No Cub Flight

[hghost]

Well weather was great for a few days anyway.....It has now become very windy again and allot of on and off rain.... when it is not raining it is windy.....So no flying again.......it will soon be the 4th of July anyway and many Parks are full of people and their families....makes flying hard to do anyway....Guess I will be patient and wait until the Holidays are over and then hopefully the weather will be better.

Hope all are doing well...and have a great Independence day here and abroad....everyday is Independence day..where Freedom abounds....happy Flying to all

[jklong03]

Well, I guess it takes a big man to admit when he is over his head. I have been trying to get my aileron mod cub to stay in the air for at least one successful landing to no avail!

The history goes something like this:
1> Stock setup, tried an single servo aileron mod with stock electronics. Really didn't do a very good job of it, flattened the wings with a carbon fiber spar, but the ailerons just never "looked right" with the pinned hinges I used and the cutout job wasn't, to be honest a very good one.
That setup resulted in numerous crashes because I just couldn't stay ahead of the flat wing setup. Finally ended up crunching the fuselage so bad and toasting my stock motor and built in ESC in the process.

2> second try was to add back in some dihedral by cutting the spar and building a center box to add the dihedral with the carbon spars, but I kept the same single servo setup. Same results.

3> Finally went all out, replaced the stock rx with a spectrum 4 channel, replaced all four servos with better ones, and added a Park 480 and custom aluminum mount with a 35 amp ESC with a 3 amp switched mode BEC to avoid brownouts. But the crappy wing just wouldn't let me get things trimmed up enough and always resulted in a less than elegant end of flight.

4> Finally admitted I wasn't ready for ailerons yet, bought a new unmolested wing and went back to 2 channel flying.

Well, with the additional power of the Park 480 saving my bacon a few times, I was able to get two wheels up landings in today!

Lesson learned, keep flying the current setup until I can put the plane where I want it when I want it, get several more hours under my belt and then make the leap to aileron flights. I am going to take the new, unmolested wing and do the aileron mod like most others do with two servos ( I ordered four when I bought them) and I will probably chicken out and do the aileron mode on the stock wing and not flatten it for a while till I get comfortable ( I can hear flydiver already in my ears!)

Anyway, moral of the story is slow and steady, don't bite off more than you can chew till you are ready for it, and man, that Park 480 really changes the character of the cub, the power is awesome!

[flydiver]

There is a problem with groups like this. They create kind of a 'greed', a social pressure that makes you feel inadequate if you don't have the latest and greatest. I see people that don't even know how to fly Jonesing for performance planes or mods on planes that are completely over their head. I'd say the voice of reason fails about 3/4 of the time on them. Must be a guy thing, eh?
This is not a forgiving sport and most of the time the problems are the nut behind the sticks.

[jklong03]

Jul 6, 2013 16:11:04 GMT 1 flydiver said:

There is a problem with groups like this. They create kind of a 'greed', a social pressure that makes you feel inadequate if you don't have the latest and greatest. I see people that don't even know how to fly Jonesing for performance planes or mods on planes that are completely over their head. I'd say the voice of reason fails about 3/4 of the time on them. Must be a guy thing, eh?
This is not a forgiving sport and most of the time the problems are the nut behind the sticks.

I must admit to a bit of disappointment in not getting a "way to go, keep it up, you'll get there" encouragement from flydiver for my opening myself up and in admitting I was over my head and reverted back to starting over again. Oh well, I admit it was all pilot error, was just hoping my story would result in others learning from my mistakes. Guess we all need a reassuring pat on the back and a "there there, we've all been there" story, but as I said, it was all me and I take full responsibility for my failures.

Yes, it was a 'guy thing" and I freely admit such. Back to basics, and perhaps some day my fingers will catch up to my intellect on what I want and desire to fly! To all others, I hope you learn a little from my mistakes and take it slow and build your skills until you are ready for more advanced setups.

[toff]

Do y' Know.... I am so glad you're here. Not because you've made a mistake. Because you know what went wrong and admitted it ( basically...you). Welcome home, I personally hope you are happy with us, and I truly hope we can help each other ( You will eventually help others...as Fly said not to long ago..' it's not a vocation, it's a calling ' or words to that effect ( I think he's after a sainthood! ... 1st miracle, teaching me basic flying 101, 2nd???...two miracles and he's a saint!!! )

[flydiver]

He's already helped a bunch of folks with the posting. Clear concise information like that can continue to be of value if they are 'kept alive' for new fliers to learn from.
My response wasn't meant as a rebuke, but I can see where it could be interpreted that way. No offense intended. If it's of any consolation that posting is valuable, I'm not sure mine adds anything of value.

********

Me sainthood? Have you been in the sauce again?

[toff]

Oh yes! Five beer replies are order of the day ( well, yesterday, anyway). At least I was nice to everyone, and most of what I posted made sense.....
And, JK, thank you for the PM. Please believe me when I say that woeful comments tend to be the most constructive. You will eventually do it. Flying, ailerons, warbirds, jets....
and after all that, you'll go back to flying the slowest plane you can - Parkzone radian for me!

[hghost]

I been patiently waiting to maiden my Cub...but will only after more time with the Champ. The weather here is a roulette wheel....one never knows from moment to moment what will come of it. It will be great, sunny and breezy and in the next 15-20 minutes it is storming and a howling wind...back to sunny and light breeze...makes planning to fly almost impossible. Have been flying a little with the Champ. This little plane has been an Inspiration and a Blessing. I have enjoyed every minute of it, when I get to fly.

This plane is amazing in the gusty winds that come up all of a sudden. I have yet to have a calm moment. But the Champ has been the Champ. As I stated on other posts, the plan is to fly the Champ and get enough time with trial and errors, before I maiden the Cub. So far so good....other than a couple mishaps with trying to do silly things , such as flying under some wires and under a tree limb and trying to do some loops to close to the ground ( nose dive in the dirt)...and a few rough landings ( on grass)... I have not really crashed the Champ. like I thought I would have. I feel maybe if the weather will cooperate I will get to maiden the Cub pretty soon.( getting braver ).

Any way I hope all had a wonderful Summer so far......and some great flying time.

[jklong03]

Well now that my rebuild is all done, back to non aileron wing, I figured I pretty cub is less likely to crash than a plain white one, so followed somewhat a yellow scheme I saw somewhere else on the forums, grabbed a can of Krylon Fusion and sprayed a few items. Didn't turn out too back what with the black accents I thought!



So back to "pretty flys better" statement., I guess there is some truth to that at least for me. Also, the E-Flite 480 pulled me out of some sticky wickets already and so far, five flights and still in one piece.!

Here's a question for you outrunner guys, I can't seem to get enough rudder trim to get this darn thing to track straight under even medium throttle! Did you find that the added power and torque (even at low mid throttle) just made her seen to go in right circles all the time? If I shut down to near idle, It seems to glide okay and I have a moderate amount of control to dead stick her in, but juice that 480 up and she climbs like an angel and starts acting the only direction under power she wants to point in to the right.

I've come to the conclusion I just need to keep drilling holes in the sky until I can get the eye/hand coordination down enough to compensate for the added power? Or did using that custom aluminum mount from Custom RC parts here in the USA require some additional thrust washers to make up for the added power?

[flydiver]

Climbing under throttle is normal. That's how a scale plane works. Even the stock Cub Climbs under throttle. More throttle > UP.
Less throttle > Down. Normal. Get it? NOT the elevator.
People say the Cub flies so much better after a mod. That's mostly BS from guys that think flying is not crashing. It flies differently and now you have to re-sort it out. It was NOT designed for that kind of power and it screws it up.

Now you got WAY more speed. So it's going up when you use it.
Options: first, make REAL sure the elevator is FLAT. Make sure the CG is spot on.
1.Play with wing incidence (raise the back edged of the wing), little at a time.
2. Add more down thrust-again, little at a time.
Do one or the other but not both on any given test.

Right tracking. Hmm, that's odd. You put right and down thrust in a motor to compensate for motor torque. You have more so I would think it would track left.
Make sure the rudder is flat and the tail is not warped/twisted/kinked. Same with the wing. Check the wing saddle for uneven crushing. Look for any twist or warp in the fuse carefully.
Have someone hold it while you throttle up and make sure the rudder is not moving for some odd reason.
If that all checks out start removing and/or adding R-thrust to the motor as you watch what it does.

[zoltron55]

there is a guy on e-bay that has a kit for 40 bucks for airlons when your ready give it a shot