It's been nearly five months since I snapped an axle on the landing gear
of the Elder. I'd planned to buy replacement gear and have it shipped in,
but there were complications.

Last week, I thought "Fsck it!" and got out a couple pieces of 5/32" music-wire, my wire-bending rig, and my soldering kit. In no time it was
all done. The hardest part was drilling out thethreads of the brass nuts I wanted to solder on as stop-washers -- to keep the wheels from sliding up
and down the axles. Unfortunately, my 5/32" drill bit was as dull as, uh, Thud's brain. But eventually, I got that done.

Why not do it before? Well, the original gear was 1/8" and I don't have
any 1/8" music-wire. Difference in guage shifting to 5/32" would result
in approximately 50% increase in weight of the gear, and I didn't have any 5/32" straps for attachment. But I recently acquired some 5/32" straps,
and I wanted to get it back in the air, so...

Sunday was turbulent, with strong gusts aloft. I had two short flights of about 10 minutes each, sharing the sky with a rather nerve-wracking novice pilot who thinks faster is better when you don't know what you're doing.
Both flights otherwise uneventful, but I didn't try anything clever!

Yesterday, I joined the gang at the field and after sitting around
chatting for a while, I put the Elder in the air. The windsock indicated light winds, but they were still a bit gusty aloft. Still, not so much
that you couldn't fool around! I did a bunch of stall turns, a few
Immelmans, and a Split-S or two, plus multiple loops. The wind was
definately blowing up there, though, because a downwind loop resulted in
the model hanging vertically and blowing rapidly downwind until I banged
the rudder over and turned it into a delayed hammerhead. (The guys said
it's a new manoever, and they recommend it be called a "Whathefuk".)

The Sig Four-Star I bought (second-hand, $75 dollarettes) is also
progressing. I've got everything done except five servo screws have
walked away, so it's on hold until they return from their excursion. Then
all it'll need is setting throws and balancing. Oh, and a spinner would
be nice, but isn't critical. I've a blue one around here somewhere which
will look just *horrible* with the yellow airframe. But the wing was so butchered by the previous owner, nothing could make the aircraft any
worse.

I'm also working on a flying pizza-box model, but that's a while away and
will probably only fly twice before it falls apart. But I've got to do something with this nice, new GMS .25 I recently acquired...

---
Playing: "Jack rabbit" by "Elton John"
from the "Don't shoot me, I'm only the piano player" album
þ Synchronet þ The ANJO BBS: Made of wood and glue, but mostly glue!

Re: Elder flies again!
By: Angus McLeod to Digital Man on Thu Mar 01 2007 08:28 pm

Sunday was turbulent, with strong gusts aloft. I had two short flights of about 10 minutes each, sharing the sky with a rather nerve-wracking novice pilot who thinks faster is better when you don't know what you're doing. Both flights otherwise uneventful, but I didn't try anything clever!

Yesterday, I joined the gang at the field and after sitting around
chatting for a while, I put the Elder in the air. The windsock indicated light winds, but they were still a bit gusty aloft. Still, not so much
that you couldn't fool around! I did a bunch of stall turns, a few Immelmans, and a Split-S or two, plus multiple loops. The wind was definately blowing up there, though, because a downwind loop resulted in
the model hanging vertically and blowing rapidly downwind until I banged
the rudder over and turned it into a delayed hammerhead. (The guys said it's a new manoever, and they recommend it be called a "Whathefuk".)

The Sig Four-Star I bought (second-hand, $75 dollarettes) is also progressing. I've got everything done except five servo screws have
walked away, so it's on hold until they return from their excursion. Then all it'll need is setting throws and balancing. Oh, and a spinner would
be nice, but isn't critical. I've a blue one around here somewhere which will look just *horrible* with the yellow airframe. But the wing was so butchered by the previous owner, nothing could make the aircraft any
worse.

I'm also working on a flying pizza-box model, but that's a while away and will probably only fly twice before it falls apart. But I've got to do something with this nice, new GMS .25 I recently acquired...

Cool. Thanks for the update! Any new photos or videos at anjo.com?

digital man (xbox-live: digitlman)

Snapple "Real Fact" #78:
Alaska is the most eastern and western state in the US.
Norco, CA WX: 73.9øF, 22% humidity, 8 mph SE wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs

---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ telnet://vert.synchro.net

Re: Elder flies again!
By: Digital Man to Angus McLeod on Thu Mar 01 2007 16:46:00

Cool. Thanks for the update! Any new photos or videos at anjo.com?

Alas, no. We've had a quiet couple of months over Christmas, and things
are only now starting to pick up again.
---
Playing: "Fly like an eagle" by "The Steve Miller Band"
from the "Fly like an eagle" album
þ Synchronet þ The ANJO BBS: Made of wood and glue, but mostly glue!

Re: Elder flies again!
By: Digital Man to Angus McLeod on Thu Mar 01 2007 16:46:00

Any new photos or videos at anjo.com?

Since you asked.... ;-)

Let me introduce you to this nice little AcroWot br Chris Foss, out of England. Taken some months ago:

http://tinyurl.com/3coprd

It is the property of Rudy, who I think you met at our clubhouse and at
the cliff. This is Rudy's 11th AcroWot. If he can't buy one, he builds
them from scratch. The Acro is a .40 sized aeroplane, so naturally, Rudy
fits an O.S. .70 into his!

(Passing note: It was Rudy's AcroWot #10 that destroyed my Sea Bee during that unfortunate mid-air argument.)

On Wednesday, Rudy brought this Acro to the field for a flight, but the elevator servo was giving him some trouble. Now, you can recover if you
lose a rudder servo in the air. You can keep flying (often quite fast) if
you lose a throttle servo. You can sometimes even get back safely if you
lose an aileron servo. But you DO NOT lose an elevator servo and survive.
So he took the model home unflown.

Today, he brings the model to the field, saying he hasn't done any work on
it, but he's brought a new servo to replace the faulty elevator servo.
Then he turns the hardware on... and lo! The old elevator servo seems to
be working fine! So he fires up the 70 withOUT replacing the servo, and
takes to the air. (You just *know* where this is going, don't you?)

As usual, we're all standing around suggesting stupidly risky maneuvers
(as you do, when you know that the pilot knows you well enough to know you aren't serious.) And Rudy is *doing* the maneuvers, (as you do, when your piloting skilz are hot enough.) And he's doing the dog. Immelmans,
Split-S, Cubans, loops, bunts, low knife edge, snap on the up-line, snap
on the horizontal line, lengthy inverts, multiple axial rolls... the lot!

Then he went uppppp high, and went into the spin. You're supposed to do a minimum of three full turns, then pull out into wind. He spun once,
twice, three times. He stopped the rotation. And I waited for him to
pull up the nose. And he didn't.

http://tinyurl.com/2kxtyk

From about 500 feet, with the O.S. .70 going full chat! He must have used
a protractor, because the down-line was perfectly vertical. The impact
echoed loudly in our ears. A bunch of us went out and searched for the wreckage. I found the mortal remains about 200 yards from the clubhouse,
in amongst the wild tamarinds.

http://tinyurl.com/ypgndq

She hit so hard the momentum of the aileron servos broke them out of their wells in the foam of the wing. You can see one deflected aileron in that second shot. The aileron servos shifted with such force that they broke
the nylon control horns on the ailerons! The fuse was completely match- sticked all the way back to the rear of the cockpit, and even the robust little pilot gor broken into several pieces! Some surgery with Airfix
glue and he should be right as rain and ready for another coat of paint,
but Rudy says he's 'unlucky'. Rudy, if I was you, I'd keep the pilot and
get rid of that elevator servo!

Oh, the O.S. .70? We found that by following the fuel lines from the
tank. It was embedded in the dirt quite hard. It took several minutes of digging and prizing to get it free.

http://tinyurl.com/yrypf3

We finally carried the wreckage back through the bush and got it back to
the clubhouse. Rudy says he needs a rum, and that the trouble was he
should have had the rum *before* flying! Maybe he's right! He also says he'll have AcroWot #12 ready by next weekend.

As for myself, I got a nice 11-minute flight off the Elder before it
became too dark to continue safely. I had my Zagi all charges, but
couldn't persuade anybody to go to the cliff today. However, if the wind holds up, we may get some gliding action next weekend!






---
Playing: "He though of cars" by "Blur" from "The Great Escape" album
þ Synchronet þ The ANJO BBS: Made of wood and glue, but mostly glue!

Re: Elder flies again!
By: Angus McLeod to Digital Man on Mon Mar 05 2007 01:40 am

Today, he brings the model to the field, saying he hasn't done any work on it, but he's brought a new servo to replace the faulty elevator servo.
Then he turns the hardware on... and lo! The old elevator servo seems to
be working fine! So he fires up the 70 withOUT replacing the servo, and takes to the air. (You just *know* where this is going, don't you?)

Uh huh...

Then he went uppppp high, and went into the spin. You're supposed to do a minimum of three full turns, then pull out into wind. He spun once,
twice, three times. He stopped the rotation. And I waited for him to
pull up the nose. And he didn't.

http://tinyurl.com/2kxtyk

Oh oh...

From about 500 feet, with the O.S. .70 going full chat! He must have used
a protractor, because the down-line was perfectly vertical. The impact echoed loudly in our ears. A bunch of us went out and searched for the wreckage. I found the mortal remains about 200 yards from the clubhouse,
in amongst the wild tamarinds.

http://tinyurl.com/ypgndq

Ouch.

As for myself, I got a nice 11-minute flight off the Elder before it
became too dark to continue safely. I had my Zagi all charges, but
couldn't persuade anybody to go to the cliff today. However, if the wind holds up, we may get some gliding action next weekend!

I still have great memories of our little trip to the cliff and look forward to doing it again. I'll bring a more appropriate glider next time. :-)

digital man (xbox-live: digitlman)

Snapple "Real Fact" #27:
A ball of glass will bounce higher then a ball of rubber.
Norco, CA WX: 69.0øF, 19% humidity, 0 mph WNW wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs

---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ telnet://vert.synchro.net

Re: Elder flies again!
By: Digital Man to Angus McLeod on Mon Mar 05 2007 19:31:00

I still have great memories of our little trip to the cliff and look forward doing it again.

Sloping is a hoot! :-) And no matter how much you try to explain it to people, they just can't picture it until they see it.

I'll bring a more appropriate glider next time. :-)

Yeh, I'd like one of these

http://www.wowings.com/wowings_display_image.asp?id=56

out of Australia. Videos here:

http://www.wowings.com/wowings_video_booby.htm

But the company is closed and they aren't available amy more. Hmmm... I
have a sheet of EPP foam.....

---
Playing: "Rock and roll music to the world" by "Ten Years After"
from the "Essential" album

---
þ Synchronet þ The ANJO BBS: Made of wood and glue, but mostly glue!