scale rc weightshift microlight

[Steve Colman]

Mark, there's definitely a strange synchronicity going on here as my trainer just happens to be a Thunder Tiger too!

Steve.

[mark hadden]

Lol steve
Is it the 60 or 40 size?
Mines the 60, ive syripped the old covering off so i can do it in white 👍

[Steve Colman]

Hi Mark, it's this one, 40 size.

Please note: photo borrowed for illustration purposes.

[mark hadden]

Nice steve
Will hopefully get cracking on mine again soon so when i do ill start a build thread
Post some pics of yours when you're doing it aswell would love to see it being built 👍

[Robin Colbourne]

Hi Mark, Having only just discovered this thread, I'm very impressed by your microlight. So many hang glider and weight shift microlight models in the past ignored all the sginificant details of modern flexwings, such as the floating crosstubes, battens and double surface, and were little more than the basic rogallos of the mid-1970s.

Around 1986-87, the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough commissioned Mainair to make a radio controlled full-size microlight based upon their Mainair Flash 2 (iirc). The radio control worked pneumatic rams which controlled pitch via a ram between the trike rear post and keel tube, and roll with rams which pulled on wires attached to the flying wire attachments on the leading edge. An engine-driven compressor provided the oomph, and when the air pressure was released the pistons could slide freely in their cylinders with very little resistance. This way it was possible to fly the microlight with a safety pilot, and then operate it by radio control by turning the air pressure on.

Several flights were made under radio control at Pendine Sands, including radio controlled landings with the safety pilot on board, which was probably a first. On one of the landings the microlight nosed over, leaving the safety pilot a bit battered and most unimpressed!

Edited By Robin Colbourne on 30/12/2016 03:39:54

[JohnP25]

Hi Robin, that seems a very James Bond-ish experiment LOL.

J

[mark hadden]

Hi Robin,
Firstly thanks for the compliments
I wanted it to be as scale as possible in both flight and looks so hopefully im getting there 😄
And that is some very interesting information about mainair! Ive been into microlights for around 28 years (since i was 8) and my dad used to fly a flash 2, ive never heard about this before, is there any videos or any more information around?
It sounds like they had the same thinking as me in that the trike and wing should be free to move independantly to one another,
having seen microlights flying on their own when letting go of the control bar and then nudging it in the direction you want to roll i thought this would be the way to do things and worked on making the wing stable enough for a relaxing flight but not too stable as to not be steered by weightshift alone.
I added the floating keel and fin to allow for sail shifting as on the real ones to help the handling

Alot of rc microlight builders have the control arms being mounted solid- effectively locking the trike and wing together making the trike move 'as one' with the wing when not steering or pitching.

Thanks for the great information i find it very interesting
Regards,mark

[mark hadden]

My new website is now live so please check it out My front page - www.mark675microlights.co.uk http://www.mark675microlights.co.uk/

Edited By mark hadden on 28/01/2017 15:36:34

Edited By mark hadden on 28/01/2017 15:38:19

[mark hadden]

Morning guys,
Managed to finish my dashboard late last week,
I swapped out the clear directional LEDs for some diffused ones for a nicer glow and finished off the radio screen.

[mark hadden]

Also been working on some retracts for a new version of trike im making based on the flylight dragonfly,
It will have a slightly bigger wing and a much lighter trike so hopefully can do some thermalling lol https://youtu.be/kyBZRP3nPco

Edited By mark hadden on 06/02/2017 07:38:40