Gary Manuel Posted May 1, 2014 Author Share Posted May 1, 2014 OK - time for an update of what I've been up to - apart from 2 wonderful days flying Who d'ya think your looking at I think he has a friendly look about him Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Manuel Posted May 1, 2014 Author Share Posted May 1, 2014 Dashboard for two sockets for the receiver batteries and one special fail-safe receiver switch. Spektrum AR9100 Powersafe with 3 satellite receivers is used to capacity. Wiring will be tied and receiver tie wrapped in place later. 2 of the 3 satellite receivers visible here - one vertically orientated and one longitudinal. The third is horizontal from side to side, behind the dashboard. Switch / charging socket for the ignition battery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john stones 1 - Moderator Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 All nice and tidy Gary From the look on Dusty's face he thinks it needs a bit more right thrust Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Manuel Posted May 1, 2014 Author Share Posted May 1, 2014 I'm sure that a bit of rudder action will put the twinkle back in his eye Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cymaz Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 Sweeeeeeeet ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Manuel Posted May 4, 2014 Author Share Posted May 4, 2014 Here's a few photos of Dusty fully assembled with stickers applied. I'm very pleased with the results and think he has oodles of character. Read on for maiden flight review. MAIDEN FLIGHT REVIEW Engine started without any fuss after a good prime. Was very rich to start with, but I ran half a tank through at rich settings to loosen the engine up a bit. I then richened the top and bottom ends up and finished the tank off. Next half a tank was spent on the ground making minor tweaks to get a safe tick-over and transition to open throttle. Engine runs very well if a little on the noisy side with standard silencer, but it suits the character of the model and noise isn't really a problem at our club field. Thumbs up so far the DLE 55 RA Filled up, range tested and went for take off, which was uneventful - just needed a bit of down trim for level flight. All controls work well but a little bit twitchy - knew I'd forgotten something. Must add some exponential for the next flight . I had a play with the contols and noted: Throttle caused noticable pulling to the left. The model has no right thrust built is, so I expected this. Flaps resulted in noticable nosing up. After 15 minutes or so, I went for a landing - this is where it got tricky. Because the front undercarriage is so high, the plane tends to try to take off again as soon as the tail wheel settles, due to the high angle of incidence. At little over stall speed, this resulted in a couple of near misses as the model banked steeply to the left at zero height. It was only the over-powered engine that avoided a crash. Eventually I managed to make a very undignified landing. CHANGES FOR THE SECOND FLIGHT I mixed in 5% throttle to right rudder as a short term fix for pulling to the left under power. I mixed in 10% flap to down elevator as a fix for nosing up with flaps. 50% expnential added to rudder, elevator and aeleron. Both mixes worked about right although it is noticable both on the ground and in the air that right hand rudder is much weaker than left hand. Flaps now work well with very little nosing up or down. Twitchiness now gone completely due to the exponential (and perhaps my reduced nervousness). Banked turns, Flat turns, loops, rolls, inverted flight, stall turns, spins, even knife edge (one side only) were easy to achieve although the weak right rudder is something I can't live with. Tried touch n goes with flaps off, on and half on. All result in bouncing back into the air, with steep left bank when power is applied. I must do something about the thrust lines - compensating with throttle to rudder mix is not the answer. In summary, the model looks, sounds and flies very well, but I need to add some right thrust (maybe down thrust as well?) and I need to practice landing larger models to avoid bouncing back into the air on landing. I'm sure that this is operator error / inexperience and no reflection on the model. I'll add more feedback after I have played around a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roy Mundy Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 Looks Amazing Gary, you have turned a plane that looks a little bit ugly into something fantastic. I'm glad you had a successful maiden, I'm sure with tweeting you will get it spot on mate. well done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john stones 1 - Moderator Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 Congratulations Gary I would have liked to have seen Dusty's face after the maiden Good analysis on test flight, you must have been at ease with it for all that to register. An idea to consider maybe ? with u/c so far forward and very rigid, landings got to be nigh on perfect to avoid a bounce, (I know because my Cap 21 did it, and I fly at same field). I solved it by putting an u/c with a bit of give in it. Very sneaky keeping test flight quiet by the way John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Manuel Posted May 4, 2014 Author Share Posted May 4, 2014 Dusty had a few flies stuck to his teeth i can tell you I was pretty calm for the maiden. I've spoken to you about this before, and we both know that 90% of the maiden flight is done in the workshop. I knew everything was built well, so that just left 10% to test. Flies really well and will be even better once thrust line sorted. Bit disappointed (with myself) about the bounce. Putting a different undercarriage on isn't an option - I've already spent too much on this one . It's not so much a bounce, more a case that once the rear settles, the front is pointing upwards and the speed is high enough to launch it again - just! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john stones 1 - Moderator Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 You'll have to perform rollers then Gary, tail up. Tick over a bit high maybe as engines still new ? You'll slow landings down anyway after more flights John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cymaz Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 Brilliant Gary, well done. What character from the film will you build next ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Manuel Posted May 4, 2014 Author Share Posted May 4, 2014 Posted by cymaz on 04/05/2014 21:14:55: Brilliant Gary, well done. What character from the film will you build next ?? Now there's a thought ..... hmmmm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVE MATTHEWS 2 Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 Hi Gary, cracking job on "dusty" (strut). Beat me to it , thats going to be my finished farmhand. Until then , here's a few piccies of my build to date. You may notice I'm going electric with mine, Turnigy rotomax 50 swinging a 21x8 falcon beech prop. So far we are at 3100w @ 76A on a 12s set-up (4hp) with more to come should we need it (nowhere near maxed out on the motor or ESC ) Motor and ESC are good for 120A,so plenty left in reserve. Cheers for now , Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Manuel Posted June 24, 2014 Author Share Posted June 24, 2014 Looking good Dave. It'll be nice to see pictures of Dusty's twin brother when you've done Where are you putting the ESC? You won't get any airflow in the toffee chute. Plenty of room up front though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVE MATTHEWS 2 Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 Hi Gary, All part of the master plan, better to extend the motor wires than the battery wires. But cooling will come via slots in the firewall which will flow over the batteries then over the esc and out some more slots in front of the windscreen. Might even put a scoop in the nose like dusty. Next character has to be the comet surely ha ha. Plan on towing with it, if I can get it finished before the end of summer. Maybe have a farmhand day later in the year,that'd be a giggle. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Skilbeck Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Dave farmhand is a good tug, here's a video of a recent Woodsprings aerotow, Steve Hollands Farmhand with 45cc engine can be seen towing up my overweight 4m discus at around 3:50, both ground and on glider video. Edited By Frank Skilbeck on 25/06/2014 08:41:48 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Manuel Posted June 25, 2014 Author Share Posted June 25, 2014 I built the ply insert into Dusty's roof, planning on maybe adding a tow release / servo at a later date. After seeing a couple of guys at our club having a go at towing, which ended in tears and broken balsa, I changed my mind and haven't added one yet. Now after seeing this video, it doesn't look too bad. Obviously, lots of practice - and communication between the two pilots is required to get this good. Might consider adding one if I can get anyone at our club is interested in being towed. I wouldn't mind a proper glider myself. I have a Phoenix 2000 power glider with full house setup including crow braking, but it's not really a proper glider due to the motor / battery weight and relatively short wing span. Obviously I can't tow myself up though. Edited By Gary Manuel on 25/06/2014 09:19:46 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVE MATTHEWS 2 Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Frank, thanks for that. I used to tow with a precedent T240 on 10S at about 2.25kw, that used to tow my pat teakle 4m vega o/k. used to get about four tows per battery pair (good height tows). But I think the farmhand will be better suited to the job,and a lot more power. Cheers, I better get back to the bench Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVE MATTHEWS 2 Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Gary, towing isn't difficult, BUT , communication is vital. Me and my dad have a little experience from last year and you must stand together and talk through what you're doing,even at the point of release we used to throttle back a tad on the tug to lessen the "ping" when relesed then throttle up and pull away to confirm release before diving for the deck (saves pulling the glider wings off !). What sort of H.P. are these petrol engines people are using ? might be nice to compare my leccie set-up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVE MATTHEWS 2 Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 Decided to reduce the width of the nose (no offence Steve),bit bulky looking for a dusty replica.And put an air-scoop to mirror dusty's which will force feed air over the batteries and ESC and out of slots just in front of the windscreen. Just gotta sand the fuse now, not my favourite job if truth be known. Am I the only leckie one being built ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Manuel Posted July 23, 2014 Author Share Posted July 23, 2014 Here's a photo taken at our recent club open day. I think this image has a "cartoon" feeling that really suits the model. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Winks Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 That is truly a stunning picture of a cleverly decorated model, "proper Job" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john stones 1 - Moderator Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 It's a cracking model, I've seen it fly And on the cartoon theme, it Disney want to land John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Winks Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Posted by john stones 1 on 23/07/2014 22:24:28: And on the cartoon theme, it Disney want to land John Grooan northern humour doesn't get any better does it John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Manuel Posted July 23, 2014 Author Share Posted July 23, 2014 Posted by john stones 1 on 23/07/2014 22:24:28: It's a cracking model, I've seen it fly And on the cartoon theme, it Disney want to land John Walt you on about? It's all down to me now. I'm sure I'll get the nack of it now I've softened the undercarriage up a bit. Edited By Gary Manuel on 23/07/2014 22:35:51 Edited By Gary Manuel on 23/07/2014 22:37:36 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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