Grasshopper

Barrie, I have had 3 Easy Gliders over the years and many other Multiplex Elapor models. Quick and simple hinges - use Crystal Scotch tape. Forget Blenderm (expensive and does not stick like Crystal), real hinges etc. Clean the Elapor with lighter fluid and tape the length of the 'hinge' on both sides with this stuff and it is there for good. Trust me, I had over 200 flights with an Easy Glider so equippped and it never let me down. If you are worried about flex, glue, using POR, some carbon strip, 4mm x .5mm rings a bell, along the length of the contol surface, in the hinge surface and when dry, tape the hinge to the carbon. I am still flying my Mentor, Cularis and Solius and the latter has additional flaps, hinged of course with Crystal tape. (I live in France and here its called Cristal) Best of luck and enjoy that Easy Glider - I certainly did! Peter       Edited By Grasshopper on 20/05/2014 17:12:55

Thanks Gordon, I have not seen some of these sites before and they add up to an interesting selection of views: some extremely useful and some adding to the overall feel for how to design the awkward wooden joints and parts! Thank you. I spent some time yesterday going over and analysing Stuarts excellent build blog photos on this thread and have a good idea now of how he designed his fus. and A frame and the dimensions thereof. I will make some annotated sketches of the A frame and fus. so that hopefully before I start to cut wood I have a firm idea of what I will be building. I will keep in touch on this thread. Peter

Hi Stuart, you have completed and flown your SG38 and I think I am using the same plan for my build. That is the 1:5 drawn by Jim Ealy. I have started on the fus. at the tail (easy!) but looking ahead to the body and A frame I find that I am lacking information on these parts. In fact the two plan views I have do not contain any projection from above showing body design, width etc. nor do they show any detail on the A frame design and attachments. I note from your post 29.11.11 that you made some very nice looking body and A frame assemblies. Did you 'wing' the designs or have I missed another plan drawing? I am also concerned that in spite of much web searching I have missed important details such as dihedral which is missing on the detail drawings which I have. Peter Edited By Grasshopper on 20/04/2014 11:40:54

Congrats Simon. Your version in flight flies just like mine which was also on 2 x 40mm edf's. I look forward to seeing it in the air in full livery. Mine was token only, Air France one side and BA on the other to keep my flying buddies happy. (I fly in France!) Peter

Gordon, thanks for the latest on your SG-38, there is more interest in this glider than I realised and 1:3 scale is big. I think I have missed the point about the airfoils here. Do I now understand that the original GOE 426 was made for safety and comfort and not to give bags of lift and that the replacement by GOE 533 will give better lift and some penetration to allow reasonable slope performance? As I entioned in my post above, all my slope soaring is off the edge of sheer cliffs so I need to be certain that in say 15kph winds my model will not sink like a stone as there is no landing place below as on hill slope. This does raise the bar a little! Peter

Hi Stuart, unlike your superb offering I am intending to build a scale-ish model so would rather sacrifice wing profile for scale looks. I soar only off cliff sites, living in Brittany as I do so each launch can be a one way ticket! You clearly have more airfoil knowledge than I do so what do you recommend for good lift and reasonable penetration? If it can be flatish bottom then that would help the building process. I am working 1:5 and have started to build the fus. and will be scaling the wing plan to match that. Peter

Hi Stuart, I flew (well hopped) the 'Grasshopper' in the Air Cadets in the early '60s in the school playing field - hence my forum name It was stored in a small shed in the field, assembled on summer Friday evenings by the cadets in an hour or so and then we bungeed until light stopped play. We only had one accident and a big one! One cadet launched with his cap on and of course the acceleration with 20 tug-boys was tremendous. His cap flew off, he grabbed for it, went veritlcal and landed vertically tail first in a shower of spruce and wire. He was unhurt apart from the rigging he got thereafter. Anyway, these days I am an active slope soarer and want to build a flyable model at 1:5 or there about. I have downloaded the 'usual' plan set (and noted your scale comments between the two sheets - thanks) and will build the wings with Depron ribs to keep the weight down. I note that you have very sensibly chosen Gottingen 533 as the airfoil. I assume this is a big improvement on the original? Any comments before I start my rib cutting? Peter

If you happen to be on holiday in France or on a beer run, Leroy Merlin - a chain of vast DIY shops, stock Depron in 3, 6 and 9mm and in my local shop, sell by the single sheet. Prices are good and even better if you buy a box of 10! Peter Edited By Grasshopper on 15/04/2014 10:48:05

I am mid way through my build of this WW1 fighter as part of my Club (in France) commenation of WW1. I have found some issues with the plan which I have been able to work round I think. Main snag now is that having found the correct wing airfoil (RAF # 8) I decided to sand the wings from solid 9mm Depron. As the plan said to use 'slabs of 6mm I thought that after my sanding down there would be plenty of 'meat' left. Sadly not as it now seems that the wings were intended to be made from 9mm solid sheet with no sanding thereof! This means that my wings are probably very much under-sized in strength terms. Has anyond else built the F2B and used 6mm depron and flown the thing without the wings breaking up? Peter

Simon, my twin 40mm EDF version weighed 551g ready to fly. I used two 2S 1600 LiPOs' and 30A ESC's. I reckoned I could squeeze 20 minute flight time with the CofG well back but control was very twitchy even with 80% expo. I removed my initial reflex and had tiny control throws, 12mm up/down. I have checked back my notes of flights and it is clear that I played with CofG placement and found it very sensitive to placement as I have said. Any other info. which I may have you're welcome to! Peter

Hi Simon, the 'real thing' looks great and the work you have put in and results thereof are very impressive! If you are searching for CofG placement then I made and flew a 'flattie' Depron last year and think a little of what I learned may be of help as regards the CoFG. My Concorde was 53cm wingspan and overall length 123 cm. I used a couple of 40mm EDF's and it flew with little reserve power but it was a bit of a brick on the sticks although it did look good and sounded great. I found the placement of the CofG as super critical. I tried 25.2cm to 26.0cm from the rear of the wing, just before the elevon hinge line. Sadly just this small range gave a big change in the performance, from lively/tricky on 25.2 to sled like on 26.0. I ended up landing on a gravel path and killing both the EDF fans so it currently hangs on my workshop wall. Peter

David, I moved to France 10 years ago and fly 35 MHz. It is authorised and the great thing is that no one else here uses the frequency band. There are limitations - only channels 60 to 65 are allowed and as I operate on channel 61 please do not use that channel if you live near St Brieuc in Brittany! I have converted my two Multiplex Cockpit SX transmitters to 2,4 GHz (switchable) using the FrSky module and they work a treat but I have several big gliders etc. which can take a 35 MHz aerial so they still run on the old receivers on 35MHz.. Never a glitch. Let me know where you are moving too - and when - we may become neighbours! Peter

Hi Stephen and Rich (again) After Crane Fly and FireFly I have got involved with a friend here in France who is attemting to get an LA500 going. We have several problems - - - - and i quote. I have a small problem adjusting the rotor head on the LA-500. I shortened the length of the pushrods for a neutral position of -13 ° with servo arms set to 90°. I have had to greatly reduce the servo travel to prevent the part "J0110" striking the mast. Now the movements are ok except for the down movement: about 7 ° or 8 ° instead of 17 ° as indicated on the instructions! Has anyone else found this kind of problem? I have a small problem adjusting the rotor head on the LA-500 perhaps someone could help? I shortened the length of the pushrods for a neutral position of -13 ° with servo arms set to 90°. I have had to greatly reduce the servo travel to prevent the part "J0110" striking the mast. Now the movements are ok except for the down movement: about 7 ° or 8 ° instead of 17 ° as indicated on the instructions! Has anyone else found this kind of problem? Peter

Yes, I agree with Bill. This is one of the 'unsung heroes' of the transmitter world. I have two, both 35 MHz originally and self-converted to be switchable 35 MHz / 2.4 GHz. They are very well built and the component quality in my opinion is streets ahead of many 'leading' makes. Believe me, I have spent a lifetime designing kit like this and when I look inside sets costing £400, £600 or more I am often aghast at the poor quality of parts used. Programming is simple and the documentation excellent. I fly full house gliders, autogyros and 'planes of all types and have rarely struggled to program what I wanted. Peter

I have just answered my wing retention question on the HK AT-6 - there is problem - big time! Test and reveal as follows. Insert the wing spars into the centre section and with the fus. upside down, flex the spars in the vertical direction as if the 'plane were doing some gentle aerobatics. After a couple of good bends the centre base panel (with speaker grille) on the wing centre section will start to come adrift from the main centre section. It is only glued and on my 'plane one surface had been pre-painted so once it started to un-glue things happened quickly. The cause - the inner ends of the spars move and push the panel off and if the AT-6 were in flight the wings would do a nice hand clap! This is potentially a nasty one but can be fixed in several ways. I suggest using the existing carbon spar with a length of 2x10mm flat carbon strip epoxied between it and the wooden spars - to hold the wooden spars in alignment. You have to remove 2mm of foam between the wooden and carbon spars. I also intend adding some bolts between the underside of the main panel and the fus. base. Afterwards the thin 'speaker' panel can be tacked in place as it will have no structural function. Peter Edited By Grasshopper on 09/10/2013 09:01:09

I have read Graham Ashbys review (March 2013) of the Art-Tech AT6 Texan, or Harvard as it was known in the UK. This foamie sells as an Art-Tech model and the same 'plane is available from Hobby King. Electric of course, 1.3 metres span and from HK UK, with retracts and sound system priced at just £141 plus UK postage. I have just received mine and having read on several forums about the poor wing retention I am not certain if this is now a current problem? Graham did not mention the problem in his artice which was, all in all - glowing with praise! Has anyone else built one and found the problem to still exist? Peter Edited By Grasshopper on 05/10/2013 15:10:57

Wow Tom, you are burning the midnight oil tonight! Thanks for the response - and I understand that with your experience you can set up a head by eye-balling but my many years in engineering design means that I struggle without some figures to work to. I expect that after a couple of dozen fuss free flights I too will be able to judge the amounts required by eye! Here's hoping anyway. I will be at the field again on Saturday and wind willing will give it a go and report back. By the way I will take a set or two of blades and a couple of my French friends will no doubt have sets as well. Thanks again, Peter   Edited By Grasshopper on 08/07/2013 08:08:37 Edited By Grasshopper on 08/07/2013 08:09:00

Thanks Tom - but what I was after was a throw setting in degrees from the 3 degrees of left offset I have. This gives straight-as-a-die flight from launch by the way so must be correct! I am thinking about 6 degrees left and right from this (offest) zero point. Peter

I have been away from autogyros these past months due to work pressures but back to it this past week. I have had a few 5 miminute flights with a CF SF and HK C-30 blades but always find the roll control over sensitive. Today a helicopter driver arrived at the club and witnesed my crash (no big damage!) and said that I had far too much throw on the head roll axis. This is currently set to 12 degrees left and right (with the 3 degree offset as zero) and I have 60% rates so about +- 7 degrees. What do others use? He suggested 5 or 6 degrees left and right from the offset zero would be enough and then with rates on top it could be further reduced. Peter

Yes likewise - I am happy with either but as the prevailing wind at the strip is right to left, most folk fly anti clockwise. Sadly this has transferred to my slope (read cliff) soaring sites and I have to make a conscious effort to fly both directions. Peter

Tom, thanks for the notes about FF. My original one had a big-looking accident (there was a video!) and the mast was snapped right were it enters the fus. Very tricky to repair but job done and it is safely on the shelf waiting for me to become proficient with the SF CF and then 'proper' CF. Weather here stll very poor and I dragged myself to the strip a few hours ago but within minutes it was bucketing down so back home for coffee! I sorted out the HK blade issue and they gave me 'points' as a refund and are sending a couple of head. These are so cheap I boght them for future use. Who knows? Peter

Thanks Tom, snow - well I got off lightly but it caught my wife in the car on the way to UK and she spent 2 nights in a motel waiting for the autoroute to be re-opened. It was bad - they had 10+ choppers patrolling along the autoroute and sending in snatch squads to rescue folk - serious stuff but they are equipped here at least to deal with the aftermath! HK blades, yes I have a set and these are the ones I have been using on the SFH. I also have a set I made for the GireFly II which is waiting in the wings! I will change my order now to 'lose' the blade set and replace it with some servos or the like. Probably easier than trying to get a refund. Weather improvement - roll on for me I am sick of going to the field and freezing plus the winds have been to strong for even cliff soaring. Peter

Hi Tom, this is strange. I have had a head and blade set on back order for many months now but when I checked the order on line today all parts are listed as 'IN STOCK'.     Description Quantity     Gyro Cierva C30 Gyroplane EP Spare Head Set 1 IN STOCK   D-MG16 Metal Gear 2.9kg/.08sec/18.8g 2 IN STOCK   Gyro Cierva C30 Gyroplane EP Spare Blade Set 1 IN STOCK   Extra Size Cardboard Box and Packing 183g 2 IN STOCK The head have been in stock for many weeks now but not the blades. I am not getting too excited and will wait for the stuff to be shipped. Any thoughts? Peter Edited By Grasshopper on 15/03/2013 09:53:51

Richard, final word for now. I have two transmitters and a buddy lead and also a Multiplex Mentor. This is a high wing electric trainer, nice and docile and ideal for first steps. You can download the Phoenix sim. file from the Phoenix site. So - if you want a hand you could do the sim. work at home and then when you think you are ready you could come over for a shot in the air. Saturday morning would be ideal as there are usually only me and a buddy or two so you will not feel the gazes of a dozen folk as you take the first steps! Peter

Richard, I self-taught using a carefully selected beginners electric foamie with rudder and elevator only but if I did it again I would use a Multiplex Easy Star. I still regularly fly one of these which is in its 4th year - 400/500 flights I suspect - they just go on and on! Electric because I was on my own initially and could fly/crash at the local disused WW2 aerodrome. No noise worries, just chuck it in the car, arrive and fly. This allowed me to get a large number of short sessions in which suited my style. I found that 10 minutes in the air was plenty at first so only needed one LiPO. In fact an Easy Star flown in a non-hooligan manner will give 20 minutes or so with ease. I remember it took me one busy season to become vaguely proficient and I then bought an Easy Glider electric so that I could flat field fly with the Club and also slope (cliff here!) soar on nearby sites. I did dabble with 'thermic' early on but got fed up with the mess, noise and heavy gear I had to lug about so now fly exclusively electric. Note that if you join a Club then they will train you on buddy systems - and certainly round here it will be Mode 1. We had a hilarious morning recently when we invited the co-sited big plane flying club menbers to join us to see what we got up to. A seasoned pilot was given the pupil transmitter and the teacher took off only for the pupli to realise that he was expected to fly in Mode 1. He was dumfounded of course and simply could not do it. I did briefly dabble in Mode 1 but after a couple of tries it was so counter-intuitive I reverted to the 'correct' system! Give me a shout if you want a hand then and of course if you want to pop over to St Brieuc airport at Tremuson (off the N12/E50) West of St B.) then contact me to arrange. We fly Saturday and Sunday mornings in a corner of the airport (watch out for those Cessnas!) but in addition there is a small group who slope soar off the cliffs nearby. Best of luck, Peter Edited By Grasshopper on 08/03/2013 08:37:55 Edited By Grasshopper on 08/03/2013 08:38:31