Well I got it up in the air today. Wow!!!, getting off the water wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. Here's what I had problems with.
It got up on top of the step real EZ and ran nice and straight, for awhile, rite up to trying to get it to break water. It seemed to pull one float off first then the plane would hook hard left. I was lucky it didn't hook the wing tip and cartwheel. It did that a few times, but again luckly I saved it. I ran around and little, caught my breath and went again. On the first real takeoff I rocked it back and forth with the ailerons stick and it finally broke water, not very pretty, as it tried to suck the left wing down again, but I got airborne. I really think if I didn't have the OS 60 up front I wouldn't of make it, It came off the water going almost at a 45 deg clime and hooking left, but I gained altitude and flew around a little. The Plane flew just fine with the floats on, the CG was good and felt solid in the air, a small filling of mushyness, but hey, with the added weight I figured as much.

On the first landing I cut all the power and started to glide in and remembered I read to carry a little power on landing with the floats on. It hit the water did a skip and a hop side to side and settled out....... Man.... I was happy to get that over with.
The second flight wasn't much different or better then the first. I must of made all the same mistakes again, because it just started to break the water, then it hooked left and just stuck to the water like Jaws had a mouth full of the floats. I was really happy it was stuck to the water because I had the hammer down and it became a VERY FAST speed boat, going a little wild on the water tell I yanked the power off. If it would of dipped that left wing again and if it would of touched the water it would have for sure did some serious damage. Funny thing is the engine never quit both times, and I mean there was water flying everywhere when it became a wild speed boat.
I didn't give up... I was getting air borne again or I was going to have a boat ride to go pick up the floating balsa. It made it in the air. again, not much prettier, It was Ugly. but it made it. The landing was a lot nicer, one bounced it, and settled down just fine, nice and straight, no tank slapper this time.

Well I shook out my undies, and went for the third shot. I let it get dead into the wind and rolled into the OS 60 slow..slow...slow. THEN... Nail it. It started to skate around doing nice little "S"'s across the water, it was doing some serious skating and I was hangin on. I let it go and I can tell ya it was moving on the water. I saw my chance and up it went, and Damm... as ugly as it was, I was real happy it was in the air and not wildly doing 60 MPH on the water anymore. I got some air under it and.... Whammo.. it went wild in the air. loss of control, like I was getting a major radio hit. It was doing some weird stuff up there, coming in and out of control. No elevator one second, then no airly's the next. It wasn't what I would call a fun flight, but I got it down on the water. I got close and dropped out of the sky flat on the floats. And I'm not kiddin, still running. Boy was I glad to get it back to the bank and shut it off.
I pulled the wing off and I had a few drops of water coming out of the switch and the charging jack was soaked, and the aileron servos had water dripping out of them. No big water in the radio compartment mind you, a few drops. I did have the rec wrapped and tied up, not a drop in there. I flipped the switch back on and the elev. was fluttering like crazy, and sticking, up-down-up-down, Not good!!!

So that's how my first shot at Float Flying went.... I can't wait to get this radio glitch worked out ...wet radio gear "or" what ever it is. I'm ready to go back out and give it another try. I'm sure I made every Float Flying RC Plane mistake today. But I learned a little. Next time, a little more.

You've got water in your servos. Change them, and seal the leaks. Look at my post on the Herr Aqua Star if you need some tips on sealing.

From your previous posts and pictures, l noticed the tops of the floats are not parallel to the stab. That would account for difficult control on the water. Try the change, you may have an 'Eureka moment' as described by jrf in an earlier thread regarding float incidence.

What WETONE is saying is: Try 0 incidence in the floats. Make the float tops parallel to the chord line of the wing. (In a stick, that usually means parallel to the bottom of the fuselage.)

It may go against what most "experts" will tell you, but it frequently solves problems like yours.

Jim

Thanks alot guys I was hopeing somebody would give me a idea on whats up. I have the wing set at about 2% "or" to put in real terms. the T.E is a 1/2" lower then the L.E. from the top of the floats, about the standard Pos. incidence. I'll give level a try. The tail of the plane sets heavy in the water, but as soon as power is added it comes rite up on the floats. It didn't have any tendency to dig in the float fronts at all.
Don't hold me to scale on my drawing but this it how it set up the wing incidence to the floats. (the step is set about 1/4 back of CG)

Krazy--- When you get your plane up the next time and get ready to land (?) try keeping an extra click of throttle on, it helps the plane settle in, it can also help prevent the bounce. You don't normally have to worry about it slowing down as soon as you pull back the throttle when it's on the water it will slow or stop. ENJOY!!!! Red

Joe, in some cases the horizontal stab and/or the elevator trim can force the front of the floats down causing difficulty in keeping the plane in a straight line. Try a little up elevator trim for your take off run. If this helps, you may want to shorten the front gear or lengthen the rear gear. Also, when the plane veers left on lift off I would guess it may be the combination of torque and P-factor. Do you have any right thrust in the engine mount? If not, you may want to add some. Also, try taking off with a little less power. With that 60 up front you have more power than you need. By the way, the finish on the floats look great...Seaplane

Hello Ralph,
I was pretty shakey on the first few trys. This plane was my first venture back into RC after a 20 year layoff so it's kind of a sentimental thing, I've been flying it for over 3 years now and it has a gazillion flights on it. I'm really happy with the floats Ralph thanks again.
As far as the thrust, it's a straight shot No angel. I mite just need a little, very true.. On land it pretty much just runs down the runway and jumps in the air. But on the water I was pretty much forceing it into the air with power. I can add or take away hight real EZ. I'll try going a Zero incidence as jrf said and see how she go's with that.
I was silly thinking the water would'nt get up inside and get to the servos, I have (HAD) a pretty good gap under the wing and I'm sure it was splashing up in there when I was doing Mach 5 runs on top of the water. LOL..... It will be much better next time, I did some water prevension work.

Keep ya posted. I'm giveing it a try on saturday with the Mod's.

By the way Ralph after I get the bug's worked out of this one and get my water wings down better I'm eyeing a few of these Cessna on floats. Any ideas on a good combo ?

I'm interested to hear how you come out. I agree with the above suggestions that something is not set up right. If your floats are set up right, the plane should handle on the water darn near as good as it did on land - and with a 60, you should be getting in the air almost as fast too - maybe only 10 - 20 extra feet. Nothing like what you described. Believe me, something is wrong because it shouldn't be that squirrelly. Is your step right under or maximum of 1/2 inch behind you CG location? You said the plane felt pretty good in the air except for the extra weight, so your CG must still be fine.

Let us know how you come out. A plane that you are that comfortable with in the ground configuration should work great on H2O. The Stick is a time tested excellent design as you already know - so I'm sure you will have a great floatplane here shortly.

Jeff

Wow.........Thanks for the help guys..... Moving the incidence to level did the trick. WOW.. was that Cool.[sm=thumbup.gif].
I also layed off the throttle and the elev. One of the old timer float guys gave me a few pointers too. I guess I was really heavy on the elev. last week. And he was watching. So he walked out with me today and talked me through what I did wrong. So here's how he explanied it. He had me go straight out from where I was standing and had me go hard on the elev. and I watched the wake and splash behind the float.. Well that was it.. I saw it. The tail of the floats were digging in big time. I slowed down and came back around and did a second run, same way. straight out, but ezzzed into the elev. and throttle and BAMMM I was in the air nice and pretty.
I was just so use to the way I took off on paving, and in a way it is exactly the same. I was trying to force the plane into the air way to much.
My landings still need some work but I did 1 nice slider today so that was cool too. Now I want that perfect landing that Jim Casey talks about.

Great fun this new found float flying... I"LL BE BACK..

Thanks again for the help guys, every thing you said was the deal to success.

Glad it all worked out! Sounds like fun.

Jeff

>>Now I want that perfect landing that Jim Casey talks about. <<

Talks about?? Heck, that's what I LIVE for!!!!

I worked on those landing all day Saturday and even had 1 fairly nice one. Then the first flight Sunday ended with this result.....................A MidAir....

R.I.P.

Sure was some fun while it lasted.

That's a bummer Krazy! Thanks for sharing the pics.

are you going to rebuild?? Im sorry to hear that

I have had several "incidents" since I started flying, but only 2 what I would call "crashes". The one that was a mid-air was absolutely the coolest of the two! In hindsight, of course. I was bummed about it when it happened. I don't suppose this cheers you up any

Re- build or possibly get another stick. They are cool. I love mine on floats. Relatively inexpensive and very easy to assemble.

Just started last night on a Ultra Stick 60. It was pretty strange watching it fall to the water N7OR, the porverbial...slow motion thing. It's a gone-er I felt it was to bad to rebuild. The trash man will haul it away today.
Sure looking forward to getting back on the water.