Bruce DeVisser
Jul 01, 1996, 01:00 AM
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<pre> Humble Pie is something we all get a taste of when we least
expect it. Of course, we don't always deserve it, but many times we do!
I had only been flying these little Speed 400 Pylon Racers for a few
weeks, but I thought I had a good feel for them. Well, I suppose I have to
discount the THREE times I've launched my Red #8 and it stalled, spun or
otherwise crashed in to the ground within 10 feet. Someone said I could
do with some HLG lessons!
The real story here is a serious one. I have a new, slick, very fast, easy
to fly speed demon. It is called a Turbo Baby from Hobby Lobby, also
known as the Blue Pico in Europe. It is made in the Czech Republic. This
thing is of all molded pre-coloured fibreglass construction, bolt-on wing
and tail, great looking, expensive, very tough, expensive - well, you get
the idea.
This thing flew out of my hand the first time, and has every time since.
With a stock Speed 400 6 volt, 7 x 600AE cells, CAM 5x5 speed prop,
Graupner 1298/2 spinner/adapter, and 15.8 ounces AUW, it zips right
along. For the electronics there is a Micro 535 receiver with 2 HS-60
micro servos, and a JES-10 ESC. It handles very well, and except for the
usual launch vs. flight speed elevator trim anomaly, no complaints.
The first few flights were uneventful, except that the landings were
quite fast. This is due to this pilot's fear of stalling too close to terra firma.
So, after conferring with my expert fellow pilots, I determined that I
should take it up high and practice slow flight to get a feel for what was
really too slow. So, off we go, sloppily dragging this thoroughbred racer
around the patch at the back of the power curve. After practicing a few
stalls I felt I had learned the proper feel for it.
In for a landing pass, and it felt good slowed down, but I had to go
around due to traffic on the field. Well, this is of course the time you run
out of juice. Standard practice (ie: safe practice) is to put the ship down
while it is under positive control, and take the inevitable hike to retrieve
your (hopefully intact) prized possesion.
Then there is that devilish little fellow in the back of your mind who says
"you can get it around all the way - go ahead". No suspense necessary -
I allowed the airspeed to decay to the point where the controls became
ineffective, whence the Turbo Baby continued on to land itself perfectly.
HOWEVER, the serious point of this is yet to come - in trying to get it
around, I FAILED TO GET PROPERLY LINED UP WITH THE RUNWAY. In
fact, I was 90 degrees to it, and headed straight for the pits!
Very lucky for me that the plane ended up on the ground at a reasonably
slow speed and positioned exactly centered between two flight stations.
It slid into the wooden base of the safety fence, causing only minor
damage to the plane, but I still haven't received Chief Instructor Carl
Trautman's laundry bill, or that of his student, who were flying at one of
those stations!
A note on that - hat's off to Carl for keeping his concentration and being
able to look in two directions at once! In fact, he didn't even give me the
scolding I deserved!
I've since adjusted to using the dual rates function, switching to high rate
and increased control surface travel, as preparation for landing
approach - this provides a much safer situation all around, and avoids a
"twitchy" ship in the air as well..
So, in the future if you see me leaving scorch marks in the grass from
high speed landings, you'll know I'm testing a new model, as high speed
landings are very hard on CAM props, which severely impacts the
modeling budget! I wonder if Graupner would consider making a folder
version in the CAM series???
B.C. DeVisser</pre>
</body>
</html>
<head>
<title>Speed 400 Pylon Models-- A Lesson For All</title>
</head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<pre> Humble Pie is something we all get a taste of when we least
expect it. Of course, we don't always deserve it, but many times we do!
I had only been flying these little Speed 400 Pylon Racers for a few
weeks, but I thought I had a good feel for them. Well, I suppose I have to
discount the THREE times I've launched my Red #8 and it stalled, spun or
otherwise crashed in to the ground within 10 feet. Someone said I could
do with some HLG lessons!
The real story here is a serious one. I have a new, slick, very fast, easy
to fly speed demon. It is called a Turbo Baby from Hobby Lobby, also
known as the Blue Pico in Europe. It is made in the Czech Republic. This
thing is of all molded pre-coloured fibreglass construction, bolt-on wing
and tail, great looking, expensive, very tough, expensive - well, you get
the idea.
This thing flew out of my hand the first time, and has every time since.
With a stock Speed 400 6 volt, 7 x 600AE cells, CAM 5x5 speed prop,
Graupner 1298/2 spinner/adapter, and 15.8 ounces AUW, it zips right
along. For the electronics there is a Micro 535 receiver with 2 HS-60
micro servos, and a JES-10 ESC. It handles very well, and except for the
usual launch vs. flight speed elevator trim anomaly, no complaints.
The first few flights were uneventful, except that the landings were
quite fast. This is due to this pilot's fear of stalling too close to terra firma.
So, after conferring with my expert fellow pilots, I determined that I
should take it up high and practice slow flight to get a feel for what was
really too slow. So, off we go, sloppily dragging this thoroughbred racer
around the patch at the back of the power curve. After practicing a few
stalls I felt I had learned the proper feel for it.
In for a landing pass, and it felt good slowed down, but I had to go
around due to traffic on the field. Well, this is of course the time you run
out of juice. Standard practice (ie: safe practice) is to put the ship down
while it is under positive control, and take the inevitable hike to retrieve
your (hopefully intact) prized possesion.
Then there is that devilish little fellow in the back of your mind who says
"you can get it around all the way - go ahead". No suspense necessary -
I allowed the airspeed to decay to the point where the controls became
ineffective, whence the Turbo Baby continued on to land itself perfectly.
HOWEVER, the serious point of this is yet to come - in trying to get it
around, I FAILED TO GET PROPERLY LINED UP WITH THE RUNWAY. In
fact, I was 90 degrees to it, and headed straight for the pits!
Very lucky for me that the plane ended up on the ground at a reasonably
slow speed and positioned exactly centered between two flight stations.
It slid into the wooden base of the safety fence, causing only minor
damage to the plane, but I still haven't received Chief Instructor Carl
Trautman's laundry bill, or that of his student, who were flying at one of
those stations!
A note on that - hat's off to Carl for keeping his concentration and being
able to look in two directions at once! In fact, he didn't even give me the
scolding I deserved!
I've since adjusted to using the dual rates function, switching to high rate
and increased control surface travel, as preparation for landing
approach - this provides a much safer situation all around, and avoids a
"twitchy" ship in the air as well..
So, in the future if you see me leaving scorch marks in the grass from
high speed landings, you'll know I'm testing a new model, as high speed
landings are very hard on CAM props, which severely impacts the
modeling budget! I wonder if Graupner would consider making a folder
version in the CAM series???
B.C. DeVisser</pre>
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