nitro wing

My Feedback: (1)

OK
I have a notice in the mail, that my CellPro charger for the A123's is ready for pickup tomorrow at the Post office.
I just went over the last things on the Extra including checking the CG for the 4th time and loctiting the servo arm screws.
She is ready for the maiden!!
I officially give her the OK to fly (after the batteries take a charge)
Too bad I cannot get the charger right now,the weather is breezy at the moment with mixed cloud,but no rain.I bet by 6 pm it wil be pretty good.

Tomorows forecast..
Rain and wind

Sundays forcast..
Rain and wind

While I am at work Monday..
Possible sunny breaks,dry

Tuesday..
Rain

Weather here in the last 5 days..
variable cloud and sun,dry,light winds.

I know this is pretty typical for a big maiden flight.I hope to get a small window in the next 72 hours.
Stay tuned

nitro wing

My Feedback: (1)

The post office was kind enough to hand over the parcel early,and I was able to bring up the A123's in about 40 minutes on auto.
I also charged AND balanced my old small 640 LIPO (for my foamy) from cellpro that have never been balanced and only charged with a Triton about 80X.This CellPro charger is a tiny but functional unit!

So ,now the Extra IS ready.
Hope the weather man is wrong and I can fly this bird this weekend.
I havent been this exited in ages.This will be my 60th+ maiden.The last dozen or so have been ARF's,and if they go in its easy to get an identical machine,
This 300S has been around the bench for about 12 years or so and roughly 300 hours to build and trim.Its been outfitted with some of the best equipment available today,with receipts going well past 2700$..
I am looking forward to flying it,but also have to accept that a mishap is very possible,ruining countless hours of planning and building.
I have had to build this with a limited amount of money available per month,but yet refused to put any substandard equipment in it.
Some may wonder why all the high end gear,its because I am looking at some future 50cc planes in the high end range,and want the best gear to swap straight into it,without having to buy anymore items again.

nitro wing

My Feedback: (1)

Video of maiden and engine trouble below.

Woke up this morning and the day looked dry,perhaps long enough to get a maiden in?
It was quite windy,but with a 17 pounder it was probably still OK.
I arrived at the field early,nobody around,wasnt surprised,looked like it was going to rain soon,and it was gusting.
Did another preflight,and engine run,ran the engine for over 5 minutes and taxied around,it sounded fine and it was time to get her up.
I pushed the throttle slowly to 30% and within feet the Extra lifted away effortlessly,much before I had anticipated.
I left the power on low setting as it just felt steady and climbed fine into the strong headwind.There was a weird backfire on liftoff.
I ignored it and cruised a few laps along with a rolling vertical.Everything seemed well.I did not even trim it at all!
It just flew well,more mellow that I thought it would.
I was into a slow flyby when there was another backfire and the motor went to low idle and was unresponsive,and I was forced to land it mid runway.
Pheeww,glad it died where it did.With the high wind today, a low speed ,low altitude flame out would have be something I did not want to deal with.
The engine restarted and acted up again.I tried it in the pitt area and got the same results.
It starts up fine, idles well and has good response,suddenly a backfire and it dies out.It will immediately refire when handstarted and run welland then repeat. It is frustrating,all my lines and wiring check out,everything is secure,everything is new and seemingly fine.
Its a Taurus 52 with CH ignition and smartfly cut off on 4.8 1100 nimh,Zinger pro 22x8
I need some help on this one,I am baffled
Bad ignition?
Plug?
Air in the line?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoGJ4XpNrCk

nitro wing

My Feedback: (1)

Here is the ground run today,its totally out of wack now..[]
The rapid surging is not me,it just starts doing it. I am only advancing the throttle slightly.
If it is misfiring like that it has to be timing/ignition related,cant be a bad battery or fuel issue?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hnu4pk2pOL4

drbenz

My Feedback: (11)

The first thing i would check is the ignition battery. I have been faked out several times by a bad ignition battery.

nitro wing

My Feedback: (1)

OK its a new Hitech 4.8 nimh 1600,just topped it up with 350mah,about right after 30 min?
Ran the engine,same results.I got a good nicad here,maybe I'll plug that in.
I know that just because things are new does not mean they are in 100% working order.

Don M.

My Feedback: (5)

Ain't that funny. I bought a TS 52 2 years ago and it did exactlly the same thing. After 12 aborted flights, 3 trips back to Taurus, a new ignition system and all kinds of arguements and frustrations it is now supposed to be fixed. But I really don't know because after the last return from Taurus ( Aug / 06 ) it has been just sitting in the box. []

I would however turf the Nihm and go nicad - I learned that lesson the hard way.

nitro wing

My Feedback: (1)

changed to a good nicad.no change.

Flyfalcons

Other than the engine troubles it looks like the Extra is going to fly great. Hope you get that figured out! I hate electronic problems. Have you tried leaning the low end mixture? The engine sounds a little rich on the low end.

nitro wing

My Feedback: (1)

Yeah it was a real gentle one to fly,too bad I only got 3 slow laps and a vertical in..[]


I leaned it up a bit ,no diff..
Swapped in a healthy nicad,no help at all...
Bypassing the kill switch next....


Ok..bypassed the Smartfly cut off and ran the engine.Same deal,it actually seems to be gradually worsening from yesterday,rough and popping when I come down from some rpm
It s nightime now,I could see a clear backfire/flash thru carb as I brought the rpm s down slowly to idle from about 3000 or so.

My neighbors are really digging my hobby right about now

Flyfalcons

Sounds like you might need to send the ignition in. These things normally run fine from the start. Bummer.

nitro wing

My Feedback: (1)

Thats the disapointment.. I fired this thing up,before it was done and was proud to anounce it was a nonevent,everything was flawless and tuned enough to go fly,everything performed as it should,the engine started easy idled without missing a beat had good midrange,responded frightingly fast,very smooth etc.
I ran it about 3 more times,all with same results.I then do the maiden and get a pop on take off and it went downhill from there.
Now it runs all lumpy responds ok and hits rpm,but when I throttle down or am at 20% power she gets all weird and does some freaky
Satin thing.Wish I had another ignition box available.I'll get a new plug tomorow for what its worth.

GreaTOne_65

With out going back through your entire thread, I had a brand new Brison with some off brand ignition on it that lasted exactly 4 flights, it ended up doing as yours is doing, run, pop die. I switched to the CH syncrospark (the one they build) not the overseas one and have not had one problem since. At least 50 flights.

Dale

nitro wing

My Feedback: (1)

I know that ignitions can act up,and I am near the point where there is not much else to blame but the box.

drbenz

My Feedback: (11)

Do you have another ignition unit from another engine that you can plug in and try? Maybe borrow one from a friend.

nitro wing

My Feedback: (1)

The hall sensor was rubbing the ignition ring,possibly damaging it.
I have a new one on the way to try.Will keep this updated.

drbenz

My Feedback: (11)

I got my Midwest Extra used missing the firewall and cowl. rebuilding the firewall was easy. not so with the cowl at first. Then i realized i had a spare cowl from my H9 extra 260. A few modifications and it fits pretty darn good. She''s ready to fly except for the CG. Can anyone tell me what the Cg is on this plane?

nitro wing

My Feedback: (1)

On the spar or just behind it.Try Stans fibretech,they may make cowls for it.

nitro wing

My Feedback: (1)

Put the new sensor in last night and flew it this afternon.The motor is sweet now
Gonna move the CG back a bit

Here is the remaiden video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf8UHU_htgE