Flying w/son and grandson, 10/5/24

 This was a great day for me at the RDRC field. My oldest son Chris, and grandson Desmond (age 9), were in town from Indiana. We charged the batteries, checked a few things out, and headed to RDRC as a guest of Kerry. I had not flown in 2 years due to vision issues, but they are now partially resolved. 

Desmond started by flying the little Timber UMX on the buddy box with his dad. He progressed in subsequent flights to taking off. Finally he landed all by himself! The Spectrum AS3X technology is such a boost for today's new pilots.

Chris flew his Venus pattern bird as we were working out some engine issues. It was finally running and flying great.

I flew my 2006 .40 Twist a bit. While jerking it around and having fun, it began behaving strangly with its own pitch changes... not initiated by me. After landing, we discovered it had a broken wing dowel, and the landing gear was the only thing holding the wing on! Hahahaha.... that airplane has such a history!

Here's a few pics and videos...

Desmond did very good, and was having a blast!

Chris' Venus was running and flying great in this vid...

Chris' Venus in the forefront...

Chris setting up the radios for buddy box operation...

Desmond is ready to fly!

My old flight box from around 1985 by Custom Woodcraft...

I completed this trailer in the fall of 2022, then it sat idle since Feb 2023 due to vision problems. I have one eye fixed now and can see pretty good. Hopefully the 2nd will come soon!

Desmond on the taxi roll back to the pits...

Desmond flying, with dad on the ready with the buddy box...

Desmond saw this balloon while on the ride back home..

My Twist coming in...

This is a fun bird, and been splattered so many times :-)

Desmond did with his dad's Venus. Great pic!!

I wish these days could last forever!

Twist Updates...

 I've been working on my old birds, trying to get them in shape to return to the air. This old 2006 Twist has been tough. It has a ton of air time, and still has the original engine it came with (albeit kinda weary). Before I retired it, I noticed the elevator servo would get stuck from time to time, so that needs to be addressed. I picked up a new batch of servos, a new flight battery, and got busy. She's now updated with new electronics, and ready to go flying! Here's a few pics...

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Hangar 9 Twist Battery Check Out!

I can't believe, that after 2 years in storage, the Tenergy 5 cell 2000 mAH NiMH battery in my Twist actually checks out to be good. It looks like the 'Red Neck' battery maintenance system described in my previous post actually worked. Over 2 years of hitting the battery with approximately 25 mAH of charge per day while in storage, and it cycles as if it were new. 

 It's nice to get lucky every now and again :-) Now, it's time to move on to the next airplane and see how it checks out. 

Dave AMA119484
http://www.RCDave.net

More from the Mothballs...

Still getting things ready to go after a 2+ year break... I pulled this 12 year old Hangar 9 Twist .40 down, and put it on the Accu-Cycle. It was stored on my "red-neck" battery maintenance system for the last couple of years... That consists of a conventional 50 mAH charger connected to a Christmas tree timer. I have it come on for 30 minutes/day, and then back off. I never bothered to check it, other than to verify that the charge light was still coming on when the timer was passing power. So far, it looks as if the 5 cell 1500 mAH battery is fine. One more cycle to verify, then on to the next bird. So far, so good!

Dave AMA119484
http://www.RCDave.net

Checking throws on my Twist...

I got my old Hangar 9 Twist out of the mothballs and get her repaired. After a few bits, I got a chance to power it up and give a quick checkout. Here's a short video of the servo throws on this bird. You can see more of it in the blog post previous to this one...

Dave AMA119484
http://www.RCDave.net
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My Twist Returns to the Air!

I finally had time to get my old Hangar 9 Twist repaired and ready to go. This time, I had to patch some covering (especially on the wingtips, from dragging them on the runway), replace the throttle servo, replace a defective charge jack on the side of the airplane, and replace the flight battery. I've totally worn the treads off of the tires, and they flop around on the axles like something stupid, but they still roll! Hey, you don't need wheels on an airplane but just a few seconds each flight, right?

This airplane has been thru hell and back over the last 10 years. It has been broken in half twice by donking it into the ground while flying inverted limbo and other fun stuff (once at the 95th flyin), tail totally smashed from going dead stick while trying to hover low (unsuccessfully), canopy smashed from multiple inverted crashes, landing gear blocks ripped out from full throttle touch-n-goes, a zillion holes in covering, cartwheeled (ripping out wing saddle) while flying loowwww circles over the deep grass with Manny, etc... yet she still flys. It is a little heavier from all the repairs, but loads of fun!

It has a little removable hatch for battery & receiver access. Much easier than some of my older airplanes.
 

The old 700mzh 4-cell NiMH pack was only cycling at about 400mah, so it was time to go. The battery wasn't very old, but it sat unused with a partial charge almost 3 years...doing as much harm as daily usage.
 

I replaced it with a 5-cell NiMH 2000mah pack. More voltage and a lot more current. Should make for much longer flight times, and only a little heavier. These systems can handle a 5-cell pack just fine, no regulators needed. The servos are a little faster on a 5 cell, too.

The charge jack had failed, and I made a quick field repair back about 3 years ago. I soldered on a little pigtail connector, and just let it flop around outside of the airplane while in flight. I replaced that with a new charge jack to clean that mess up, too... 

Solid! Plenty of voltage to fly with, now!

These old tires are the originals that came with the kit 10 years ago. The treads are worn off, but they're still fine. These don't have bearings in the center, so the bores are worn pretty badly, as well. Doesn't seem to impact the ability to take off and land, so I'm still rolling with these :-)

Wing back on, checking everything out. Looks like it's good to go!
 

The camera hides a LOT, believe me...in person it doesn't look nearly as well. I thought about recovering it, but then I wouldn't want to bang it around as much... So patched up it stays!

Dave AMA119484

http://www.RCDave.net

http://www.RD-RC.net

http://www.RD-RC.org