Tee Bee

Bummer. I charged up my receiver battery and hooked up my new Berg 4L receiver to center up the servos only to find that the receiver works intermittently. The crystal doesn't fit in the plug very tightly and when you jiggle it, the power comes on and off causing servo jitters. Not good. Just imagine how it would react under the vibration of an .049. I guess I'll have to send the receiver and crystal back to Tower for exchange. I'm not sure which one is causing the problem. I bent the crystal prongs just slightly in an attempt to achieve a tighter fit but it didn't work. Any ideas before I send them back?

I've got the same Berg setup in my LaStick and haven't had any problems with it.

chevy43

I hate to say it but I had the same problem with a Berg 4L and they replaced it..... It may very well have been the reason I lost my Skydrill. I hope this isn't comon!

tewitt1949

I've got 3 or 4 Berg 4 ch receivers and have not had any problem.

Tee Bee

Hmmm. I think I'll send it back and try another one.

Tee Bee

I shipped the receiver back over a week ago by UPS and Tower still hasn't received it.

In the meantime, I finally got back to work on the Skydrill yesterday. I made the fuel tank compartment hatch similar to the one on the plans. I was skeptical about using the magnets that skaliwag included in the kit but they work great. I would like some more of these for use on hatches on future projects. They are tiny but have a very strong attraction. No worries about it coming off in flight. The crossbraces are made of lite ply scraps and the bottom of the hatch is reinforced with 1/32nd balsa strips to keep it from flexing.

Tee Bee

I finally epoxied the brass torque rod sleeves into the trailing edge pieces and glued them to the wing with Titebond 2.

Tee Bee

Are any of you other Skydrill builders fairing in the section between the bottom wing and fuselage as shown on the plans? I think that would look neat but I'm going to use rubber bands and ruin the clean lines of the wing bottom anyway.

chevy43

The first day I cartwheeled mine.... Not too much damage but I swore the next one I built would use rubberbands. I like rubberbands! You know the wing is on right after you put on the bands.

skaliwag

My Feedback: (1)

I know you are in a hurry to get to the .010 project but there is plenty enough scrap and stuff for you to fill in under wing tounge.
Make it like the shape of a Crab Flap.. so the Rubber bands look like they are meant to be there.....You will be glad you did!!

Tee Bee

You're killing me, skaliwag!

Tee Bee

Got the ailerons and some tail surfaces covered last night. Ultracote. I know it's not the lightest stuff out there but don't flame me too bad. I plan to try doculam someday.

Tee Bee

Sanded the wing center section flat to fit the fuselage wing saddle. Then I cut a notch and epoxied a piece of music wire to the trailing edge to protect it from the stress of the rubber bands.

Tee Bee

Brushed a couple of coats of butyrate dope in the engine compartment. I'll probably add some thinned epoxy on top of that later for good measure.

skaliwag

My Feedback: (1)

Isn't the Magnum a little big for this one?

Tee Bee

Yeah. It's about the only thing that survived in my Four Star 60 crash last week. I'm still bummed about that one. I loved flying that plane.

somegeek

My Feedback: (2)

Ouch... I see the tail section there in the background. That's a bummer.

somegeek

Tee Bee

These pics are dedicated to skaliwag.

Tee Bee

Some covering action

skaliwag

My Feedback: (1)

And we shall now call the New Shape of this fill in block the "Tee Bee Crab Flap"

Orange and Blue.... Very Go Fast colour scheme

Tee Bee

I'm honored.

Tee Bee

Fuse covered. I like the way it looks with the Skyline engine.

Tee Bee

Got the wing bottom covered in it's base color. Still need to iron out the wrinkly bits. Not very happy with the wingtips. Looks like wrinkling will be inevitable there.

Tower has shipped my replacement radio receiver. This thing is getting ever closer to the flying field.

Tee Bee

I've also got a 370mah NiMH battery from Radical RC coming for this bird. Listed weight is 1.05oz. It should be easier to fit in the hatch compartment than the 270mah NiCd that I currently have and it's lighter to boot.

Tee Bee

I've managed to round out the heads on several of the tiny Phillips head screws that Hitec provides for mounting the servos no matter how careful I was, so I ordered some 2mmx3/8" button head allen screws from Tower. I drilled the servo holes out a bit for fit and used standard fuel line on the bottom and 1/2A fuel line on the top of the ears for a bit of vibration isolation. I think this will work well.

Tee Bee

I'm using small CA hinges on the Skydrill so I cut some hinge slots in the tail surfaces with an Xacto knife. Then trimmed the covering away from the surface mating area and epoxied the horizontal stabilizer to the fuse.