Glow Adventures Pt3

(Originally Published Aug 11, 2022) 

Yesterday was a lovely day of low wind and a great day to get out. As seems to be the norm at the club, that means crosswinds, but very mild ones.

As I had some maintenance to perform in the evening, I was able to duck out of work early and head to the field. Surprisingly nobody was there despite the delightful weather. 

This meant that for the first time I'd be flying the LT-40 with nobody around to help sort the engine if I ran into any issues. Luckily I didn't encounter any except the engine not wanting to restart when warm, but that proved to be nothing more than my Kwik-Start needing a charge. Put the backup wired glow igniter on and it started right up after a couple flips. 

Got 3 good flights in, and starting to try some mild aerobatics on the LT-40. I moved the CG back a touch which has helped a bit, more to come there. I may also shim the wing to get some of the incidence out, right now it's flying with visible down elevator trim. 

The first couple flights were 5-6 minutes long, I came back with plenty of fuel. The last one I decided to see if I could run out the 9 minute timer on a tank. Turns out I couldn't quite get there, the engine quit on the far end of the downwind leg and I didn't quite get back on the field deadstick, put it down gently in long grass about 30' from the runway. No damage, but I probably could have got it back if I'd realized I was gliding and not just puttering along at 1/3 throttle sooner. 

The deadstick was also due to running rich, I'm pretty sure if I'd peaked out the engine properly on start that I would have had enough fuel to fly the full 9 minutes. I've only run about 5-6 full tanks though the 46AXII and I'm still leaving it rich for a few more tanks to make sure it's well broken in. For now I just reset my timer to 8 minutes. The builder of my LT-40 put a smallish tank in, I might end up putting a larger tank in over the winter. 

It's interesting how starting to fly glow and moving up seriously in aircraft size has really put me back into a sort of 'new pilot' mindset. I'm a reasonably solid and confident pilot on the smaller electric stuff I regularly fly (mostly 40-50" span), but I noticed when I maidened my Valiant 10cc earlier this year that I did not feel nearly as confident flying a much larger (~70") aircraft. They do fly differently than the small stuff. Adding glow to the mix as well, with the new pre-flight skill set, different failure modes and different throttle response has just added to that. 

The LT-40 also flies very differently from what I'm used to, when I came back to the hobby in 2015/2016 and did my flight training I used the 1.3m Valiant, which while docile at mid-throttle is a very much more precise flying aircraft than a traditional trainer is. I hadn't flown something like the LT-40 since 1989 and it feels really different. The big Valiant does fly more like the small one in terms of precision, but speed and power is more like the LT-40 (I'd say the stock Power 46/4S power system on the Valiant 10cc is nearly identical in power to the LT-40/46AXII given the two aircraft have similar size/weight and span, my prop change on the Valiant makes it more sporty for sure). 

The last piece is just how much familiarity with the field leads to confidence. With my main club activity switching to the new club due to location (it's closer to my home) and allowing fuel planes, I've had to get used to a new field with very different challenges. A lot more serious crosswind flying and trees in the approach path instead of short finals to avoid overflying a highway and whatever crops are in the current farmer's field (corn this year at the old club). I'm getting more comfortable with the new field though, although I still don't have the final turn point nailed for flying a left-hand approach as that side has no trees to use as turn point indicators.

The result of this is twofold, I've been really leaning on the CFI at the club for guidance on the glow side of things (he's a pretty dedicated glow guy) and he's been a great help there. The other part is I just need to fly more to build confidence. The more I fly the LT-40, the more comfortable I get with it and I expect the same from the Valiant once I start flying it regularly. I've been somewhat hesitant to fly it because of those confidence issues and the overall investment I have in it. The irony of course being I need to fly it more to get that confidence that is preventing me from flying it more.

Glow Adventures pt 2

(Originally Published Aug 6, 2022) 

Well, it turns out the 46AXII on my LT-40 doesn't like a 10x6, or at least doesn't like it at the moment. It runs fine on the setup table, but dies at idle the moment I put it out to taxi. Looks like it doesn't quite load the engine enough, the moment it unloads at all, it dies at idle. Note the APC Scimitar prop that was on it before was actually an 11x6 (I checked afterwards, was wrong on what size it was)

Note I only have 4-5 tanks through the engine right now (from new), it will probably loosen up some more as I get more fuel through it. 

Put a Master Airscrew 11x6 on for now and it's quite happy again. I'll keep flying it as is, wouldn't be surprised if the bigger prop helps haul this larger aircraft around, the LT-40 is a lot of airframe for a 40-45, even if the weight is reasonable.

Right now I just need to get used to flying a 70" span aircraft, flying glow and the new field as well. I'm so used to the field at the other club that I'm nervous landing at the new club, especially since there seems to always be a serious crosswind every time I go out. Need to get used to crosswind landings for sure, and cross controlling/crabbing on landing. 

In all, I just need some hours on the sticks (and in tuning engines), and well probably moving the CG back a bit slowly, the LT-40 is currently in the forward half of the range and I suspect I'll like it a bit better more aft. 

I am really enjoying flying glow so far. There's something of a ritual to it that just isn't present when flying electric, and I like that ritual (the same way I enjoy winch and histart launch over electric launch for sailplanes). Plus the smell is nostalgic. 

Well That Was Embarrassing

(Originally published July 31, 2022)

 CD’d a 2m Woody contest yesterday. It was a fun day, but I made two HUGE mistakes that prevented me from flying, and both come down to ‘make sure your gear is ready before you leave’.

The first one is one we’ve all done. I left the wing bolts for my RESolution V2 at home. Oops. I normally carry a pretty massive toolbox, but didn’t feel like it yesterday since I was CD’ing and just needed the one plane and battery. Wing bolts were in a compartment in the toolkit.

The second is the funny one. I also forgot to check if it had a receiver. Turns out I’d swiped the receiver to go into a Vibe DLG last year and never replaced it. Oops. 

Check your gear. Preflight your aircraft at home if you haven’t flown them yet this season. And if you have a routine (as I do), don’t break it when going to a contest, you will regret it.

Somewhat ironically, I’m stealing a receiver from my Blaster 3 DLG for the RESolution today. The Blaster 3 is down for servo replacement (need to order a couple more X08’s) and there’s no way I can get it flight worthy without noticing it is missing a receiver. 

The contest was fun, if a touch windy for 2m’s. 

Glow Adventures pt 1

(Originally published July 24, 2022)

I got out to the club on Friday and broke in the 46AXII on the LT-40. Yesterday I got out again and the CFI assisted me in maidening the LT-40, which was successful apart from some gripes about the offset trim locations on the X20 (they are a pain if you are not used to them. The X18 does not have this issue)

In short, the LT-40 flew well, the prop isn't ideal (The CFI recommended switching from the APC Scimitar 10x6 prop to a Master Airscrew 10x6, which I will do). I got another flight on it, but there were a lot of folks out and the wind kinda sucked later on in the day so I didn't fly any more than that, aside from 2 flights on my Ugly Stik, the second of which resulted in hitting a tree with a Stik. 

Mild damage to the Stik, with the wing forward of the spar ripped up on the outer 4 bays. A couple days of work to fix & recover and it will fly again. Reason for the hit? I'm not familiar with the field and have been having issues judging distance of my aircraft because I've been flying 60"+ aircraft lately after years of 50" and smaller stuff. I thought I was closer in and turned onto final too soon, putting me behind a tree with not enough power to get out of the way. 

Pure pilot error, but it does make me glad I've not tried to fly that 40-sized pattern ship at this field yet. I want some more time on the LT-40 and the Valiant 10cc at the field before getting anything much higher performance in the air there. It's a really different layout than what I'm used to and I just need to get comfortable with it. Plus I'm flying stuff now that likes grass a lot more than the smaller aircraft.

For the Stik, I'll probably move that over to the TANDEM radios from the 9ZAP, so I can set up spoilerons easily. It's WAY too floaty on final and I think 1/8-1/4" of reflex will solve that nicely. It's electric right now as well, but I'm not happy with the power on 4S and while the setup is 5S capable I'm not buying new batteries just for that. As this was a glow aircraft converted to electric by a previous owner, I'm strongly considering converting it back to glow with a ~60-sized engine.

VAR Mixers and Aileron Differential

 Any value entry box in ETHOS with a square in the upper left can have 3 special input options assigned, Minimum, Maximum and 'Use a Source'

Use a source is incredibly powerful, it can mix pretty much anything that you can get a usable value out have. This allows adjustable differential from a trimmer, slider or pot, or multiple selectable values from a VAR mix.

I've seen two requests for multiple selectable Differential values with 2 different use cases, the first was on low rates only, the second wanted independent settings for left and right aileron. In the first case, a simple switch designation works, but the second requires use of a logical switch to select which direction is active. 

In either case, the VAR mix is pretty much identical. You do the following:

1. Setup a VAR Mix, name it meaningfully ('Ail Diff' works), assign the Output to a high channel and accept the renaming of the channel (in this example, it will be ch64)

Your default weight is whatever value you want to be the differential value when the selector (logical switch or physical switch) is inactive.
Add a weight, select your switch, add the value you want when the selector is active.

You can of course have multiple options in the list, VAR mixes are prioritized, so the top value whose selector is true will be the value sent to the channel.

Finally, go to the aileron mix, make sure you have at least 2 outputs selected (otherwise Differential won't do anything), scroll down to Differential. Long-press the value field and select 'Use a Source'. Set the Source to Channels->CH64 (Ail Diff) or whatever channel you used for your VAR Mix output. 

Battery Connector Soup

 (Originally Published July 22, 2022)

Battery connectors are an enduring frustration for many. BnF type aircraft come with a variety of connectors depending on the source, batteries and chargers are the same.

For the last couple of years, I've been standardizing my fleet on XT series connectors. However I'm coming to the realization that this doesn't work as well as I'd like overall. I still mostly have electrics even with my increasing interest in glow, and I expect I'll continue to fly electrics long-term, at least for smaller stuff. I may or may not convert my 2 60-ish sized electrics to glow at some point.

All my small stuff except actual UMX's is on XT30. This works fine.
My larger 3S stuff is a mix of XT60 and iC3 batteries and iC3 ESC connectors (all Avian ESC's)
My 4S stuff is a mix of iC3 and XT60 at the aircraft.

The challenge is that I don't buy batteries mail-order, only in my LHS's. I'm having trouble finding mid-sized 4S packs (larger than 2200 and smaller than 5000's) from brands other than Spektrum locally. 

The takeaway? I'm going to standardize on iC3 for larger 3S, I only really need 4x 2200's right now and have 2 iC3 ones, so I'll get 2 more and retire all the other old batteries via Swap meet.

For 4S, I'm going to start standardizing on iC3 as well, but I'll convert my current batteries to iC3 as they're newer, higher performance batteries.

On the charger side, I'll look at getting an S2100 or S2200, then maybe replacing my iSDT D2mII with a second S2x00. I'll also get the Spektrum battery checker to supplement my iSDT one (I'll keep the iSDT for the SBus/PWM checker feature, the Spektrum replaces that with a Servo test feature that's equally useful) 

The Glow Fleet Grows and a New to Me Radio

(Originally Published on July 18th, 2022) 

I've been looking for a more relaxed glow aircraft to get up while I sort out the 40-sized pattern ship. I've been building a Live Wire Champion, but that's going slowly as I'm too busy with work.

I was in one of my LHS's on Friday looking for glow plugs, and I ended up getting offered a kit-built Kadet LT-40 on consignment for a superb price, very little more than the cost of the brand new and never run 46AXII installed in it. It just needs a battery, receiver and break-in. 

I broke down and bought it. Turns out it also came with plans, paperwork, a Kwik-Start XL and a radio, namely a Futaba 9ZAP WC2 on Ch50 with receiver and a bunch of spare servos, a fresh NiMH pack for the radio was installed. Oddly the receiver was not installed in the aircraft, although the radio had been programmed.

Coincidentally I have an FrSky DFT module that was in my T6FG/K and fits the 9ZAP. 

So I picked up the package, a fresh 5-cell RX pack as well as the #6 glow plug I was actually after (I'd burned out the plug on the Rossi 45). Got home, installed the FrSky TD R10 I'd picked up a while back for my Valiant 10cc (ended up putting an SR8 in there instead) and I just need to balance it out now.

I'm running the LT-40 on my X20 for now. I hope to maiden it Friday or Saturday.

The 9ZAP? Well I pulled the DFT from the T6FG/K and installed it, grabbed an electric Das Ugly Stik I acquired a while back but had not setup yet, installed a D4R-II in it, bound it up and got the install sorted. Maidened the combo yesterday. The 9ZAP is a great feeling radio, but man that's some odd programming. Everything is working except Throttle Cut for now. I'll sort that out later. The Ugly Stik? Well it flies like a Stik, so I'm quite happy with it.