Night Crawler

Yea, Maplin is great. I get all sorts of bits from there. I don't fancy resistance wire though. The copper content lowers the mealting point and makes the wire too streachy when its hot. Also at higher temperatures, it will oxidise quicker. I'll be getting some NiChrome wire instead. It handles higher temps better and resists oxidisation. Oh, yea the chippy is a great shop :D

I'm having to wait till pay day (tomorow) before I can do anything. Then its a trip to B&Q and a lot of EBaying. Because I plan on cutting flying wings, I won't be using a bow cutter. I'll have 1 end of the wire attached to the bench and pull on the other end with a spring to keep constant tension. But foam scratch builds is the way to go because its cheap.

Hi guys. Paul, I'm in Fenton. Bit of a drive to Talke, but it is a good shop and great advice. I havn't flown at all this year but I'm going to try my hands at scratch built flying wings. Done a bit of research and I have a few airfoil designs that look good. So I will be doing quite a bit of hot wire cutting. The only radio gear I have is what came with the Cessna. Cheap £30 (ish) but its goot for a park flier. I have beel looking at the DX6i a lot and am very tempted to get one. I'll need its mixing capabilities fot the elevons on the flying wing.

I havn't been on here for a while and actually havn't frown for a while either. Although I'm going to get back into it. I'm kind of understanding bits of everything. I'm going to try my hand at scratch built foam wings so will be playing around a lot with motor/prop configurations. Props are cheap enough anyway. The test flight went really well. It flew much better with the 2 blade prop. Going to pick up a load of foam tomorow and do some hot wire cutting.

Why not have three holes drilled in the wood and shove a bit of silicone tube into each hole?

Why not have three holes drilled in the wood and shove a bit of silicone tube into each hole?

i cant really comment on a model engine hunting, but when im working on a car engine thats hunting, its usualll down to an air leak of some sort or a dirty fuel injector. I would check all the seals. With it being stored in oil, i would be tempted in cleaning the needle valve and the carb. Then run it for a while so everything else is cleaned out.

Hey Trusty. Yea, i know how it feels. Luckly im a mechanic, so i can do the work myself. The shop in Talke Pits isnt bad. Its only small, but they have got quite a bit in there and the guys are helpful. I looked out today and it looked nice. As soon as i went outside i thought... Hmm, no chance lol. Hope the weather gets better soon. Yea, once im back on the road i'll let you know how things go. I have one of those free ones. FMS i think. I also tried the demo for clearview and realflight (or phoenix). I liked both the demos, but dont fancy paying the prices i have seen. I have FSX as well, but its not the same as model flying. There is no substitute for the real thing though. I took a walk up the fields by me and i think i have found somewhere good enough to fly. Just trying to find the owner. Might give land registry a call and see if they can help because the council are no use.

Hey Taildragger. Thanks. I have been looking at a few clubs and i'll be going to visit a couple when i get my car back on the road. She's a little poorley at the mo. Im stuck in with the sim, but its not the same really. And i cant go out and practice because its way too windy. I have been looking at a couple of fields near by, just need to find out who owns them so i can ask if its ok to fly there.

I missed the engine size and steel blade bit. Hang on, were not allowed to use metal blades. Are we?

Geting in absolutly no flying at the mo. Too windy, too wet. Even when the sun does come out, the field doesnt get a chance to warm up and dry out because of the wind. Hopefully things will change soon. Im geting itchy thumbs

Hey Trusty. The flying isnt happening at the mo. As you are aware, the weather has been a little poor. I have emailed a guy about visiting a club, but at the mo i cant go anywhere because the car is off the road. I think it was the same club you are with. I cant remember now. Hopefully the weather will clear up soon so i can try out my new prop and landing gear. I also know a guy that owns a carbon fibre business and im thinking about making a new place out of cf. That wont be for a while though.

I had never heard of it. The cell has been dead or a while. I keep looking in the shops for decent MiMH cells but they are so expensive. 4x2000mah cells for about a tenner (or something). I though, i'll google how to revive NiMH batteries. First result was a pdf link, second was the website it belonged to. I had a nosey and it says that you can shock them back to life. I thought, why not, got nothing to loose. Hey presto, it charges. It can also be done with multi cell packs as well.

Just watching Bizarre ER on BBC Three and there was a guy called Don (or Dom) on there with an accident from an RC plane. The narrator said that he was starting the engine with a pull start. The pull chord got caught in the prop and... I'll leave the rest to your imagination. It looked really nasty. Just watched the operation and it made me cringe (sp) all the way through. If you are on here Don (Dom) I hope everything is good now. Hope you havnt given up flying and taken up knitting. It just goes to show how dangerous our props can be.

I have 4 NiMH batteries that i use regular in my digi cam. For some reason one of the cells decided it likes to be at 0v. I tried to charge it but after a minute, the charger tells me that its a bad cell. I tried charging on its own, with the other cells and in different charging spaces. I thought it was the charger at first, but it charged the other 3 cells fine. I have just read that cou can shock a NiMH back to life. It says that you force 12v at 1A for just 3 seconds into the cell ( + to + - to - ). Then charge as normal. I didnt have a 12v battery so i used an old pc power supply that i converted to a bench power supply (very handy). Every time i tried it, it overloaded the supply. So i connected my multimeter in between to see if anything goes through and tried again. I got a reading on the multimeter bit the supply tripped out. So i gave it 1 more go. I then poped the cell into the charger and it now recognises the cell and its now charging. Fingers crossed the cell is now ok. Has anyone else heard of this or even tried it?

Haha, thats what i wanted to avoid. Thought I would ask before i go out and buy a 3S pack. Im guessing that it would be ok if i was running a tiny prop or maybe use it on a small boat. I shall be investing in a watt meter soon. Looks like a really handy bit of kit when mixing and matching motors, props, batteries... Until then, i think i'll stick with what i have and get another 2S pack.

Cheers guys. I was just curious. I thought that upgrading to 3S would mean that I could cruise at a lower throttle setting then if i wanted, i could throttle up to full for some other things. Think I'll give it a miss for now then. Something to think about in the future though.

The motor is an Art Tech C2830-21 (Brushless). 80w output No load rpm - 1500kv Couldnt find anything on max current or voltage. ESC - HC-Hobby 30A 610NC 2-4LIXX I know the 2-4LIXX means it can handle 2,3 or 4 cell Lipo packs Prop would be a 9x6 2 blader. The current draw at the moment with a 2S pack and the 9x6 prop is 13.4A with a no load draw of 0.87A.

Hey guys. Hopefully I am posting in the right section. I was just looking at batteries because I want to get a couple of spares for mine. Then I thought... What would happen if I used a 3S (11.1v) pack instead of a 2S (7.4v)? According to the ESC it is capable of using either 2S or 3S. Would it hurt the brushless motor and the RX or would it be fine and just run faster? Can a mod please change the title to 2S to 3S  I hit enter by mistake and now I cant change the title Edited By Night Crawler on 03/04/2011 21:28:58

I have just read the page on static thrust (twice). I dunno if its just me or what, but for some reason I just didnt get it. So basically what you are saying, there will be no indication at all that 1 prop is better than the other when tested on a bench? Best way to find out would be to actually fly it?  I'll just take it out with both props when the weather is good and see if I can see any difference.

Tonight I got the multimeter out to measure the current draw difference between the 2 props. I also decided to check the no load draw as well, just out of curiosity. Ok, the tests. No load - 0.87A 3 blade 8x6 - 13.8A 2 blade 9x6 - 13.4A So, according to the tests, its actually better with the bigger 2 blades. Unfortunately I have no way of measuring the thrust at the mo. Think i'll go down the fishing shop or somewhere to get a set of scales of some sort.

Just got back in from a nice walk into town. Definatly too windy. It doesnt look too bad watching the trees from the window, but once out in open space its just too much. Too much for most aircraft i think. So no flying today See what its like tomorrow. Not seen the weather report yet, but fingers crossed it will be ok. Girlfriend is working tonight, so i have a few hours to play around with the cessna and get some test figures from the motor and new prop. Oh, the cessna is full 4 channels. But its a foamie (EPP i think is what its called) and will get blown away before i know it.

Hey Steve. Cheers for that. I managed to find it after driving up and down High Street 3 or 4 times. Dunno what the aircraft in the window was, but it was red and white (i think). I got a 2 blade prop, some slightly bigger wheels, some piano wire and lots of advice. I have put a thin washer behind the engine mount to tilt the motor down very slightly. I'll be takeing a walk down to the field in a bit to see if its ok to fly later on. Actually, looking out the window, i think it might be a little too breezy. The trees are moving around a bit. Will see what its like later though. I cant do any mixing on my tx. Its only a basic one. Only thing i can do is adjyst the trim each time i throttle up or down. I'll give it a go when i can and see how things turn out.

Sorry BEB. I did read it before posting. I think I forgot to hit the old code button. Thanks for fixing it though Haha Phil. Yea, similar to one of them, but with a tail I dunno, i think the birds would just get thrown over (if it spins top backward) or give the bird a good shove forward. Yea, I recon you mow the field Edited By Night Crawler on 30/03/2011 20:08:39

Hopefully this hasnt been posted already. I was looking at some videos on youtube and I came across this. Very unusual propultion system, but very interesting.  Edited By Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator on 30/03/2011 19:42:51