Greetings to everyone! I am a frustrated beginner from Las Cruces, NM who is having a bad run of luck. I am looking for advice, if you're willing to plow through my tale of woe.
For the past couple of years, I have dabbled in flying. first with a Dynam Hawk Sky I got on the cheap, had 10 or so successful flights, and then picke up a couple Parkzone UMX 'planes along with a used DX6i. With those, I have had pretty good luck. I managed to wear out the motor on two UMX p-51's, both of which were flight worthy and their end-of-life. since then, I have been wanting to further hone my skills, and have toyed with scratchbuilding (full disclosure, I am old enough to have mis-spent my youth building stick-and-tissue 'planes, although could never afford RC gear in the late 70's to early 80's). That's when my luck started to go sour. My most recent failure was an FT Simple Storch, which was built out of Model Plane Foam instead of DTF. I reasoned that the build would have to be modified, as the paper on DTF lends strength. my wing had a full 7-ply central spar cut with a 5-deg. dihedral built in, and carbon tubes inlayed in the foam to reinforce the foam and help stiffen the dihedral. the plane came together well, considering the build was substantially different without the paper. It's maiden flight took place a week ago Saturday, and it didn't end well. I used an EMax CF2822-1200KV with a GWS 9x5 prop, with a 3s-2200 battery. plenty of power, very short roll and it took flight. That's when things went wrong; It wouldn't roll, even though I had carefully set my throws exactly as described. after adding rudder during turns, I managed to get it to come around and brought it down safely. I then verified my throws and that everything was working correctly, and took off again. same problem, this time trying to get it to roll at all caused a vicious twitch that broke the wing spar, despite the CF. needless to say, gravity won and the garbage can got a new, broken friend (after stripping the electronics. besides the broken wing, the fuse suffered extreme crushing damage, the landing gear was totaled and I lost the heart to try any repairs, since, even if successful, I would be left with an un-rollable 'plane. I have had rotten luck with a Bixler 3 (mushed fuse after first flight, afraid to try again although repairs appear to have been successful), a Slow Stik (broken three pairs of landing gear due to extreme over-control difficulties), and am seriously getting frustrated. I was able to do fine with the UMX 'planes, I do well on simulators, and I am really careful about setups, CG issues, etc. I feel like I am missing something, and am unwilling to turn to the local club flyers as they have been very closed and impolite about advice. Any thoughts? I am starting to wonder if I should find a new way to spend time and money...
For the past couple of years, I have dabbled in flying. first with a Dynam Hawk Sky I got on the cheap, had 10 or so successful flights, and then picke up a couple Parkzone UMX 'planes along with a used DX6i. With those, I have had pretty good luck. I managed to wear out the motor on two UMX p-51's, both of which were flight worthy and their end-of-life. since then, I have been wanting to further hone my skills, and have toyed with scratchbuilding (full disclosure, I am old enough to have mis-spent my youth building stick-and-tissue 'planes, although could never afford RC gear in the late 70's to early 80's). That's when my luck started to go sour. My most recent failure was an FT Simple Storch, which was built out of Model Plane Foam instead of DTF. I reasoned that the build would have to be modified, as the paper on DTF lends strength. my wing had a full 7-ply central spar cut with a 5-deg. dihedral built in, and carbon tubes inlayed in the foam to reinforce the foam and help stiffen the dihedral. the plane came together well, considering the build was substantially different without the paper. It's maiden flight took place a week ago Saturday, and it didn't end well. I used an EMax CF2822-1200KV with a GWS 9x5 prop, with a 3s-2200 battery. plenty of power, very short roll and it took flight. That's when things went wrong; It wouldn't roll, even though I had carefully set my throws exactly as described. after adding rudder during turns, I managed to get it to come around and brought it down safely. I then verified my throws and that everything was working correctly, and took off again. same problem, this time trying to get it to roll at all caused a vicious twitch that broke the wing spar, despite the CF. needless to say, gravity won and the garbage can got a new, broken friend (after stripping the electronics. besides the broken wing, the fuse suffered extreme crushing damage, the landing gear was totaled and I lost the heart to try any repairs, since, even if successful, I would be left with an un-rollable 'plane. I have had rotten luck with a Bixler 3 (mushed fuse after first flight, afraid to try again although repairs appear to have been successful), a Slow Stik (broken three pairs of landing gear due to extreme over-control difficulties), and am seriously getting frustrated. I was able to do fine with the UMX 'planes, I do well on simulators, and I am really careful about setups, CG issues, etc. I feel like I am missing something, and am unwilling to turn to the local club flyers as they have been very closed and impolite about advice. Any thoughts? I am starting to wonder if I should find a new way to spend time and money...
