RE: Another Beginner Build - Sig Somethin' Extra
Well, after almost 9 months after completion, I finally got to maiden my SSE. But while the day ended on a really good note, it didn't start off that well. I had recently completed raiding the flight gear from my Avistar and building an Ultra Stick 40 that would become my knockin' around plane and aerobatic test plane (so as not to endanger my wonderfly well-mannered Tiger 2) 2 weeks ago I finally got a free afternoon and a beautiful afternoon to fly, so I thought I'd take my trusty Tiger, the US40 and the SSE out too the field and go for the double maiden.
1st up - a warm-up flight on the T2. Had about a 6-8 mph breeze blowing at about 45 degrees from my right, but nothing out of the ordinary for our field. I was up for about 5 min, when the breeze started sneaking behind my sunglasses and causing my right eye to start watering - thus blurring my contact lens. In the process of trying to maintian my focus on the plane and clear my vision, I over-corrected comming out of a turn and managed to lose orientation of the plane. I got the throttle chopped, so the impact wasn't all that hard, but it was nose-in nonetheless. The fuse is pretty much totaled from behind the wing on up. The tail-feathers are just fine. The wing will require about a 50% rebuild, but is still salvagable. The spinner backplate is pretty bent up, but the motor is fine. I'll rebuild it just because it is such a great flying plane to have in the hangar. THe only fatality is that one of the 2 Tigger heads is still MIA.
2nd in line - Ultra Stick 40. I built this around the TT .46 I had in my Avistar and set it up with the quad flaps for maximum flexibility. The final preflight revealed that the right aileron was warped pretty bad and would require a LOT of trim to correct. I figured that after crashing the T2, I wasn't about to take any more chances, so I parked it and figured I'd just call it a day.
Then my buddy says "Hey, you still got one more. Take up the Somethin' Extra" I really didn't feel that the day was going well enough to risk that plane, but with a little encouragement, I let them talk me into going for it. After about 30 min. of tuning to get the new Saito .72 adjusted to the radio and airframe, it was ready to go. I decided to let my flight instructor do the take-off and initial trim. It took about 4 clicks of up elevator and 2 clicks of right aileron to trim it for hands-off flight. He says "It's a little hotter than you're used to, but I think you can handle it" and hands me the radio. Sure enough - even on low rates with expo, it's MUCH more responsive than my T2 on max throws. THe .72 is more than enough power for this plane. I can't imagine needing any more. Rolls are much faster and more axial than the T2 - It's got to be just insane on high rates. Then I brought it in for a landing. It wants to float a lot and needs to be coaxed to the ground. Once settled in, it needs the elevator to keep the tail stuck. I think I'm really gonna love this plane once my confidence and comfort level increases.