Slaanesh

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BadLemon

Hi all you Huckebein Fans out there I've got 5 flights on my Huck this week but I'm sorry to say no pic's or video. The first time out I got 3 flights but left my camera at home, I did take some pic's with my cell phone but for some reason I can't download them. Today I got 2 more flights before the Sun went down and so far so good my ROG's have been uneventful and very easy. I apply full power build up speed once it starts to rotate I reduce power and reduce elevator to a slow climb. One thing I noticed is every time at liftoff the huck rotates to the left slightly then I have compensate with right aileron. It's not a big deal but I'm going to try the leverage trick and put a small amount of weight to the right wing tip to compensate. I've done this on my prop planes to stop torque roll and it has worked great so lets see if this will help. I'm picking up a key chain cam and have made a mount to put it on the wing. So hopefully I 'll get some in flight video this weekend. I'll post video as soon as I have it.

Hey badlemon, sounds great, you must have the most successful flights here. When you say, when it starts to rotate, how do you mean?

regards

Rob

[QUOTE=moocowfish;18765675]Hey badlemon, sounds great, you must have the most successful flights here. When you say, when it starts to rotate, how do you mean?

regards

Rob[/QUO
Hi Rob

I should of said rolls to the left sorry I was half asleep. Look back on page 3 post #33 of the video I posted one of my flights, you will see what I mean. I think the reason I am successful is because I "ROG" rise of grass so I could build speed before I lift off. But I could tell it wants to pitch up but I reduce power and release back pressure the moment it lifts off. I also notice that with throttle management I could control the pitch as well. The Huck is a tricky plane to fly and getting the plane airborne is harder then flying and landing it. Landing is a breeze it whats to glide forever.


Doug

Just an update to all you Hucksters out there! I still have not be able to get some in flight video and it is killing me. Last Tuesday I went to the flying field to test my camera first on my Alfa F-86 then move it over to my Huck. Well the flight didn't go well, 30 seconds into the flight the F-86 started to roll out of control I save it twice but had to pull back on the power I got it leveled off but was to low to make it back to the field so I landed it in the cornfield. In short I looked for it in the cornfield until dark but could find it, I even had my transmitter but couldn't hear any noise from it at all. The next day I went out with a friend and we used my GPS to track our search and we found it about 150 feet in the field. I expected to find it in a few pieces but the corn Gods took pity on me it was all in one piece! It looked like it land in the row I could of put a new battery in and fly it right there. But that scared me because when I was looking for it the day before I got no response from it not even from the fan. When I got home I downloaded the video got the thing on video 45 minutes worth. I played the hole video and never heard one servo move so I replace my receiver to be save.

But as for the videos for the Huck this weeks weather here in Illinois have been very Hot! Record Temps and humidity! Too Dam Hot this week! And it has rained very hard all weekend as well we got +5 inches of rain and more on the way.

Also I have a new Alfa Ta-183 kit! I purchased it from Slaanesh! across the pond it arrived safe and sound. I'm going to store the kit until I retire mine. I was also thinking of building it and hang it on display in my shop until it is called into duty. Will see.. But I did get a chance of a life time! I found a Fiberglass 90mm Ta-183 that Steve Neill made back in the mid 2000. Ever sense I stared flying my Alfa Huck and found out about Steve's kit I wanted one for over 2 years now. Well know I got one! It is going to be shipped to me this week and I can't wait to get it! I know their has been many post about a small production release on this kit but this has come to a screeching halt do to so behind the scenes problems. I'm sure their will be a re-release in the future but when is the question and I'll will leave it at that.

I attached some pic's of the Steve Neill Ta-183 Huckenbein. Also my daughter told me she thinks the word "Huckenbein" translates to Hunch-Back? does anybody know for sure?

So I plan to get some more flights on the Huck this week the weather looks to be better but we will see!

Well I was able to get out today and fly the Ta-183 Huckebein. I got 3 flights but was only able to get 1 video form a key-chain cam mounted on my hat. I killed the battery recording my F-86 Sabre and my Reactor Bi-plane. I been getting better at my ROG technique. I build up speed and give a tap on the elevator then decrease back pressure a small amount and at the same time decrease throttle. You can see and hear this in the video. I've been wanting to get some video on a sunny day but we have had just one storm after another this season. It has been very hot in the upper 90's and the humidity has been in the 70 to 90% range. So enjoy the video and hopefully I should have some more soon. I've been working on a way to mount the key-chain cam to the Huck I got it to work with the F-86 but not the Huck, should have some in flight video soon.. I hope.. I did have a crash today I lost my F-86 on the 3rd flight everything was going well I was setting up for a landing and the Sabre didn't respond it just kept flight South. I lost it behind a tree "The only tree we have at the field" and it went in. The nose is bad and I did destroy the receiver as well. A few weeks ago I had almost the same thing happen, I blamed it on the high Temps that it shutdown the ESC. But know I blame the receiver. I did have the key-chain cam on the F-86 when it went in so I'm going to look at it tonight. I will post it on youtube so keep an eye out. Well that is it for know The Huck has been flying great! and I'm really starting to relax and enjoy the way it fly's. It's not an aerobatic but it looks very mean in the air and is fun to fly. Lastly if you look at the flight time I almost pushed 8 minutes! I checked the battery and voltage was still at 3.87 volts per cell. The battery is recharging now so well see what it took out of it. I don't what to fly that long but I was having a good time! My Bad!

Doug

ta183aug5f1 (9 min 36 sec)

Was a real nice day to fly yesterday sun was shining winds where low. I thought I was going to get several flights but I was wrong. About 5 minutes into the flight I lost the motor I was lucky to be coming out of a turn and lined up to the field. It was a long landing but I got the Huck down safe. I pulled the battery and it checked fine. I then took the tail section off and could feel that the motor was still hot. This was not normal for a inrunner motor I have check the motor temp before before and it was in the low 100deg but this time it felt way above that and even after 5 minutes of cool down. After the motor cooled off I ran the motor again but it started to heat up quick so I guess the motor is toast! Luckily I have another motor so I should be back in the air this weekend.

Here is my first in-flight video of the Huck I also attached a pic of how I mounted the camera. I have a a second NIB Huck so I used the base of the canopy, works very well.

huck0812F1.AVI (6 min 36 sec)

I guess this thread is dead

Originally Posted by BadLemon

I guess this thread is dead

Ah, I hope not - I've been lurking because I've got one of these kits but it's not yet in the construction pipeline.
This thread has been informative reading and I for one, thank you and the others for your input. It will probably be several months before I get around to putting mine together, but I appreciate head-start which is possible by seeing what you've done.
Hope yours is still flying!
Steve

Hi Steve

Glad to hear this I did have some new events with my Ta-183 starting last week. On my third to last flight While coming out of a turn I lost my motor, lucky I was down field and low enough to setup for a long landing but I got her down safely. It looks like the ESC over heated and melted the heatshrink covering. So I pulled the motor and ESC and put a backup EDF unit with a higher 4500Kv motor installed and a 36amp ESC. Tuesday we had a club meeting at the field so I came with the Ta-183. I got the jet ready to fly and in talking to a couple of club members I forgot that I had the new EDF unit installed so I powered up like I normally do I forgot that this motor was a 4500Kv and not the 3700Kv that I had in it. The Ta-183 shot down the field and up into the air so quick it was ground looping before I could even react It landed inverted and broke one of the elevators off when she hit. An easy fix but I was mad at my self for letting that happen. I fixed the elevator and flew the Ta-183 3 times yesterday and on the forth flight I ground looped it again but I was lucky it landed flat with no damage. I came to the conclusion that the 4500Kv motor has to much thrust for this jet even in flight if I punched the throttle even from half to full throttle the jet would pull almost vertical if I let it. I'm going to pull the 4500Kv out and pickup a new 3700Kv motor to replace it.

I recorded the first ground loop crash but haven't uploaded it yet I will do that when I get home and post it. I still want to move to hand launching the Ta-183 and now sense it has more damage I think I'll start learning to launch it that way. The takeoffs is the hardest thing to learn with this Jet once it is up in the air it flys great just don't make knife edge turns keep the speed up in the turn and you will be fine. The jet will loop roll and even fly inverted that is something to see but don't turn inverted my snap out of the turn on me. It about stalled the the plane luckly I was high enough I pushed the nose over to build speed and pull out. I like this jet so much I purchased a second kit so I have a backup from Slaanesh he shipped me the kit from Melbourne he has posted several good tips on flying the Huck.

Steve when you get ready to start you build post it will do a group build that would be fun. Well back to work lunch is over I'll post the video later to night.

Doug

Good to hear from you Doug

I've only been flying prop-driven planes so far, and although I've read a fair bit about EDFs and their habits and ways, I've still not actually flown one. My son and I kind-of like the sinister look of the Huck, so we picked up a couple of kits last year with the aim of flying them together when my skills are up to it (Junior is way better than I am and has maidened three different EDF models, so he's up for it).

I was wondering mods should be made to the kit - not because of any reason other than that it was originally designed quite a while ago for low-powered motors and fans and I know things have moved on a bit. We talked to a bloke at our club field last weekend who was very disappointed with his Huck - he was constantly battling with its tendency to insist on climbing when the throttle was opened up. He seemed about ready to give the whole thing a miss after several unsuccessful flights and near-terminal crashes. The tip that is recommended to lower the trailing edge of the horizontal stabiliser by 1/8 of an inch was interesting - will definitely look carefully into that one.

These are the fan+motor combinations that I was thinking of using - I've got two of them, but haven't fired them up on the bench yet to see the power and thrust figures.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/RC-70mm-D...item415c9149b3
I'm sure the quoted static thrust figure is exaggerated to the point of being complete BS, I'm expecting about 700 to 800g static thrust on 3S.

I'm also thinking of putting some 18 g/m2 glass cloth on the fuses of our two Hucks and whetting that down with water-based polyurethane - don't want to add too much weight, but something to give it a little more resistance to damage on belly-landing.

No worries about doing a group-build mate - that's a great idea At the moment, it's winter time here in Oz of course, and we've copped a lot of rain. Our field is a bog at the moment, won't be flying for a few weeks at least - but that's life!

All the best Doug - looking forward to working with you.
Steve

I actually sold the NIB kit to Doug but guess what - I've in the mean time sourced another one!
So I'm back in the Alfa Model TA-183 brigade! :-)

I agree with Doug about not over-thrusting it... this model simply doesn't need it. My original TA-183 ran fine on the recommended MP-Jet 25/25-26 motor - all 120W of it.

The beauty is that the Alfa Model EDFs are very efficient and clean models so they don't need the big thrust-to-weight ratios of the more modern kits.

I was in two minds about glassing my second TA-183 too - I think glassing the forward nose section and underbelly is a good idea - but I wouldn't do any more than that.

Thanks for the advice on thrust levels Slaanesh - what you're saying makes sense.

As for glassing - yes, I was thinking of around the nose and then down along the fuse underside. If I end up going for it, I'll only use the really lightweight stuff from HK and be sparing with the WBPU. Dunno yet, might have to put some cloth down on some sample pieces of foam and see what can be done with it.

Hi Steve and Slaanesh!

Glad to hear form the both of you from across the big pond! Slaanesh couldn't stay away from the Ta-183 mate! She gets in your blood dosen't she!

Steve
I agree you should reduce the reflex to about 2.5 to 3mm and glassing the bottom is a must. But in my opinion the edf unit you want to use has too much thrust even if you run it with 3s packs. My huck weights just over 500g and the edf unit I originally had in it produced about 450g. Then when I replaced the edf unit this one produced 570g and that is when my problems started. I could fly the Huck with the hotter setup but I have to use a lot of throttle management on takeoff. My opinion is that the Hucks best power to weight ratio is about .75 to 1. Even with my 450g edf unit I could ROG "Rise Off Grass'' with it so I think your setup will be to high of thrust for the Huck. The only other thing you could try is run a 2s pack but at a higher amp rate but again that unit may not run well on 2s pack. The one other thing is the unit you have a 70mm edf unit and the one that comes with the Huck is 60mm unit so you will need to modify the edf mounts, intake and thrust tube but it could be easily done. I'm running the stock edf unit with the 5 blade fan and a EFlite 3700Kv inrunner motor 25 amp esc and a 3 cell thunderpower 2100 20c pack. Well hope this helps and as you can see Slaanesh has chimed in he has a lot of experience to bring to the table and the best thing he is from Australia! I don't know how close you are to one another but he is always willing to help. I just uploaded my crash footage of the Huck with the hotter setup so take a look what to much thrust will do with not enough air speed. Sorry no audio something is going on with the key chain cam I have what do you expect for $12 bucks!

huck0818gl1.wmv (0 min 46 sec)

I have been talking to a RCG member from Germany I purchase a discontinued Steve Neill 90mm Ta-183 kit from him. He has a lot of experience with the building and flying Hucks. One thing he told me that the Huck needs a few degrees of down thrust to keep the nose down. I think this would help in takeoffs as well because this is what happen to me I didn't even apply up elevator yet and in the video you can see it was the thrust that pulled the nose up that caused the Huck to ground loop like it did. I Spent some time last night looking over my original motor and found this is a EFlite 4200KV not a 3700Kv like I thought. But but it is 3000 RPM's lower then the 4500Kv motor. I took some resistance measurments and found that the motor is still in spec's so I'm going to run the motor and see if it good or not. I found the the max temp should not exceed 220deg. I thought the inrunners ran cooler then that so maybe what I thought was hot was normal and is so I may of just burnt out the speed controller. Will see....