torstai 28. lokakuuta 2010

A new Elan video in HD!


We went flying the day before yesterday with a friend and collague of mine, Patrik. His electric powered Extra is on the right. He was kind enough to try filming my Elan with a camera that has a very nice picture quality, but that is really not intended for this kind of filming, the Canon Eos 5D mkII. No working autofocus and poor monitor to frame the picture in daylight. Anyway, after some editing, I am pleasantly surprised with the results. We'll do more and better ones later!

Check it out! It starts at 9 seconds. I ran out of editing time today and there it is, the beginning unfinished! Watch in HD!

Youtube

keskiviikko 27. lokakuuta 2010

The "Duel!"

Ladies And Gentlemen! On the left corner (of the field...) is...Pro EDF F-16 with a HET Typhoon 70 mm electric ducted fan driven at 100 A on 4s lipos.  (applause)



...aaaannnd!... on the right corner is Avionik D-05 F5D Pylon model on my "relaxed glider setup"...that means a Mega 22/20/10 motor and a 1/4 planetary reduction drive. (I hope that was right, dont really remember anymore). The prop is usually a RFM 12.75 x 13, but as I broke it the other day, its now a Aero-Naut 12 x10.  This all is being driven on also on a 4s lipo.

The judge today is a Stalker Sport radar, it is calm and visibility is good. Its a great day. All means to make the model faster are allowed!


My friend Joni tosses the F-16 into the air and tells me 200 km/h is his goal today. Ok! The takeoff is a bit scary, as the fan´s torque banks the model left with force. Full opposite aileron, and some patience, and the F-16 gets on the step.  On horizontal flight the screaming EDF reaches a 180 km/h speed as it blazes past the Stalker.  Second try, now with a dive...201.9 km/h. Joni is happy and lands safely. He works as a flying instructor and is a professional pilot.


My turn now. The D05 can fly 300 Km/h straight and level with the F5D power setup, which means 5s 1800 lipos, a 2600 kV Neu motor, and a 4,7 x 4,7 prop turning at 42000 RPM. Lets see what this glider modification can do now.

On a glide, it flies easily 180 km/h straight and level. The prop does not stop fast enough as the ESC:s brake should be harder ( I must change it soon) , but with the motor on and a dive first create this number on the radar´s screen:
As we both had about the same amount of power to use,  the HET Typhoon 70 mm fan unit is actually quite good. The speed difference could be bigger, as the Avionik is an ultimately low-drag model and the F-16 not. The F-16:s flying time is a few minutes as I´ve soared over 20 minutes with mine with occasional speed runs in the middle. With the F5D setup my motor time is 1 minute!

maanantai 25. lokakuuta 2010

Buy buy buy!!!

Ever had a day when You're just itching to buy yourself a new model? Its really frustrating when it happens. Then what happens is this: You browse through jet kit manufacturers pages and just think them over and over. This would look extremely cool...that would be really fast...AvondsSkymasterFlyeagleBZTomahawkJetlegendCompositeArfJetcatWrenFutabaBVMArtesJet1AIntairco...and almost every manufacturer has the SAME scale models to browse through. You think of a new-neat-nicely painted-not too expensive-product from the Far East. But then, a quality kit from Europe or USA would be almost certainly cheaper and You know what You get- no exploding wings or fuselages raining over somebodys head.
Even if we forgot about the money then there is the question of storage space. My workroom is a mere 4 square meters and 2.7 meters high. But it is so tempting, you know the feeling!

Now here's another thing-the optimal amount of jets. Ok, I think and based on my experiences, two is plenty! They can thus be of different flying characteristics and if one is offline, there is always the another, and flying is possible all season. Perfect flying weather and a six months wait for some part or kit is the ultimate nightmare!

No, I'll just have to turn off the web browser and do something useful. The Elan's batteries are already full and since I have a work commitment tomorrow next to a good airfield, I plan to mix some business and pleasure...before its snowing-hey it might snow tomorrow!

sunnuntai 24. lokakuuta 2010

Gear door development

I started scetching the gear doors from BVM Polyply. It is not thick enough itself, so it must be reinforced later with either carbon cloth of something else. But, its transparent, and that helps a lot in this case. From the pictures it can be seen that the main door has a 30 degrees bank backwards and up from the wheel when the wheels are down.  But when they´re up, the bank is in the second door in the fuselage and in the front side! Sounds really crazy, but the angles in the landing gear and again the high swept-back angle change everything! The geen line iI drew at first was thus completely wrong, luckily I did not cut it so fast.


Here in the down position it is seen clearly. So whatever one first thinks with this undercarriage,  must be tested in both positions to say the least.

The elevator servo install 2.0. This looks much better now. Some more fastening points are still needed.

lauantai 23. lokakuuta 2010

MiG undercarriage!

Its been a while, I´m sorry.  However, the first Mig main undercarriage install is progressing well. I managed, after a couple nights work, to trial fit the first leg in and this is what it now looks like.

The swept wings of the MiG-15 make the undercarriage installing a bit challenging. I am really not totally satisfied with this, but as the model is old and dusty, I just want it to fly and forget the slight imperfect spots in means of true scale. The outer gear door may have to be forgotten at first and the main doors...oh well lets see.  But I have some plywood and BVM Polyply sheets to begin with.

The white stuff is EPP from a broken glider I was kindly given for this filling purpose from Sil-Shop. Thanks guys! The elevator and rudder Nexus servos are also from them.
There will be some fiberglass cloth and filler on top of that EPP next. Note how the borders are cut into 45 angle to help merging the new surface into the old.
Here is the gear leg lowered...(in this case the opposite, as the wing is inverted...)

That wheel well looks really big and the doors will of course improve the flying characteristics. They just need to be strong!

Here is the nose leg minus the wheel itself:

This is homemade, cast in aluminium by mr. Jussi Korolainen. Most impressive piece of work!
I plan to do all the mistakes first with this left wing and when it is ok, proceed into the right side wing.

keskiviikko 6. lokakuuta 2010

Some experimental photography with night flying!


Hi there! Last night I tried an idea in practice, that I´ve had in my mind for some time now.  Flying a lighted RC model in darkness for a camera with a long exposure time. This kind of photography is hardly new, but I fancied myself with the idea of being able to paint some lights into the night sky.  I work as a photographer, so this experiment joined, once again, work and fun.

The result was by no means disappointing, but to get an even more dramatic effect I would need brighter and more LEDs to the model. With a long exposure time the sky begins to reveal some undesired colour cast, and if the exposure is shorter, there are of course less light trails in the sky. Last night was really dark, making the flying considerably more difficult than last time with an overcast night sky.

So, more lights is the ticker here!  Night flying is so thrilling, that I´m considering of tearing the covering off the model and planting the LEDs properly inside...now we´re reducing the wing´s aerodynamic character a bit with all the wires-I can tell it from a slightly degraded ability to penetrate into the wind.

Next calm and clear night (last night was definitely not calm) will probably persuade me to give a try  with a depron flying car I made from my friend Troy Peterson´s G.T.P. kit. It has 10 LEDs, 4 as the headlights and 6 in the back. What is funny, is the fact that it is almost easier to fly the model really low without really seeing how low it actually is !  The ground is not lighted at all.  As the lights draw their colourful trails into the darkness,  the models behaviour can be interpreted without any interference, like scenery!  Anyway, no damage yet...after dozens of dark landings.  I´ve not even tried switching this Christmas tree off and then back on in flight- that would surely be even more exiting...

The Twinstar has now bigger 7 x 4 props and I look forward to giving it a go.

lauantai 2. lokakuuta 2010

Finally success with the Twinstar!

Ok, today was the day. After 3 years of basement solitary confinement, fungus, faulty Spektrum receiver,  burned servos,  4 different motor / battery / esc combinations, the Twinstar II is finally delivering! I flew it for an enjoying 18 minutes in totally calm and sunny weather mainly over our neighbourhood and shot some onboard video ( I will edit it and post on Youtube) .

The 5 x 5 APC props are still a bit too small, but all in all, this seems to be a decent setup:

Motors- Turnigy 1900 kv outrunners, 40 g (9 dollars each in Hobbycity)
ESC:s   - Mystery 20 A (x2)      not much in the same store
Battery:  Hyperion G3 2200 3s lipo

Thats all for now,  sorry for no pics, too busy flying.