bees

Hi Tom, everything you suggest is okay on the CFL . Little bit annoying as my CF blades were made pretty quick with good results and on the CFL I have took my time and made 2 sets of blades but no results. Could it be the blade airfoil but they look to be the same as your profile shown on the PDF. Not sure about Winterton yet as I think Waddington air show is on the same week end. Glen

The crane fly lite is ready to fly except I cannot get the blades to spin even in a breeze. Tried different shims and even made some new blades but to no avail.

I have been trying to register on scale soaring but with no luck and have given up trying so will hope i get a reply here on this forum.

Interested in the electric version of Chris Williams ASK11 and would like to know of it's gliding capabilities with the motor off and also when landing with air brakes how quick will it descend as I have a few trees to get over and then I have a about 200mts before runnining out of room. Thank you for any help.

Tom, I see no mention of a 3 degree tilt of the rotors looking from the rear like on the CF. is it correct that you keep the rotors level with the CFL. Glen

Hi Tom, finally getting round to finishing the crane fly lite after being very busy. Just want to know how much mix you need regarding aileron to rudder. Had a slight problem when connecting esc to motor I had smoke coming out for some reason so will have to get myself another esc .

Thank you Terry, great idea will give it a try.

Will do, Thank you. Glen

Hi Tom, am I right in saying that when you suspend the CFL from the mast, The hang angle is adjusted so the boom is vertical to level ground. Hope this makes sense. Thank you Glen.

Getting more confident with the CF and the CFL is slowly coming along but iam allready looking further down the line with regards to the Burky 11 if i can obtain the plan but my long term project would be the Dag 60 but i would like to ask if you can still obtain the plans as i once read that the guy who designed it had packed in. Glen

12 to 15 fifteen flights now with out any incidents so i must be getting better. Got a couple of flights in this afternoon before the rain came and with 8 to 9 mph breeze i even did a allmost vertical landing. Think i need a liitle more grunt up front to penetrate better into wind but this Cranefly has been designed to learn to fly a Autogyro and that is what it is doing with good effect so will leave the need for speed further down the line.Anybody seen the part built Panther with motor and esc included with the first bid at £45 on Ebay, Seems to good to be true though. Glen

Hi Tom , forgot about the low angle of the blades, glad i did not try a touch and go. As for crash resistance you are right but if i make a hash of things i am hoping it will just rip the undercarraige off with the screws straight out but hopefully iam getting better now with my overall flying and landing touch wood, but you never know as it allways comes back to give you a kick up the back side just when you think its getting easier. Made a little bit more progress on the CFL but have got a couple more fixed wing projects going as well which is taking up my time but with 3 models on the building board i am still looking for my next autogyro, at the moment it is the Panther because it still classed as a trainer but i still like the Dag R2 but dont fancy building from scratch as i have no patience regarding cutting the formers etc. Best regards Glen

Tom, Undercarriage sorted, as i said used a carbon leg with spats on and simply screwed to the foremost front fire wall looks kinda neat and allso helps with orientation as well. Not as much width and depth as the original piano wire but works a treat. Hardly any trim change and no more tipping over on landing and was even tempted to do a touch and go but at the moment satisfied with getting my landings even better. Keep you posted , Glen

Thanks Tom, looking forward to flying a autogyro with rudder and making slow progress with the CFL but have two other projects going at the same time. I keep thinking about changing the under carriage if you remember I made a mistake with the measure which makes very hard on landing without it topping over onto the blades. I have a carbon under carriage weighing aroun 43grams which I thought I could bolt directly to the underside but not sure if it would make a difference to the flying , what do you reckon. Glen

Thanks Tom, looking forward to flying a autogyro with rudder and making slow progress with the CFL but have two other projects going at the same time. I keep thinking about changing the under carriage if you remember I made a mistake with the measure which makes very hard on landing without it topping over onto the blades. I have a carbon under carriage weighing aroun 43grams which I thought I could bolt directly to the underside but not sure if it would make a difference to the flying , what do you reckon. Glen

Could not resist and went back down to the field and got two more successfull flights in also the wind had picked up a little so that was help full. Glen

Forgot to ask you a question Tom. As you know iam in the process of building the CFL amongst other fixed wing projects and i know you say it makes for a better flyer with rudder but am i not making it more difficult regarding orientation with it being smaller. Glen

Two more successfull flights this afternoon and was doing figure eight circuits and was flying it a little bit furher away and did not lose orientation, Hardly any wind today so i must work harder at getting a controlled landing using throttle and elevator. Set my timer with my 1800 li-pos to 5 mins with a little bit extra juice left just in case but i must say with all the concentration needed the 5 mins seens like 1 or iam just starting to enjoy these CF flights more now that iam slowly getting used to the CF. Must get some more packs. Glen

Thought i would give the CF a try this afternoon, a little bit gusty really but never the less went ahead and flew the CF. Turns are getting better as i am ready with the elevator realising that it wants a lot more up elev then iam used to giving with fixed wing but this time iam ready to allso counter act the airleron as well. Fisrt flight and landing went well and landed okay but the CF with my to large and springy under carriage always makes the CF topple over on to its side. Next flight made a couple of left hand turns but did not push it as i was turning into the sun but the wind was gusting more this time and i was hovering in the wind most of the time but at some point i had to land and thought about just keeping it into wind and gradually hover it down but turned downwind back to me and then turned back up wind and brought it down allmost at a hover and even managed to keep the CF on its undercarriage making it my best flight and landing so far. Change the colour scheme to yellow and a touch of white with stripes on the blades and this made it easier to see but did not let it get away from me. My best session so far and well pleased.  Glen     Edited By bees on 02/09/2013 15:11:43 Edited By bees on 02/09/2013 15:12:28 Edited By bees on 02/09/2013 15:13:30

Thanks Tom, Will take that into consideration with my next flight. Glen

Another successfull flight, only one today as the breeze was getting stronger but managed to fly circuits for about 5 mins today and a controlled landing. Tom can you go through the procedure again when turning downwind regarding throttle management because this is the main concern at the moment as well as oreintation of course. Glen

i allso like the RPG design but i think thati is a long way down the line. Decided last night to build the Cranefly lite which as the rudder to see the difference in flight. I downloaded the PDF not long after Winterton so iam going to see what stock i have later today and hopefully make a start tonight. Glen

Shucks, And i thought i could have progressed onto the big boys. Will get some stick time on the Cranefly and let you know how i get on. Malcolm, on a couple of occasions the cranefly was uncontrolable and both times rolled to the right untill i noticed that the control bar was tilting to the right and when i got home stripped it down to find that the bolt was the culprit being bent. I have since sorted it but thank you for your advice. Glen

Hi Tom. Only thing i have done is add some colour to the tips but i have taken the blades off and weighed them and they are near enough equal. I have allso checked and balanced them span wise and they are okay. Chord wise they are the same as before and not much i can do. I have solved the issue of the little bit of play regarding the rotor bolt so if i still get a bit of vibration i will be looking at the rotor plate next, might send for one from coolwind. Dont forget the Cranefly has had a couple of bumps before i successfully flew it with out any mishap and must admit it has took some hammer with out any visual signs of damage due to your design. To be honest iam trying to get it as vibration free as possible while this windy weather is with us and allso this helps me to understand a little bit more about autogyros. Allso while i wait for better weather iam cutting some more blades as spares. One question i would like to ask is if fly the pants of my cranefly iam looking for a more longer build for the coming winter and have been looking at the Firefly, Panther, and i must admit a like the looks of the Dag R2. Which would you think would be the next step up from your fantastic Cranefly design. Glen Edited By bees on 18/08/2013 16:18:52

Still got some shake rattle and roll with my Cranefly and feel sure it is caused by some play in the rotor bolt or maybe some flex on the rotor plate aim not sure as I have taken my blades off and given them a once over and they seem okay .