Hobby Newbie Learning Diary; Family Included!

[mayan]

Versa wings are hard to get the CG right on if you're doing it as a pusher. I've built 3 of them so far, and they don't balance until I have a battery in them, and it's got to be a 2200mAh battery!

I ended up gluing some big flat washers in the front, as well as a paint stick; the paint stick acts somewhat as a wing spar for stiffness, and it also acts a brace to secure a velcro strap around without ripping the plane up. Yes, it's added weight, but it's also adding a bit of stiffness for the wing, and a good point for the battery to brace. And, most places like Home Depot and Lowe's, if you ask for some paint sticks at the paint counter, they'll give them to you!

Thanks for the tip and info will try to find them here in Israel

 

[Arcfyre]

Hand saw might work good I’ll try that. How do you get curves and inner small parts?

I didn't cut out the insides, as it was too much of a pain. I just left the parts solid.

Ignore that charred ESC. It caught fire a little bit... Cheap electronics...

 

[mayan]

That’s an option. How do you remove that if you need to?

 

[Arcfyre]

That’s an option. How do you remove that if you need to?

Lol I don't. I built two. A tractor and a pusher.

 

[mayan]

Quick question could I solder a connector to a battery? It’s a 11.7v 2000mAh battery. Is there anything to watch out for?

 

[Arcfyre]

Quick question could I solder a connector to a battery? It’s a 11.7v 2000mAh battery. Is there anything to watch out for?

Yes, you can. Be very careful that you don't create a short, as it will ruin the battery almost instantly.

Assuming you are cutting the old connector off, cut the wires one at a time, so that your wire cutters don't create a short.

Also while you have the wire ends loose and flopping around before you solder it is easy to accidentally touch them together. Either tape one off temporarily to prevent this, or cut them at slightly different lengths (0.5cm or so will do)

 

[mayan]

Yes, you can. Be very careful that you don't create a short, as it will ruin the battery almost instantly.

Assuming you are cutting the old connector off, cut the wires one at a time, so that your wire cutters don't create a short.

Also while you have the wire ends loose and flopping around before you solder it is easy to accidentally touch them together. Either tape one off temporarily to prevent this, or cut them at slightly different lengths (0.5cm or so will do)

Done. I found myself doing alot of soldering today for the first time, and think I got the hang of it.
I'll post the result later.

 

[mayan]

Results of soldering my lesson today.

Comments are more than welcome.

 

[Arcfyre]

Looking good man! Have you fired it all up yet and tried it out?

 

[mayan]

Looking good man! Have you fired it all up yet and tried it out?

Yep but had some issues with the battery it fell lose late last night so I re-did it this morning.

Thinks I got my CG right and preparing to go fly.

Also got the motor for the TT so taking that with me too.

 

[Arcfyre]

Good luck! Let us know how it goes

 

[mayan]

Good luck! Let us know how it goes

I didn’t take the wing in the end. I don’t know how to get alivon mixing done on my transmitter and didn’t want to waste time on it. Wanted to get some flying done before my shift at work. Figured it’s best I try to learn that during the shift consdering I can’t fly during work .

So I packed up the kids in the car and went flying the good old small and easy, the TT. Had some screw ups with the video from the GoPro though which bumped me out cause I had a great flying session. Was able to do loops and even had a bit of flying upside down. I was able to get out of a spinning stall situation and generally seemed to control the plane. Taking off throttle to 30% at times, going low and then hit max throttle to gain back altitude.

Overall had to close the day because:
1) the kids were hungry.
2) I had an issue with the rudder servo,the cable ripped did a field repair to fly twice more but then realized that it had failures and preferred not the play with Murphy (you always lose).
3) I was left with 27% battery thinks that puts a stone regarding my fly time.

Did manage to pull a friend to tag along and he did film me so I am hoping he has some good footage so I can share with you all and your feedbacks. Which reminds me that I have to message him again. I said to him that I’d message him every hour until he sends it over.

G2G next post will have videos...

 

[Arcfyre]

I didn’t take the wing in the end. I don’t know how to get elevon mixing done on my transmitter and didn’t want to waste time on it.

On the Spektrums you change the "wing type" parameter from "Normal" to "Elevon" in the aircraft type menu. Should be a similar setup on most radios.

Looking forward to seeing your video. I had to cut flying short just now too... kid was cranky lol.

 

[mayan]

As promised here is a link to today's training session: 22-09-2018 TT Practice Session.
Let me know what you all think...

 

[Arcfyre]

In my opinion, you have earned the right to call yourself an RC pilot. Congratulations my friend, and I wish you many happy landings.

 

[cranialrectosis]

That's how it's done.

Welcome to being an RC pilot.

 

[mayan]

Thanks for all the support and believe in my skills. Still sure that I need plenty more flying hours to call myself and RC pilot.

Goals from now on:
1) Fly more...
2) Practice my landings.
3) Learn to fly with aileron control.
4) Learn to fly different models with the final goal of flying the Edge 540.

Anything else that you all can recommend?

 

[mayan]

Super bumped out today I set to build a new TT and everything that could go wrong did. Fuselage didn’t come out as good as I wanted. Servo got busted or at least it seems that way cause it won’t move the elevator.

How do I know if a servo got jammed?

 

[mayan]

So I guess I am just doing something wrong with these big models also the wing was an epic fail and slammed the ground more than air. Will post a video of it later today or tomorrow.

Any suggestions about this?

How do I know if a servo got jammed?

 

[Arcfyre]

Does it move when not connected to the control surface? If so, your control surface is the problem and is causing binding somewhere.

Really that's the limit of my troubleshooting experience with servos. I've only ever had one fail after submersion in water, which I'm pretty sure was my fault and not the servos'