Originally Posted by kilabean

Still haven't found those damn battery charging adapters.
...

Thanks for reminding me I need to order mine tomorrow... LHS doesn't have a Hyperion supplier

EDIT
I see one of my other LHS carries some Hyperion products... I'll see if they can get me one

Originally Posted by North_of_49

Capt'n...

Thoses first wheels I had on, the T-28 ones (they're on my blog), were just pulled off their hubs and slid over the Champ's foam tires... literally less than a minute to do. I enlarged the hole a bit to make it easier but you probably wouldn't even need to. Mike put them on his, we'd have to ask him but I bet he just put them right on without modification.

My Du-Bro ones were a bit more work 'cause they have a tread on them that I wanted to get rid of. I'm going to make another set of them... was sitting on the front step preparing some touch-up paint and didn't notice the wind had rolled my Champ onto my cigarette so now one of my wheels has a big hole in it... arrrrhh, Billy! (whoops, that's Capt'n Highliner).

North Of 49... Cool Beans! I like the idea of slide on slide off tundra tires for the champ. I think I can handle that. You say the ones like that are the DUB200SL? If so, I found them on ebay for sale and will get them on the way as soon as I hear back from you. Capt'n Ron

Originally Posted by Nighthawk74

Yes you can. There are mixed views on this. I have this setup on my first Champ and it handles great. Then again I keep my flight times low, so I dont overheat the motor (6mins).

Okay thank you.

Originally Posted by mycaptain

Arghh! Here's my champ and UM T-28 flight log books. It's as simple as a piece of printer paper and an ink pen. Pretty fancy I say!

Capt'n Ron

My kind of Guy...K.I.S.S. I use a 4 X 6 spiral note book

Originally Posted by mycaptain

North Of 49... Cool Beans! I like the idea of slide on slide off tundra tires for the champ. I think I can handle that. You say the ones like that are the DUB200SL? If so, I found them on ebay for sale and will get them on the way as soon as I hear back from you. Capt'n Ron

Capt'n, I got the main landing gear for the T-28 (PKZ4406) recommended by North:
http://www.parkzone.com/Products/Def...ProdID=PKZ4406
After removing the wheels from the struts, I did insert a large drill bit into the center and worked the wheel on my thigh rolling it back and forth to widen the opening a bit more. I used a Popsicle stick that was concave at the top to help push the stock wheel into the Bush wheel.

Unfortunately, on my maiden, my Champ veered off to the left on an ROG, into the grass and the starboard wheel popped off. I lost both wheel hubs (or keepers) so, I removed the port side wheel and used the inside hub (wheel keeper) on the starboard side. I then used plenty of Sally Hansen Hard As Nails (clear) to form a hard ball at the end of each axle so those hubs would not come off again. I would imagine you could use CA too.

Mike.

Pre-maiden pic

Originally Posted by mycaptain

North Of 49... Cool Beans! I like the idea of slide on slide off tundra tires for the champ. I think I can handle that. You say the ones like that are the DUB200SL? If so, I found them on ebay for sale and will get them on the way as soon as I hear back from you. Capt'n Ron

Yup, those are the ones (see pic of package below).

Whether you use the Du-Bro or the Parkzone T-28 wheels you just need to pull the foam tires off their stock hubs. The T-28 ones are pure black, have no tread (like real Alaska Bushwheels) and have a bit of glue holding them onto their hubs... you can massage them off with your fingers and if you work them carefully you won't leave any foam behind on the glue. Here's info and what they look like...

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showp...02&postcount=1



The Du-Bro ones use no glue but they have a fairly large flange on either side of their hub so you need to snip that flange off one side and then the tire slides right off... like this...



They are a dark gray and have a tread on them which is why I bought the 2" version... so that after removing the tread (reducing their diameter in the process) they'd be the same size as the Parkzones (which need no tread removal). If you want to keep the tread the Du-Bro 1-3/4" Super Lite wheels are closer to the size you see on my Champ regardless of which version you're looking at. Here's the 2" Du-Bro wheels I modded (each one won't be 5.22g after you remove the plastic hub or wheel rim)...

click image




After you have either brand of tires off their stock hubs you can just slip them right over the Champ's stock tires... it'll be a tight fit but the Champ's foam tires will compress and this press fit will require no glue and you can remove them anytime you want! Just be aware that after those stock Champ foams compress they probably won't ever expand again Here's a pic of the compressed foams after removing my bushwheels to work on my gear...





I painted my Champ stock hubs to look like the real Alaska Bushwheel rims. Everything is on my blog, including a link to the real Bushwheel website

North of 49... I think I'll go with the t-28 main gear wheel set ($6.38 online) that chap1012 recomended. I will also get another champ landing gear wheel set so I can change back and forth. I guess the landing gear comes out. I haven't had to open her up yet. Knock on wood he he. I sometimes tape my key chain camera under her and less weight is always better. Thanks so much for your help.

Chap 1012... Thank you for your recomendation. The t-28 gear set it is!

I'll post a picture when I get em on. I just love this little plane, Capt'n Ron

Capt'n Yes, the landing gear just slides right out from the slot that keeps it. I too plan to order another stock set of landing gears so I can swap out as well. Ha, ha,,..After I made my post, I then realized you own a T-28. How convenient

@North,With those bush wheels on, have you attempted flying a loop? You may have mentioned it but, I forget

Mike.

Originally Posted by Chap1012

Capt'n
...

@North,With those bush wheels on, have you attempted flying a loop? You may have mentioned it but, I forget

Mike.

Hey, Mike...

Yeah, I was doing a bunch last night... 3 or 4 continuous ones as a matter of fact. Just get some altitude, face the wind if there's any, give if full throttle and then full forward on your ELE to put it into a steep dive to build some speed (only needs a couple of seconds, less if there's a headwind) then yank full back on the ELE stick. You'll lose a bit of altitude with each successive continuous loop if doing multiples. If I start off high enough I can pull 4 of them no problem... full throttle through the entire thing.

Sometimes, even when I'm not that high (40 or 50ft) I'll start my dive and begin the loop, then when I'm just coming over the top and am inverted parallel to the ground I'll push full forward on the ELE stick to try to retain inverted flight. The dihedral makes this challenging because it wants to self right...but, if you began the loop into the wind, you're now heading downwind when inverted which helps keep it from wanting to flip back over right-side-up. If you've kept the wings level throughout the whole maneuver and haven't accidentally added any "AIL" when slamming your ELE up and down you should be able to hold inverted for a good distance. If if rolls out of the invert right away then that looks cool too (see my 4th paragraph below).

Another thing to try, if you're not that high and want to to do a single loop and not lose too much altitude, is kill your throttle just as you come over the top crest of your loop and are heading into your dive... staying on full up ELE the whole time.

Another cool thing... again, just as you come over the top crest of a loop, flip your bird back over right-side-up with your "aileron." You'll not only not have lost any altitude (pretty much balances out with your pre-loop dive) but you'll probably have actually gained altitude. There's a name for it that escapes me but I used to practice them in the flight school in MS Flight Sim decades ago. It's a dog fight maneuver to both instantly change direction 180 degrees while also gaining a bunch of altitude (EDIT: Immelman... Aerobatic maneuver version ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immelmann_turn )




So, I got brave last night and decided to get the Champ out over the pavement again for some nice scale landings/rollouts. Hadn't done that since nosing in a couple of times on my first two flights when I first got it, which was also in a bit of a breeze Was dead calm last night near dark, so after I came in out of the field out back, I decided to finish off the battery by flying down the road 2 or 3 houses and about 20 to 30ft up (suburban neighborhood), doing a sharp turn so I didn't hit the street light pole, and gliding down to slightly powered 3 point flared landing and rollout at my feet. Consistently pulled off about 10 in a row then packed it in... with a big grin on my face

Came in just now from out back practicing flying in about 10 to 15mph winds... challenging but fun... I seem to have a good handle on that now compared to the first time I put it up in those kinds of winds and thought "shite, I need to get this thing back down right now!" Put 3 packs through it and landed each time into the wind killing the throttle and landing with 0 groundspeed like a heli right at my feet in the tall grass

I love this thing! Got my timer chips now so I think I'll work on my LED project today. Need to get those floats done too... got a ton of rain over the last week so there's standing water and huge puddles everywhere... don't need a rescue boat!



PS - I have a spare set of Champ landing gear as well that I keep stock. Haven't used 'em yet


Immelman... Aerobatic maneuver version




try a Split-S too... it's sort of the opposite of the (aerobatic) Immelman

Originally Posted by North_of_49

Hey, Mike...

So, I got brave last night and decided to get the Champ out over the pavement again for some nice scale landings/rollouts. Hadn't done that since nosing in a couple of times on my first two flights when I first got it, which was also in a bit of a breeze Was dead calm last night near dark, so after I came in out of the field out back, I decided to finish off the battery by flying down the road 2 or 3 houses and about 20 to 30ft up (suburban neighborhood), doing a sharp turn so I didn't hit the street light pole, and gliding down to slightly powered 3 point flared landing and rollout at my feet. Consistently pulled off about 10 in a row then packed it in... with a big grin on my face

Came in just now from out back practicing flying in about 10 to 15mph winds... challenging but fun... I seem to have a good handle on that now compared to the first time I put it up in those kinds of winds and thought "shite, I need to get this thing back down right now!" Put 3 packs through it and landed each time into the wind killing the throttle and landing with 0 groundspeed like a heli right at my feet in the tall grass

I love this thing! Got my timer chips now so I think I'll work on my LED project today. Need to get those floats done too... got a ton of rain over the last week so there's standing water and huge puddles everywhere... don't need a rescue boat!

PS - I have a spare set of Champ landing gear as well that I keep stock. Haven't used 'em yet

North, ditto on the pavement landings. The large wheels make it not only fun but safer, especially if your street has the usual ticks and pops like mine. With enough landing speed to keep the tail up the look is very neat and it's fun to practice that finesse. ( My first ever nose-over was on a brand new Stinson while taxiing before I even got to fly.) With the stock Champ wheels I lived in fear of a nose-over which, on the hard, isn't pretty. Ditto also on the wind and the extra mass down below adds stability. Before I added the cub wheels, in the wind there was frequently a flip-over when the wind caught a tip and now it's not only less frequent but more stable when it does happen - and it does

Airhead600cc...

I hear ya, man

Hey I never did mention that i pretty much nailed the yellow/orange Champ paint color when I found my fluorescent yellow and orange acrylics and added some to my home brew mix... which was already a mix of pure orange and yellow with white and the Folk Art Tangerine.

Now that I've nailed it, I bought a new Champ fuse w/electronics and the color is a bit different... I suspect each batch of factory paint varies a bit... my stock fuse is actually a bit more orange than the wing and tail feathers. In fact, my latest home brew, although slightly lighter than the original fuse, matches the wing exactly. Now that I think about it, my replacement fuse and old wing/tail and current batch of paint are a perfect match to each other. And I even already had a spare fuse (not with electronics), tail and wing... I should open them and check out their colors, maybe I can mix and match

But adding the fluorescents to the mix did exactly what I suspected it would... kept up the brightness and saturation I see in the stock paint.

Mike, I edited post #16283 if you already read it


Capt'n Ron,
you have a pm, sir.

I believe the first manuever you described is called an Immelman. It is named after Max Immelman who developed it to use during dogfights in WWI.

Originally Posted by chucksolo69

I believe the first manuever you described is called an Immelman. It is named after Max Immelman who developed it to use during dogfights in WWI.

Yes... thanks, chuck...

... I added that to my post shortly after I made it... with pictures

So North, When can we see the "High & Low Yo-Yo's"

Mike.

Originally Posted by North_of_49

Airhead600cc...

I hear ya, man

Hey I never did mention that i pretty much nailed the yellow/orange Champ paint color when I found my fluorescent yellow and orange acrylics and added some to my home brew mix... which was already a mix of pure orange and yellow with white and the Folk Art Tangerine.

Now that I've nailed it, I bought a new Champ fuse w/electronics and the color is a bit different... I suspect each batch of factory paint varies a bit... my stock fuse is actually a bit more orange than the wing and tail feathers. In fact, my latest home brew, although slightly lighter than the original fuse, matches the wing exactly. Now that I think about it, my replacement fuse and old wing/tail and current batch of paint are a perfect match to each other. And I even already had a spare fuse (not with electronics), tail and wing... I should open them and check out their colors, maybe I can mix and match

But adding the fluorescents to the mix did exactly what I suspected it would... kept up the brightness and saturation I see in the stock paint.

HAHAHA
Been working on the colour myself and I agree about the variance from fuse to fuse. I bought a spare for my winter project and it's 1-2% darker/intense. I wonder if we're experiencing some UV fade on our flying planes?? I hear you fly pretty close to the sun and that'll do it.
I experimented with mixing a bit (10%) of 628 Pure Orange to the Tangerine and painted a patch where I had removed the tape which pulled of the original colour. Next to it I painted the Tangerine straight and waited 24 hours! The Tangerine was a smidge lighter than stock and the mix was a smudge darker so I'd try less Orange next mix? But, neither matched the surface reflection of the original. So...
I then coated both with Americana ( same section of the store as FolkArt paint ) Duraclear Satin Varnish. The mix is much better than the Tangerine alone and the varnish snaps it up a bit and blends it to the lustre of the original paint but it's missing something and I suspect it is the fluorescent...But close enough for my girl.
You know, there are websites where the forums are monitored by the manufacturers so that they can be on top of what enthusiasts are doing and make improvements so IF YOU"RE LISTENING WHY DON"T YOU SELL THE PAINT!!!