helicorpse

Hello Nick...

well no I don't have a separate voltmeter, just reading the cell voltages as it starts a balance charge cycle. I'm not sure if you mean the gear mesh or wear on the main gear could have something to do with the battery situation or not... I don't see how.. but it all seems fairly good.. it wasn't binding. I was getting 8 minute flights and the batteries were not being pulled down past the cutoff point Yes it's both batteries, and I don't know why the charger is saying full charge or charge complete at 12.6v when the cell readings don't add up either. I'll take them to the lhs or to the field and have someone help me check with a voltmeter. It a new turnigy accucel-8 150 and since I got it has been reading all cells as being very well matched and balance charging them just fine. it's a bummer fer sure/.

helicorpse Peter

Hey Glenn...
I just brought home a new vehicle project... hardly know what it is yet... but apparently it's a datsun pl521 pickup truck. mfg 11/1971 has datsun 1600 on the cab. I cut a road into the woods to pull it out with my Ford 9N tractor, it belonged to a buddy of mine's grandfather and has been setting for seven or eight years. I'm interested in restoring it and using it for a runabout truck. Just al little rust thru on the rockers, very few dents, I have no idea how rare the parts are yet, can't hardly find any resources for it yet online either. I'll post a pic of it someday soon.

evdreamer

Peter,

The gear mesh didn't have anything to do with the battery. Since you said the main gear was worn, I was just wondering what the gear mesh was like. The people at your field probably don't have the right type of Voltmeter to check the cells of the battery. Theirs probably puts a load on the receiver battery and doesn't have probes on them.

Nick

JPEE

Nick,


Your firewall and motor mount are looking great. To be clear...........there is no glue right? just screws? Yes in that wind who would even want to fly.

We met this morning at 5:30 a.m. and flew. My buddy brought his 400 and a T-28 like mine. I brought my T-28, 500 & 600.
I had 5 plane fights, two 600 flights and four 500 flights. It was so clear with a bit of breeze and crystal blue skies and 75 degrees. We got done and hungry by 11:00 a.m. and folded up and hit the pub for burgers. I am home now charging batteries. I got my new Rhinos 2250 25C last night and HOLY COW do those puppies cook. In total I took 16 packs with me including the 6 new 2250's. Now I set out to buy those 2250s for my 500 to give her some kick. But then before I put on the velcro (which makes me force the batteries in the plane and wear out the styrofoam) I thought I try them in my plane first. Nick, you'd thought I dropped some Nitro in that puppy. Considering $109.00 in repairs including a new fuselage, main wing, and elevator, decals I did not want to screw that thing up and mare up the inside of the fuse by forcing the lager [packs with velcro in the batter port. Well guess what ? ? ? I love the 2250's 25C in the plane so much............I'll just continue to use the 2150's 20C for the 400, 500. Man, my plane came alive!

Glenn is nursing a cold so I doubt he messed with the Nitro today.

I hope Jeff got out today.

J-MICHAEL

I was out flying at 6:00 a.m. also... Flew the plane, and also the Trex 500 which has sat for 2 months since its last crash... Boy, that 500 is loud... I love this plane.. I'll try and download a video later tonight or tomorrow of its second flight. Its so dang quiet, you hardly even hear it. Not like my gear driven Typhoon... Dang I miss my Typhoon !


Nick ~

Everything is looking good so far with the plane engineering/build your doing... Very interesting, as I watch out of the corner of my eye... I know.... After 30 + years, you would think there would be some kind of change the way these planes are constructed I'll tell ya... Maybe they just need a few heli pilots to take over, and lead the way or something...Dunno... [8D]

My one LED I installed the other day.... It was so misty early this morning, that my plane, and Trex 500 were soaked after flying... Yikes... Desperation my friend !

evdreamer

JPEE,

I am almost done with the next section. Then I will be able to work on the landing gear and battery mount. It is a little hard keeping things straight with the balsa, but now I am starting to see my ideas coming together. You are correct that there is no glue. It is great because it is just like my helis. I have been taking parts off and putting them on to cut and fit new pieces. Right now I am using fold up tools to put this together, but it keeps rotating in the screw. So I will need to get some standard hex drivers along with 300-400 more screws. What I have in the pics use about a 100 screws. That is a lot more than the helis, but I will like taking parts off and replacing them if I have to.

That is cool that you had great flying weather and got a lot of flights in. That is good that you got the performance back in the T-28.

That is too bad about Glenn. I was thinking he would be out flying the Raptor.

Jeff,

Good to hear you also got to fly today and got some more flights on the Funtana.

I think the screws will make it look more realistic like they are rivots.

What are you using to drive the LED? Do you have a seperate battery on board for that or some sort of electronic device?

Nick

J-MICHAEL

Nick ~

Its just a simple LED that is wired to plug into the RX like my AR6100... I just plugged it into the gear channel. I have two of these lights, and so later in time I might put one on each end of the wingtip, but inwards a few inches still... Kinda like landing lights then. I also have red one that is just as bright, but haven't found the time yet to install. I did find out if I flash my monokote with Acetone with a Microfiber cloth, and very quick, it gets the surface wax free instantly, and doesn't even phase the monokote which was surprising. I thought it would melt it, if I didn't flash it quick enough, but it worked great. The material was usable then to apply a sticker or something... Or repair.. I'll have to throw a couple more coats of wax on now. LMAO... I wasn't to worried about it, as with anything in life there's always a way !


Cheers,

~ Jeff

J-MICHAEL

I can't wait for a sunny day to see what the blades look like tracking in the sky.... it was to dark and dreary this morning to notice anything...

evdreamer

Jeff,

Is there a resistor in series with the LED? Yours looks like a high powered LED, so I don't know if it has the same characteristics as a normal LED. It might burn up over time with out a resistor around 330 ohms.

Nick

J-MICHAEL

Nick ~

There's nothing there as far as a resistor thingy () or anything. The two lights I got a few years ago for my RC truck which is the E-Maxx. These were the headlights... Purchased from Tower Hobbies, and by the company called "RAM"... Supposively visibility for 1 mile... I may have cut that resistor out awhile ago and have forgotten. But I've used it before in the CX2 for awhile, but yeah I'am not sure ! We'll see in time I suppose ?

rotarydoc

Hey guys,

I'm still alive over here....JPEE is right, got a nice old cold right in time for the weekend, of course!

I helped my neighbor move today, so that zapped most of my energy...but I did get some stuff accomplished....

JPEE,

Glad to hear you got alot of flying in, and that the 2250's (with EC3's yet!) worked out so well for ya...strap a couple in the 500 and take it for a spin!! I know mine has unreal power with those 2350, 25C packs I have...[sm=omg_smile.gif]

Nick,

Your woodworking skills far surpass mine, that is for sure..lol..nice job! That is cool that you will be able to unscrew parts and replace them...sorry to hear about your super hot weather, and high winds...I'm getting some pretty hot weather here in the next week or so, but nothing like Jeff had up his way last week...setting records and what not...

Jeff,

Cool pics of the Funtana, and the 500 blades....and they aren't curved! The LED is a nice touch too!!

Well, as I said, I did get some stuff accomplished today, including hovering the RAPTOR!!

First, I got the lipo/starter thing setup, after the loctite dried, and it works like a champ!! Now, all I need to do is strap it to the starter, shorten the leads, and I'll have one nice, little compact starter!

I replaced all the old fuel lines, and this new stuff fits great, nice and secure, got the RX batt connector done yesterday...so I figured I'd see how it does...

There was no place open locally, except the horse track..and all I wanted to do intially was recheck everything that I had done...double check it all over...

It started right up, sat there and idled like a champ...so I figured I'd set it out there and see what happened, I had turned the main needle in like 4 clicks last time out, but hadn't run it that way yet...

It was still way too rich, smoke everywhere, so, shut it down, clicked 5 more...tried it again, nope...clicked it like 10 more in .....nope..still to rich..and then like 8 more clicks...finally had enough power to get the blades spining at at halfway decent speed...gave it some collective, and it surprised me how easily it lifted off....but it still had no power...

Brought it back, like the 5th time...clicked it in about 5 more....and then we were talkin'!! Finally started to lean out, and "get on the pipe" as they say...started making some power...and sounding alot better..but even so, it had a pretty low headspeed..and was kinda shaky, like he was describing to me....

Brought it back, and about 4 more clicks on the main, and 1/8 turn on the low speed needle....and this time, it really came alive! Not huge power, but at least it's got a fairly decent headspeed now, enought to easily lift into a hover at about 3/4 throttle...it's still too rich, but I decided to leave it there for now, as a good baseline for tomorrow's testing, if I get out....and I'll bring my temp gauge, pretty important when tuning a glow engine...[X(]

But, once I got it close there towards the end...it was AMAZING!!! It just like floated there in a hover...everything is slow motion!! Of course, the headspeed is still on the low side...so it's gonna feel a bit mushy...but it's incredibly stable!!

I've gotten really comfortable with starting it, shutting it off....and adjusting to doing everything from the right side...

It still needs more tuning, and dialing in, but it's getting there!!

JPEE, you'll get a kick out of this one....if you want to get rid of those pesky pedestrians, and dog walkers....get a NITRO...LOL!! A guy pulled up into the field with his dog in the truck...stood there a few minutes, watched, and left...as the field was filling up with SMOKE....LMAO!!

Literally SMOKED him out...LOL!! Not sure if it was the smoke, the noise, or both!! I'll bet it'll take care of the bugs too....lol, since it's running so rich, it filled the entire field with smoke...LOL

Oh, and it's not getting very good "gas milage" either...went through that one tank in about 4 mins of flight!! I can't get over how rich this guy had this carb...it wouldn't even fly...

Anyways, I'm TIRED..been a long day...and it was a bit stressful....but I'll tell ya, I was not intimdated nearly as much as I thought I would be by it...it's actually tame as kitten!!! Then again, I didn't actually fly it around, although I wanted to, and would have, had I had more room!

Glenn

evdreamer

Glenn,

I did as much as I could today without any more screws. I ordered 300 more, so I hope that will finish the plane off. I was cutting an opening for the battery, but the wood split along the grain. It is almost dry with CA, so I will screw that part on and post what I have done so far soon. I forgot the support for the battery and went further back, so I am almost to the point where I am going to be scratching my head on how to finish the tail.

Yeah it got to a 102 today. I checked my fields wind and it got up to 26MPH for the short time I looked at it.

That is cool you got to hover the Raptor and that it hovers really good. You have to be right that he didn't fly it, if you had to turn the mixture needle that much. Hey you are getting the same flight times that I am with my 600. That could get expensive with that mixture at $20+ a gallon. Are you flying with 15% fuel?

Nick

rotarydoc

Nick,

LOL, 300 screws...is it going to be a weight issue at all? I guess that plane has more than enough power with your current setup and prop (14 inches??!!!)...

Yeah, your heat is headed this way...but not triple digits...mid to high 90's this week I believe...

The fuel he gave me is 15% yeah...I'm gonna run that for now...and see how it does...and after that runs out, I'll see what I'll do next, depending on how much power it seems to have, etc. I'll probably have to retune it slightly if I went to a higher nitro content as well...

Right now though, I think the 15% is good for me and what I'm doing at the moment...I think it's got alot more power on tap if I lean it more...I'll take the IR thermometer next time and monitor cylinder head temps...shoot for about 180-190 range...I don't want to stress this engine too much, not even sure they make it anymore...hopefully parts are available through O.S.

I was amazed at how much lift those big blades generate....they were barely turning, and it was enough to lift off a few inches...it got alot better with more headspeed.

I just think the previous owner really was terrified of it...and just kept the headspeed down really low...too low...

I can't wait to fire it up again!!!!

The smoke, the smell, the sound....AWESOME!

I think I have methanol running through my blood...LOL!!

Glenn

evdreamer

Glenn,

I don't really care too much about the weight. I am designing this to be strong and not break on rough landings. Yeah it already has plenty of power. It has about 356W/pound and a 150W+/pound is for electric jets. So far it doesn't feel that heavy. Yeah I have a 14in prop.

I have heard that 30% doesn't increase the power too much and is a waste of money unless you are in competition.

Nick

JPEE

Nick,

A scary thought, how do you plan to put the mono film over the fuse with the screw heads there?

After flying today Nick was a good boy and came home and put both the 500-600 on the table and went over EVERY screw and did pre-fight of the Gods. Thos heli's are sound as a dollar and ready for tomorrow when we go back to the field.

Glenn,
Sick and all, you just had to do it! Well freaking "A" skippy I am glad you did it! Sounds great and like Nick... I agree, the previous owner probably NEVER flew the dang thing from what you discribe. LMAO...........dog hater! So it was the "Maryland Great Smoke Out" hey?? Good luck if you feel good enough to get out again tomorrow.

JPEE

BTW........the pink floaties are so I cans ee the heli when the canopy is off when I flim with front mounted camera.
It is not HQ yey but it will be in a few minutes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GxqGS1KOWY


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GxqGS1KOWY[/youtube]

evdreamer

JPEE,

Here is a pic of some scrap covering on the mock up. I left the heat gun on it a little too long and it wringled up.

Nick

rotarydoc

JPEE,

Nice vid and flying the 600 in idle up! Good job on the pre flight...I should go through this entire Raptor, but I did a pretty thourough check, and everything seems to be in order...the guy does do large airplanes, so I think he maintained it well...

Nick,

Nice job on the woodwork! Looks like you are almost done!

Yeah, I am probably just going to stick with the exact same fuel...since it seems to run well on it...you know the old saying, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"...lol..I know Rob and some of his buddies were saying that different fuels really do make a difference, and can sometimes cause/create issues with particular engines...

Plus, I doubt I'll need any more power in the forseeable future...

Glenn

evdreamer

JPEE,

The floats do make it easier to see. Do you know what your HS is in idle up?

Glenn,

You probably know this, but the muffler screws are pretty vulnerable for backing out. When I was at the pattern contest a few weeks ago a guy's muffler came off in flight and he was lucky his engine was still running to land.

Yeah I am getting close to being done. I have an idea to improve the way the elevator connects to the frame. Right now I have to slide it into a hole on the side of the fuse. I am thinking of making it slide into the fuse from the rear, so I can remove it if I have to after a crash or to recover the fuse.

Nick

rotarydoc

Nick,

Yeah, I was reading that on HF...and the worst part is that loctite does not really hold because of the heat...

One guy was saying his muffler did fall off in flight...lol...I guess it gets pretty loud...

I already forgot what he said he did, that finally held...but I would think that using lockwashers might be a good start...

I remember what he did say though...that he torqued the bolts down, flew it, and retorqued them again...and they had worked loose in a couple of minutes!

Lot's of vibes in those little engines!

Glenn

JPEE

Nick,


Thanks for making the mock up on the fuse with the mono. It will look great when your done. Like you said any bumps under the skin will look like rivits!

Not a good day for me. I must have had a vision. Last night I took off my $60.00 CF from the 500 and installed $30.00 blades. I had the idea I might flip her today. Once I got there I start playing with the gryo because it wont hold in normal. If I punch out she will do 360's all the way up around and around she goes. So then I tried idle-up set at 100-90-100. She still does 180's on a spike. So I kept adjusting the gryo until it was at 95% then I got wag and had to back down to 90%. The other MAJOR problem I have when I go to idle-up is......the trims change. When I am in the air and in a 20ft hover and hit idle-up then she starts to pull hard to the left. I took the trim and did 6 snaps right to counter but it did not help much at all. So between that and the gryo spinning I gave up on idle-up until I get some support here as to why these issues are there. I took off again but had not considered the three quick test hovers and the drain on my packs. I told the guys I will just fly in normal and took off. Well my packs let go and I barely heard the LVC and she was coming down. I just read a book on auto-ration and it helped, not this was my first time. But down she came fast. At a cursory look my skid frames broke off. Until I really look hard I might have bent the main and f-shaft but I dont know yet. I did lose the anti-rotation post and canopy posts. I was discussed and set the 500 in the corner and will check tomorrow or the next day. And if that was not enough on my second flight I was bringing in the T-28 and hit just a little bit harder than a perfect landing and the front wheel broke off! This is to say, the stiff wire leg of the front wheel that slides up in the frame so it turns when I pull rudder and where screw holds it in place on a flat spot broke right there! No damage at all to my 90% new T-28 thank goodness. The capper for the day was my buddies T-28 lost radio contact! He was not that far off say 75 yards. He yells I have not control and I could not look because my plane was in the air too. But a third guy was watching as the plane just came in TOTALLED itself out! This plane had seven flights on it. It is a total loss of a T-28. So in the spirit of this hobby, on the way home he stopped off and bought a new one. WHO-YAH.
EDIT:
I just got off the line with a guy from HF. He explained the whole 500 issue with the tail and such. Most of what he said I new except the part that he said he "thought" (I have to look) the Dx7 has a set of trims for normal, stunt 1 stunt 2 So he advised me to go there and see if I can nail down the tail. He went on to say (I think Glenn and I had this talk too) that you cant have it both ways, a locked tail in normal and locked in idle-up/stunt..........there has to be some give there between the two. Also that I should be making my gyro adjustments in the second postion on the tx gyro switch. Thats it in a nut shell version of what he explained to me................sound good Nick?...........your the master of the DX7.

I hope Glenn got to play today some too.

JPEE

evdreamer

JPEE,

I am considering painting the 540 if Towerhobbies has some putty to fill in the gaps. Then I would probably cover it with 1/32 thick balsa. My hardware just can't come soon enough. I was reading about the real 540 today and it is a pretty cool plane. It is the best unlimited aerobatic plane and is made in the USA!

Sorry to hear about your day. Are you flying in rate or HH mode when the spins occur? I checked and you can have different trims on the DX7 for different idle up modes and normal mode and it will remember those. I just have all mine set to the center for each idle up although it doesn't really matter, since I take off and land in idle up 2.

Too bad you didn't live closer because I could teach you how to auto. I found the sweet spot on my 600 for autoing. It will come down nice and easy. Then I give it a little flare and it will hover a few inches off the ground for a few seconds, while I land it nice and easy. Now I like to auto after every flight. The best time to learn to auto is when it is really windy. It hovers a lot longer for me in the wind.

Does his T-28 fly on FM or 2.4GHz?

You can have a locked in tail in normal and idle up if you have both of them goverened at the same HS.

Nick

rotarydoc

Hey guys,

JPEE,

Man, that is one bad day of flying for you guys, I am so sorry to hear about the crashes...[]

That hurts to see a heli like our 500's go down, because it's rarely minor like the B400 "rubber stamp" repair as I call it...the bigger they are, the harder they fall, as they say. I know when Rob crashed his 600N, it was a very ugly deal, even broke the exhaust mount off of the engine block, basically totalled the thing...

That is strange on the loss of signal on the T-28, esp if he was using 2.4 Ghz...sorry to hear of his loss as well...that must have been a hard impact, for sure...at least he took it well, and got right back on the horse!

Hope between Nick and the guy on HF, you can get the 500 sqaured away soon, after the rebuild.

Nick,

I didn't even know there was a real 540...lol..but it sounds like a cool plane!

Yeah, now that I have a nitro, I'd better start learning auto's myself...seems like it would be alot easier on the big helis with lots of mass/energy than to try to practice on a 450 sized heli...

Hope your hardware gets to ya soon!



Well, I didn't do much today, it was HOT, and windy...and my cold didn't exactly help my motivation, but I did go out late and put out some more smoke in the field earlier tonight..lol...

Didn't do alot, just leaned it a few more clicks, and now it has some power....was doing a few punch outs, it's not quite like my 500 yet, but the power is getting there...I still need to bring my temp gun next time I only filled up the tank for one flight tonight...

The blade tracking is off, I gotta put tape on the blades and set that next time out...but it's getting better with each flight...more headspeed now, it hovers hands off, even out of track...

I made one big noob mistake, and got lucky...I started the engine...went to blip the throttle, and there was no response.....[X(]...I had forgotten to turn the swich on the heli on for the RX and servos!!!!!!!!!

Got lucky, the carb servo was still at idle...and it just sat there and idled away...I have to practice my procedures over an over so I don't do that again...it's kinda hard at first when you are used to electrics!!

That's OK, it happens to the best of them...one time not too long ago, Rob left his RX switch on....and packed up the heli...installed the blade holder...and the servos burnt to a crisp, they were fighting to go back to their fail safe position until they burned up trying...[X(]

So, that's another thing NOT to forget...lol..

Glenn

evdreamer

Glenn,

Yeah the .50/600 sized helis are pretty easy to auto. I started at 6ft and slowly worked my way up. The hardest part is cutting the power off on purpose.

I got in a habbit to turn my regulator on and wait for the orange light to turn on in the receiver. Then I plug my main battery in.

I didn't miss the fun fly today at work, since it was raining most of the day. Hopefully there will be good weather next time and I won't be working.

Nick

JPEE

Nick,

Thanks for the tip on the TX. I checked it today and YEP there are the triple trims for all the flight settings. When I looked at the 600 they were near centered and thats why there was no change when I swtiched over. However, the 500 has some trims in the baby and the idle 1 was centered so thats why she wanted to slipped sidways so hard.
I talked with a guy on HF freak last night and he advised me to set my gyro on the tx in normal, raise my throttle curve and get the tail to lock in. Then go over to idle 1 and reset the gyro for those curves "after" flipping the front right switch which is also TH which I guess I would have to disarm? Any ideas?

Checked all LHS around here and NO PARTS for the 500. I only need landing gear and a anti-rotation post. So my buddy is getting ready for a Heli-Direct order so I will piggy back so we can get FREE shipping

Yes we all fly "everything" we we own with Dx6i's and my Dx7 all Spectrum 2.4

Me to on BEC. After Glenn told me what his buddy did, stripped all servos............man am I careful with that one. I always set down the heli, open the blades before I do anything! Then I install my battery, turn on the BEC and then at last connect the pack and then reverse when I land.

On your plane, why not close up the cracks with painters caulking. It is paintable and you can dress it up with a wet sponge and then it dry! and will move with the wood rather than crack if ridged. Just a thought. If that is not to your liking then there is automobile bondo. Just dont add so much harder which will result in a little more working time. Then sand and your ready for primer and paint.

Was reading on line where a guy BOILS his 500 landing gear! It turns them a gray off white color but it makes them "PLIABLE" so if you set down a bit hard they will give and not snap like mine did. Some of the old schoolers chimmed in and agreed.

Glenn, good news on the nitro. Sounds like everytime you touch that thing is just gets closer and closer to coming alive....great news. Lean that puppy out.
I hope your cold is giving way...........

JPEE

rotarydoc

Nick,

Yeah, that sounds like a good way to do it...I need to practice autos some more on the sim...something I don't usually practice. But starting low and working up sounds cool...

I still need to work on my routine with the RX, the switch, the Ni starter, the main starter, the fuel line clamp, and watching the lights, etc....it will come in time, just need some more time/practice...

Cool that it was raining...it always makes me feel better when the weather is lousy when I have to WORK ON A SATURDAY, for example....LOL!

Parts come in yet?

Glenn

rotarydoc

JPEE,

Sounds like you found the culprit on the 500/DX7 now, eh? Good deal!

Wow, you made out easy on that 500 crash if all you broke was the LG and anti-rotation post! Those seem to get broken alot on the 500's....I've never seen a B400 break one yet...(the post)

Yeah, be careful and don't leave that switch turned on! In Rob's case, it was much, much worse than stripped gears, it actually fried the servo motors...rendering them totally useless...$100 servos..[X(] I better pratice what I preach too!!

Thanks on the cold wishes, it's about the same, not much change. The Raptor is getting closer, but I'm at the point where I need to watch how much more I lean it...too lean, and it's bye bye engine!! But a quick check with the temp gauge should prevent anything like that, I plan on keeping it on the cool (rich) side...it's making a good bit of power now...more than I need at the moment...

I can see where it needs some room...I had it cruising around that little horse track field a bit...and it follows that old law of physics, "an object put into motion, tends to stay in motion"....it has a lot of MOMENTUM, once it gets going in a certain direction!!

Glenn