911hillclimber

Bit of a final message on this (I hope). Plane all back together and working. Side strengthening strips on and damaged area painted to try to hide the mess. all looks square and true, flying and trimming will tell. Tried to reset the ESC to factory default, and tbh not sure if I have. The sequence of beeps do not tally to those in the FMS manual. The sequence starts with 5 loud beeps, manual shows 4, and it goes on from there. Hard to spot the sequence from the ESC to the manual. The normal start-up sequence 'says' the motor brake is ON, the factory default should set it to OFF... Throttle response is just as it was before the crunch. My aerial re-solder seems to have worked, needed to do it to sort the signals out, but will test it and the ebay unit when it arrives, and will go with the ebay unit if range test is good. Ran the plane up to WOT many times to test the glue on the nose, all ok, but a flight is needed (by my buddy link guy).

Thanks to all as ever! This would be a mine field without the forum! Decided to do a simple strengthening mod and with 1mm ply, two side strips down the nose and under the c of g about 35mm wide, and 200mm long to cover the cracks and fractures just bonded back together. A simple attempt to stress the nose to the cabin-back resulted in no movements but i can help 'sensing' the motormount is tilted back slightly so will add a washer to the 2 uppermost motor mount points to bring it down a touch. Parts will need a flash of satin blue which I happen to have to 'hide' my surgery but this is definitely the last song for the fuselage. Electrics next and sorting that pesky ESC to factory settings. My booster shot yesterday has made me feel a bit under the weather with a few muscle aches, so have some steady time today. I think the membership is at the end of the season, next week looks evil so I might not fly again this year

Indeed, by the time it was getting difficult, the plane was all but 20 feet or less off the ground and heading due south. Back to today, and a little diversion please: All the major foam parts are now done and tomorrow the glue will be set. I'm pleased, and the motor mounting face looks nice and true to the fuselage best as I can tell. I installed a fresh block of EPO to the U/C mounting area giving a nice flat gluing face and it looks far better for it. Now, do I re-enforce the sides/nose with small wood squers (sp)? I would think about 5 mm dia if they make them and run 4 or 6 through and glue, but I'll never get glue all the way down a 6" length. Not sure if this will actually benefit the plane structurally. I welcome any advice!

Self inflicted crunches: Yes Accepting the Instructor knows best? Too true! I insisted he allowed solo and would only take over when asked. (we were buddied for the fatal flight). I simply did not have time/ presence of mind to ask and I doubt he would have had time to respond successfully. Fuselage? Good idea Ditch the ripped Rx? Yes, and also checking the ebay one (from a model dealer) All the electrics are unplugged to do this repair, so will build it all up and return the esc to factory which is the middle of the 'very soft start' to soft Start to no soft start range. Gloves? I do tend to suffer instant cold fingers when it gets cool and suffered a bit last Monday, hence the brain wave of using thin cotton/neoprene coated gloves I use when on the cars. Ditch those, and go bare handed! I think I'll see the year out soon still on the buddy link, and kick off next year the same. I've learnt my lesson.

I very much appreciate all your inputs to mt First Year adventure. I've taken up a lot of time on here with various issues mainly due to my own deep ignorance and under-estimation of the depth of this hobby. With everyone's help, getting there, enthusiasm undiminished! The Club is affiliated and has a small membership of about 80 people. Many fly weekdays and all are retired like me. They were most welcoming from the very start, and because I was on mode2 only one other was! He took me under his experienced wing and has been my buddy link. Occasionally i fly his petrol plane as I did yesterday straight after the Big Crash to 'get back on the bike' so to speak. That long flight (just circuits, buddied-up) went well, very different dynamics to say the least. Too full of enthusiasm (a regular prob of mine and impatience especially) I asked to go solo yesterday. My Buddy link was not at all sure, but i insisted. Because it was 10 deg there with a gentle breeze i wore thing gloves... that did not help. The plane left the ground and picked up speed almost alarmingly so I throttled back to vertical stick and started to bank left, usual routine, but my inputs were too abrupt and too much and the plane came down close to a nose dive but hit the ground upside down. Happened and over in 2 seconds. There were no cheers just silence and disappointment, they all wanted me to progress from the perfect day of last Monday. I have no issues with the club, the open field and the members I have flown with for the last months. With lots of how to rebuild a wreck advice I stayed there to see others flying and went to the model shop for some glue. The repair is progressing well. The nose is back on leaving the undercarriage which has been torn out before. My plan is to use the float hulls that came with the kit and splice in fresh foam to the underside and let the hard plastic u/c seat into that. Also, I will try to introduce a few re-enforcement inside while the bottom is open and access is good. The long aerial was pulled out of the Rx, but i think I can solder it back. Spektrum AR610 Rx are oddly rare, but a good one on ebay is on it's way for £20. I think if this crashes hard again it will be the end of the fuselage, a new one is £75. While I'm crashing about I don't want to buy a fresh plane.

Thank you Simon. That certainly makes sense. I had a lot of time to consider there tech things today as My over confidence going solo came to a crashing result. The plane was expertly smashed to pieces by this so called pilot. Terrible result, front of the fuselage clean off the plane at the leading edge of the wing. A chunk out of one wing machined by the propeller... My fellow fliers went silent and the foam cascaded to earth. Went and bought a fresh tube of foam glue and 1/2 of it is pieced togehther and setting. Lots of other damage, but I'll get it sorted!

No i didn't Simon, it all seems to work, so I've let sleeping dogs lie to be honest. There have been many times I've tried to tweak these electronic/programming things and ended up in deep water and on this forum to find a way out... Just come in from the big project in the garage. Turned the Tx on, check routine beeps and twitching all good. Held the plane as if testing it all before take off and just tickled the throttle, no reverse moving. back to off. tipped the throttle stick to wot asap and the motor followed it and was screaming within 1 second, so much for my exponential throttle curve. Will check Flying Field web page tomorrow morning and if the breeze looks livable will be there and i hope exhaust all the batteries. If it all goes pear shaped I'll be back!

Thanks Brian, but... Got myself ready for the Battle of the Beeps but first moved the B (buddy enabling) switch from the usual buddy position to off. On switch on the Tx now goes straight to normal screen, ie batter level, pic of a fixed wing plane etc. Switched off. Switched the B switch on (3 posn switch) and restarted the Tx, and the No Slave signal is on the screen, reverts to normal after a touch/movement to any stick. Switch Tx off. Took the prop and nose cowl moulding off to expose the motor completely and allow almost total extraction of the ESC. Nothing catching on the motor case or it's mountings, esc insulation sleeve is intact and no signs of heat bubbles, all smooth. Wires all good, and outside all clean of mud or corrosion. So, switched the Tx on, buddy switch off and the check sequence was completed as per usual. Motor gave 3 beeps for the 3S cells and a pause and a single beep which indicates braked motor. Screen was normal showing battery level etc. 'just' touched the throttle stick up (0.5 mm?) and the motor case rotated correctly!! No judders or clockwise rotation. Typical. Miffed almost, (or relieved) tried it again from 'off' and same again, just turning anti clock and advance to WOT with a snap stick movement was about 1.5 secs which is helicopter mode. Motor will rev from off (no motor case movement) to WOT to mid way etc etc totally easy and keen to regulate motor speed to stick position. No sluggishness, no delay. The climb of the motor speed certainly follows an exponential curve, not a straight line. Where are we then? I'm not going to 'fix' anything. nothing seems broken, the characteristics are manageable, so I will hope to do 4 x batteries tomorrow and lots of landings, so take off, a few circuits and come down I hope smoothly. Should get 4 of those to a battery. The grass length on the field is a bit high and when dew/wet is quite a drag on the plane but takes about 15 feet to come to a halt. Prop is stationary before stopping on the ground. One thought before I almost leave you all in peace is, if the motor is braked with the throttle off how come the prop free wheels coming in to land or is the braking really quite weak just to allow the prop blades to collapse?

You have just made me think Brian. My Tx has the B switch set to enable Buddy when I got to the field. The instructor used this to link the Tx to his so converting my Tx to Master, his to Slave and we would swop Tx's before flights so he could take over at any time he touched any control. My Tx is still switched that way as I was testing last night, prob why the Tx comes up with ;No Slave' when i switch it on! Yes, the motor responds in the air fine, so i get the delay just as I start the take off, 10 feet of slow moving over the gound on what feels like 10% throttle and then the speed of the motor increases over the next 2 secs to full speed and the plane moves forwards quickly and in 20 feet I'm climbing off the field nice and progressivly to height and turn (etc). Once up there, throttle back to 'vertical stick' giving enough speed to maintain the trimmed height 'hands off'. If a bit windy, ie 5 to 8 mph it will need a bit more motor to keep the flight speed up against that breeze. Landing is get aligned to the field and start decent, 1/4 motor down to about 15 feet up and drop the stick to zero. The prop will then free wheel (I presume it is) and it lands with some flaring by elevator. On the ground the prop has stopped. As to motor function, the defalt is soft delay, but later in the instructions it say to run the motor on hard start. When I first had the plane I'm sure the motor had no delay. Should have some quality time today to try to get this all sorted. Could be good flying weather locally tomorrow, so want to get this right for tomorrow.

The sluggish throttle response is on the model tonight, no buddy link, but since linking his Tx some months ago when I switch my Tx on the screen says No Slave, and if I touch am nd move , say, the rudder movement the screen immediately changes to normal. Connect the battery in the plane and it goes through its check, twitching the surfaces. the motor jolts and beeps 3 times, pause, and a final beep and silence. If I then just touch and slightly move the throttle stick the motor will judder backwards, move it further and it stops that and revs correctly and has a short delay to rev in unison with stick movement to wot. The motor responds to stick movement from wot to stop and never faulters. On the field, pre flight checks all ok, move throttle to advance to take off speed and that is when you notice the delay. Within 10 feet or so the motor picks up to wot and the plane takes off a dream and flies really well. Landing is all good, throttle to no revs and flare the plane down. The prop still rotates, but at a speed you would expect as the planes speed keeps it turning. When stationary, the prop has stopped. Hope that lot might help. Again, am I worried about nothing? the motor delay has 3 steps, very soft, soft, and none. The instructions say default is soft, a one second period to control the motor speed front nil to max, plane without prop fitted.

None of this is simple! At the moment I've changed nothing. Tx on Battery connected (100% charged) and the plane goes through it's set up routine. All control surfaces pulsed. Motor beeps are 3 short ones (for the 3S cell batt) and then a short pause, one then follows and then no more, which according to the FMS ESC manual (page 27) is the motor braking is ON. 2 beeps after the 3 and the motor braking is OFF. I don't think the motor should be braked for a fixed wing, but possibly no big deal either. Am I getting hot-n-bothered about nothing? There is a lag between throttle off to WOT but the motor sure revs when is up there and is totally adjustable through the rev range by the stick.

All good info gents, and I thank you all. The motor is stationary on the groung just before take off checks. All checks good and this is where if I just move the stick the motor ill judder backwards, then it will speed up slowly as I progress the stick to WOT. I flew again yesterday and it consistently does this trick. On landings (all successful yesterday I'm pleased to boast) dropped the throttle to 'off' but the motor kept going slowly but the prop was still spinning but nowhere near enough to prevent the landings. Found the FMS manual last night, so this afternoon will try to reset it all to fixed wing assuming it is not already sett to that, can't hurt. I'll post when I've done that.

The judder on the prop clockwise (from the front) has been a recent observation, and I think followed a crunch where the motor was running on the buddy stick but the motor stalled as the prop was in the tall wet grass of the landing strip perimeter. That is all a bit of faded memory. I have changed nothing on the Tx from the start of the year before my first flying attempts. Strikes me reading all these very useful comments a new ESC would be a good idea, only £20 so no great damage, and I would have peace of mind too. Last thing I want is a dicky throttle control. With the stick at WOT after about 3 seconds the motor will get there as if following an exponential curve, not a simple sloping line path on a graph. This is on starting take off. The poor throttle response is noticeable and my buddy helper has commented on it several times too. In the air, the throttle response is good, BUT when practicing my landings this morning the prop did not stop with throttle totally off.... A new ESC I think unless this last post give rise to more thought, but I'll check any mechanical rubbing first and report back.

Thanks for the speedy replies. I'll have a go at both, Tx batteries charging at the moment. I have been flying this plane buddied-up to another DX6 (wireless) if that has any relevance. Motor rotates free and easy, BUT judders in reverse if you 'just' trickle the joy stick just off the Off to start-up, then rotates correctly.

FMS Kingfisher trainer, new this year, flown about 2.5 hours in sessions of about 4 mins, 3S batteries as per instructions. Flies a dream, nose crashed about 5 times, one or two quite heavy, taken the undercarriage clean off. So, that is the plane and I can actually fly it now solo so has been great. Noticed on the last few take-offs that the speed control is changing. The (Mode 2) throttle is north/south on the left stick (DX6) and moving it up from zero prop movement to full revs for take off seems to be getting sluggish but it does ramp up to max and off you go, flying is on stick vertical (I'm a leaner!). Today (10 degC) is seemed particularly sluggish compared to how I remember it. The speed controller is in the nose right by a cooling hole in the 'chin' of the plane, a FMS Predator 40A ESC What could this mean (if anything) and should I be doing something about it? (ie replacing it) Batteries are all 'new' from 4 Max, motor runs smoothly and flown by one-who-knows today flies really really well. Any comments please. I do not want a dead-stick situation suddenly cropping up...... Thanks, Graham.

Mid Novenber, and just back from the field. Misty start, then low cloud/mist, then cleared up well enough to fly. It had been some weeks since a flight which went well, so with my buddy all linked off we went, just 3 of us there, so lots of time. It went well. My plan was to Take off-fly-Land. Sounds easy when you can, but landed a treat 3 times after some nice figure-of-eight flights and nothing broken! The simulator has help tremendously, but no substitute for stick time, but more importantly i felt ready for this day. so very pleased. The plane has been great, stuck back together a few times (undercarriage) and snapped a carbon wing tube, but no more. All the radio has worked, and the 3S batteries give about 4 to 5 mins in the air coasting around. The plane looks a bit battle scared close up, but flies so well. Well chuffed gents, and just had to tel you all..sorry! 2021 nearly done for, but so looking forward to 2022.

Yes, have done for 31 years, and Loton Park and Prescott. Expensive? Too true, but the car has been very economical to race for the last 5 years since an engine blow-up that cost £4000 in bits alone.... Current engine build will push the envelope somewhat and will be the last incarnation of this little lightweight race car. My recent model aeroplane activity is really good, a very big contrast to the race car in every way.

Yes, Porsche developed the nikasil process in the early 70's on the 917 race cars and put it into the production cars soon after, proper development that. Here are a few pics:

Good tip esp as it works! Thank you. Will give that a try. Done nothing today on it, busy, oddly, stripping a 3.2 litre flat 6 air cooled engine.....

Interesting pictures! Mine I think is quite late, # 882, no idea how many were made. It has the head of the above later engine, the comp screw is exactly like that but mine was chromed steel which I literally wire brushed off, the screw though has no stop. It has the clear plastic tanks, but has the spring assisted timer on the tank top casting (possibly edited out on the first pic?) So, could well be a 'transition' engine with a mix of parts depending on what was in the stores at the time? As said already, the mounts are light and the extended nose for the crank equally light, would not take well to a single point landing...

Totally agree, I wouldn't force the situation, which is why it is still in the engine cabinet while the oily mix seeps in I hope. Illtry to heat soak it and see if the screws yield without undue force.

Thanks, I think the engine is all BA and BSF. The screw, although (was) chromed is now raw steel and the thread is good, so is the head thread. Other pics of other engines show a raised turned section to give a deeper head thread, but this engine is a later serial number than others. The spark ign engines have a finned head. Diesels are not. Will give the head screws a go, but bothered about one/all shearing off, so some heat will help and also get some oil to the contra piston fit.

Correct, they went from plug to Diesel in 1947. The description in the 2nd post of this thread explains it all. The compression screw came out with a bit of persuasion and the thread is clean, just corroded. The chrome of the screw came off! I now have a working screw that looks the part. The contra piston seems jammed, but I filled the head with some oil, backed the screw off and eased so gently the engine over to push the c/piston up. Not convinced it worked. Going to leave it to allow the oil to penetrate the head parts.The sloted screws that hold the head on are TIGHT and I'm warey that things will get ugly if I try to take the head off to free the c/piston. The fuel shut off is all free as is the needle, and all parts are really nice and clean from damage. Some brake cleaner and a brass wire brush has removed a lot of the superficial staining and it looks smart. Turns over well and smooooothly, compression feels weak until I gave the inside a drop of oil. I am not convinced it is robust enough to start it...

OK, thank you. Never tried to fix an engine so old before. Making one not difficult, making it look a bit old is! Wonder why the head shape is different, less meat to carry the screw thread. Fuel cut-off is a surprise, never seen that before.

My main hobby is classic cars and old race cars, so freeing awkward threads is almost a weekly adventure...or disaster! will give it a go tomorrow. only 1/8" thread showing. chrome is perfect! If I know thread I can make one. looks 3/16 to me, but I'm a metric lad really, at college in 1970 so went imperial to metric along the way. Have a few old 60's diesels, but all are about 1/8 thread, this is larger, but not a 1/4. Are these engines rare or common place?