Life of the Simple Scout...

[The Hangar]

You just slapped "cool" in the face man, two great planes out on the boards! And you are rockin the Lego wheels again

Yeah, got some good stuff coming along! I’m kinda lacking stuff to fly right now, except for the mini scout which is loads of fun. Can’t wait to do 4 channel though when my tx comes back!

 

[mayan]

@The Hangar but aren't you missing a wheel there? Looks like one side has no wheel .

 

[The Hangar]

@The Hangar but aren't you missing a wheel there? Looks like one side has no wheel .

Lol - yeah. I haven’t drilled the holes in te aluminum yet so I just set one wheel on the camera side so you could see the idea. Nice catch!

 

[Marty72]

Well here is my scout based “ultra stick”. Got the landing gear bent but still have to mount the wheels and gear assembly to the fuse. She still needs servos and a rudder. Happy with the progress so far though.

Excellent, finish her up and tell us how she flies.

 

[Marty72]

The ESC arrived today, so I tested it and finished assembling the Practice Scout. The repair is much
more solid than I expected. I'm hoping to get a few more crashes out of this one.

So yesterday was a rain day, all day. I had 3 half sheets of FB, so I built a backup fuselage and then started building all the accessories that go with a new fuselage, and realized, hey, short of a new wing set, I've got everything I need for a new plane done. So, I will have a new Scout ready for when I need it or spare parts ready to install on the practice plane. This was way easier the second time, my skills with a razor knife are way better than the first go around and since I made construction papers patterns last time, lots of time saved there. Yeah, I like building too. Stuck in the house, cold and wet outside, watching/listening to college football building a new plane. Quite enjoyable.

 

[The Hangar]

The ESC arrived today, so I tested it and finished assembling the Practice Scout. The repair is much
more solid than I expected. I'm hoping to get a few more crashes out of this one.

So yesterday was a rain day, all day. I had 3 half sheets of FB, so I built a backup fuselage and then started building all the accessories that go with a new fuselage, and realized, hey, short of a new wing set, I've got everything I need for a new plane done. So, I will have a new Scout ready for when I need it or spare parts ready to install on the practice plane. This was way easier the second time, my skills with a razor knife are way better than the first go around and since I made construction papers patterns last time, lots of time saved there. Yeah, I like building too. Stuck in the house, cold and wet outside, watching/listening to college football building a new plane. Quite enjoyable.
View attachment 145915

Nice! I spy the dog in the background looking very intently at the door😂

 

[mayan]

The ESC arrived today, so I tested it and finished assembling the Practice Scout. The repair is much
more solid than I expected. I'm hoping to get a few more crashes out of this one.

So yesterday was a rain day, all day. I had 3 half sheets of FB, so I built a backup fuselage and then started building all the accessories that go with a new fuselage, and realized, hey, short of a new wing set, I've got everything I need for a new plane done. So, I will have a new Scout ready for when I need it or spare parts ready to install on the practice plane. This was way easier the second time, my skills with a razor knife are way better than the first go around and since I made construction papers patterns last time, lots of time saved there. Yeah, I like building too. Stuck in the house, cold and wet outside, watching/listening to college football building a new plane. Quite enjoyable.
View attachment 145915

Great work. Second times are always easier, wanna guess what the third will look like ... Love the fix you did to it .

 

[BATTLEAXE]

The ESC arrived today, so I tested it and finished assembling the Practice Scout. The repair is much
more solid than I expected. I'm hoping to get a few more crashes out of this one.

So yesterday was a rain day, all day. I had 3 half sheets of FB, so I built a backup fuselage and then started building all the accessories that go with a new fuselage, and realized, hey, short of a new wing set, I've got everything I need for a new plane done. So, I will have a new Scout ready for when I need it or spare parts ready to install on the practice plane. This was way easier the second time, my skills with a razor knife are way better than the first go around and since I made construction papers patterns last time, lots of time saved there. Yeah, I like building too. Stuck in the house, cold and wet outside, watching/listening to college football building a new plane. Quite enjoyable.
View attachment 145915

Your practice Scout looks like it has hardly any crashes on it, looks like most of my planes after just the maiden. Your building and fixing skills are top shelf my friend. Something to be proud of if anything. This next flight is going to be the one, I can feel it.

If I was you, I wouldn't even put the landing gear on for the next couple of flights, it seems that is where you are doing a lot of your repairs. The landing gear acts as a big lever just waiting to tear the plane apart as soon as you make contact with the ground. No gear, and a bunch of belly landing practice will help you get good to put the gear on. Even myself i am apprehensive to put gear on for that reason, I still have yet to be consistent with my belly landings to use gear yet. Just a thought.

The dog wants to copilot for ya, and is ready to take the right seat

 

[mayan]

If I was you, I wouldn't even put the landing gear on for the next couple of flights, it seems that is where you are doing a lot of your repairs. The landing gear acts as a big lever just waiting to tear the plane apart as soon as you make contact with the ground. No gear, and a bunch of belly landing practice will help you get good to put the gear on. Even myself i am apprehensive to put gear on for that reason, I still have yet to be consistent with my belly landings to use gear yet. Just a thought.

I agree! Even today landing gear causes the most of my problems on a landings, I just feel like I get along fine with belly landing and landing gear makes it all so much more complicated.

 

[Marty72]

Your practice Scout looks like it has hardly any crashes on it, looks like most of my planes after just the maiden. Your building and fixing skills are top shelf my friend. Something to be proud of if anything. This next flight is going to be the one, I can feel it.

If I was you, I wouldn't even put the landing gear on for the next couple of flights, it seems that is where you are doing a lot of your repairs. The landing gear acts as a big lever just waiting to tear the plane apart as soon as you make contact with the ground. No gear, and a bunch of belly landing practice will help you get good to put the gear on. Even myself i am apprehensive to put gear on for that reason, I still have yet to be consistent with my belly landings to use gear yet. Just a thought.

The dog wants to copilot for ya, and is ready to take the right seat

Thanks so much for the encouragement. I think I'm really close to getting a full flight, no issues. I feel a lot less pressure now, as the bloom is off the rose. I also learned a lot about the plane on the last outing. The issue, I believe, is to stay focus, move the stick slowly, and patience. The Scout behaves very different from the Cub but I'm not longer overwhelmed by it.

As far as the repairs, it seemed a bit overwhelming at first but simply fixing the most substantial damage first and working my way down seems to work well. I thought, if it didn't work, I'd toss it and make another one. For beginners, pieces of popsickle sticks and old credit cards are awesome ways to repair damage FB. I hardly added any weight at all, didn't need much. I didn't show a picture of it, but I added a cross member to the front of the plane, just in front of were the battery goes. I used a piece of popsickle stick, it made a huge different in the stiffness of the front end. The motor is as solid in there as ever.

As far as the landing gear, yeah, I need to get some actually landing in before I put that back on. You and Mayan are right, it creates a lot of damage when you crash. I was just too optimistic about my chances each time on the next flight. I'm no longer worried about marring the looks of the practice Scout, so ..........

The dog is most likely looking out the window for squirrels, she thinks she's a cat, lies on the back of the couch.

Now, I just need to wait for the weather to cooperate. Between the rains and substantial winds, I can't find a time. Maybe in the morning, if it's not raining, which is a possibility.

Finished up the wings this evening, all the parts are there for a new plane, when this one expires.

 

[Marty72]

Flights 7 & 8

I got out this morning and made a time slot to fly, conditions were not perfect but the forecast sucks. It was breezier than what I normally fly in, so I didn't bother to taking the Cub up. I thought the Scout would handle it fine, but with my flying skills, I definitely had more problems than last week. So going forward, if it's not Cub conditions, I'm not flying the Scout until I can do it successfully in calm conditions. I'm going to guess it was only 5 mph with gusts. As it goes, it felt fine on the ground.

I seem to have the hand launch worked out, both went perfectly. I got real close to the trees (far from me), after I made 2 mistakes in a row, I ended the first flight after a minute, very soft crash, basically a belly landing.

The second launch ensure after making a quick trim adjustment based on the one minute flight. I couldn't get comfortable flying today, just wasn't flying smooth like Friday. I got to the edge of my boundary again, mistakes ensued and I shut the motor off and let it crash into the trees/bushes (at the very edge of the boundary where I could get it). The trees/bushes broke the fall, never hit the ground but was caught in a very thorny bush, it took a bit to get it out. Some very minor damage, prop was still good, but the power pod was flexy. I got 3:40 minutes on that flight.

Threw the Practice Scout into the truck and headed off to the trail head to run Roo on the mountain bike, she got 7 miles, 800 ft elevation in today. Rain later today, and tomorrow. Plane is all fixed up, checked everything out, lots of minor issues I had to fix. Ready to try again.

Not posting video, nothing to see really.
No landing gear today, not that I would have used it. ha.

Questions for you guys: Do you guys add a rudder mix to the aileron input on your transmitter? If so, how much? Is there a down side to doing this?

I put 5 minutes on the 3 cell battery today, it was only down to 11.97 V, sounds like I could easily put 10 minutes on it (as I'm flying it). I read no lower than 9 v, but what do you guys consider safe? 9 V seems a bit low.

 

[BATTLEAXE]

Flights 7 & 8

I got out this morning and made a time slot to fly, conditions were not perfect but the forecast sucks. It was breezier than what I normally fly in, so I didn't bother to taking the Cub up. I thought the Scout would handle it fine, but with my flying skills, I definitely had more problems than last week. So going forward, if it's not Cub conditions, I'm not flying the Scout until I can do it successfully in calm conditions. I'm going to guess it was only 5 mph with gusts. As it goes, it felt fine on the ground.

I seem to have the hand launch worked out, both went perfectly. I got real close to the trees (far from me), after I made 2 mistakes in a row, I ended the first flight after a minute, very soft crash, basically a belly landing.

The second launch ensure after making a quick trim adjustment based on the one minute flight. I couldn't get comfortable flying today, just wasn't flying smooth like Friday. I got to the edge of my boundary again, mistakes ensued and I shut the motor off and let it crash into the trees/bushes (at the very edge of the boundary where I could get it). The trees/bushes broke the fall, never hit the ground but was caught in a very thorny bush, it took a bit to get it out. Some very minor damage, prop was still good, but the power pod was flexy. I got 3:40 minutes on that flight.

Threw the Practice Scout into the truck and headed off to the trail head to run Roo on the mountain bike, she got 7 miles, 800 ft elevation in today. Rain later today, and tomorrow. Plane is all fixed up, checked everything out, lots of minor issues I had to fix. Ready to try again.

Not posting video, nothing to see really.
No landing gear today, not that I would have used it. ha.

Questions for you guys: Do you guys add a rudder mix to the aileron input on your transmitter? If so, how much? Is there a down side to doing this?

I put 5 minutes on the 3 cell battery today, it was only down to 11.97 V, sounds like I could easily put 10 minutes on it (as I'm flying it). I read no lower than 9 v, but what do you guys consider safe? 9 V seems a bit low.

A good place as far as battery percentage to run down to is 75% of full charge. Some ESC's will give you a throttle cut of or pulse when the battery runs down, giving you just enough to land the plane. The battery should start out at around 12.2-12.5 volts and run down to about 9.5 or so. I have learned this lesson as of recently as to how to diagnose batteries so it is still a little fresh in my head. I have a couple of battery readers now and one of them is actually a battery balancer as well.

As far as rudder mixing i have never done it myself, but a lot of people do, it gives you a really scale style of turn if you plan on cruising around. Myself I tend to do maneuvers so I like having it separate. You could have the best of both worlds and program it to a switch on your transmitter to turn it on and off whenever you want. Since you are running the DX6e it should be easy to program. As far as the mix rate goes you don't need much at all, 20-40% should be lots.

 

[whackflyer]

The usual rule of thumb is come down at around 3.8v/cell. True you can go longer than that, but if you go below very many times it substantially reduces the overall lifespan of the battery.

 

[The Hangar]

The usual rule of thumb is come down at around 3.8v/cell. True you can go longer than that, but if you go below very many times it substantially reduces the overall lifespan of the battery.

That’s what I try to go by. Often times I accidentally dip into the 3.7 though. My batteries tend to last pretty long

 

[Marty72]

Thanks guys, so I should just make 10 minutes on a warm day, cruising.

So Battleaxe, can you tell any difference in performance between the 2 blade and 3 blade prop on the Sportster?

Also guys, when you minwax the plane (after building), how long do you let it set before wiping it off. I can't seem to find an answer other than just a bit. 30 sec, 5 minutes, 5 hours, 3 days? ha.

 

[BATTLEAXE]

Thanks guys, so I should just make 10 minutes on a warm day, cruising.

So Battleaxe, can you tell any difference in performance between the 2 blade and 3 blade prop on the Sportster?

Also guys, when you minwax the plane (after building), how long do you let it set before wiping it off. I can't seem to find an answer other than just a bit. 30 sec, 5 minutes, 5 hours, 3 days? ha.

You know what, I just minwaxed my plane and I should have done a video for it. I leave it on for like 3-5 minutes, just enough to let it soak into the paper. I will brush on one wing with a light coat, brush the next wing, by the time you are done brushing on the last wing, the first wing is ready to be wiped off. There is no real science to it. You will get a feel for it. The idea is that once you wipe it off it will have a smooth finish. Just brushing it on and letting it dry will leave tiny bubbles on the finish plus it will add a lot more weight then wiping it off. Once it is wiped off the FB will have a translucent look to it, really it just needs to soak thru the paper.

As far as the performance difference between the 2 blade and the 3 blade was considerable. Mind you the 2 blade was a 9x6, and the 3 blade was an 11x7. So an 11x7 2 blade would have made a difference as well, but the third blade pulls so much more air that where I was cruising at 70% throttle with the 2 blade was now 50% on the 3 blade. Power up to full throttle and the response out of it was night and day, way more direct. It would pull up on vertical and just keep going where the 2 blade would stall due to gravity. Top speed full throttle on the level was about 50% faster as well. so many benefits to it. The downfall, it pulled more amps so the flights are shorter then the usual 7-8 minutes.

 

[Marty72]

You know what, I just minwaxed my plane and I should have done a video for it. I leave it on for like 3-5 minutes, just enough to let it soak into the paper. I will brush on one wing with a light coat, brush the next wing, by the time you are done brushing on the last wing, the first wing is ready to be wiped off. There is no real science to it. You will get a feel for it. The idea is that once you wipe it off it will have a smooth finish. Just brushing it on and letting it dry will leave tiny bubbles on the finish plus it will add a lot more weight then wiping it off. Once it is wiped off the FB will have a translucent look to it, really it just needs to soak thru the paper.

As far as the performance difference between the 2 blade and the 3 blade was considerable. Mind you the 2 blade was a 9x6, and the 3 blade was an 11x7. So an 11x7 2 blade would have made a difference as well, but the third blade pulls so much more air that where I was cruising at 70% throttle with the 2 blade was now 50% on the 3 blade. Power up to full throttle and the response out of it was night and day, way more direct. It would pull up on vertical and just keep going where the 2 blade would stall due to gravity. Top speed full throttle on the level was about 50% faster as well. so many benefits to it. The downfall, it pulled more amps so the flights are shorter then the usual 7-8 minutes.

Perfect, thanks. I did some experimenting last night with scrap FB and minwax. I just trying to learn from others mistakes, I make enough on my own without making ones that are completely unnecessary.
The practice scout is delaminating more and more, not sure if it's just from the wet field, garage humidity or did the paint do the damage weeks ago and it's just now starting to show up. Whatever it is, it's unacceptable for the next build, I just want to try and get a handle on it.

3 prop, yeah, you can't get something for nothing, there is always a cost. Interesting, none the less. I watched your stencil video, that was interesting, I had no idea that's what you did. Next Dollar store trip, it's on the list. BTW, the dollar store has these peanut butter dog cookies made in........wait for it............Canada and my dog absolutely loves them. $1. Cheap cookies, perhaps you hound will like them too.

 

[BATTLEAXE]

Perfect, thanks. I did some experimenting last night with scrap FB and minwax. I just trying to learn from others mistakes, I make enough on my own without making ones that are completely unnecessary.
The practice scout is delaminating more and more, not sure if it's just from the wet field, garage humidity or did the paint do the damage weeks ago and it's just now starting to show up. Whatever it is, it's unacceptable for the next build, I just want to try and get a handle on it.

3 prop, yeah, you can't get something for nothing, there is always a cost. Interesting, none the less. I watched your stencil video, that was interesting, I had no idea that's what you did. Next Dollar store trip, it's on the list. BTW, the dollar store has these peanut butter dog cookies made in........wait for it............Canada and my dog absolutely loves them. $1. Cheap cookies, perhaps you hound will like them too.

This hound likes anything treats, she will eat veggies like raw potatoes, broccoli and carrots. She will even over feed herself if its not measured out and puke it up, go back to her bowl for more.

As far as the delamination thing goes you should also iron out the edges to seal them in as well. Before you minwax actually. It is another layer of defense and strengthens the plane up, especially on control surfaces. I did a video on that one too. Have you subscribed to my YouTube channel yet? All my tutorials are in the playlist category, there is a link to my channel at the bottom of my posts for reference.

 

[The Hangar]

BTW, the dollar store has these peanut butter dog cookies made in........wait for it............Canada and my dog absolutely loves them. $1. Cheap cookies, perhaps you hound will like them too.

Lol - I get those for my hamsters😂

 

[moret]

As far as the performance difference between the 2 blade and the 3 blade was considerable. Mind you the 2 blade was a 9x6, and the 3 blade was an 11x7.

What motor, battery, ESC are you using with that 3 blade. How hot is stuff getting?