Jul 29
I thought it would be a good idea to go fly the Spitfire tonight. The weather was great, little wind, and sun was still up enough to see the plane. I took it up to about 100 feet, and did some rolls and loops. Did my first complete stall, including some nice rolls before pulling out of it. Then down low for some nice flyby’s for the kids. Then I finally got the guts to do some inverted flybys, yep upside down flying. The first one was super great, and boy did it make my heart race. I brought it back around for another upside down flyby, and the plane drifted close to the ground that I’d like.
Trouble is that when the plane is upside down, the elevator controls are backwards. So I naturally pulled down on the control, hoping to bring the plane elevation up a bit, but that brought it close to the ground. So close in fact that it drilled a small hole towards China. It hit the ground at 40 miles an hour, right on to the nose of the plane.
Here are the sad pictures:
Main wing is broken, front of fuselage is totall smashed, motor is mangled, and rudder broken off. It will take a couple hours to get it back to normal, and perhaps some $ too. Although the cheapskate in me will put all kinds of time in before ordering parts. This is the best plane ever, and is so fast and well controlled that it always is a great experience to go fly it. ( Thanks for the gift, Lady ).
You can donate to my Spitfire Relief Fund below:
Tagged with: airplane • crash • spitfire
Jul 28
Worked on the a balsa wood plane I found downstairs, that I didn’t remember having. It is kind of small, but good practice. I have spent about 10 hours on it now, and nearly have it all glued together. Fuselage is complete, and sanded, tail and elevator too. Just need to shape leading edge of main wing, then I can start the fun task of covering it with tissue paper.
Tagged with: airplane
Jul 26
I think I have finally hit the magical transition from amateur rc plane pilot to ‘half baked’ skill set. I’ve got another hour or so under my belt this weekend, with nice smooth landings, simple stunts, and better timing on when my batteries run out of juice. For instance my SpitFire battery only took 30 more seconds to discharge before I could recharge on Friday.
So now I can hopefully sit back and just put time and money into maintenance, and not major overhauls of wings, fuselages and such. I’m going to pick up another related hobby, that I enjoyed as a kid, building wood airplanes. None of the local shops carry them anymore, and they are actually a bit hard to find. But with a few minutes on Google, I was able to locate Guillow’s and my next plane is here. These are nearly all balsa wood, with tissue paper covering and will break the first chance they get. I am planning on getting a nice 0.049 engine, and setting it up for free flight.
Tagged with: airplane • zero
Jun 30
Got a new plane today. It is a spitfire, with a nice powerful engine. This is my first plane with ailerons, so it will be fun to learn to fly. I’m going to try to get some video of my flight up on the website, soon.
Tagged with: airplane
Jun 22
Here is my new radio transmitter and new plane purchased this weekend. Plane is a hobbyzone and can be purchased here. Spektrum radio is really nice, and I’ve already made the conversion to a spektrum receiver on the Super Cub airplane.
Ember 2 Plane is a slow stick, mostly indoor plane. Amazing enough, only 20 grams and I can get over 15 minutes of flying time on it.
Tagged with: airplane
