Trainstar Floatplane Sorted

...finally enjoying the moment

Yesterday afternoon I headed off to the lake again with the Trainstar, hoping that finally all the work I'd put into sorting it out would pay dividends and I'd be able to have an enjoyable afternoon punting it around the lake.

As it turned out the flights were really good; nice smooth takeoffs, peaceful and uneventful flights finished off with reasonably good landings. Using full elevator for landings this time, I managed to keep the Trainstar on its floats every time although it was still dropping too fast. The last tweak I need to do then, is to take off the flap mix I've been flying with.

This is good on the gliders when flying slowly however, with the Trainstar having to fly on about three-quarter throttle, the tail doesn't need any lifting. So, by switching the mixing off, it will give me a little extra elevator travel, just what I need to be able to level the Trainstar out on landing, hopefully enough to eliminate the bouncing which has been a characteristic of every landing it's made so far.

Changing the elevator setting will hopefully also give teh Trainstar teh ability to climb a bit better, as at the moment it flies pretty flat, which can be a slight concern given the number of trees lining the lake's edge.

The good landings were, of course, a great assistance ino keeping the servos dry...

Waterproofing Servos

...silicone sealer and dielectric grease

Having thought the Trainstar floatplane was completely sorted, I've discovered that the wing servos, in particular the aileron servos with their exposed extension join, are prone to water ingress.

Due to the smallest waterproof servo available being much too large to fit into the wing, it was necessary to waterproof the existing servos and connectors. I had intended to use dielectric grease however I was concerned about contamination affecting the covering tape over the servo wires and so opted instead to just go with silicone sealer.



I sealed the cable entry to the servo housing, which seems like the most likely water entry point, and sealed the servo connector and the extension harness. The joins in the servo housing didn't seem like a problem, and I haven't sealed around the pinion gear due to access problems on the already-installed servos.

This is the one area that would require the grease, however I was wondering whether a haphazard application of grease might be worse than none at all, considering that the area most accessible would be on the underside, possibly trapping any splashed water. So I think I'll just try the Trainstar as is and see how it goes...

The Problem with Seaplanes

...try and try again

My efforts at converting to water planes has been rather fraught and, in many ways, echoes the tribulations I experienced when starting flying radio control.

Firstly trying to find suitable venues has been a challenge in itself; too many people, too close to houses, too far to walk from the car or locations only occasionally accessible. And, with the Trainstar needing a fair bit of headway to get airborne, the size of the lake needs to be quite generous.

The Trainstar seaplane is also not the easiest to take off or fly, in large due to the oversize floats making it marginally powered. Additionally, the Trainstar is skittish on launch which, when combined with its gravid nature as a seaplane, make getting it airborne a bit of a hit and miss affair.

Additionally, I've discovered that the cause of the Trainstar stalling and consequently nose-diving into the lake were due to the cable for water rudder sticking, providing no rudder input during left turns. I am in the process of resolving this by adding a waterproof servo directly onto the float, a much better system but which I hadn't adopted initially to avoid having to cut into the floats.

Incidentally, the ESC didn't survive it's inebriation, becoming smoking hot to the extent it unsoldered one of the motor leads. This did, however, provided an opportunity to utilise a spare 35A ESC I've had sitting on my spares shelf for ages...