Nothing special, just various bits and pieces from my RC hobby adventures. I enjoy building, flying sport, and tinkering with RC Airplanes. Check out my webpage at www.RCDave.net, email to me at wb4iuy@gmail.com
I have a Saito 100 I've had for several years. It's been a great engine, and has had it's share of abuse, including a straight in crash when a flight battery failed. I never noticed a problem until last week when I was out flying with a friend. I thought I saw something moving around below the engine area, so I did a slow, low flyby. Sure enough, it was the muffler canister dangling around, hanging on by the tank pressure line.
After landing, I discovered the head pipe had broken off, just past the lock nut on the engine side of the pipe.
The thread is m12 x 1.0. So, I'm now on a mission to locate a die to rethread an unused portion of the pipe and put it back in service. I'll update this, once I locate a die and hopefully make the repairs :-)
I got a new quad from Debbie for my birthday. It's the Sharper Image DX-4 with the High Definition Streaming Cam built right in. It's quite a lot larger than my previous "Bug Quad" she bought me 2 years ago. I've been flying the "Bug Quad" hard for 2 years, mostly inside, but some in the back yard on calm days. I had to replace the battery in it once, as well as one of the motors, I literally wore it out. After the last rebuild, it still flys great.
The new DX-4 Hi-Def quad has auto stabilization, auto take off and landing, 3 different speed modes, and a stunt more where it can do flips and such. I have a lot to learn, but it's gonna be a lot more fun than my old "Bug Quad". I'll post some video from it, once I get good enough to fly it around the yard and shoot some pics.
Here's my litle "Bug Quad", still in flying condition!
My new Sharper Image DX-4 High Definition Streaming quad.
So... I used to have a pretty cool 6' x 10' airplane trailer. I really liked it, and never unloaded the airplanes from it when i returned home from the field. Problem was, it was killing my little Ford Escape and I ultimately had to replace the transmission. It wouldn't shift to OD while pulling the trailer, and often wouldn't go into high gear. It protruded way above the top of the truck, and felt like I was constantly pumping the brakes from wind hitting the front of the trailer. I sold the trailer and was out of the hobby for a while...
When I decided to get back active, I realized I couldn't haul much of anything with some size to it. Transporting just one of my airplanes with a 80" wingspan was a chore. After pondering the problem a bit, this is what i came up with. I bought four 2" x 4"s at Lowes, pulled together some scrap 3/8" plywood I had letf over from a home remodelling job, and got busy. Now I can haul 2 airplanes with a 80" span plus a smaller bird, all wings & tubes, my flight box and misc field support gear needed.
This contraption allows me to hang a long wing or two in the ceiling, other wings and materials below the deck, and anchor the bigger airplanes to the deck. I can haul 3 smaller airplanes on the deck and leave the passenger seat open, if needed. It's just a back-yard build, but really made a difference in what i can haul. The whole assembly easily lifts from the truck to convert it back to normal use.
Wing storage below the new deck...
Flight box easily transported & accessed from the side door.
Fueslages anchored to the deck with wheel stops to keep them from rolling around.
One airplane in the front seat...
Another wing stored under the deck and accessed from the RH side door.
Maybe this will give some of you ideas on how to mod your small vehicle for transporting multiple aircraft.
I'm getting down to the "short rows" of getting my old aircraft back up to speed and airworthy. My old Spoiler was the last major hurtle, before getting back on the builds I had started and not yet completed. Next, I have to do a few things to my little Ford Escape to be able to haul this stuff (used to have a RC trailer, not now).
I've had this spoiler since 2008, and it was a prototype for a planned production run that never came to pass. We spent a few thousand $$ on prototypes, debugging, etc...the economy crashed in the fall of 2008, and the shop that was building these for us went out of business. Oh well, best laid plans, right? Anyway, this thing is a blast to fly. I was surprised to find that even the flight battery was OK, when I pulled it from about 2-1/2 years of storage! I gave it a once over, found a few loose screws and minor covering repairs needed, lubricated the engine, and she's ready to go!
Rather than re-post a bunch of stuff here, I've uploaded a prop selection guide on my website at http://www.RCDave.net . You
can also link directly to it on my server at:
There's loads of info on this topic, and I've consolidated what I thought were the best pieces from James McCarty, Brian Cooper, and Brian Gardner . Rather than repost a pile of stuff I have on my website, I'll point you to it. You can see it on my website at http://www.RCDave.net or you can link directly to the info on one of my servers at http://www.scootworks.com/rdrcdave/gloplugs.html . I hope this helps some of you as much as it has helped me!
After patching a bit of covering, cycling the batteries, lubricating the engine, and a general good check over... here's running the servos a bit. Looks like she's ready to take to the sky again!
I've used clear Monokote for years in a variety of repairs. With so many ARFs now being covered in low temp "China Film", despite the mfg's claiming it to be a name brand covering, many pilots find the covering coming loose on glow fuel powered aircraft. The fuel residue from glow fuel will find it's way under the edge of the covering, soften the adhesive, and resealing with a covering iron is only a temporary fix. I've had this happen a number of times and have found a permanent fix for the problem... Clear Monokote covering!
I recently pulled my old ERC Spoiler down from my storage racks and discovered the clear outer layer of covering had let go, leaving only the white pasty color layer behind. The clear outer layer was peeling off, and could not be reattached over the color. I pulled the clear layer back in place and tacked it down to the wing with the sealing iron on low temp (abt 250 deg), cut a thin strip of clear Monokote, and applied is across the edge of the failing China-film joint. I sealed the Monokote at 300 degrees, and the repair is complete and permanent. You have to be careful where your iron touches the China-film, some of that stuff melts very easily and at a very low temp, but overall I've found this to be my best way to repair China-film, short of recovering the aircraft.
Here I've cut a strip of clear Monokote and have peeled the backing away, in preparation for sealing to to the repair area on my wing.
There's nothing special about the clear Monokote, you could use any color of iron on covering, but the clear doesn't smear color onto the original covering, and the original covering can be seen through it... it's almost invisible.
Here, the clear strip has been ironed into place over the failing China-film joint, and is only seen when looking up close.
My spoiler, ready to go, with no visible covering repairs from the china-film problem. I've had the airplane several years, so there are several small repairs with clear Monokote on it!
