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Nice looking engine you have got yourself there Tug. Nice little plaything for when the weather turns cold & wet again.
Now that you have your RunCam 2 finally unboxed & working you can strap it on to the train & give us a drivers eye view of your layout (or is that still in the planning stages like my Digital Slot car layout that I started acquiring bits for many many years ago & its all still in boxes)
The V tail is not loose, it’s just that the V tail is so large & the rear end of the fuse so small the V tail loading twists the fuselage slightly in hard turns. The way its fibre-glassed on it is unlikely to ever come loose.
The eagle was very close at times but never showed any aggression, just liked tagging along I think. Mostly he was just gliding along just above & behind the V tail.
Never got around to updating this build thread but if you have been watching our flying day reports you will already know that the BumbleBee flew (and still does) very well after a bit of tuning.
How she looks now I finally got around to painting the tail
A couple of months ago the reduction gearbox (3 to 1) on the drive motor seized so I replaced the motor and gearbox with an FSP 830kV direct drive motor. Using the same 11 x 7 folding prop the new motor is running about 1500rpm slower than the geared drive but it still has more than enough power to quickly launch up to where the thermals are and the much lighter setup in the nose makes BumbleBee an absolute pleasure to fly. The HobbyEagle A3-V2 stabiliser is no longer required to keep the plane flying level & there is now even a bit of room to move the battery forward & aft to better suit the flying conditions.
Having learnt to fly at a later age and using a stabiliser/autopilot all the time it has taken a long time to wean myself off them.
It all started with the Eyas Eagle “Little Eagle” as this was very aerobatic but needed the stabiliser either off or in 3D mode to allow it.
Now BumbleBee flies with no stabiliser as does the new Pulse XT 25e so I’m getting more used to it all the time.
Might have to retune the poor old Bixler 2 Sport for bareback flying as currently it is still equipped with the fullblown FY-41AP autopilot as are all my FPV planes.
The last 2 flying days I have flown the XT 25e and been very happy with it.
The ZOHD Kopilot is only needed for RTH (I’ve had to use it a couple of times already as the predominantly yellow plane disappears the moment you take your eyes off it) . The ZOHD Kopilot also has a built in switchable stabiliser that make landing in the wind a tad easier but you don’t really need is as the plane has that good “locked in” feel about it.
Today the new 12 x 8e APC prop turned up (this is the recommended size but I have been running an 11 x 8e as it was all I had) so it has been fitted ready for another test flight.
I have also ordered a 4200mAh 3S 75C LiPo as the current ones I have – 3000mAh 3S 30C LiPo’s trigger the low voltage telemetry back to the radio very quickly at WOT. Back the power off and at least 10 minutes of flight is achievable. Testing this morning shows the motor draws 8 amps more with the larger prop so I think the larger capacity battery will be needed.
For those that are interested here are the test results with the two props, both tested on a fully charged battery.
E-flite Pulse XT 25e
Motor – Turnigy 25e 870kV (theoretical 9918 rpm – no load)
ESC – Aerostar 40A reversible
Battery – Floureon 3000mAh 11.4v 3S 30C LiPo
Prop 11 x 8e
RPM – 8700
Watts – 360W
Current – 34A WOT
Prop 12 x 8e
RPM – 8100
Watts – 470W
Current – 42A WOT
Tug, just a quick “maybe” with your RunCam 2. The battery connections to the camera are a pretty poor design and I found almost from new that I needed a piece of card (cut same size as the battery) jammed underneath between the battery and the case to get a reliable connection.
Of course the other option may be a stuffed battery if it was stored in a discharged state for a long time.
No worries Tug, the new Pulse XT 25e flew beautifully, just hope someone got some video of it. The little Pitts biplane also went well but I’ll need to replace the rudder servo before next flight as it sounds like its missing a tooth or two when turning in one direction.
Thanks for the video Tug, certainly a beautiful looking beach to sail from, the underwater footage is so clear compared to our canal its embarrassing.
Glad you are getting out to enjoy it while the weather is still nice.
Looks like we may get another Indian Summer down this way similar to last year. Weather is almost perfect at the moment.
Anyway I must away as we are flying today & hopefully I will get to maiden the Pulse XT 25e that I recently finished. Also refitted the ply engine mount back in the little Pitts Special (the 3D printed ones have all failed for one reason or another) so with a bit of luck she may get a bit more airtime today.
Cheers
Rather a bad case of letting the smoke out. Almost impossible to get it all back into the micro containers once its out like that.!!
Almost looks like moisture (or perhaps some creature) got on the board & flashed over ?
I have some LN-10 Flux Remover/Cleaning agent if you want to borrow to clean up the board to try and ascertain what caused the failure, it will remove all that carbon like it was never there.
Our little Green Froggy decided to try a bit of aerobatics in his Eyas Eagle today. The first aerobatic flight was almost accidental but second time around he was definitely putting the Eagle through her paces!!.
Well done Kermit.
It was another perfect day for a fly & BBQ with some mates. No better way to start the week off.
Nice to see Ian back in the air with yet another new Bix 3, must be about #3 or perhaps even #4 but they have all been well flown & well abused but no doubt worth every penny.
