[Skidz]

I will be there around 8am.

Weather forecast seems ok http://www.weatherzone.com.au/nsw/sydney/seven-hills (until they change it). Warmer than today, 20% chance of rain and very low winds.

[Drew]

My wife is in bed with a migrane right now so prayers for the weather and a good night's sleep will see me at the field at about 9:00am.

[helijeli]

Weather looks similar for Sunday. Will aim to be there 8am Sun Morning.
Busy tomorrow going to "Australia's got talent" in the City. Wife & boy have recently joined a choir which have made it to the auditions (100 of them!). They may end up on the Telly!

[paulj]

Good luck to the choir.............
I'm not planning on flying until Sunday but will try to make it down in the morning to see Darren
who I believe is going to be cutting the grass.

[dingy]

Hi Guys,

Waiting to see how the weather is tomorrow, if not raining shall be down around 7.30am to open up.

Would get there earlier but the presies have spoken & nobody should fly before 8.00am to keep within the rules.

If it is raning I shall not come down as I can only stay a couple of hours anyway.

Hoping the weather holds, seeya then.

All the best,

Ingo

[smuzz]

Busy having fun on the Phoenix PRCAC field at the moment ... have to take some time out to charge batteries later I guess.
My CFI has to go to work tomorrow at midday, so we'll be down for a few hours earlier in the morning if the weather plays along.

[gbanger]

Just checked out the weather with willy.
Looks fair at best.
It rained a lot during the night.
I will wait until 8.30 before I make a flying decision.
Gazz

[robair]

Gday Gazz/All

We did not get a drop of rain here at Toonie, the storms last night faded out about 5k west of this location.

Cheers
Rob B

[Drew]

Despite Willy's opinion, it was beautiful at the field today. It turned into a little of an unfortunate day but with some fun for the taking.

My 3D Whirlwind Reach foamy got stuck up hig - well out of reach of Steve's poles above the back paddock (nuf said). Fortunately, we had brought the rocket launcher and during several failed attempts ranging pressure and alignment, we achieved 3 reasonable "touches", the last of which had the desired result bringing the plane back to the earth . Big smiles - not sure if it was from retrieving the plane or shooting it down with rockets The only damage was a stunted nose and broken stablisier. Nothin a couple of carbon rods and some trusty glue won't get righted tonight.

My trusty PT20 had a bit of grief when I flicked to inverted flight and the battery hatch came open spilling the 4S3000 battery and 60A speedy - hanging on by the motor wires and receiver lead!!! Fortunately I had the foresight to retain a few cables with cable ties and strain relief or the whole lot would've come tumbling out!!! I landed safely (upright) with the payload dangling. After I tucked it all back I was preparing for another take off (no inverted flying this time). On powering up, the motor ripped itself from the plan - faux firewall and all!!! I think the prop got a severe bend on the landing that I didn't notice as I was looking at the battery, etc.

It's soaking in Araldite right now and will be ready to fly in 24 hrs (If I can find a new prop).

[gbanger]

What size prop do you need Drew.
I have a lot of spares.
Gazz

[stillflyin]

Here is a photo of Drew's High 5 with his son on recovery. The plane can be seen on the grass at the right and the rocket launcher just to the left of Drew.

   

[Stuka]

I suppose that's what they call good marksmanship Drew!!!
Glad you managed to get it down and is now on the way to recovery!!

[dingy]

Hi Guys,

Shall be down tomorrow morning around 8.30am to open up.

Hoping weather will be fine, shall see you guys there.

Seeya,

Ingo

[robair]

Gday Drew

Nice rocket work mate, how many shots did it take?

Cheers
Rob B

[smuzz]

Hmm - not entirely a successful weekend, but I guess they come around from time to time. Saturday was good, and Sunday started off alright, but ...

Apologies again to you Dave, for accidentally nudging your heli when I was fiddling with my end-point adjustments. It's pretty embarrassing to accidentally start a plane rolling in the pits area

I don't think my motor "upgrade" on the T-28D was altogether brilliant. I put in a Turnigy Park 480 (http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store...duct=14396) as replacement for the stock motor when it developed the anticipated cracks in the casing. The 480 is smaller and lighter and that changed weight distributions of course. A test-flight by Junior yesterday passed the thing as fit for purpose, but his flying skills are immeasurably better than mine - I found it a handful, it was really sensitive in pitch. Think it might be a better idea to wait for the Turnigy 35-36C to arrive and install it instead, since it's a proven upgrade. Thanks Kieran for helping me tame the thing.

I've decided that the P-51D just must be replaced after it peeled its wings in the middle of a straight-and-level flypast. Got on to Modelflight and noticed that they offer free postage for orders over $200. Luckily I've got Junior out working for me, so we've got two replacement airframes on the way - one is the P-51D, the other is the PZ Bf-109 which at $90 was impossible to pass up. Nothing like a little "retail therapy" to recover from disappointment ( ... along with a beer or two of course!).

[Skidz]

No worries Steve. No harm done. It will just cost you one case of Belgium's finest. You will have to take your share of that punishment as well (ha, ha). It would have been a lot worse if I had I "nudged" your plane under power. I think that would be called bean bag filling !!

Dave

---

What a great day!

To all the people that came out flying today all I can say is that is was a great day in terms of weather and having that one thing in common (flying RC models). Some mishaps but mostly happy endings.

Play of the day goes to Claudio who absolutely nailed the landing with his Stinson. The touch and go practice under flt cmdr Gazz "stick" banger (aka gbanger) proved invaluable. It was a toss up between Ingo and Victor as to who gets the "sphincter award" for buzzing the tower. I contemplated making a dash but was duly advised that procrastination was the safest option.. so I sat there in the shade 'hoping' .

[Claudius]

Play of the day goes to Claudius who absolutely nailed the landing with his Stinson.

Aw shucks. Thanks, certainly made up for last weekend. Would have been decidedly less pretty had the bolt on one of the main wheels come loose 10 seconds before landing instead of 10 seconds after!

What a great day!

To all the people that came out flying today all I can say is that is was a great day in terms of weather and having that one thing in common (flying RC models). Some mishaps but mostly happy endings.

Couldn't have said it better. Thanks all, had a tremendous day.

[chrism]

the other is the PZ Bf-109 which at $90 was impossible to pass up.

Hey Steve,
Good thinking, you get a good PZ airframe and fit your own motor ESC combo - I like your style.

Chris

[brotherblonde]

Then of course there was that "noisy" Spitfire that somehow had 2 flights, but no landings!

I told Darren that my quest was to actually land it on the strip and not in the trees.

EPO is wonderful stuff......so is epoxy.

[Servo]

Best comment of the day from Drew after his plane had landed on the wires:
'Glad I fitted that HK Audio Locator to my plane, had no problem finding it this time'
   
   

Well done Drew!

KevinB

[paulj]

That's got to be the best landing of all time Drew.
You have well and truely taken the "Tall Tower" award from me now.
What with that and shooting down planes with rockets your fame is
reaching far and wide......

[dingy]

Hey Drew,

At least you didn't have to pay for parking after 3hrs ..What novel idea retrieval by rocket.. What next!

Have a close look at the pictures Drew is even parallel to the wires or sorry kerb.

Well done mate & excellent recovery.

Ingo

[robair]

Then of course there was that "noisy" Spitfire that somehow had 2 flights, but no landings!

I told Darren that my quest was to actually land it on the strip and not in the trees.

EPO is wonderful stuff......so is epoxy.

Gday Andrew

You are making me very nervous re maidening my Spitty.

Cheers
Rob B

[smuzz]

Hey Steve,
Good thinking, you get a good PZ airframe and fit your own motor ESC combo - I like your style.
Chris

Cheers Chris - hopefully, I'll be able to pour a load of HK stuff into it and give it to Junior to test out. If it works, then we could save a hundred bucks or more - if not, then we'll have another spectacular day at the field to look back on

[secant0give]

It was a good day and a lucky one for me with my Edge 540 stripping a gear in the elevator servo and still getting it down safely. Fortunately the servo continued to work over most of it's travel and I only noticed it taxiing back off the strip with the servo's motor spinning loudly and free when the elevator was at full throw.

I won't be buying "Power HD" servo's again!!!! because you can't always be lucky they had a pretty good review as well.????? I also found that they hunted a bit around the center and had a little back lash too. Now it's going to be Hitec 5085MGs instead

[Drew]

Nice rocket work mate, how many shots did it take?

A story that will be fun to tell a few times .
It took aabout 3 to get the pressura range so I didn't just bust a hole through the plane and then We touched on descent on the sixth shot but only nudged it. Another half a dozen shots were required before we got a decent hit to dislodge it.


In assessment, we broke the stabiliser (glued back with CF rods inside) and crushed the motor mount (straightened and reinforced with glue). I strongly suspect that the receiver has been fried from the antenna resting against the RF of the wires 'coz everything goes full throws+ when connecting power bu the speedy is fine on a different recevier.

I should be airworthy tomorrow.

One more to go - the decathlon.

[brotherblonde]

Then of course there was that "noisy" Spitfire that somehow had 2 flights, but no landings!

I told Darren that my quest was to actually land it on the strip and not in the trees.

EPO is wonderful stuff......so is epoxy.

Gday Andrew

You are making me very nervous re maidening my Spitty.

Cheers
Rob B

Rob,
"be afwaid...be vewwy vewwy afwaid!"

Seriously, the stock spitty is fine to fly, it's light with plenty of grunt. It floats suprisingly well on landing. Mine, however, is about 0% heavier with an extra battery, sound system, metal retracts...... and LOTS of epoxy, So it REALLY needs speed. I'm putting flaps on it at the moment. Darren suggested "scale-like" split flaps for the drag, but I have gone with simple flaps to give it a lower landing speed. (The sound system in flight is AWESOME!!).

Andrew.

[Skidz]

I also found that they hunted a bit around the center and had a little back lash too. Now it's going to be Hitec 5085MGs instead

Hey Jason,
Maybe your servo had a broken tooth around neutral. I have had the same thing happen.

[secant0give]

I also found that they hunted a bit around the center and had a little back lash too. Now it's going to be Hitec 5085MGs instead

Hey Jason,
Maybe your servo had a broken tooth around neutral. I have had the same thing happen.

That's Interesting Dave I'll have to pull it apart and have a look now that it's out. What brand of servo was it that you had the broken tooth with? and what brand of servo are you currently using? I remember you showed me some nice ones on your rotor head a week or two back, they moved super smoothly, but I can't, for the life of me remember what name they went by.

New servo is now installed in the edge 540 and I'm still thinking of shifting the C of G aft a little more to get it right.

slowly slowly catchy monkey

[Skidz]

I also found that they hunted a bit around the center and had a little back lash too. Now it's going to be Hitec 5085MGs instead

Hey Jason,
Maybe your servo had a broken tooth around neutral. I have had the same thing happen.

That's Interesting Dave I'll have to pull it apart and have a look now that it's out. What brand of servo was it that you had the broken tooth with? and what brand of servo are you currently using? I remember you showed me some nice ones on your rotor head a week or two back, they moved super smoothly, but I can't, for the life of me remember what name they went by.

New servo is now installed in the edge 540 and I'm still thinking of shifting the C of G aft a little more to get it right.

slowly slowly catchy monkey

I don't use the large servos like the larger planes are using. I had trouble with el-cheapo HK servos. They were Hextronic HXT somethings (blue case). Ok for some models but not ok in helicopter cyclic controls (on my learner 450 - not the 500 I fly at the field). The plastic teeth came free quite easily after a mishap. I fixed the rotor head only to end up cursing the servos. I had freeplay and "issues" around mid travel. Right where the gears were meshed at crunch time. The heli developed eratic behaviour until I realised it was jumping a tooth or three.

The servos I am using at present are Savox servos. The manufacturer of my heli (Align) relabel them as DS510 for the cyclic control and DS520 for the rudder (higher torque and faster) but they are Savox units. On the quality scale they are 3.5 stars from 5.0. They are plastic gears not metal. Plastic has a better mesh quality and much less freeplay than metal. Provided they are matched for the load, I am duly advised plastic is ok. When you get in to the stump pulling torque requirements, I guess metal gears are better. I put a lot of stress on the cyclic servos with the flybarless set-up due to the way things link together but the servos are just fine.

Here is a good link that readers might find useful: http://www.spartan-rc.com/resources/servodb/servo.php. It is customised towards helicopters but the information is excellent.

Dave