Cessna 152, Balsa 30% Scale Rescue from Hostetler Plans
- Thread starter Joker 53150
- Start date
Very nice!
OliverW
Legendary member
Yep! Each one was from an extreme flight mxs
TooJung2Die
Master member
When I see model airplanes this size I have to think, why stop there? Just scale it up a bit more and you don't need RC. Climb in and fly it yourself!
Tench745
Master member
That's where I'm at after not-quite finishing my 1/6th scale Spirit of St Louis. Started in on a full scale Junior Ace... really need to get back to it too.When I see model airplanes this size I have to think, why stop there? Just scale it up a bit more and you don't need RC. Climb in and fly it yourself!
Remember when I said I removed a LOT of power wires from the plane? Well, here is the mega-harness - all 40" long of it! It was a bad idea with good intentions, and if it weren't for the weird twitching of one elevator servo and the throttle servo the plane may have flown by now (or crashed...). But a couple years of working on other planes earned me a bit more knowledge than I had back then, so this garbage is removed and is being replaced by MUCH less wiring. I still haven't done wiring for the ailerons, flaps, the SBUS to PWM/PPM decoder, or power for the nav lights on the wings, but it will all still be much cleaner, should provide far less (hopefully no) RF interference, and be easier to diagnose problems if they occur.
This harness let me connect two batteries for servos and ignition plus a battery for the lighting circuit. I could isolate any of the main batteries, cut power to the ignition, as well as the nav lights from a panel with redundant switches for each circuit. Overkill you ask? WAY overkill! Live and learn.
It was a bad idea with good intentions, and if it weren't for the weird twitching of one elevator servo and the throttle servo the plane may have flown by now (or crashed...). But a couple years of working on other planes earned me a bit more knowledge than I had back then, so this garbage is removed and is being replaced by MUCH less wiring. I still haven't done wiring for the ailerons, flaps, the SBUS to PWM/PPM decoder, or power for the nav lights on the wings, but it will all still be much cleaner, should provide far less (hopefully no) RF interference, and be easier to diagnose problems if they occur. This harness let me connect two batteries for servos and ignition plus a battery for the lighting circuit. I could isolate any of the main batteries, cut power to the ignition, as well as the nav lights from a panel with redundant switches for each circuit. Overkill you ask? WAY overkill!
Live and learn.
Right now, the only thing I need to be able to fire the Cessna up for testing is the new gas tank cap for the Fiji water bottle. Well, warm weather would be nice, too. While I wait, I decided to test-fit the wings again to make sure I'll be ready when good weather hits. I haven't looked at them for a while, but those wings are UGLY! The covering is all pretty well secured so I don't plan on doing anything major with them until after the plane flies. There are other projects I'd like to do before getting into rebuilding the wings, and I fear that once I uncover and open them up I'll be faced with another long-term project.
One thing that WILL be done to the wings, however, is fixing the servo wire extensions. Like the rest of the plane, I am trying to get rid of excess extensions wherever possible. I need to inspect the original servos, but am considering removing the original servo wires and replacing them with new longer cables to do away completely with the extensions within the wings.
While I wait, I decided to test-fit the wings again to make sure I'll be ready when good weather hits. I haven't looked at them for a while, but those wings are UGLY! The covering is all pretty well secured so I don't plan on doing anything major with them until after the plane flies. There are other projects I'd like to do before getting into rebuilding the wings, and I fear that once I uncover and open them up I'll be faced with another long-term project.One thing that WILL be done to the wings, however, is fixing the servo wire extensions. Like the rest of the plane, I am trying to get rid of excess extensions wherever possible. I need to inspect the original servos, but am considering removing the original servo wires and replacing them with new longer cables to do away completely with the extensions within the wings.
That is ALWAYS good insurance.
Instead of finishing the Rascal 110, which only needs a new ignition module mounted and a throttle servo replaced, I decided to do more work on the Cessna. Why? Because it was on the bench and I'm feeling a bit too lazy to move it.
I think I mentioned earlier that I'm going to use a SBUS to PWM converter for my wing servos. If not, I'm going to use an SBUS to PWM converter for the wing servos. This will let me run one servo extension up to the wing's center section instead of four, and these four servos will be the only ones which get power directly from the receiver (the rest all get powered from the power distribution board. Less wires, less headaches? To keep it as neat as possible I'm also making my own servo extensions as close to the required size as possible. The first time I tried making them (a year or two ago) I had all kinds of problems. Now it's fairly easy and I can make them in just a few minutes. Next up will be making the extensions for the wings, unless I get distracted and start working on something else first.
I think I mentioned earlier that I'm going to use a SBUS to PWM converter for my wing servos. If not, I'm going to use an SBUS to PWM converter for the wing servos. This will let me run one servo extension up to the wing's center section instead of four, and these four servos will be the only ones which get power directly from the receiver (the rest all get powered from the power distribution board. Less wires, less headaches? To keep it as neat as possible I'm also making my own servo extensions as close to the required size as possible. The first time I tried making them (a year or two ago) I had all kinds of problems. Now it's fairly easy and I can make them in just a few minutes. Next up will be making the extensions for the wings, unless I get distracted and start working on something else first.
So how's the whole receiver to servo chain going to work for this build with mixed SBUS and PWM channels? Curious about the use of SBUS for some and PMW for other channels (I'm assuming you're leaving the tail servos PWM and directly connected to the receiver) I've only considered doing everything one way or the other so far.
AFAIK, it really doesn't matter. The S.Bus is more like an extension of the receiver and I am pretty sure you are not locked to one or the other. As an example, On my Bugatti, I had the Flex Innovation guys put in an Aura8 unit and they used the S.Bus from my receiver to the Aura unit for the control surfaces but the throttle and landing gear channels ran straight off the receiver.
From what I have found it doesn't appear to be an issue. Seems many people have run channels 1-8 on the receiver and 9-16 as PWM. My only partial concern is power for the 4 servos running thru the single servo extension (between the receiver and converter). Only the two aileron servos will see regular power consumption, which I'm fine with. The other two are flaps, which won't be needed often thanks to the massive runway I've got at a sod farm. I've considered running separate power and ground from the distribution board to the servos, and then the signal wire from the converter to control them, but I don't know if that's necessary.
Along with the work on getting signals to the wing servos, I decided to replace the wing servos with new units. The originals are all pretty old (especially the flap servos) so updating them is cheap insurance. Again I'm making the servo extensions myself.
It looks like the gas line "T" fittings I ordered should be here today, so I can finally finish up the fuel tank. If all goes well I may be ready to ground-test the plane again.
It looks like the gas line "T" fittings I ordered should be here today, so I can finally finish up the fuel tank. If all goes well I may be ready to ground-test the plane again.
Today was the day to test the Cessna, to see if it's ready for the next steps before a maiden. With help from my son, we brought it up from the basement workshop and out to the garage. I added some fuel and turned the prop by hand with my thumb over the carb to really pull fuel in. From the first time I fired the engine I knew it wanted to be really wet first, which happened quickly. I don't have a starter powerful enough for an engine this size, so we hand-propped it. After a half-dozen flips with the choke on it "popped", so we took the choke off and after another dozen flips it fired to life.
I quickly determined my throttle servo setup needed a lot of work, as I couldn't get it down to a low idle and there was too much flex in the line. I've got a fix in mind for it, which won't be too difficult.
The first time I fired the plane up I had a lot of electrical interference that was making the tail surfaces jump. When I fired it up today it looked much better, although after running it for a while I noticed it was still an issue... Since the first run, I've removed a lot of excess wiring and cleaned up the rest of it that remained, but still the issue. Since the ignition module is forward of the firewall, I've got no metal pushrod (or anything else) connecting to the engine or ignition, etc., I'm now thinking the interference is coming from one of the old existing servos. At least one of them has been spliced, and they are of unknown vintage/quality/condition. To be safe I'm going to buy replacements for all servos, and will start with replacing the ones I doubt the most (throttle and nosegear). The rudder and elevator servos all appear fairly new and are the easiest to replace.
So back to the bench with it!
I quickly determined my throttle servo setup needed a lot of work, as I couldn't get it down to a low idle and there was too much flex in the line. I've got a fix in mind for it, which won't be too difficult.
The first time I fired the plane up I had a lot of electrical interference that was making the tail surfaces jump. When I fired it up today it looked much better, although after running it for a while I noticed it was still an issue...
Since the first run, I've removed a lot of excess wiring and cleaned up the rest of it that remained, but still the issue. Since the ignition module is forward of the firewall, I've got no metal pushrod (or anything else) connecting to the engine or ignition, etc., I'm now thinking the interference is coming from one of the old existing servos. At least one of them has been spliced, and they are of unknown vintage/quality/condition. To be safe I'm going to buy replacements for all servos, and will start with replacing the ones I doubt the most (throttle and nosegear). The rudder and elevator servos all appear fairly new and are the easiest to replace.So back to the bench with it!
Well over $200 later, the Cessna has new servos in the wings and fuselage, except the big steering servo. That beast was just ordered and will be installed in a few days. Getting at the throttle and steering servos was a major pain, as I had to rip up a couple pieces of ply that the batteries and gas tank are mounted to. I'm not sure why it was built this way, but it's certainly got me wishing I had just stripped the interior to re-do it all when I was rebuilding this beast.
As I removed the old servos I hope I found the issue with the twitching surfaces. All of my electronics are set up for 6 volts for servos and ignition. The steering servo was a big old beast, and some searching tells me it was only rated for 5V. Plus, the servo's pigtail was spliced (very poorly) and that splice was hidden well under the servo tray. I'm hoping that the extra voltage plus the hacked wiring is what was causing my headaches...
With the planks for the fuel tank and batteries removed I had easy access to redo the throttle pushrod, and it appears to work well finally. I've taken it as far as I can without having the steering servo, so it's back to other projects. The Rascal 110 is ready for some throttle testing and I'm thinking hard about bringing the big "Nothin' Extra" back into the shop to swap the 10 cell electric setup for a 38cc gas engine.
As I removed the old servos I hope I found the issue with the twitching surfaces. All of my electronics are set up for 6 volts for servos and ignition. The steering servo was a big old beast, and some searching tells me it was only rated for 5V. Plus, the servo's pigtail was spliced (very poorly) and that splice was hidden well under the servo tray. I'm hoping that the extra voltage plus the hacked wiring is what was causing my headaches...
With the planks for the fuel tank and batteries removed I had easy access to redo the throttle pushrod, and it appears to work well finally. I've taken it as far as I can without having the steering servo, so it's back to other projects. The Rascal 110 is ready for some throttle testing and I'm thinking hard about bringing the big "Nothin' Extra" back into the shop to swap the 10 cell electric setup for a 38cc gas engine.
More testing of the electronics continues, with the wings installed. The ailerons and flaps need programming, so that's how the day started.
Aaaaaand.... crap. I'm losing signal, regaining signal, losing signal, regaining signal, over and over regardless of where the TX or the RX antennas are. Yesterday it all worked properly with just the fuselage servos, and this morning it worked well until I had all four wing servos plugged in. Something is wrong, possibly from running too much power through the PWM-SBUS decoder? To help narrow the cause I started unplugging servos. What finally stopped the problem was unplugging the decoder box entirely, as even having it plugged in with no servos is a problem now.
So it looks like I'm back to running longer extensions from the power board up to the wings. With some creativity I was able to use just 8 channels to run all 9 servos and the ignition kill, so I'll pull the decoder and go back old-school with the wiring. At least I've got some heavier/better servo extension wires to work with now. Time to get crimpin'!
Aaaaaand.... crap. I'm losing signal, regaining signal, losing signal, regaining signal, over and over regardless of where the TX or the RX antennas are. Yesterday it all worked properly with just the fuselage servos, and this morning it worked well until I had all four wing servos plugged in. Something is wrong, possibly from running too much power through the PWM-SBUS decoder? To help narrow the cause I started unplugging servos. What finally stopped the problem was unplugging the decoder box entirely, as even having it plugged in with no servos is a problem now.
So it looks like I'm back to running longer extensions from the power board up to the wings. With some creativity I was able to use just 8 channels to run all 9 servos and the ignition kill, so I'll pull the decoder and go back old-school with the wiring. At least I've got some heavier/better servo extension wires to work with now. Time to get crimpin'!
Moving right along to the wheels/tires. The mains are 5" DuBro treaded, and they've always felt a little soft. It's new to me, but these are inflatable wheels and they're just low on air...! To pump them up requires a special adapter and a simple hand pump. The pump I have, but the adapter... <digs through storage boxes of wheels, struts, and accessories> Hmm, I've got TWO of 'em! I put one on the first tire and it works great - the tire is now round! The other main and nosegear not so much. One adapter threads in on both, but the valves in the tires won't allow air in. A little research tells me the valves are easily replaceable and it's not uncommon for them to go bad, so yet another order is placed, this time for new valves and adapters. This plane has really been a learning experience for me...
I put one on the first tire and it works great - the tire is now round! The other main and nosegear not so much. One adapter threads in on both, but the valves in the tires won't allow air in. A little research tells me the valves are easily replaceable and it's not uncommon for them to go bad, so yet another order is placed, this time for new valves and adapters. This plane has really been a learning experience for me... Greetings joker 53150. I have been reading through your post as I recently purchased a partially completed Hostetler Cessna 150 from the Perry Swap Meet in Georgia. Should you have interest, I found a guy that made some custom wing strut fairings. I just purchased a set for $20 plus shipping.
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Yes, please let me know who sells them, it would certainly look better than the simple pieces I've currently got.
Thanks!
The guys name is Dave and his email address is promodbuilder@yahoo.com. It might help to let him know that he just made a set of these fairings for Ron Gaynor's Hostetler 150. Good luck.
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