  Typical crosswind out of the North, between 5 and 10mph.  Our 5mph new windsock was straight out horizontally most of the time.  The Sbach felt a bit touchy and weird after a long layoff, but I got used to it and had fun after a few minutes.  Tad got in 3 packs on his Goblin 500.  Anthony and Quang were there and done early too.  Other flyers...Mike, Dick, Chris, Ken.  Quite surprising that there were this many there, on a windy day.

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!

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!

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.

Flight Log: 07/25/2013

Another fine day that is going to be HOT later so I went early again for my flying fix.  Got there by 8:30, outta there by 10:20.  Flew my Sbach thrice and the Star twice.   Wind was light but approaching 5mph and of course from the North for nice krosswind landings.  My landings sucked with the Sbach.  I am just not getting that one down pat every time like my other planes.  It floats with low idle and automatically pitches up at real low speeds.  I feather in some throttle and some down elevator but still need lots of work to land this plane properly.  I fear for the LG in the meantime.  The Star was flawless fun again.  Oh, the Sbach was awesome at all other times besides the landings, lol. No troubles whatsoever with the DLE-30.

Sbach 342 and Blade 130x

Had a good time in strong sun and nearly 80F today.  Flew the Sbach twice and the 130x twice.  Rudy was putting away by the time I arrived at 10AM!  He got there at 8.  Dave W finished a flight, then packed up too.  Sbach is doing well and slowly becoming a fave due to how neutral it sets up...very little coupling in KE, super responsive to all controls, flies true.  Probably my worst maneuver with it is landing!  It pitches up in low idle and actually needs some more throttle and a smidge of down elevator to grease in.  Without the down elevator it sort of plops to the ground near a stall.

The 130x was fun.  All I can do is hover with nose facing away from me.  With the little wind, I walked the chopper around the pits, down the runway, and back to the gasser area to get practice with the wind hitting the chopper at its sides and back, not just the front.  No crashes or damage today, haha.

Sbach 342

Had a good 4 flights with the Sbach 342 today.  Joe even came out mid-week, and Rudy and Mike were there too.  Gorgeous day, cloudless sky, over 70F, but pretty breezy from the NW to NE, basically always crosswind to our main runway.  The weather channels said 5-15mph; my guess is perhaps 10mph max.  It did make landings touchy at times.  The Sbach really performed well today, running strong, no glitches in the engine.  Hovers are getting better, but the plane is so good at pattern maneuvers too, so it just makes for a wide variety of capabilities and enjoyment.

SBach 342

On a totally glorious and sunny day with over 70F, I flew the Sbach 4 times at the field.  The winds were negligible.  DLE-30 sure started up nice and ran really steady, no hiccuping at the high end.  While Mike says it sounds rich in the middle range, it runs so fine to me that I will not try to adjust what ain't broke.  Mike brought his new UCanDo while Dave and Don brought their electric Cessna and Cub.  Great day of flying and comraderie.

WOW Day!

Every day flying is a good day, just like every day of retirement is a GOOD day.  But some flying days are just regular while others are exceptional somehow.  Today was one of those.  I first flew my Blade 400 through two battery packs and had fun with it.  I challenged myself to fly it further out and also to make some almost semicircle turns, but never headed the 400 at me.  Got the chopper out to the SW corner of the runway and made it back several times by just turning to face out, and then back the chopper home to me.  Never did panic or get any serious trouble.   Wind was southerly maybe up to 5mph at times.  Then I took the Sbach 342 with DLE-30 up for 3 great flights.  It flies better than my 50cc Ultimate, so clean in KE, and just floating in (sometimes too much in the past, but I am getting more comfy with it) on landings.  Nearly maxed out the 10 minute timer on each flight.  Engine ran well with the new throttle servo installed, haha.  Did a bunch of hover practice and some rolling harriers.  Both are coming along slowly.  Like I said, an EXCEPTIONAL day out!