Life of the Simple Scout...

[Marty72]

No re-maiden for the Scout today, conditions weren't right. But this gave more time to think about yesterday's revelations. One, I'm not use to flying so fast. Two, lots of chaos with a new, untrimmed, unbalanced plane (and no SAFE). So how could I better prepare for this? 1) How about flying the Cub as fast as it will go? 2) What is more chaotic than flying the cub in wind? So this morning I took the dog out mountain biking and on my return I stopped by the field with the Crash Cub. Field was empty (woohoo) and it was a bit breezy. I usually fly the Cub just under half throttle, but today, its rev to the moon. So I took it out on two short runs, 5 minutes each, and feel like a learn a lot in a very short time. That was awesome practice, no time to relax. I got the hat cam worked out today, perfectly centered and after today's flight, I feel more prepared than before. I'm going to shoot for a re-maiden tomorrow but if that doesn't happen, more practice with the Cub. Here's a clip of me hammering the cub today (no crashes either, never touched safe). I edited the 22 minute video down to less than 4 minutes. I had a great time flying today, that was a lot of fun and I got a couple of loops in too.

I ordered 6 Gemfan prop from Buddy RC this morning, I should have them by Saturday, less than $13 delivered. I'm down to my last prop on the Scout (it's on the plane), so my need for props is urgent. Thanks for the help with props, now I know what is what.

 

[BATTLEAXE]

No re-maiden for the Scout today, conditions weren't right. But this gave more time to think about yesterday's revelations. One, I'm not use to flying so fast. Two, lots of chaos with a new, untrimmed, unbalanced plane (and no SAFE). So how could I better prepare for this? 1) How about flying the Cub as fast as it will go? 2) What is more chaotic than flying the cub in wind? So this morning I took the dog out mountain biking and on my return I stopped by the field with the Crash Cub. Field was empty (woohoo) and it was a bit breezy. I usually fly the Cub just under half throttle, but today, its rev to the moon. So I took it out on two short runs, 5 minutes each, and feel like a learn a lot in a very short time. That was awesome practice, no time to relax. I got the hat cam worked out today, perfectly centered and after today's flight, I feel more prepared than before. I'm going to shoot for a re-maiden tomorrow but if that doesn't happen, more practice with the Cub. Here's a clip of me hammering the cub today (no crashes either, never touched safe). I edited the 22 minute video down to less than 4 minutes. I had a great time flying today, that was a lot of fun and I got a couple of loops in too.

I ordered 6 Gemfan prop from Buddy RC this morning, I should have them by Saturday, less than $13 delivered. I'm down to my last prop on the Scout (it's on the plane), so my need for props is urgent. Thanks for the help with props, now I know what is what.

Thats an awesome run on the Cub buddy, you really tipped it a new one. You are definitely ready for the Scout. That is actually a decent cruising speed for the Scout so you got a handle on this with both hands. Good work on the cam positioning as well

 

[The Hangar]

Great flying! I think you’ll do great with the scout bext time you get a chance to fly it. How are you liking your dx6e? You aren’t having any range issues anymore, right?

 

[Marty72]

Hey Chris and Hanger, thanks for the comments. I had a great flying day, I look forward to flying the Scout. I've got first thing in the morning on the agenda (of course pending conditions). I'm hoping for two 5 minute sessions, clean. I keep reminding myself, get elevation right away and stay up and work everything out (including trims).

Other than the Dx6e goes through batteries like nothing I've ever seen, it's great. I could leave them in until the 4.3 volt warning occurs, I guess but I change them below 5.0 volts. Nope, the range issues were all related to that POS gameboy transmitter. I think HH would be better off if they charged another $20 for the RTF kit and put in a Dxe instead of the gameboy transmitter.

Chris, what did you decide to do with the J.Cash?

 

[Sero]

Nice flying Marty.
I've bought and used lots of these props, great value. Shipped from the USA warehouse should be quick to your door.

 

[The Hangar]

Hey Chris and Hanger, thanks for the comments. I had a great flying day, I look forward to flying the Scout. I've got first thing in the morning on the agenda (of course pending conditions). I'm hoping for two 5 minute sessions, clean. I keep reminding myself, get elevation right away and stay up and work everything out (including trims).

Other than the Dx6e goes through batteries like nothing I've ever seen, it's great. I could leave them in until the 4.3 volt warning occurs, I guess but I change them below 5.0 volts. Nope, the range issues were all related to that POS gameboy transmitter. I think HH would be better off if they charged another $20 for the RTF kit and put in a Dxe instead of the gameboy transmitter.

Chris, what did you decide to do with the J.Cash?

I’m thinking of getting some rechargeable aa batteries for mine...

 

[moret]

Other than the Dx6e goes through batteries like nothing I've ever seen, it's great. I could leave them in until the 4.3 volt warning occurs, I guess but I change them below 5.0 volts. ?[/QUOTE

I agree on the DX6e batteries not lasting. I purchased the rechargeable battery pack and charger. It cost, but I think I am saving money in the long run.

 

[moret]

I’m thinking of getting some rechargeable aa batteries for mine...

If they are NiCad, they will be 1.25 volt batteries not 1.5 like regular batteries. So you would start at 5 volts instead of 6 ( 1.25 X 4 = 5 )

 

[The Hangar]

If they are NiCad, they will be 1.25 volt batteries not 1.5 like regular batteries. So you would start at 5 volts instead of 6 ( 1.25 X 4 = 5 )

Would that be an issue? Or would I just have to charge more often.

 

[moret]

After looking in the book, You can select from the menu; ALKA - Alkaline, LiIon - Spektrum $50 dollar battery pack, LiPo or NiMh.
After some reading, the NiMh has twice the capacity of the old NiCad and come in the AA style case.
So if I did not get the Spektrum pack, I would use NiMh. Remember to go into your system menu and change the battery type so the low voltage alarm will be correct. The AA NiMh rechargeable batteries were listed on the Walmart web site so they must be common.

 

[BATTLEAXE]

Hey Chris and Hanger, thanks for the comments. I had a great flying day, I look forward to flying the Scout. I've got first thing in the morning on the agenda (of course pending conditions). I'm hoping for two 5 minute sessions, clean. I keep reminding myself, get elevation right away and stay up and work everything out (including trims).

Other than the Dx6e goes through batteries like nothing I've ever seen, it's great. I could leave them in until the 4.3 volt warning occurs, I guess but I change them below 5.0 volts. Nope, the range issues were all related to that POS gameboy transmitter. I think HH would be better off if they charged another $20 for the RTF kit and put in a Dxe instead of the gameboy transmitter.

Chris, what did you decide to do with the J.Cash?

The J. Cash is scrapped. Went with a totally different design. I am building the Sportster. Sneak peak:

It actually looks better on the floats then the Scout did. Those are the wheels from the BB... oh yea I scrapped that one too. This will be my new work horse, camera mounts, take off, landing, and touch and go drills. Practice to develop and refine some skills. It's like 50% bigger then the BB as well.

 

[Sero]

Sportster is a strong plane. Was my second FT plane. I crashed that plane so many times and it kept going. Not a fast plane but it can do lots. I have a Turnigy D3536 1300KV on V2, lots of pep on 3s, ran the Emax C-pack before.

 

[bracesport]

the floats look superb on that chassis - very nice!

 

[BATTLEAXE]

Sportster is a strong plane. Was my second FT plane. I crashed that plane so many times and it kept going. Not a fast plane but it can do lots. I have a Turnigy D3536 1300KV on V2, lots of pep on 3s, ran the Emax C-pack before.

I run the same size motor, a 3536 1200KV, close to the same. It's a beefy motor, and the Sportster is a beefy plane. I just got the electronic hooked up and did a run up with the 11x7x3 prop on it, just over half throttle it pulled so much I had to shut it down. I couldn't hold it tight enough without starting to leave finger impressions in the foam. I put the 9x6x2 back on because I will be maidening it as a belly lander. I can see this plane being the pick up truck of all the planes I built so far, with the triple blade it makes an excellent lifted diesel 4x4 which I will use when it has the floats or landing gear.

 

[Marty72]

Hey Chris very nice looking plane.

Hey guys, so I made plans to fly this morning, everything fell into place but I crashed the Scout again but this time it was a bad launch. Here's the crash, with no fluff. I'm not going to show the hat cam, as I'd have to edit the audio out. Soul crushing day. No more attempts until Monday at the soonest, broke the prop and did fuselage damage. I'm still trying to figure out what exactly happened. (Everything was working, cg fwd, I didn't cut out any steps). The video tells a different story than the one I thought I lived. What I thought happened was the plane headed straight up and started to stall, I panicked and was just trying to make the crash less severe (which I won't do again, it's better to not give up). Of course when I watch the video I see other things, like maybe too much angle from the hand launch,and an extreme roll left. I don't know what I did to the sticks, other than pull up as it was headed for the ground. I'm not sure if I rolled the plane or not. I can tell watching in slow motion that things were already going bad before I even got my hand on the stick. The climb up seemed much steeper than what I see on video. Very light wind, I flew the Cub before hand without issue. I launched it into the wind.

 

[Sero]

Hey Chris very nice looking plane.

Hey guys, so I made plans to fly this morning, everything fell into place but I crashed the Scout again but this time it was a bad launch. Here's the crash, with no fluff. I'm not going to show the hat cam, as I'd have to edit the audio out. Soul crushing day. No more attempts until Monday at the soonest, broke the prop and did fuselage damage. I'm still trying to figure out what exactly happened. (Everything was working, cg fwd, I didn't cut out any steps). The video tells a different story than the one I thought I lived. What I thought happened was the plane headed straight up and started to stall, I panicked and was just trying to make the crash less severe (which I won't do again, it's better to not give up). Of course when I watch the video I see other things, like maybe too much angle from the hand launch,and an extreme roll left. I don't know what I did to the sticks, other than pull up as it was headed for the ground. I'm not sure if I rolled the plane or not. I can tell watching in slow motion that things were already going bad before I even got my hand on the stick. The climb up seemed much steeper than what I see on video. Very light wind, I flew the Cub before hand without issue. I launched it into the wind.

Looks like too much angle of attack after launch. P factor will cause the plane to yaw left at high AOA. That plus if you added throttle the motor will cause torque roll.

 

[The Hangar]

Hey Chris very nice looking plane.

Hey guys, so I made plans to fly this morning, everything fell into place but I crashed the Scout again but this time it was a bad launch. Here's the crash, with no fluff. I'm not going to show the hat cam, as I'd have to edit the audio out. Soul crushing day. No more attempts until Monday at the soonest, broke the prop and did fuselage damage. I'm still trying to figure out what exactly happened. (Everything was working, cg fwd, I didn't cut out any steps). The video tells a different story than the one I thought I lived. What I thought happened was the plane headed straight up and started to stall, I panicked and was just trying to make the crash less severe (which I won't do again, it's better to not give up). Of course when I watch the video I see other things, like maybe too much angle from the hand launch,and an extreme roll left. I don't know what I did to the sticks, other than pull up as it was headed for the ground. I'm not sure if I rolled the plane or not. I can tell watching in slow motion that things were already going bad before I even got my hand on the stick. The climb up seemed much steeper than what I see on video. Very light wind, I flew the Cub before hand without issue. I launched it into the wind.

Sorry man... It’s rough when that happens. Have you thought about making a second scout that you don’t spend very much time on, like not cutting out all the curves in the wing and tail surfaces and not painting it? That way it won’t feel so bad to you (and us) when your beautiful plane crashes... just a thought

 

[Marty72]

Hey Sero,

Thanks for your input. I agree with your assessment. I keep looking at the clip frame by frame. That's torque roll and I put to much angle into the launch. I'm sure there were other factors, I know at some point I cut the throttle completely. Wrong or right, that's what I did, I was just trying to lessen the impact but on larger planes, that's pretty much a waste of time, I guess. I also think I may have had a little too much throttle at launch. What surprised me was 2 days ago, the launches were no problem, so I was caught off guard today. 2 days ago, my entire concern was the launch. Today may focus was to get it up high and then sort it all out. Today really stung, I didn't feel that way the first day. I guess I just thought I was way better than what I did today.

Hanger,
Yeah, I made the mistake of thinking I could fly without crashing it right away. No point in crying over crashed planes. Going forward, I'll going to try and learn to fly this one and if I like it, then I'll make a new replacement plane just like it or better. But who knows, maybe at that point I'll be tired with it and move on. Don't know but your point is an excellent one for beginners, don't get attached to your plane. I have a great flying relationship with the Cub, I just don't care. But I don't know how much more I'd going to do with it, it's expensive to own. The HH Sports Cub S (crash cub) has brush motors, I've gone through 4 of them (at $11 each) in a month. The current one is fading, so I'll be putting in #5 soon. Other than that, it's a cheap, easy to use, anywhere trainer, but long term, it's an expensive plane. And now that I'm flying it faster, the problem gets worse. But I will say, the Cub did it's job. It got me in cheap, taught me how to fly just enough that I decided I like doing it.
I like the building planes, that I already knew that, I just don't like destroying them.

 

[BATTLEAXE]

Hey Sero,

Thanks for your input. I agree with your assessment. I keep looking at the clip frame by frame. That's torque roll and I put to much angle into the launch. I'm sure there were other factors, I know at some point I cut the throttle completely. Wrong or right, that's what I did, I was just trying to lessen the impact but on larger planes, that's pretty much a waste of time, I guess. I also think I may have had a little too much throttle at launch. What surprised me was 2 days ago, the launches were no problem, so I was caught off guard today. 2 days ago, my entire concern was the launch. Today may focus was to get it up high and then sort it all out. Today really stung, I didn't feel that way the first day. I guess I just thought I was way better than what I did today.

Hanger,
Yeah, I made the mistake of thinking I could fly without crashing it right away. No point in crying over crashed planes. Going forward, I'll going to try and learn to fly this one and if I like it, then I'll make a new replacement plane just like it or better. But who knows, maybe at that point I'll be tired with it and move on. Don't know but your point is an excellent one for beginners, don't get attached to your plane. I have a great flying relationship with the Cub, I just don't care. But I don't know how much more I'd going to do with it, it's expensive to own. The HH Sports Cub S (crash cub) has brush motors, I've gone through 4 of them (at $11 each) in a month. The current one is fading, so I'll be putting in #5 soon. Other than that, it's a cheap, easy to use, anywhere trainer, but long term, it's an expensive plane. And now that I'm flying it faster, the problem gets worse. But I will say, the Cub did it's job. It got me in cheap, taught me how to fly just enough that I decided I like doing it.
I like the building planes, that I already knew that, I just don't like destroying them.

I can see the disappointment of the crash in your vid, your hopes were high for this one. Progression, or anticipation of progression, is great when it happens, like a kid at Christmas. You just experienced the negative side, I feel for ya. I was there just days ago with my J. Cash. Like I said before I am almost getting immune to it now.

Assessment, your angle of attack on the launch was to high, from the cameras perspective I don't think there was to much throttle. It did balloon up and TURNED left but I don't really see any roll. Given it went up vertical and tip stalled to the left doesn't mean torque roll, just means the vertical angle of the wing cant produce lift to oppose gravity being perpendicular to the ground. If that makes sense. I have seen some hat cam footage of your Crash Cub being hand launched and you feel comfortable and confident launching it pretty much straight forward, because you know it will fly already. What I am about to say IS bad advice, and I DON"T suggest doing this, but I almost want to say, close your eyes and pretend its the Cub when you launch it. Both planes fly on the same principles and the Scout is a proven well flying trainer plane. You built it really well, and fixed it even better. Trust the plane and just fly it like you would your little angel of a Cub. And yes it is a good idea to cut throttle before it hits the dirt, saves damage to your expensive electronics.

Just a thought as well. Can you get a vid of each of your control surfaces moving at full deflection switching from low to high rates? Just want to see if the low rates were to slight to pull you out of that situation. I am guessing you are using the recommended throws based on the throw gauge in the plans as per the build vid. And question, are you using expo in your rates as well?

Other then that it was a great attempt and I like how you are not giving up. Fix it up and get it back in the air. I remember when this happen to my first Scout I got frustrated and slammed it back together, added ailerons among a couple other changes, took it out and threw it in the air like a boss and in my mind, forced it to fly, willed it to fly... really it was probably a good flyer as it was first built but it psyched me up to make sure I was on point with my confidence in myself and the plane.

 

[Marty72]

Chris,

You bring up some good points. I'm going through the bird right now. The wings are slightly out of normal position, so I'm going to adjust them. I'm looking through all the control surfaces with a fine tooth comb now. I'm seeing that the elevator is slightly up in the center position (using a straight rule), I'm pretty sure this wasn't the case after I finished the build. I'm guessing the crash Tuesday made that adjustment and I didn't pick it up. I've got the gauge and I started with that, and that is when I notice a slight bias up in the elevator. I sub trimmed it out, it's 50 points. That's quite a bit. I'm far from done, I'm just getting started. I'll post more tonight. After the build, I had the spec of +/-12 degrees on all the surfaces. Today, I flew at 85%/ 30% expo. Tuesday on was on low rates, 70%/30% expo. I seemed to have all the control on needed on Tuesday at 70%/30%. I'm going to check all the setting and see what I really get. Like I said, fine tooth comb.