Here are some initial pics of the mayhem to come! Remember this is (WAS) a 40 size trainer which will soon suffer from a case of terminal thrust! This thing is going airborne whether it wants to or not!!!

Worked a bit more on the aft firewall tonight and might get a chance to epoxy it in, so the fuse is about 1/2" shorter than in the pics.

Question though: should I be worried that I've already started that nervous laughing thing? You know, the kind just before you pull a prank on someone?

Still working on a name. hmmm.

It's been some time since I last blogged. Got the Solo Star up and flying and enjoying being back in the air. Besides a few other projects and work, it's been a busy last few months.

I have to say that I quickly became disappointed in the Solo Star though. Due to the extreme thrust angle it was very difficult to settle into level flight without it ballooning on throttle up or the nose falling off upon cutting to idle. It actually made landings more challenging. And while I had checked all the joints (I thought) sufficiently, I ended up suffering a firewall detachment during a landing. All things being equal damage was minimal and the repair was quickly made. However, I soon noticed an irritating buzzing under mid-throttle so much so that I again took her apart.

Following more repairs and a correction to the thrust angle she did fly better but the buzzing persisted. I brought it straight back in and angrily drove home. I had enough and decided that I was going to totally re-do the fuse... hmmm.

After much thought I decided to radically depart from it's original design (insert evil scientist laughter here)!!! Oh yes, my evil plan will come to fruition!

The plan goes something like this: Following a massive amputation of tail section the rear tail feathers will be harvested and reused. The horizontal stab will be reattached to the bottom of the fuse, forward of main landing gear and just aft of the front. A rear firewall will be added. I may add 1 or 2 vert stabs somewhere but delete the rudder control. This puppy will be reborn with TWO engines!!!! The OS 40 will remain up front and I'll strap my old Supertiger 61 aft as a pusher!!! Muhahahahah!

I'm thinking "Frankenstar" or "Zombistar"! Love to hear your ideas!

Not sure what the outcome will be but I do know it will be a whole lot of UGLY!

Pics to follow.

Saturday morning, after finishing the throttle linkage, I took the plane outside to fire up the motor. After it had set unkept in a bucket out in the garage for almost 10 years, I was a bit worried if it would run or not. Thankfully, after 20 fridged minutes of flipping the prop, it finally jumped to life (mostly due to me being out of practice!). It ran backwards for a while until it warmed up, then kicked off just like it shouldwith a little coaxing. I was quite surprised that I had it close to being dialed in, and with a little more tweaking, it was motoring along just as it should. I let it run at a rich 1/4 throttle for 2-3 minutes before leaning it out a little more. Tests to 1/2 and WOT went very well with no hesitation. I let it set at 3/4 throttle for another 2-3 minutes while I checked the rest of the airframe for any problems and vibrations. Too cold, I cut it short and retreated back inside!!

Back at it on Sunday evening, I finished the remaining control linkages and ran her through about 40 minutes of deflection testing to check for any problems. I performed the initial COG balance test and all was fine. I'm happy to note that she's fully ready for her maiden flight! Problem is that we're leaving for a couple weeks, so it will be at least 4 weeks until I'm able.

In the meantime, I'm starting to work on camera mounting ideas and seeing which will work the best for my uses.

Well, it couldn't be helped. I decided to rid the supercub of all the stickers and try something that would appeal to my (almost) 3 year old son. He's still a huge fan of the Disney/Pixar film "Cars", so I thought this was fitting. Rarely have I ever heard such a loud and emotional "WOW!!!!!!!!!"; he really got a kick out of it.

Cool what you can do with a little packing tape, a Marks-A-Lot pen for eyes, and a bit of felt for the tongue.

Didn't have much time last night, but did get a little prep time in for the control lines and such. I had to turn the rudder servo 180 for clearance also. Completed electrical centering on the servos, test fit and planned on throttle and front steering gear control modifications for clearance. Getting excited with the progress I'm making so far.

Other items I worked on were cleaning out my old fuel can and pump. There was a little fuel left in the bottom and some sludge, so it was a chore to get that old oil out.

This weekend I'm shooting for firing up the engine and performing some initial carb adjustments.

Sorry, no pictures today.

After some soaking and scrubbing, I reassembled the OS 40 and lubed it with WD40. The WD-40 really helped breaking down some of the internal glazing. The mainshaft and carb are like silk and I'm very pleased.

Motor mount and firewall: some things I noted here was that the motor mount is quite long, actually about a 1/2" longer than one I had for my Supertiger 61. It is also angled down quite a bit.

Engine clearance issues: needle valve is a bit into the firewall. Right side of the mount is flush, but the left is over 1/8th high. Zipped it down so I'd have plenty of room to adjust it, rounded the corners and painted the exposed wood with CA. Might paint it white to match.

Engine installed and fuel lines connected.

Here's a peek at the thrust line angle; seems a bit low to me, but I'm not an engineer!

Trainers are good foundations for RCAP: high wing load, stable flight, low stall and landing speeds, etc. There are a few downsides however. The biggest one I faced was finding a trainer with NO dihedral. In all of my searching I don't think I found a trainer with semisymetrical wings and NO dihedral.

The main reason for not wanting dihedral is with flight control. I don't want to have to compensate with rudder, aileron, AND elevator during a foto pass: I want to change the attitude and stay there.

This kit called for 4 1/2" at the end of the wingspan. Without redoing the spar and creating a wedge to fill the void I was only comfortable with reducing it to about 2 1/2" with a bit of fill; better but not the best. Finish height ended up about 3" after drying, so the tape might have been a little tight or it shifted on the support. Eventually I might replace the wing or redo it, but for now I'll leave it be.

Fitting the two members together was easy and straight forward. It would have been easier if I would have installed to spec. There were only a couple issues with the two halves not being quite exact, but I can't complain. Ailerons and hinges were a breeze, just make sure to center those hinges in the slots and monitor your epoxy use so as not to jam them up.

Aileron servo tray was easy, but a bit tedious. I would have thought someone would come up with a better system for this by now.

Servo installed: Again I'll have to admit...Continue Reading

I finally picked out the Hangar9 Solo Star 40 as my AP platform. Here's the fuse right out of the box with the landing gear in place just to keep the belly off the table. I'm not really excited about the look of it, but it does have a lot of interior room which is what I'll want in the future.

Inside compartment is roughly 12" long X 3 1/8" wide X 4 1/2" high. Views forward and aft (interior) show how roomy it is. Very clean build.

Servo tray and fuel tank installed. The kit came with a 322cc tank (about 1 1/2 cups). I had a larger 450cc tank (about 2 cups) from my old 60 trainer, that I wanted to run. It's a little extra weight but I like the idea of increasing my flight times for inclemet weather or heavier loads. I want to emphasize here that in the manual it suggests you test fit your servos prior to installing them. DO THIS!!!! I didn't and was regretting it. Luckily I had an old router bit for my Dremel, so it was a quick fix.

Servos and switch installed. I started second guessing myself here. I think in the future I'll want to create a left-facing, interior camera bay either forward or aft of the main gear. I guess I'll figure that one out later. Second issue was during test fit of the front gear and throttle control: both are experiencing some rub against the larger fuel tank. They also included some plastic yellow sleaves which are pretty hokey (not pictured); both create a significant amount of friction. Not so bad for the...Continue Reading

Selecting the proper airframe and configuration for aerial photography has been challenging. For one reason or another I haven't liked many options I've seen so far. I was shooting for 40 or 60 sized as I still have my OS 40 and SuperTiger 61, Airtronics Vangard (6 channel) and 6 servos. That being said, my hardware is over 10 years old. The Airtronics doesn't have any mixing options, but does have gear and flap (3 position) switches, which I'll be using for camera shutter and tilt. The 40 was in great shape with few hours. It did survive a crash and came out unscathed. The 61 was well used when I got it and I put quite a bit of time on it, too. I really don't want to have to purchase a new radio and use one of the two engines for this project.

I've considered several options, most of them electric, such as the MagpieAP, Slow Stick and others. I'll admit I know little about electrics and see significant potential for some of my uses, but I'm limited in knowledge with them and would like to stick with what I know and have had success with in the past. What I do know about the many of the electrics is that wind does have a great effect on them. This project I'll be shooting is in a very challenging flight environment and will carry through the winter also.

As I stated in my first blog post, I work for a construction company and we're working to pick up a pretty significant project in the near future. I'm not fully comfortable discussing what kind of project...Continue Reading

One of the major advancements in RC has been with electric. When I first started flying, electric cars and boats were the norm, along with gas too. Not so for flying.

I picked up a used Parkzone Supercub from a local guy (also on this forum) and have enjoyed it a lot. I took the kids out a couple weeks ago and my 2 year old son had an absolute blast. "Papa! Plain!!![sic]...DOWN??... lets see it!!!" I had so much fun flying it for him that I picked up the drop attachment that came with a little paracute guy. Unfortunately the weather has turned pretty cold, so Mama won't let them out to fly with me.

While fun to fly, the Supercub is pretty frustrating in it's limitations: no ailerons suck! Plus any wind at all really throws it around, especially unexpected gusts. And I'm very untrusting of battery life in using it for anything other than really close flying and lack of power if I get into a down-wind situation. I've had a couple scares already and a few rough landings due to wind. Where I'm at isn't Wyoming, but it sure as heck isn't calm most of the time.

In any case, I think I'll pick up a tiny little camera for it just for fun!

I recently returned to RC after about a 10 year hiatus... pretty bad when you can't remember how long ago you last took to the air! I really did enjoy flying for the pure enjoyment but I really got into aerial photography.

During my bachelors degree in Anthropology, I was at an archaeological dig one summer (late 90's). We were excavating some pithouses that were eroding from a road cut bank and to make way for a new bridge the local highway district was to construct. This was an absolute shoe-string budget scenario, but we did earn credits, which was nice. During research on any aerial photography of the area we were digging, I was frustrated to find that the latest photos were taken back in the 50's. Getting someone to over fly and take pictures would have cost hundreds; money we didn't have.

One night we were discussing that lack of timely aerial photos was often a problem. In fact, the year previous, there was a dig not far away near where a mammoth was found during a state wetlands project. With no money to spend for aerial photography, we were sure that other surface level evidence might have been missed.

Months later, during the next fall semester, I was having issues coming up with a subject for a report that was quickly coming due. While walking through a hobby store in the mall the light bulb went off. A few bucks later I had the basis for my report!

I quickly went home and put together my Hobbytown 40 sized trainer that evening. I had...Continue Reading