RE: Great Planes Escapade Disaster
Here's another picture of the underside of one of the hinges. No glue at all, the dark area is the small amount of glue and balsa on the top side. The balsa that is stuck on the hinge is very thin, again it looks like the glue did not wick at all into the hinge and slot. Live and learn, lots of good advice presented so far and if the crystal ball wasn't in the shop getting fixed this week I would have done some of them. Sometimes you just have to make a joke and laugh about it. Thanks for the kind words.
Posted on: 11/20/2009 11:15 PM by Author "Mikecam" in the forum "ARF or RTF"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9269054

RE: Great Planes Escapade Disaster
Thank you Bax. Will ship the parts to you for inspection. Thanks to everyone else for the reply's. Still new at this hobby but learning more and more every day.
Posted on: 11/20/2009 10:49 AM by Author "Mikecam" in the forum "ARF or RTF"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9267451

Great Planes Escapade Disaster
Well I'm in shock here. I have felt like I have been put through the ringer to get this plane. It all started as a Birthday gift for my son. We would build it together and then my son and I would be able to fly together at the same time. My son was very much looking forward to it. To keep a long story short here is the story on getting the Great Planes escapade. http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_8823652/anchors_8823652/mpage_1/key_/anchor/tm.htm#8823652 For those that don't want to read the whole story it pretty much gets summed like this. My son opened the plane for his birthday on may 5. It had 3 different holes in the covering. After waiting for a replacement it turned out Great planes had problems with there emails. So I received the plane about 4 weeks ago. Only 6 or so months late. My son and I put it together and enjoyed doing it together. We have had great fall weather and today with a high of 9c and wind just 5km/h it was time for the maiden. I called my son's school and told them my son would not be in today, a family matter.[;)] My son was excited to get a chance to fly his plane and getting out of school for the day was icing on the cake. Well the takeoff went perfect, lifted off and flew great. 1 click of elevator up and she flew hands off. I did a few passes to check on the trims then did a climb. With the OS 46fx the plane climbed very well. Brought her around and cut power and put her into a 45 degree dive. The plan was to bring her back down a bit and hand off to my son still fairly high. Well I never got the chance. I heard a flapping sound and looked up to see both elevator halves flapping behind the rudder. All 6 hinges had pulled out of the slots. All 6 appeared to have very little glue on them. Not a lot I could do. She went in hard and now I'm left with a engine that won't turn over, a 2.4 Futaba receiver that is in 2 pieces, 1 servo that looks okay out of 5 and a garbage bag full of balsa. The look on my son's face will be forever etched into my head. The funny part is (you have to laugh sometimes) was that my son ended up consoling me. Here I was, a devastated 38 year old and my 11 year old son was telling me it was only a plane and that we could get another one and fly together next summer. Sometimes your kids really surprise you. Here are some pictures, I did go through the escapade thread and I did wick some CA into the elevator joiner. I remember reading about elevator failures and that the joiner was not glued in, I also glued down the tail feathers to help with the problem. I pulled on all the surfaces but obviously not hard enough. What glue I do see looks like wood glue. The only part of the hinge with glue and splintered balsa was right at the end. The glue did not wick down into the slot. For those of you with this plane it might be a good idea to wick some CA into all the hinges. It's possible that this failure has occurred already and I didn't read about it. I did check on Great Planes website for tech notices and read about the joiner and grabbing the canopy for starting. Nothing else. I understand that this hobby has up's and downs and I know by next spring I'm sure I'll be gung ho to get flying but right now I'm happy to put everything away till next year. It's tough to think about all the work that went into this plane and know that no matter what we did the end result was going to be the same. The end result was predicted the day the worker put this Escapade in the box. I will email Great Planes with the pictures but I'm sure they will have another "email problem". Thanks for listening, I know it has been helpful to me to get this incident off my chest. So don't be afraid to give a good pull on those surfaces. Thanks
Posted on: 11/19/2009 2:41 PM by Author "Mikecam" in the forum "ARF or RTF"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9265463

RE: Extreme Flight 88
How much would an E Yak 110 weigh? Just wondering. Thanks
Posted on: 11/15/2009 11:34 PM by Author "Mikecam" in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - 3D & Aerobatic"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9256730

RE: 12 Volt Hobby Battery
http://store.schumachermart.com/sem-1562a.html This would be better. Charger and maintainer. You can leave it hooked up all the time. I have one similar and when I unpack my stuff in my hobby room I just plug in my charger/maintainer. If I fly the next day it is ready, if i fly next month it is ready. The one your showing says manual on it, you want an automatic, for maintaining or also called float charging.
Posted on: 11/14/2009 9:27 PM by Author "Mikecam" in the forum "Beginners"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9254187

RE: Rant about getting started
Sorry to hear about your troubles Supercubfanatic. If I was closer I would be happy to train you. This hobby needs young people like you and without them this hobby will not survive. I have trained as well and have gone out of my way to meet the student at the field. What do I get out of it, the big smile and I don't ask for anything else. Keep looking for your instructor Super cub, when you find the right instructor you will enter a hobby that can and will give you many years of enjoyment. Sometimes the old way of thinking is hard to get around but when you do you will have the enjoyment of this great hobby to look back on. Good luck.
Posted on: 11/14/2009 9:11 PM by Author "Mikecam" in the forum "Beginners"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9254151

RE: Extreme Flight 88
Very nice Salerno. I was against getting the 110 because I would not be able to get anything but the black/yellow and why have two the same. Changed my mind. [:D] Here's some pics of the finally finished product. Graphics and proper servo arms. Friday is to be 10c and light winds. Let's hope. Today was 4c and 28km/h winds. Looked good up in the bright blue ski though. [:)]
Posted on: 11/4/2009 4:17 PM by Author "Mikecam" in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - 3D & Aerobatic"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9228146

RE: BUSTED CA HINGE
I broke 3 on elevator and 2 on aileron on my TF P51 and changed them all to Robart hinges. I also fly the C$@P out of my 4*40 and have never had a problem. My take on it is we use too much CA thinking more glue is better. This causes the middle of the hinge where it bends to get brittle and break. I still use CA hinges but I only put 2 drops per side, 4 per end, 8 total. I also dab the center of the hinge with Paper towel to wick out any left over during the whole process. I have never had a problem since. Still like the Robarts though for anything special. Even using only 8 drops total I have never had one that I could pull out and I pull hard, also never had one break since.
Posted on: 11/1/2009 8:30 PM by Author "Mikecam" in the forum "Beginners"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9221148

RE: How can I setup Futaba 7c 2.4ghz?
I have your setup in my 88" EF Yak. The Voltmagic is a great product, people confuse them with a regular volt watch which it is not. You can set it to your application (20 different battery configurations) and it will show any glitches, fail safes and low voltage situations. You need to have it on it's own switch so you can program it. I have the two A123 on my receiver and a 1950 nimh on my ignition. I just plug my separate batteries and separate switches into different channels. I run a Futaba 10c with the 14 channel receiver so I don't have your problem. There are fellows at my field that run 105" 3d planes with the 7c and use a opti kill switch so I think it can be done. I have the 7955 and program them with the HPP-21. You can program which direction you want the servo's to run. Would help with the Y on the elevator. You would also have to Y your batteries into any one of the other channels. Other then Channel 2 as it has a Y already. So Channel # 3 and 5 or 7. I have the DLE 55 on my Yak and she still powers out fine. I ran my smoke pump off my ignition battery to save a battery for it. I like the 2 battery, 2 switches redundancy with out the added complications of a power expander. The voltmagic has showed me in about 20 flights that I have never had a low voltage situation and that's with throwing the Yak around pretty good. NOBS has some good info. I went with there cellpro multi 4 so I balance charge thru one charge jack built into the switch. Only have to take out the white wire on the switch harness going to the receiver. Look at the A123 FAQ to see the simple setup. No balance jacks that way. Good luck and keep researching as I'm no expert and could have very easily made a mistake. I have a 7c and knowing the EF Yak was coming I opted for the purchase of the 10c. It would be a few y's in there. I don't have the experience or knowledge to tell you it would work or would not. I would research it more and see if having Y's on 3 different channels could be a problem. I went with the 10 c that came with the 14 channel 6014HS. For less then $700 it is a nice radio and you could use the 14 channel receiver that comes with it. As it is $250 your getting the radio for only $450, that is what I told my wife anyway. [;)] I set it up using channels 1 thru 6 with digitals and using the high speed mode. Does it make a difference, could not tell you. I'm no expert but here goes, 1 AiL 1 2 Elev. use a Y and program the one servo to run counter clockwise ( don't need a reversing Y that way) 3 throttle 4 rudder 5 opti engine kill 6 AIL #2 (use Flaprn function on Page 42 7C manual) 7 Voltmagic channel (attach to a two position switch to program) http://www.greathobbies.com/productinfo/?prod_id=HITHPP-21 programmer $26 http://www.greathobbies.com/productinfo/?prod_id=FUT10CAG Radio http://www.greathobbies.com/productinfo/?prod_id=FUTR6014FS Receiver older FS the new 6014HS was $249 the last time I looked (wasn't there this time)
Posted on: 11/1/2009 12:46 AM by Author "Mikecam" in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - General"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9218997

RE: Extreme Flight 88
Who let the extra in there. LOL With the snow and cold expected here any day I am very jealous.
Posted on: 11/1/2009 12:30 AM by Author "Mikecam" in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - 3D & Aerobatic"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9219088

RE: Piper Cub
I went with the GP because of the covering ( it is very nice) and I'm not into scale in a hard way. I have a van for transport so the one piece wing was something I prefer. The GP is heavier as well and I put a OS 70SII on mine, the extra weight come's in handy in any wind, she still floats on landings. Nice floats for it as well. Either one would be a good decision.
Posted on: 10/30/2009 12:06 AM by Author "Mikecam" in the forum "ARF or RTF"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9214138

RE: Extreme Flight 88
I just went to Valley views website and can't find them. Will email them and get one on order. Thanks
Posted on: 10/22/2009 11:16 PM by Author "Mikecam" in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - 3D & Aerobatic"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9194983

RE: Extreme Flight 88
Joe did you lose any top end rpm with the stack?
Posted on: 10/22/2009 11:11 PM by Author "Mikecam" in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - 3D & Aerobatic"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9194972

RE: Extreme Flight 88
5 flights today. Nice calm day so I didn't have the field to myself. The Yak is amazing. I installed a 16 ounce tank and used the 20 ouncer for the smoke tank. I was sucking fumes from my first gallon and didn't quite get the tank right full. About 85% I figure and with the 10 minute flights and landing with almost half a tank left I changed my timer to 12 minutes. Well needless to say I ran out. Less back and forth and more up and down. [:D] I had 11:45 on my timer when she died so I was close, with a full tank I would make it but that is cutting it too close. Back to 10 minutes. LOL I do have one question. I did a lot more inverted flight today and at half throttle inverted level flight the DLE gurgles a little. I flip back over and she clears, back inverted and the gurgle comes back. Barely notice it and with it inverted and hit full throttle she rockets away. My low end is close and my high end is down 300/400 from peak because of breakin. I do have a line from the carb into the fuse. I went all the way to the fuel tank, should I stop it just past the firewall? Any thoughts? Never sounded like it would quit and tried some inverted spins at idle and it never missed a beat.
Posted on: 10/22/2009 9:41 PM by Author "Mikecam" in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - 3D & Aerobatic"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9194721

RE: Extreme Flight 88
Don't want to get into which engine is better but if you do some searches for both dl50 and da50 you'll have lots of reading. I've read many great reviews for the DL50/55 and very few problems. Also the price from great hobbies in Edm. (it comes with the muffler) was too much to pass up. Free shipping with my MAAC discount and only the GST. Funny I have the wife making me a radio cover as well. Sitting here waiting for the sun to burn off the frost and then I'm off. High of 8c and winds calm. Enjoy your flying today. http://www.greathobbies.com/productinfo/?prod_id=DLEDL55 DLE55 http://www.greathobbies.com/productinfo/?prod_id=DESDA50 DA 50 http://www.greathobbies.com/productinfo/?prod_id=DESDA50M Muffler
Posted on: 10/22/2009 9:52 AM by Author "Mikecam" in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - 3D & Aerobatic"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9193194

RE: Extreme Flight 88
I have a DLE55 in mine and it started great, runs great and was easy to tune. I still keep it up a bit since i don't quite have a gallon thru it yet but so far it has not missed a beat. The 88" is I think about as big as I would go. Just don't have the room, but the 88 has a wonderful presence in the air and the EF 88" Yak is a beauty, no matter what color you choose. Will post more pics when I get my decals. http://www.badbradgraphics.com/images/ef_yak_yellow_1.jpg
Posted on: 10/21/2009 10:59 PM by Author "Mikecam" in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - 3D & Aerobatic"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9192364

RE: Extreme Flight 88
I have 5 other glow planes that I USED to love to fly. I was never a one plane kind of guy, I would take three with me every time I went flying. With this Yak I really don't want to fly anything else. I was amazed that during the second flight my nerves totally disappeared and I really started to have fun with it. Tells me a lot about how it flies. Looking forward to tomorrow. Going for 11:00 and staying till I can't stand the cold any longer. I'm shooting for 6 12 minute flights. Friday looks good as does Saturday. Almost into my second gallon. I still sometimes can't believe I have flown it. The wife see's me with a sudden smile on my face today, ear to ear and she laughs and say's " Your thinking about your plane, aren't you " well she caught me, dead to rights. God I love this plane. It fills my van and my house so I can't imagine a 110". I would have to get the Black/Yellow and seeing has I have one already the decision is an easy one, maybe next year[;)]. Nice to be part of the club. Fly on gents, higher and higher. [:)]
Posted on: 10/21/2009 10:42 PM by Author "Mikecam" in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - 3D & Aerobatic"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9192300

RE: Extreme Flight 88
Well here are a few videos. Remember first 3D plane, first Gasser, and 3 flights. [:D][:D] The plane flies great. Even with the 1.25 hitech plastic servo arms. http://www.youtube.com/user/fyfefamily#p/u/9/CE8ef6lOYfA Takeoff http://www.youtube.com/user/fyfefamily#p/u/1/AtORQDxQs7I Smoke http://www.youtube.com/user/fyfefamily#p/u/0/WbPvMLoAEow Landing Only problem I have is I live in Canada and the snow is coming. [sm=cry_smile.gif][:D]
Posted on: 10/21/2009 10:08 PM by Author "Mikecam" in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - 3D & Aerobatic"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9192205

RE: Top Flite '.60 size' P-51D Mustang ARF: Building & Modifications
The right fix was to go the thrust angle route, but with the cowl and spinner mated perfectly with about 1/8 inch gap I wasn't going that way. 1 flight while adjusting the % for the mix solved my problem. +1 for the computer radio's.
Posted on: 10/20/2009 9:30 PM by Author "Mikecam" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9189479

RE: Extreme Flight 88
Well guys, the Yak flew. She took off nice and stable and required 2 clicks of down trim. Might have the CG a little back as she seemed to be tail heavy but after a minute I was used to it. I have an empty smoke tank beside the fuel tank, will fill it up and fly again. Knife edge is beautiful. Rolls are unbelievable. The DLE55 was on fire and pull out was good. I know it will only get better when I can tune to the rich side of peak and start the 50-1 Stihl Ultra oil. Chris all I can say is thanks for this beautiful flyer. The Black/Yellow stands out so much on a cloudy day, can't wait for the sun to come out. Servo arms from the Hitech servo's worked fine but still looking forward to the ones I ordered from EF. They shipped on the 8th, with the CAN dollar around 95 cents I'm sure everybody and there dog is ordering from the US so it's probably sitting at customs. At least I got to fly. The wife is taking tomorrow afternoon off so I should have some video tomorrow. Thanks for all the help guys, I really appreciate it. MC
Posted on: 10/20/2009 6:53 PM by Author "Mikecam" in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - 3D & Aerobatic"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9189067

RE: Top Flite '.60 size' P-51D Mustang ARF: Building & Modifications
I hated to do it but I mixed in some down elevator with the throttle. Mine only climbed under 3/4 and above throttle though.
Posted on: 10/20/2009 11:35 AM by Author "Mikecam" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9188009

RE: Extreme Flight 88
I have the 10C. It has the throttle cut as well as the idle down function. When it is in the idle down function the throttle trim button works the idle down function and does not effect the throttle trim. When the idle down switch is off then the throttle trim is active. Works very well. I also use a smartfly kill and use it to kill the engine instead of the throttle cut which also works. Just finishing up the servo arms.
Posted on: 10/19/2009 1:48 PM by Author "Mikecam" in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - 3D & Aerobatic"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9185480

RE: Extreme Flight 88
Thanks xtraflya. It's a DLE55 and idles down great, just thought it would be safer to use the idle down feature to begin with. It has about 30 minutes run time so I might be expecting too much with the perfect full throttle idle down stuff. I was going over my list of things to remember, I had left one item off the list. Range check, it can happen so fast and so easy. [X(] Looking forward to flying when I'm 100% ready.
Posted on: 10/18/2009 11:31 PM by Author "Mikecam" in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - 3D & Aerobatic"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9184184

RE: Extreme Flight 88
More questions guys. Should I fly my first flights with out the cowl for cooling purposes or put it on? Going to put the Hitec arms on till the SWB arms come in. Tuned the top end today, hit 7200 rpm peak. I have the low end as good as I can get it. Snaps to full throttle very quickly. I'm very happy how this motor ran today for two tanks. When I drop the throttle to idle from peak it drops the rev's for a second or two before picking back up to idle at about 1800 rpm. Would you think that is a little lean or a little rich? I remember reading about it but don't remember which way I should go. Motor needs time as well so I'm not worried at all. Choke, 3 flips, bark, choke off, two more flips and she's running. And only 10c out or about 50f. For the guys that run an idle down switch, what do you set your high idle at ? Tuesday looks good, high of 50f and 8 to 10 mph winds.
Posted on: 10/18/2009 11:00 PM by Author "Mikecam" in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - 3D & Aerobatic"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9184119

RE: Extreme Flight 88
I have a list made up so I can go over it and make sure I don't miss anything. Very easy in this sport to get excited and overlook something. Thanks for the good advice. I have a Futaba 10cag and I'm trying to use the new high speed mode on the 6014HS. Need the digitals on channels 1 thru 6. Problem is with the 10C, second elevator is normal channel 8, not one of the high speed channels. It does say in the manual you can use channel 5 with a mix so will have to figure that out. I took this week off to finish up and fly. Up here in Canada the weather is getting iffy so we will have to see.
Posted on: 10/18/2009 11:40 AM by Author "Mikecam" in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - 3D & Aerobatic"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9182671

RE: Extreme Flight 88
Thanks guys. Can't wait to get her in the air. I'll leave it on the low rates as per the manual, just would be nice to get her airborne and brake in the motor.
Posted on: 10/17/2009 11:41 PM by Author "Mikecam" in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - 3D & Aerobatic"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9181763

RE: Extreme Flight 88
Well she is done except for the back ordered servo arms. I have 7955 going in, could I use the arms that come with the servo just to get some flying time on her? EF shipped the arms on Oct. 8th but I'm afraid there are stuck in customs. Here are some pictures and Video right after the very first start. DLE 55 started up 4th flip after getting fuel to the carb. Half a turn lean on the low end and she transitions great. Peaked at 7100 rpm on top so I left the top. I imagine it is a little rich. Will tune top end tomorrow when I get her out to the field. A friend lent me a 22x8 as mine are in the mail also. Great plane and so far great engine. http://www.youtube.com/user/fyfefamily#p/u
Posted on: 10/17/2009 7:19 PM by Author "Mikecam" in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - 3D & Aerobatic"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9181161

RE: Extreme Flight 88
I ordered my EF Yak just because of all the great reviews on here. When your looking for a plane to purchase and you find one that has 100's of pages of threads on several different forums then you have found the right one. She is all done, just waiting for the back ordered servo arms and hope to get her in the air before the snow hits. We had 10 inches already but it melted and next week looks good so COME ON MAILMAN. [:D] MC PS I decided on the EF 88" Yak in June, put name on list and just received it Oct. 5th. I looked around to see if their was something else that I fancied since i had the motor and servo's already, well I waited and boy am I glad I did. If you want one for next spring order now, for all of you that fly all year long, well. [:'(] [:)]
Posted on: 10/15/2009 2:00 PM by Author "Mikecam" in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - 3D & Aerobatic"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9175582

RE: Extreme Flight 88
Well one more coat tomorrow and she's done. Thanks again Joe and others. MC
Posted on: 10/14/2009 12:02 AM by Author "Mikecam" in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - 3D & Aerobatic"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9171579

RE: Extreme Flight 88
I've seen them cut for a pipe opening and it looked like the whole bottom was open. Which it is if you are using a pipe I guess. Joe that looks like it would really create negative pressure and help draw more air thru the front. You had me at Hello !!! [:D] Going to get started right now. Mine is the black one so I'll try painting the inside black, worked well on the landing gear opening. Thanks. I'll feel much better about the engine getting enough air flow. Somebody's picture, hope they don't mind.
Posted on: 10/13/2009 11:04 PM by Author "Mikecam" in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - 3D & Aerobatic"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9171439