JW, now that is a beautiful photograph. I can't believe you guys can fly until midnight........Makes for a great summer season of flying. Really nice photo........

Company has left and it's a beautiful day here in Northern Al. Going to the field in a bit for late afternoon flying. The winds really die as the sun sets. We can fly here until around 7:45 CT. I'm heading out shortly.

Joe, Roger, JW...Et al...

....UCD Maiden Next Sunday all being well.. ..UCD, Cyclone, P51 Mustang, & Spree Sports all needed ...in one piece .... for next Saturdays " Centenary Celebrations " Event @ Donnington Park...after that ...unlimited carnage....cyclone just finished ...looks better than i imagined ...pleased ...got the JR's fitted ...Joe do you run All JR gear..? JW ...what time does it get light then ...?..this must be real great.....Cyc Pickie..

LL ...The plane looks great ...I hope you have a great time with it .....It starts to get light at about 4:30am or so .....Good luck...JW

Lord, nice finish job. really looks good. Hope all your maiden flight sgo perfect. Good luck and let us know. Have fun!

J Dubya, beautiful setting, that pic is as colorfull as LL's couch.

David, that Cyclone is great, I want one. Let us know if it handles as good as it looks. Yes, it is all JR, 8103-TX, R945 PCM-RX, standard on throttle, DS 811s on Ail. and elv. and DS8231 on rudder, or is it 8321? If the engine fails it can flap back to the field. I'm heading out right now. No rain, no wind, but the sun never made it.

Matt, the mod was very simple. All pieces are glued on before the extra is cut off. Fool proof.

I'm off to test this new rudder out. Later, Joe

Joe hook a brother up with the plans or even better, slice me up some wood in kit form

Update on mine: got a late start getting to the field, packed the ucando and my old Skyvista low wing for fun. Got to the field and realized I had left an important piece...LEFT THE PROP AT HOME FOR THE UCANDO!!!!!!! That was stupid of me. Wind was dead and no one else was at the field when we got there.


just my luck. [:@]


matt

Just got back and am pleased to announce that one of the two problems is gone and the other is less. After removing 3 inches or 19 sq. in. from the top it dosn't drop the opposite wing when rudder is applied. Still dives to the wheels, but not as much. That part is now manageable with elevator. Will be doing another mod for a test before I make a new rudder. It now seems that more could be removed from the upper back edge of the rudder. Ultimately, with a new rudder I will be increasing the area below the thrust line while keeping roughly 65 sq. in. of total volume. On the way it dives to the wheels, in level flight, when rudder is applied, its almost as though its stalling the plane, therefore the nose over, but in knife edge, if it was stalling the plane then it would just drop out completely. That still needs investigation and hopefully the next trim job will effect that part enough to see if I'm going in the right direction. It was cold and gray and not a good sky for looking at a plane with so much blue on it, but no wind or rain. Got a few pics, no big deal, small turnout tonight. There is a Kyosho pitts, what a handful that thing is. And there is one of those hardware store electric foamies. They are cool, but they really don't fly, they just get pulled around by the prop. Throttle back and it drops like a leaf. Later, Joe

Joe...Can i quote you on this quote ...these things are appearing all over the place here now ..like some annoying summer bug ... everywher you look there's one hanging upside down....shopping mall... gas station.....nice pics .. might go JR

Good report Joe, I saw the pictures of the electric and had to do a double take. When I saw it so close to the ground I thought you were really doing something with the UCD. Caught me off guard. Hehehe

Well, I got bit just a little this afternoon. I took the Pitts out and experienced another dead stick. This time I was well down field and into the wind so I just let her settle in only this time I caught a clump of grass and flipped over in the filed. No serious damage except for my ego and broke my rudder loose at the hinges so have some work to do. When the DS happened I thought, gee, not again - whats up this time? I decided to run the fuel out and pack her up for home only to find that the tank appeared empty. Hm, I know I filled her up before flying. I checked the tank and it seemed dry as a bone. I tried to put some fuel in her and couldn't get any in the tank. Then I discovered air bubbles in the line. It sure seemed empty. Well, to my surprise, the fuel line had made contact with t he muffler in the cowling where I couldn't see it and it melted right through and created an air leak. The DS was caused from air in the line and I still had a full tank of fuel. Whew, I thought I had lost my mind with the seemingly empty tank thing when I knew I had filled her up. Once again the DA proves to be an excellent engine and only quits when we cause it to. I was lucky again and living too dangerously. I know this has nothing to do with the UCD, but hey, we are buds, right?

Dave, that is correct. There is no glide. Fly it up, fly it back down. There is one advantage though. You can practice all your moves right in front of your face. It does respond to all controls as any model does, but seems to be a just a motor with paddles to stear it.

Roger, sounds like you are managing to stay one step ahead of the grim reaper. There are so many things to be checked and maintained on these things. Then you get the guy that shows up with a $99.00 dollar plane that hasn't had the wing off in three years let alone adjusted or checked anything and all those flights are uneventfull.

Matt, if you could, wait for the next test results before settling on this mod. This is just stage one. Joe

Joe was there not a guy in the other ucando thread that re-did his rudder? I am now vaguely recalling a pic from that thread where a guy re-did his and supposedly flew great. I do recall it being a bit shorter.


matt

Matt, the first mod of this type took place in early 2003, which started the gears turning. The latest one was by Contempo, with great results. Actually his is taller than my current mod but he extended the width of the bottom of the rudder as well as eliminating how the bottom edge angles upward, requireing a new taller tailwheel assembly. Again, my next move is to remove some area from the upper trailing edge, which will create an angled appearance as opposed to the barn door shape which it now has. Joe

good info, I tracked you down and that info in the other thread, will follow now [8D]

Joe ...I reinstalled the cowl and it did make a little difference in the way it flew inverted I just never noticed it before ...I also opened up the intake to give the motor more air flow ....all that is left to do is fly the wings off it...JW

J Dubya, thats what I found, I always had the cowl on and when I flew it without, I noticed a big difference. The ramp under the front of the fuse provides lift while giving downward force when inverted. I'm getting up almost every day and while, flying the wings off, I found that I was flying the tail off as well. Check out the subject, one or two pages back, in 3D flying. The tail is susceptible to cracking just in front of where the hor. stab. bolts on. Actually the mono developed stress cracks from movement, yet the balsa sheeting was intact. On removeing the servos I found that the former came loose and allowed for some dangerous movement. I reglued the former, installed some try stock where I could and finally I applied some epoxy on the front and back, of the exposed ends, of the block that screws down on the hor. stab. That really stiffened it up. Just something to keep an eye on. Stress cracks in the covering is the sign, and at that point action is required, if not sooner. Last night I found that the small amount of repair stock and glue, put my CG back slightly, being on the edge of hairy at 5-3/8" already, it was just enough to make a noticible difference in landing, but not bad. On the up side, I did notice that it held a hover easier. Joe

Joe,

I like the idea of extending the rudder area below the fuse. It will give the plane a look similar to Somenzini's old Hovering Cobra profile. Will you use a stock tail gear set-up?

Matt P.

Matt, seeing as I have so many of them still attached to the tails hanging on my..........WALL OF SHAME............its possible. I do like the gear that you are useing. My only concern is that yours already elevate the tail and with adding an inch, do you think it would be too much? As far as extending the rudder down more, right now the indicators show, that is where the rudder needs more volume. Joe

Just to let everyone know. With a lot of help from other club members I finally got my engine problems sorted out and got to fly this new plane. All I can say is that it flew great. I am very happy with the way it flies and lands so gentile. I just hope that the weekend gives me some flying time, weather permitting.
Thanks for the help that you guys gave me.

Enjoy, Joe

If anyone is interested, I am going to get rid of my Cline regulator. I used it maybe a dozen times. Comes with the Tee's and a brand new Fourmost Check Valve...you can PM me...I am thinking like $40 +ship.

Hondalan - Well we have another believer. Isn't this airplane just great fun. Congratulations and glad you got your engine problems resolved.

I think there is a stigma attached to the name of the UCD that makes people think this is some kind of 3-D demon or something. I have recommend it to several guys on different post as many continue to recommend a stick. The Stick is so ancient in comparison to the UCD. Both have many similarities, but the UCD is so much more versatile. The UCD is just a hard airplane to beat in it's class.

Hey LL - how did the maiden flights go? Need a report with updates and pictures.

Diablo, did you get your UCD in the air yet?

I did get my rudder fixed on the Pitts and replaced the fuel valve with a fuel dot. Man, what a job. I had to remove the smoke system and the servo tray that holds the throttle and choke servos. I then had to replumb the fuel tank for the fuel dot and run all new fuel tubing because of the line melt through. It was a full day job to complete, but all is well and reassembled. I hope to get her back out this weekend. I used Robart hinge points for the hinge replacement. I also used Gorilla Glue on the hinge points. First time user, but gee, this stuff is strong. I couldn't pull a test hinge out with a pair of pliers after one hour set time. The directions call for three hours. This stuff would be great for reinforcing a firewall. It reacts with water and expands forming a plug around the hinge to the wood so it's good and secure.

Roger I have not flwon it yet. It made it to the field last week when I realized I forgot the prop at home!!!!!!!!!!

Its ok, now I have time to tweak the motor a bit more to ensure proper flights and lessen the chance of a deadstick

Weather is mid 70's all weekend with sun so im sure it's a go for this weekend. I will have 3 planes to fly so im excited!!

Ucando
PC-9
SkyVista
possibly my foamie glider conversion I have been bashing secretly on the side.

Hey Matt, what airplane have you decided upon for the 160 after the Giles mishap? I hated that, buddy. You might want to look at the W.M. Giant Extra. However, this is still not the best power source for making the Extra a 3-D machines, which I know you are looking for. The W.M. and the G.P. Extras could easily support a 50 cc gas engine for this flying style. I sure do like my W.M. version with the 160 though, but I fly more scale aerobatics with it.

thanks for the suggestions Roger. I am now contemplating a CAP-X! This way it will be minimal investment since I have everything needed to get it flying already from the Giles. I contemplated buying another fuselage for the Giles but I wasnt thinking and threw away the broken fuse with the rudder and elevator still attached!! DOH!!!

CAP-X or that ExtremeFlight Yak. That would mean I would have to sell the Saito and UCANDO to get it beciase I would go with a YS 1.10 Thats alot of hassle for me right now so ill just be happy hovering the UCANDO for a bit and see what happens late summer when im ready for another bird. Not having cash is horrible....

Roger...

...got to wait till after this Saturdays RR " Centenary Celebration " Day[] ...RRMAC have been given a Marquee to display thier models in ..so UCD & Cyclone are being Waxed and polished for this historic event...Rolls-Royce are celebrating 100 years of " Technology & Innovation " this year...so saturday is thier big day, 60,000 people expected..weather is set to be perfect... suppose its a bit of an honour really.....had 4 models chosen to put in the Marquee... lots of pics for ya sunday..
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