Flight Log: Last Weekend in September

On Saturday, I maidened my new 60 size GP Shoestring.  Flew well, just needing some down trim and aileron trim to fly straight and level.  The Saito 100 ran good, but needs a little more tuning to be great.  Sounds great already though, but I ran it rich.  Seems like it will be fast  and cleaner in aerobatics than the new 46 size version.  By that I mean it has less adverse coupling when in KE, less than even my 50cc AW Ultimate!  The nice thing about the larger Shoestring is that it slows down for landing much more than the smaller Shoestring, and the ground handling is docile.  It did not have any tendency to ground loop like the smaller one.  I think I had 3 flights with the new Shoe.

On Sunday, I flew my Giles 202 and it was awesome, and handled the brisk north crosswind (nearing 10mph) like it was non-existent.  That is still one of my best planes with rock solid and rail like handling.  The OS 160FX ran like clockwork today.  That leads me to Jer's Extra 300 with the same engine.  He put in new bearings and a new O-ring on the needle valve last night, and the engine still ran rich and weak today.  That was sad.  He only took one flight and set the plane aside for the day.

We flew our DLG's with Joe and had a good time.  Since Jer put the Castle Berg receiver in his Colibri on Friday, we can now fly simultaneously without interference to his Colibri.

Last but not least, Alex flew his Alpha 40 trainer today and I awarded him his smiley face on his KRCA membership card.  He soloed each of 3 or 4 flights.  He was doing loops, rolls, and inverted flight with ease.  All take-offs were excellent, and landings were very satisfactory.  I even made him get to altitude then throttle all the way to low idle to simulate deadsticks, and he landed smoothly and safely on the JB sod farm.  Actually after the second such landing, I made him takeoff again, and the engine quit moments later due to running low on fuel, so he got to do a real deadstick.  He did fine and landed without stalling.   The plane decended steeply though, but he saved it with a flare at the very last second that made for a smooth landing on the sod farm.  It was as good as anyone else might do.  Congrats Alex!!!

EC5TACY

Well, that is supposed to look like ecstacy but with my C5 Corvette!  I took the C5 out today on a 50.5 mile jaunt into the countryside.  With no real plan, I headed through town on 22, exited near the prison, headed further east to McClay, north to State St, and then back into Salem.  Once in West Salem, I did the little loop on the twisty rural road that connects Orchard Hgts to Brush College road.  Headed then to get gas on Wallace but they were crowded so I just came home.  Played some CD mixes on the stereo, but mostly listened to the engine purr and sometimes roar during the drive.  It was indeed ecstacy to listen to.  While I may be remotely considering a Boxster, I still really do enjoy the power and even the handling of the Corvette C5.  I need to wash that baby now.

Here she is after I washed her that day:

New Hankook tires and Z06 repro rims!

Sweet Sbach

Tad and I went flying this AM and had a nice time.  Only Rudy showed up today, and no one else on such a gorgeous Fall day!  I flew my Sbach 4 times and Tad did the same with his Kaos Two.  Got the Sbach dialed in a little better by removing some down elevator mix when left rudder is applied in right KE.  All in all, I might need just a smidge more nose weight, but the plane is flying fine right now.  With the rearward CG it sure can land slowly, which I am getting better at by keeping more throttle on during landing approaches and cutting it just inches before touchdown.  My AW Ultimate requires the same treatment.  The Sbach can harrier upright pretty easily using the throttle pulsing like with the Ultimate, but the Sbach just wing rocks more readily.  On the other hand, hovering seemed easier today with the Sbach than the Ultimate yesterday.

The DLE-30 started everytime easily.  Of course on the first try, it took longer since the plane has been sitting for a few weeks after its last flying day, but it started in under 20 flips.  Subsequent starts were on the first or second flip with no need to choke the engine.  I leaned out the high needle just the width of the flat bladed screwdriver because the muffler is still spitting out black on the underside of the plane.  Nothing bad happened, so I will keep the needle there for a few more outings to see if the black decreases.  Nice engine.

Gave the Apache a bunch of tosses and found no thermals.  Tad flew the plane a handful of flights and said it is touchy and hard to fly, haha.  He will get used to it when he gets his own DLG.

Ultimate Fun

It was chancy to go out today because it was cool and grey, 53F, and breezy, but I gave it a try because I really wanted to get the AW Ultimate 20-300 up again.  It was slightly breezy at the field too, but I think not much above 5 mph out of the North, so I assembled and flew the Ultimate.  It was a great time.  Nobody else came out, not even the JB guys, although the sprinklers were on.  I got in 5 flights today, in just about an hour of pretty continuous flying, typically 8 minutes per flight.  Assembly and disassembly still bother me because it takes at least 20 minutes to assemble, and 15 to disassemble.

The extra ounce of lead in the nose seems to make a difference, such that I have the type of elevator trim I can live with.  The plane flies level or ever so little up on a straight line when upright.  Flipped inverted, it takes just the slightest down pressure on the stick to maintain level flight.  On a 45 upline, it maintains that attitude, or slightly increases its climb, but very minutely.  I played with mixes to help the plane in knife edge.  Both sides of KE require some up elevator to stop the plane from dipping to the LG.  Left KE requires a little less.  Both sides of KE also require opposite aileron to keep the plane from wanting to return to upright flight.  Thus, right KE (left rudder) needs some right aileron while left KE (right rudder) needs some left aileron to stay in knife edge.  I have a feeling some of the incidences of the wing(s) and elevator are creating the problem, but I am not going to start cutting the fuse up to change these relationships.  It is too pretty and too much work to go down that road.  I will enjoy the AW Ultimate as is!

I did a number of fun things in the air today.  I practiced more harrier upright flying per a MAN instructional article.  By pulsing the throttle continuously, it is really easy to harrier, steering with rudder, and keeping wings level with ailerons.  I also tried hovering a couple times, and the pulsing of throttle helps there too, but I need way more practice to get it to stay put.  I did some rolling circles as usual, lots of slow and 4pt rolls, and loops.  And I tried lots of harrier rolls with high alpha.  Getting better and it takes lots of timing and changing of throttle.  It too will come with more stick time.  Lastly, I tried some clockwise rolling circles, with rolls to the left...more promising than ever before.  I do counterclockwise circles with rolls to the right much better due to practicing that direction all the time.  I am loving this Ultimate even if it is a pain to assemble and disassemble.  It's still impressive and my best looking plane, IMHO.

While I took the Apache, the sun never came out during my flight session, so I did not attempt to fly it.  Of course by the time I reached home, the sun was burning the grey haze off, and I betcha this afternoon there will be some nice thermals, albeit windier too.

2012 Additions to the Build Log

Due to way too many planes populating my garage, for 2012 I concentrated on flying and repairing more than expanding the air force.

09/24/2012:  My only addition so far this year is the 60 size GP Shoestring, the predecessor of the 46 size plane with fiberglass fuselage.  For power I installed the Saito 100.

Theoretically I have a subtraction from the air force because I gave Jeremy my GP Extra 300SP, but it will remain in my garage and take up space until he buys a house.

Hardware!

I lucked out and won the Arch Enemy Fun Fly that was CD'd by Joe.  Lots of fun, but lots of carnage to many planes today.  Luckily my SNAFU was not one to bite the dust.  There were ELEVEN pilots to start with, and I think FIVE crashed today.  Some were due to planes snagging balloons or crepe paper, but others were due to pilot errors, and one due to a dead battery in the plane.  It was very close and I just beat out Brandon and Rudy.  I actually thought Brandon had won, but their guess for the wingspan of a plane was off by 4" while my guess on another plane was off by 3".  If not for that, Brandon would have won by virtue of hitting one more balloon (a good thing) in the Cluster Bust flight...he got 7 while I hit 6.

Regarding planes lost to the balloons or crepe paper, I saw Bob B's go in when a balloon with crepe paper stuck on his plane and caused uneven drag.  He could not ditch the balloon, and ended up crashing.  Dick snagged lots of crepe paper a couple times on his flight, and the whole electric motor ended up breaking free of the plane, with a resultant dethermalizer effect on the plane...end of flight.  I actually snagged a balloon with crepe paper attached, it hung onto the SNAFU for a few seconds, then fell off to my relief.  I landed with a crepe paper streamer still attached, and to my surprise the dead weight was still on the streamer too!  While it was attached, it fortunately for me did not make the plane uncontrollable.  Brandon snagged two balloons with one pass, shook them off, then snagged another that stayed on a long time while he sped up and gained altitude.  He then spun it off in a dive and landed unscathed.

The last event was the arch enemy task and EVERYONE miraculously drew the task as flying UNDER/UNDER both arches.  The other option was to fly UNDER/OVER.  By vote we eliminated the OVER/UNDER option...bunch of weenies, lol.  The most wild flight in this task was taken by Quang who decided to do his inverted at high speed.  He missed the first attempt when he went UNDER/OVER, and with time on his side he decided to try again.  This time he went UNDER/BLUNDER!  By that I mean he ended up going under the first arch fine, then was too low for the 2nd arch and slid his plane onto the runway, breaking both sides of the prop, but not anything else by some miracle!  We can only presume he hit at such a slight angle on the grass runway that no damage was caused to the canopy, nor the fin and rudder, which are super thick on this plane (GP Cap 21).  It was entertaining to say the least!

Lots of fun.  While I feel sad for the guys that lost planes that they liked, it's part of the challenge and part of the territory.  I took my SNAFU because I considered it my most dispensible, but lucked out with it coming home with just a dinged APC prop, caused by the dead weight on one of the balloons I popped in the Minefield flight.   Joe made the Funfly a lot of fun, definitely funny, and also challenging.  He ran it well.  Folks said they don't want him to run another though, due to the carnage, almost 50% of the planes entered, crashed!  I think some of them were serious, but I thought (as biased winner) it was all in good fun and good taste!  My SNAFU has done well for me this season...winning the Valley Challenge a month ago, and now the Fall Funfly.  It has not met its expiration date, YET!  :)

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New Shoestring, 60 size

My new Great Planes 60 size Shoestring is essentially complete today, with the addition of the decals provided with the ARF.  Powered with a Saito 100, the all up weight of the plane is 7.3#.  At this time the balance point is perhaps 1/4" or so in front of the recommended CG, so it should be a safe maiden flight.  I am using my second Futaba 7 ch transmitter with the usual 617 receiver and 3152 servos on all flight surfaces.  A Hitec 325 is on throttle.  A 6V NimH powers the receiver and servos.  Here are some pics of the plane.

Hey that's me in the cockpit!  Alex made a coooool profile pilot for the plane,
scaled to be 1/4 scale like the plane.  I am wearing a KRCA cap and Harbor Freight
ear protectors, haha.  He flip flopped the pic for the other side and mounted them
on thin plywood.  

I had the ARF about 2 years before finally assembling it during the last couple months.  This ARF is not sold anymore and I was lucky to find one on RCU.  I also have the 46 size version with the FG fuselage.  They are going to look nifty side by side in the pits!




UPDATE on 09/24/2012:  I test ran the Saito 100 in the Shoestring this afternoon, in the side yard.  It would not start at first because the initial low idle setting was too low to stay running.  I upped the throttle and the engine started right up, so I increased the throttle trim to maintain a decent low idle, on the higher side to keep from dying.  Right now the high needle is set at 3 turns open.  While I opened the throttle up a little, I did not run it prolonged at high speed because I don't want to bother any neighbors.  I doubt anyone heard it with the low sound of this engine.  It ran steady and without hesitations, so that is a good beginning.  I am ready to take it to the field to tune it more and of course to maiden it!