Shucking a plane, grab it from the tail, or the wing?
07-03-2011, 06:26 PM
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Shucking a plane, grab it from the tail, or the wing?
Have you ever felt like taking a plane that is giving you fits and shucking it into the unknown? Maybe even lighting it on fire first!
Not to bore you all with my problem child, but it's getting on my nerves pretty bad.. I will make this vent as fast as I can, I promise!
GP Little Toni, ST G90 with a pipe.. I did this one up right, 645MG all around, changed to Dubro 867 control horns, 440 ball links.. Went with good hinges, tricked it out with some checker board on the right wing and even painted the canopy to give it that mean look...
Well The first flight went awesome, it needed nothing on the trim and flew hands off from the start.. Then the motor started giving me problems, flame outs while advancing for take off.. Thank goodness it did it before lifting off, happened a few times...
Ok, things like this happen.. Just figure out the problem and fix it, this is where my bore gets good!
Removing the cowl is nothing short of a full blown "put your ass in last place pit stop" It's a lot of work getting it off..
Once it is off, you have to put it all back together to run it so you can see what’s going on.. This motor starts so easy and just purrs and sounds so good as well with the pipe.. Running it up, I see the problem. Getting foam in my feed line, ok, problem found.. Back at home I take out the tank only to find my dumb mistake, I thought I had room on the bolts coming through the firewall.. I Missed it by 1/8", off to the LHS to get a new tank.. GP doesn't make a replacement tank for this plane, very odd shape.. Ok, No problem, didn't like this tank anyway.. I constructed a new tank tray and got it all back together and did some testing at home, not a bubble to be had and it ran great.. Off to the field yet again, ready to bore some holes in the sky. Confidence is way up, no need to take another plane with in case...
Well, I am venting right now so you know the rest of that story... After several trips to the HS and to the field, different fuel, props and plugs, I finally have all the bugs worked out and today is the day. I did bring another plane with since I was spending the day at the field...
Every time the cowl comes off, you have to take out the needle valve. I mark it so I can get it close once it's all back together, then fine tune it.. Well today I go to start it up and wow the crowd and I get nothing, not even a pop... I keep messing with the needle and after an insane amount of leaning, she fires up, but doesn’t sound to "Wow"! I am at 1 1/2 turns from closed where it is normally close to 3, something is wrong, imagine that!
I get the needle set at full throttle and when I back off to idle it dies, mess with the needle and get the idle set, go to full and it dies.. Sounds like the low end is to rich, which I had all set at home.. Wellllllllll, I never made a hole to adjust the low end with the cowl on. The dreaded pit stop is about to take place and I about snapped, I did the right thing, I walked away, cracked open a soda and sat down talking to myself.. Been doing that alot with this plane and having some great conversations to boot!
I flew my other plane and relaxed a bit before stripping it down, good move, was having fun again..
I go to turn the low end and my barrel goes in a 1/2", take the screw driver back and the barrel pops back out, that's when I seen the missing screw, that would be part# 22250445 on the Exploded view, "the throttle barrel guide screw" The screw that not even the most prepared RC'er would have sitting in his parts bin.. Nope, this is the little screw that the devil himself made!!!
So, this takes me back to the question. Have you ever wanted to take a plane and shuck it hard as you could? Would you get a better flight grabbing it by the tail and winging it into the corn, or grabbing it by the wing and really put some spins behind it....
Oh, it just got better.. After typing out my much needed vent, I hit OK to post and it said I timed out.. Now normally that would make me so mad, but I was smart this time and copied my work before hitting that little gem of a button. No sir, not gonna let this vent go without being told...
Ok, lazyboy and a stiff drink is calling my name. Tomorrow is another day in this wonderful world of RC planes!!!!!!!!!
End vent!Jimbo
07-04-2011, 07:09 AM
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RE: Shucking a plane, grab it from the tail, or the wing?
I feel your pain Jimbo. I think we have all had those planes that are just never right. Thankfully we also have those others that come out of the box, are a snap to go together, and never give a second of trouble. Those are the ones that make it worth while.
As to your question. I have felt like smashing one but have resisted. I did see a guy at our fly in two years ago do just that. He told me before he flew it that it had a bad snap in it with too much elev at low speed. It was some sort of 100cc powered Chip Hyde model. He did a good job with it the first few flight. It was impressive in a hover. Anyway on the third flight, he snapped it in. Not real bad, but it did break the fuse. He carried back to the pits and proceed to stomp it flat so he could rip the servos out without the aid of a screw driver. We all stood there shaking our heads, but I guess it made him feel better.
david
As to your question. I have felt like smashing one but have resisted. I did see a guy at our fly in two years ago do just that. He told me before he flew it that it had a bad snap in it with too much elev at low speed. It was some sort of 100cc powered Chip Hyde model. He did a good job with it the first few flight. It was impressive in a hover. Anyway on the third flight, he snapped it in. Not real bad, but it did break the fuse. He carried back to the pits and proceed to stomp it flat so he could rip the servos out without the aid of a screw driver. We all stood there shaking our heads, but I guess it made him feel better.
david
07-04-2011, 10:27 AM
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RE: Shucking a plane, grab it from the tail, or the wing?
Sometimes nothing goes right..............
I always try to take a second plane to the field so if one craps out I still have the second one to fly and save the day.
I a mechanic on full scale planes for a living, I don't let frustration bother me too much. Full scale planes break down just as much as little ones, the difference is the big ones have double, triple, sometimes quadruple redundency built in, so they don't tend to crash when something simple fails!
07-04-2011, 12:32 PM
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RE: Shucking a plane, grab it from the tail, or the wing?
ORIGINAL: daveopam
I feel your pain Jimbo. I think we have all had those planes that are just never right. Thankfully we also have those others that come out of the box, are a snap to go together, and never give a second of trouble. Those are the ones that make it worth while.
As to your question. I have felt like smashing one but have resisted. I did see a guy at our fly in two years ago do just that. He told me before he flew it that it had a bad snap in it with too much elev at low speed. It was some sort of 100cc powered Chip Hyde model. He did a good job with it the first few flight. It was impressive in a hover. Anyway on the third flight, he snapped it in. Not real bad, but it did break the fuse. He carried back to the pits and proceed to stomp it flat so he could rip the servos out without the aid of a screw driver. We all stood there shaking our heads, but I guess it made him feel better.
david
I feel your pain Jimbo. I think we have all had those planes that are just never right. Thankfully we also have those others that come out of the box, are a snap to go together, and never give a second of trouble. Those are the ones that make it worth while.
As to your question. I have felt like smashing one but have resisted. I did see a guy at our fly in two years ago do just that. He told me before he flew it that it had a bad snap in it with too much elev at low speed. It was some sort of 100cc powered Chip Hyde model. He did a good job with it the first few flight. It was impressive in a hover. Anyway on the third flight, he snapped it in. Not real bad, but it did break the fuse. He carried back to the pits and proceed to stomp it flat so he could rip the servos out without the aid of a screw driver. We all stood there shaking our heads, but I guess it made him feel better.
david
here ya on the trouble free planes, man i love them........... I know that once i get all the bugs out i will be happy, just getting to that pointhas been a workout...I started putting together another plane today, tillI get the screw i need, this demonis on hold..lol
07-04-2011, 12:34 PM
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RE: Shucking a plane, grab it from the tail, or the wing?
ORIGINAL: rcdude7
Sometimes nothing goes right..............
I always try to take a second plane to the field so if one craps out I still have the second one to fly and save the day.
I a mechanic on full scale planes for a living, I don't let frustration bother me too much. Full scale planes break down just as much as little ones, the difference is the big ones have double, triple, sometimes quadruple redundency built in, so they don't tend to crash when something simple fails!
Sometimes nothing goes right..............
I always try to take a second plane to the field so if one craps out I still have the second one to fly and save the day.
I a mechanic on full scale planes for a living, I don't let frustration bother me too much. Full scale planes break down just as much as little ones, the difference is the big ones have double, triple, sometimes quadruple redundency built in, so they don't tend to crash when something simple fails!
I here ya on the back up plane, it is always making the trip to the field from now on...
