LDM

My Feedback: (15)

did you ever have a bad day and you say to yourself , man its a bad day and it seem to get worse . Well a friend of mine told me , that you will your outcome so I was determined to have a good day lol .....
Needed to test my os max 4 stroke after a crash last year in my VQP40 , so its all back together now and I figured ahh , lets warm her up in the back yard in the nice green new grass . Well I tighten the plane down on my test stand inverted , the engine was difficult to turn because it was somewhat flooded , dont know why , oh well tunring her over , running rich , fine tuneing her in , and I notice the fuse that is hitting the standing top sheeting is now crushed from me (stupid rc guy making it to tight on the stand lol ) .

Ok so after removing this P40 from the stand , I figured , well a few nights work and it will be good as new .
SO then P40 #2 comes out , again first time this year , the great planes easy fueler fuel line are reversed , yep king dummy got them crossed when cleaing my tank last year , so when I went to fill her up it was a great fun day seeing fule poor out the carb , on the lawn and sparying me

Ok its gets better , while cleaning it up , my fule filler is left hanging and I dont notice as it drips fule on my nice plane stand finished in non fuel proof varnish , now looking like a stripped wood project -
Ok its get better , determined to make sure my engine was ok and runnnig correct for the season I continued on my path to my possible demise , got the engine running great , smooth transition ect but I remember the spinner on this plane was way off balance , ya so as I reved it up (while just remembering ) I watched my macs muffler shake loose , and dance its way free and my servos easy links vibrate loose

so while all seem lost for flying on memorial day , I rememberd all the little things needed from my last day at the field in 2007 , ya remember thread lock and plumbers tape on the muffler , jb weld on the easy link bolts , pick up new spinner bla bla bla .
So how is this all good , well I get to fly another day , double checking everything as I always do and making it problem free before I get to the field and put someone else in danger outside of me [X(]

So after all it was a good RC day

Hogrider

My Feedback: (392)

Just think, the day gets even better. You don't have to travel so far to the planes hangar.

Sturtz

My Feedback: (20)

Dear RC Gods.....................Give LDM a good day out next time please. AMEN.

Story sure rings a bell here LDM. Day off from work. Memorial Day. Several warbirds ready to fly. Oklahoma where the winds come sweeping down the plains.
Too windy to even bolt a wing on here today.[] Then theres the tornados in the evening .[:@]

rrudytoo

My Feedback: (27)

What a relief to know that this stuff happens to other people. too. I get what I term "dumb days" when nothing seems to go right. When things don't seem to go as planned, I just set that stuff aside and do other things. I learned that lesson the hard way as a motorcyclist. These days do pass and wonderful days do take their place, LDM.

Al

LDM

My Feedback: (15)

Thanks guys , that is why I posted it , I use get over dramatic about the events , you know you want to just go fly , butttt I also know that being at home and doing the right things make it way more tolerable then being at the field . THe good news was I got the engine running just where I wanted it by days ends , very nice low throttle and smooth transition to high end .
I also checked out the great planes easy fueler and the problem was I simply had one gone bad , that added to the nice fule spay lol .
I guess the good news is that the easy to fix vibartion and loose muffler happend on the ground and not in the air .
A long time ago i remember a guy saying , "be redundant and you wont crash "
well he was 95% correct , outside of pilot error
have a great day

rslstft

My Feedback: (10)

LDM,
Not to rain on your parade, but you are in a VERY large club of us that have had those kind of days. The very type when you know you should put everything away and go do something else that can't hurt you, but does any of us listen to that little voice in our heads? Not a chance!! Glad you at least got the engine running well. While you may have never had any problems with the easy filler before, they WILL give you problems often and usually at an most inconvenient time. I quit using them a few years ago and at least got rid of 1 problem on those bad days. Hope you have better days soon!

Russ

LDM

My Feedback: (15)

Russ , the best part was I said to myself hey all that is left is ...getting hurt lol , I know we all have these days , so I figured I would post the day for all to enjoy , like I said it was better enjoyed by just staying calm and in the end some good came from it . I heard problem with the easy fillers are common , I have used the fule dots ects , they all have some issues but thats our story anyway

Peter_OZ

My Feedback: (1)

Lou,
sometimes the gremlins talk to you and when they do you had better listen! I know every time I ignore them I have a VERY BAD day at the field!

cheers
Peter

kahloq

Yup...had those days as well(and probably still will occasionally). Im sure everyone one of us has those stories, some with not so good outcomes at the field.

LDM

My Feedback: (15)

yep , you guys are right , you know its all in how you handle it . Once everything was going wrong it was actually humorous , I mean I left things out , having to go inside the house 100 times for the correct tools ect . But in Pa , the sun was out , temperture was cool and balmy , such a rare nice spring day .
I worked on the planes again last night , felt good to fix small things while the plane are 100% intact [X(]

andernamen

My Feedback: (3)

You think you had a bad day, I think I have you beat! I went flying Sunday and returned to a destroyed hangar. My wife smashed the wing of my GS TF P-51 mustang, smashed the fuze of my TF P-40 that I've been working on for 2+ years, broke the wing and fuze of a great planes .40 size P-51, broke the fuze of my Dragon Lady and tried to break the wing also (foam core so she only left a big dent in it) and destroyed the fuze of my GWS P-51 park flyer. I picked up the pieces and immediately moved out. I sure am going to miss her!

kahloq

Sounds to me like you knew this was coming though....I dont mean that you figured she'd damage your planes(well...maybe you suspected she might)....but didnt think she'd actually do it.
Anyhow.....if things were that bad that she'd do this, then you had previous warning....probably several arguments or fights regarding your hobby. Definitely a bad day nonetheless.

In any event....this hobby does require a supportive(or at least tolerant) spouse. So.....looks like you might be happier with the situation as it is now.

LDM

My Feedback: (15)

I wont touch that one buddy , I can only wish you the best

Peter_OZ

My Feedback: (1)

eek that is dreadul, I have bee na few bust ups but never had my planes touched thank goodness. all the best mate!

Axel40

My missus, she comes with me to the field

She loves it. She really likes the 4 strokes, not keen on the leccys though, they "don't sound like a plane"

She even takes pics and phone vids of me flying, bless her. Now she wants me to teach her how to fly the Supercub[8D]

Is that a good thing?

Peter_OZ

My Feedback: (1)

I think so mate

mine flies as well, has her bronze wings rating and is bloody good on her little pegasus.

Always nice if they take an interest though mine says my bigger warbirds scare her when I start em up! What a wuss what is to fear from a 22" prop! [X(]

jcflysrc

My Feedback: (50)

Absolutely! But you know to get her started with a trainer before you risk the Cub, of course.

I think you are lucky to have a spouse who is motivated to learn more about it and support you in your participation. My wife has come a long way in the last few years...she isn't hangin at the field yet (thank goodness), however just when I think she could care less, and hasn't been listening to a thing I've said, she surprises me with a comment about a plane or SOMETHING. It could be worse. At least she respects my property enough not to jack with it. Probably why I've been with her for the last seventeen years.

Peter_OZ

My Feedback: (1)

mmm mine respects me and my hobby, last 2 Christmases she has given me a DA-50, one before that it was a JR 10ch PCM RX

last birthday a 15 min ride in a P51D

think I've got a good one!

LDM

My Feedback: (15)

yep I got a good one too , shes not into the flying but is great at the buying lol , and that is ok with me

Peter_OZ

My Feedback: (1)

amen to that mate!

Quite happy to take mine out whenever she wants!

quid pro quo Cherise!

mobyal

Jeez
And I thought MY Memorial Day was bad. Club I belong to is a 50+ mile drive away. Big Memorial Day flyin and cookout. So I load up the car ( two glo and 2 electrics) and head on down. Leave home about 0900.
Get to the field, unload car. Set up the glo planes and fuel up the H9 J3. Take off and handles OK in some light turbulance, but something's not quite right. Using a lot of rudder to horse it around. Get it back on the ground to find that the right servo mount blocks have popped loose. Bummer, but using the rudder is GOOD! Disassemble and back in the car. So I fuel up the Pulse, go to range check it and the Tx is dead as a doornial! NOTHING showing on the voltage screen. And I'd cycled the batteries twice in the previous week. Well, at least it didn't happen while I'm up in tha air. Of course the airplanes aren't on the same channel, so can't use the J3 Tx for the Pulse. So disassembel and back in the car w/ that one too. That's two things , neither of which has ever happened to me before and I'm not pushing my luck. So everything back in the car. Great time talking w/ people though, and the BBQ was really good. So all in all not THAT bad a day, so long as I didn't want to do any flying!
Al

Peter_OZ

My Feedback: (1)

well have a chat and a barbie is pretty good, flying? Oh that is what we are supposed to do there!!

andernamen

My Feedback: (3)

For all you guys that have an understanding wife that can appreciate this hobby and/or actually participate with you, thank your lucky stars! Most of my stuff is rebuildable, but it will take a lot of time and effort.

paladin

My Feedback: (9)

LMD, I went flying Sunday and it was my first day out this may because of a combination of high school graduation, and I seam to be the only one in the club that is not afraid of wind over 15mph. We used to have a nice group that understood that models were a hobby and flying in the wind was part of that. So first day out in may and I pull my practice/breakin new parts P-51 out of the car and put it together. Wheel it to the pitts fuel it up and add air. The air comes up on pressure way to fast. That usually means a pinched airline somewhere so back to the setup stand until I find the pinch. Found it the line was wrapped around the LE dowl. Back together and put air in then wait my turn in the air. I finally get a chance and fire up the engine and it sounds like a John Deere tractor. I know this sound, it’s a bad bearing, it wount go today I tell myself it’s the first I’ve herd this and this bearing is only 11months old. So I taxi my tractor sounding P-51D out and takeoff, fly my pattern, free style for a few minutes and the time to land is at hand. I bring the plane down the runway at about a 100 ft and hit the button to have the gear come down right in front of me. the right one comes down and then the left one drops out of the airplane. I was lucky it stayed on the runway and bill was able to find it. After I pulled the one that stayed with the plane up and scraped up the glycol cooler. Luckly P-51’s can be landed with flaps when there are no wheels.

So I put the strut back in the plane an wait my turn again. During the wait a friend puts his new giant scale into the air for maiden. First thing we notice is its lack of power, then we realize that it is nosing up, when he gives it down E to arrest it the nose darts down. When he relaxes the stick, the nose comes right back up. It was controllable enough to get it trimmer A, and R, then land to figure out what is going on with the E. On landing he was so intent on keeping the tracking straight he never herd me yelling he was not on the runway and ended up taking the LG out of the plane.

My turn to fly again, I fire up and off we go. Four minutes into my pattern right after completing the first quarter of a loop the engine goes to idle while I’m vertical. My speed is still good so I push the nose over to level flight headed out to set up a landing, the gear cone down without incident. I try half T and the power comes up, I go to full tilt and back to idle. I turn towards the runway and land, taxi back, open the needle no difference, close the needle to no difference. Great I probably just blew out the bearing and scrapped a OS 120 4c. tear it down and put it in the car.

Pull out the Scat Cat that I just bought and installed the rossi I used for pylon racing in the late early 80’s. Our club has a noise limit so the old muffler has been personally customized to meet that. I initially have problems getting it to hold a setting but once I realize the muffler pressure line had come off the nipple we are off to the races. I had bill hold the tail while I spooled up to half T and held full E becase I had it so nose heavy. I had it nose heavy because I had not done this in so long that I wanted it as docile as possible. Then he released, and it was like riding a horse, it was trimmed out and now time to try full tilt. So in the middle of the down wind leg I firewalled it and she got up and she lepped into light speed. Made my turn then came back down the runway (high). When it got within 50ft of me it started to roll right (no noise), and did not respond to my correction. I went right to idle (amazed at how well it all came back) then watched with out control as the plane entered the death spiral. Once it slowed down I regained control and flew back to hight at half T without incident. Checked it out, for not trim change after flutter and it seamed OK. Scat Cats are always a handful on the ground so I was intent on running the tank dry and dead sticking in. when all of a sudden it got much louder. Great! So it shut down the engine and landed without muffler. Upon landing all the torque rod anchors pockets were expanded.

I did not bother to get the third plane out. I had enough work for the week. So I was lucky with the OS 120 4c the extra vibration of the bad bearing shook the pump loose so the engine was spared, I’d rather be luck than good any day. So the os 120 4c is all torn down awaiting the new bearing. I’ve taken the first step in flutter abatement (glue in torque rods to aileron, there is also some trunion slop that I will have to address soon) and switched to a hopped up O.S. Max .25 FX until I’ve solved the flutter problem.

Joe

LDM

My Feedback: (15)

hey you guys are making me feel good LOL , I am now in Minnesota , my favorite place to buy new stuff to get frustrated on hahaha .
So I took my frustration out on my wallet , two new spinners for the P40 ties , new easy fulers (this time dubro) , new tail wheel for my Fw190 and pull pull system for my sierra tail wheel retracts , prop extension for the G26ei so it will take the Skyshark Fw190 spinner , ect ect , more toys for better or worse from my favorite shop in the USA hobbywarehouse now called skyhobbies .