Alright so here is another update of my recent activity. I recently started building the master series Spitfire and got quite a lot of progress done. The build itself isn't hard but the pieces are a bitch to cut by hand considering some are fragile thin shapes like the formers. So far I have finished building the wings which have a little bit of a gap on the leading edge, might need to wrap some tape around it to make it have a cleaner leading edge. I also finished forming and building some of the fuselage parts that are waiting to be put together. That's where I had to stop though because I didn't have any push rod supporters to go in the fuselage so until I get some or find a different combo this build is on the bench waiting.
Another project that is on the bench is the Tiny Trainer on steroids project, it's really just missing the wing re-enforcemnt with carbon fiber rods which I already bought and the electronics. I am kinda afraid of this project if to speak out of honesty, not sure if my 60A ESC that is already hooked up in the Edge 540 will actually hold the load. I do have a watt meter that I purchased a long time ago but still haven't put it to use because I still need to solder the connections on it, plus I am not sure of how I want it set it up. If I rather connect it to a dedicated stand or just in use on the planes themselves. One way or the other this is my first big project and I want to have as many people as I can out with me on the day of the maiden, might even throw a BBQ for the event.
I also have a few models that need to be revived, like the Mini Mustang, the Long EZ, X-29 and the Howard DGA-6. The X-29 was actually repaired during one of my night shifts at work, but I am still sceptic about it flying, it just seems to me like it's under powered. I don't have a picture of the X-29 after the repair but it's still pretty. I made a hatch on the top of the model to be able to access the ESC so I can try and figure this thing out. Apparently the entire heat shrink of the ESC burst open, and it has an awful brunt smell. I think that one of the issues with the model was the big 4500mah 4S that I tried using in it I think added to much weight to the model.
I also have some updates from the field considering that I went to the field twice the other day, in the morning and in the afternoon and had a blast of a time. I found that during the morning it was easier for me to fly because the sun was mainly behind of where I stand unlike in the afternoon when the sun was in my face and made it really hard to keep track of the plane at all times. On this last outing I decided to take planes that haven't been out in a while like the DR-1, the KFM Wing, and the Racer that had a major repair made to it after my last outing with it, actually all of them flew amazing despite the many repairs that some have already seen. Here are some pictures of the DR-1 and Racer from the other day flying in the morning.
Earlier that day I also flew the master series Corsair was ripping the sky until I did a tight turn at full speed, and that's when I pulled a
@SquirrelTail post digging manoeuvre. The hatch flew off and the wings came flying off right after that, the fuselage with no wings was like a bomb coming down from the sky, spinning in fast; and the noise it made on the impact made me shiver at the thought of the massive damage that could and probably took place. I wasn't wrong the damage was hard but not something that can't be fixed
. Here are some pictures of the damage.
Last night I actually started fixing the damage and the first thing I did was remove the cowl part so I can further inspect the damage. Here is how it looks without the cowl, luckily the formers through which the power pod goes through was not damaged, so one last thing to worry about.
Later during the day when I went to the field again in the afternoon I took the KFM Wing up with an on board camera my hopes was to capture a good video of the sun set. The wind was strong but the KFM Wing did good, after multiple trims that is. I took her up high and turned off the motor letting it glide into the wind to keep it nice and level. Here is a picture that I captured out of the video I made, plus on that I caught right before I grabbed it in the air.
I was just having fun trying to make the most of the day so I popped in another battery and took her up for another round, this time I miscalculated the distance and height that I had from this tree that I just happened to accidentally land there. No worries though I had been trained at tree plane retrieval missions that I knew exactly what to look for, and found a good think plastic water line that was disconnected and used that to push the KFM Wing down to the ground to find out that the damage was so minor that I repaired it right after I got home.
And then last but not least today I went to the field with a friend from work, it was super super windy gusting all over the place but that didn't stop me from taking up the Racer. I was flying full throttle the whole time and it was flying great despite the strong winds, kinda felt like slope soaring without the slope. Things were going great until was bringing her in for a landing to go to the third battery when I hit the branch tip of the other only tree in the field. The plane didn't get stuck and fell to the ground, I could see from where I was standing that the tail boom came off from the crash to the ground but when I got to the plane I saw that the wing also broke in half, so that was the end of the day and probably also of that poor plane that has seen many major repairs.
Ok cut the BS let's go finish repairing the master series Corsair and then see if straws will work for the push rod tubing of the master series Spitfire.