Seamaster on the snow
 

I got this as an early Christmas present. It's a kit built Seamaster with an OS 46 SF for power. I don't know much about this engine, but so far I'm impressed. I don't know how long it's been since this engine has been run, but I took it outside to test run it. It was less than ten degrees out and started on the second prop flip[X(] I taxied it around in my back yard and it handles the snow very well. I'm really looking forward to test flying it, but it's been bitterly cold here in WI. It's supposed to get up in the 20's on Thurs so maybe I'll have a flight report soon. My only concern is that the vertical stab seems a bit flimsy. It is very easy to twist side to side. Is this normal? It doesn't seem like anything is broken in there, so I hope it's supposed to be like that. Anyway here's some pics from my backyard.


-edit..
I just wanted to add that I got this from a swapmeet, that's why I don't know much about the engine or the quailty of the build.

RE: Seamaster on the snow
 

The Seamaster is a great plane! If you like flying it off snow, you're gonna love flying it on water. The vertical fin is a weak point. I have had several Seamasters and I added bracing from the horizontal stab down to the vertical fin. Worked well and easy to do.

RE: Seamaster on the snow
 

Do you have any pics of the bracing? This one already has flying wires attached to the horiz stab, but I think they are more to brace the horiz not the vertical. I had a sport plane on floats. I loved flying that off both water and snow. I'm looking forward to putting this in the pond this summer. I'm also impressed with the removable landing gear. I've seen movies of this taking off from grass without the gear (I think this was done by MinnFlyer), but the wheels should work great for our paved runway. Does anyone have experience with the OS 46 SF? I am wondering what a good starting point is for the low speed needle valve. When I got this plane, both high and low speed valve were completely closed (I'm guessing this was done for storage?). It runs great, but it seems to hesitate a bit from idle. It doesn't smoke when it does transition, so I'm guessing the low speed is still a bit lean.

RE: Seamaster on the snow
 

I think you have a good combo. My buddy flew the same combination and literally wore the plane out! I see you're in Platteville. My son lives in Madison and I slope fly whenever I can at the Big M. You're lucky to live there! Good luck on the maiden. Really cold here in Bemidji but the weekend will have temps in the mid 30's YIPEE!!!!!!!!!!
Fred
Bemidji, MN

RE: Seamaster on the snow
 

The sad thing is that I didn't know about slope flying at the M until about two years ago. Since then, I've found three other guys that regularly fly combat out there. I bought a Combat Wing slope plane just for that. It IS alot of fun!I realize that it probably won't be until next summer, but shoot me a PM if you're going to be out at the M. Not to brag, but it's only about 5 min from my house. :D I don't know if you remeber, but there are two ponds visable from the M. The one furthest from the M is the one I float fly from.

RE: Seamaster on the snow
 

Don't worry too much about the fin, they all do that and I've never seen one have any type of catostrophic failure.

And don't fly it if the snow is packed... It's like flying off of concrete and the Fuse will break.

Just wait till summer to see how much fun that plane REALLY is :D

RE: Seamaster on the snow
 

Good hear about the fin. That is just the answer I was looking for. Yeah, I probably should wait until summer - but I got a new toy and I want to play:D There's about 6" of soft fluffy snow covering our runway right now, and as well as it scooted in my backyard, I have to try it out when it warms up a bit. From what I understand, the builder of this plane fiberglassed the bottom, so it should be pretty tough. How packed would the snow have to be for it to be harder than the solid ground I saw you fly one off of? ;)

RE: Seamaster on the snow
 

Don't forget that my "Solid Ground" was covered with grass!

Basic rule, if you put the plane down and it sinks into the snow, you're good to go.

Just use a little common sense, and BTW, that fiberglass won't do diddly to help if the snow's too hard. Remember that the plane - even at landing speed - is going (I'm just guessing here) maybe 25mph? Now imagine laying that wooden framework down on a bumpy dirt surface at 25mph. Sure, the ice won't have the drag that dirt would, but the bumps are just as hard and will be hitting your bottom just as fast. One bump can split the bottom quicker than you can say "Ooops".

RE: Seamaster on the snow
 

Flew the seamaster off the snow today. Turned out to be a horrible idea! I won't keep you in suspense - the plane survived. I went out to the field despite the 12 degree temp outside. The engine fired right up and I started to do some taxiing. I'm still impressed with this engine - it started every time with one or two flips of the prop. Everything seemed to be working, so I taxied back, refilled the tank and got ready for the maiden. I lined up at the far end of the runway, then took off my gloves becuase there is no way I'd be able to trim with gloves on. I gradually opened the throttle, and it was airborne in about 100' and climbing. I took the back pressure off the elevator and she dove - quick. OK no problem, fed in some up trim. It was rolling left a little - a couple clicks of right and it was flying straight and level. Here's where the problems started. By this time my hands started shaking uncontrollably. I was thinking that I haven't been this nervous since I maidened my first trainer. That's when I realized I wasn't that nervous - I was just cold. At this point I was losing feeling in my fingers and worse yet - my thumbs. I brought it around and lined up for a landing. Normally I'd do some stall tests to see how it reacts. Normally I would make a couple of low speed passes to see how quickly it loses speed. Not this time, I had to land now or I feared I would soon have no control over the plane do the my hands quickly going numb. I did get the plane down - a pretty smooth landing too. Next time I'm going to have a transmitter bag - or at least take my gloves off for a few minutes to see how cold it really is. I didn't get much of a feel for this plane on this very short flight, but so far I like it.

RE: Seamaster on the snow
 

The Seamaster takes to snow like a duck to water :). Don't worry about the slightly flexy vertical stab, I don't bother with external struts, but my Seamaster has never given any trouble in that area despite countless Lomcevacs.

As for your fingers --- I use winter golf gloves. They are nicely touch sensitive & have grippy palms & finger undersides so that you don't drop the Xmtr. They are also warm enough for a full (10 min) flight at -10C with a 10-15 kph wind, before you have to run & hide.

RE: Seamaster on the snow
 

My rule - Winter is for BUILDING! :D

I've got a GP Seawind ready for maiden, but it's going to have to wait till I go to Florida at the end of January!

RE: Seamaster on the snow
 

brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!! :D

RE: Seamaster on the snow
 

Here is a link to the Transmitter mitt I bought last year. Works great in this climate.

Joe
http://rcmitt.com/

RE: Seamaster on the snow
 

Yeah, I either need a mitt or I need to not fly when it's so cold:D I flew the seamaster today, and I just love it. It was about 25 degrees out and almost no wind. I read that some seamaster have a tendecy to tip stall, but mine didn't seem to at all. The only undesirable characteristic is that the nose tends to dip with addition of throttle. I assume that the problem is caused by the engine being mounted above the plane. It scared me once today. I was doing a low pass at about half throttle. I opened her up to get a little speed before pulling up at the other end of the runway, and it dropped about 5' real quick.
Lomcevacs in a seaplane? I didn't do much for aerobatics, just the standard loops and rolls. I also found out that the seamaster does a great hammerhead. It doesn't seem to me that I have enough throws to get it into a Lomcevac, how do you do it? A couple of guys from the club were watching me today, and I think it inspired one of the guys to finally put his Mariner together.

RE: Seamaster on the snow
 

You need a bit more down thrust than what you have -- it will pitch down a bit more on throttle opening, but you get used to it.

For a classical Lomcevak, enter from the vertical, back off the throttle, then as the speed falls to near zero - go full throttle, stuff both sticks into the upper left corner & hang on until it exits the rolling tumble in an inverted spin.

You can do a conical Lomcevak in the same way, but instead of the upper left corner -- spread the sticks into the upper left & upper right corners.

Give yourself plenty of height for the recovery.

Good Luck

RE: Seamaster on the snow
 

Does the downthrust help get it tumbling? Is this plane better for lomcevaks because the engine is above the center line of the plane? I have a giles 202 that will lomcevak, but it has alot more surface area on the elevators and rudder.

RE: Seamaster on the snow
 

Yes, it is the strongly asymetric thrust that enables the Seamaster to lomcevak

RE: Seamaster on the snow
 

I'll have to give it a try. How much downthrust do you recommend? I'll try it like it is first, and go from there.

Here's some pics from Sunday's flying - enjoy!

RE: Seamaster on the snow
 

Gravityisnotmyfriend
After flying in the winter in Pennsylvania many years, and now in NC, never with gloves on, I discovered that a light cloth glove (dark brown) that is sold at home supply stores like Lowe's, does the trick. It lets you adjust the trims and is good for a 10 minute flight and. After I land I swithch to the heavy gloves.

RE: Seamaster on the snow
 

I know just the gloves you're talking about. The problem is that I have rather large hands even for being 6'4". I can get those gloves on, but they really restrict my thumb movement. I've gotten used to flying my combat slope plane with gloves ( you just about have to when you're standing in 20+ MPH winds and it's anything but summer), but that's the only plane that I completely don't fear crashing. With anything else, it seems like I lose too much of the touch with gloves on. I like the idea of winter golf gloves - I may have to look into those.

RE: Seamaster on the snow
 

Try it stock first -- every plane is a bit different. You will have to fiddle with your entry attitude & entry speed as well. My Seamaster prefers a slightly inverted entry. You will also need absolutely max aileron & rudder throws, but be carefull with the elevator. The Seamaster ARF can snap violently nose-down-inverted if you have too much elev throw & jam it on all at once.

If you get it right, the plane will tumble end-over-end, while rolling. Very violent, & the exit is also noteworthy -- a power-on inverted spin. Don't keep it in the inverted power spin or it could go flat, especially if you let the ailerons fall to neutral. Recovery is throttle closed & hands off until it stabilizes in a vertical dive (2 - 3 turns). Until you get used to it, you should have a minimum of 200' altitude at entry. The first few times you try it, the pucker-factor is 10/10.

RE: Seamaster on the snow
 

Man, that sounds crazy[X(] I definetly have to try. You wouldn't happen to have any video of yours doing that would you? If the weather's good this weekend, I'll let you know how mine handles the lomcevak. Thanks for the help.

RE: Seamaster on the snow
 

A friend has some video footage of my Seamaster doing a Lomcevak -- I'll see if I can track him down.

RE: Seamaster on the snow
 

That would be sweet if you could post that video or email to me. Looks like the seamaster could be grounded for awhile. We got a bunch of snow today, but then it got up in the 30's. If guessing that if it gets cold again, the snow will be rock hard. Maybe if the snow is hard enough, I can just slap the landing gear on... I guess I'll see what the weekend brings.

RE: Seamaster on the snow
 

[X(][X(][X(]Lomcevaks in a Seaplane?![X(][X(][X(] I never thought it was possible. Since this is a Christmas present, I decided to take it out to my parents' house on Christmas day. My dad has a 1300' grass strip for his full scale plane so I had plenty of room to fly. I decided that this plane had to at least last until Christmas so I put off the attempts at a lomcevak until then. It took me a few trys - but on the 4th attempt - WOW. I pulled it straight vertical and chopped the throttle. I waited until the plane just started tailsliding back down then jammed the sticks up and left. Man, you weren't kidding about the pucker factor. [X(] At the end of the day of flying, i noticed that the engine mount (pylon?) is getting loose. On mine, the rectangular piece slides into a hole in the fuse and is secured by a single bolt. That bolt is tight, but there is some play between the stick and the hole. Is there any reason not to just epoxy the bottom of the pylon directly to the fuse? Is there another way to fix it? Do I need to fix it? Thanks