GrumpyGnome Posted May 6 Author Share Posted May 6 Had another great 6 hours at the field today...... about 35 mins after arriving home, raindrops the size of golfballs fell. Four members in total, but never 4 at once. Remembered my glowstick so flew my Spacewalker, Valiant, SE5, unamed Aerobat, Hawk, and Sea Fury. Spent 2 full LiPo packs with the Sea Fury taking off, flying one circuit then landing ..... mostly ok despite the grass that seemed to grow before my eyes! Great day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 Nice weather today but the brisk wind was due North which meant a cross wind, didn't stop us flying though! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learner Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 22 minutes ago, Ron Gray said: Nice weather today but the brisk wind was due North which meant a cross wind, didn't stop us flying though! If that's flying most of our members are good at it too! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuban8 Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 After a cold, wet and windy Winter and Spring, I finally got back over the field again for the first time since last October. Took three models - my trusty 28 years old Goldberg Chippy, a little Hyperion Yak 52 leccy and a nice electric Extra that I acquired from my late good mate's estate. Far too much chatting and tea drinking over the five hours, so only six flights in total but enough to blow away the cobwebs. Field was immaculate thanks to our very busy groundsman. Quite nice at eleven O'clock with light and variable winds making it pleasantly warm, but increasing cloud cover and a strenghtening but manageable breeze saw most of us donning coats and jumpers - quite chilly by mid afternoon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martin collins 1 Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 Lovely weather for a few sorties with one of my Flair Triplanes, three flights and all down in one piece, will test run the engine on the second one in the morning, if that goes ok it will get some air under it`s wings tomorrow afternoon. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyGnome Posted May 9 Author Share Posted May 9 (edited) Lovely sunny, warm, tad breezy day on East Coast of Gods Own County...... Had an hour with these 2. Now it's time for some noise with the petrol Wotty. After a coffee. I am billy no mates as my most regular flying chum is fishing.... Summer must be on the way as we now have Swifts, Swallows and Lapwings. Edited May 9 by GrumpyGnome 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Robson Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 Breezy further North warm . First time out this year with the ic Acrowot, flying good. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erfolg Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 My wife is on her way out, to another golfing competition, her parting words are, "get out" and "no more moaning about the road works, pot holes". If I ever Would? At lunch time I go. Having negotiated another set of temporary traffic lights, dodged more pot holes than the Somme in 1914. How in my childhood the Brits would scof at Belgium roads. I arrive at the gates to the track leading down to our field, the gate is closed, although unlocked, with a large white van parked inside, just of the track. It seems a posh van, having what appears to be blacked out window. Two guys are standing near by, a large quad/drone sits on the ground, the two guys appear to have a lap top and mobile phone which appears to be swung this way and that. One guy offers to close the gate after me, he seemed pleasant enough> I am in no mood for an argument, I descended the track, having spotted a model in the air sometime earlier, now confident my pals had not succeeded in avoiding me. Turning into the car park, only one SUV, the rest knew I was coming. What do have I have with me, a model I have just re-motored, a long standing faithful, a newish model, a Canard ( now prehistoric) and my Sagitta. What to fly first? Has to be my re-motored, rock steady model, it will be able to all the things that the lack of power prevented. The attempt from the ground, promptly fails, I try again, the grass is still to long. A hand launch is the answer, which ends in disaster, hmmmm, that was a lot of power, you are bit slow on the sticks and it is no longer a pussy cat. Take the kit back to the car, carefully in case I loose anything. Ah, the answer is old faithful, I was correct, took of, flew circuits, looped, rolled, 1/2 Cubans, that is more like it, even the landing was a nice rumble from HK light weight wheels. Now I am cooking with gas, other than we only have electric. My newish model is next. Takes of with Gusto, do a few circuits. Now it is time for a loop, then something else. Open the throttle, a cacophony of noise erupts. My helper speaks, that does not sound right. I say is the prop stalling. Hmmm something is not right we agree, time to land. On landing all is not well, there is now a lot of down thrust. A more careful examination reveals a broken motor mount, how broken is not immediately obvious. Then I think the motor shaft is bent, then it is apparent the prop is barely hanging on. Oh well it is Canard time, never fails, whatever the weather, totally dependable. Initially all is going well, about two minutes into my 7 minute flight, I am at full throttle. No, no, what now. I land immediately. A pretty thorough cell, volt investigation, all seems well. A motor run on full power, it is apparent that the power quickly declines. Another cell check, the volts have collapsed, on one cell. Conclusion, new Lipo is required, the long winter hibernation was not good for it. I now start the journey home, only to be confronted by the big van, he pulls over, by the farmers fertilizer pile, to let me pass, indicates, for me to speak, window to window. It then becomes apparent that they are contractors working for the grid, surveying for hot pots and other issues with the local pole type distribution system. They are concerned that I would lock them in. The jouney home was without incdent, other than school finishing, parked vehicles everywhere, lolly pop men leaping out. Not being prone to moaning or being grumpy it all passes over me with just a few comments and observations, that back in my day..................................... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erfolg Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 A couple of pictures of the motor cross piece that failed. I am now starting the replacement process maximising the mounting. I was worried that the motor threads had stripped, they seem OK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyGnome Posted May 9 Author Share Posted May 9 Gosh, that's an odd break! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erfolg Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 Yes Mr G. Although not particularly relevant to the failure, I had forgotten that this again was new motor. The previous motor was not powerful enough, running on full power it was just about adequate, melting, partially, the plastic moulded stand of. It was looking at the ply spacer, that jogged my memory, whilst taking the screws out of the ply. I am sure that the prop was balanced, after +6 months I cannot be certain. It will be checked. Other than out of balance prop, I hope it is not a resonance issue. Again I will do a ground run, hopefully not to replicate what ever went wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyGnome Posted May 9 Author Share Posted May 9 Arrived 9:15 ish. Flew the TopRC baby FW190 a few times.... great fun, even though the rubber band that holds the battery hatch shut snapped - I flew with it acting as an air brake! Had a few flights on the unnamed Aerobat, dialling in some diff and thr/ele mix. Coffee and assemble noisy planes! Half a dozen flights on the petrol W4 - beautifully behaved apart from the exhaust, which onsists on twisting around to point at the fuselage. I wonder if the through bolt is 1mm too short on the threads si not tightening up 100%.... I will have a look later. Half a dozen uneventful flights on the Spacewalker. Really liking it! In amongst..... a club member turned up (I really must remember his name!) With two nice, largeish powered gliders. Unfortunately the prop would not stay attached to one for any time at all, and one was lost at height. Must have been a day for losing props as the prop fell off my baby Wolfie and was lost in the grass. Home by 14:00. Nice brown box of a Warbirds Replicas Tempest delivered 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Smith 1 Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 My turn to go out tomorrow now that I have escaped exam invigilating for at least one day. Yeah .........! 😀 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lipo Man Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 Well this afternoon I enjoyed the glorious weather flying this little aerobatics hack. It’s made from stuff I found in the shed and wasn’t even “designed” as such, but it’s the most fun to fly plane I own. Go figure. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul De Tourtoulon Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 Nice and warm around 30°c, 2 hours of us cutting the surrounds of the gravel runway, a cool beer each, and a new 14-year-old member did a couple of 'dual' flights in a 4s, Calmato, nice to see some young blood ion the field. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul De Tourtoulon Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 Nice and warm around 30°c, 2 hours of us cutting the surrounds of the gravel runway, a cool beer each, and a new 14-year-old member did a couple of 'dual' flights in a 4s, Calmato, nice to see some young blood ion the field. Taking all day to load the above 'heavy' pictures, will my post ever go,,, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyGnome Posted May 9 Author Share Posted May 9 1 hour ago, Paul De Tourtoulon said: , nice to see some young blood ion the field. Is blood letting some form of weird French initiation rite? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leccyflyer Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 2 hours ago, GrumpyGnome said: Arrived 9:15 ish. Flew the TopRC baby FW190 a few times.... great fun, even though the rubber band that holds the battery hatch shut snapped - I flew with it acting as an air brake! Your FW190 has a rubber band holding the battery hatch on? So does mine. Did the catch snap off? Mine did, but I was able to carefully repair it with CA. However I don't trust it, hence the wee rubber band. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyGnome Posted May 9 Author Share Posted May 9 (edited) Just the little clip at the front broke..... I may well remove what's left.... That must be this models weak spot. Edited May 9 by GrumpyGnome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leccyflyer Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 Yep - that and I damaged the prop adaptor, so had to change that for the provided spare. Unfortunately lost the prop in the process and only have one of the FW190 props with the attached spinner -it wouldn't look right with one of my other many spares. Will have to add spare props to my next Ali Express order - have just added another four batteries and a second charger for under a tenner -the cost of one battery from UK resellers . The estimated delivery time was the middle of June but they only actually took just over a week to arrive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Robson Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 8 hours ago, Eric Robson said: Breezy further North warm . First time out this year with the ic Acrowot, flying good. A good day with the Acrowot loads of 10min + flights and not a load of batteries to charge. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyGnome Posted May 9 Author Share Posted May 9 33 minutes ago, Eric Robson said: A good day with the Acrowot loads of 10min + flights and not a load of batteries to charge. I'm pretty eclectic these days. After being all electric for a decade or more, I've quickly acquired a number of noisy, smelly, messy engines. Most trips, I take leccy, glow, and petrol models..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyGnome Posted May 9 Author Share Posted May 9 1 hour ago, leccyflyer said: Yep - that and I damaged the prop adaptor, so had to change that for the provided spare. Unfortunately lost the prop in the process and only have one of the FW190 props with the attached spinner -it wouldn't look right with one of my other many spares. Will have to add spare props to my next Ali Express order - have just added another four batteries and a second charger for under a tenner -the cost of one battery from UK resellers . The estimated delivery time was the middle of June but they only actually took just over a week to arrive. Ali Express always seem to deliver early - under promise and over deliver seems to be their modus operandi. I can't believe how they're so cheap sometimes. I bought a petrol fuel tank for under £10 delivered in 11 days. £15 on ebay, nearly £20 in a model shop. I'd love to buy everything in the UK, but the prices.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Jenkins Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 17 minutes ago, GrumpyGnome said: Ali Express always seem to deliver early - under promise and over deliver seems to be their modus operandi. I can't believe how they're so cheap sometimes. I bought a petrol fuel tank for under £10 delivered in 11 days. £15 on ebay, nearly £20 in a model shop. I'd love to buy everything in the UK, but the prices.... Problem is GG that China is dumping loads of stuff on us at below market rates. I sincerely hope that our leaders get a grip on the whole sale subsidy that is being given to the Chinese electric car manufacturers for example. I am as guilty as you in buying from China because it's cheaper but sometimes there is no other option as all the western companies that used to make stuff have gone to the wall helped by the Chinese. We may not enjoy such cheap prices for much longer methinks. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyGnome Posted May 9 Author Share Posted May 9 Chinese, Japanese, European, UK.... all have benefited at some point from government subsidies in some form or another. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts