Dad and I were able to get to the field on Saturday for some flying.  We got a s0lid 3hrs of flying in.  Both of us flew our Duraplanes with the Durabat wings.  I flew my Extra 330 for the first time with the new engine (YS .91FZ) and new radio/servos (Futaba 7ch 2.4 /w digital servos).

We also got a flight in on the Decathlon, but unfortunately one of the landing gear wheels fell off mid flight and I had to land her with 1 wheel.  The Extra flew SPECTACULARLY with the YS .91 swinging an 16×8 APC prop.  It flies clean and crisp,  just like I expected.  There was one mishap though, that was of course, a pilot mistake.

Not thinking about how much fuel that big .91 four stroker guzzles, I did a snap roll while low on fuel and the engine died.  I had to dead stick land her with a 10kt tail wind, BEHIND a structure in a field. Effectively the last 5-10 feet of the landing were done blindly.  Luckily the only damage was to the gear and gear mounting plate.  It snapped right out of the fuse so cleanly, one would think it was cut out with a saw.

I epoxied it back in place and added some reinforcement pieces of hardwood and it’s as good as new!

Check the vids out and see what happened!

Extra/YS.91 first flight

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Extra Deadstick and retrieval

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Decathlon one wheel landing

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So after a nice Easter breakfast, Dad and I snuck out to the field to maiden the Phoenix Model’s Super Decathlon ARF with an OS .46AX.  After some initial setup issues (wing struts), we got her in the air for 2 separate flights.

First impressions of flying are very positive.  The plane handles quite well with a very predictable nature.  A bit like a high wing trainer without the “lazy” feeling you get from those “high-dihedral” wings.  Aileron rates were a bit low because we had “flaperons” programmed in using the 6ch Futaba computer radio.   The engine was still in break in so we ran it a bit rich, the power was enough to fly the plane comfortably at just over 1/2 throttle.  Takeoffs were short and the plane landed very easily.  Dad got some stick time in and seemed to REALLY enjoy flying this spectacular looking and handling airplane.

Dad has a .70 size 4 stroke Magnum sitting in a box that will likely make it’s way to the Decathlon after a few more flights.  Here is a video Dad took using his Flip HD Video camera.

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Yes, its been a while since my last post, this is mostly due to the HORRIBLE weather we had over the winter.  Two and a half blizzards brought almost 100″ of snow this year.  24″ in late Dec, 32″ followed by 15″ 2 days later in early Feb… and there was NO flying to speak of.  Sure I got some flights in with the E-Razor 250 and Novus FP but nothing to speak of really.

Anyway, on to the new stuff!

Dad and I got out to the field last weekend hoping to fly the “Franken Plane” and my Phoenix Models Extra 330. This would have been the first flight with the new YS .91 and Futaba Radio/Servos but.. stupid me forgot to bring the Wing Tube…. yeah I know, bonehead maneuver

Fast forward to today and OMG!  The UPS guy showed up at work with a new plane/engine that Dad ordered from Tower Hobbies.  Opening the box I was happy to find a “40 size” Phoenix Models Super Decathlon and a new O.S. .46 AX 2stroke engine!

Dad has been itching to get a plane that was NOT a duraplane for a while, and hes a HUGE fan of Citabria Airplanes… especially the Super Decathlon.

OK for starters let me say this:  I will NEVER buy a Great Planes ARF again!  Why?  Because Phoenix Models makes such AMAZING ARFs at a fraction of the cost of a similar Great Planes ARF.

Dad paid $109.00 for this spectacular ARF, one of the best parts is, they pre-hinge AND pin all the control surfaces on the airplane.  And no, they don’t use CA hinges, they use actual plastic with metal hinge pin type hinges.  The covering/graphics are top notch and the build of the airframe is very light and of extremely high tolerances.  This is the second Phoenix ARF I’ve built and cannot be happier!

Other bonuses:  the hardware package is complete and of very high quality.  The engine mount is pre-installed and the fuse has a section cut out for the engine exhaust!   I really can’t say enough good things about these ARFs, so I will let the pics do the talking.  Here are a few I shot with my I-phone during the 3 hrs I worked on the airplane this evening.

After reading some forum posts on RCgroups, I found that a few people were running 3 cell Lipo packs on their E-Razor 250s, I figured since I had a 3 cell pack laying around from the old Walkera 22e, that I would give it a shot.

I soldered a spare JST connector to the pack from the 22e and gave it a whirl (literally).

Results?  WOW the increased head speed was immediately noticed, the heli was loads more stable and responsive.   After about an 8 minute flight, the pack was getting low so I shut her down to make some post flight checks.  The ESC and brushless motor were cool to the touch and everything seemed to be fine.

I am going to be looking for some 3-cell packs for a good price now, I was honestly shocked at how well the little FP heli flew on 3 cells!  Domo Approved (as you can see).

Oh yeah, I also fixed the Novus FP, I put a new tail boom on her and she flies great!

Last weekend when we went to the field to fly (and crash) *see the previous post* Duraplanes, I brought the Dynam E-Razor 250 Heli with me.  After cleaning up the fixed wing birds, I figured I would give the little electric helicopter a go in the light winds we had.

Here is a vid my Dad shot with his Snap Video cam.

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So with today’s weather being almost 50 and clear, I figured it would be a great day to check out the field for some Duraplane flying.  I loaded up the old Dodge and headed out.

After much persuasion, I got the GMS 76 started on the newest “Franken Plane” and took her for some flights.   Once again (as expected) the engine just would not stay running while in flight, and I ended up having 5 dead stick landings.  Luckily the Dura-plane is, well… durable, and can take hard landings (not that I had any ).

Later, Dad showed up and we did the maiden flight of his newest tail-dragger Dura-plane.  After about 6 successful flights, between Dad and I, on approach for a touch and go the receiver battery went dead and the plane hit a fence post pretty hard.  Luckily the damage was limited to the prop and fuselage (easily replaceable).

Here is a pic to give you an idea of the carnage!

I received 2 new batteries I found on Ebay today: 600mah Lipos for the Novus FP or Walkera 4#3 as some would call it.  On the third charge I crashed pretty hard into the coffee table and snapped the tail boom.  Luckily I have a spare boom but didn’t really feel like fixing it tonight, seeing as I have to de and re-solder the tail motor wires to replace the tail boom.

Anyhow, here is a pic of the broken bird:

Seeing as the weather has been absolute crap lately, and entirely “airplane unfriendly” I have been doing some serious messing around with electric helicopters,  if you read below you saw the Novus FP and the Walkera 22e.

Arriving today was the E-Razor 250 by Dynam RC  (china product!).

Right out of the box I was impressed with this little heli,  I opted for the 250 size being that I wanted a smaller heli, there is a 450 which is a more traditional size but I enjoy the small ones. It has very nice components, to mention a few we have: CNC aluminum head, tail and swashplate parts.  Everything else is plastic/carbon fiber.

Upon charging the included 850mah 2cell Lipo (7.4v) I went over the heli to make sure everything was good to go.  I found a loose screw on the pulley that runs the belt that spins the tail rotor.  Small fix but still annoying.

Then upon powering up the heli for the first time, I noticed a VERY distinctive wobble in the head somewhere… originally thinking something was out of balance, I was very upset to find that the entire head itself would wobble about 1/8th inch back and forth when you spun the main rotors by hand.  Upon closer inspection, it was very obvious that the main shaft was BENT!  Yes.. the shaft that the entire power system runs on, the head/swashplate/main gear/tail pulley was BENT AT THE TOP!

Needless to say I was extremely upset by this, so I called Nitroplanes “tech” support.  First off calling these guys takes about 20 mins of waiting in a “queue” for someone to answer, finally when you get someone you have to convince them that there is a problem with the product.  The rep first tried to make me take apart the entire head and remove the main shaft and as he put it “roll on your desk” to see if it was indeed bent.  I refused and told him the wobble was so prevalent and that I could visually see that the shaft was indeed bent.  After some more convincing the rep put in an order to send out a new main shaft.  So I should be receiving that next week.

After some more inspection I was pretty much ready to give it a go (yeah I know, I shouldn’t fly a heli with a bent main shaft but I couldn’t resist!) I decided to try in my office near the break area and noticed right off the bat that this heli is very twitchy and agile, definitely a 3-D machine (if I ever get that good!).  After a few flights I decided to pack up and go home for some more inspection/flight.

Back at home in the garage I immediately took apart the head and removed the main shaft.  Finding that when I rolled it on my workbench you could easily hear/see the bend.  It turns out the shaft was about 1/16th of an inch bent at the top 1/3rd.  I tried to bend it back as best as I could, I got it pretty close and re-installed it in the heli.  After about 3 more battery packs worth of flight, I was pretty satisfied with my repair job.   No the wobble isnt entirely gone, but its much better than it was and the heli responded well to the change.   I cant wait to get the new shaft installed, as it should make a huge difference.

Other than those 2 things I am fairly pleased with the heli, it has a very nice computer radio that is easy to figure out and extremely high quality components on the heli itself.

I will post more as I get a better feel for this new little bird!

I brought the Walkera 22e to my father’s house on X-mas so I could show him first hand how well it hovers, well upon trying to get her up in the air, all of the sudden the main motor stops and I can’t figure out why.

Fast forward to that evening and I am testing things out, I tried a new motor and that did not fix the issue, upon further inspection… it looks like the 2 MOSFETs or Field Effect Transistors that run the Speed Control for the main motor, were burnt to a crisp. DOH!

With much googling to follow, I found out Walkera no longer makes this type of 4-in-1 receiver (2x esc, receiver, gyro) unit and I would have to purchase a new 2.4 ghz receiver (and transmitter) to get this bird flying again, which turns out to be more expensive than buying an entire new heli.   So I guess this bird gets shelved for now, its hanging from the ceiling in the hangar.

The good news was that my parts arrived from wowhobbies.com yesterday and I was able to get the Novus FP back in action (I broke the tail rotor).  After 2 battery packs worth of flight, I noticed the tail was all over the place and the heli was un controllable.  Luckily when I placed my order with wowhobbies, I added a tail motor to the order.  After switching out to the new motor, the heli flies better than ever!

Oh yeah the hangar!  I took a page from my Grandfather’s book and hung all the airplanes (cept the 330s its too big) from my garage ceiling!   Here is a  pic taken with my Iphone!

So I did some adjustments to the swashplate on the Walkera 22e and it hovers a whole lot better now!

Check out the vid below!

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