Been Flying

The problem with the flapped FX707 Albatross was a broken tooth but at the extreme end of the servo travel. This meant that if for any reason the servo arm travelled just a tiny bit beyond the normal "up" point the servo motor simple ran free! The motor vibration would then cause the gear to be picked up again and it would travel some way down before returning to the correct position. The rapid return movement would cause the servo to overrun to the missing tooth again and repeat! Whilst it was doing this the servo would not respond to normal inputs.
The new flap servo under & top views. 
 
 
Virtually indistinguishable from the original installation  but I had forgotten how much I dislike soldering and heat shrinking those tiny 32 AWG servo wires! 
     

Flying for me  today (although not very much!)
I got rained on - on the way to the field - just a fine misty drizzle, but it served to wash the dust off the windscreen! The forecast was for cloudy sun, no mention of rain. (or the stiff wind from the West, with a hint of North in it).
By the time I'd got there, the rain had stopped, so apart from a slight damping as I opened the main gate, that was it for the day.
So I opened the cabin, put the windsock up, but didn't put the kettle on, as the well (bottled water) was dry.
Pete arrived as I was getting the Decathlon out (which meant taking the Tango out). I put it on the floor by 'my' bench, then got the bag of batteries and the transmitter out, then discussed this and that with Pete, while we wondered if anyone else would turn up.
Alan and Graham were next, starting the daily trickle of the 'hardcore' members that turn up no matter what the weather. Eventually there were fourteen of us!
I flew my Decathlon, Stew flew his Katana and racing quad, Ed flew his Calamato, Mike flew his Acro-Wot, and Chris flew his new model that looks almost like an Extra (not FPV!) A bit later, a gust of wind blew it off the bench when he wasn't looking, and broke the fn and rudder.
Martyn didn't fly his glider, John R didn't fly his Zlin, Pete got no further than charging up a spare battery for the club trainer, and the rest talked about model flying, moaned about the wind, moaned that the sunshine had gone, etc etc.
Pete, Graham, and Alan fiddled with the mower.
At about 12, the cloud cover blew away, and the wind got stronger. The sun put in an appearance, but the wind kept the temperature down.
I flew my Decathlon a second time, after a rather amusing take-off. As is my standard practice when there is a strong wind, I held in full down elevator after putting the model on the field, while I walked to the flight 'box. When I turned for the take-off, the Decathlon was sitting on it's wheels and the motor, with it's tail in the air! The wind was strong enough for it to 'fly' without the motor running! So I eased back to neutral elevator, and it sat there just on the two wheels! Gradually I put power on, and as soon as it moved, went to full blast, and took off almost vertically. Flying was ok, providing I was careful about positioning, but the air was rather lumpy.
Landing was more of a challenge, as I had to fly it onto the floor, then hold it there while I 'rescued' it - before it blew away.
By 3.30, the majority were leaving, just a couple in the car-park gossiping about something, and myself and Martyn watching a new member (no 50!) trying to persuade his telemetry system to work, and talk to his lap-top. His preference is model rocketry, although he flies quads, and he was trying to get the telemetry - which goes into the rocket) to 'talk' to his lappie. When he'd got it going,he hung the gear in a small string bag, under his quad, and flew it down the field, so he could see what sort of range he got, and whether the altimeter in it worked. It did,but there are some 'bugs' to sort out, yet.
We locked up at six, and I came home on nearly empty roads.

 

Flat calm this evening at 9pm so I took the opportunity to test fly the sub 250g Super Cub after some significant repairs - fuse split & left wing off. As the sub 250g category is no more I added my OP number to it to comply with the CAA regs.
 
10 minute 40 second "cruising" flight. Its1000mAh 2s was still showing 4V/cell at the end. Unusually for me it included a takeoff as the field had been cut but more rough gang mowed with a tractor by the council. It still nosed over on landing despite its "Alaska" wheels!
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Cool and light rain this morning (first day of the second half of the year) - but it has been dry all afternoon, and slowly warming up again. It's 24C outside at the moment, with a light overcast.

Im thinking i may well join Eric's club if they will have me next year, just depends on how much they charge me for van insurance

We don't 'do' van insurance! (Just BMFA).
Come along for a visit - any Sunday from about 1200, and see what you think of the place.
The website seems to be down at the moment. I've reported it to the Club Sec.
 

Ill not be coming this year as my van has been off the road since i had my heart attacks as the last time i checked they wanted nearly 1400 quid to insure it and when i was in hospital with the attacks my daughter in law without me knowing transfer it into her name,
 

That's more than mine was worth when I sold it, 15 months ago!

and i would think mine is as well,as its getting on now 2009 but in good nick

Had a great days flying. Re-maidened the Seagull Meister kit P47 Thunderbolt after some changes - 6S to 8S and new motor. Chipmunk was nice and steady as always and my new build 2nd Curare (which is why i've not done any building on the Firefly!!) flies better than #1 Curare. 3 flights on each.

 

They all look nice models Ralph

Almost flying for me, today.
The forecast was naff, and when I set out at 8.30 it was drizzling, with a moderate wind, and a heavy cloud cover. So I only took three models, the long-suffering Decathlon, the Kobuz, and the battered practice heli.
Once the cabin was open, and the wind-sock up, I only got the Decathlon out, and that was parked inverted on the grass. (So if a gust caught it, the wing would lift down, and as it was already down, it wouldn't go very far!) I didn't put the kettle on, because the water bottle was empty, as was the kettle!
The gusty wind was switching back and to between West and North, and couldn't make it's mind up.
The aircraft going overhead into Speke were ducking in and out of the cloud, so the base was low.
A little later, Alan and Graham arrived, and we had a brief discussion about how wet the grass was.
Shortly after those two, Pete arrived, and got the mower out! I said the grass was too wet to cut, as it would just clump up, but he decided to have a go anyway. After one pass, he said the mower wasn't cutting properly, and began tinkering with the cut-height, thinking it was too low.
Graham suggested he wait until it had dried out a bit, but Pete threw his toys out and stormed off.

Later, I 'flew' the mower, once the grass had dried and the sun had put in an appearance.

A few of the regulars turned up from about 12 onwards, and flew the same old 'disposable' models, in the bumpy cross-wind.
Several more turned up through the afternoon, but didn't do much apart from chat.
John R brought his big Zlin, but gave up after a couple of flights, because even that model was a handful in the conditions, and was not fun to fly.
As usual, by 3, they were beginning to drift off.

Some of the club members had a little display stand at the Stockton Heath (just outside Warrington) carnival, so I stayed on to save them having to keep unlocking, and locking the cabin and gates (and annoying the neighbours), so they could put car-loads of ''stuff' in, as they ferried it backI 
I finally locked up at about 7.15.

Flying for me today but at the DVMFC club open day at Doncaster. I very nearly didn't go due to the wind but the Windyty forecast suggested there would a period of milder conditions during the afternoon - there wasn't - the windsock remained swinging from 45 degrees to horizontal!
I took 5 foam planes but did manage to fly 2 "fast" EDFs despite the conditions but with no damage.
A long way to go for 10 minutes flying but it was nice to fly from a well prepared big grass field!     

We've got a nice big well-prepared grass field - and it's a darn sight nearer than Donny!  

Hot but little wind so I flew the flapped FX707 Albatross. I had taken it to the Doncaster open day but the wing was too strong.
This evening a nice 30 minute flight trying to make use of the very erratic patches of weak lift using a power assisted thermalling technique with a low throttle setting.

As an aside the Albatross is now using my old 35 meg Futaba SkySport. I discovered it has an option for a flap/elevator mix which would be ideal BUT unlike a more modern TX the master slave relationship is fixed. In this case the elevator is the master and the flap is the slave so moving the elevator sets the flaps.
Good for setting some flap to pull a really tight loop but no use to me!