My Next Assembly ..... The Arising Star.

[Peter Jenkins]

I prefer to use a 2 line setup and a Dubro or other refuelling valve - all my setups, bar those with pumped engines, have a pressure feed from the silencer connected to the vent pipe.  I fit a strainer to the fuel coning out of the can and another between the refuelling valve and carb.

Very reliable serup apart from an occasional mslfunction of the Dubro valve which sticks in and prevents the engine running!  Usually caused by lack of use i.e. not flown for a year or two!

[Ron Gray]

That's what I tend to do Peter, for the sake of £10 for a fill valve I think it makes for a nice tidy installation.

[toto]

OK ...... so I had to do a small repair to the Arising Star after a unsuccessful maiden flight just over a week ago. My mentor took the the sky and it was not long before it was back down again. nearly in one piece.

 

The spar of ply that is used to bolt the access hatch down onto had smashed off.

 

 

and another ....

 

 

no big deal .... I managed to save the plastic captive nut though.

 

 

which secures onto the plastic hold down bolt ....

 

 

So .... it was out with some scrap plywood sheet .....

 

 

and the proxxon made light work of cutting it down to size ....

 

 

to give ......

 

 

as you can see I have already marked up the bolt hole ready for drilling ....

 

 

and fitting of the captive nut as above .....

 

 

back into place ..... a little CA either side and clamped in place for a minute or two to ensure it doesn't move anywhere.

 

 

a little more CA into the hole in the ply to encourage the nylon captive nut to fix to the ply ...... taking care not to get the CA into the threads of the nut ....

 

 

and a test fit ... and all is good.

 

Job done for now

 

toto

 

 

[Don Fry]

Get used to it toto. As a hobby, it’s a vale of tears. The highs a great, the lows are lower. I always wondered, when communicating with druggies, try my hobby if you are wingeing. 
Tough creature, an Arising Star. Nice flyer. 

[aidan mcatamney]

34 minutes ago, toto said:

OK ...... so I had to do a small repair to the Arising Star after a unsuccessful maiden flight just over a week ago. My mentor took the the sky and it was not long before it was back down again. nearly in one piece.

 

The spar of ply that is used to bolt the access hatch down onto had smashed off.

 

 

and another ....

 

 

no big deal .... I managed to save the plastic captive nut though.

 

 

which secures onto the plastic hold down bolt ....

 

 

So .... it was out with some scrap plywood sheet .....

 

 

and the proxxon made light work of cutting it down to size ....

 

 

to give ......

 

 

as you can see I have already marked up the bolt hole ready for drilling ....

 

 

and fitting of the captive nut as above .....

 

 

back into place ..... a little CA either side and clamped in place for a minute or two to ensure it doesn't move anywhere.

 

 

a little more CA into the hole in the ply to encourage the nylon captive nut to fix to the ply ...... taking care not to get the CA into the threads of the nut ....

 

 

and a test fit ... and all is good.

 

Job done for now

 

toto

 

 

Great job Toto , well done . You have a great selection of tools there to get any job finished.   

[leccyflyer]

Job's a good-un. 🙂

 

Love the Proxxon saw.

[toto]

I have a foam cutter, pillar drill and a wee hand held saw thingy .... all proxxon. great tools. worth every penny. I have a bench sander on the way as well as I thought it would be worth its weight in gold when building balsa kits etc. 

 

My take on building balsa kits is that to try and get a decent finish on the various wood parts / members, you cut big and sand to size. the proxxon sander should save a huge amount of time as opposed to doing it all by hand.

 

time will tell.

 

toto

[toto]

So .... the Arising Star is back together after its little re-fit.

 

I've been told that my mentor is down in Bucksminster this weekend so one of the other " stand ins " will be taking me up on Saturday and Sunday if the weather plays ball.

 

We usually use the club trainer when he takes me up but the order was to have the Arising Star ready for another maiden attempt. I believe that the fuel mix will be altered to run richer on this attempt. I'm hoping there is a little bit of science behind this and we are not setting up for another potential disaster. I'll suggest a good going over before she is airborne again.

 

Fingers crossed and I'll keep you posted.

 

Meanwhile I am to ensure that the Domino is ready for the following weekend as my mentor prefers electric. It is more or less there now anyway but as far as I am concerned, should have a thorough going over as far as the servos settings etc goes to ensure that it has a chance on it's maiden. 

 

All going well, I shall have two models fit for flight and training going forward ( weather pending ) and no matter who takes me up ...... there will be a model to suit their fancy .... electric or glow. I can't do much more than that.

 

cheers

 

toto

 

 

[aidan mcatamney]

2 minutes ago, toto said:

So .... the Arising Star is back together after its little re-fit.

 

I've been told that my mentor is down in Bucksminster this weekend so one of the other " stand ins " will be taking me up on Saturday and Sunday if the weather plays ball.

 

We usually use the club trainer when he takes me up but the order was to have the Arising Star ready for another maiden attempt. I believe that the fuel mix will be altered to run richer on this attempt. I'm hoping there is a little bit of science behind this and we are not setting up for another potential disaster. I'll suggest a good going over before she is airborne again.

 

Fingers crossed and I'll keep you posted.

 

Meanwhile I am to ensure that the Domino is ready for the following weekend as my mentor prefers electric. It is more or less there now anyway but as far as I am concerned, should have a thorough going over as far as the servos settings etc goes to ensure that it has a chance on it's maiden. 

 

All going well, I shall have two models fit for flight and training going forward ( weather pending ) and no matter who takes me up ...... there will be a model to suit their fancy .... electric or glow. I can't do much more than that.

 

cheers

 

toto

 

 

You have everything well organised Toto.  It's all now in the lap of the weather Gods.  

[toto]

Well ..... I'm doing my level best ..... I reckon I must get at least an 8 or 9 out of 10 for trying. 😄

[Christopher Wolfe]

6 hours ago, toto said:

OK ...... so I had to do a small repair to the Arising Star after a unsuccessful maiden flight just over a week ago. My mentor took the the sky and it was not long before it was back down again. nearly in one piece.

 

The spar of ply that is used to bolt the access hatch down onto had smashed off.

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> snip <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

 

to give ......

 

 

 

That looks like a neat repair toto.

 

You could make the joint even stronger with a couple of triangular gussets underneath the short edges where they join the fuselage sides 😉

 

Regards - Chris

 

[EarlyBird]

Have you shortened the tank vent to make it more conventional?

 

also don't forget what the engine manual says especially point 8.3

 

On 05/08/2023 at 16:48, EarlyBird said:

 

The manual is your best friend.

 

Steve

[toto]

Thanks Earlybird,

 

Completely escaped my memory that I had to look at the tank again.

 

Thanks for the prompt.

 

Toto

[toto]

Hi Chris,

 

I'll have a go with the gussetts as well.

 

Cheers

 

Toto

[Ron Gray]

Personally I don’t think the vent was the reason the engine cut. The vent will still work when under fuel (atmospheric pressure), otherwise the an engine would cut when inverted or diving, but having a vent that exits in the tank too low will prevent you from filling the tank! Having said that I still think you should alter it as previously shown.

[toto]

Thanks Ron,

 

I think that will be tonight's task all going well. It won't do me any harm to get used to stripping these things out .... a bit of familiarisation in maintainence if nothing else. 

 

Toto

[toto]

Hi Ron,

 

I was up at the club field today and my mentor ( who originally set up the Arising Star ) and myself had a look at the fuel tank set up again. We took off the hose extension that I fitted and whilst if was off adjusted the angle of the plastic vent nipple ( that runs through the bung ) to a sIightly more aggressive angle upwards to more like a 90 degree angle.

 

This was done by slightly warming the plastic nipple with a lighter. ( par for the course apparently). Once this was done, my  mentor checked for air flow through it by blowing through it. It seemed a bit restricted so a pin was inserted in from both ends to clear the air way out and all seemed ok. 

 

We put it all together again and done another test flight and there was no issue since. 

 

We also adjusted the dual rates as the lower setting seemed a bit aggressive set at 70%. We reduced these down to 60% which seemed to make all the difference. Maybe some tweaking to go yet but I think we should have that more or less nailed by tomorrow.

 

I think I can safely say that the Arising Star is now safetly in the "available for duty" category now.

 

Cheers for now

 

Toto   

[Ron Gray]

Excellent Toto, it’s great when something works out for you!

[toto]

Thanks Ron,

 

having a model that's working as it should is absolutely vital. if you try and make do with something that has a persistent / intermittent fault, you get constant issues rather than smooth consistent flying. the consistency / progress of your flying suffers as you are forever going one step forwards and two steps back. so frustrating. 

 

I might not be out the woods yet but ( with fear of jinxing myself ) I'll stick my head above the parapet and state that it looks like I'm coming through the other side.

 

Tomorrow should be a good indicator.

 

I'm currently in the shed re-charging batteries and checking every conceivable sticking point that I can. the model is getting a good going over as is my various bits of equipment for which I hope shall be a " fail safe " day of flying and progress tomorrow. It would be great to end on a high again just like I did before flying out to Cyprus in June.

 

I'll report back on that tomorrow ..... meanwhile ..... hide the ropes and the razor blades..... 😄

 

cheers for now

 

toto     

[toto]

Well, flew her again and ..... dead stick.

 

Took the thing apart and took out the fuel tank for another look. We recognised air bubbles in the fuel line to the carb and on closer inspection there seemed to be a slight weak point in the fuel line. That was changed out, the model re- assembled and up she went again. ..... no issues since.

 

Three further flights accomplished and she stayed where she should be ..... in the sky.

 

So .... let's see what happens next weekend and hopefully .... in the absence of any further fuel drama's, I can concentrate on my flying improving rather than fighting against the model.

 

Ther was some decent flying achieved but I have a little way to catch up to pre-Cyprus levels. Slipped a little bit. Now its catchup and surpass time.

 

Cheers

 

Toto 

[toto]

So .... later tonight ( as it's now 1.30am ) its maintainence time again.

 

Refresh rx battery

Refresh glow plug battery

Refresh both TX batteries

Replenish fuel bottle

Give model .... another ..... going over.

 

Do some time on the simulator and try and get the basic circuits a bit smoother.

 

I noticed that parts of the fuselage covering was bubbling up in places so I'll need to take the iron to that and catch it before it manifests itself elsewhere. Is this a common occurrence? It does seem to get drenched in glow fuel ( yuk ).

 

I'm also looking at the main undercarriage as the wire seems to bend very easily and has required to be re-altered on a couple of occasions and that's with decent landings most of the time. 

 

Toto

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Learning to fly can be odd at times, something you're pretty good at can go backwards a bit, yet a new challenge goes well, next time your turns could be a thing of beauty and sumat else is a bit ropey, par for the course Toto and if you've done a fair bit of Sim time maybe the set up on Sim is different, giving you a different feel when back on your trainer ?

[toto]

Possibly John.

 

I should maybe take some more time with the sim to get things set up a bit more accurately rather than just picking it up and flying. 

 

I'm not the best when it comes to setting up these things but maybe time to bite the bullet and take a couple of hours of pain if it helps tie things in a bit better. 

 

Toto

[PDB]

7 hours ago, toto said:

I noticed that parts of the fuselage covering was bubbling up in places so I'll need to take the iron to that and catch it before it manifests itself elsewhere. Is this a common occurrence? It does seem to get drenched in glow fuel ( yuk ).

 

https://forums.modelflying.co.uk/index.php?/topic/53085-my-next-assembly-the-sequel-the-phoenix-domino-ep/&tab=comments#comment-962591

 

The covering isn't great and benefits from some further protection in the areas hit with what comes out of the exhaust. You could also experiment with rotating the silencer outlet and adding a piece of silicon tube onto it to deflect the gunk away.

 

 

 

[PDB]

1 hour ago, toto said:

Possibly John.

 

I should maybe take some more time with the sim to get things set up a bit more accurately rather than just picking it up and flying. 

 

I'm not the best when it comes to setting up these things but maybe time to bite the bullet and take a couple of hours of pain if it helps tie things in a bit better. 

 

Toto

 

 

There's a model in RealFlight called an Avistar which I found closest in characteristics to a 40 sized trainer.