foodstick

She has flown !

A cool breeze, variable light and down the runway ...

First flight, tracked like it was on rails..simple takeoff tracked perfect on the ground and in the air. I think I needed about 6 clicks of aileron, and maybe the same of elevator. I flew about 2-3 minutes and the motor started getting a bit sour, I played with the throttle some, and got it down quick..landed like a dream !

So my friend that is better with motors tweaked a little bit more and back up she went, easy/slow and flawless !!! Once again the motor was just sounding wrong so I got it down and we decided the next adjustment. the landing was sure gentle into that light breeze.

Now on the motor stand this thing has never EVER done anything but run solid and reliable at ANY throttle position.. I have it under propped with a 24 8-14 .. It makes way more thrust than it needs, and my strategy was to run a prop that won't load up the motor at midrange..since that is where it will be mostly running.

Third flight, ran pretty good and a little longer before it sounded off a bit... I had my friend flying it and it died ! Well he said do you want it? I said yeah.... so i probably got a little further downwind talking about it Anyhow since I had two landings to go on, and I would not want my friend (that flies great) feeling bad I took the radio. I have read a lot of posts on this plane that you don't try to stretch the glide so I dove down to get my airspeed up and get back to the runway, I was out over freshly turned dirt, the tractor was still in the field.. My depth/speed perception is not very good when flying straight at me fairly level so when i thought I was about to stall I flared to slow it down. But I was WAY WAY off judging the speed, it really ballooned steep, and I shoved the nose down before it stalled ...then I leveled it out and finally flared low over the broken turned dirt. it sort of plunked in and stopped.

I was short about 70 feet of the field i suppose, I am sure I misjudged the glide pretty badly but I didn't want to slow speed stall into a breeze.

The plane survived with a bit twisted landing gear, It split the wood over the wire in two spots..but it was more ego damage than plane damage...

I sure hate to have to work on it all but If I had stalled higher it would have been ugly ! So three short flights, and other than motor tuning issues it flew great. It wants a little more fine tuning now that its cowled in, and has more air forced into the front while flying...

I did get some video of the take offs with my old sony camcorder, But I haven't found a driver that will make my new pc recognize my camera yet.


Anyhow thats where I am at, a little excited a little bummed,

Eindecker_pilot

Looking at the big picture, I say congratulations is still in order! Look at it this way, you now know you have a good flying plane & some normal tuning work to do on the engine.

That damage to the landing gear can be fixed quickly & I imagine it could have been a lot worse!
Greg

foodstick

Well i went out in the garage, took my mighty wire bender, glue, and a humbled attitude ...

I pulled the landing gear off, turned it around, tried to decide what needs to go what direction.. After awhile I realized I GOT REAL LUCKY, its not that bad. The combination of fresh plowed dirt,a bungee'd landing gear, bent piano wire and MAJOR LUCK !

Either that or Landing gear elves worked on it overnight in the garage ! hahahhahaha

here are a few pics, I have the wood gear fairings gluing in the basement now...

abufletcher

The way I see this, you had a perfectly successful maiden flight, which you judiciously cut short due to a possible problem with the engine. You then had a successful second flight with a perfect take-off and a perfect landing. Again you were wisely cautious about a possible engine problem. Then despite having attempted to remedy the engine problem, the model went deadstick on the THIRD flight. But you kept your cool and managed to bring the aircraft back for a bit of a bumpy landing in some rough terrain. Minor damage to the UC and a minor bruise to your pride.

I say WELL DONE!

foodstick

Well the landing gear is straight, back on the plane, and there isn't even a hint of a glue smudge on the repair, so its a good day ! Even if it is cold, windy, and raining ...

We needed the rain !

drube

Looks like you landed soft enoughto notdo any major damage! That "pucker" factor likes to sneek up on us at times..lol Nice save!

foodstick

There was a lot of guessing going on after that motor died , not every decision was right, but you know what they say.. " Better lucky than good "

foodstick

Well an update on the Pup !

Last year after much reading, watching videos, and talking to people...I bought the Toni Clarke belt reduction unit...

Tonight I finally got around to the test flight on the new motor and drive assembly. I will be doing some tweaking as the motor breaks in , but what a change ! I went from a windy first test flight with a twin 80 cc engine, to a dead calm night with this setup.

It was pretty great, long roll out on the mains followed with scale climbing out ... I am still off on the high needle. But I will take reliable power over a little to lean at this point. It flew so cool, slow and scale. in the turns it sounds very realistic the way the prop loads up. The landing was the best you can hope for, when you pull back the power it must be running 400 prop speed the plane just comes in solid as a rock.. nice glide path, no bad habits, what a beauty to land !

Second flight we gassed it back up and topped the battery off... I decided to try using the petrol mat runway since it behaved so well on the first flight. It didn't seem to even care it tracked nice and true, no squirellyness that sometimes happens with WW1 planes on a hard runway.
The flight was great, did some shallow stall/rudder turns... it really sounds good in those turns..
So I notice my aileron trim changed JUST a bit ...never thought too much about it, but I landed after a few more passes, and I noticed I had snapped 1 bolt on the flying wires ! that tab holds 2 of the 8 flying wires.. so I was glad it ended well. I will be installing bigger bolts.. I look at them now and realize I should have gone larger from the start.

Anyhow in summary two GREAT takeoffs, two GREAT flights, and two GREAT landings.. right at dusk... feels GOOD !


1797

R/C Art

My Feedback: (38)

Great News, foodstick! Just in time to clean her up good and bring her down to the Ohio Dawn Patrol.

We will be looking high and low [:-] for ya' - we'll be [] it you don't show.

And you'll be when you do.

AIRPLANENUTS

My Feedback: (2)

She's a beauty! I really like the weathering. It sets it apart, for sure. Great job.

foodstick

Just an update, went over the wing wires close, and I think the bolt was to short and an aircraft lock nut was not far enough on the bolt..causing it to vibrate off.. I don't think the bolt broke after all.

Meanwhile I DID go up a bolt size on the flying wires where they bolt to the upper N struts.

Teus

Watch out for that big prop foodstick, it's perfect for the job but it can cut off your tail [X(]

This happened last Saturday during a formation flight at our Dawn Patrol. Looks like the plane that lost (cut off) his tail is totally loss but the other might be repaired. They were both 1/3rd Busa Pups. Very sad sight when I saw it happen.

foodstick

I never thought about it, but that big prop would be a midair mulching machine !

Kid4748

My Feedback: (4)

Hi I have built a 1/3 balsa USA pup. I am at the point of doing simulated rib stitching. I don't know the specifacations,spacing or width. Could you help me out? Tail stitching the same?

foodstick

I am afraid I am not that LEVEL of scale finish work.On mine I just painted on a simulated stitching by using airbrushing, and some chalk.. There are other threads where people do it the realistic way on rcu...

I do however have some video I never added to this thread. The first is a better camera, all three are fairly long and we were getting learning experience ..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsDWTn2C5VI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrB3mkjhsMY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFcxuvllkXc

Kid4748

My Feedback: (4)

Thanks that was cool.

R/C Art

My Feedback: (38)

What Kid4748 said, Lance.

Now ...... can you say ODP?

dkparker

Just begining build on my 1/3 Balsa USA Pup and have the wing parts all laid out, But as i looked at the 3/8 dowel parts I had the idea an aluminum tube joiner at the root would be a good idea. Question is (is it needed)

R/C Art

My Feedback: (38)

No, it is not needed. Let the wires do their job of holding the airplane together .......... ... why build in unnecessary weight when there is no added value.
My 2 cents worth. I flew the two I had for a combined total of nearly 5 years before I sold them. Properly maintained wires are all that is required.

Cheers,
Art

foodstick

I have heard a few guys were extending the bottom dowels and making a way to connect them left and right side down in the cockpit area. I think the general reason was if you ended up with some slack in your wires, they would hopefully not unplug so easily.. I did put an aluminum tube in mine because I did not understand what people were discussing on this topic at the time. The plane is still a kite at 40 pounds.. So many of the reviews I read about this plane said it was much more manageable in more wind if it wasn't super light. However I can appreciate flying a super light one in low winds. Where I live has a fairly high wind average.. thats why we have hundreds, if not thousands of those windmills in the state.

BobH

My Feedback: (2)

Kid, I think the rib stitch spacing is 3 inches per full scale. I'll check to make sure.

foodstick

Had a GREAT day flying a couple days ago. 4 perfect flights on the Pup, and some footage from the ground..and in the plane. The video of the takeoff was a bit rough as I hadn't flown the plane in over a year.. but the next three rolled out long and scale on the gear (like they should be) ..
Hopefully you like the new video. I have been posting quite a few WW1 vids this year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpT2JiaI3ns

R/C Art

My Feedback: (38)

Good show "Old Chap". Good show!

Billy Clink

My Feedback: (2)

Foodstick ! Very Nice looking Pup ! May I ask what in the world kind of camera did you use ,that is able to rotate side to side like you show in the second video ? That is Too Cool ,,,,,,just like you are setting in the cockpit looking out ....I gotta get one for myself ! Billy T.

foodstick

Billy its called the "Wingcamera 2" and I bought it thru HobbyKing ....
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...arehouse_.html

I have been pretty happy with it. I can't even tell you how much I have used this in the last 3 years...If you have NEVER ordered from HK before and don't know your way around the site... see if someone you know can. I have friends that order from it with no problems constantly... and friends that NEVER have any luck at it.