Christopher Morris 2

Posted by Denis Watkins on 03/06/2020 16:44:26: That is an imaginative use of tough materials Christopher I think your plan is innovative and you are right on the borderline of power but I would like to see you win this one It was some spare parts i had leftover from my electrical days being put to use. Got the feeling it may be a twin motor version. But this part weighs in at 2.4kg. But batteries, possibly 3 motors, tail section, skirt will soon add up. But it will fly if only a few mm off the ground.

The 1st image is the starting idea with a 6" intake down to 4" & then holes or slots either underneath or coming our at 45% to the inside. Naturally, there will be a floor & a skirt. "Not shown" The second version would be with 2 intakes of 6" like below. Naturally with shorter centre tubes to allow for 2 reducers. Would need to buy another one. But you get the idea.

Posted by Peter Christy on 03/06/2020 12:48:14: I remember racing karts with highly tuned Villiers 9E engines back in the day! We reckoned if it wouldn't do a ton down the straight at Dunkeswell, you weren't competitive! We were VERY competitive, so I'm sure it producing a lot more than 8HP! -- Pete Hi, my claim to fame is i have beat Lewis Hamilton about 5 times on karting practice days. Now, i don't care that he was 9 year old at the time with an 80cc cadet cart & i was racing 100cc at the time. I am still claiming it. LOL. This was in some good days at Rye House karting track back then, it was free practice for all classes at the same time. But this was a bit dangerous & got spit into group practising. The 100cc engine we used "quite often Rotax" were good for about 75mph on the very long circuits & the 2 stroke engines were driving up to 18000rpm on the long circuits & 20000 on the short ones. You had to always have your hand over the air intake with the throttle wide open to richen the mixture at the end of the straight for fear of seeing the engine.

Posted by Andy Stephenson on 03/06/2020 13:33:22: Posted by Shaun Walsh on 02/06/2020 13:05:55: You can see the thrust for APC props here: **LINK** I find this a very strange table. First they seem to have left out the decimal points and then they have not listed sizes I know exist. Also the title says "predicted" which means to me that this is all done by calculation and not by testing. Andy. Edited By Andy Stephenson on 03/06/2020 13:34:00 Laugh, a previous post posted this link & i thought it was part imperial & part metric until Shaun gave me a description. Needs a few weeks for newbies like me. Thanks

Hi Simon, approximately 800x600mm. But because its all of a lightweight tubular frame that is slotted together i will duct tape the joins for now & possibly reduce the size/weight if necessary.. Its looking like i might have to. The duct idea was to reduce building a chamber to save weight. Ah! its an experiment & a bit of fun..  Edited By Christopher Morris 2 on 02/06/2020 17:10:43

Will be watching this with interest, i am just starting one myself purely as an experiment. One thing i found that was interesting. Many intakes for the lifting motor have a large flange like a doughnut with a flat bottom. This acts as a wing & when the air is sucked in over the edges, it creates a low-pressure area above & with the high-pressure underneath & creates lift. So the answer to all problems is doughnuts.. LOL but its true.

Thanks, Shaun, a handy & helpful link, Like many things its can be a bit of a black art. If i end up to heavy, i will look at the building of it in a way that i could use it as a mould for glass fibre. or even the Froogle paper mache version.. I will look into those motors & purchase one making sure i have another build it will suite if not enough power. You have also made the props a lot clearer. I think that PDF needs a small update for newbies. The reason of this as an experiment was getting the air direct to behind the skirt with no chamber as many have. The props i will have to test as some are better & some less noisy

Ah! Thanks, guys, i am typing this again because i clicked one of your kind links & lost my text, lol. This is all for an experiment on lifting a hovercraft with forcing air down a central 6” tube out to a perimeter of 4” tube with holes underneath behind the skirt & hoping to lift the craft. Forward propulsion for the craft will be a separate thing. I liked the EDF route but was getting a bit expensive at over a hundred pounds. Now the other links are helping as i already have some 80amp esc & spare 4s 5amph batteries & it is just getting down to motor & prop. Am i right in thinking a 6x4 prop is going to drag the most air in? As the very detailed prop chart has confused me in that it looks like its part imperial & part metric ??. IE: When i get to 6x4 props i can understand this. Then it goes on to 6x42E-3 starting to get confused. But i am looking to lift about 9ibs/4klg. At worst, it could be fitted with 2 motors & blades but would like to get away with one. Thanks

Hi, whats the Most power i can get from a 6" prop. So i am not limited on the motor size but i am limited by a 6" prop because its in a tube. Any suggestions for prop pitch & type of brushless motor to use. Also, any pros & cons going with a 2-3-4 bladed Thanks.

It’s funny how all these supposed rules apply to model aircraft yet the RAF from Marham deem it ok to fly below the 400 feet at an extreme speed that will glue you to the spot with the intense noise with about one second of notice. We also get the less noisy Hercules flyover on a regular basis & starts its turn for landing & if it’s banked over far enough you can see the pilots. The point of the above is my back garden is more than large enough for a runway for RC planes, yet I am supposedly about 2 miles outside an exclusion zone & could possibly fly from home if i had enough experience. Could you imagine the fuss if I hit a F35, or the F35 hit me? Not sure my BMFA insurance would cover this. Note: Must admit, this was all with Tornados & since they got the new Lightning F35 at 80 million a pop, they quite likely deem it safer to keep them away from the ground as we have not seen these at a low level. “yet”

Posted by leccyflyer on 31/05/2020 21:09:22: To be quite honest though, it appears that the OP is a beginner, just starting out in the hobby and realistically, this sort of thing really isn't all that necessary to know, to that degree, at that stage. Neither is a definitive list of which radio frequencies we are able to legally use. There is enough of a learning curve learning to put an aeroplane together, prepare it for flight and get through the early stages of training, at the club field, rather than worrying about where exactly one might be able to legally fly. Just take the advice of the club, which knows the local situation best. Hi, the problem was i spent the winter getting things together & now would of liked to get some lessons. But 6 weeks ago the problems started & my club still says it will be at least another 5 weeks. So a suggestion was made to take my Bixler out that i have as its a very forgiving plane. Someone said there was some areas at my nearby coast that should be good on a carm day. So i thought i would check if the area was ok to fly in. & had a look at dronesafe.uk as this part of the coast it is known as an RAF bombing practice area. The site didn't show a thing. It also didn't show many other local areas of drone restriction.that shows up on other sites. Must admit, i was put off the site straight away as the 1st paragraph i read had 6 acronyms & as a newbie, i got the UK one & had to look the others up, but had to add radio control to my search or got Under Armour sports clothing company instead of unmanned aircraft. This was the 1st paragraph. "Great for newbies" Seems like a union rep wrote it, lol UK FRZ Map This map enables UA operators to remain clear of the new UA FRZs that are created as part of the latest amendment to the ANO.

Ah! well done Steve. Way better info & simple to understand than the Drone safe site with good reasons & explanations on why not to fly in certain areas. Have bookmarked this one for the future. Just got to see if i can use it & overlay the National trust map on top for my area. Thanks

Hi, i looked at this site & its not very good. IE: just 2 miles from me in Kings Lynn there is a small/tiny landing strip that shows up on some sites but not this one. We have the RAF use the north side of the Wash area in Lincolnshire for low-level bombing runs on a regular basis, not on the map. We also have a lot of national trusts wildlife areas that your not allowed to fly over. Not on this map. It's not easy to see where you can fly legally & not be infringing on areas that are a no go zones. .This is something the BMFA should be telling us on a single map for everyone.   Edited By Christopher Morris 2 on 31/05/2020 11:33:16

Hi, any recommendations/links for a Google/Bing map of a no-fly zone for the UK. I seem to get some maps that seemed to be OK & others that conflicted. Mainly looking at the Norfolk area.

Posted by Keith Sharples on 30/05/2020 18:03:49: Posted by Christopher Morris 2 Funnily enough, i have a Bixler1 & Boomerang plus a Nova 40 & a Bangood Ranger2000. Its been suggested to go a find some hills & practice with the Bixler & Ranger 2000 using as little power as possible to help with just using the controls. Trust me to live in the mountains of Norfolk. lol. Hi Christopher. What about the large sand dunes on the coast, when the wind is in the right direction of course. I don't live over there (I'm South Wales) but visit the broads etc a couple of times a year. The dunes by Horsey Gap and WInterton on sea are quite high, you will get lift off the sea A good idea. the problem in Norfolk "& i have to check" is a lot of the coast has restricted areas with the RAF using the wash as a practice for bombing, but i think this is on the north side of the wash, & there is a lot of wildlife areas with fly restrictions owned by the National trust. But will have a check on this.

Posted by Denis Watkins on 30/05/2020 16:35:39: Posted by Christopher Morris 2 on 30/05/2020 15:02:54: Hi Tony, older post i see & I'm a newbie to all this. The club I joined was at the wrong time with all this COVID-19 going on & won't be instructing for at least a month or so at the moment.. How did you get on in the end? Would be nice if i could get started with an instructor in the Norfolk area, even if paid for. While we are social distancing and not touching anyone else's equipment Christopher Then get on to a flight sim, even if you have to buy one Fly " ground in view " for 10 minute slots, or slots that suit your concentration And you will be flying adequately within 10 hours.I Start off with the Bixler, Boomerang or " Trainer " , something basic and forgiving Funnily enough, i have a Bixler1 & Boomerang plus a Nova 40 & a Bangood Ranger2000. Its been suggested to go a find some hills & practice with the Bixler & Ranger 2000 using as little power as possible to help with just using the controls. Trust me to live in the mountains of Norfolk. lol.

Hi Tony, older post i see & I'm a newbie to all this. The club I joined was at the wrong time with all this COVID-19 going on & won't be instructing for at least a month or so at the moment.. How did you get on in the end? Would be nice if i could get started with an instructor in the Norfolk area, even if paid for.

Posted by Richard Clark 2 on 29/05/2020 15:54:18: At present in the UK if a piece of equipment has got CE marked on it it's fine to use no matter what's inside. End of 'problem'. Laugh! That means no more from China. Can't even get an item from there that has a UK plug or an adapter with a fuse. So you buy a simple 3amp item from China & you then back it up with the main 32amp fuse box fuse. "Very Dangerous" should be stopped.

Posted by Trevor Crook on 28/05/2020 07:33:27: Blimey, there was I thinking I'd given a simple answer to a simple question at the start of this thread. Should I have just responded "No"?! Interesting that there is 20 something replies & still not a simple answer. surely a simple table with a shortlist of frequencies that you can & can't anymore use. But I think organisations like the government, Ofcom, & all the others don't live in the real world, & like to create as much paperwork as possible. I was lucky & retired at 50 because of the ridiculous amount of paperwork that was having to do in my trade created by similar organisations to the ones above & then having to explain to my customers why my prices had increased. Glad I live in the real world.

Looks like this is pointed at the EU. Don't think we are part of that club anymore?? You think there would be one simple paragraph with a simple list that said you can use this only in the UK. "Simple"

Ah! Thanks for the link. isn't it strange that many UK outlets sell these items & are not worried about Ofcom? Quote: "Ofcom will take enforcement action where non-compliance becomes apparent. Devices which only have the FCC markings but are not CE marked cannot be lawfully placed on the market or put into service in the UK. This includes much of the apparatus which is designed to operate in the 868 - 915 MHz band." Which is what crossfire is, as I understand it. Frequency Bands: 868MHz (EU, Russia) / 915MHz (USA, Asia, Australia)

  Hi, Is there a list of plane/drone frequencies we can use in the UK I realise many use 2.4GHz, but i see the words Crossfire, RM9 long range in the 800-900 frequencies & all of these are sold in many UK outlets. Are these all illegal? Thanks Edited By Christopher Morris 2 on 27/05/2020 07:07:47 Edited By Christopher Morris 2 on 27/05/2020 07:10:35 Edited By Chris Bott - Moderator on 27/05/2020 08:22:27

Posted by john stones 1 on 05/05/2020 19:41:23: I always visit the cart before confirming an order, lot of faffing to find out if it's in stock. Didn't know there was an "In stock" option. Cheers Ron. It was all in stock when I ordered, this is why I ordered. It was about 5-6 days later when I checked the symbols showed up for backorder. What's worse is they don't inform you of this & there is me thinking I will get the items soon. Nigel. It's very, very slow. A rep told me it was because they are very busy. i replied: With sorting out complaints.

Search all & it told me the far east was the only place it was all in stock. I could have got some from the EU, GB & the far east. So I opted for the far east as it was supposedly all in stock, otherwise, their shipping gets ridiculous if you order from all three.. The annoyance is taking an order when they know full well the items are not in stock & don't inform you. They expect you to check the order. The other bad practice they have showing an item that normally costs £30 & on sale for £2.50. You think I will have one of those & when you get to the check out your P&P has gone up buy £20+. Definitely won't use them again. I get fewer problems with Bangood.& they are not always the best. lol.

It gets really annoying & very bad practice when the company takes your order & you pay for it & you go back to check on the order a few days later & there is flags up on half the order that says its a backorder. waiting for new stock. There is no need for this & getting BS answers from Hobbyking makes it even worse. Computers work at milions to times a second & can easily tell what's in stock within a second. Got a refund & Won't be using this company again. I wouldn't mind, but I persevered with using their unbelievably slow website. Well, that's my gripe over. lol