Simon Chaddock

Well done! Remember with a delta the fin is not that far back from the CG when compared to a conventional wing/tail layout. They need big fins as far back a possible to provide the necessary aerodynamic force to resist a spin. With a delta it will nearly always be a flat spin!

Surely the "usefulness" of a LiPo depends on how you use it. Any fall off in performance will be far more noticeable and potentially serious in a "3 minute" EDF type flight which equates to a 20+C discharge rate than in a gentle 10 minute fight with an average 6C discharge or even a 20minute slow flyer flight. I always check the cell voltages after a flight and note if one cell is significantly lower than the others as part of the storage charge routine. That fact alone suggest the LiPo should be used in a less demanding situation even if it otherwise does not display excessive heat at the end of the flight.

After much trial and tribulation I have a video of BR2211 in a more or less scale nacelle for the V173. Nothing very exciting but it is a forward step. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfEzKyLoh2g This BR2211 setup is just about half the weight of first nacelle, motor and 3 blade prop. It does look a bit odd to turn such a big prop direct drive from such a tiny motor.

Even more than 60 years ago the science subjects Physics and Chemistry were quite happy using metric. There was the meter rule that the physics teacher was rumoured to lash out to those who misbehaved in the front row! The chemical balances always used grams. On the other hand any sports measurement was definitely in Imperial. Then of course there was Centigrade and Fahrenheit. Remember when BBC weather forecast always used Degrees F and you likely had the flu if your body temperature exceeded 101 F.

What is amazing is just how much of the world uses 4 ft 8 1/2 ins primarily because we made and built much of it. Last time I went to the National Railway museum they had just brought in a South African Beyer Garratt locomotive. Absolutely huge on 3ft 6ins gauge but there on cab was the makers plate "Vulcan Works Newton the Willows England". UK made it and shipped it out and then 60 years later we shipped it back!

LiPo man It looks like the inlet duct area is rather below the minimum 1.2 times the fan swept area (FSA). I would also add that installing the EDF with its bell mouth in a rectangular "box" fuselage is not ideal for inlet efficiency. It would be better if the inlet duct gently changed from the rectangular inlet to a circular duct that exactly matched the EDF's body diameter. This way the air travelling down the duct will not have to negotiate any sudden changes in direction prior to meeting the fan blades. I appreciate that using foam board it would not be easy to make such a shape. The rule is that anything that restricts the inlet air flow just means the EDF has to do work to restore the planes air flow speed before it can start to speed up the air flow to create thrust. Compared to props EDFs are pretty inefficient to start with, particularly when used in a model based on a airframe specifically designed for supersonic flight! I suspect your design will rely rather heavily on the power of that EDF to fly but I am sure it will.

I only use my servo with a ESC/BEC so I only use a "old" 2s LiPo with a "spare" ESC/BEC with my blue servo tester. It also means I have enough oomph in the LiPo that I can use the servo tester to bench test my motors at low power. Never had any problems with the tester.

toto The classic solution to floor damp is to mount it on bricks arranged so there is plenty of under floor air circulation. If kept dry and free from pests there is no reason why even a soft wood should not last 100 years.

If you washing cycle was at a green 30c the temperature should not have effected the LiPo any higher it likely would. Constant immersion in water could have discharged it a bit. If another hard item in the wash has punctured a cell in any way the soapy water will certainly kill that cell. As suggested see what the current cell voltages are and make a decision from there.

Nice here in Warrington. Warm 20C and light wind but 100% overcast. Just got in (18:50 hrs( from flying my flapped FX707 Albatross. Just motored round gently for 9 minutes. All very relaxing. Even more satisfying is that as I write this it has started to rain!

You want to live in the sunny and calm NW UK. I note the current Met Office yellow weather warning is reserved for the southern half of the UK. That makes a change!

The continued light winds has encouraged me to fly my foam lightweights that really benefit from benign conditions. First was the rather exotic A4b or the V-2 with wings. This picture was taken 6 years ago in its original 70mm EDF from. It has now has been modified and significantly lightened using a 2205 drone motor turning a 5" four blade as a ducted prop. The "lipstick" LW-PLA nose cone is not scale but it does make it highly visible. In this form it weighs just 476g (16.8oz) using a 850mAh 5s. It flies pretty much as it did with the EDF but a bit slower. The noise at VTO from the ducted prop turning at close to 40,000 rpm is loud! Full power in only used for the vertical ascent as it flies conventionally at much reduced throttle. Anyway I am not sure either the structure or the control surfaces can withstand full power in level flight. Next the very different sub 250g Depron Super Cub. Not really a micro as it has a 40" span. Apart from its light weight, basically all 2mm sheet Depron, nothing special except perhaps that the balsa wing struts are fully load bearing. The wing has no spar as such and are simply glued to the fuselage side sheeting. The wing struts share the rear UC attachment just as does the full size. It weighs 242g with a 1000mAh 2s on board. In the near still conditions yesterday it flew for just under 18 minutes (17:44). No problem but I was not sure how much capacity the battery had left! I noted the charger put in 418mAh to restore the battery to "full" which made me wonder just how much or little power it was actually flying on. 418mAh is 25.08 Ampminutes. It flew for 17.75 minutes which gives an average consumption of 1.41 amps and that includes the power required for the RX and four servos! On a 2s at say an average of 7.4V meant it managed the flight on 10.4W. As it weighs 242g (8.54 oz) that gives a power loading of 19.5W/lb. All very ecologically friendly but it does require almost still conditions which are not that common in the windy UK. 😉

Not quite sure what you mean. The interplane struts were not in the V4 prototype. It looks terrifying! But were added as there was significant wing vibration which the broad interplane struts resisted well. Hope your Flair DR1 flies as well as it looks.

For my foam light weights the date selected is less of a concern than the weather on the day. i will be there on the chosen date especially if it happens to be a flat calm! ☺️

Surely we have to accept from those figures the majority of "active" flyers are likely drone operators who have purchases a ready to fly type and have registered with the CAA. I came across such an example a couple of days ago. A small zip bag that contained both the drone and the transmitter. The drone completely folded up into a small rectangular package. The drone had a gimble mounted camera. No screen on the transmitter but it was designed to hold a smart phone that could be plugged in to receive the drone camera image so becoming FPV. The drone had full GPS and could be manoeuvred easily. It would autonomously maintain perfect station while the operator operated the camera. Nothing technically too unusual except the drone weighed just 249g and had an endurance of 50 minutes. It was also remarkably quiet being virtually inaudible at its self limiting max altitude of 120m above the take off point. Not really flying as I know it but an amazing demonstration of micro electronics.

Daren If a plane need lots of up trim with power on then the chances are it will be tricky to land. As the power is reduced it will likely need still more up. The danger of entering a stall is very real

Today I flew my Hawker P1081 made of 5mm XPS underlay. It had not been flown was nearly 2 years! The P1081 was a converted P1052 which itself was a swept wing version of Sea Hawk. The swept wing Sea Hawk was rejected by the Fleet Air Arm. 😮 By using a improved RR Nene and a straight through exhaust rather than the bifurcated of the Sea Hawk the intention was that it would make a 'transonic' fighter for the Australian Air Force. Actually a rather a macabre model as only one was built and when trying to achieve transonic speeds in a dive the pilot lost control, ejected at low altitude but was unable to free himself from the seat and died on impact with the ground. The next Hawker prototype that followed just a year later was the Hunter. Mine being light flies nicely with a 55mm EDF and is an easy hand launch. At reduced throttle it can manage 4+ minutes from a modest 1800mAh 3s.

I just buy them directly from the Lemon-RC online website. I use PayPal just in case but I have had no problem over several years.Postage reasonable and delivery is surprisingly quick.

My chosen solution to the motor/prop weight problem is to use two 1300kV BR221 motors turning CW &CCW 11x3.8 SF props. They will be scale diameter but obviously only 2 blade. The motor and prop should weigh about 28g rather than 70g. With smaller OPTO 10A ESCs with a 2A UBEC and smaller battery 850mAh 2s I might stand a chance of getting the V173 close to 8oz (250g) all up. At that weight even with the much reduced power it will still have close to 1:1 thrust to weight. I just have to wait for the bits to be delivered. 😉

Although an aerodynamic effect may not be significant on a current model it can be worth understanding the "what and how" as it might well be important a bit further down the line. Remember "adverse yaw" no matter how it is created can in some situations lead to a serious crash. A low slow final turn as an example.

The angle of the aileron horns will depend on the relative position of the aileron hinge line. In this case the angled horn is to is to get the horn pivot point perpendicular to the hinge line and not to create differential. The differential movement (more up than down) is created by the forward angle of the servo arm. A simple diagram of your Ruckus aileron linkage would help establish what is happening.

Starting to look at the V173 body I have run into a problem. With the 11x5 props at scale diameter the "pancake" is tiny with an area of just about 1 square foot. At this stage the best guestimate is it will weigh about 16oz giving a wing loading of 16oz/sqft. At such a figure a slow flyer it will not be! 😧 The problem is the 2822 motors are too powerful and heavy for such a small airframe and the props are no lightweights either. Each complete nacelle, motor and prop weighs 2.5 oz. Even 0n 2s the combined thrust will exceed its estimated weight. I want to keep scale diameter props so I am reluctant to simply make it bigger overall as with direct drive brushless motors the same problem is likely reappear. A smaller lighter motor but with the same kV and a lighter prop could be a possible solution. Even if I can get the all up down to say to 10oz it will still need that extreme ground angle to get a "slow" take off. We shall see.

Does your charger have a 90% charge option that you have activated in error? Otherwise it does look like you need a new charger.

After a bit of testing it became clear that with the original concept motor cooling would likely become an issue so a slightly revised nacelle. The spinner is 26mm diameter comparted to the motor's 28mm so there is a 1mm annulus to force air into the motor. An air outlet is provided behind the motor With this arrangement the motor can be run at full power on a 2200mAh 2s for a minute without the motor or the drum mount getting too hot. I haven't measured the thrust but resisting the pull just holding the nacelle needs a really firm grip. I very much doubt full power will be needed for more than a few seconds and even then only when going "vertical" At least I have the stl files to create the other nacelle. Time to start designing the V173 body.

toto You can see how easy it is for "life" to get in the way of RC flying and goes along to explaining why so many RC flyers are of that certain age 😉