RC-Guys.com builds a great flying ARF!!!!
What more needs to be said....hahahaha....
I got to fly my Super "D" Decathlon ( http://rcguys.com/decathlon.htm ) today and I thoroughly enjoyed all 3 flights on it, even though I had the transmitter timer set low at only 5 minute duration flights to see how the fuel consumption was going to do....I have since bumped the timer on the transmitter up to 8 minutes now, as a second step in the process of break-in flights....I am still running 25:1 fuel/oil mixture ratio yet also.
Ed Vincent was so kind as to show up at the field to stand nearby as I did my first solo flight of this beautiful flying aircraft, and I was most appreciative of his assistance and support. His son Ryan was nearby also and was very encouraging and helpful also on that first flight too. He got my cell phone camera going, and took a picture of me making a low approach pass near the end of the first flight, while i was feeling out the plane at a lower altitude and speed in preparation for a landing approach the next time around the pattern. I was feeling a bit nervous naturally while flying, but stayed calm during the flight and was very pleased how well my plane felt while flying it.
Marlowe Cassetti flew his Great Planes Escapade and his Piper Cub while Cloyce Mann flew his sweet flying nitro powered Twist. Ed Vincent also brought out a fellow students SU-26-M Sukhoi 40 size plane to see what all it was needing for its first maiden flight later on...he and several club members worked it over and did numerous adjustments and tests on it on the flight tables.
Dennis Sporing brought out his yellow trainer Tele-Master and of course he got it going and really put it through its paces in a pretty manner. Our clubs Vice-President Ron Prewitt showed up from Salida Colorado with his electric Stick and really got it screaming quite fast in the sky...he also flew his SIG Mark II nitro powered plane and had out his electric powered heli to fly also.
Buzz Haviland flew his nitro powered Stick and a small foamy plane also.....I saw his SIG LT 40 on the ground but I'm not sure if he ever flew it today or not,...I was busy with mine and other members planes also, and may have missed that flight...Kenny McMullen stopped in for moral support and to visit with everyone, and was a great benefit not only to myself, but to several other pilots throughout the day also.
Our newest student pilot, Jim Aultman brought his daughter by to show her the facility and she got to watch a couple of pilots flying, and she seemed to enjoy that a lot...Jim wasn't flying today, but rather stopped by for a nice visit with several people.....we also had a few spectators stop in to visit and observe the days flying and several club members got to visit with them also.
I am still smiling ear to ear about how well this plane of mine flew today, and I am considering the possibility of taking it to the Sky-Corral RC Club field in Pueblo West, CO. Sunday morning, to fly it on their asphalt runways they have at that field.....I'll decide in the morning what the weather appears to be doing there before deciding on driving that distance to that field yet or not.
I am tickled to death how well this plane takes off and lands....it easily makes me look like a better pilot than I think I am, since it flies so docile....and it is helping to make me into more of a scale-flying type of an RC pilot, due to the fact that I was having to introduce some coordinated turns using rudder into it, while turning.
All in all a great day of flying for me there is no doubt at all.
Thanks to everyone for all of their support and help for everyone in this great club.
Mark J. Sullivan
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Re-Maiden Flight of the RC-Guys.com 1/4 Scale Super "D" Decathalon
Sunday January 20th, 2013
I arrived at the field at around 10:30 AM to start in on repairing and replacing the broken upright leg on the large scale flight table that was blown over earlier in the week due to the extremely high winds that plagued the area for a few days, and damaged the flight table.
After completing those repairs, I got out the Uproar to prepare it to get in a few windy flights, hoping to wait out the wind shift and to also see if the winds would lay down some as it had been forecast to do for the afternoon, to attempt the Re-Maiden flight on the Super "D" Decathlon. As the morning continued on, Terry Davis, Marlowe Cassetti, Jim Aultman, Ed Vincent, Cloyce Mann, Buzz Haviland, Kenny McMullen and Dennis Sporing arrived to fly also by around noon or so.
Buzz had a very beautiful flight on his Stick even in the breezy conditions, along with Terry Davis flying his ever fast Pulse 60, while Marlowe Cassetti flew the Great Planes Escapade that he had purchased used from me about a month or so earlier. Cloyce Mann had out his Twist to wring it out and Kenny McMullen worked out some engine tuning kinks on his Sportster speedster engine, and also did his usual great flying.
Our newest student pilot Jim Aultman, flew his trainer plane on the buddy box system with the club instructor Ed Vincent, and he did a very nice job of keeping it steady while flying in the heavy breezes, which as we all know is a challenge and concern for student pilots. Under Ed Vincent's capable tutelage Jim will be soloing in no time at all I think, from what I was able to see of his great abilities today.
Dennis Sporing stopped by to visit and support his fellow club members, riding in on his new Harley-Davidson Ultra-Classic motorcycle, to every one's admiration of that very beautiful machine. Dennis is enjoying getting in some mid-winter mild weather riding on it he reports.
The breezy conditions would lay down and get calm for a short while to allow some very fine flying from everyone, including myself on my Uproar, to try and get my thumbs limbered up and ready for an attempt at flying the Decathlon.
I got it out of the trailer, and with several club members assistance and guidance, I was able to get the carb settings dialed-in and the plane assembled and checked out with a range check and pre-flight inspection, all while burning another two tanks of fuel through the engine to dial it in, and to also get some more time on it for break-in purposes.
The winds finally laid down to almost nothing, so I did a couple of ground taxiing tests, to see how it would handle on the ground. It did fantastic, so I asked Kenny McMullen to do the honors of the Re-Maiden test flight and to see what it was going to need for trimming out on the control surfaces. As we taxied down the runway towards the East, the tail wanted to rotate up with almost no ground-speed to speak of, so Kenny decided to fly it then. It lifted off in a very gentle climb-out angle, and as he banked shallow to his left, he was able to throttle the engine back to approximately half throttle, and let it fly gracefully on the wing, in ever so slight blustery and cool breezes. It only needed 4 clicks of UP Elevator and 3 clicks of RIGHT aileron trim to achieve "Hands-Off" flying attitude. Kenny then felt it out some, and also did several passes near the runway flight stations where I was able to get a few in-flight pictures. He even got it to fly so well on this first flight, that he did a tight inside loop, and it handled that with absolutely no sign of any concerns.
I had the flight timer in my transmitter radio set for a 5 minute flight on this first maiden flight to see what the fuel consumption was going to be like, so he decided he had better do a couple of passes down the runway in preparation for a landing attempt in the breeze. After a couple of passes around, he set up his approach and on final he basically set it down effortlessly, as it floated in at what seemed like no more than a 2 Knot approach speed, and then taxied it back to the pits. All the while we were both grinning our HUGE big smiles, before, during and after this great flight.
The winds came back up too strong to attempt another flight with this gorgeous RC plane with me at the controls, with all of us knowing it would easily handle the windy conditions while taking off, and while up flying, but a landing for the first time for anyone in those now strong very winds, was very dicey at best, so better judgement prevailed and we left my first flight for another day. I am grateful for Kenny's absolutely great skills, and also to every one's great assistance getting this plane ready for flight. Thanks to you all so very much.
I then flew one more flight on the Uproar in the strong winds, and I would basically fly it down-wind and cut the throttle back to where the plane was just stopped mid-air hovering with the strong winds moving across the wings providing the lift, rather than a forward motion doing it. Now for the dicey landing attempts, and I did the same thing as Kenny had done earlier, and that was to make several passes and touch and go attempts to see how the plane would like handling the slow speeds in the strong winds. I did several landings and touch and go's with those conditions, and as my luck would have it on my final landing, I did a hard landing when I plopped it down from a few feet up, with not enough forward ground speed, but the only problem with that one was I now have to replace the prop on it, which I was going to do anyhow after this flight, due to that size and pitch of prop being incorrect on it anyhow, so now I have a good excuse to get it changed like I needed to anyhow.
A very great day of flying for everyone, and some fantastic mid-winter weather was in store for us, and was a real treat for everyone out flying today.
Once again I want to thank everyone for coming out, as well as assisting me, and also everyone else in enjoying this nice day.
I hope to see everyone around the pattern enjoying this great hobby of ours in the very near future.
Here are those in-flight pictures I took of this RC-Guys.com 1/4 scale size Super "D" Decathlon today also for your enjoyment.
I arrived at the field at around 10:30 AM to start in on repairing and replacing the broken upright leg on the large scale flight table that was blown over earlier in the week due to the extremely high winds that plagued the area for a few days, and damaged the flight table.
After completing those repairs, I got out the Uproar to prepare it to get in a few windy flights, hoping to wait out the wind shift and to also see if the winds would lay down some as it had been forecast to do for the afternoon, to attempt the Re-Maiden flight on the Super "D" Decathlon. As the morning continued on, Terry Davis, Marlowe Cassetti, Jim Aultman, Ed Vincent, Cloyce Mann, Buzz Haviland, Kenny McMullen and Dennis Sporing arrived to fly also by around noon or so.
Buzz had a very beautiful flight on his Stick even in the breezy conditions, along with Terry Davis flying his ever fast Pulse 60, while Marlowe Cassetti flew the Great Planes Escapade that he had purchased used from me about a month or so earlier. Cloyce Mann had out his Twist to wring it out and Kenny McMullen worked out some engine tuning kinks on his Sportster speedster engine, and also did his usual great flying.
Our newest student pilot Jim Aultman, flew his trainer plane on the buddy box system with the club instructor Ed Vincent, and he did a very nice job of keeping it steady while flying in the heavy breezes, which as we all know is a challenge and concern for student pilots. Under Ed Vincent's capable tutelage Jim will be soloing in no time at all I think, from what I was able to see of his great abilities today.
Dennis Sporing stopped by to visit and support his fellow club members, riding in on his new Harley-Davidson Ultra-Classic motorcycle, to every one's admiration of that very beautiful machine. Dennis is enjoying getting in some mid-winter mild weather riding on it he reports.
The breezy conditions would lay down and get calm for a short while to allow some very fine flying from everyone, including myself on my Uproar, to try and get my thumbs limbered up and ready for an attempt at flying the Decathlon.
I got it out of the trailer, and with several club members assistance and guidance, I was able to get the carb settings dialed-in and the plane assembled and checked out with a range check and pre-flight inspection, all while burning another two tanks of fuel through the engine to dial it in, and to also get some more time on it for break-in purposes.
The winds finally laid down to almost nothing, so I did a couple of ground taxiing tests, to see how it would handle on the ground. It did fantastic, so I asked Kenny McMullen to do the honors of the Re-Maiden test flight and to see what it was going to need for trimming out on the control surfaces. As we taxied down the runway towards the East, the tail wanted to rotate up with almost no ground-speed to speak of, so Kenny decided to fly it then. It lifted off in a very gentle climb-out angle, and as he banked shallow to his left, he was able to throttle the engine back to approximately half throttle, and let it fly gracefully on the wing, in ever so slight blustery and cool breezes. It only needed 4 clicks of UP Elevator and 3 clicks of RIGHT aileron trim to achieve "Hands-Off" flying attitude. Kenny then felt it out some, and also did several passes near the runway flight stations where I was able to get a few in-flight pictures. He even got it to fly so well on this first flight, that he did a tight inside loop, and it handled that with absolutely no sign of any concerns.
I had the flight timer in my transmitter radio set for a 5 minute flight on this first maiden flight to see what the fuel consumption was going to be like, so he decided he had better do a couple of passes down the runway in preparation for a landing attempt in the breeze. After a couple of passes around, he set up his approach and on final he basically set it down effortlessly, as it floated in at what seemed like no more than a 2 Knot approach speed, and then taxied it back to the pits. All the while we were both grinning our HUGE big smiles, before, during and after this great flight.
The winds came back up too strong to attempt another flight with this gorgeous RC plane with me at the controls, with all of us knowing it would easily handle the windy conditions while taking off, and while up flying, but a landing for the first time for anyone in those now strong very winds, was very dicey at best, so better judgement prevailed and we left my first flight for another day. I am grateful for Kenny's absolutely great skills, and also to every one's great assistance getting this plane ready for flight. Thanks to you all so very much.
I then flew one more flight on the Uproar in the strong winds, and I would basically fly it down-wind and cut the throttle back to where the plane was just stopped mid-air hovering with the strong winds moving across the wings providing the lift, rather than a forward motion doing it. Now for the dicey landing attempts, and I did the same thing as Kenny had done earlier, and that was to make several passes and touch and go attempts to see how the plane would like handling the slow speeds in the strong winds. I did several landings and touch and go's with those conditions, and as my luck would have it on my final landing, I did a hard landing when I plopped it down from a few feet up, with not enough forward ground speed, but the only problem with that one was I now have to replace the prop on it, which I was going to do anyhow after this flight, due to that size and pitch of prop being incorrect on it anyhow, so now I have a good excuse to get it changed like I needed to anyhow.
A very great day of flying for everyone, and some fantastic mid-winter weather was in store for us, and was a real treat for everyone out flying today.
Once again I want to thank everyone for coming out, as well as assisting me, and also everyone else in enjoying this nice day.
I hope to see everyone around the pattern enjoying this great hobby of ours in the very near future.
Here are those in-flight pictures I took of this RC-Guys.com 1/4 scale size Super "D" Decathlon today also for your enjoyment.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
JEFCO Auction coming up soon.
The upcoming JEFCO Auction is being held February 1st, 2nd, and 3rd at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds display hall and event center site, and I plan on attending it. If anyone has any items needing hauled up there to that event please don't hesitate to call me right away to make arrangements to do so. I will either get a hotel room reserved, or stay with Buzz Haviland in his motor home if the weather permits him to drive it there for the event, and I plan on being there for the entire event if my schedule allows that to happen.
I have several smaller size nitro engines that I plan on taking up to the event also....Anything I have that is below about a .60 size nitro engine or so...other than for example lets say an OS AX style 55 size engine....I have numerous smaller engines that I don't foresee any need to keep around here for myself so let me know of your needs right away as I need to get them listed on the JEFCO auction web site catalog link ASAP.
I haven't decided on any planes to take to the auction just yet, other than the foamy HYPER-TAXI unit I flew indoors in the gym....that is going to the auction for sure unless someone wants it before then. I may consider taking my big SIG Kadet Senior trainer plane up there to sell also.....it has the Saito engine powering it.
A few radios I will probably take are three Spektrum 2.4 GHz radios.....the first one being a DX6i series 6 channel, 10 model memory transmitter. Another radio I am taking for sale there is a DX7 radio....7 channel, 20 model memory radio. Last but not least is a Spektrum brand DX5 radio that I used for a "slave" style trainer radio but it can still be used as a stand-alone 5 channel transmitter radio also.
All of these items I will be listing in the sale catalog online soon for the Jefco web site so let me of your needs right away please.
Thanks for every one's great support of this club, and all of the events we enjoy having throughout the year too.
I have several smaller size nitro engines that I plan on taking up to the event also....Anything I have that is below about a .60 size nitro engine or so...other than for example lets say an OS AX style 55 size engine....I have numerous smaller engines that I don't foresee any need to keep around here for myself so let me know of your needs right away as I need to get them listed on the JEFCO auction web site catalog link ASAP.
I haven't decided on any planes to take to the auction just yet, other than the foamy HYPER-TAXI unit I flew indoors in the gym....that is going to the auction for sure unless someone wants it before then. I may consider taking my big SIG Kadet Senior trainer plane up there to sell also.....it has the Saito engine powering it.
A few radios I will probably take are three Spektrum 2.4 GHz radios.....the first one being a DX6i series 6 channel, 10 model memory transmitter. Another radio I am taking for sale there is a DX7 radio....7 channel, 20 model memory radio. Last but not least is a Spektrum brand DX5 radio that I used for a "slave" style trainer radio but it can still be used as a stand-alone 5 channel transmitter radio also.
All of these items I will be listing in the sale catalog online soon for the Jefco web site so let me of your needs right away please.
Thanks for every one's great support of this club, and all of the events we enjoy having throughout the year too.
Monday, January 7, 2013
Flying Report Saturday Jan 5th
Saturday flying turned out to be good. The temps were good (in the high 40s) and the winds were low. We had a good number of flyers. I bet it was even better Sunday, but I was unable to make it that day.
There were too many planes and flyers to mention except for the following:
We we were curious as to how fast Mark's UpRoar was flying flat out. The first picture shows the time trials. It was a slower that expected with it flying at 85mph.It lands at 28mph.
Terry flew his pretty Pulse 60. Helping him is our newest member Gary Iovinella. Gary joined at our meeting on Friday. He brought out a nice electric powered trainer and he flew it quite nicely. He even let me fly it too.
I hope the weather cooperates this weekend but I have to remember this is January and we are in Colorado at over a mile high!
There were too many planes and flyers to mention except for the following:
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| Terry putting the radar on Mark's UpRoar |
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| Capt Terry, Pulse 60 and new member Gary |
Terry flew his pretty Pulse 60. Helping him is our newest member Gary Iovinella. Gary joined at our meeting on Friday. He brought out a nice electric powered trainer and he flew it quite nicely. He even let me fly it too.
I hope the weather cooperates this weekend but I have to remember this is January and we are in Colorado at over a mile high!
Indoor Flying Dec. 2012
Yes, I know this is out-of-date, but this post is a remainder that our next indoor flying session is scheduled for this Friday, Jan 11th at Harrison School from 8:00P to 9:30P.
This element of our club's activities has been a great success. It enables our flyers to sharpen our flying skills in the winter months. It is a great get together opportunity.
At out last session on Dec 28th, we had a good turnout. Here are a few pictures from that evening.
See you at Harrison this Friday.
This element of our club's activities has been a great success. It enables our flyers to sharpen our flying skills in the winter months. It is a great get together opportunity.
At out last session on Dec 28th, we had a good turnout. Here are a few pictures from that evening.
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| Just some of the participants and visitors |
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| Cloyce is getting highly proficient with flying helicopters |
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
More Photos of New Years Day Fly-In
Mark provided a great report on this event. I have a few pictures plus a video to share.
I tried to capture Tony's 3-D flying demonstration. A great show of Rolling Harriers. Plus Max and his wife with the yellow plane gets in a great flight too.
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| Bill Sr. preparing his rebuilt Stick 40 |
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| Tony demonstrating some great 3-D flying while Max gets ready to taxi out |
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| Enjoying all the hospitality |
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| Mark's propane heaters were much appreciated |
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| The chow line and Tony with his infant daughter |
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| Steve at the ready. By the end of the session the parking lot had a lot more vehicles |
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Second Annual Nitro-Chili-Burn Flying on New Years Day 2013
WOW!!!!
There is just absolutely no way in the world I can possibly describe how tremendous the turnout ended up being for our clubs second annual New Years Day flying event held just this morning at the Fremont County Radio Control Club airfield!!!!
As I arrived at the field early to get all of the combinations changed on the locks and to start unloading everything and setting things up, Nick Bellino drove up and we discussed him doing an impromptu flyover in his full scale plane for the event this morning. We worked out the details of how to get the airspace safely cleared for him, and also for Hans Miesler to also do a flyover and smoke demonstration for us with his full scale plane too. Nick coordinated things with the airport traffic and pilots on his end and contacted me before taking off on his flyover of our field. Hans flew over top of everyone with his smoke billowing and doing rolls and climbs and various other aerobatic maneuvers, and put on a very good show for our enjoyment. Nick followed along not long after that in his sport scale plane and performed a very very low profile flight pass allowing us a perfect view of him as he thundered past the runway here. (Nick you missed a spot on the windscreen up front there when you washed it)....HAHAHA...he seemed to be that close and low to us as he flew past for everyone's pleasure.
Our club Presidents son Ryan Vincent dropped by to retrieve a crash helmet that one of the skydivers lost off of his head while skydiving over us this morning and they retrieved it out past the North side of the runway out past the windsock. Ryan then took a quick spin flying my UPROAR RC plane and screaming around and basically turning it inside out with his great flying ability, before handing control back to me. He sure makes me want to improve my flight skills, just by watching what he can safely achieve with an RC plane of any sort he gets his hands on.
So many pilots got in flights today, that I lost track within the first few minutes of who all got to fly it seemed like, but it certainly appeared to me that every single one of them were having a fantastic time of flying their RC planes on this first day of the New Year.
There was so much great food to eat and hot beverages to drink, that it warmed everyone right up as they enjoyed all of the various chili dishes and cornbread and also the bean dishes that folks generously brought to share with everyone, along with hot cider, hot chocolate, and hot coffee that I don't see how anyone could have possibly gone away not satisfied and warmed up heartily.
It turned out that we didn't need to put up a windbreak tarp of any sort after all, and the propane heaters that I brought out seemed to keep the chill at bay for everyone just fine, while allowing them to stay warm and to visit and share in this great day's events.
As I prepped my Uproar for a final flight of the day it seemed that it just would not accelerate properly like it should, possibly due to the cold from setting out on the flight line table for a couple of hours or so, but after changing out the glow plug and that still not resolving the problem any, I decided to try to de-fuel and then re-fuel the tank and see if that did anything. Not thinking that it would do the trick at all I still tried it anyhow, and what do you know, but the trick worked and the engine performed flawlessly as it always does, so up I went for a final flight of the day.
I got some really lousy pictures with my new cell phone camera, not of planes but of the field and also the crowd in attendance and of pilots flying, but hopefully next time I'll learn to take some pictures of the planes too!!!
As you can certainly see in the background of some of the pictures, the parking lot was full of vehicles, the buildings were full of folks by the heaters, and the flight stands were full of planes to fly.
I certainly appreciate everyone's assistance with getting this second annual Nitro-Chili-Burn flying event off the ground so successfully,and for their participation in all of the clubs great events throughout the entire year.
On behalf of everyone in the Fremont County Radio Control Club, I want to also thank those good folks that drove clear into here to participate with us here from other surrounding RC Clubs. Their support is always phenomenal for us here.
If anyone else has any pictures of this event that they want to share here, please do not hesitate to call or email me about them, or just please feel free to post a report on your take of the days events and post your pictures here on the club's web site too. We all know I am definitely not much of a photographer, and it shows...hahaha!!!
Once again, Thank You so very much to everyone that attended this great event, and lets get together and keep flying all year long, and enjoying this great hobby of ours!!!
Thank You very kindly,
Mark J. Sullivan
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