rodair...I wasn't using the stock ESC, it was a 35A ESC.
They're a dime a dozen, and I had one on hand.
Stock ESC would probably fry...

I just fixed up my buddies HK Pitts Special. He smashed it up pretty good, but I got it back together again. He was just going to gut it out for the electronics, and as he started yanking out the motor and ESC, I stopped him and told him I wanted to fix it back up.

I threw in an Eflite Park 400 with a 9X6SF prop for now. I tested it in my garage and it's strong enough to hold a hover, so it should be fine with that power setup. I'll get some readings on the watts up meter later today. I'm guessing about 24oz of thrust, 10A and about 80 to 100 watts of power, more or less.

I still need to finish putting the pieces of cowl back together. It's a bit of a puzzle but it's getting there.

Luckily, I had a chance to fly this plane a little earlier that day at the flying field. She really is a sweet plane. Nice flight characteristics and you can slow right down to a fast walk with this thing.

I may have to get one of these for myself.


Edit: I just tested it on the "watts up" meter.
Using a fully charged 3 cell Nano-Tech 1300mah 45C-90C lipo pack, I got the following results.....

Peak Watts: 165W (first 10 seconds)
Peak Amps: 13.8A (first 10 seconds)

Constant Watts: 130W (after running for 45 seconds)
Constant Amps: 11.5A (after running for 45 seconds)

Like I said, it can hold a hover if I take my hands off of it while at WOT, so I think it'll be fine. The only thing is that the Eflite Park 400 s rated for 10A continuous and 13A burst. I'll have to be careful if i'm at WOT for more than 20 seconds at a time. I ran it (static) for 45 seconds and then felt the motor, and it WAS a little hot, but nothing close to hot enough to burn my hand by a long shot.

I fixed up the cowl and it looks much better with it on, but it's not perfect by a long shot. Plus I had to open it up a bit so the cowl would line up.

She won't win any beauty pageants but she's got a cowl again.
No problems keeping the motor cool either hahahahaha!

From here, you can't even tell she's had a hard life! Really good job bringing that life back to her; this plane is one that deserves that second shot.

The more you fly it, the more you're going to want to. It really is that good - flight envelope goes (as you observed) from walking to straight-up vertical acceleration with insane maneuvers in between. Don't know the motor you have in it, but the stock motors are excellent and will take a 4s battery without a whimper. THEN the fun really begins.

Nice work, HnR! Keep that sweet little ol' sttiP rockin'!

Originally Posted by PikeStaff

From here, you can't even tell she's had a hard life! Really good job bringing that life back to her; this plane is one that deserves that second shot.

The more you fly it, the more you're going to want to. It really is that good - flight envelope goes (as you observed) from walking to straight-up vertical acceleration with insane maneuvers in between. Don't know the motor you have in it, but the stock motors are excellent and will take a 4s battery without a whimper. THEN the fun really begins.

Nice work, HnR! Keep that sweet little ol' sttiP rockin'!

Thanks! It needs another canopy though. I'm not sure if he still has it or if it was accidentally left at the flying field where he crashed.
I think he might end up giving it to me, so if that happens, I may just have a new favorite to take the #1 spot for my "go to" plane. Usually it's a tie between my Electrifly Ultimate FX 3D Bipe and my GP Super Sportster.

Great job on the repair!
I wouldn't hold my breath about doing any kind of actual hovering with it though.
My Durafly SE5a has more than enough thrust to lift out of my hands, but hover...it will do no such thing!
In fact, I have a lot of non-3D planes that will lift out of my hands, but I've only gotten one to hover longer than a second and that's a JPower P38 with differential thrust believe it or not.

Give it lots of aft CG, full control throws, and enough thrust to accelerate vertically...then you'll be able to hover the sttiP

Originally Posted by WestTexasKing

Great job on the repair!
I wouldn't hold my breath about doing any kind of actual hovering with it though.
My Durafly SE5a has more than enough thrust to lift out of my hands, but hover...it will do no such thing!
In fact, I have a lot of non-3D planes that will lift out of my hands, but I've only gotten one to hover longer than a second and that's a JPower P38 with differential thrust believe it or not.

Give it lots of aft CG, full control throws, and enough thrust to accelerate vertically...then you'll be able to hover the sttiP

Well, I could always just throw in another brushless with a bit more power to get there. Thanks to HK, buying brushless motors is quite affordable compared to before they were around.

I think you'll be more than happy with it as-is. It doesn't need to hover, so long as vertical is unlimited. The sttiP really wasn't designed for 3D stuff anyway.
Although, come to think of it, the only aerobatic fs planes I've seen hover in airshow routines have been Pitts....maybe they're just predisposed for 3D maneuvers?

Check this one out, the finish and engineering is much better than Stitts. Not sure how it flies been too cold and windy to maiden. Hope it flies as well the craftsmanship and overall design is much better
Tim


http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1749382

.

That's a nice looking Ultimate, and with 4s lipo power ta boot. She looks like a lot of fun to fly.

Originally Posted by Hit N Run

That's a nice looking Ultimate, and with 4s lipo power ta boot. She looks like a lot of fun to fly.

The airfoil is thinner than art-tech so we will need a few flights to check it out.
Air frame is painted, and decals seem to be Stuck Down and may stay on.
The attachments for wing struts is far superior to Art-tech.
A bit smaller on wingspan but that is OK with me if it flys well.
Landing gear is not much to brag about will need to Test it out a few times to see if it holds up.
Foam seems stronger and finish is nice.
Smaller prop so I believe that is reason for 4C.

Tim

Originally Posted by WestTexasKing

Higher expo means that stick travel in the center moves the controls less, and concentrates max deflection toward the limit of stick travel.
0% expo is the same as not having any expo at all.
Think of expo as an arch, in the center it's almost flat, while the sides begin to exponentially increase the farther out you go.
That means in normal flight you have more room to wiggle the sticks around without banging them to high deflections.
In aerobatic flight it's just a small departure from low deflection to high deflection (so if you're at 50% deflection on the stick, the next 50% till you hit the stop will give it far more travel).
Works out great if you don't need high deflections for anything other than aerobatics.
In other words, the higher the expo (numerically), the slower the reaction time and easier it will be to make fine movements on the stick...which equates to a smoother flight in most cases.
Some people don't like expo, some do, and there's valid arguments for both sides.
I've used 80% expo on some planes, and negative expo on others...it's all about getting the sticks to make the plane fly the way you think it should, or having "balanced controls" as FS pilots would call it.

The lower the number on travel means the control surfaces move less (ie 70% means you get only 70% of the full travel afforded by the servos)

First flight with the new dx6 was good!! Had it's expo set:

Aile 100% / 35% expo
Elev 65% / 35% expo
Rudd 65% / 35% expo

Love this clip, just makes me want to do some inverts

Acrosport II by Wilson Brasil (4 min 26 sec)

The sttiP is actually a good platform to experiment with expo, just to see what it does at higher and lower rates.

The video is of an Acrosport II, it's actually not a Pitts...but the market is pretty well over-saturated with tiny little biplanes like the Pitts and few of them make any significant departures from the Pitts they copied.
Some are better than others, but the Starduster is a real POS unless you hang 300HP on the nose.

Y'know, Tex, he hangs upside down so long in that vid that my head hurts .

Inverted flight sucks...it doesn't matter how tight you get those lap belts, when you start pulling negative G's it always feels like you're going to fall out of the stupid plane LOL
All the dirt and pebbles you brought into the plane via your shoes flies up into your eyeballs (and if it's a cropduster, most likely chemical-laden as well), your wallet and cigarettes fly out of your pocket and into the wild blue yonder, the tools you keep in that little pocket underneath the throttle quadrant hit the mag switch and kill the engine, and that drink that you just opened sprays all over the windshield further inhibiting your dirt encrusted vision (and if it's a cropduster, the seals on the hopper door don't work and spray chemical on the outside of the windshield too).
Fortunately, the roll of paper towels you keep to clean the windshield off have anticipated the issue and are currently unrolling to fill the empty spaces of the cockpit and whipping around in an attempt to clean everything off.
Of course, this is in addition to what happened on takeoff, where the left tire ran over a cow patty and covered your shoulder with steaming globs while the other one flings mud on your right shoulder, the top of your head smeared with blood and feathers from the dove you scared up and flew into the prop, and since there's a crisp wind blowing in the morning...snot running across your cheeks because there is no heater and you're wearing leather flying gloves.
Ah yes, the thrill of an open-cockpit biplane...

Now where was I....oh yes.
The worst maneuver in aerobatics is starting into the box inverted for several seconds then immediately snapping to a 6G pull.
During inverted flight the capillaries in your brain constrict due to excess blood, so when you start pulling positive G's not only does your heart have to pump your blood at 6G's, it also has to do it through restricted blood vessels.
It's only impressive by order of the pilot's health and stamina, not so much visually...

That was, BY FAR, the best post in this entire forum!

You're a natural, Tex, and when all the mystery and magic of open-cockpit flight one day is no longer available to you, it will be time to write up all those favored memories of joy .

I'm still snickering.......