Yes, dammit, I DO know how to fly. Why do you ask?

[Candyman]

Ok, well that title might be a bit optimistic. So let's go back just a little ways. I recently bought a new plane. A nice, cute new plane. A light little 3D parkie that I figured would be good to advance my flying skills on.

Isn't so nice and cute? Easy to build. Brushless power. Designed to be a rocket. Got her built up nice. All the power on and set. Went out and trimmed her. She flew pretty good. A couple glue spots loosened up and had to fix them but otherwise it was sound.
However, yesterday and today I came to a bit of a realization. Going with a full 3D foamie after 2 seasons with a Sky Scooter might not have been a good idea. Why? Well see for yourself.

She looked just like that yesterday, too. Glued her back together. Went out today and again a perfect Lawn Dart. That is by far the only 3D maneuver I know. And there's not a plane on Earth that can survive my perfect Lawn Dart. So I have decided to concede. Might be able to glue her back together, but my confidence is low.
But never being one to give up, I decided to take a step back. Did a little research into good 2nd planes, and came up with the GWS Tiger Moth 400.

Nice WWI vintage biplane. Speed 400 power. Flies smooth and slow and will do some basic aerobatics. I think that's better for this summer. Perhaps I'll drop the $40 into a new 3D airframe next summer. Lifes a bitch when your balls are smaller than you thought, huh?

 

[Buggyracer28]

Haha, tough luck Candyman.... Good luck with the new one!

 

[ZANDOR]

LOL Jeff I do know how it feels. To have smaller balls Then I thought.
i have had my .30 cal nitro helli for years now.
I started it once....Its so big and menacing I all most craped my pants.So I shut her down and shelfed it.
One day it will fly!

Just keep on plugging away.One day you will fly that thing in any direction you want.

 

[Candyman]

Brian, I can only imagine what it's like to be standing near one of those nitro helis when it starts to spool up. I really want to learn to fly them, but they scare the s*** out of me, too. For now I'll go with the slow, less dangerous toys.

 

[FastEddy]

Isn’t that how they are supposed to look?
All mine look close to the same.
My one question is:
How close to the circle hoop did you come with the lawn dart?


I took a step back from my eclectic trainer I built at the first of last summer and am getting great at flying my slow stick in the park. It’s good to see you know when to blame yourself rather then "That damn radio glitch!" Like I do

 

[Candyman]

I know my limitations. And I'm willing to admit them! But you should have heard it hit. We had a bit of rain overnight and when it went in it just plugged. It was awesome! Luckily the airframe is cheap to replace.
I'm just hoping this one is a bit easier to deal with for a while.

 

[digger]

All of us have those days Candyman. Last thing that I crashed was a Fokker D-7. I had built it from scratch. Flew it for 2 years.
I think the bottom wing was all that was left.

I've seen those little Tiger Moths fly. They are a hell of a flier.
Good luck with it bro.

 

[Revo Rancher]

OUCH!

The Combat Wing will not break if you added the CF spars, but you can mush up the nose pretty good on a dart manuever.

 

[rocknbil]

..... Went out today and again a perfect Lawn Dart. That is by far the only 3D maneuver I know. And there's not a plane on Earth that can survive my perfect Lawn Dart. So I have decided to concede.....

LOL hahahaha . . . . dude you can't give up. That means the bitch won.

Have you flown any helis? It's amazing just how much patience we really do have. For weeks it was lift off, crash. Lift off, crash. If I got a full minute out of it before it face-planted into the house, a tree, the dog, I felt like I's made awesome progress today!

I got in the habit of bringing my CA with me when I went out to fire it up, had to CA poop 2 or 3 times just to get through one battery. Crash, repair, Crash, repair, Crash, repair.

A couple times I came ->||<- this close to punting it, "It's going to fly one way or another dammit!" I mean I had my leg cocked back and everything, I almost did it.

Finally I won, it flies now with very little crashing, I don't know what was wrong with it before but finally it's fixed.

I feel yer' pain, don't give up!

 

[Candyman]

Well, Bill, just so you know, I'm currently trying to piece it back together. Frankenplane will live again. I will make it better. Stronger. Faster. Yup, The Six Million Dollar Plane. If it flies........

But like I said, not to be a quitter, I now have another ready to go. I just wanted to post the pictures of her before she goes up. Just in case....

Here's the front...

And from the quarter. Just for scale, you can see my Hitec Eclipse 7 sitting next to it. It's a pretty big plane compared to my others.

And I realized that a WWI vintage bipe would look stupid without a pilot. And for those who have met me or seen my picture, you have to admit it looks just like me!

And finally, ya gotta know where you're going, right?

Just figured a plane like this needs some good scale details. The cool thing is that it's foam. Although EPS. So it should be repairable if and when I crash.

 

[rocknbil]

Dayum, that is PEEEERTY . . . I have to look away, I have too many toys.

I still like old school, balsa and econocote. Hurts more if you crash though.

 

[digger]

That is sweet Candyman.

I think you will like that plane.

 

[Revo Rancher]

Hmmmm....maybe I need to take a quick trip Rob's R/C's...onder2:

I really like that Bipe.

 

[Candyman]

I so can't wait to get that thing in the air. It runs on a geared speed 400 swinging a 10x6 prop. Powering with a 3s 1550 LiPo and a 25A brushed ESC. I've done a few practice taxis with it and it's smooth. I can get it rolling at less than 1/4 throttle. And with the steerable tailwheel it works awesome. If I spool it close to full throttle while holding it, it has tons of thrust so I am itching to fly it.

 

[HeartBreak]

I used to have one of the original GWS Tigermoths. You'll love that plane; mine flew nice and stable for me. However, a bit of advice; get it up more than 40 feet if you plan to attempt a roll of any kind. And whatever you do, don't chicken out of it, lol.

I had mine at about 30 feet, got the nose up almost perfectly straight, and thought 'eh, this isn't gonna complete the roll', so I cancelled out of it. Wrong!! It not only completed the roll, but took a sharp down turn for the ground. A little clear tape and some glue that comes with the kit, and it was up and goin 5 minutes later.

I've been thinkin about getting another one. Seeing that they have revised the kit makes me want one even more.

 

[Hunter]

Nice plane I have one to, they fly well and if/when you stick it in the grass nose first all you need to do is put it back on the dirt and try again. I dont know how many times I've crashed mine and I've never needed to glue anything.

Now if your planning to do loops with it youll want to add the guide lines to the wings just like the real planes had or the wing will fold at the bottom of the loop. Also there is a twin motor setup for it when your ready. You can also add the 3 blade prop from the GWS P51 thats always fun.

 

[Candyman]

IT FLIES! IT FLIES!
I went and maidened it last night. It's sooo sweet. After my frustrations with the Matrix, this just makes me like flying. It's not overly fast, but fast enough to need a big space to fly. It's responsive, but no so twitchy that it's tough for new thumbs to fly. I did a couple rolls with it. They're pretty. It doesn't have enough power or aileron authority to do axial rolls, but as long as you fly the elevator, you can keep most of your altitude during them. No loops yet. I have a feeling those will take a fair amount of power and altitude so I'll work towards them. It was a great flight. Even ROG'd and landed it clean with no so much as a bump. Let's hope the 2nd flight goes as well.