What Did You Fly Today

[The Hangar]

No flying today. But it was nice enough that I got all my nitros out and put a little fuel through all of them on the ground just to ensure they still ran fine

I'll be flying this weekend though since it's projected to be pretty nice. Probably the Avistar, which I haven't flown or really touched since 2016 (I don't know why - it flies really well) I pulled it down and de-seized the engine by just sticking it in fuel yesterday. Got it mounted back on today and it started on the first flip! The idle is a little high but that's due to both the air bleed being a little off and the fact that the only fuel I had on hand was FAI (all my other fuel has already been put in a truck and moved to my new house...) if I pushed it down any lower it started to get unstable. True in the air a lower idle will stabilize a bit because of windmilling but I'd still rather be safe than sorry. Normally this engine will idle at john deere speed all day.

That makes me really want a fuel-powered plane!

 

[Aireal Anarchist]

I'm fortunate that I have been flying from home, I built a versa wing for a friend that wants to learn to fly so I maidened it today, I have a semi symmetrical wing with more power I like to throw around, and I also want to test a new taranis, long range gear, a Kopilot flight controller with the "return to home feature", split cam with tilt and pan but decided to put the bare minimum with the long range gear in a versa wing untill Im comfortable the zohd kopilot will infact "come home"

stay home, stay safe everyone

 

[speedbirdted]

That makes me really want a fuel-powered plane!

Old guys who don't want their planes anymore are your friend

 

[Crawford Bros. Aeroplanes]

Old guys who don't want their planes anymore are your friend

My brother's friend from school has three old gassers in his garage, he's offered to let me fix them but I know I can't fly something like that without incidents

 

[speedbirdted]

Honestly flying fuel planes isn't at all hard for someone who's only done electric. Once you get the thing to run consistently there's not a whole lot that's new. Just that you have an idle instead of cutting power so on some really floaty planes you have to extend your approaches out more, and the throttle response doesn't give you instant power like an electric does. And also, if you run out of fuel anywhere further away than base leg, you will have a bad time. Pay attention to the timer!

You could probably get a feel for flying nitro while still having an electric by setting your throttle subtrim such that it gives you a small amount of throttle to mimic an idle at zero stick input. Just be sure to have a kill switch programmed in as most ESCs won't arm at high throttle (and nitros also have a kill switch so it's more realistic) You can also use the killswitch to practice deadstick landings, which is something you will do at least once if you ever get into fuel planes.

 

[chris398mx]

Honestly flying fuel planes isn't at all hard for someone who's only done electric. Once you get the thing to run consistently there's not a whole lot that's new. Just that you have an idle instead of cutting power so on some really floaty planes you have to extend your approaches out more, and the throttle response doesn't give you instant power like an electric does. And also, if you run out of fuel anywhere further away than base leg, you will have a bad time. Pay attention to the timer!

You could probably get a feel for flying nitro while still having an electric by setting your throttle subtrim such that it gives you a small amount of throttle to mimic an idle at zero stick input. Just be sure to have a kill switch programmed in as most ESCs won't arm at high throttle (and nitros also have a kill switch so it's more realistic) You can also use the killswitch to practice deadstick landings, which is something you will do at least once if you ever get into fuel planes.

I seem to have to dead stick more times than not. I get the thing running great on the ground and then it dies mid-flight for unknown reason. I even started having my friends with 20+ years experience with nitro engines tune it to no avail. (there stuff rarely dies mid flight)

 

[speedbirdted]

I seem to have to dead stick more times than not. I get the thing running great on the ground and then it dies mid-flight for unknown reason. I even started having my friends with 20+ years experience with nitro engines tune it to no avail. (there stuff rarely dies mid flight)

What engines do you run?

$20 that it's Super Tigre

All joking aside, have you checked the clunk line for a hole? A lot of the time, that's the cause of an engine randomly dying for no reason in flight.

 

[Figure9]

What a day. Once I’ve charged my batteries & driven to the field I just can’t seem to walk away from the mission. The delamination on my Mini Stick control surfaces just kept getting worse & I’m pretty sure I messed up by not using enough ‘THIN’ coats pf MinWax. Thing is, the little craft flew great! Totally controllable, launched flat as a pancake & reached for the sky like a homesick extraterrestrial. To keep the airplane in front of me I needed an application of power that I wasn’t experienced enough to handle. With high power settings the control surface response got to fast for me.

I was so excited about how crazy it got that I forgot how long I flew it. I was able to get a few maneuvers out of it & thought I was doing great until the tornado blew in.

Terrible allergies, I’m not stricken with the virus. Good thing nobody was at the field, in this rural area they’d have just shot me & fired up the back hoe.

I already have plans printed for another shot at this design. I really like this design, especially the fuselage, but I don’t want to use a power pod with it. I’m looking to dedicate a motor & ESC to it for the sake of a narrower fuselage frontal area. I can’t help myself, it’s what we alway sought to do to get better aerodynamics from full scales.
@Wildthing was a big help along with @The Hangar & @BATTLEAXE & others on this forum because I did a terrible job on this build & they helped me correct mistakes as I limped along fixing problems. Even with delaminated hinges & corrupted foam board from spray paint chemicals, this design flew great! I love it & now I want to build a Hybrid Simple Stick/Simple Soarer. I can do better & if I had a buddy box assistant I’d be ripping the sky up by now. Thing is, even learning the hard way is learning. Better not to expose others to virus risk.

 

[chris398mx]

What engines do you run?

$20 that it's Super Tigre

All joking aside, have you checked the clunk line for a hole? A lot of the time, that's the cause of an engine randomly dying for no reason in flight.

I have an OS LA 40 on one plane and a OS 46 SF on the other one. they both seem to randomly die. i will try to check for leaks on the clunk line.

 

[ScratchBuildMast]

I am trying to wait patiently for the mustang to actually release, but it is very hard...

 

[speedbirdted]

I have an OS LA 40 on one plane and a OS 46 SF on the other one. they both seem to randomly die. i will try to check for leaks on the clunk line.

Huh. Yeah some problem with the fuel system is all I can think of here given you had folks that know their stuff fiddling with it. Most of my fleet is Saitos but all my 2 stroke planes are a mixture of OS and a bunch of other random manufacturers. 99% of the time I had to dead stick it was cause of some shenanigans with the fuel system (or the fuel system having no fuel in it )

 

["Corpse"]

I am trying to wait patiently for the mustang to actually release, but it is very hard...

It's already out! You can buy it now! I just might do that too.

 

[Crawford Bros. Aeroplanes]

Honestly flying fuel planes isn't at all hard for someone who's only done electric. Once you get the thing to run consistently there's not a whole lot that's new. Just that you have an idle instead of cutting power so on some really floaty planes you have to extend your approaches out more, and the throttle response doesn't give you instant power like an electric does. And also, if you run out of fuel anywhere further away than base leg, you will have a bad time. Pay attention to the timer!

You could probably get a feel for flying nitro while still having an electric by setting your throttle subtrim such that it gives you a small amount of throttle to mimic an idle at zero stick input. Just be sure to have a kill switch programmed in as most ESCs won't arm at high throttle (and nitros also have a kill switch so it's more realistic) You can also use the killswitch to practice deadstick landings, which is something you will do at least once if you ever get into fuel planes.

The thing is I can't fly electric yet either

 

[Wildthing]

What a day. Once I’ve charged my batteries & driven to the field I just can’t seem to walk away from the mission. The delamination on my Mini Stick control surfaces just kept getting worse & I’m pretty sure I messed up by not using enough ‘THIN’ coats pf MinWax. Thing is, the little craft flew great! Totally controllable, launched flat as a pancake & reached for the sky like a homesick extraterrestrial. To keep the airplane in front of me I needed an application of power that I wasn’t experienced enough to handle. With high power settings the control surface response got to fast for me.

I was so excited about how crazy it got that I forgot how long I flew it. I was able to get a few maneuvers out of it & thought I was doing great until the tornado blew in.

Terrible allergies, I’m not stricken with the virus. Good thing nobody was at the field, in this rural area they’d have just shot me & fired up the back hoe.

I already have plans printed for another shot at this design. I really like this design, especially the fuselage, but I don’t want to use a power pod with it. I’m looking to dedicate a motor & ESC to it for the sake of a narrower fuselage frontal area. I can’t help myself, it’s what we alway sought to do to get better aerodynamics from full scales.
@Wildthing was a big help along with @The Hangar & @BATTLEAXE & others on this forum because I did a terrible job on this build & they helped me correct mistakes as I limped along fixing problems. Even with delaminated hinges & corrupted foam board from spray paint chemicals, this design flew great! I love it & now I want to build a Hybrid Simple Stick/Simple Soarer. I can do better & if I had a buddy box assistant I’d be ripping the sky up by now. Thing is, even learning the hard way is learning. Better not to expose others to virus risk.

The delamination might be from to much minwax not the paint, brush on a thin coat and then wipe it off right away with paper towel or a rag but don't let it just soak in. Thin coat of paint also, paint can add a lot of weight very easily.

 

[Figure9]

The delamination might be from to much minwax not the paint, brush on a thin coat and then wipe it off right away with paper towel or a rag but don't let it just soak in. Thin coat of paint also, paint can add a lot of weight very easily.

Haha, will do.

 

[BATTLEAXE]

Haha, will do.

Are you using oil based minwax or water based?

 

[Figure9]

Are you using oil based minwax or water based?

Thanks. Finishing up with the water based & then I’ll take your previous advice & use oil based. I was impatient & only applied one coat, probably heavier than usual. The water based worked fine for my past builds when I was more careful with it. I’m a believer in MinWax but one must be careful with the application. Multiple thin coats seal foam board better than slobbering it all over the place. Patience is your friend, rushing the build is your nemesis. I always appreciate your input but didn’t want to waste the water based I already had.

 

[Wildthing]

Thanks. Finishing up with the water based & then I’ll take your previous advice & use oil based. I was impatient & only applied one coat, probably heavier than usual. The water based worked fine for my past builds when I was more careful with it. I’m a believer in MinWax but one must be careful with the application. Multiple thin coats seal foam board better than slobbering it all over the place. Patience is your friend, rushing the build is your nemesis. I always appreciate your input but didn’t want to waste the water based I already had.

I just use water based minwax or varathane and again a thin coat and wipe it off right away. The Extreme is an example and it turned out perfect with no delamination or foam melting from the aerosol paint even the edges where there is bare foam (coated with minwax also ) .

 

[BATTLEAXE]

Thanks. Finishing up with the water based & then I’ll take your previous advice & use oil based. I was impatient & only applied one coat, probably heavier than usual. The water based worked fine for my past builds when I was more careful with it. I’m a believer in MinWax but one must be careful with the application. Multiple thin coats seal foam board better than slobbering it all over the place. Patience is your friend, rushing the build is your nemesis. I always appreciate your input but didn’t want to waste the water based I already had.

Your delamination problem is coming from the water based anything on FB. If it was oil based you would have zero issues. The FB isn't defective, the paint should be able to go on in two decent coats, and if anything the polyurethane should help the paper stick better to the foam. Get rid of anything water based you put on you FB and stick to the oil based stuff. It will make life so much easier

 

[Wildthing]

Your delamination problem is coming from the water based anything on FB. If it was oil based you would have zero issues. The FB isn't defective, the paint should be able to go on in two decent coats, and if anything the polyurethane should help the paper stick better to the foam. Get rid of anything water based you put on you FB and stick to the oil based stuff. It will make life so much easier

Waterbased varathane and 1 coat of Rustoleum, 0 delamination.