All Us intermediate pilots, Lets Share

[Grossman56]

Hey Delta, so you did the tail wheel mod on the Bearcat, how about some details??

Grossman56

[F106DeltaDart]

Hey Delta, so you did the tail wheel mod on the Bearcat, how about some details??

Grossman56

All the details are posted over in the last couple posts of the Bearcat thread. Let me know if you need any more details and I'd be happy to help!

[Grossman56]

Thanks Delta, I checked out the other post, awesome job!!

Grossman56

[Grossman56]

Just got back from the field, got a few flights in, but 43 degrees and weird thermals. We tend to be in a swirl zone, anyway, good experience and had fun.
November 25 and I can still fly!! Thought I'd better get a couple of pictures 'cause it may never happen again!! Usually Hart mountain, in the background, or the Chief as we call him, is covered in snow that looks like war paint. He has a bit but nothing like he normally would have at this time of the year.
I'm figuring that this will be the last flight of the season, so in keeping with tradition, BBD had to go and besides I've been so Bearcat fixated that I've neglected the poor other planes!! Such a great plane. As with FMS, typically, I had to cycle the L/G twice on the first flight to get them down, nothing out of the norm, and fortunately the Spitty's gear is functioning fine now, no need to belly land today.
One thing about the Spitty, I'm going to have to adjust the flap settings so there's more flap in the landing position, she just does not like to slow down!! ?Likes her air time and doesn't want to quit.
Anyway, some great flights today and now home to warm up!!

Grossman56

[Oxotnik]

We had a great flying day in Northern Alabama, too. I flew my FLRC Ta-152 and EFlite P-47D several times, each, and my EFlite Pulse 15e a couple times, too. I finally strapped a camera (Firefly Q6) on the P-46. I was pretty impressed with the quality of the video.

https://youtu.be/qsrK6AAvkRY

[Grossman56]

Hey, looks great Oxotnik, looks like nice weather in Alabama as well!

Grossman56

[Oxotnik]

Yep, the weather yesterday was nearly perfect. A slight quartering wind, but very low speed. This whole week has seen winds in the upper teens and lower 20's. When the winds gave us a break yesterday, we all headed to field. The trees made a couple attempts to snare some unwary planes, but we outfoxed them all day long. :-)

[Grossman56]

Nice clear day here, but the dang wind is up, oh well...
Grossman56

[F106DeltaDart]

Was the perfect day here! Winds were less than 2 mph all morning and partly cloudy. I can't even remember the last time we had a day this nice. Put 2 flights each on the Mosquito, Lancaster, and Bearcat, and 1 flight each on the F-14, B-17, and F-104. Ended up landing the Mosquito with only 1 wheel down, and somehow didn't damage anything. Turned out the plastic fairing on the gear leg came loose and turned 90 degrees. A bit of CA, and she was back up in the air in 5 minutes. Took a minor miracle of packing to bring everything out in my Ford Taurus though. Hopefully you'll get some of this weather headed your way soon Gman!

[Lon]

It's a new record for me here in NE Iowa today.Have never had nice enough weather to fly this time of the year. 50 for a high and winds 8-12mph Logged 6 flights between the P-38 & F-86. Maybe, maybe this is the last outing of the calender year.

[Grossman56]

I hear you Lon, it's been amazing around here for this time of year as well!
Looks like it's the end of it though, clouds rolled in and its raining, will probably turn to snow in the evening, although they're saying it won't snow until the second week of Dec, so we'll see.
Sure can't complain though, we've never had such great weather since we moved here.
Facing reality now, discharging all the batteries for winter storage and waiting to see what the schedule will be for next year's NEFI!!

Grossman56

[Oxotnik]

I had a really fun day flying yesterday. The winds were low, the temps cool but not cold, but very overcast. I was struggling to see all of my sleek warbirds (Ta-152, P-38, etc). Fortunately, my fat, OD Green, invasion-striped Jug was easy to see. So, it was flying CAP over the airfield almost all day. Lately, my landings have been really sucking. I don't know what had happened, but my landings just suddenly went to scheisse. After nosing over badly on my first Jug sortie of the day, I put her and a couple other planes up and just shot touch-(or bounce)-and-goes, one after the other. I'm back to greasing the landings again with my warbirds and sleek, floaty planes like my Pulse 15. It's a really good feeling to be nailing landing after landing again...

During my third P-47 sortie of the day, a dH Vampire invaded MY airspace while I was flying CAP. So, I felt obligated to intimidate him out of the air, with a combination of blow-past-him passes and sneaking up on his tail. He did land before me; so, I choose to assume that he couldn't take the heat. LOL

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_9x3zrAoftw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

https://youtu.be/_9x3zrAoftw

[Prowler901]

Great flying Oxotnik! Nice camera too. Did you get that one from Hobbyking?

[Oxotnik]

Prowler, thanks. The EFlite P-47D is a very easy and forgiving warbird to fly. It's kind of my stress-free bird to fly. I've put an Extra 300 2-bladed prop on it, which loses me a lot of scale points, but gives a lot of increased performance (speed). I had put a 4-bladed FMS 1450mm P-51 prop on it, but that was crazy fast. It had so much power that I had to program in a very soft throttle curve for take off and landings. It also pulled about 45A at WOT; so, I upgraded the ESC to a 60A SBEC ESC (because I had one lying around). Unfortunately, I kept breaking the 1450 FMS props (at $11 a pop); so, I went back to the Extra 300 prop which handles ground strikes very well. Even though the Extra 300 prop doesn't pull nearly as many amps, I've left the bigger ESC in, just to be on the safe side.

The camera is a Hawkeye Firefly Q6. I think that I bought it from Banggood for about $70US. I'm running it at 1080 and 30fps. It's capable of 60 fps, but the extra bandwidth is not worth the improved graphics, IMO. This camera also comes with a port and cable that'd allow it to be plumbed directly into a vTX for FPV flying, if one was so inclined. I've mounted it on a ~1" high foam standoff, on a Velcro strip, with a Velcro tie down. The camera is securely fastened, but is allowed to 'float' a little, which dampens out some vibe noise from the airframe and gives a little bit of a sensation that you're sitting in the cockpit, moving your eyes independently of the airframe.

[Oxotnik]

Here's a photo of how I have the camera mounted. I also added two more magnets to the rear of the hatch, to help insure that the hatch won't pull off. The hatch seems really solidly attached. I just don't pull any outside loops or other aggressive negative-g maneuvers.

[Grossman56]

Hey guys, didn't realize it, but I just cracked the 3,000th post!
I was curious to see if that would give me another red bar on the icon, doesn't look like it unless its shows up now, still not sure what it means....

Grossman56

[Grossman56]

Looking forward to Spring which is just a few days away. I just knew that we'd pay for that extended Fall and we did!!
Sun's out but so is the wind. Got a lot of mods and repairs done yesterday, Old Crow got her new rear retract in, there's a challenge getting the control rod attached to the steering tiller!! I notice that they've done some upgrades, adding more metal parts than the stock one had, which is great! so, now she's ready for the air again. My Little Gal got her 650kv as well and the Bearcat got her 650kv and 1400 mm Corsair prop. Both got new 85A ESC's as well, so they're all done, the only thing I want to try now is to put the old motor and ESC from the Bearcat into the E Flite Spitfire and make her a 4s. That should be interesting.
Looking froward to seeing the gang at Nefi again this year, as well as all the guys coming for the first time, will be great to meet you in person and from past experience, it puts a whole new perspective on HobbySquawk when you actaully have met some of the guys.

Grossman56

[Grossman56]

Ah, I have the day off and just waiting for that sun to rise:Sun:. Wind is down and it might just shape up to be a great morning, We got into the 70's yesterday but the wind was harsh, so the airplanes were grounded. I'm hoping that today I get My Little Gall II into the air with her new 650kv. I had Old Crow, her sister ship, up on Saturday running the same setup and she flew great. Got her home and did the post flight check, only to find that the little lock screw that holds the tail wheel into the retract mechanism was missing!! Not again?!
Anyway, went searching through the spare parts and found a screw that fits, whew. That's where the problem started in the first place. I'll Foam-Tac it in place this time.:Cool:
So, all set to head to the field with the P-40:p40 and the P-51. I haven't flown since early Nov so Saturday was dust the junk off the old brain/finger connection and see how I do. I was pleased, haven't lost anything so I'll pick up right where I left off, so here's hoping that the weather cooperates so I can get more flying in before the big trip to Nefi.
Sure looking forward to the new releases coming up soon. What with the Avanti, The Spitfire and the A-10, not to mention a new shipment of Tigercats due late next month, it's shaping up to be a heck of a season for us Motion R/C fans.
Don't take it to the bank because I don't get any insider info (honest!) but I'm thinking (hoping) to see that OV-10:ov10 that Charlie (and a bunch of us others) wants so badly becomes a reality as well as maybe the F4 :f4phantomPhantom. Again, don't think of this as anything more than Grossman's predictions 'cause that's all they are, other than hints to the higher ups!!
Personally,I'm sitting here for the first time waiting for two airplanes and super jacked about that!!:bluetonguemy first twin and my first jet, does it get any better??

Grossman56

[OV10]

Send that 70 degree weather here to knock down some of this record setting snowfall(30+) we had last week :(

I only wish that I was the "Great Karnak" and could validate the Gman predictions LOL

We know your still reading this stuff Alpha while your in China ;) :ov10.......:ov10.......:ov10

[Twowingtj]

Send that 70 degree weather here to knock down some of this record setting snowfall(30+) we had last week :(

I only wish that I was the "Great Karnak" and could validate the Gman predictions LOL

We know your still reading this stuff Alpha while your in China ;) :ov10.......:ov10.......:ov10

Amen on the warmer weather.

I'd be willing to bet that Alpha is test flying that prototype 1600mm OV-10 this week :Cool:.