sunnuntai 28. marraskuuta 2010

Photo Art with the flying Christmas tree

Tonight I did some light painting with the Twinstar. It was -20 C and calm. The snow also provided a nice touch-and-go runway. The exposure times were about 6 minutes in both pictures. Now I only need to find a place free from those terrible yellow lights...


In this photo there are loops, rolls and even a spin...


Here I made some touch-and-goes and finally landed...


Not your ordinary photo lighting! The Hobbyking Lumilite system is great fun. 
Also, its very seldom that one flies in temperatures like this...the equipment in the model is very cheap overall and works flawlessly! This model is probably the best value ever. Its also maybe the ugliest, but only in daylight!






torstai 25. marraskuuta 2010

MiG-15 standing on its wheels now!

Woohoo! One significant milestone in the MiG-15 project was reached when the model stood on its wheels for the first time. The wing number 2 progresses much faster then the first one-as I´ve already thought everything over once.



The nosewheel is not the final one! In fact it is from the Boomerang Intro fixed gear. The real one is still being made. As a soothing answer to my deepest fears with wing and landing gear alignment, it all look real nice now. The working room is so small, that in there is is easy to lose the big picture! 

This will be a gourgeous model. 

Some rudder development...the lower servo hole is so close to the moving part, that I had to make up something with a clevis and piano wire (again from the Intro kit...stuff that I discarded then) It will be secured in place with a collar later on. 






tiistai 23. marraskuuta 2010

For You Eyes Only....

Some new challenges in the future will be offered by this Fei Bao MiG-21MF. I will modify it slightly to make it look more like the "bis" that was in operational use here in Finland until 1998.  Hopefully the model will make it here in a few weeks.


The colour scheme will probably be this from the 80:s.


The 15 is progressing rather that regressing! Updates soon...

sunnuntai 14. marraskuuta 2010

Some nostalgy...

I found this old picture from the 80´s. We are at the Malmi airport´s model airplane field flying control line. My father is kneeled down in the background, and behind me is the car of Mr. Olavi Lumes, who also took this picture. He is now over 80 years old, and still active in modelling! The aviation radios sure have developed since-see the box on the left of the car. Nowadays there is no this possibility in Malmi.

lauantai 13. marraskuuta 2010

Twin-The Flying Christmas Tree-Star successfull flown!

I planned first to try the model out in daylight, but since it has been raining for two days now, had no chance. The weather, however, permitted flying this evening around 8.30 PM so I walked into the nearby field and gave it a go. Splendid! The underside LEDs are forming an arrow sign in the sky, and the red and green LEDs are also very visible in the wingtips and tail. The truth is evident, the more lights you have in the model, the easier it is to fly...I made some aerobatics and also low figure 8:s and never "really, REALLY!" lost the orientation of the model. The spin looks marvellous at night! This ugly model is much more beautiful at night when I can see the LEDs only. But with the twin brushless motors screaming with those tiny 5x5 APC:s it is not exactly the most silent one to explore the night sky, although it does glide well. The LHS stocks small props quite limitedly, but maybe I´ll try some 6x6:s later. This is all fun and games until the neighbours file some UFO sightings...
Maybe, with some more night models, we could do a night show with music, like in Jet Power in Germany...

The Great Landing Gear Door Saga!

As the real MiG is made of aluminium, I came across the idea of making aluminium gear door for it. The thin offset aluminium  (litho plate) provides exellent material for this when it it sandwiched with carbon fiber. At least that was my original idea. Well, after cutting the aluminium parts to shape with the Polyply templates, I protected the opposite side wing top side with plastic.  This method gives the doors the right shape. Then I drew the outlines of the doors into the plastic to help putting the top and underside door parts to match each others position-there is carbon in between, so the lower one cannot be seen. Then, after cutting two layers of 130 g carbon cloth, the Z-poxy laminating resin was mixed.

After some work, this is what could be seen:

Then I made the main gear door- its was slightly over the inner door, but it really was no concern in the shape. 

This was also carefully taped into shape and allowed to cure overnight.
Meanwhile I fitted in the extra gear ram...


This turned out to be difficult-surprise! Eventually I had to make a hole in the front spar to be able to fix the ram into place. 

The yellow airline still need some more space.
After some sanding, carbon dust, and some sweat it all worked out! 
All left to do now is the inner door ram and the outer door. Gear down...


Gear up! The aluminium looks really cool.




Some bling-bling in the Twinstar!

Check this out, i is the "Lumilite" LED-strip lighting system from Hobbyking. The system consists of a small 2s lipo-powered power unit and seemingly endless amount of 50cm LED-strips. The Twinstar has now 6 of them, and the outer ones have been painted red and green with a permanent marker. Note that the colour is visible only after a clear tape is inserted over the LED and then coloured with the marker. A new coloured tape layer will emphasize the colour more. Based on my previous night flying experiences, it really helps to know which wing you really see...If it doesn´t rain today, I will try flying this Christmas tree!

maanantai 8. marraskuuta 2010

Progress...progress...

Ok, a tight 2-hour session and this is what was done! 


The lower rudder´s hinges were glued into the fin...

Also, the elevator number two got the (South) Korean servo...

Likewise, the left wings aileron horn and the servo appeared...
I also have a red and a green LEDs to be fitted into the wings.




maanantai 1. marraskuuta 2010

Mig aileron and flap!

Yep, the same left MiG wing again and again. But slowly and firmly its making its way into a ready wing! The split-flap was sanded to fit nicely into the wing´s recess. I still don´t know how exactly what the flap mechanics will turn out to be, but yes, they will be moved with two servos each. A CAD drawing is somewhere in the original designer / builders computer and it should reveal all! Anyway, now it fits and the servo wirings are also done now. Considering also of installing some sort of LED lights into the MiG as there is a nice ready wire channel leading into the wing tip.

Now I must confess, that using these pivot and round hinges is new to me...and thats why the installing of the aileron turned out to be rather difficult. Of course, the problem is an aileron not moving enough. I sanded the wing with a round block (cut from  Elan´s old wing tube) and after some careful glueing, it is  still needed to make some adjustments in order to move the aileron down more.  Also, the aileron is maybe 1 mm too much out, so this tells me I did not glue the hinges deep enough into the aileron.  The remaining one must be done better...


Here the flap can be seen open-actually the flaps are quite big in the MiG-15.


I was lucky enough to find 4 barely-used Spektrum DS821 servos form classifieds. They will move the flaps just perfectly. My Elan is full of them and I have been very satisfied with the way they work. 
For the wheel doors I purchased some 160 gram carbon fiber cloth, which I plan to laminate into the Polyply soon. Also, the aileron and rudder horns were ordered from Al´s Hobbies today, so when they arrive, the aileron servo install will commence. The aileron servos will be Nexus DSW601MG:s, which turn 7 kilos @5 volts and have metal gears and ball bearings. The MiG will have 11 digital servos, so, as in the Elan, there will be also an Orbit Powerjack inside to ensure the power to the servos.