What did you crash today

Matthewdupreez

Legendary member
after a very long time of no major crashes i actually sadly have something to post here, it was a bit of a heart dropping moment, but it's part of the hobby.

after crash autopsy showed that my BEC had failed as i was coming in for a landing, and lost all power to my servos and rx, locking it into a left roll at full throttle, crash was quite spectacular to hear, exhaust was ripped off of the nitro engine, and the shaft bent.

one word OUCH lol
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Burnhard

Well-known member
after a very long time of no major crashes i actually sadly have something to post here, it was a bit of a heart dropping moment, but it's part of the hobby.

after crash autopsy showed that my BEC had failed as i was coming in for a landing, and lost all power to my servos and rx, locking it into a left roll at full throttle, crash was quite spectacular to hear, exhaust was ripped off of the nitro engine, and the shaft bent.

one word OUCH lol
View attachment 241585
Ouch. Sounds like quite a spectacle.
 

Crazed Scout Pilot

Well-known member
Finished my Bushwacker rebuild today.
View attachment 241574
Kept the paint scheme of my original one but added a couple of mods. She now has an MS style curved wing, a steerable tail wheel, balsa at the leading edges of the elevator and stabilizer and a bidirectional ESC for reverse thrust.

Mostly used the electronics from the original one but added new servos for ailerons rudder and elevator. Also recycled a bit of carbon tube and other carbon pieces.

Tried to build this one lighter than the original. For some reason the original was only 95% of the new one (probably messed up the print settings at the time). The new wing is about 5 cm longer than the original and when I weighted the old (painted) wing vs the new (at that time unpainted) wing I had like 70 grams less than the original set-up.

I am quite happy how she turned out and am looking forward to the maiden sometime soon.
Looks amazing
 

CrshNBrn

Elite member
Just like the real version, my foamboard Shangri-La had a rough time meeting the ground yesterday. A little hot glue and touch up paint and it's all better!
 

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mastermalpass

Elite member
This morning I took out that plane I’ve yet to name. It got off the ground! But the roll-rates were too high and the model too fragile:

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Such is the way with experimental aircraft. But I’m not too disappointed; when it couldn’t get off the ground on 2S, that was enough of a red flag. Now the weight may have not been what crashed it, but ideally a plane shouldn’t break this much from this kind of crash (came down at 30* from about 1.8 metres, immediately after take off).

Main lessons learned:
1) the Undercambered wing packed with electronics and cladded underneath, was a success!
2) the split flaps were a success!
3) Lights are much less complicated than I thought!
4) The longer nose was successful in assisting CoG - the battery sat right on the CoG point.

I’ve had the issues I had this morning on planes with different wing designs, so the fact it flew means they pass. It crashed due to my reaction speeds, not due to airframe stability, so they’re good.

5) I need to program in dual rates. You never know how much throws a plane is gonna need until it’s up in the air, so dual rates should be incorporated for test flights.

6) Planes with this many bells and whistles need to be bigger. The wing was fine, but the fuselage was packed - this is one of the reasons it broke so easily on impact. With no room to move, the heavy electronics took their nearest pieces of foam with them.

7) Planes of this size need to be lighter. If a plane with less than 60cm wingspan can’t take off on 2S, then it’s going to be flying in ‘fast forward’.

8) Planes of this size will struggle to perform ground take offs in fields.
 

foamboardflyer

Active member
Yesterday, I maiden my retro rocket with my 3D-printed EDF thrust vectoring design. Despite a successful flight, I crashed it during landing due to high wind and pilot error.
 

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Burnhard

Well-known member
Had some hard landings today which almost took my landing gear out.

Is there any hack for glueing foam board (in particular the foam itself)? I have been using white glue a lot but lately I have the impression that it does not cope with harder landings. Tried CA on a scrap piece but that stuff is a foam killer.
 

Mr NCT

Site Moderator
Had some hard landings today which almost took my landing gear out.

Is there any hack for glueing foam board (in particular the foam itself)? I have been using white glue a lot but lately I have the impression that it does not cope with harder landings. Tried CA on a scrap piece but that stuff is a foam killer.
Have you tried a mix of gorilla glue and wood glue? About a 15 -20 min. set time and seems to be really tight.
 

mastermalpass

Elite member
Had some hard landings today which almost took my landing gear out.

Is there any hack for glueing foam board (in particular the foam itself)? I have been using white glue a lot but lately I have the impression that it does not cope with harder landings. Tried CA on a scrap piece but that stuff is a foam killer.

I personally prefer tape and maybe a bit of hot glue for most of my landing gears. Better to have the gear come off clean than tear up the foam.

Saying that, for bigger models, I like to mount them on with plywood and nylon bolts.
 

mastermalpass

Elite member
Finished putting the new engine on the Sig Kadet yesterday. Today, I learned; if you make an adjustment to the motor angle to counteract the torque roll, remember to re-centre the rudder trim you had entered to counteract the torque roll in the original motor angle. At least do so, if you’re gonna attempt a short take off using max throttle in a slight cross wind with a new dual-rates setting to lessen the throws.

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Credit to the model, it does like to break in really easy-to-fix places when you crash it!
 

foamboardflyer

Active member
Had some hard landings today which almost took my landing gear out.

Is there any hack for glueing foam board (in particular the foam itself)? I have been using white glue a lot but lately I have the impression that it does not cope with harder landings. Tried CA on a scrap piece but that stuff is a foam killer.
I like to just use hot glue. if your glue gun doesn’t have a dial you can let it heat up, unplug it and cool down so it doesn’t melt the foam.
 

Burnhard

Well-known member
Many thanks for all the input! I went with hotglue for this one but will try the other options as well. Not a huge fan of hot glue due to the additional weight.