E-Starter Mothballed

Well, it's finally official. The beat up E-Starter I own is being mothballed. The front mount is just too weak to hold the motor, and it did not want to ROG and was unstable once it was airborne. Too much downward thrust. I went ahead and used the setup to break in the motor. The Voltage really drops steep once it hits 10.0 V, so beware of this if you use Lipos. I actually noticed that the voltage rises too once it is taken off the load. That was a bit odd. I'll probably use the set up to run it once more today to condition the battery, but I'll be gutting the plane soon. Most of the sticky stuff on the pads GWS gave me for the servos are loosening up, so I'll put some balsa I bought in to hold the servos later. More than likely in 2 months or so I'll completely cut up the front and redo it and then go ahead and fix everything else about the plane up nice. Maybe I'll get some foam filler or glue some foam into the chunks that are messed up to make her look pretty too. I'll probably paint it then as well.

For now I started the Formosa last night. I got the ailerons cut off, all the way out to the edges though. I noticed a while back that if you just drag the utility knife over the foam continuously instead of applying downward force, you get pretty smooth cuts. Then I went ahead and glued in the control tubes to the fuse, and started cutting slits in the wing for the hinges after sanding the corners down. The carbon spar is also in the wing. I'm using Gorilla glue on everything to build her, and trying to be as sparing as possible, while enough to make her solid. I don't have any way to weigh her, but I'll compare her to the e-starter to see how she turns out.

I played some Warcraft III with the wife last night, otherwise I would have done more. Hopefully tomorrow morning or Saturday I'll get some more work done on her. I'm thinking I'll run the 400 motor in her to start, and then move on to the 350 which I will break in with the rechargable phone battery I'm trying to make. So, the next post should be some plane building tips for the Formosa I've learned off RCGroups.com and my own observations. I've also decided to use velcro to secure the battery and receiver so they are movable as well. I'll try and post some pics.

A victim of my own impatience, again

Opps, I did it again. So I got home, and there was a box from Las Vegas with a new 3S 1320 mah from Thunder Power in it. Thanks for standing by your products Thunder Power. Anyways, I had company coming over, so I knew I couldn't use it last night, so I put it on for a slow charge to be ready for this morning. I propped down the e-starter to something flyable but also so I would know I'd draw 6.5 Amps static to do a few flights and break in the battery.

This morning, I couldn't sleep, so I went ahead and got all the electronics set back up, and checked the CG for correctness. I then snuck outside before I needed to leave for Church, and tossed her up. She dove straight into the ground even though I hastily pulled the stick up, and certainly didn't stall. I looked her over trying to figure out what went wrong and I realized I didn't put the push rod into the control horn. Stupid, stupid stupid. The cost was the nose being even more beat up, and another GWS prop being broken. bahh. I replaced the prop and plugged in the TX, but I had to go before I could try her. I may go ahead with a flight this afternoon, but it's kind of up in the air and dependent on the wind.

In the end, it all boils down to me learning to exercise some patience. I mean a 30 second ground check would have earned me another 12-30 minutes of flying plus saving me 15-30 minutes spend doing repairs. Aggghhh. God will teach me patience yet, I'm sure of it.

Some Building time

Well, since the Lipo is still with Thunder Power, I finally sat down and did some building on my plane. I started with the stick mount up front, as I flipped the plane over a few times and it was lossening up. Afterwards, I finally fixed the strut mount so we can remove the nasty wing flex I've been seeing. Next I read a few posts which made we drool over ROG, so I put the front gear back on, maybe they will hold this time. I figure I can unscrew the gear if I want to belly land, but we'll see. I scoped out a good ROG location a few minutes walk. Usually I walk outside, across the parking lot, and just toss her and land in the grass. Lastly, I tightened up some of the aileron and elevator hinges that were loosening up. This may be what I needed to get her to loop outside.
On another note, I got a pack of 50-60 4/5 AA cells to make some NiCd packs. I hope they can handle the draw, we'll see. I tried sodering a 3-cell pack for my cordless, the other reason I got the pack of NiCds but the standard tip didn't work. I went all over for a T or hammer tip to use, but I couldn't find one, and my 30 W iron wasn't working. I finally found them on www.cheapbatterypacks.com, but I'm gonna check a local hobby-lobby and a RC store or two first, to see if I can get it today and save a few bucks.
Finally, Happy Easter. My wife let me get the Formosa I've been drooling over to celebrate the holiday. She's gonna get something too, just as soon as we find what she wants. It's up in the air between a few things for her. I'll take my time building this one, may even paint her before the maiden. That reminds me I still owe a picture of my E-Starter. Either way, I should have enough fun with the e-starter to pace myself. If I enjoy ROG enough, I'll probably keep flying the e-starter since I'm going to go gearless on the Formosa for the better performance. I also want to bum a TX off a friend and work on teaching my wife and let a friend try the e-starter out. The brushless motor for the Formosa should be coming for my Birthday in June. Well, that's about it, with a little luck the next post will be on flying.

Problems while flying

Well, I had a good discussion about flying with my father in-law the other day. He's the one who got me hooked on the idea flying his 3-ch around, and I think I've got him hooked on getting a 4-channel. He's probably got all he needs for it, just buy an e-starter and he'll have a complete bird. I may even buy one for him if he doesn't have one by them.
On another note, the same day we talked my battery I found that my battery had died. I checked the voltage and it was under 9v, checked the cells and two were at 3.8v volts and another at 0.4v I'm guessing the charger thought it was 2 cells, charged it to 8.4v, and the other dead one backed off a bit after charging. Bah. I called Thunder Power and they said to send it in with a note describing what happened and all that. I'll let you know what happens later this week or next when I get it back. I've also been reading on doing my own batteries as a 3S lipo would be $35 max as opposed to 50 and would hold more amps. We'll see about that though, for right now I just want mine back.

Some Flying

Well, last Wednesday I got the itch to fly and took her up despite the wind. She did fine, more forward motion despite the wind, very nice. I also got some calmness over the weekend and flew some more. I was finishing a novel otherwise Sunday would have been good for flying. Take heart though, this week looks like it will be great for some flying the next few days. I may be able to get a Formosa sometime soon too, which would be allot of fun. There's a few things I'd like to do, but haven't been able to with the e-starter. I'm also leaning towards getting a Formosa and then leaving the E-Starter as it is. I really need to figure out why I can't do an outside loop or really climb with the e-starter. Spins seem to be un-doable as well, she just turns. I thought I got it once before, but I'm not so sure now. Those could be my lesser ability though. A KE is hard to hold as well. So, I think I'm just outgrowing her, but maybe my wife will start flying her.

GWS 400 Motor Re-propped

So I grabbed a 9x7 yesterday and put her on. I gave the wife the transmitter, put the amp gauge on the motor, and let her run it at half and full. She was pulling just over 10.0 amps at half and about 14.1 at full on the fully charged TP 1320. At static that's a little over the 13.8, but I run at half power most of the time and I should be able to start at 3/4 without sweating it.
I've also been thinking about adjusting the CG on the plane. I may retry the gear now that I'm getting better. I've got the rear wheel well anchored, but the front gear pulled out too much. I just used the GWS though, some Gorilla Glue would probably hold. I could then spend a day trying touch and goes, but I'd have to figure out where. Hand launching works great because I'm in a grass field. There's a smooth patch from some prairie dogs where I ROGed the maiden, and I could try landing there, or in the parking lot. I'm just a bit worried about cars if I do the parking lot. Although, I think she's tail heavy, so I could just pull out the tail gear, but it's way in there. That or add the gears to the front. Hmm, will have to think on that. I've been trying to do outside loops, might be possible with the new prop, or may need a CG adjustment. I'm going to try for more elevator clearance too.
Now if the wind would just cooperate and let me fly ;-).

Getting more out of a stock E-Starter

So I've been flying for a bit now. I'm still having a hard time knife-edging and doing spins, which may be as much a plane limitation as the pilots. I'm pretty good with inverted flight, and my rolls are doing better.
This last week I picked up a Craftsman Voltage and Amp meter to do some testing. I'm pulling 7.4 AMPS on a GWS 9050 at 5000 ft here in Denver, and 8.4 Amps with an APC 9.0x4.7. I think I'll try out a 9.0x6.0 or so and see how she pulls then. I don't fly most of the time at full throttle, so I plan on pinning the amps at the 9.3 which should be the max for the GWS 400 motor.
One minor catastrophe happened during all of this. I forgot to screw the motor on after doing some testing. So it's fairly nice out, not perfect, but certainly flyable, and the wife and our little girl come out with us. I rev up the motor to hand launch and off it comes and takes a chunk off the wing and breaks a strut. I glued the wing chunk back in, fixed a crack in the fuse, and started repairing the strut, though I'm flying without it.
I flew her once since then, and she's still flying good. I cranked up the throws on all the control surfaces, and checked them for clearance. The aileron deflection made a big difference. Loops can come about a lot quickly, though she's still squirrelly on her side. The elevator throw also makes inverted flight more sustainable, and I can even climb a bit, though not really. It's too bad this week should be blustery, though I will fly if I get a chance.
One last change I'm debating, is to cut the wings off where the dihedral starts, and to glue them back on flat. Allot of people say they like this allot, and even with a thinned fuse on the e-starter. I should get a Formosa in June, but probably nothing else before or after, so maybe I'll do this mod the end of march to perk up my flying fun.