Flying for Real..

[VEGAS]

Hi Dave

It's exactly the same issue I had with mine some time ago.

I have an almost identical crease in the rudder.

The little tab on the bottom of the rudder does slot into the main body of the fuselage.

If you look at the fuselage from the rear you'll see a very small slit which is were this tab goes into.

It's designed to keep the rudder in a vertical position when its being pushed and pulled.

Sounds like your all sorted anyway.

[DaveB]

Cheers Eddie

There's almost enough tape on the rear to need trimming out! I'll run with this for as long as I can before using the new one though

ATB
DaveB

[VEGAS]

Had some quality flying time this morning with the Radian.

A calm day with rising warm air. It just stayed up will minimal input of elevator.

Two batteries lasted over 1hr 30minutes, with plenty of juice left in them!

Puts it into perspective when I realised, that if I took the Wildcat out, each battery lasts around 6-7 minutes before I gotta bring her in.

Right I'm off to the gym now.

[DaveB]

Off to the gym.. good god man

Yes.. I snuck 4 batteries worth in early this morning too. Still a bit cold then and not quite as calm as I'd hoped. It's warmed up a treat now and the wind appears to have dropped yet more. 2 out of 4 recharged.. the third almost ready so I'll be out again Pleased to say that yesterdays repair is working fine too

Wish I could stick a minicam on the Champ so I could show you where I fly but I know you've tried and found it was a bit too much for the little tinker
ATB
DaveB

[DaveB]

Woe is me...



Wanting to take advantage of the fablious weather, I went out again. Took off from the road.. pwr didn't seem quite right but up it went. Travelled up for half a minute or so then started losing pwr so I brought it down. Had a look.. control surfaces working fine but engine not keen. Changed the battery in case this one had gone duff. Again.. the engine seemed like it didn't want to run then it picked up. Presuming some little bit of rubbish had got in, I launched and off she went. Not long after.. the same symptoms.. no pwr. Came home and changed the batts in the txer (just in case) but that's not the problem. Having opened her up, it would appear the motor is knackered.. that or the control board. The control board is operating the rudder/elevator fine and there's no visible signs of anything being wrong but the motor won't turn. If I grab the spinner and turn it slowly, I can hear it 'catch' for the briefest moment then nada.

I'm presuming that these motors should last longer than 49 days.. not all of which have been flown on!

Damn and bloody blast!
ATB
DaveB

[DaveB]

The story gets worse..

I've been in touch with the seller on Ebay and they're arranging a replacement motor/gearbox which is good. However, judicious use of silicone glue at the factory means that the old gearbox/engine are impossible to take out without damage to the engine compartment.

The first shot shows the hole in engine bay.. the second shows the engine/gearbox with chunks of engine bay stuck to it!




I worked on this for nearly an hour to make sure all the silicone was removed/cut through on the upper part of the gearbox housing too The reason it still wouldn't come out is obvious. I've started cutting the foam off the bottom of the gearbox housing with a view to sticking it back in place but I gotta tell ya.. I aint at all happy Perhaps this is a good way of selling new fuse sections Incidentally, the gearbox housing has 4 plastic pins.. 2 each side which shove into the foam on the fuse. I guess that over time, Hobbyzone have learned that these can come loose so decided to glue the chuffin things in place too! I'm wondering now whether to buy a new fuse and be done but this would mean removing the control board out of the old fuse and this, like it's neighbour half an inch away is nicely glued. It'd also mean me having to cut the wing off the upper fuse section and glue it to the new upper.. that or tape the original upper with wing attached to the new lower.

And all this time, the sun is out and there's not a breath of wind outside

ATB
DaveB

[VEGAS]

Strewth mate. Thats a bad day at the office.

Its not unheard for the servo's to stick. That could of been the reason for power failure.

There's a chap with a fix on youtube mate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf0LKdtlm5I

As for the chunks of foam missing, thats not a problem.

You can buy foam-in-a-tub type paste which is like a kind of filler.

Once it sets, its like a new again. Its designed for foam aircraft.

Thats why foam planes are made of foam. Easily fixable.

Your aircraft will eventually resemble a flying banana, like mine.

But you'll always have a soft spot for it as its what you learnt to fly in.

Its not the end of the world pal. Just a minor set back.

[DaveB]

Hello Mate

I've carefully cut the chunks of foam from the underside of the gearbox housing and stuck them in the corresponding holes in the fuse. The most difficult part was getting the 4 pins out as these were also covered in glue. What a donkeys bottom The end result doesn't look bad (though of course, it'll not be seen)

Believe it or not, I watched that video a while back while looking for help in fixing the fin. He's a looney that bloke is. I don't think a dead engine was the cause of his problem.. more a case of crap in the cogs. He has a whole rash of DIY vids on youtube.. very useful if you've no idea what the hell you're doing I'll watch it again later

There are a few signs of dirt on the prop shaft cog but not enough to stop it working. Anyhoo.. even if I got the motor running, I'd need another gearbox as I had to cut the locating pins off! You can buy new gearboxes for a few quid though. The gearbox and motor is only £11

I'm happier now I've got the front ready to accept the new gearbox/motor assy. Tried flying the wing and upper fuse as a glider and it's shit Thks for the tip on that Foam in a Tub stuff. I'll seek it out

On another down note.. as the weather was fine and I couldn't fly, I thought I'd take the cover off the Triumph and charge the battery up. The cover has scratched the crap out of the screen! It looks a treat Ah dear.. some days, you just wonder why you got out of bed Hope you get some good time up with the Radian anyway mate. With the weather like it is, the Wildcat'll be a blast to fly too

ATB
DaveB

[VEGAS]

Not your day matey.

Hopefully things will pick up for ya.

Don't worry too much about the Champ, there so cheap to fix. You'll be back up in no time.

Here's a video one of todays flights in the Radian. The camera only records in 20minute bursts. If it goes over that it resets.

I found that out the hard way today when I went home looking foward to watching a good 45 minute aerial flight of my neighbourhood.

It wasn't there!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rbrg8jak62w

[Vc Ten]

Tough luck Dave
But remember,the sense of achievment after fixing em makes the fun of flying so much sweeter
Cheers
Dale