More Model Airplane Misadventures
Well, I went out to fly 2 of my planes last week. How did it go? Not terribly well.
First, here's the 2 I took. My Flying Aces Moth (orange and yellow) and my Comet Cloud Buster (red and yellow).
The light, intermittent breeze from earlier in the day changed to a near constant one after I got off work. Would have been a good day to fly a kite. Unfortunately I didn't bring one. The field where I prefer to fly is next to a kids soccer complex. They had games going on, so went to 2nd choice site. In 3 attempts with the Moth, I managed to not get anything better than a quick up and back down. Bent the prop shaft, putting an end to flights on that one. This was my first plane to fly (sort of) with a prop I made myself. Grey one in the photo has been replaced. The balsa prop, at least, seemed to work OK. Will be able to better judge when I've made a new prop shaft.
Wound up and tried the Cloud Buster. Not quite enough turns on the first attempt. A second attempt with 500 winds got it up and going. It was then I realized I'd forgotten that this plane likes to circle left/left instead of my usual right/right. I'd launched it too close to the road that runs along one side of the field for that pattern. After about a 15 second, nerve wracking flight, it came down about 12-15 feet from the road. On recovery, I found that the the rear motor peg had wallowed out the hole through one side of the fuselage. I'd forgotten the plywood reinforcement on that side. That put an end to the session. Probably just as well.
On the up side, my winding stooge that I'd made to hook over the side of my pickup truck bed and the converted spinning reel winder both worked well.
Bargle
First, here's the 2 I took. My Flying Aces Moth (orange and yellow) and my Comet Cloud Buster (red and yellow).
The light, intermittent breeze from earlier in the day changed to a near constant one after I got off work. Would have been a good day to fly a kite. Unfortunately I didn't bring one. The field where I prefer to fly is next to a kids soccer complex. They had games going on, so went to 2nd choice site. In 3 attempts with the Moth, I managed to not get anything better than a quick up and back down. Bent the prop shaft, putting an end to flights on that one. This was my first plane to fly (sort of) with a prop I made myself. Grey one in the photo has been replaced. The balsa prop, at least, seemed to work OK. Will be able to better judge when I've made a new prop shaft.
Wound up and tried the Cloud Buster. Not quite enough turns on the first attempt. A second attempt with 500 winds got it up and going. It was then I realized I'd forgotten that this plane likes to circle left/left instead of my usual right/right. I'd launched it too close to the road that runs along one side of the field for that pattern. After about a 15 second, nerve wracking flight, it came down about 12-15 feet from the road. On recovery, I found that the the rear motor peg had wallowed out the hole through one side of the fuselage. I'd forgotten the plywood reinforcement on that side. That put an end to the session. Probably just as well.
On the up side, my winding stooge that I'd made to hook over the side of my pickup truck bed and the converted spinning reel winder both worked well.
Bargle