Post by skyboyken on Sept 14, 2009 0:06:02 GMT 10
Seeing as I couldn't get to Bundy this weekend, I decided I would get a good slope session in today.
So I headed off to Bald Knob only to find it light and too Northerly, so back down the hill to Brandenburg, where at least there's one other guy. But It's too Easterly here! Not to mention going from light to nothing periodically, so not even the Alula would work.
So, being determined to have a fly, I climb back in the car and head for Shorncliff, where I find a beautiful 10+ knots of breeze almost perfectly on the slope, just very slightly Northerly. Fabulous!
Note to all the guys who want(ed) to join Maleny: it's a great spot but the wind don't blow like SC!!
So I had a go with my combat wing but it wasn't handling well. I think it needs sitting on the bench and making sure everything's straight, properly attached and slop-free. As it was, everytime I got close to the stall it would drop wing and spin in. It was nice flying in between but once I'd had my share of exercise I put it away for the day and pulled out the Mini-Corado.
For those who haven't seen it, the M-C is a lovely light moulded 1.5m v-tail sloper, great for light conditions and aerobatics. It was the first time I'd been to SC for a while so this was its first outing there, and I was struggling to hold height while keeping out of the way of the few foamies that were flying.
Then a pilot showed up next to me and launched his fast EPP wing, I don't know what type. The next thing I know is WHACK!!!! the thing has come down vertically and hard directly on my right thumb and hand. It hit hard enough to open my thumb on the knurled top of the Tx stick (messy) and cause me to drop the Tx (disastrous!).
By the time I'd recovered the Tx and said 'Oh My!', I'd completely lost the M-C and even though I reacted quickly to the 'Pull Up!' call it went into the water about 10m from shore.
Bugger!
So off goes Mark like a shot, with me following and saying 'Oh Darn!' all the way down to the beach, where I waded out and fetched the plane.
The fuselage was full of salt water but the plane was floating nicely, so not much got into the wings. I disconnected the power asap, and on advice from Bill and Mark (thanks guys!) went around to the parking area where there was a tap and ran fresh water through the plane. Then I pulled out the receiver and ran water all over the circuit board, but I could see where some electrolytic action had already taken place. I just hoped I caught it in time.
After cleaning up as best I could, I went back to the slope where there were now lots of guys and had a pleasant chat with several of them, including a Victorian visitor with an S&B comet fitted with a video link for remote piloting! Wild!
The pilot whose plane hit me came and apologised, and I apologised to him for my reaction, so we parted friends.
When I got home I drowned the receiver in Metho, and pulled everything but the wing servos out of the plane. All connectors were disconnected and soaked in Metho.
The tally so far is 2 dead fuselage servos (no great loss as I have replacements in stock) and 1 FASST receiver (Bugger again!), plus a battery pack with instant rust on every terminal, which I'm just going to take my own advice on and replace with a 5 cell AAA Eneloop pack, mini-Deans connectors and a switchjack.
The wing servos seem fine so far.
So the big plus is I still have a plane and I'm very happy about that. It's a bugger to lose the gear to salt water but that's modeling.
One thing I need some advice on; I pulled the v-tail pushrods and housings out of the fuselage because they were corroding and I wasn't happy with them anyway. They were very thin piano wire in plastic sleeves. What should I replace them with, and where can I buy the bits? They are about 800mm long.
Ken.
So I headed off to Bald Knob only to find it light and too Northerly, so back down the hill to Brandenburg, where at least there's one other guy. But It's too Easterly here! Not to mention going from light to nothing periodically, so not even the Alula would work.
So, being determined to have a fly, I climb back in the car and head for Shorncliff, where I find a beautiful 10+ knots of breeze almost perfectly on the slope, just very slightly Northerly. Fabulous!
Note to all the guys who want(ed) to join Maleny: it's a great spot but the wind don't blow like SC!!
So I had a go with my combat wing but it wasn't handling well. I think it needs sitting on the bench and making sure everything's straight, properly attached and slop-free. As it was, everytime I got close to the stall it would drop wing and spin in. It was nice flying in between but once I'd had my share of exercise I put it away for the day and pulled out the Mini-Corado.
For those who haven't seen it, the M-C is a lovely light moulded 1.5m v-tail sloper, great for light conditions and aerobatics. It was the first time I'd been to SC for a while so this was its first outing there, and I was struggling to hold height while keeping out of the way of the few foamies that were flying.
Then a pilot showed up next to me and launched his fast EPP wing, I don't know what type. The next thing I know is WHACK!!!! the thing has come down vertically and hard directly on my right thumb and hand. It hit hard enough to open my thumb on the knurled top of the Tx stick (messy) and cause me to drop the Tx (disastrous!).
By the time I'd recovered the Tx and said 'Oh My!', I'd completely lost the M-C and even though I reacted quickly to the 'Pull Up!' call it went into the water about 10m from shore.
Bugger!
So off goes Mark like a shot, with me following and saying 'Oh Darn!' all the way down to the beach, where I waded out and fetched the plane.
The fuselage was full of salt water but the plane was floating nicely, so not much got into the wings. I disconnected the power asap, and on advice from Bill and Mark (thanks guys!) went around to the parking area where there was a tap and ran fresh water through the plane. Then I pulled out the receiver and ran water all over the circuit board, but I could see where some electrolytic action had already taken place. I just hoped I caught it in time.
After cleaning up as best I could, I went back to the slope where there were now lots of guys and had a pleasant chat with several of them, including a Victorian visitor with an S&B comet fitted with a video link for remote piloting! Wild!
The pilot whose plane hit me came and apologised, and I apologised to him for my reaction, so we parted friends.
When I got home I drowned the receiver in Metho, and pulled everything but the wing servos out of the plane. All connectors were disconnected and soaked in Metho.
The tally so far is 2 dead fuselage servos (no great loss as I have replacements in stock) and 1 FASST receiver (Bugger again!), plus a battery pack with instant rust on every terminal, which I'm just going to take my own advice on and replace with a 5 cell AAA Eneloop pack, mini-Deans connectors and a switchjack.
The wing servos seem fine so far.
So the big plus is I still have a plane and I'm very happy about that. It's a bugger to lose the gear to salt water but that's modeling.
One thing I need some advice on; I pulled the v-tail pushrods and housings out of the fuselage because they were corroding and I wasn't happy with them anyway. They were very thin piano wire in plastic sleeves. What should I replace them with, and where can I buy the bits? They are about 800mm long.
Ken.
.