lol.....
Oh dear, my Teksumo experience has not gone well.. I went out to Gliders UK and picked up the servos, ESC, motor and prop (2208/12 1400kv 8x5 props) the whole kit was my crimbo gift from my lovely girlfriend. I spent most of Christmas night assembling it and after a few false starts (dead Rx... servo issues... ect...) i finally got it ready for the skies...
Attempt One: The maiden, it went up.... and then went down..
it appeared to flip on its back then nose dive... I thought it was nose heavy but the CG was bang on... I brought it in, no damage, cleaned off the mud but then the wind picked up and that was that.
Attempt Two: TODAY! clear blue skies and very little wind... almost perfect.. I double treble checked everything (So I thought) and headed for the field. launched it myself, again it flipped over on to its back and headed for the ground. This time the nose (inc Lipo bay) snapped clean off and the motor mount was trashed.. puzzled I set to fixing it up.. tooth picks and CA (cheers FliteTest) did the trick nicely. I used some black solarfilm to cover the blemishes.
Attempt Three: The wind was still low and I was happy to try again.. however.. as I was doing my pre-flight checks something clicked.. I'd noticed the elevator throws were not moving equal, this explains the flipping I was experiencing.. i took it in and made further adjustments.
Attempt Four: It's final moments loomed.. positive I'd covered all eventualities I wondered outside for yet another attempt.. moments before my father was about to throw it skyward I noticed it (had I mentioned I'd been drinking... hey, its Christmas) I'd mounted the servos on the top, followed the instructions closely yet had somehow failed to notice that stick input resulted in up being down and down being up.. I guess this explains the nose dives, but by this point I was flying it if it killed me.. I quickly spun the servo arms around and headed for the field once more.. My father walked out into the field with the wing held high above is head. the hand launch went horribly wrong.. he threw it, he yelped the wing took to the skies.. YES!!.. briefly.. lol.. it was definitely nose heavy but it was air born, I took it up and in that moment all was well.. until I realized my Fathers yelp was not one of adulation but of pain.. he was okay but walking over clutching his hand. I look over briefly, he's smiling, look back at the wing and its headed for the ground full stick.. oops.. it hit hard!
Below are the grizzly remains of my ill fated Tek Sumo..
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Finally my poor Fathers hand, it took some cleaning, TCP and nine plasters (bandaids). This is what a 8x5 prop will do to you at low throttle. My Father doesnt drink, he knew to keep clear of the prop, it was simply an accident.
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It may look fixable in the photos but I'm exhausted with it, The leading edges are missing huge chunks that have tooth picked and CA'd the Wing Tips have seen the same repairs, the area around the prop has foam parts missing and repair jobs have now left it looking less then great. There's simply more CA holding this thing together its now very weak.
I'd love another, but unfortunately ordering a $30 Wing from Hobby King ends up costing me much much much more.. shipping times and import TAX make ordering another not very attractive.
I'm gutted it all went wrong.. but.. silver lining.. I learned a lot, enjoyed building it, enjoyed fixing it, enjoyed spending the time with my Father.
J.
