Flying for Real..

[DaveB]

Hi Joe

Nice vid links but nothing to do with fixing/replacing a fin I think I'll order the bits and take it from there
ATB
DaveB

[VEGAS]

Hi Dave

Sorry to hear of the damage. It's the Achilles heel of the Champ.

Just get yourself a bloody sharp Stanley knife to cut away the old tail assembly where it's glued on.

Then just glue the new tail straight on. Remember which holes are used for your servo rods.

Don't use any old glue mate. Only a CA Foam safe product. Get that on the web or any model shop.

It can take a while to bond so I use a kicker so it sets instantly. Job done.

[DaveB]

Hi Eddie

Thanks for that I can see I'll have to get a supply of CA Foam safe glue and kicker in stock

It wasn't too bad today on the face of it but when the Champ got any sort of altitude, the wings started rocking and I wondered then if I was pushing my luck. Anyway.. I stuck with it and completed my first 'intentional' loop I took a few minutes to calm down and tried it again Unfortunately, I should have aborted. The wind was such at altitude that the poor thing was close to stationary near full chat so.. I thought I'd pull her down and do something else. In a spilt second, I saw a 'wrong' opportunity to try a loop from the top.. the Champ would have been inverted at the bottom of the loop. Soon in, the wind caught it and the plot went pear shaped.. no amount of stick would turn it and it hit the grass inverted at some speed

I should have stopped there.. a possible tape repair may have been on the cards but no. In for a penny, in for a pound.. I put it up for one final time and lost effective rudder control leaving the Champ to drift into a tree. Saving grace.. it was a baby and I was able to bend the branch down from the floor and pick the stricken Champ out. Contact with the tree had done no further damage but my flying days were obviously over until spares arrived

On a plus.. I already have a good supply of modelling knives

Do you get all the anchor points with the new bits too?
ATB
DaveB

[Tarasdad]

The plane is new. Well, relatively - built it a few months ago and maidened it last fall. Flies like a dream, very stable yet also very maneuverable. No vids of flying yet, wife hasn't been able to go out with me to record my flights. Hopefully I can get her out next time I fly.

I originally got into the hobby in 1987 and was in it for several years before I had to set it aside for work and other things. All the gear I had back then is still with me, although the radios I used then (Futaba 6ch Conquest AM, World Engines Expert 7ch FM) have been retired. The radio I use now is a HiTec Optic 6 2.4GHz system that I'm very happy with. Ten model memory, very easy to program, receivers that don't break the bank to purchase - really nice system. With the exception of the K&B I have all the engines I had back then. The Fox needed a new piston ring (managed to break it while cleaning all the gunked up castor out) and I did a rebuild on my Saito .80 just to be safe. The starter in the video is my old, trusty Sullivan Deluxe Hi-Tork 12V, and the power panel on my flight box is a Goldberg CGX500. The flight box and glo-starter are new, had to replace both as the old ones didn't weather the heat and humidity of 15 years of storage in my dad's shed in Texas. Same fate struck my old airplanes, thus the new kits.

One thing I didn't realize is just how much I'd missed the hobby until I got back in. There is something about seeing the end result of all your time and effort in building take wing and come back down in one piece that simply can't be explained in words.

[Tarasdad]

Look who made it as fan plane of the week! Woot!! Watch towards the end of the video, 11-12 minute mark or so.

http://youtu.be/hqi6_Px6ztI

[VEGAS]

Woohoo! Way to go Barry.

I'd love to see some footage of her flying in the near future.

[airboatr]

Yes indeed. Well done.

And to think we saw it first.

[DaveB]

While still awaiting spares, I've had to take to the next option...



This one is much easier to handle

ATB
DaveB

[VEGAS]

And cheaper to repair..!

[Garry Russell]

And you don't even need glass...or a propeller