Inspecting old planes

bfeist · July 05, 2020, 08:34:34 PM

I just went over a few of my planes to remind myself what state they are in, it's been a few years since I've been at the field regularly.

On my 2700W F5B hotliner (Enigma), I found two servos had come unglued in the wing and my elevator servo has a gear stripped. Being over a decade old there's no way I'll find the original Dymond D-60 servo in Canada. I'll have to pick up a HS-125MG Slim somewhere and try to make it fit. Lord knows how long things have been like this, but this is a friendly reminder to go over your fleet from time to time looking for trouble.

I also found that my Sunracer (pylon racer) won't run at all. No clue why yet but apparently hanging in my shop counts as wear and tear.

Andy Hoffer · July 05, 2020, 08:42:24 PM

Quote from: bfeist on July 05, 2020, 08:34:34 PM
I just went over a few of my planes to remind myself what state they are in, it's been a few years since I've been at the field regularly.

On my 2700W F5B hotliner (Enigma), I found two servos had come unglued in the wing and my elevator servo has a gear stripped. Being over a decade old there's no way I'll find the original Dymond D-60 servo in Canada. I'll have to pick up a HS-125MG Slim somewhere and try to make it fit. Lord knows how long things have been like this, but this is a friendly reminder to go over your fleet from time to time looking for trouble.

I also found that my Sunracer (pylon racer) won't run at all. No clue why yet but apparently hanging in my shop counts as wear and tear.

Hi @bfeist ,
Any surplus stuff at NASA from the Apollo program?

Andy

sihinch · July 05, 2020, 10:17:59 PM

I have a D60 Ben, if you want. @bfeist

Good message for us, though. Thanks for sharing.

bfeist · July 05, 2020, 10:29:21 PM

Hi @sihinch, are you running your own hobby shop now? I'll take it!

electroflyer · July 06, 2020, 10:55:15 AM

Hi Ben,
I seem to recall your last flight Sunracer, (I think last year) that you commented on the motor not running after the flight. That heat generation although much more under control than in the past, still rears its ugly head in those speedy guys.

bfeist · July 07, 2020, 11:48:47 AM

Quote from: electroflyer on July 06, 2020, 10:55:15 AM
Hi Ben,
I seem to recall your last flight Sunracer, (I think last year) that you commented on the motor not running after the flight. That heat generation although much more under control than in the past, still rears its ugly head in those speedy guys.

I think it didn't run before the flight. It was bouncing the prop back and forth like it couldn't get it rotating forward. I just did some more tests on my bench and while it does do that sometimes from static start, once it starts running it runs well. I think I'm ok.

electroflyer · July 07, 2020, 12:09:46 PM

You may want to re-solder the three male/female plugs. It sounds like a bad contact.

bfeist · July 07, 2020, 12:12:17 PM

I had the same thought and when I went to do that, I found that the motor leads are soldered directly to the ESC (which I did I guess because this thing draws so much current).