The Bush CAP

Theuglycamel

Active member
Hello again everyone,
I've got the daughters Mini-Cruiser done and I needed a plane to keep up. I really didn't feel like cutting anything else out so I picked up this ARF that I bought late last year. I bought two of these Lion Models depron/balsa models up from Vmarshop for 26.00 USD. The blue 232 Max is reserved for a better runway (coming soon!) and this 232 XS I've designated as my new Beater plane. Here's what I started with:
20190510_160340.JPG


Lion Models went out of business several years ago and I'm sure these have been sitting somewhere for a spell. Everything sticky isn't sticky anymore. The plastics are even more brittle than normal. Also there were several sections of tape I didn't trust. I started out with a new paint job (I HATE yellow if it's not on a cub).
20190510_181607.JPG

Next I had my first incident. As I was dry fitting the tail, the rudder fell off and was instantly picked up and chewed by my new puppy... So there was some reinforcement done there and another paint job.
20190511_103832.JPG


Moving on to the firewall: Everything was pretty well die-crushed and the motor mounts were way off. Some sanding, trimming and CA got everything lined up. A generous amount of epoxy went over everything. The right-thrust angle was very nice but there was little to none down-thrust. I'm going to washer the motor to get around that. There's tons of room for electronics and the ESC routed nice and neat.
20190510_183418.JPG
20190511_103808.JPG

20190511_103811.JPG

I'll stop there for my build as I'm waiting for this stinking rudder to dry. I would like to give a quick pro and con for this kit. As I mentioned before, the kit comes NOS but is at least 2 decades old. Be prepared to replace some of the hinge material, and to fabricate your own servo tray for the ele/rud. I'm building a pod for mine so I can add a passenger as well. Speaking of elevator and rudder, the servo horns are not good at all. They capped the rudder and elevator with that thin injection molded plastic. Molded into this plastic are the servo horns which are strengthened with a dose of hot glue. The elevator was WAY off center which I corrected by pulling the push-rod out away from the fuselage and epoxying it down. The rudder horn wound up chewed off so I'm going to add a push-on style nylon horn as soon as the paint dries. Also be very wary of your building surface. I'm notoriously messy and I've already scarred up my wings in more than one place. Hair drier works good at taking them out but keep the heat away from the molded plastic. The plastic is VERY hard to work and I suggest using the sharpest blade you can find and score cut over and over before making any final cuts. Sand with 220 grit and go with any slices you may be trying to sand out. I still cracked my nose cap a few times. Speaking of, I seriously doubt that my plastic nose cap will survive more than 5 flights. It's very brittle, holds on with micro screws, and is mm from getting devoured by the motor from the inside out. If I can, I'll strengthen this thing up or more than likely I'll look into building a decent looking foam cap. This model calls for a 100-125 watt brush-less so I've got a no-name 935kv 2212 with a 8x7 prop. If I keep the weight down it should do fine. I've got a 1200kv 2216 waiting just in case though. As for the good, this thing is a breeze to build. It comes with a CD that has nice full color instructions. I would go with 5g servos vs the 9gs I'm shoving in. That would remove almost all of the cutting out of the build. It was also CHEAP. I could buy two of these for what most ARFs cost. (Hence why I did just that). I can learn how to NOT fly this one, and leave all of the good flying to my Max. It also has a good set of hardware. The ele/rud push-rods are preinstalled and have adjustable nylon clevises. The landing gear has all of the straws and bits to get the wheel pants on and has a rather permanant plywood lock. And there was a good amount of screw tabs to make door latches and such. It is also VERY VERY light. The wing loading should be fantastic and besides a bit of reinforcement and my monster landing gear, I should still have a respectable AUW. I built the Max bone stock so it retains the lightness, but I'd be very worried landing in my fields this time of year.
My plan with this bird is as follows, get it built, crash it often, and rebuild it until it's nothing but glue. I've got terrible runways so I'll be trying out my 3" foamy tires on her. Hopefully it doesn't destroy the roll on it, but if so I'll glue in a belly skid and set a brake (if I can figure these ^%$^%# ESCs out).
More to come later tonight!
 

Theuglycamel

Active member
Yesterday decided to be too windy to fly so I wasn't able to get my maiden videos I wanted. Here's where I'm at on the Bush Cap. The rudder was mangled a bit more than I realized and after smashing it in a book over night, heat, and tape I finally just broke down and edged everything with 2mm carbon fiber rod. I still have a slight tweak to the port side, but I'm also going to put two carbon supports between the rudder and elevator.
20190513_072159.JPG

20190513_072044.JPG

I also ran a 4mm rod down the leading edge of the wing. Not too hip on my tape so I'll probably peel it off and go with packing tape instead.
20190513_072100.JPG

Next was this frustrating nose cap. After 50 thousand test fits I finally got it solid without rubbing the motor or prop. I've still got money on this lasting less than 5 flights. I did epoxy the soup out of it for strength but that was it.
20190513_072124.JPG

The servo hatch and pilot turned out pretty good. I know Donald wasn't the best pilot but at least it gives me someone to blame when I total it. One thing I didn't care for was the top of the fuselage came apart on me (very old glue) so i had to epoxy it back on. The bottom of the fuse is depon but the top is this crappy injected plastic. I'm sure I've got the AUW a little high so I might have to move up to those 1200kv motors before it's all said and done. This 2213 really likes this 8x7 prop though so I might be ok. All I have left is my push rods for the ailerons and my 3" gear. I doubt this factory landing gear wire will hold up but I'm going to give it a chance before I make any more modifications. Hopefully I can get her in the air this afternoon and have a video. I'll probably just hand toss and keep the gear in my pocket (my hay field is the perfect height right now for rough landings and glide testing). I'm still an advocate for these kits as long as you understand there is some refreshing that has to be done. More to come!
20190513_072112.JPG
20190513_072057.JPG
 

Theuglycamel

Active member
Wind was up again yesterday so I put a few hours in on the BushCap. Got rid of the red tape and finished setting the push-rods. I buggered up the paint of course so I'll be shooting some more black tonight. I also finished edging the rudder with carbon so it's almost back in shape again. I'll shoot some pics tonight after I get the paint on.
Again, I'm pretty happy with these kits and would definitely recommend them. Bench testing this 935kv 2213 with a 8x7 gave great results. This is a no-name setup I got from ebay that I complained about on another thread. This particular ESC hasn't been calibrated and performs WAY better than the two I screwed up. I'm sure if I ever figure out the program sequence I could get a little more out of this motor but I'm happy so far. I just got a watt meter this week so I'll weld some ends up and see what it pulls static. Hopefully I can wash my hands of this one tonight and I'll just be waiting for a calm day to maiden.
 

Theuglycamel

Active member
Ok, I was tested on my perseverance this weekend. It's been stormy and windy here for almost a week and I caught a break yesterday morning. So off to maiden the Bush Cap I went. Here's a good tip and "take it from me" to anyone just getting into the hobby... DON'T RUSH YOUR MAIDEN. I had what I thought 20 min of touching up to do before the flight. Had to set my rates and find a good battery for the cg. Made sure my clevises all had heat shrink and fought this crappy nose cap for too long (should have just ditched it).
Winds were starting to pick up and I knew I'd better get it trimmed out real fast or I'd miss my opportunity. First thing, the throws in the manual for elevator are WAY off... 3/8" would have been perfect but the 1/2 I had dialed in (even at 80% and 30% expo) made her into a rocket with the slightest touch. CG was on the nose heavy side so I knew I had too much throw. I was fighting a starboard roll with trim when a gust rolled me inverted. I was able to recover but I was in a dive and had a lot of speed behind me. As I pulled out of the dive I saw the distinct bobble of a push-rod tearing loose and the subsequent Mach OMG lawn dart into the hay field. I never found half of my prop ( I think it's 6" under ground). The nose cap disintegrated and ripped the motor mount. The wings split and the plastic fuse topper ripped to shreds. I don't have any pics right now but I'll throw some on tonight.
Long story short, I'd forgotten to screw down my servo arms in my mad dash to get in the air. This isn't the first time I've had this exact problem, but it was the first I'd had on a maiden that totaled my plane.
So, Donald survived and I've pulled everything out of this Cap and I'm moving it over to my 232 MAX. The paint matches his outfit better anyway.

I cussed a little but to be honest there was a point on this build when I knew it had gone too far. I was fighting warps and dog-chewing, bad paint, and shotty plastic. I began this build as a fast, get in the air, beater plane and I wound up putting as much time into it as I would a balsa build.

It was a spectacular crash though... :)
 

Theuglycamel

Active member
Well here she is again after a compete overhaul lol. Donald was a crap pilot and possibly a drunk so I hired Mario for the 232 Max. Everything came out ok except for old-age warping of the ailerons I almost never got straight. I've got a 2212 1000kv raserstar and a 8x6 on her. She's no speed demon, but she punches out really well.
For some reason, this one was MAD nose heavy, even though I had a slightly larger motor on the XS and they were both running the same landing gear. I've even moved the battery almost directly above the CG. I might have to look into cutting a battery tray behind the cockpit.

Got her first maiden yesterday during a 5 min break in the wind and I was actually a blast to fly. Elevator was anemic due to the nose weight and she glides like a wet brick. However I did manage to get it back down in one piece and without breaking a prop so I'm happy with that. I've upped my throws for now but I'm gonna try and sort the CG out this week.

The Trio in the Grass are just what I have flyable right now. I'm putting my beater cub back together tonight (ripped the tail off) and I just picked up a HZ Duet for the kiddos that should be fun. My next big project is the "Black Magic" 110% cruiser I've been wanting to build for months now.

Now if the storms would just subside for a day or two...

KIMG0036[1].jpg
KIMG0032[1].jpg
KIMG0033[1].jpg
KIMG0038[1].jpg