Hobbyzone Super Cub - With Floats

I picked up a Super Cub this past weekend instead of an ultra-micro. I immediately installed floats and performed the battery box modification so I could fit my larger 1800 - 2200 mAh LIPOs. I have a Turnigy 35-36c 1100kV motor earmarked for this plane to amp up the power to match Johny K's Super Duper Cub, but I thought I'd at least fly it a few times with a stock power system just to get a feel for it.

 Unfortunately it was fairly windy all weekend, so I didn't get a chance to fly it until last night. Wind conditions were not bad in the protected bay I was flying from, but as soon as the airplane crossed an invisible barrier it would hit the winds blowing across the length of the lake, then it was buffeted around like a ping pong ball in a hot air popper. No video of the maiden flights. I put three batteries through it- not bad for first water take-offs and landings on a new airplane.

Observations:

• The stock power system is plenty for getting it off the water and just flying around. Not great for any kind of acrobatics, though- at least with the added weights of the floats. I managed to do a massive tail slide right into the lake because of a nice stall during a loop with insufficient airspeed.
• The Super Cub is pretty durable. In addition to the big tail slide into the drink, I also snagged a wingtip a couple times and cartwheeled into the water during low level turns when moving from the calm air to the turbulent air. No damage other than snapping the floats back in place. I just paddled the canoe out and grabbed the airplane.
• It's very confusing to fly a three channel airplane again after getting used to four channel flight. I kept on trying to turn the plane using the left stick when in the pattern or on the ground to no affect. I may have to convert the SuperCub to four channel flight just because of this.

A New Look At Chlorhexadine Gluconate

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A New Look At Chlorhexadine Gluconate

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Perhaps tomorrow will see a parkzone ultra micro p51 added to the stable...

John's 36" Wing

John built a 36" wing using the blu-core fan fold foam. He oriented the natural folds in the raw foam along the leading edge of the wing to produce a very nice looking airfoil. His original configuration had the motor on the leading edge of the wing. The CG was too far forward, and the flight attempts ended in nose-dives and broken props. Then, he took the utility knife and packing tape to the wing, converted it into a pusher and had better luck.

John reinforcing "motor mount" with packing tape

Reconfigured into Pusher Configuration

Nearly ready for finishing

Last night I finished cutting out the battery compartment, added the socket for the receiver, and cut out the servo wire channels in the wing. Next step, final finishing and control surface installation. I'm weighing the options for finishing- full polyurethane glass, epoxy glass, or just reinforcement tape and paint or heatshrink covering?

More progress on the speedwing

Tonight I spend a lot of time dremeling out servo pockets, battery fuse cavities, etc. Mmm boy does blue foam dust taste good! I had to create a new fuselage canopy, as the original was too short to allow the 4s batteries to fit. I put in a quite long battery location, so I should be able to accommodate just about every 3s and 4s battery I've got.  The 3200 kv motor is up and running as well. This thing should be a monster. Hopefully it'll fly better than John's super-stryker. The blue foam isn't as forgiving as Parkzone's Z-foam, so this might only be good for one hard impact.

The canopy will be hinged or pinned in the front, and attached in the rear via powerful magnets, ala Parkzone's standard procedure.

I'm still not sure where the receiver will go. I might mount it in the top of the canopy, or else carve a pocket for it inside the nosecone. This may post a risk, during a hard crash it could get creamed by the battery.

I think the power wires will run over the top of the battery back to the ESC. I'll probably velcro down the ESC. I'm planning on running fiberglass cloth all the way across the bottom of the wing, and probably over the top except for the battery pocket.

John Forfeits Speed Contest!

Tonight John Forfeited the speed contest by crashing out.

Before the first flight attempt:

 

Very impressive. Looks fast. John looks happy. This happy expression won't last long!

 For the first flight attempt, John was going to give the plane a good toss, then throttle up the motor- since you hold the aircraft on the bottom, you've got to be careful not to slice up your hand/arm with the prop when you toss it.






For the second attempt, John planned on throttling up the motor, then giving it a good sidearm toss. This technique has worked well for me with my speedwing prototype #1 plus my microwing.



This try didn't end well- the nosecone broke off and one of the control surfaces was pulled from the wing.

Total bummer. Hopefully when I have my speedwing contest entry put together the first flights will end better!

Turnigy 2826 - 3200kV + Stryker Mount

FYI a Turnigy 2836-3200kV motor fits perfectly in a bone stock Stryker motor mount. The only modifications required are a slight enlargement of two of the motor mount screw holes, easily accomplished with a dremel tool and two seconds.