Our long lost buddy, Cliff, that moved to OK came back for Thanksgiving with his kids last week. We set up a flying day with him, and it happened yesterday on a chilly but calm and dry day, I flew my SNAFU three times. Took the 7HV but elected to not fly it so others could have the sky. Nice day!
Another nice break in the weather today…45-50F when I flew around 10-11:30. Got the two big green machines out…the 7HV and the Ultrastick. On the second flight of the US, I came swooping in with full flaps, and was pretty crooked to the runway! Last second I saw I was heading at the bearcat weathervane but lower. I immediately pulled up and whack! Miraculously only my prop hit the prop on the bearcat, knocking it off completely. Yups! So the plane was headed out to the field and I was going to cut power and dead stick but it wasn’t vibrating like nuts, and the engine still responded, so I nursed her 180 back and landed on the runway. Inspected the plane and found not damage except the broken prop! Pretty sure that if i didn’t pull up, my plane would be wrapped around the same pole as the bearcat, lol. At home, I found a new Xoar 20-8 and installed it on the plane.
It was a cool day but 45F+, and breezy at 5-10mph but sunny. The forecast is for over a week of wet, windy, cold weather, so I went to fly at 11:00, not expecting any one to be at the field. It was nice to see a couple bodies there from a distance...Doug Brown and Andy. Doug flew his new Assassin wing and of course one of his many Nexstar’s. I flew the Tower Kaos 40 twice and the G500 once. It was all uneventful and pleasant. Landings were on the runway which is good in the crosswind breezes we had today. Mission accomplished.
Good rare day with Tad at the field . He flew his Avanti S twice...did it well, all good takeoffs and most importantly landings, with good stuff in between such as many rolls and low passes. Should have brought more than two packs! I flew my 7HV and Kavalier three times each. Most of the core group came in later in the day...we missed them.
Supposedly nice all day, the morning had a thick wet mist almost a steady drizzle but not really falling. But walking through it, I felt like being wet misted! That postponed our morning flying. Doug and I decided to fly at 1PM. It looked grey and like it was just after dawn but by then the wet mist was gone and it was as calm as could be. Cool but not cold. Doug really wanted to fly his 550 , and he successfully got through four packs without damage. A couple landings were rough with the tail rotor sliding into grass, dirt, or the runway berm. One was just in the ryegrass, but no damage! He even got in some forward flight back and forth parallel to the runway , never nose in to us. Gutsy guy did well.
I flew my 7HV twice and my Osiris twice. No probs. Dang Turnigy 4000 packs Must weigh all over the place because the plane behaves different in KE with almost every pack even though I place the packs at the same mark each time. Too bad the pack doesn’t go right at the CG! Fun flyer nevertheless.
Pretty sure I already missed logging some days again, lol.
Flew the Ultrastick yesterday three flights. Gaui X5 twice. Note that prior to going to the field, I tightened the mesh of the gears in the tail. It got rid of an unwanted sound back there.
The X5 went up twice again today and was nice. The unwanted noise in the tail came back but much less than it used to be before tightening the gear mesh.
Goblin 500 three times. Sbach once. All well. Helped Dougie and Gary with their new Blade Fusion 480’s, stretched to 550.
So easy to forget to post my flights!
10/16: Sbach once after enough morning fog lifted. Also once in the compass 7HV.
10/17: once on the Goblin 500 and once on the Kavalier. It was a great day because Jer came and brought Ariel (7) and Jack (4) who were anxious to fly a real RC plane after playing on the flight sim at home. They flew my Aerostar 10 electric plane and really did well! They flew parts of three battery packs with Jeremy’s arms wrapped around them from behind. Awesome!
10/18: flew the G500 once and the Aerostar 40 F once. I spent the majority of my time helping Gary and Dougie prep their new Blade Fusion 480 helis, stretched to 550. They did real well but both helis drifted left, especially Gary’s one, which I hovered a few seconds. His also was really insensitive near center stick, too much so, so he will try to program for more response eventually. It was great they both had successful maidens and went home with whole helis!
Great day of flying with Tad yesterday. It was foggy at first, mostly on the East half of the field. We flew anyway, mostly on the west side! Tad got in three nice flights with two great landings and one slight bouncer on his Avanti S, sporting the new fuselage replacement. I had three flights on the Ultrastick, ending with a busted Xoar prop (there goes $27.00) when I somehow made a bouncy landing with the fuselage horizontal to the ground which means low prop clearance. This plane needs slow nose high three-point landings to save the prop. And this is with 5” dubro tires instead of the stock wheels of maybe 3”. Also am using a 20” prop instead of 21” recommended for the VVRC 40cc twin. Came home and put on a new VVRC 20-10 prop cuz I don’t have another 20-8. Also had two G630 flights yesterday.
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’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.
