Sloping Off

[Ian Jones]

Posted by Dorset flyer on 27/07/2011 00:18:01:
Well i'm no expert but i am using a cheap Saturn 2.4ghz no elavon mixing on the tx so i bought an elavon mixing lead and on my maiden i found all controls nice and responsive.... but maybe i feel that because it's the first time i have flown a set up like this?....

Hi DF, I'm using the elevon mix on my transmitter and the suggeted throws in the instructions for a starting point - as long as it flies on that it will be fine for the maiden. I'll be bearing in mind all the advice given here when I make adjustments after that.

 

Posted by Conwy Soarer on 27/07/2011 13:25:19:

Posted by Tom Satinet on 27/07/2011 11:37:03:
something to watch out for with the model is that the pocket for the RX tends to cave in with repeated nose strikes.

our sollution a composite made up from some 3mm depron and polycarbonate vac form plastic taped in place makes it stronger with no real weight penality (invented by one of the kids) works a treat.

Thanks very much, I've got some spare carbon fibre sheet that I bought for something ( I wonder what it was) I might be able to do something with that.

 

[Wiltshire Flyer]

Just wanted to say good luck to you Ian if you are planning your maiden with the wing this weekend.

[Ian Jones]

Posted by Dorset flyer on 30/07/2011 00:16:53:
Just wanted to say good luck to you Ian if you are planning your maiden with the wing this weekend.

Thanks DF, unfortunately the wind wasn't right, however this evening I went down to our field to fly my glow engined Vampire and no one was there! I couldn't beleeeeeive it! Fantastic evening and the field was empty, not even any sheep! Very occasionally I will fly without someone else on the field but as I general rule I don't. More fortunately though I had taken the wing with me as I still wasn't convinced that I had got the CG right.

 

It was almost flat calm and I made a few rather weak attempts at hand launching it to watch the glide and each time it went a short distance then dived towards the ground to land on it's nose. Full up elevator would not hold the nose up so I decided to put some weight on the back - 15 and then 30 grammes actually. This did seem to improve things a little and I started going for some more hefty launches, yep there seemed to be some improvement but not much.

 

Remembering the comments made by Conwy Soarer on 26/07/2011 17:39:18: and

Tom Satinet on 26/07/2011 16:39:21: I increased the the control throws. That did it I could now glide and land quite nicely. So was it the CG change, the control throw change or both that brought about this improvement? Only one thing for it - off with the tail weights. That was even better the CG must have been somewhere near right after all. I was now confident enough to launch it as hard as I could (left handed but I'm right handed!) and that was amazing. It climbed a little before starting to sink I was able to make a nice controlled glide back to the ground. I found myself making repeated launches to see how far I could get - I made it 35 yards. I must have made 50 launches by this time when I realised I hadn't made any attempt to trim it, so I turned into the wind, lifted my thumb of the stick and heaved the wing forward and very slightly down as hard as I could - slight wings level climb. I only had to intervene to control the glide back to the ground. Well it may well need some trimming and control throw changes for the rising air when soaring but I'm dead chuffed with what I've seen tonight, this wing thing is really going to do the business . If only I had another hand I could have taken some photos .

 

Neck, arms & back aching like mad now!

 

 

[Tom Wright 2]

Could call that the maiden then Ian , certainly better than chucking it off into a blow and hoping for the best ,but as you say futher trim and or c/g adjustments may be needed when the model encounters the raging updrafts.

All the best for the first hill attempt ,got to be good ,to at least match DFs maiden .

[Steve Houghton 1]

Yea Ian, can't wait for the proper maiden. I always give a new model a few chucks on the flat to check out the trim, makes life so much easier when you chuck it off the hill for real.

 

My mate, Big Phil is hoping to maiden the second hand Zagi he got sometime in the next 2 weeks whilst he's off work. I'm taking him up a local mountain for this and to strip him of his slope virginity.

[Ian Jones]

Aha, Tom & Steve you clearly approve of my method, very reassuring. 'eck I can't wait to really fly it and if I match DF and take it home in one peice then so much the better . Be gentle with with Big Phil Steve .

[Wiltshire Flyer]

Sorry to hear of the delay Ian, i gave mine a few launches on the day i tried to maiden and had no wind, i found it didnt really go far and would tip stall because it wasnt keeping momentum, but when i launched it on it's succesful maiden the next week it flew great.

 

Next time out i will experiment with removing a little weight etc to see if i can improve on performance any as this is my first slope model and i want to have a real hands on learning experience with it as i think that's just as important as the flying itself

I have always been someone who no matter how much good advice is given and taken on board, has enjoyed getting hands on and experimenting with a project as i find it so much easier to learn that way, o.k sometimes you learn the hard way...but hey!.....still learning!!! lol...

And as Tom says, you need to make it a good one! i want to see pics and vid if you can get it! and any advice you can impart that may come in useful to us fellow wing flyers will be greatfully received good luck mate.

[Tim Mackey]

There will be pictures, and possibly video too. However, I am advising Ian to be patient and wait until I make the call, as I dont want him wasting time and fuel to get to the slope and find the conditions not right for a maiden flight.

At the moment, Thursday or Friday this week looks good....but then the forecast has a nasty habit of

1) being wrong

2) changing!

[Wiltshire Flyer]

Posted by Tim Mackey - Administrator on 01/08/2011 00:11:15:

There will be pictures, and possibly video too. However, I am advising Ian to be patient and wait until I make the call, as I dont want him wasting time and fuel to get to the slope and find the conditions not right for a maiden flight.

At the moment, Thursday or Friday this week looks good....but then the forecast has a nasty habit of

1) being wrong

2) changing!

I give up watching the forcast anymore Tim, my gardening business relies alot on the weather as you can imagine, but i get so fed up of them getting it wrong, i just get up in the morning and stick my head out the window, and if it rains while i am working, well as long as i am not using power tools i just whistle and get on with it..... stiff upper lip of the british n all that lol.

I forgot that ian has the sloping equivalent of obi wan kenobi to guide him so i know he'll be fine....

[Tim Mackey]

Not so much Obi wan kenobi, as jar jar binks

[Ian Jones]

Yes the [gale] force will be with me

Wat, video too! this had better be soooo good

Okay then, waiting for the call Tim.

[Tim Mackey]

Gotchya number mate

[Wiltshire Flyer]

Ha Ha! funny stuff fellas and yes ian, a video!!! no pressure matey!!!!

[Ian Jones]

 

This is it the big day!

My wife, Hilary and I made it to the Orme to meet Tim Mackey and a blue sky with a few white clouds and lots of . Tim said the wind was a 28mph westerly and I can tell you I believed him . Perfect conditions he said, well he’d know.

So after some checking over came the question from Tim "Do you want me to fly it first". Well I nearly took him up on it because I thought from my glide tests that maybe it would be inclined to climb a bit when faced with a good wind but then I thought it can’t be that hard, surely. . So Tim agreed to launch it for me and woosh! Up it went into the wind and flew straight and level – backwards. Yes backwards, don’t believe me? Watch this:

After 4 or 5 clicks of down trimming we tried again and that was it, I was soaring. There was a little bit of roll which was soon corrected with a few clicks of aileron trim on the elevons and that was it – hooked . With Tim as my mentor I just followed his advice, made my turns away from the slope, into the wind and soon felt very comfortable with the whole thing. Then Tim went on to mention that there’s just one more thing I need to do, yeah and I knew what that was alright. Well he had already briefed me on the flying areas and the LZ (that’s a term us slopers use for Landing Zone ), so now he just talked me down and I managed to get into the heather without too much of walk to collect it. Maiden done.

more....

Edited By Ian Jones on 06/08/2011 01:06:46

[Ian Jones]

...continued

Tim Beeston & Richard Whitley turned up too and we all had a really good chat from time to time. Good weather and a sociable group of people all helped make the day so enjoyable.

The JP-Si Zagi flew well and before I knew what was going on Tim was talking about combat . He started off picking a battle with Richard Whitley but soon turned his attention to me. Gulp . Well I dodged and dived but before long he gave me a bit of a knock, I did get him back later though, hehe.

My attempts at launching produced a few laughs and a few ducked heads. The thing with launching is that if you get it wrong the aeroplane just rears up and is swept back up and behind the launching spot. Yep, I still need to work on this, remnants of frozen shoulders and MS make it a bit difficult for me but I’ll find a way. As I have a HiTec transmitter I can set up flight modes & conditions and I hope to do something with those so that I can have a suitable setup for my clumsy launching then switch to a flying setup. I did nearly get it right once or twice though:

Tim twisted his back and upset an old war wound which started giving him a good amount of pain so he left about 1830 hrs to rest and post to the forum. Hope you are soon recovered Tim. There was suggestion that while he was posting at around 1945 hrs that I was still flying; actually I think I was!

A successful day, yes, hooked yes but so very disappointed. and angry with myself . Yes you read right, can you believe I drove away & left the Zagi on the Great Orme, well I did. I’m gutted.

I’m thinking “when should I get another one” though

I’ll be back!

Huge thanks to Tim for all his help and support and also all of you on this forum that contributed your advice & good wishes.

There’s some more photo’s from the day in the next post...

 

Edited By Ian Jones on 06/08/2011 01:13:04

[Ian Jones]

1500 hrs:

1515 hrs:

1515 hrs:

 

Just don't ask!:

OOh, it's a bit windy:

 

A launch that nearly worked:

and then some fun:

It could have gone home looking as good as it started:

 

It wasn't just me that was there:

That's it for now but I'm sure there will be more.

 

 

[Wiltshire Flyer]

As i have said on the other thread Ian, so glad it went well for you i really hope someone has found the Zaggi (nice colour scheme by the way) and is trying to reunite you.

[Devon Flyer]

Ian, had you put a sticker on your Zagi with your phone number on it?

 

I always use a Dynatape sticker, or two, saying - " If found contact (tel no) - REWARD".

This would, hopefully, appeal to peoples baser instincts if the plane is lost.

[Ian Jones]

Posted by Devon Flyer on 06/08/2011 08:42:24:

Ian, had you put a sticker on your Zagi with your phone number on it?

 

I always use a Dynatape sticker, or two, saying - " If found contact (tel no) - REWARD".

This would, hopefully, appeal to peoples baser instincts if the plane is lost.

Unfortunately not. I have never experienced any problems but I have known people to run into difficulties where the promise of a reward has turned into an unreasonable demand by the finder.

 

However, when it comes to sloping I think I will have to review how I look at that in the future.

[Ian Jones]

Time to move on I think .

 

So what I'm going to do is move over to "the Joy of Slope" thread to have a chat about what to get next, (risky ) then come back here to continue my warts n'all account of how I finally settled in as sloper.

 

Edited By Ian Jones on 06/08/2011 17:13:21

Edited By Tim Mackey - Administrator on 06/08/2011 17:33:21

[Ian Jones]

Posted by Dorset flyer on 06/08/2011 01:36:42:

.....(nice colour scheme by the way) ....

 

Thanks DF.

 

Not as good looking as yours but very simple and easy to do. Yellow was the colour that came with it but an excellent choice and the total contrast with the black banding did what it was supposed to - when I got braver and tried some bunts & spins that went wrong it was easy to work out which way up it was.

[Wiltshire Flyer]

I have always liked yellow on a model ian, that and red and white, don't know why just my preference i suppose!

 

I have to say i really admire the way you seem to be taking the loss so well can't be easy when it was a new model and you bought a new rx too!!!

All credit to you Ian, i know i would be some form of therapy by now if it were me!! lol....

Funny you should make a mention on the slping off thread i think it was about the possibility of a WT, i was considering one before i got my wing but didn't as the postage was more than i had expected and i was impatient to get my hands on something (leave the puns!) but the more vids i see of it the more i want one, i mentioned to Mrs DF last week about the possibilty of getting one but she would like a bigger T.V... but we'll see.... never know if you decide to get one i may in future be bending your ear

[Ian Jones]

Yup, I've had my sulk now it's onward & slopeward

 

Yea the WT will work out dearer but I've got permission so I'll make the most of it.

 

[stephen wenban]

Ian check the link in the Joy of slope thread it may help

[Ian Jones]

Posted by stephen wenban on 08/08/2011 21:54:10:
Ian check the link in the Joy of slope thread it may help

Ok Ta very much