wookman Posted May 8, 2021 Share Posted May 8, 2021 Ouch. On the upside the lesson has been relearned with what looks like a relatively light repair being a woody. If yo wan to be really positive about it, the repair is under opaque covering and so will not be seen. And they always fly better after a bump. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian F3F Posted May 31, 2021 Share Posted May 31, 2021 Another superb day on the crest yesterday. Thermals, sunshine and great company- what's not to like. and possibly too much ballast at times:-) Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oipigface Posted June 13, 2021 Share Posted June 13, 2021 It’s taken me a while to get round to posting this, but now’s the time. I spent a lot of time during the lockdown refurbishing my old Pitbull. It’s the one I recorded my PB with 6 years ago, and I’ve become more attached to it than I usually do to inanimate objects. Some of you will remember the repaired gashes in the wing that it acquired early in its life when it decided to tangle with that big tree at the bottom of the NW slope at Whitesheet. I repaired these very carefully immediately after the accident, and flew the plane successfully for over 3 seasons with unpainted carbon fibre patches on the wing. I put it away when new toys beckoned and I couldn’t face repairing the broken nose or any of the little gouges, scratches and such like that a working F3F model nearly always acquires. The RDS pockets were also knackered, yielding more play than is consistent with fast flying. I also treated it to new servos receiver and battery. So given there was no flying during lockdown, I set to with epoxy, cloth, paint and elbow grease and a Baudis LDS system to put it back to rights. Wednesday at Whitesheet came the moment of truth. It was a bit like meeting an old friend after a few years’ separation. Couple of clicks of down and she was back in the groove. Lovely. The setup needs some work, of course, although it is as close as I could make it with the new servos and drive system. The only downside to the day came to light yesterday, when I was intending to work on the setup. I seem to have lost the wing joiners somewhere. Most likely they are still on the grass verge just before and on the opposite side to the gate leading to the SW bowl. I have got another set, but if anyone finds a pair of Pitbull joiners at Whitesheet, it would be nice to have them back! They are joined in the middle with servo tape. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jef Ott Posted June 14, 2021 Share Posted June 14, 2021 On 07/05/2021 at 21:37, Phil.Taylor said: the other linkages had well locked nuts. The elevator escaped because I cheated & used Tx sub-trim to finally centre it - if I had mechanically centred it I would have locked it tight. Did the pushrod somehow rotate then? Struggling to fully comprehend how, after centring it with subtrim, the clevis then moved more than a little bit along the pushrod. As was said by someone else, a test-glide over Keilkraft grass before committing to power on, might have saved you a couple of hours work, and might again next time you try it. (I'm not convinced you have completely found the problem.) Good luck. Jef Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil.Taylor Posted June 14, 2021 Share Posted June 14, 2021 1 hour ago, Jef Ott said: Did the pushrod somehow rotate then? Good luck. Jef With the tail off - and the elevator clevis NOT locknutted to the pushrod end (loose fit - some go on tight) - the clevis could & did jiggle & rotate on the pushrod end - 15 minutes walk to the field with the plane in a glider backpack, enough to jiggle/rotate it well out of trim. A test glide would have met the same fate - nosedive. The only thing that would have been recoverable would have been to launch left-handed with my right hand on the Tx stick - hate doing it but might try next time. Still havent plucked up courage to fix the Stellar yet. Phil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_B Posted June 14, 2021 Share Posted June 14, 2021 John, Jefs response may have triggered another thought , has the bond between the pushrod and the adapter broken down so it can move at all ....the impact (if any) from landing may have pushed it back home Andy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jef Ott Posted June 14, 2021 Share Posted June 14, 2021 4 hours ago, Andy_B said: John, Jefs response may have triggered another thought , has the bond between the pushrod and the adapter broken down so it can move at all ....the impact (if any) from landing may have pushed it back home Andy That's the sort of thing I was thinking might be the deeper problem, but I'm struggling to understand at what stage the subtrim was adjusted - if it was before the walk, it served no purpose if the tailplane was then removed and refitted (obviously any lack of rigidity in the tailplane mounting, or unrepeatability of its location will hugely affect the elevator trim). And what about the other end of the pushrod - is that lock-nutted, or free to rotate? If the subtrim adjustment was after the walk, the relative position of the clevis on the pushrod would be irrelevant, unless it was actually nearly falling off the pushrod and giving an unacceptable amount of flex. Only trying to help, but I think I sensed a little negativity in Phil's response, so I am not going to say any more on this subject now, other than to wish him luck again. Jef Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil.Taylor Posted June 14, 2021 Share Posted June 14, 2021 4 hours ago, Jef Ott said: That's the sort of thing I was thinking might be the deeper problem, but I'm struggling to understand at what stage the subtrim was adjusted - if it was before the walk, it served no purpose if the tailplane was then removed and refitted (obviously any lack of rigidity in the tailplane mounting, or unrepeatability of its location will hugely affect the elevator trim). And what about the other end of the pushrod - is that lock-nutted, or free to rotate? If the subtrim adjustment was after the walk, the relative position of the clevis on the pushrod would be irrelevant, unless it was actually nearly falling off the pushrod and giving an unacceptable amount of flex. Only trying to help, but I think I sensed a little negativity in Phil's response, so I am not going to say any more on this subject now, other than to wish him luck again. Jef Jef - thanks for trying to help - but you're way over-thinking it - it was really simple stuff - goes like this... Spent an evening setting up the plane on the Tx - all the throws, centres, mixing etc. Wing first - its the fancy mixing bit - mechanically adjusting the pushod clevises as close to centres as possible, tweak with subtrim , then carefully lock-nut the wing pushrods. Fus next - rudder, then lastly the elevator - getting late at night by this time... elevator was close to centred so just adjusted the subtrim, not mechanically with the clevis - very late, very happy - took the tailplane off - finished the beer & went to bed happy, dreaming of soaring... (now what did I just forget? - yep - forgot to lock-nut the elevator clevis) Next evening - soaring dreams shattered cos the tail was off-trim - enough to cause a problem, but not enough to be immediately obvious on a preflight "is everything going the right way" check. (Moral of the story - lock-nut EVERY clevis - even if its late at night !!! FYI - The other ends of the rudder & elevator pushrods are solidly epoxied into the carbon pushrods Phil. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil.Taylor Posted June 14, 2021 Share Posted June 14, 2021 Playing the blues this evening Phil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wookman Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 You have taken the Orange bits off! I knew you didn't like Orange! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil.Taylor Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 50 years of slope soaring in one evening Graupner Foka vs. Freestyler 4.3 Phil. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_B Posted June 27, 2021 Share Posted June 27, 2021 Had a great day down on the Wrecker 7-10m/s all day no rain and even some sunshine later on 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_B Posted June 27, 2021 Share Posted June 27, 2021 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_B Posted June 27, 2021 Share Posted June 27, 2021 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jef Ott Posted June 27, 2021 Share Posted June 27, 2021 1 hour ago, Andy_B said: Absolutely iconic photo. Everyone that has flown the Wrecker will instantly recognise this. Great memories of a time I had to go to Wales (250miles each way) regularly to get disciplined, when working for a guy that didn't like me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Posted June 27, 2021 Share Posted June 27, 2021 2 hours ago, Andy_B said: Had a great day down on the Wrecker 7-10m/s all day no rain and even some sunshine later on Brilliant end to a great days flying on the Wrecker and VR Slopes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil.Taylor Posted July 14, 2021 Share Posted July 14, 2021 Gotta love a bit of summer evening soaring - 12-15mph & big thermals on a local Devon slope - lovely ! Phil. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oipigface Posted August 26, 2021 Share Posted August 26, 2021 Spent yesterday pm and today at the Bwlch. Setting up and practising. The significant news is that I managed not to break anything! 5 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_B Posted August 26, 2021 Share Posted August 26, 2021 1 hour ago, oipigface said: Spent yesterday pm and today at the Bwlch. Setting up and practising. The significant news is that I managed not to break anything! Did you forget anything 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wookman Posted August 26, 2021 Share Posted August 26, 2021 3 hours ago, Andy_B said: Did you forget anything Vicious Andy! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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