Akom's Tech Ruminations

Various tech outbursts - code and solutions to practical problems

Toys Exceed Pitts S2A third flight (wind and broken rudder)

Posted by Akom • Tuesday, September 9. 2008 • Category: Toys

I finally have a fully charged battery so I'm off to have a nice long flight. Or so I thought.



So there was some wind this morning - not too much, I figured - I can handle this, I've flown with wind in the simulator. Went out to a different field today - more open, less wind cover. Took off from a sandy path, plane rolled easily and I pointed it into the wind for takeoff. It took off before I even asked it to, and the fun began

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Toys Exceed Pitts S2A second flight

Posted by Akom • Sunday, September 7. 2008 • Category: Toys

The broken wing was dry this morning (see previous post) and the wind was almost nonexistent, despite the hurricane that went through overnight.



I'm off to fly! This time around I moved the servo pulls to the second hole, making the controls slightly more sensitive (I have been getting better with the simulator, and the last flight it felt a little unresponsive). I also set the elevator to fully horizontal position - I had it pointed down slightly last time, also out of caution, but this morning it didn't even want to take off this way.



It flies!

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Toys Exceed Pitts S2A first flight (and crash)

Posted by Akom • Saturday, September 6. 2008 • Category: Toys

First flight! Yay! I guess I consider myself good enough after playing with the simulator for a while.



After a little trimming (adjusting the servo pulls with the tiny allen wrench they supply) I got on my runway (a paved road on a park slope) and (with some trepidation) pushed the throttle forward. It took off, with some effort, and flew!



I think it flew with what others have described as a tail-heavy tendency - it seemed like I was always pulling too hard on the elevator - or maybe I was, in the turns, I'm not sure. In any case, all I had to do was push the nose down every so often and it would avoid stalls... which it survived just fine anyway, just taking a small dive and recovering. I circled the area for about 2 minutes, and then just as the plane was getting away from me to the point of "a bit too far", it suddenly disobeyed...

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Toys Assembling the Sapac Exceed Pitts S2A 4ch R/C plane (and some improvements)

Posted by Akom • Friday, September 5. 2008 • Category: Toys

I have to admit, I've never owned a real R/C plane before, so the following may be painfully obvious to someone who has. When I say real I mean hobby grade. OK I admit it, I had a Hirobo Shuttle nitro heli for a while, but I crashed that so many times that I'd rather not go there. What I learned in the process though is - simulator software is not optional. So this time around I borrowed a friends' copy of Realflight G4 with the controller. I am steadily getting better.



Anyway, so I bought the RTF version, which, I have to keep reminding myself, stands for Ready-To-Fly. Raidentech.com is one of the few places that sold it at the time and I found a free shipping code (CJFREESHIPPING) on somone else's blog. It eventually arrived, in a very large box (OK so I should have expected that, the plane has a 3 foot wingspan). On to assembly...

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