Radio Control Flying . . .

Radio Control or R/C is sometimes very frustrating. Right now I have a "Big Stik" airplane with a Magnum .91 four cycle engine on it. The Magnum is not running well, no apparent reason but there has got to be something somewhere leading to the problem.

A while back I found the "clunk" in the fuel tank had come lose. The clunk is simply a chuck of metal, usually chrome plated with a nipple on one end to connect to fuel line and the other is open to suck up fuel. The clunk serves to always be in the bottom of the tank (which when inverted can be the top of the tank inverted or on the bottom relative to earth - gravity takes care of the job of moving the clunk around). The fuel line acts to be limber so it can move side to side or top to bottom and infinite locations in between. It works, it is simple and is rarely a problem. But since it came off, it was a problem necessitating removal of the tank and investigating the problem. Found it and fixed it.

But the airplane had sat down prematurely, and ripped out the main landing gear. So I had to spend time getting that back in place and glued and reinforced with fibre glass cloth. Got that done, have done it before and now think maybe it has been done to many times. We will see.

Went to the field and while charging up the batteries discovered the tail feathers were about to come off. That is one of the weakest points on the fuselage and tends to develop cracks and if not reinforce lead to impinged failure (the tail feathers come off and the airplane crashes). So returned home without flying and reinforced the breaks. First I wicked in some Cyrnocinate glue (super glue to all others) and then applied a patch on the outside made of very thin plywood. Yes, it is three ply and less than a 1/16 of an inch in thickness, so it makes a nice patch on the outside over the cracks. And that patch is epoxied on - epoxy is probably the strongest glue we use in R/C but it is also heavy. Then I use popsicle sticks, about an inch and half long, inside of the structure. They are glued on with yellow glue (Aliphatic glue - Titebond). I also used clamps to set the yellow glue which leads to a stronger bond. Thus the cracks are sandwiched together - much stronger than a 1/8 inch thick balsa plank. The load is better distributed and the structure is much stronger now.

Got back out to the field, charged up and took off. Engine quit at about 50 feet in the air and down came the plane into the very tall Bermuda grass. That is the next best thing to a dead stick landing on the runway. The grass is usually very forgiving but in this case, it took out the landing gear again. So I am in the process of reinstalling the landing gear mount, epoxy cement and over lay with fibre glass for strength. And I will add some reinforcement inside the fuselage to enhance the structure. Getting heavy with all that epoxy but you gotta do what you gotta do to keep them flying.

The new field is for a new local club named the Black Sheep. The initials are significant and the new club is a splinter off the Weatherford Aero Model Society (WAMS). WAMS is rich club poorly managed. I was on the board of a long time but resigned due to safety issues. I have not flown with WAMS since then. Their new field is adjacent to a gas well (very close). I deemed the field in the style of Ralph Nadiar - "Unsafe at any speed." As such I could not remain the "Safety Person."

Anyway the "BS" club is poor, active and has a field set up in mere weeks. WAMS spent a ton of money, and have a poorly sited field in a danger zone. BS leases a spot in coastal Bermuda field for $400 per annum. WAMS leases a similar piece of turf with trees close in (tress are the bane of R/C) for $2,500 per annum. BS is an active club, not sure about WAMS at all anymore.

Waiting for glue to dry is always time consuming.