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Hey Guys,
Some great news - my Gamebird is back in the air and I have finished the structural clearances which means the repair is validated. I've enclosed the pictures below. These document the after effects of the crash, the repair procedure and the end result. As you can see from the initial picture when I recovered too low from the knife edge spin what caused all the drama was the wing tube cannon balling through the fuselage. The repair procedure was the following, *Take the left over balsa bits and glue them back into place to ensure the fuselage was appropriately aligned. At this stage of the repair the plane was effectively held together by tooth picks but it was necessary for the alignment. *Once that was done I applied a truck load of Carbon fibre to reinforce and restore the structural integrity. The other thing I did is where the wing clips are I put some 3mm ply underneath to reinforce this. It really is the Jesus bolt because that's what you say when it fails! *For the wing a very effective repair procedure for the damaged leading edge is to pop your finger where the balsa is, pop into place and hit it with thin CA. I had to do a little shimming with some balsa with the wings to make sure they where flush but given where I started from I can live with it. The re maidening process has been fascinating. After the experience of nailing the c.g with my Edge V2 I knew I had missed the window with c.g on the Gamebird. I really addressed that on the Gamebird and a lot of the ills I reported in my original report has been addressed. This has to be the most razor sensitive plane to c.g I have every flown. The only real quirk it has now is paying attention to when you exit from a knife edge spin. However this is something that can be easily addressed and given the severity of the hit I can live with that. Anyway enjoy the pics |
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Glad you have her ready to go again. Anxious to read your flight report.
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Hey Guys,
Many thanks for the kind words. So here is the flight report. It flew as straight as an arrow. Apart from the pitch trim it was identical trim as before the repair. The reason the pitch trim was different was different was I really dialled in the c.g. In my first 10 flights with the Gamebird she was bouncing around like a bucking bronco. I did have neutral handling but coming out of an inverted harrier she would pitch up and then after rifle rolls the pitch characteristics where all over the place. Anyway when I started to dial in my Edge 60" v2 I was seeing exactly the same things, albeit on a significantly milder scale. I kept moving the c.g forward on the edge and it tidied it right up. Applying this lesson on c.g tuning to the Gamebird yielded handsome dividends. I'm running a HobbyKing Nanotech 4000mAh 6S battery and I put in about 30g of ballast on the front nose and it came really good. The pitch inconsistencies are gone so I have the confidence to really push now. The only thing I would say is I have some slight roll coupling in knife flight but it's nothing I can't handle. The only tell tale sign of the crash is in the knife edge spin I really have to be paying attention on the recovery. I have no doubt there are some elements of wing repair I need to tidy up. That being said the harrier and precision performance is bullet proof so it's a bit of a head stumper. In some respects that behaviour duplicates my Velox. In terms of where this sets where the Gamebird rules the roost is it's control authority. I'm running the ProModelor DS 160 servos and the Gamebird flies with the abandon of a 52" plane. The control authority is insane! The only downside of the Gamebird compared to the Edge and Extra is it doesn't quite has the forward smash of those two. The major thing that keeps me awake at night about the repair is the latches that hold the wings on. Reinforcing this was very tricky. Realistically I'm giving myself another 4 flight to dial the plane in and then she goes into storage. Personally I think I will get about 50 - 60 more flights out of this before she is structurally done. However that should be more then enough to cover me if the Edge or Extra go down and I'm waiting for a replacement. Here's the pic after the remaiden. |
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Hi Dan,
I am so impressed with your adventures and repairs to the Gamebird, just thought you might like to know I have an identical Gamebird still in its box only 1200 Km west of you in S.A. Realistically my current circumstances are that I am unlikely to be building this in the short term and if your replacement turns out to be a long time away keep this in mind. Cheers Gian Young Adelaide. |
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16/7 Xoar.
Hurry up and get your ready. |
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Gian,
Hey mate many thanks for your kind words. I will definitely keep this in mind. Realistically I was talking to Mark Gilchrist from DA Australia yesterday and even though the repair is cleared I reckon the airframe will most likely last 50 flights from now. Beyond that I am playing Russian Roulette. I had a minor stack yesterday where I just lost control orientation - No biggy and easily fixed. Personally I think it's some minor colour blindness making it's presence felt. However now I am aware of that I can fly around it. That being said now I have the plane dialled in the thing that really impresses me is the control authority and what a great all rounder it is. However the real trick with this thing is nailing the c.g. Once you have that it comes alive. All the Best Danny |
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Positive feedback oscillation is my guess. Piece of Velcro should sort the issue. More information here;
https://www.promodeler.com/askJohn/R...k-oscillations |
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Hey Guys,
Let me re-iterate what John said. Had the same thing happen on one of the aileron servos on my Gamebird. Applied the fix and zero flight issues. All the Best Danny |
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Red Gamebird is in the house. Wow is this ever a nice looking model! I’ve got my electronics all set up now. I’ll start some real construction tomorrow. People keep giving me jobs…. Cuts into my building time.
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Last edited by OldERookie; Jan 05, 2022 at 07:51 PM.
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