Steve W-O

Posted by Stephen Grigg on 19/08/2010 07:58:58: Does new baby boy have a name yet Steve,I have a very good flying club all round and a great bunch od guys,usually gangs and behind the bsck critsism but nothing new there,just stay friends with everyone Yes, our club has the same thing, but like you say, nothing new!  Baby's name is Tavish James.

Thanks for the good wishes. It is a boy, eventually got him home Tuesday afternoon, mainly due to problems and ommissions at the hospital. Doing wll now though. The parts for the Funcub have still not arrived, so it appears Multiplex are more hot air than action.   Very interesting on the instructors ideas, in a way I can see his point, as I have as many bad habits as I have flying skills (ie on one landing I wasn't going to stop before the end of the runway, so I opened the throttle and turned 180 degrees in about 20' flew down the far edge of the runway, did a similar turn the other end and landed. Fortunately there was only one other person in the air, and he accepted my apologies for lack of circuit) On the other hand i must agree, the more real flying time put in the better, as the A test seems to be as much being able to fly a set disciplined pattern as it is about being able to fly.  Unfortunately, our club only allows buddy box before passing the test, also my son can't fly there easily, so it means that most of my flying is away from the club.I do however agree with the policies of the club fully, so no complaints about it.

Mine is about 50% built, I have been promised the missing parts will be sent out immediately.Should collect the wife and baby today, once they are home should have the odd moments to continue putting it together.  I think I will be using the Funcub quite often, as it will allow my son and I to fly together, which we can't do at the club, so we will be able to make use of the smaller spaces.

It seems a pity. I have contacted Multiplex, and let them know, also pointed out that I bought it to have before the end on the school holidays, and that although I thought the quality of their products is good, I did not share the same opinion of their quality control.  Hearing that others have had similar problems shows they do have an issue.   As a side issue, who says men can't multitask?  I'm busy cooking, checking the cub, fixing the kids computer, timing my wife's contractions to see if they are real, posting here, buying off ebay, and programming my transmitters.

Posted by eric loakes on 12/08/2010 13:29:10: My Instructor has banned me from flying my Funcub, whilst receiving training with an I/C model.   And I agree with him as the Funcub is so docile, it practically asks you where you want it to land, whlist it hovers over the landing strip.   Eric.  Interesting, as it is over 1kg, and so it could be used for the "A" test.  I agree it would not be appropriate to pass an "A" take with a Funcub, then bring out a 50cc powered pattern ship to fly, but then nor would it be if you learnt on a WOT4 or similar.  For me it is far easier to fly a WOT4 and look good, than it is to fly the Mentor and look good, but I can't fly an ic plane in some of the places I fly, and I find the Mentor just won't come down in some of the smaller places (the wot4 would, but so would the blue lights I'm sure)  The most difficult to fly plane I fly often is a depron "sonic boom", which I have modified a lot, and weighs about 600g, but I also added flaps, and the landing roll is about 20', or 4' in a stiff breeze. I'm not an expert, far from it, and I have 30 years of bad habits to get rid of, so need lots of practice, hopefully the Funcub will give me more flying opportunities to get thet practice

Unfortunately quite a few parts missing, including the undercarriage mounting, tail wheel wire, and aileron horns. No point in starting building until I know when they can supply the parts, as it may have to go back. Pity, could have been almost complete by the end of today.

My Funcub just arrived

Posted by Stephen Grigg on 11/08/2010 22:59:52: I have glued my wings together makes them a lot stronger,Im also able to leave mine built also.Interestingly I do still have my Easy Cub wing in the shed,itll be interesting to copare them Ill report my findings Thank you, that would be a most welcome comparison, particularly the wing section at root and tip.

Got an answer from Multiplex about the differences between the Easycub and the Funcub, they say the wing is different, apart from the ailerons and flaps, and the wing joiner is a different angle. I did get the impression that they might be smoke-screening, and I suspect that the wing may be the same in fact, just the ailerons and flaps making the difference, and the answer was worded by a politician.

Sounds good, but hope it doesn't glide too much like the Mentor. Looking at videos on youtube, it seems that it can approach at a much steeper angle than the Mentor. The wind flying is one I look forward to seeing, as the Mentor does seem to get blown around a fair bit. No problem taking off and landing really (apart from the flat approach), just flies a very zigzag course through the sky if left hands off.  I will be fitting a 3536 1100 motor, the same as I have in the Mentor, it won't give me vertical climb, but will be very well powered. I may try the same motor with a 1400kv speed rating, and use a smaller prop if I break them

Posted by Stephen Grigg on 10/08/2010 15:27:07: Get ready for silly grin time Steve  Sounds from what people say that I will need to.   I finished the flaps on the Mentor yesterday, but couldn't try it this morning because of the rain, so it will be interesting to compare them both with flaps.   

I found one! Must be the last one in the country, it was certainly the last one the shop had, I checked all the websites I could find and phoned 16 places. May be here on Thursday, which means I should be flying it next week

Posted by Stephen Grigg on 10/08/2010 08:38:18: I  dont fly in a dicaplined manner yet either SJO   I would just like him to be able to in preparation for the "A" test some day, so that he can fly at the club.

Posted by Stephen Grigg on 10/08/2010 00:07:09: I know Galaxy have 12 orders waiting and a.re getting no dates from Multiplex.Look at there side of things,they h................................................t much more    Love you description of the first cub flight!  At least it survived.  I remember my first flight, not quite so dramatic. I started the engine and set it up, taxied round a bit, then the instructor came up and checked the controls were all right and gave me back the transmitter. Take off was a bit uneven, veered hard left then hard right, but it straightened up OK, flew round for about ten minutes and landed not very smoothly, bounced and killed the motor. The instructor commented that I should practice landing it a bit closer so that it wasn't such a long walk to pick it up. When I told him it was my first flight, he turned deep red and apologised, he thought someone else had been teaching me before. Fortunately the flying field that was on was mown polo fields, about 1500X2500 feet so precision landings were not needed. (35 years later and my landings are only slightly more accurate, our clubs runway is about 300' X 45' and that is about achievable )    Noted what you say about the back orders and unknown delivery dates, pity, I'm off for the school holidays, and was hoping to get one soon. Our baby's due date is today, and of course that will make flying times less as well.    The main thing that stops me ordering an easy cub now is the weight. It is under 1000g, so can't be used for the "A" test, and I was hoping my young son could use it to progress on. He flies a small (30-36" I think) Cub by himself, that has survived up to now, but he's 8 and doesn't really have the desire to fly in a disciplined manner yet. Modifying the Easycub to have ailerons and flaps would not be a problem. I read that the fuselage is the same, but I don't see where the weight difference comes in, about 200g, even if you add 40g for servos, 40g for a bigger battery, 30g for the motor it still doesn't come close.

Posted by Tim Mackey - Administrator on 09/08/2010 19:40:22: A friend is trying to find one in the UK also and struggling!   I have been looking, and it seems that some companies are willing to take your money, then tell you it is on backorder.  Not very honest, but I will phone tomorrow, but looking at what the decent companies say, they will only be in stock at the end of August beginning of September. Judging by phone calls I have had with Multiplex in the past, that could well mean the end of September-October, or some time in the future, they seem extremely casual, thought they do come up with the info/goods in the end.    If I find any tomorrow, I will post where here.

Of course the ailerons too, but I don't think flaps and ailerons can make up the difference in weight, so was more wondering about differences in structure

ANNOYED Just got an email from WLM saying they are out of stock, but their site did not say so at the time of order (though many of their models were stated as being out of stock.  Not annoyed about them being out of stock, but the fact that the web site was not up to date, I could have had an extra few days looking elsewhere  Apart form the flaps and wheels, what is the difference between the Easycub and the Funcub?  I'm sure it must be more than just that!

Not very good photos, but they show how straight forward it is     and after reversal    

Posted by Stephen Grigg on 17/05/2010 22:50:32: Fitted the flaps and tested them and the ailerons.As I suspected,you need areverse Y lead for the flaps,so Ill wait until that arrives bsfore I continue.Want to get the flaps right before I glue the servos in position  Just been fitting flaps to the Mentor, and decided to mount the servos the same way both sides relative to the wing.  I only want to use one receiver channel, I like to use two for the ailerons so that I can set different up and down travel, but I won't be buying a reversing cable, all you have to do is to reverse the motor wires and the two outer wires on the position pot, and the servo will be reversed. Remembering to stick a "reversed" label on it! Takes less than 5 minutes, so a very cheap and easy way out.

I placed an order yesterday, really looking forward to it arriving!

Posted by Pete B on 07/08/2010 11:00:53: SJ, it might be worth programming in some spoileron or flaperon travel to your ailerons. ...................................................................... Pete     Thanks Pete, I tried flaperons, I had about 10 degrees, and it made little difference. A bit slower, but it had more lift, so end result was about the same. I was hesitant to apply more in case it caused tip stalling, as you mentioned.  I am looking for a big change to make it comfortable in the more confined flying places, which the flaps may or may not do, I would like to make the approach with some throttle in and still sink. I will keep trying on the Mentor, but I think I am sold on the Funcub   Steve

Posted by Romeo Whisky on 07/08/2010 10:06:05: Just a thought SJO - have you tried adding some lead to the front of your Mentor to make it a little nose-heavy.  That might help to shorten your glide path. (If you do, you might need to reduce the motor down-thrust  for level flight under power). Edited By Romeo Whisky on 07/08/2010 10:07:36   My CoG is well forward of specified. I'm using a 35-36 1000 motor with a 10X7 3blade prop, and a 4000mAh 11.1V LiPo. I have moved the battery 2 3/4" forward from where it was balanced to spec. It made it much more stable in the wind, but didn't make much difference to the glide, maybe a bit faster, but so is the stall, so the overall effect on landing was minimal.   I think I will order a Funcub, and put flaps on the Mentor in the mean time.  How controllable is the Funcub with flaps down? Do they make a big difference to the approach angle and stall speed?  Do they change the nature of the tall, ie induce a tip stall?  Thanks for all the comments.

Very interesting thread, decided to register after reading it. I have been looking at a Fun Cub, or a Twinstar, and it seems that more than one person  here has both.  I have a Mentor, which is great, but it seems to have a great allergy to the ground, even with a camera strapped to the side, it doesn't seem to come down (with the throttle cut) unless down elevator is used, not much of a problem when flying, but trying to get it on the ground over trees in a limited space is quite a challenge. At the club, if it is more than 10 feet above the threshold, it's still floating at the other end!  I have marked out the wings to install flaps to try and introduce some drag, but have been looking at other alternatives as well. The Twinstar was suggested, but it means making an undercarriage, and maybe still adding flaps.  So, a couple of questions about the Funcub, does it float like the Mentor, and how much is it affected by the wind?  If anyone has both the Mentor and the Funcub, a comparison would be useful.   It really looks from what I have read as if it could be an answer for more restricted sites.