I flew the Pitts with my new Futaba T7UAF Super transmitter for the first time today.

I set up the new transmitter with 80% exponential, which is considerably more than the 20% expo described as a good starting point in Don Edburg's programming manual. 20% did not offer any visible change in control surface behavior, so I kept increasing the expo % until I could see a distinct change, and settled on 80% for all axis. I liked the way the Pitts flew. It was gusty today, with a moderate breeze. The Pitts was not overy dificult to fly in this condition, which I attribute to the expo. I don't think it would have been nearly as easy with my older transmitter. I really like the small movement 80% expo offerred around the neutral point, as the airplane really doesn't need much control input to fly.

I find myself desiring more power, and am seriously considering jumping up to the Headsup R/C 4248-06 600 KV motor with APC 15x8E prop, and 11.1v 4200 35C Lipo battery. This would increase thrust from 60 to 96 oz. The model weight would increase from 67 to 71 oz., which results in a 1.35 thrust to weight ratio.

Cheers,

Rick

Well, after many months of trying, I finally have some video of quality worthy of posting. To bad my flying skills were not...

Pitts Special (3 min 3 sec)

Enjoyed the video, thanks for posting. I've got a 48"ws scratch built that is 3 maybe 4 years old still in the bones. I've never built the cowl for it but have done a fair amount of head scratching on the matter. Please tell your Dad thanks for showing us how it's done.
I think its time to finish her up.

PS. Replace your divots please

Originally Posted by prunner

Enjoyed the video, thanks for posting. I've got a 48"ws scratch built that is 3 maybe 4 years old still in the bones. I've never built the cowl for it but have done a fair amount of head scratching on the matter. Please tell your Dad thanks for showing us how it's done.
I think its time to finish her up.

PS. Replace your divots please

Hi Prunner,

In case it isn't obvious, Dad built the cowls from flat wrapped paper paterns. The cowl material is the plastic overhead projector overlay sheets covered in film to match. We simply wrap the plastic just like the full scale Pitts uses sheet aluminum, and hold it in place with wood screws. My original idea was to layup a lam or two of fiberglass onto flat aluminum, and cut it out post-cure to match the flat patterns. Dad's sheet plastic idea requires less work.

Yep, time to complete your Pitts, and post some pics and video.

Thanks for posting.

As I recall you are using a 50 amp rated speed control with a linear type battery eliminator circuit. Use of linear type BEC circuits can lead to a low- voltage-to-receiver condition known as brownout when you are using a 3 or 4 cell lipo pack and four or more servos. If voltage to your reciever drops to too low a level, you can lose control and crash. This is a more frequent problem with 2.4Ghz receivers but it can happen with 72MHz receivers also.
To prevent brownout/loss of control, you can change to a speed control with a switch mode BEC circuit such as the Castle Creations ICE series or install an add on switch mode BEC such as the Park BEC or Sport BEC sold by Dimension Engineering. You can read the FAQ's and see installation PDF's on DE's website: http://www.dimensionengineering.com/

Since you have not experienced unexplained crashes yet, this post may sound like crackpot advice but adding on a $20 aor $40 switch mode BEC device is cheap insurance.

After numerous inquiries, I am happy to report that the drawings for Pitts S-1 are now available to purchase. The price is $45 + shipping.

Send me a PM if you are interested in purchasing a set of drawings with your email and shipping addresses. We will send an invoice to your email address using Paypal, and if you approve the transaction, we will ship your drawings to the address provided.

Cheers,

Rick