Sat 23rd Jan 2010

Filled with trepidation and angst i awoke on sat morn...aahhh screw the poetry

kak week with rain expected more on fly day. fortunately none was about.
Fanie was busy mowing the runway(i kid you not) getting rid of the weeds etc, its looking good. but in some places the runway is lifting a bit. needs a second coat of bitumen. anyway care to get dirty again :) so hopefully we can do that soon.

Also started digging the foundation holes for the lapa. gonna be nice and big. provide a bit of shade. somewhere for the ladies to sit. and for us to sit during the braais.

as for flying. well it was mainly a day of helis. with the occasional interlude from a aircraft.
dennis has his gorgeous Astrohog there. brings back memories :)
I retired my Calmato low wing sportster(A.K.A trainer) after 83 successful and somewhat hair flights, with 2 midairs inbetween. Considered giving it a Norse funeral(ie light it on fire and see how far you can get) as per lukes suggestion but decided against it. flew twice. more and more stuff falling off it. went home and took the radio gear out and relegated it to the loft. perhaps oneday to see the sky again. i doubt it though.

I must admit. after all that flying the motor still starts with a back flick on the spinner. and this is a cheapie kysoho motor. im impressed. it lost a bit of power over time. but still pulled it with respect.

had 3 new heli arrivals on the scene on sat. I brought out another hk450 v1 which im going to put into my scale hughes fuz which i got from Wifly. Shaun davies brought his out as did luke

all flew well. luke had an untimely meeting with a pile of gravel though so its a bit bent. shauns flying no problem. my older hk450(the demo model) had a mishap. i took off. did a climbing turn and then lost all power. the main gear stripped and i tried to auto it in. no blade momentum left though and it hit HARD and bounced.
all thats damaged is a bent spindle and a bent frame. not bad at all. and of course the stripped main gear. Turns out it stripped becuase the motor had come loose. this is something to be aware of if flying these helis. what happens is that the plastic motor mount compresses slightly over time and every so often you should just check the screws for tightness. OR get a metal motor mount. either will work. if you get a metal motor mount dont forget to use locktite on the screws.

also one thing weve noticed is that the modern 2200ma batt is too light for these helis. they were designed for the older heavier v2 lipos. the modern v3 lipos are 20% odd lighter and hence the heli tends to be a little tail heavy. not an issue if you are just hovering but the minute you transition to forward flight it becomes pitch sensitive. tends to nose up and down.

to sort this out use a 2600ma turnigy or 3000ma turnigy(available from wifly) prices about R250 i think. added avantage is longer flight time.

otherwise a good day had by all

see pics above of the heli im building.