BuzzBomber

My Feedback: (4)

Well, I finally did it. I had my first 1/2a r/c flight in at least 15 years. I've been acquiring a bunch of 1/2a stuff over the past year or so, but haven't gotten anything this small (wet-fuel powered) in the air, just bench run the motors. But all that changed today. I brought my TD .020 powered Lady Bug(there's a thread about it somewhere on here) to the field tonight and decided it was time to fly it(assuming I could get the TD to cooperate, which I haven't quite mastered yet). I flew the 'Bug right after I finished wringing out a new speed 480 pylon ship, but I gotta say, I was more puckered from the Ladybug. It's a whole different ballgame when you know you HAVE to keep it under control until the fuel runs out![X(] And...I learned a few things. 1: I need to add some ballast in the nose. 2: I need more 'down' trim,3: the throttle stick doesn't do anything if you don't have a throttle, and 3: I need some downthrust. When I launched the plane, it shot of of my hand like a rocket and went nearly straight up before I got on the elevator stick. I dialed in all the downtrim I could get and the plane still wanted to loop if I relaxed my push on the stick. Once I decided to just loop it, it hung there inverted for what seemed like forever--very wierd. Directional control was far less dramatic, left and right worked as expected and trim was spot-on. Once the fuel finally ran out(I had the foresight to put only 25mL in the tank, so it was probably about 4-5 minutes but it seemed like forever), everything was fine. The plane floats like a cloud when unpowered, and I glided it around for about another minute to lose altitude; when I finally got it down, it was my best landing of the night, rolling to a perfect stop right in front of me. I can't wait to get this thing in the air again(once I get it trimmed out, of course).

Bipe Flyer

Glad to hear you had a successful flight. I can almost feel the excitement in your post. There's just something about a screamin' TeeDee that gets the blood pumping.

BuzzBomber

My Feedback: (4)

Not to mention the ears ringing! Note to self--put extra earplugs in flightbox.

Bipe Flyer

Matt,

Get an exhaust throttle from Steve Adams. It will cut the noise down significantly when running at less than full throttle.

Big Al-RCU

Matt, Congratulations, that's what it is all about! My R/O 010 powered Pageboy only runs for about 90 sec to maybe 2 min but thats a LONG time without blinking or breathing. Its trimmed to loop hands off so the entire flight is a series of loops, rolls and spins. Everyone says 'how do you do stunts with rudder only?' Little do they know that actually I am just trying to keep ahead of it and keep it somewhere near the runway!
Enjoy, Al Lenz

BuzzBomber

My Feedback: (4)

I re-aligned the engine mount and rebalanced the plane last night, hoping to get another flight in with the Ladybug today, but I learned a painful lesson instead. Lesson being, either use only an alkaline cell for glow heads or PAY ATTENTION TO THE FIELDBOX, STUPID! Man, I have bad luck with that. The first time I brought the 'bug out to the field, I zapped a glow head by running too much current through it via the power panel. So what did I do today? Even worse. I plugged the clip into the power panel and as soon as I connected it, I saw a spark and heard a ZAP! Hmm, that's odd. So, in my brilliant state of mind, I take the glow head off to see what's the matter, and see little balls of molten platinum where the element should be. So, I turned the current down all the way and short the clip across the plug body. Here's what I expected to happen--a little buzzing from the panel switching power on/off, and the needle swinging up. Here's what happened instead. ZAP! again, then the wonderful aroma of burnt skin and owww! is my fingertip hot![X(] After dropping the hot glowhead, I see the problem. I plugged the clip into the 12v starter output[:@]. Nuthin' like cauterized fingertips to make you remember a lesson. Anyhow, the upshot of the story is that I've got a spare glowhead, a fresh alkaline cell for the Model Products clip, and tomorrow is forecast sunny, calm, and 60°.[8D]

edit: fixed spelling

flyinrog

My Feedback: (1)

Well do keep us informed, I am framing the wing right now on a Fred Reese Littlest stick with an extra wing bay for my pee wee. 020 ,hope I can fly it tomorrow too,,good luck to you, hope it all works out, forget the ear plugs but pay attention to those glow heads,,they are high $$ stuff...I won 2 .020's on theebay this week for $15 each so I got more stuff to do.....Rog