Doc Austin

I don't make any bones about how much I love flying stick models. I've done pattern and scale and racing. I even knocked around with a glider and helicopter or two, but I always come back to the good, old, reliable stick models. Something about the way they fly meshes with my flying style.

After 15 years away, I put together a Mini Ultra Stick with an E Flite 480 motor. The performance is explosive, and there isn't a day flying that goes by without someone seeing mine and saying they have to have one.

I've flow it and flown it and flown it. I have beaten the crap out of this airplane and it doesn't owe me a nickel. The Velcro strap that holds the battery down is worn out and won't stick anymore, so you can see how much use I've gotten out of this plane. I replaced the strap ($1.00) and that's the only money I've spent on it since I took it out of the box.

I love this plane so much I have two more ready to go as backups, both trimmed and sorted. They both fly perfectly, but they just hang in the den waiting their turn. Even though they are shiny and new, I don't really care to fly them. I'm really bonded to the old one.

Even though this one is beat up I just go out and fly it hard as I can, and I've had countless near misses with fatal accidents with it. A quarter inch here, a quarter inch there I would have vaporized this plane a hundred times by now. I've gotten my money out of it ten times over, so why hold back? Let loose and have some fun.

But yesterday it all went wrong. Yesterday I made a major, major mistake

We were flying out of a very tight field behind the children's art museum in Dunedin. The place is about the size of a soccer field, but there's tall pine trees all the way around. The only way to do aerobatics is above the tree line, or drop down into the field, do the maneuver and then climb out.....much the way Art Schol used to fly his Chipmunk, who I modeled my flying style after because it was such a good show.

There was a pretty big crowd, and it's really hard not to show off when allot of people are watching. It's also not a good time to screw up.

Anyway, I dive down to just off the deck and do a two point half roll to inverted, pull it up to 45 degrees and outside snap it. If you do it just right the plane will dance, and snap around it's axis vertically a few times. I generally hold a little power and catch it with top facing me, let it hang for a second, then stall turn it and dive back in for another maneuver.

There was a lot of wind, and at treetop level there was a lot of turbulence, and it caught me out. By the time I got on the power and had it back it was headed for a big tree and I couldn't figure out if it was best to pull it out inverted and hope I didn't hit the tree, or pull full up and hope I had enough power to blast the tail around and pull up in time.

Either way would have probably been fine, but first I pushed down, then up, then down.......I changed my mind about three times. I don't know what the hell I was thinking. I could have probably saved it three or four times, but each decision I made was the wrong one and I just got myself deeper and deeper into trouble until all I could do was hit full up, peg the throttle and wait for it to hit.

The plane slammed into the dirt with a sickening thud and a huge cloud of dust was thrown up. The plane was completely obscured by the dust, and I was sure nothing was left..........at least nothing that would ever fly again. I've seen hundreds of model airplane crashes so I know what a bad one looks like. This one looked really bad.

There was a very audible groan from just about everyone there, whereupon I turned around and gave everyone my best "I meant to do that."

Three of our gang came over to me and said they figured I'de need them all to carry the pieces back, so we walked over as the dust settled and the closer we got, the more the plane looked intact. Surely, at the very least the bottom would be ripped off it.

I picked it up and about a pound of dirt poured out of the ventilation hole in the bottom of the fuselage. The nylon bolts that hold the landing gear on had sheared, but aside from a nick here and there, it was astonishingly undamaged. It broke the prop, but who cares?

I got the thing home, cleaned it up and checked everything very, very carefully. Nothing was cracker or broken. The plane is still in pretty good shape and structurally sound. It had to have hit perfectly and one in a million to not only survive a hit like that, but to come out relatively unscathed.

I took it out to the club field today when no one was around and outside snapped hard it at the bottom of a big dive, just to make sure it was still solid, and the thing spun around like crazy and kept right on flying.

I guess the pretty new planes will just have to wait a little longer.

FenceMagnet

My Feedback: (2)

you had better luck than I.... MY mistake was to go catch a flight before work the other day over at the Azalea soccer fields in St. Pete.... but I have a touch of the flu and am "under-the-influence" of some OTC drugs..... BIG mistake.... after an exhillerating flight which caused me to feel somewhat disoriented, I blew a landing aproach and on the go-around I whacked the cross-bar of the soccer goal... I was so sure I was in FRONT of that damned goal.... shrug [&o]... oh well, now I have a wing-tip and a fuselage to repair... not so bad, but definitely worse than yours

Jim

PS... see ya at Archie's

firestick52

The MUS is an absolute awesome little plane. It leaps off the ground, flies like its on rails and just thinks its a much bigger plane. I flew mine into a tree, about 20 feet up. It came down with just a small dent in the leading edge, not even enough to worry about. This plane is just perfect. I'm gonna put a new one in the closet, to have for backup, too.

Anybody just starting out in this hobby would be wise to get one. It's just so much better than trying to fly a foamie. It actually goes where you tell it to, even in light wind.

firestick52

doc,

did your MUS come with the nylon bolts for the landing gear? mine are steel. nylon sounds like a good idea. Great story, fabulous writing!

Doc Austin

Absolutely. I was there just today picking up my new E Flite Brio. Man, this plane is beautiful. It's the Nicest hangar Nine plane yet. Everything on it is done just right.

Sorry about your stick, Jim, but from what I hear about your building, you'll make it as good as new.


No. It came with steel, just like yours did. We used to use nylon on our big gas sticks years ago and it saved me a few repairs. If this plane have used the steel bolts I guarantee it would have destroyed it.

There have been some complaints about the gear mounts on these planes pulling out, so I with nylon right from the beginning. The baffling part is that as good as the Hangar Nine products are, why didn't they include them in the first place?

My buddy put nylon bolts on for his wing hold down bolts, and that's probably a good idea too. Since these are 440 sized, I'm a little leery about using them there, so I'm waiting to see how his hold up. So far......no problem.

Iceman30

My Feedback: (14)

Has anyone done 3d on the Brio yet...I love 3d but want to start some pattern flying..think it will make me better, but want to do 3d also...my electrics are foamies now..2 rcxplanes..the BEST..foam planes made IMO...but want a real elec. plane

RVator

My Feedback: (1)

Suitcase just got bock from the "not so local hobby shop" we like to visit in N.C. with a MUS he picked up for me. All of the gear from my NES Mamba will be going in it. This is one kool looking electric. I just had to have one.

jmir

My Feedback: (1)

Doc,

I usually skip over those long messages I find in these forums. I started reading yours and, like a good book, I "couldn't put it down".
Excellent writing!

I've been flying for a little over a year, all electric RTF (Parzone or Art-Tech). I have been looking at the MUS and this will probably be my next purchase.

I was concerned about a wood model since foam is so easy to fix. But, it looks like this is a tough little plane.

RVator

My Feedback: (1)

I stipped all the gear from one model and put it in the MUS last night in 2 hours. Took it with me to my son's baseball practice and got to put the first flight on it after practice. It was fun, flys like a stick should. It doesn't have the real low speed flight abillity that the bigger glow versions do but it is still a blast to fly. This thing is going to get a lot of flying time this summer at lots of places other than the club site. I used an MP Jet 25/25 with a 4:1 10x7 slo fly ,castle 25,berg 5channel, hitec 55's, 3s2100 thunder power.

Iturnright

We has a Mini Ultra Stick out at our field for a while, not anymore though

It had a 480 E-flite brushless with a 10x10 prop (didn't even know they made props like that) anyway it was a screamer and whistled while doing passes at about a hundred or so. Well, one day it was a whistle then a SMACK! and it didn't make it out quite so well. It lost most of the fuse up to the middle of the wing, and I do mean lost, because it was just shattered. The wing wasn't in very good shape either.

The funny thing is someone took the remains out of the trash and is now trying to fly this half Ultra Stick, half bluecor plane... hilarious