Blog
30/04/07
New project or two on the workbench, trying out a lighter Nitro with a hn1038 wing, guess I will call it Nitro-lite, Its very Rob Holgate Nitro-star inspired, seen that plane fly quite a bit and I want one. the nitro does fly well, but needs a fair blow to get up to speed, and to be fair it was designed for strong winds and dsing. Having given away my DPII fuse, after building a v-tail for it and fitting a set of 2.1m wings that were kicking about, decided I want one of those as well, so have just started laying up a new fuse. Have spent a lot of time trying to get to grips with lift/drag analysis, resulting in my first wing profile, it looks good from the little I understand, but its all theoretical until you build it, got a nice planform to go with it too. will post details as I build it. Thirdly, an acrobatic fever has been instilled into rcgoups lately by Steve Lange (Surfpimp) with his slope aeobatics website I caught it too, and have a very mini tunes looking cad design for a new plug and mold that needs to get built soon.
Added some more info and some video footage to the flitter page, tough plane when it needs to be but very fiddly to keep airworthy. I guess all the little snags I am encountering as I fly and repair it can be ironed out and improved on in the next build.
Had a trip to the Bwlch in South Wales, wow, what some amazing slopes, want to go down there again for sure. On this particular weekend there was 60 inch f3f on Saturday and combat on Sunday. I may have spent too long flying my flitter dlg the week previous with almost no time left over to prepare my slope planes, ending up taking a crashed and hastily repaired Dynamite, (turned out to have wing incidence issues and a bent fuse, what a crappy repair job) and a barely started combat wing that was to be finished before Sunday. Well I got there a bit late so no time for some test flying so straight into some f3f runs with the Dynamite, a new experience for me, with legs shaking with nerves and a plane well out of shape I didn't do too well, with the lift dying off just managed to get my plane back after the first two runs along the Crest before the course was moved a few hundred meters along the slope to capture better lift. On my second attempt I was just as nervous but may have flown better to record my pb of 69.34 seconds, (don't laugh), before crowing through and doing a fourth run, lost the lift and got in a panic, seemed to have a radio glitch developing, and the Dynamite went down..down..down right to the bottom. Stewth, what a long walk that was. Didnt fancy flying anymore that day, lost my confidence. (best run of the day was just over 45 seconds , guess I have vast scope for improvement) Sunday was very enjoyable, with an unfinished combat wing flew a 48 inch lumberjack instead and it did very well in the light winds, getting me through to the final, good fun.
04/04/07
Ooops, killed my Jart. Thought I would squeeze in one more roll before going vertical, the hill said no! Hit the side of the bowl at full speed, snapping off the nose before it cart wheeled over a small tree, a high energy crash. One wing was comprehensively crunched, it is probably repairable, but I have had enough of fixing this one, I want a nice shinny new plane. Bad timing though, as I am going to South Wales for a combat and 60" racing weekend next week, reckon the Jart would have flown well on some of those 2000ft slopes. Amazingly all the servos where ok, Hitec HS85mgs, so was the battery, but the receiver is wrecked. It has been a fun plane, definitely improved my flying skills and learning more about slope lift in strong winds. Will get started on its replacement over Easter, it will be slightly heavier with provision for ballast!
Finally finished off my Flitter tonight, been waiting for a receiver to come in the post, have added some info about it in the planes section. The pressure has been on to finish it as I am going to a HLG clinic this weekend, should be fun, get to meet a few more people and learn how to launch these things, catch thermals and hopefully how to build them lighter.
17/03/07
Made a couple of purchases this week, and have tested them out on the slope today, nothing terribly exiting like a new plane. A small stubby aerial for my multiplex tranny, it makes launching my Jart so much easier, and no radio glitches so I am converted. The second purchase was a bag to carry planes in, have been looking for a while now as I quite often end up with the wrong plane for the conditions, three being about the most I could ever manage, well I had six on the slope today, and ironically only flew one, the Jart.
I got it from here, good service with next day delivery. Will fit 4/5 planes inside, paded, adjustable shoulder strap long enough to go over my head, can strap my foamies on the outside and still have two hands free to carry more planes, open gates ect. It had a good test today as the wind was up around 40mph on the slope and it was about a one mile walk, no problem at all.
Had a flight with the Skua this week, its a nice plane, very purposeful. It turns nice and has a good bit of speed.....maybe I need to get some more time on it, but much prefer the 48" lumberjack for pure fun flying. Shouldn't admit this but the lumberjack is the first plane to make me giggle like a girly, shout and talk to myself while flying, sad but true. I am completely amazed at how much fun I am having with this plane, EPP has definately moved on since I owned a bullet. Am now thinking about fitting ballast tubes in them, would be nice to have them done by Easter!
Summertime begins in one week, waahooo!
07/03/07
Lots of low pressure systems have been coming across the Atlantic, so had some great flying recently. Have been trying to get out and about more also, flying at Beacon and Ladle Hill with Rob, also had a fly at Roundway Hill just by Devizes. As a result, have made some new friends and also become re-acquainted with epp. Things have moved on since I crashed my Bullet for the last time, and I now own a 48" lumberjack and a Skua 1.37m, thanks to Rob, and I am having a ball with them, just might be finally moving forward with my flying skills now that the re-build after the crunch is not on my mind.
Have been building some planes for
my
mate Paul, and also working on the Toucan, I think he wants one of these
too, by the way he looks at it. The wing and v-tail have been bagged, so the
rest of the work should go quite quickly now, or at least I hope so.
there is a few updates to the site, a flight report update on the Nitro, along with a couple of video's. Also put some content on the design page.
11/02/07
Added a few new pages in the workshop section, not much info on them yet, but now they are there I can add to them as and when. Time has been rushing by, flying weather has been crappy lately and have been mainly working on my mates planes. Spring is on its way so guess I had better give my fleet a bit more time, determined to finish the Flitter and Toucan, then build a new Jart before I start any new projects, but they are so tempting.... Dp2 fuse with 2.1m wings and V tail for my mate looks awfully good, I want one too!
22/01/07
I have updated the Nitro page with a flight report and a link to its airfoil coordinates, with a few notes about them from the designer Don Ayers. The DP page has also been added to, and am just about finished with the planes section now. Will just add to them as I do re-builds or new designs/finishing projects, though I think the Toucan will get moved along now....let me tell you a story.... Went flying on Saturday, forecast was for 30mph south westerly so headed to my local hill around lunch time with the Jart. It is not one of my favourite hills, one of the highest in the valley but has a very rounded top, also the hill drops away on both sides but they do curve round to form a bowl. I have avoided flying the Jart here, being unsure what would happen in a strong wind, much preferring a hill with a steep top section that finishes abruptly, my theory being that the wind will have a more vertical element to it, thus more lift for heavy planes, but its just my theory, time for an experiment. Walked up to the top, it sure was windy, well over 40mph possibly getting up to 60mphish in the gusts, which would blow me backwards if I didn't lean in and brace myself. Launching proved a little tricky, holding onto the Jart with one hand was nearly impossible, yet letting go of my radio resulted in it quickly getting blown around my neck and behind me, only having two hands available, had to come up with a different launch strategy. I knelt down and placed the radio on the ground in front of me, launched the Jart with two hands, then grabbed the radio to get her nose down before she disappeared over the back of the slope. Once she was away from the slope I had a ball, my best flight with her ever, though I believe that she was really far too light for the conditions. Definitely putting a ballast tube in the next one. After around 3/4 hour the chill was getting to me, could feel myself shaking, could have been with excitement/ nerves or the cold, but knew it was time to land, so did a large circle and brought her across the slope about 30/40 ft in front of me and around 20ft lower down the hill. with her nose still pointing down I could fly backwards into the landing zone, I am sure I plonked her down nose first and still going backwards at 10mph or so, a very strong wind and the most bizarre landing I have ever done. Got to get that Toucan finished and into the air! The hill proved to be a very tricky launch and landing site, I think the wind has too much of a horizontal element to it, wont fly here again in winds over 35/40mph, but it was fun trying.
16/01/07
Well that proved harder than I thought, adding a voice over proved tricky, never used a microphone before and the first thing I found was that the soundcard on my computer doesn't seem to want anything to do with a microphone. Hmm, after some research found out that a usb microphone has its own built in sound card, so off shopping. All wired up and ready to go, take one, take two, take three......harder than I first realized, on playback it sounded awful, microphone or video editing program? Looking around on my computer revealed a windows sound recorder, tried that, mmm, sounds better, lets add it to the video clip, nope. Video editing software only accepts mp3 format for importing music and narration files. Had a look at the quicktime player, that had a recorder built in to it, tried it , worked well but saves file as mp4. Started searching on the internet, lots of specialized recording software available but was not up for digging in to the wallet again, finally found a basic freeware program that fits my needs and saves in mp3 format. After several more takes managed to get some thing I was reasonably happy with, and the first part of my wet seam layup series is now up and running in the workshop files. Hope you enjoy it, sound seems better with headphones, most would probably argue it is even better on mute, see what you think. Check back here now and then as I plan an over the shoulder look at several fuse layups, and will then have a go at making a plug, parting tray ect ect.
Waiting for a decent breeze to test out Nitro, the wind never seems to co-operate when a maiden flight is in the offing. Have taken the opportunity to update the nitro page with a bit more information, and will add to it once she has taken to the air. There is now a DP page also, it came between the Dynamite and Backdraft builds in case you are interested in their chronological order, and was a stepping stone in my travels up the mold making learning curve, as outlined on the wet seam layup page.
07/01/07
Quiet week in the workshop, have been working on the Nitro, squeezing in a large ballast tube. Also shot some workshop video about fuselage seams, now just need to edit it and add a voice over, maybe next week. Have added some more pages under "planes", a little thin on information but will add on details as I finish these planes off.
This site was last updated 11/03/07