...serenity follows Yesterday was another miracle flying day. The morning was dreadful, overcast, drizzly and windy and, as the day progressed, the winds grew more ferocious by the hour. I had packed the buzzies, the Radjet and Rarebear, on the off chance the weather may ease, however by mid day I'd abandoned the idea of getting a late fly. However, by mid afternoon the wind had abated to a steady northerly breeze and, a little later, the sun had slid past the western extent of the clouds and illuminated everything in a rich warm afternoon glow.
Catching sight of the lustrous sunbeams as I pushed open the blinds, I deserted the keyboard mid-sentence and headed for the field. My usual spot was occupied by the advance-guard of afternoon sports practice, so I ended at my back-up field. The afternoon was glorious; clean-blown air, majestic clouds, emerald green fields, and all bathed in lustrous light from the late afternoon sun. The Rarebear got to go first, soaring through the freshly-laundered skies and looping as it does with the agility of a swift. I still only fly it on half throttle, which is comfortably fast, and occasionally at about three-quarters, which is excessively fast. Anyone who can fly this thing at full throttle must be a deity.
I was halfway through the Rarebear's flight routine when I was interrupted by strident calls from behind me, someone calling off their dog. Only looking from the corner of my vision, one does need to pay attention when flying, I saw a large dark-coloured dog bounding across the field heading straight for me. From the desperate sound of the voice behesting the beast to return, the yelled assurances it wouldn't bite me and the glimpse I'd managed to see of it, I presumed it must be something like an out-of-control rottweiler, so was prepared for a vicious greeting at any second. The dog arrived and I glanced down momentarily to know my attacker; it was an elderly dog, well greyed around the muzzle and certainly not ferocious by any description. In fact, as it's owner continued to yell, I was quite sorry that I wasn't able to give this friendly visitor the greeting and attention it deserved...
...low budget video This morning I tried out the Mini DV 480p video camera while flying the Trainstar. I mounted the camera onto a cap so I could film on-the-go, as I've discovered that manually filming while flying isn't a good idea.
I've used a U1 class 10 SD card in the Mini DV, more than sufficient for the task, so the output reflects its true capabilities. The quality isn't great, however, although it only costs about $7 and the light conditions didn't assist, with the morning being overcast and dull.
Unfortunately, with a big cold front on the way, that's how it's going to be for a few days...
...but servo centering still a pain I finished off the assembly of the Stinger 64 EDF today; a very nice quality kit that goes together well. The only piece that doesn't really fit is the pink trim bit that fits between the fuselage spine and the tail.
Something I wasn't sure about was the installation of the EDF, as I suspected the fan, or at least the cowling, would vibrate. So, to be on the safe side, I hot-glued the cowling to the fan housing in a few places, and then glued the cowling into the fuselage before I installed the wing.
The only thing that was a pain, although not unique to the Stinger, was the servo centring. In the past I've had to reinstall the servo arms so that they're centred once the plane has been powered up. I thought I was missing something, but checking a few videos of this subject seemed to confirm this.
The problem is that, in the case of the Stinger and the Walrus, the servos are installed in recesses without access to the servo arm, so I ended having to cut a section of foam out from one tail servo. In the case of the tail there's no option as, like flaps, they both move together and there's no trimming option.
I have read about a servo tester which includes a facility to set your servo to the centre position. I think this lets you set the centre position so as to install servo arms prior to installing the servo on the plane, however it doesn't help with servos already installed on a plane. Perhaps the plane manufacturers should use this instead of just randomly installing the servo arms...
...bobbing in the breeze It was raining heavily this morning as I left, however I packed my two buzzy planes, the Radjet and Rarebear, along with a spare battery for each. Not knowing the weather, I wasn't liking my chances of getting any flying done that afternoon, but I having left home empty handed before, I've regretted it when the weather clears into a gorgeous afternoon.
Having a bootfull of planes was also a bonus as I ended up being very bored this afternoon, eventually abandoning my post and heading for the car park. The rain had cleared, but the sky was still overcast and a strong breeze was blowing from the southeast. In this weather I take my buzzies - smaller wings mean they are less affected by turbulent conditions, and having constant high-speed prop-wash means that the effect of unsettled conditions is factored out.
First up was the Rarebear, giving it it's first test run since its aileron repair, which worked out pretty well with the balsa lining up nice and straight with the aileron. I also taped up both ailerons to avoid future issues. The Rarebear launches very steep, with the motor, prop and high-performance batteries combining to give it flight characteristics that defy gravity. It also possesses remarkable agility, with a jaw-dropping roll rate as it carves perfect curves through the sky, in a quite remarkable manner.
Next I sent up the Radjet, still launching beautifully which is an absolute blessing, skimming low across the paddock, it's wings being constantly jostled by the breeze. I flew the Radjet until it's battery was depleted, bringing it round into the strong southeaster and easing it down for an almost vertical descent to landing. By this time the breeze had cleared the sky into a fresh blue expanse, with just a few clouds dotted around, the sparkling white cumulus on the southern horizon looking like snow covered peaks out of the corner of the eye as I watched the planes streak across the sky. With the field still clear of Friday footballers, I loaded the Radjet and Rarebear with fresh batteries and sent them up for another rounds of high-speed, full-throttle fun...
...the pocket rocket is fixed I have resolved the issue of the missing Rarebear aileron using good old balsa, a material I haven't used for years. The issue was getting something that was light, easily workable and could be attached to the EPO. With EPO sheet not available, as far as I know, balsa was the best option, readily available in a range of sizes.
For the repair I selected for 4mm sheet, which required just a bit of filing to match the profile of the aileron edge. I used a plastic hinge to attach it, as well as taping up the edges of the repaired and original to avoid repeat problems. I also pinned the balsa prosthetic to the EPO aileron using, well, sections of steel pins (ie large sewing needle) which are stiff and thin. Hitting this lot with a bit of appliance white spray will have the podgy speedster good as new...
...battered but still kicking butt The Radjet has had a tough life; crashed twice before I could get it in the air, then crashed on the first flight, and crashed numerous times after.
However, the Radjet's still a great little plane to fly, fast tough and with a sound to match it's flight attitude; low fly-past at high speed with the reverberating crackle of it's propellor shattering the still of the morning air...
...having fun learning to fly radio control Welcome to Zen Flying. Join us having fun flying a variety of radio controlled planes; gliders, pushers, mini-fighters, quadcopters, taildraggers, floatplanes and EDF jets.
Watch the videos on the Zen Flying YouTube channel or follow what's happening on our blog.
