All us newbie pilots, lets share..

[Rocketeer]

Re: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Greetings G56,

First off, let me just say I'm jealous, jealous, jealous of that Mustang shot!!
Absolutely Awesome!!!

Ok, now for the Roc Hobby Waco....... I LOVE that plane!!!
It almost flies itself. It's a major head-turner at the field and a real joy to look at in the air.
I find myself looking for excuses to fly it. It is really well engineered and all the parts blend well. Just be sure to dry-fit before making anything permanant.

If you choose to do the rigging, which I think is waht really makes the plane stand out, forget what it comes with and go to Wal-Mart and pick up some elestic thread. It makes the work soooo much easier and the elasticity keeps the rigging tight.

I think I mentioned this in another post but, I tried to get one of our members to climb our wind-sock pole and pretend to be King Kong so I could buzz him like in the movie..... He didn't go for it.
But, when you see the Waco in the air you'll want to do it too.

Bottom line, I highly recommend the Waco, especially for the price.

Keep me in the decision loop.

Clear Skies

Bill L.
in Okla.

[Grossman56]

Re: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Its a not-too-nice day here, tried flying but the wind came up, so what do you do when you can't fly, you take pictures!I call it Dan's Flying Circus
Diane pondering"What have I done!?"Proud Dadall set for take off, too bad the props weren't turning...
Just gives me such a thrill. Notice they are lined up according to learning curve. Ol' Weedwacker, Pandora Two, Pandora One (risen from the grave) and the Mustang.
As regards Pandora One. I installed the new FMS 50 A ESC and took the receiver out of the Mustang and installed it as well. I plan to put a better receiver in the Mustang, the AR 635-6 with the built in gyro.
Taxi tests with P-1 went fine and that motor just screams at full throttle! Didn't push it too hard though. The battery now sits under the canopy cover so about 3/4 or less is under the wooden platform in the nose, all velcroed down. I added a piece of foam to level the deck off too. The ESC now sits in the old battery compartment and I'm thinking about drilling a couple of holes through the front of the nose so that the wind would come through the holes in the cowling and into the ESC compartment. Any opinions?

[Grossman56]

Re: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Here's a closer look at Pandora One.The first thing I did was bent a piece of Scotch Tape in two and stapled/Gorrilla glued it onto the canopy piece for easy removal.Now the battery is stored as you see in the picture. It's actually sitting a little forward. There is a long strip of velcro holding it down and to get the CG right on 75mm the battery would be a little more to the left, almost to the crossection bar. A simple added battery hold down will be a tongue depressor/fudgsicle stick slipping underneath the wooden platform in the forward hatch and lying on top of the battery, being held down by the cross section bar when the canopy is on. Note the cut out in the cross section, allowing for air flow when the canopy is on as well. I plan to drill two holes through the nose, underneath the cowling to allow air to flow into the old battery compartment where the ESC now is located by the way, that is a small lead wieght on the back bulkhead that allows me to play with the CG a little more easily. And there sits the FMS 50 Amp ESC, also held down with velcro, note the staining in the compartment from the smoke from the fire! Came that close to losing her. I'm just waiting for the next Freewing order to come in (4 to 6 weeks) to get the reverse servos for the flaps and she should be good to go.
As you might have noticed, I changed the wheels as well, they're heavier than stock, but I needed some wieght up front anyway. Does anyone know what size the collar is that holds the wheel on? I lost one in the crash and have nothing to measure the diameter with.

[Grossman56]

Re: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Ok Guys, I just got a great bonus, soooo, I just had to have one more plane. So, I just ordered a RocHobby Waco (the red one)!!!
Yep, I took one look at that plane and said thats the one for me.
So now's the time to do a little research on it. I've heard from several that she flies like a dream, so thats great and I've also heard that she assembles really well also so thats a plus! Now, I just want to research the rigging. I think it was Rocketeer that used something else, anyway, I have to look it up.
Oh wait, its at the top of this page, Elastic thread from Walmart, I can do that!

[Grossman56]

Re: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Got the Spektrum AR635 receiver in the Mustang and finally figured it all out. I found the easiest way was to go into the Reverse folder in my Transmitter and set the ailerons and rudder back to neutral, then set the throttle stick to neutral and used an elastic band around the aerial and over the elevator/aileron stick to hold it at 10 o'clock. Then powered up the receiver and she worked like a charm, right into Sport Mode. Then I went back and reset the Reverse channels so the elevator and ailerons would work properly (not going to do that again), then entered the gain mode using the stick setting indicated for when you have your elevator and ailerons reversed. It went right into gain set mode. From there its pretty straight forward. Followed the manual and watched the video.
Had me worried that I'd burnt out another servo on her, but turns out that I just didn't have the program on Sport Mode. Also had to set the ESC, so just followed Captain Mikes video and it works like a charm!

Where would I be without MotionRC?

Good jingle!

Grossman56

[Grossman56]

Re: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Come to Papa!!

[Grossman56]

Re: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Yep, if you haven't heard, I Lawn Darted Pandora Two this morning!
A glorious morning, no clouds and absolute minimal wind, so I can't blame it on the conditions. Took us a while to find her but she took it rather well. Both wing attachments were broken and the prop was totalled, but the parts seemed to come through unscathed.
I think I had a programming conflict. I had an Expo setting and a Mix setting being triggered with the same switch. I fixed that and hopefully that will solve the problem.
I also changed the batteries in my Receiver, I didn't think they were down all that far, they showed a one volt difference between the the new and old ones, but I changed them anyway.
I had just changed batteries after a good first flight. She took off and I noticed that the wing was rolling so went to adjust the trim when she decided she'd had enough.
Oh well, I'm looking at the bright side, I'm getting good at repairing Pandoras!!
I did order a 50 Amp ESC for Pandora Two. I put one in Pandora One and she's a lot hotter performance wise. As you would expect, P2 at max revs is about where P1 is at 2/3 throttle.

[Rocketeer]

Re: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Greetings G56,

Man, I am sorry to hear of your flight misfortune........

But, the Waco is on its way!!!!
And I already can't stop singing your jingle!!!!

Hang in the buddy!!!

Clear(er) Skies

Bill L.
in OKla.

[Grossman56]

Re: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Thanks Bill,
Believe it or not, a couple of hours of work with Gorrilla Glue and she's ready to go again! I can't believe I could be that lucky, but what can I say??
Now before I say we're completely recovered, I'll have to fly her first. I'm a little concerned because the battery cover is very tight. Worse comes to worse, I'll have to replace the fuselage, I have spare wings but it looks as though the wings are fine.
Whew!

[Grossman56]

Re: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Dang! A trailer delay! The Waco is in Colorado as of 09/08. Thats lke delaying Christmas!!!
Went to our local Walmart to find elastic thread for the rigging and, as usual, not in stock. Found it on Amazon and with Prime membership, its free two day shipping.
Gotta like that!

[Rocketeer]

Re: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Greetings G56,

Sorry to hear of the delay.
Man, nothing worse than delayed shipments.

What you WILL like is the elastic thread for use on the Waco rigging. SOOO, much easier!!


Keep us posted on delivery and build progress!!

Clear Skies

Bill L.
in Okla.

[Grossman56]

Re: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

YAY!!!
Got the Waco today and she's so dang pretty!
Were going into the hangar and We Ain't Comin' Out (W.A.C.O)
I went to our local Walmart to find the elastic thread, but they were out, so I ordered some on Amazon, it'll be here tomorrow.
That's a good idea to chronicle the build, think I'll take pictures of the progression.
I think I mentioned that I got the Red and White version, seems all my airplanes are Red and White, Hmmm.
Anyway, she'll look spectacular with a coat of Minwax on her.
The one thing that gave me a bit of a fright was the angle that the motor sits on. At first I thought it was bent, but it looks like thats normal.

[Grossman56]

Re: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Bill, how did you run your lights? I know theres a double y cord with the kit, but the plugs are three prong whereas the lights are two. Doesn't say anything in the instructions.

[Rocketeer]

Re: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Greetings G56,

See response under, "What's in your hangar".....


Can't wait to see the Waco in Red and White and all Minwaxed!!!!

Bring It On!!!!

Bill L.
in Okla.

[Grossman56]

Re: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Her she is, as far as I've got.



The landing gear pants are an issue, but other than that, she's good. The great thing about this kit is the tightness of the fit. Had to install the landing gear into the fuselage a few times before it would screw down flush, the tail feathers were really tight and I just loved (not) the little screw that holds the two elevator flaps togetherOk, the not-so-good things are the poorness of the instruction manual. The picutres are really faded, there is nothing on how to install the pants on the landing gear, and, of course, it seems as if the instructions were run through a not-so-good Chinese-English translator program. This seems to be parr for the course with FMS, although, I thought that RocHobby was high end FMS, and that the manual would be as well.
Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the airplane, although I was surprised at its smallness, but then again, its a biplane so all your lift is stacked. The plastic wing struts are very brittle, as I found out when I accidently snapped one and had to glue it together again. I also wrapped it with white Duct Tape for extra strength.
It would have been nice to know which winglight was red and which was green, took a guess, Murph's law set in...
The wires for the lights are run down the struts, but the slots aren't run down the front strut on the port side, so the wire is a little short going into the bottom of the fuselage. Note the wife trying to make sense of the picture showing the landing gear attachment



All in all an ineresting build so far, I'll get into the rigging tonight and see how far I can get. Thank God for this Forum, thanks Bill, appreciate you help Buddy

[Hippie 64]

Re: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

That is absolutely gorgeous !! Wow what a beauty . Making me drool for one .

[RonF]

Re: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Gman, from the photos you posted, the down thrust in the motor is about right. A light biplane will have a vicious climb at full throttle without it. Look forward to hearing the flight report.

[retiredflyer]

Re: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Hi everyone,
Saw this thread and thought I would chime in too. I started R/C about 2 years ago and my first plane was the Sensei. I felt real confident and took it to a baseball field SURROUNDED on one side by TALL pine trees. Well, with my heart pumping out of my chest I cranked her up along the home plate to first base path and up she went......WOO WOO, I did it! I made a slow, easy, left bank and SMACKED right into a pine tree about 40 feet up. I totally had no idea how much room this big bird needed and I totally misjudged the distance to the tree line. Well, after the smack, all was silent and I just stood there shaking and saying a lot of choice words. The plane's body and wings were a total loss. There was $250 down the drain in 3 seconds! I recovered the pieces and walked with my head down to my car. Two young boys (unknown to me) were watching me from their bikes on the edge of the field. As I walked by them, one asked if I was crying! I said not until my wife sees this.
Anyway, just saying that we all have problems at first, and later on too, but hang in there. This hobby is addicting and I now have 13 planes. Do I still crash, not as often, but things happen that take you by surprise sometimes. I have recently found that adding a gyro (I use the Freewing) to all my planes now gives me the extra comfort and ability to fly my foamies when the wind picks up. This adds a LOT more flying days to the schedule. A cheap and well worth investment.

[Grossman56]

Re: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

I hear you Retired!
I have the Ar635 receiver which has the AS3X gyro built in, installed in the P51. That was and is my biggest problem regarding flying the Pandoras, judging the distance. When she lawn darted, I couldn't believe how far out she was, about half again what I had judged. I now know that I have to pick some sight lines in order to kep her a little closer. Anyway, I really have been extremely lucky insofar as crashes go. The worst was with Pandora One. Fire trumps them all! Pandora two really impressed me as a tough airplane, a little Gorrilla glue and she's back to normal, the only things I had to replace were the prop and the base plate of the prop spinner.
Got all the rigging on the WACO done last night, Bill, you were absolutely spot on about the elastic thread, thanks again! FYI I got mine in line (Amazon) and the spool is BIG! I could easily do twn planes with it.
And boy does it make a difference visually, I bet they hum while in the air just like the real ones did.
I remember seeing a couple of guys do a wingwalking stunt using a WACO at the local airshow when I was a kid.
Oh, and regarding the angle of attack of the motor, that was the first thing I noticed when I took the fuselage out of the box, at first I thought it was damaged, but then realized it had todo with the torque. I was really impressed with the power this airplane has. I'm using a 2200 battery in it. When reving it up, at half power she was plenty powerful!!

[Grossman56]

Re: All us newbie pilots, lets share..

Here she is guys, finished, in all her glory, except for the one wheel fairing. Still working on a method to attach them.


I just love the rigging. The wife pitched in and found it to be alot like crafting



The tail rigging, underneath as well