FERNDALE AIR FORCE

No problem Bob. I keep that one bookmarked. I've got some lean in my vert stab as well. I'm going to use a trick learned from my tensor. I'll cut a couple of small 6-7" peices of thin cf and glue them from the horizontal stab to the vert stab. My biggest performance fix was a set of Park size servos.

Tim

Teenage Pilot 14

This sucks. I just got my SS flying, and already I've gone through 1 prop, 1 prop adapter, 1 motor shaft (still needs replacing), 1 motor mount, and a set of bullet connectors (motor is now temporarily wired directly to ESC). Anyone see a pattern here? My question is has anyone figured out a way to land in thick grass WITHOUT nosing over on the very vulnerable motor/nose area? I'm currently flying in a park with a 2'-wide sidewalk for a runway that happens to be bordered on one side by trees. This means I get a 6' rollout, then end up either running into concrete stairs or making a 100-degree turn out into the field through a 15' gap in the trees. Needles to say landing is EXTREMELY difficult to coordinate with 0' of correction space and less than half a wingspan to land on! I'd take off my gear, but that would mean hand-launching and probably even more problems on landing. On the other hand, I could bike the extra 6 blocks to a field 4x bigger with ample landing space, but that's awful far to ride with a big foam parachute...

Teenage Pilot 14

Of course, on a lighter note I built a very nice bomb drop thingie out of a water bottle, a piece of Depron, a servo horn, and a paper clip. Search Youtube for "rc bomb drop". I basically modified that design a bit and then went out and dropped a raw egg on my awful flying field to show it my frustration.

Teenage Pilot 14

Well, 3rd post in a row over here... Isn't there anyone around at 3:00 a.m.? Well, a bit off-topic, but my motor shaft no longer needs replacing. All it took was a 5-lb 14-inch pipe wrench, an 8-inch crescent wrench, and a whole load of arm strength. Whoever designed that shaft should really go into the freakin' jail-cell bar buisness! Even with all the leverage it was really a lot stronger than any 3mm chunck of steel I've ever seen! Yep, very busy around here, even at 3:07 a.m.... Now she's running without so much as a wobble, and prop tracking is dead-on. Now I'll get it all mounted back on the plane, wake up at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow -uh, today- and go fly (at the field 7 blocks away, to avoid further damage to my plane and/or sleep.) Goodnight, everyone!

BobSkyFlynjunky

Thanks again Guys for all your info. Now I'm just waiting for the ocean breeze to quiet down so I can do more test flights. Just a side note, I do have another SS kit and have only used the landing gear part so I can put the landing wire right up to the motor. That was one mod that should help the prop problem. I will assemble the other wing assembly with less dihedral and give it a try. The notorless kit only cost $20.00 and when I was looking for just the parts tree I found it online for $10.00. So for the twenty I have all the extraparts I think I will need to keep flying. Tail, wing, all the parts and screws and the Fus. I'm set now.




LOTS OF PARTS, LOTS OF AIR, THE ONLY WAY TO FLY.
BOB

Glue-it-again Ben

Can you tell me where you found the parts tree online bob?

I'm in Australia - the postage on the kits are pretty huge, but a tree shouldn't cost me too much to get sent over. I'm in need of some new wing saddles.

tam popo

Teenage P - some of us are up at all times 'cos we are insomniacs, thats what a life of alcohol, women, smoking, women and women do to you. Get used to it or get a job!!!!
Seriously pal, hand launch seems the best option for you. We all go thru the weather stuff as well, I live in a wind tunnel called Glasgow, have 20+ planes and can't fly ONE 'cos of the wind!! Bugger.......
One of the main reasons I have all b/less motors is 'cos of the bent shaft problem with gearbox outfits. I like to keep it simple, and there are lots of different mounts for the 10mm fuse. The b/less prices are dirt cheap now, you can get a 100W 2000Kv unit for about $10 or less, and esc's are cheap as well. You think your SS is fast, bolt a b/less on and you'll be amazed how much easier (and Fun!!) it is to fly.
Byeeee, time for bed (2 hours sleep a day[>:][])

BobSkyFlynjunky

Blxpy, give this shop a try, Viper hobbies, Mesa, AZ USA. Don't know what it would cost to ship but this is where I have actually seen the parts tree on the shelf and they are an online store as well.
Bob

Glacier Girl

My Feedback: (4)

Also try Caliber Hobby, that's GWS' main depot in the US.


T/P, I'm with Tam on your launch problems, that's just too much to ask of a SS for ground take offs. With the hand launch, at least you'll be an easy 6' higher on take off.

As for your landings. You want to flair just before touch down, basicly you stall the aircraft nose high at almost zero airspeed. Then it will more or less just drop into the grass. Lot less chance of breaking stuff then.

Teenage Pilot 14

Well, it just gets better and better around here. I moved to a different field thats half the size of the other one but has a whole baseball diamond to take off/land on.Everything went well until I landed and hit a little tiny bump and the freaking landing gear bounced the whole plane back to about 1' up. The plane came back down, the prop NEVER TOUCHED THE GROUND, and the motor shaft STILL MANAGED TO BREAK! Of course, I have come up with a solution for takeoff/landing at my other field: Use the street that runs along the whole field as a runway. All I have to do is get over the curb because there's a several-foot-high 60-degree hill right after that which should provide me with plenty of altitude. I'll just go hunt down a new shaft and see how it goes!

P.S. I've tried hand-launching before but haven't since horizontal stab hit me in the back of the head and it cracked. Uh, the stab, not my head. It's a case of too much plane and not enough person.

Glue-it-again Ben

Thanks for the suggestions on where to track down the parts tree guys!

FERNDALE AIR FORCE

TP, my ss is a bit overpowered but a 6-10' strip seems all I need. I never did figure out a way to hand launch the ss. Once you cet the hang of taking off it's the way to go, I think.

Tim

Glacier Girl

My Feedback: (4)

Bob, on your leaning vertical stabilizer problem. Inherent weakness with the materials used to make it. Old trick taught to me, add a pair of stabilizers to the vertical stabilizer from the horizontal stabilizer.

Kinda like the old flying wires used as rigging on old WWI planes. Can be as simple as a piece of string.

Poke a hole in the horizontal stabilizer, knot one end of the string and feed the other end through the hole. Hole in the top of the vertical stabilizer, thread the string thru it, then nother hole in the opposite horizontal stabilizer. Knot the string again. Dab of foam safe CA on the knoted ends on the horizontal stabilizer, center the vertical stabilizer, and tack it to the string to hold it centered.

BobSkyFlynjunky

G-Girl
Thanks for the tip, I will give it a try.
Bob

Teenage Pilot 14

Yeah, yeah, old thread, but I think this is worth noting: Yesterday I found my old prop saver that I thought I lost to the vacuum cleaner. Well, now I no longer suffer broked shafts but my good ol' 10x8 woodie doesn't fit it. I got one flight in on a M.A. 8x5 nylon today but felt a startling lack of power. On the other hand, my nose-dropping days are over. Turns out the weight of the big prop was literally unbalancing it so much it nosed over, then the sheer size and stiffness of a laquered maple prop bent/broke the shaft. But the power issue remained. Off to the hobby shop to see about some new props.... Well, in the prop section is the new cheap imitation BL motor section. (1400kV OR's for $8.99...) I was only there for props, though, so no motors. Of course, there were 10mm CD-ROM aluminum stick mounts for $2.50. I grabbed one and bolted it onto my Stick along with a little motor from a knock-off Hydrofoam that could do 70mph with proper airframe mods. Also, I put on a GWS 9x7 slo-flyer. I haven't gotten a chance to flight-test it yet but at 1/2 throttle I swear it starts cavitating... No exaggeration. I refuse to go to full throttle on the ground for fear of damage to property should the prop break and go flying everywhere in pieces. This should be great to fly with...

calvino

i took 2 pieces of 1/2" "L" styrene and hot-glued them in, worked like a charm, still holding today, keeps the rudder at 90 degrees much better, i recomend to ANYONE to get some "foam covered tires" for their plane, make landings much less sweat.... helps alot[8D]

BobSkyFlynjunky

Calvino, can you elaborate on that fix for the rudder? Or a picture? I have flown the stick with the off center rudder and it don't really seem to fly too bad, but if it will fly better with this fix, that's what I'm looking for.

How do you keep the servo mounts from moving on the fus? This is another problem I find when the plane lands a little hard. Would a small screw thru the mount and fus be a good idea?

Thanks

Teenage Pilot 14

For the servo mounts a dab of hot glue works just fine. Don't use screws because if you need to replace your servos with something bigger/smaller you'll have to drill new holes in the fuse.

tam popo

Hiya guys - just got my second SS up and running with all that I learnt from first...and its great!! The usual Emax 2822 with a 10 x 4 prop and 1300 3S lipo. The AR6200 Rx and Spectrum DX6i kep it in sight The winhs are waaaaaay back, only 8in. from trailing to leading edge of tail. To sto the servo moving I just put takpe around the fuse....easy.
There's one thing though that I feel is more important than anything (Ferndale will agee I know) and that downthrust. You have to build it in somehow, regardless of moto mount. Use shims, bend the mount, anything, but without it you are dooooomed, dooooomed I tell ya[8D][8D]
Keep the stockwheel. they are the best for long grass, they are'nt impeded, but the problem is the front and wheel axle mountings etc. If you hace access to (whicj I don't!!) try the Millenium RC ones, they are tough as old boots.
I ran the new wing with ailerons and it wasn't good, it needed refining. My fault. The wings were chopped by 2in. at the ends and the servos let into the foam. OK. But next time it will be flat bottomed wing and servos. I'm going to use foam 'spacers' and then affix contact adhesive sheeting to the bottom of the wing to make it flat bottomed but profiled top...it should be interesting. keep you all informed.

I'll try and get piccies on here when I get my camera back from my son....but minus the photos of neked Turkish women and debauchery!!!!!!!![8D][8D][8D][8D]

blk822

Heres a GOOD vid of my buddy Arrownaughtic flying a SS inverted and Well..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U0gAqUfHRQ

reuben199

Hi, I had to add my SS, its the full fuselarge version, I built it out of parts from other projects.. It has a worldmodels 400 speed motor and gearbox and folding prop, I had to make a custom mount thats held on with rubberbands and located on dowels, as I kept breaking the wood mount, the radiogear and esc are from my hobbyzone aerobird swift, I'm using 1250mah 3s lipo's, super cub wing struts, its heavy but still balances fairly close to the recommended spot/ slightly nose heavy. Its a blast to fly and can take off in 2 metres of runway, loops from level flight, I've only had one flight on the lipo and that lasted 15 minutes, lots of fun.

ArrowNaughtic

rueben, that is one CRAZY motor mount setup you have going there. And a folding prop to boot. Very interesting ideas to be gleaned from your pics. I am having some serious "bent shaft issues" with a few of my other planes and am thinking maybe folding props is the answer. [sm=idea.gif]
Thanks BLK for the kudos on the flight, your Ultimate vid is finished and will be uploading next!


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Of all the things I ever lost....................................... I miss my mind the most!

reuben199

Hi, the mount looks like a hill billy built it I got tired of breaking the standard stick mount, eventually it ended up flush with the fire wall so I had to make something that would pop off if it hit the ground. Then the GWS motor fried its self so on went the speed 400. The folding prop works good. Prop savers are also an option to save breakages, and then you can use standard prop's.

tam popo

Reuben - we can't get those planes over here. But they are really nice.....

Too late in the day for typing... so, I'll just tell you tihs. I have 20 planes, I'm retired, I'm 56, and I have moooolahs of money!!! I hace an EZ*, EZCub, 2 Strykers etc etc etc... and what do I like to fly when its not tooo windy....the SS![8D][8D]

Hovering at 200ft just does it me...or am I just rambling after 1/2 bottle of nitro moonhine.. yum yum...

reuben199

Ground 2.... planes 0.
I decided to have a go at inverted flight this morning, went ok the first few times then I got a bit cocky and bam in to the ground it snapped the front off at the wing but I was able to rubber band the front to the back and continue flying, Then I decided to put the gear back in to the aerobird swift after I finished work..... what a mistake that was, talk about uncontrollable.
Now I'm busy with epoxy fixing the slow stick the swift or whats left of it can go in the bin........... next stop a gws beaver or alerions on the SS