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Post by sgmason on Apr 6, 2013 0:29:59 GMT -4
Got the new plane ready to go, just need the weather to cooperate so I can maiden it. In the mean time here is todays quick taxi test. No I didn't turn around that quick, I edited out about 40 seconds that it took to turn around That 58' wing span and 48" length looks a lot bigger in person
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Post by sgmason on Apr 6, 2013 14:19:36 GMT -4
Woo Hoo, I flew without breaking something ;D We got a break in the winds today so I hurried up, charged a battery and headed out for a short maiden. I want to keep it short because I was flying the golf course, and I was near out little airport, so I set the timer for 3 minutes. I sent it up once and forgot to turn on the camera. it was also out of trim so I landed, a little rough because this thing floats for ever and I overshot my zone, broke out the straight edge and brought it close to good on the ground. Flight one was 1 minute and 25 seconds. I got myself and the plane back to where I want to takeoff from, turned on the camera and took off again. I had a moment of dumb thumb and banked it quite hard, but the plane is both responsive and forgiving, I also have the expos set at 30% on my DX7s so that could be the reason for that ;D Took two tries to get it down because it floats like I would suspect a sail plane does The fairways are a touch rough right now so the plane stopped in about a foot and nosed in on the landing, but rocked back onto the wheels right away. Enough typing, here is the short maiden, take two.
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Post by Chris Reibert on Apr 6, 2013 14:32:40 GMT -4
That's a nice looking trainer there G
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Post by sgmason on Apr 6, 2013 14:39:45 GMT -4
I will admit to being a little nervous about the tail fins, they seem a little flimsy, but the thing flies so nice you would have to try real hard to hit them on something to break them.
OK I was nervous about flying it period. It has known motor/ESC issues, but still gets rave reviews about how well it flies. It is also about $50 cheaper than the E-Flite Apprentice and I had a spare motor and ESC sitting here so I went with this one instead. The bomb bay doors was a big selling point too ;D It will be awhile before I try them out even though they are functioning right now
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Post by doc121 on Apr 6, 2013 18:07:36 GMT -4
Good looking bird George. You did pretty darn well for a newbie. You're a natural bro!
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Post by Valkman on Apr 7, 2013 5:28:13 GMT -4
Nice job George. It looks like a goo one to start with and looks pretty decent to boot.
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Post by sgmason on Apr 7, 2013 23:31:06 GMT -4
So something dawned on me tonight, the bomb drop area in the fuse is big enough to hold my Garmin GPS, and being that they properly thought out the placement of the bay it doesn't hurt the CG when something is in there. SO the next time I get weather to go flying I can stick the GPS in there and track my speed and altitude.
Yes the little things in life amuse me from time to time. I am still trying to figure out where the best place to stick a camera on this thing is. The bay is big enough to hold a point and shoot camera, but it would be limited to pointing straight down and the doors would act as blinders. There is enough room underneath to mount a point and shoot camera, but that puts it in a bad place on landings, same thing goes for the upper wing.
Its not like I am going to be mounting a camera on it anytime soon, I would like to get my confidence levels up a bit before doing that. I think that when i order the batteries for my 600 I will order one of the 808 keychain cameras and use that.
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Post by sgmason on Apr 12, 2013 17:50:56 GMT -4
I think I may have found the answer to my flying site situation ;D I just need some good weather to learn how to land properly every time before my surgery date and find someone with a nice bass boat so I can chase the plane Actually there is a shallow pond just down the road from me that would fit the bill
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Post by sgmason on Jun 9, 2013 6:41:37 GMT -4
Well batteries are all charged, the weather looks like it may cooperate, so I am going to go try get a little flying in before I have to do other things.
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Post by sgmason on Jun 15, 2013 9:36:39 GMT -4
I am so excited, just had my first successful flight, takeoff, flying, and landing ;D Even better is that I had my camera mounted on the plane to capture it When I got the plane I took it out, and had a reasonable flight, but a bit of a rough landing, then I had to change flying locations and that meant that the stock wheels were too small for the field and I had to change them to 3" ones. That led to a series of stripped rudder servos, 3 in total and just as many rollovers. Earlier in the week I stole the MG servo from my P-47 and tried mounting the camera to the plane. I had my CG too far forward and and my make shift mount cause some aerodynamic problems. This time I wasn't even getting off the ground and it resulted in a broken prop. The worse part was that the prop didn't let go on the ground, it happened in the air after I took off the camera. I was doing a low down wind flyby and noticed a shake. Before I could turn into the wind to land one blade parted ways and I nosed in hard, but no damage other than a bent nose gear. Even the servo survived Thursday I went to Ottawa and picked up a couple of APC props and yesterday I zip tied the camera directly to the top of the wing, about 2" further back than the first time and no chunk of foam to cause problems. This morning I woke up early, and there was no wind so I ran downstairs and charged up a couple of batteries. The flight went off without a hitch, well I did manage to place the plane about 1' in front of of a sizeable hole and had to move the plane over so I could taxi . I was expecting some jello video, but the Polaroid XS80 gave great HD video. Sure its a little rough on takeoff and landing, but in the air the picture is rock solid and there is no vibration damping I edited the video and am uploading it right now in full 1080HD so it is going to be a bit before I can post it here, but in the meantime here are a couple of frame captures. Facing NY state overlooking the might St Lawrence river Looking east down the river and into the sun Looking south again over the dam, locks and boathouses West now, towards the hangers. Yes I am flying near the local airstrip, but I don't have permission to use the runway. Good thing too because as I was getting setup a plane came in landed and took back off PS I greased the landing with a perfect flair I will post the short flight video later, it still has an hour to go on the upload.
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Post by sgmason on Jun 15, 2013 10:51:41 GMT -4
Flight video is live
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Post by Dr. Evil on Jun 15, 2013 16:22:16 GMT -4
Very nice G! My new fuse is coming in next week for my T28, can't wait till I get her back in the air!
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Post by sgmason on Jun 15, 2013 16:46:51 GMT -4
I wanted to go out again this evening, but the winds have come up so I am grounded till the weather passes. Looking like I won't get to fly again till Wednesday according to the weatherman I could throw the Orange 3 axis gyro in the Sensei and give it a try, but I don't want to push my luck . My P-47 has been sitting for awhile now, it was ready to fly up until this week when I stole the MG servo out of it for the Sensei. I am going to order a couple of replacements, but I think it will sit for a while longer. The Sensei is just so much easier to fly. Maybe once I get a proper flying field I will fly the P-47, with it being a tail dragger I would have eaten a few props where I am flying now
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Post by doc121 on Jun 15, 2013 21:41:13 GMT -4
Pretty nice George! That camera of yours does a very nice job. Good looking spot to fly too.
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Post by Chris Reibert on Jun 16, 2013 11:23:21 GMT -4
Oh ya! Successful flight and great video! Told ya good luck was coming your way. Congrats dude
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