First Solo Maiden!

[buzzbomb]

jross, you've been after it for so long. Congrats! You did it, man!

What can I say? I'm a wuss. I stayed in BC. You're gnarly. I flew 9 batteries on the tiny trainer yesterday one after the other at -3. Keen. Could barely feel the steering wheel with my right hand from dusting off the plane and changing batteries with it.

Plus you are Hard Core! Nine batteries in that cold? Nah. You got it going on. Don't worry, the RC fever will keep you warm. So they tell me. Darned if I'd fly in that kind of cold.

 

[buzzbomb]

Hai-Lee and d8veh. I appreciate that you have different opinions on stuff. I want to read both opinions. I then want to make my own decision. I love you both, as far as one can in an extended, internet forum family. I respect you both. But it's come down to you two bickering like a long-married couple over which mustard to use with horderves. You literally hijacked a Maiden thread! If you'd done that to me on my Maiden??!! I would be %%^&*&*^%&^*&($^%#^%*())_)). Really unhappy.

It's just me, but I have a suggestion. You two are going are to continue to disagree ad-infinitum. My suggestion is to limit it. Post your opinion and back it as best you can. Then the other does the same WITHOUT mentioning anything the first post said. Then just leave it.

You've made your point. Just leave it. Then let us decide which route we want to follow.

 

[d8veh]

And as a newbie to the forums, I'd just like to say that I appreciate the contributions from Hai-Lee and d8veh, but come on guys you're sucking the life out of what should be a celebratory thread.

Hai-Lee and d8veh. I appreciate that you have different opinions on stuff. I want to read both opinions. I then want to make my own decision. I love you both, as far as one can in an extended, internet forum family. I respect you both. But it's come down to you two bickering like a long-married couple over which mustard to use with horderves. You literally hijacked a Maiden thread! If you'd done that to me on my Maiden??!! I would be %%^&*&*^%&^*&($^%#^%*())_)). Really unhappy.

It's just me, but I have a suggestion. You two are going are to continue to disagree ad-infinitum. My suggestion is to limit it. Post your opinion and back it as best you can. Then the other does the same WITHOUT mentioning anything the first post said. Then just leave it.

You've made your point. Just leave it. Then let us decide which route we want to follow.

Sorry guys, I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone, so in the interest of restoring harmony, I won't be posting any more. My personal circumstances mean that I probably won't be doing much more building and flying, so I wouldn't have much useful stuff to contribute anyway, so it's no big deal.

 

[Paracodespoder]

Sorry guys, I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone, so in the interest of restoring harmony, I won't be posting any more. My personal circumstances mean that I probably won't be doing much more building and flying, so I wouldn't have much useful stuff to contribute anyway, so it's no big deal.

Even if you do argue, even if you don’t have the resources necessary, never stop the rc! Even without being able to fly, you can still contribute to the community by adding advice where it’s needed. The arguing? I won’t say anything about that other than that it is slightly off putting to newcomers. So don’t leave.

 

[Paracodespoder]

Congratulations @jross on your first solo maiden! The jaws of the trap have closed around you, you are now trapped in this hobby! Next thing you know you’ll be maidening your brand new ft edge you built.

 

[mayan]

@d8veh and @Hai-Lee i don’t want to get in the middle of a cat fight but I one thing to say. You’ve both helped me a lot in the hobby and I want to keep hearing both your opinions and then like @buzzbomb said make my own decision which might not even be following any of your opinions. My mom once taught me that when you have a problem that you are trying to solve, put it on your forehead and have as many people as you can try to solve it. Then take all the answers that you got and make your own choice as to how and solve the problem. Please keep posting your thoughts even if they sound dumb to you they might help someone; and that goes for every body on the forum!

 

[jross]

I find communicating on the internet can be challenging. Often times, If I said something to you in person with a twinkle in my eye and a slight grin, you'd laugh. If I said the same thing in a text message, you lose the nuance and it's easy to read in something that isn't there. If I perceive an edge in a comment, I ignore that part of it or ignore it all together. Everyone has bad days. Best to ignore that and move on. I got in a big spat with a guy on FB once. He seemed rude. Then a couple years later, I met him in person. He has my same dry sense of humour. We laughed for about an hour. Funny guy. I learned a lesson there.

Either way, still pretty stoked. I managed to screw up the tail servo mounts on my Explorer last night. Think I salvaged it and all will be fine once I figure out why the elevator is sticky and causing the pushrod to flex too much. It'll bust the servo loose if I leave it how it is. Think I may have overdone the glue hinge. Going to hit it with the laminating iron this morning and hope that loosens things up. Really hoping to put that baby in the air today. Failing that, the trainer is going up for another round and I'l rebuild the Explorer tail section tonight. I built it a few weeks back when my build skills were lesser. Amazing how quick you learn little build tricks that make things tighter and truer. Part of the fun of scratch building.

 

[jross]

And a question. The Explorer takes an 8x4.5 prop. I only have one from my power pack C. Have a bunch of 9x4.5 props. Can I knock a quarter or half inch off those babies, clean them up, balance them and fly with them? Guessing it's not ideal in terms of efficiency but will it work?

 

[Paracodespoder]

And a question. The Explorer takes an 8x4.5 prop. I only have one from my power pack C. Have a bunch of 9x4.5 props. Can I knock a quarter or half inch off those babies, clean them up, balance them and fly with them? Guessing it's not ideal in terms of efficiency but will it work?

It’ll work, I’ve not done it but I’ve seen it done many times. Just be sure to cut both sides the same, one way I’ve seen is to drill a hole in a board and place it near a drum sander, stick a correctly sized nail through the hole in the prop then spin the prop to sand the edges off.

 

[jross]

Well. The Explorer is looking better but I baled and flew the trainer while there was still some light. Looks like I blew my first ESC. The 12 amp in the FT kit. Was funky and barely turning the prop. After a bit it fired up and I flew but realized right away, I had little power. Went and got the 20A ESC from my F pack and viola. Seems odd it would go after only two sessions. Had it sealed up really well with tape. Going to seal the new one with epoxy tonight to be sure.


Had another cool day on the trainer. My third. Had a nice steady wind and was able to stop the plane (ground speed) while flying into the wind. Had to do it a few more times. Actually landed at my feet twice! I was stunned. Such an easy and fun plane to fly. Going to find an appropriate box and start carrying it around in the truck. Gotta get the flying in when you can or see the opportunity. Only takes a few minutes to stop and burn off some batteries. Think that means I'm hooked.

 

[buzzbomb]

Think that means I'm hooked.

Dude, you reached that stage a while back!

 

[buzzbomb]

Sorry guys, I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone, so in the interest of restoring harmony, I won't be posting any more. My personal circumstances mean that I probably won't be doing much more building and flying, so I wouldn't have much useful stuff to contribute anyway, so it's no big deal.

You can't just leave. Not allowed. Don't want to hijack. PM sent.

 

[Headbang]

Size wise a 9" prop has clearance on the explorer. I fly mine with a C pack motor and a 9x6 prop. 10" might be getting close on clearance. I know Photo made his motor pod a half inch taller and was using a 10" prop last summer.

 

[mayan]

@jross aint nothing like the feeling of landing at your feet, instead of having to walk to get the plane back. Next stage hand grab .

BTW I too love the TT it’s a great trainer plane 2,3, and 4 channel. I recently put out a modification to the TT called it the SpiTTT check it out, you might enjoy this as your next step with the TT.

 

[jross]

Size wise a 9" prop has clearance on the explorer. I fly mine with a C pack motor and a 9x6 prop. 10" might be getting close on clearance. I know Photo made his motor pod a half inch taller and was using a 10" prop last summer.

Thinking I'll probably make that modification. Found the 10 inch prop was hitting the boom. Just barely. I trimmed off 10 inch props to 9.5 and 9 so I'll try those and see how they work but it would be nice to use the 10 inch props I have in full length.

 

[sprzout]

I find communicating on the internet can be challenging. Often times, If I said something to you in person with a twinkle in my eye and a slight grin, you'd laugh. If I said the same thing in a text message, you lose the nuance and it's easy to read in something that isn't there. If I perceive an edge in a comment, I ignore that part of it or ignore it all together. Everyone has bad days. Best to ignore that and move on. I got in a big spat with a guy on FB once. He seemed rude. Then a couple years later, I met him in person. He has my same dry sense of humour. We laughed for about an hour. Funny guy. I learned a lesson there.

Language is a funny thing. "Eats, shoots, and leaves" vs "Eats shoots and leaves"; the first one, we could be talking about a mob hitman. The second one could be a panda bear! This is why I always try to put an "LOL" or "j/k" into stuff where i'm trying to make it lighthearted and joking. It doesn't always help, but I feel like you guys (those who read my posts) understand where I'm joking.

At any rate, back to the maiden - keep working at it, keep practicing! I know the more stick time you put in, the better off you'll be. Some good things to work on are to practice turns in both left and right directions, if you're flying with 4 channel, learn to add a little bit of rudder to the turns, and another good thing is to practice "dead stick" touch n' go landings - that is, pretend you have no more power, and you're having to just get your plane down onto the runway safely.

 

[jross]

Language is a funny thing. "Eats, shoots, and leaves" vs "Eats shoots and leaves"...

At any rate, back to the maiden - keep working at it, keep practicing! I know the more stick time you put in, the better off you'll be. Some good things to work on are to practice turns in both left and right directions, if you're flying with 4 channel, learn to add a little bit of rudder to the turns, and another good thing is to practice "dead stick" touch n' go landings - that is, pretend you have no more power, and you're having to just get your plane down onto the runway safely.

My wife has a book called Eats, Shoots and Leaves. So true. Amazing how a couple of commas change everything.

Practice, practice, practice. I don't tend to favour one turn over another but definitely need some rudder work. I do tend to favour left hand turns on final so could work on that. Played around a bit with dead stick landings but have a long way to go.

 

[jross]

Dialing in the Explorer for a maiden tomorrow. Lookin' good but I ran into a question I couldn't answer. Is this the neutral position for this aileron? It's an armin wing. Seems right to me.

 

[jross]

Ailerons seem to be fine where they are. Took me a bit (and a few failed launches) to get the CG right on the non-stock armin wing. But I got it up! Flew off the two 2200s I had with me. A little the worse for wear but so cool to get it in the air. More difficult to launch than a TT. Takes some time to build enough speed to provide adequate lift to climb. I stalled it a couple of times as a result. My ground start attempts shredded the horizontal stabilizer and I soon gave up on that. Going to build the stock sport wing for the Explorer and try that. Then 6 batteries on the TT. I'm starting to really love that little plane now that I have it dialed in. Need to rebuild the nose/fuselage to winterize it as it is starting to get soft from snow and water. Need to incorporate some gussets for the barbecue skewers as that seems like the weak point.

I worked a hell of a lot harder on the Explorer maiden than the TT. Felt good to be able to troubleshoot the issues. Probably shouldn't have started with a non stock wing for it. Too much opportunity to fail for a greenhorn like me.

 

[Headbang]

Keep it up!

I know my vids sometimes make things look easy. I am sure my ground takeoff on snow had some control trickery, and it was way out of trim on the roll. I should add a disclaimer about my experience, and the fact my favorate flying is maidens of others really off the mark planes. Nothing is more satisfying then landing a plane while holding full aileron, full rudder, and pushing down elevator most of the way just to keep it level.