More Construction

As you can see, I've made some wingseats and test fitted them to the fuse. Earlier this week I spent a long time trying to get an aerial layout that gave a good range test. I've decided to place the receiver and the aerial wire inside the wing simply because there will be carbon longerons embedded in the fuse and not enough separation for the aerial in the fuse. (I worked out with the Vampire that I need 50mm separation to prevent interference)

Of course I have the added problem of my alloy box section ballast tank in the wing and this created a major headache with reception interference. However after muchos trialling of different layouts I stumbled upon a wire route which worked! So fingers crossed that it will be okay on maiden day.

Not flying much at present - went out on Sunday and flew the Su Flanker for the last time - have decided to sell it!! Here's the pic for the trademe sale - will be for sale shortly.

Sicky Sicky

Been laid low lately with what seems like flu symptoms - so not been able to get out flying. Wanted to go yesterday with 30kts it would have been a real blast. Johnny Searle made it for a huge fly and said it was real tricky bringing his Banshee in to land. Read about it here ... http://johnflys.blogspot.com/

In the hanger, you can see I've started on the fuselage for the 2m sloper and did a quick mock-up pic to get first impressions.

February Already!

Wow, that was fast, January's gone already. But I did manage to get a pic from my birthday month - here's the snack I invented for the occasion - brie on crackers drizzeled with spicey plum chutney and topped with blueberries. Goes well with home brew :-)



Not a lot of flying done in January - here's one attempt I made. After an assault on the Mount traversing the East Face and, running low on mint cake, I made the summit only to look out on this murky view :-( Oh well, not every day's a flying day...



And finally David, here's a shot of the 2m sloper wing showing painfully slow progress to date. Balsa skin on one side and servo pockets cut out. No sign of the fuselage yet - it's still mostly floating around in my brain and will need a gale force wind to blow it into shape :-) But I think the wing is looking ok.



Fair winds and good lift....

Monday After Christmas

Hope everyone enjoyed Christmas and didn't overdo the eating part. At the moment we are still getting all westerlies here - horrible bouncy flying conditions off the Mount and really only flyable from the top. But sadly we still give it a go... Here's a pic of John's Banshee blasting over the harbour entrance on a close fast pass.




On the construction side, I have finally settled on my method for building the 2m sloper - a combination of sheeted light ply ribs and EPP foam leading edge. Might have a go at glassing the wing and the fuse is looking like f/glass over a blue foam core. Yikes! My first attempt at a fiberglass fuse...

Here's a progress shot showing the layout of the ballast tube and valve with the servo and the two inner ribs. Yes, it's under way!



Happy New Year to everyone - let's hope 2010 is a better year all round.

New Project - The Ultimate Sloper

Well it had to happen - sooner or later I was going to have a go at designing my Ultimate Sloper. Of course there are certain criteria for a beast like this (land amongst the Mount rocks with little damage, fast, energy retention, good looking etc) so it will have big boots to fill. But this is what I'm attempting to do.

From the outset I have decided that this plane will have jettisonable ballast (water) to allow softer, slower landings after a big heavy blast aroung the sky. And we're not talking "lead sled" dimensions here - I just want to try for about 400g ballast on a 2m wing to allow me to explore the possibilities.

So, without further ado, here are the plans with the ballast tube (square box section aluminium) including the water release valve.



And another shot showing a closeup of the valve - not that it shows much. I spent a long time searching for a suitable sized valve. In the end I have butchered and kit-bashed my own using a bit of TLAR (that looks about right) technology. Then I covered it in epoxy to hold it together.

More about the construction soon.