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Vogel-Fly Boo Review Update


Mike Freeman
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My March issue of RCM&E including my review of the Vogel-Fly BOO dropped through the letter box this morning ?

It’s been a while since I sent it in and I’ve been thoroughly enjoying flying my BOO more and more since then, it has become one of my favourite slope soarers. I just love the geodetic wing construction, the cute looks, ease of transport and, of course, the fabulous flying performance. I think Christian has come up with a real winner!!  During many enjoyable trips to the slope I’ve done lots more testing and tweaking and thought I’d start a thread here to share….

 

First things first, the latest kits have evolved a little since I did the review and there are a couple of additions that need mentioning.

 

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  • Vertical webs are fitted between the spars in the first rib bays outside of the joiner boxes. Early versions of the manual say use scrap material in the first two bays but the latest kits have laser cut webs which just need cutting to fit in the first four rib bays. The webs are slightly tapered; the little hole on the left indicates the root end.
  • There is an additional part to the building jig to hold the fuz perfectly level while the V-tail is glued in place.

 

Back to the flying….I was a little worried about the tiny LiPo packs capacity with four servos and an Rx to keep happy so I’ve been checking the capacity left in the 280mAh 2S pack after a flying session. I recon the radio gear is consuming around 70mA per hour so I’ll be quite happy flying for a couple of hours per pack and still have around 50% left as a contingency.

My 41mm CG feels just right to me so I’ve kept that.  I slightly modified the CG balance frame included in the kit by adding a 2mm spacer in each leg to move the CG back to 41mm when BOO is loaded into the CG balancer.

 

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Whilst flying some more, I’ve tweaked the throws a little as follows:

 

  • P1150916.thumb.JPG.ee4715b5df111938a74cae3c9a3412c1.JPGRudder throw increase from 4mm to 6mm helps coordinated aileron/rudder turns in light lift and improves wing overs/stall turns.
  • The elevator throw feels about right to me, giving nice tight loops.  I tried various amounts of snapflap to see if it made any difference to the performance.  Around 50% snapflap has a marginal effect, slightly tightening an already rather tight loop and producing slightly snappier pylon turns if F3F slope racing is your thing! TBH I don’t use it much though!
  • Increasing the aileron throw by 15% adds a little more sparkle to the rolls!
  • Setting the aileron / flaperon throws is a bit tricky with such a small wing – we’re talking fractions of mm!! As a result I made up a little throw indicator jig which fits into the fuselage building jig and is held in place with a clamp or tape.

 

 

 

o   When using, first set the ailerons so the underside of the wing and the ailerons

are perfectly flat and level – this sets the neutral.

 

o   Fit the model into the building jig with the underside of the wings firm against the seats and the aileron indicator positioned against the throw indicator jig.  The tolerances are so close it might be necessary to adjust the positioning with the clamp/tape until the neutral lines up.

 

o   The throws can then be adjusted. Once done, move the jig onto the second wing and repeat.

o   Hopefully the attached pdf can be printed off if you would like to do the same.Aileron Throw Template.pdf

 

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P1150928.thumb.JPG.7ac3e1f535e08fe8833fd07035f136f3.JPGBallasting the BOO has a noticeable and beneficial effect.  Especially in wind speeds above 15mph. I cut three ballast sheets from 2mm thick lead which are sandwiched between the wing and the fuz as seen in the photos.

 

One, two or three are used depending on the wind strength. Slightly longer wing bolts are required if all three are used.  Each sheet weighs 20g and, thanks to the shape, they don’t affect the CG when fitted!! With all three added the weight increases by about 35% which turns BOO into a proper pocket rocket!!

 

The extra weight adds valuable inertia to enable energy sapping manoeuvres like bunts to be completed.

 

 

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Following one over exuberant but thoroughly enjoyable fully ballasted flight in a 20mph wind I noticed the wing was loose!!  I can’t be 100% sure but I think the extra weight and higher G forces had caused the wing bolts to slip a thread!! As a result and purely in the interest of “belts & braces” I have now drilled out the original tapped holes and glued in a pair of captive “T” bolts.  This is totally unnecessary for a dry airframe and possible is with the ballast too but I like to air on the side of caution!!

Edited by Mike Freeman
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Thanks GG and David.

I'm really pleased with how Kevin Crozier has used the info I sent in.  I sent him a LOT of photos as I was so fascinated by the design and assembly detail. It was obvious he wasn't going to be able to use them all and I said I'd include any that didn't make it on the forum.  Here they are:

 

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Tolerances are a little tight so it is important to ensure the Kevlar string doesn't overlap.  The joiner and joiner boxes need to be shortened to fit.  I angled the ends as seen on the right hand end to marry up to the rib rather than just cut the ends off. Totally unnecessary but I did it anyway!!

 

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The leading edge of the ribs has a slot which is perfectly shaped to locate the 1mm diameter carbon fibre leading edge rod.

 

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This shows the components for the wing joining and fixing lugs.....

 

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... and this is them shown in place on one wing.

 

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There is a triangular jig included to ensure the ruddervator control horns are glued.....

 

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.... in exactly the right place and at the correct angle.

 

Finally, here are a few finished and flying shots that didn't make it...

 

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Cheers,

Mike

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