WazEco Build (Wasabi)

[Tom Foreman]

Good point Matthew, I guess in a world gone Health & Safety mad, we have to use a little common sense in these matters

[Stephen Stokes]

I have these magnets right next to the remote RX of a spectrum 2.4 system and have had no problems. Install with confidence

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Tom Foreman]

Well here's tonights 'fun'

 

Bellcrank, is a PITA  as its all drilled undersize and you have to sand it to fit so that its all tight and slop free, plus glue it together. Anyway managed it eventually!

 

 

Making up the carbon tube elevator bellcrank push rod was surprisingly easy used some 4mm OD tube, and some threaded rod. The threaded rod was a perfect fit, I just roughened it up and thick CA'ed it into place. I wrapped masking tape around the outside of the tube and wetted it with thin CA. This is to stop the tube from splitting.

 

 

Trial fit of the servo tray to get the pushrod to line up, its all very tight and not much room for the pushrod which has to fit under the wing joiner and at the same time clear the bottom of the inside of the fuse at the tail which is raised to almost the same height. Will have to raise the elveator servo with some blocks later on so that the rudder pull / pull wires can fit underneath. Struggling to get full throw, but these are the largest arms supplied with the servo's, had to turn up the EPA to 140% on the TX. Should be enough (I hope)

 

 

Here is the bellcrank dry fitted to set up the elevator push rod (obscured).

 

Glassed the servo tray in, should add some strength to the fuse, might not have to do Chris's mod after all. The glass is over the top of the tray and overlaps the inside of the fuse wall by 1/2" upwards.

 

Well I hope the epoxy doesn't take the 2 days to dry that I got told by the guy who sold it to me. Otherwise I'll be pro-filming tomorrow

 

Tom

 

 

 

Edited By Tom Foreman on 23/07/2009 00:43:07

[Matthew Lloyd]

Looking good, Tom

[Tom Foreman]

Well a little further, but will it be finished by the weekend?

 

Had to drill more holes on elevator bellcrank  to get required travel, ended up with one more hole after this one (three in total).

 

 

The crimps I got the other day were too small, a trip to the LMS wasn't much help either, in the end I purchased some brass tube and made my own crimps. Tried tying knots but the cable was too thick.

 

Dremmelled out the outlet holes for the rudder cables, because the WazEco rudder hinges have somehow ended up where the composite Wasabi rudder horn is located I had to deviate from the instructions and move the outlet holes lower, couldn't go higher as the horn would foul the all moving tailplane.

 

 

Servos in, elevator servo on 1/8" ply to raise it above the rudder cables.

 

Elevator bellcrank glued in with 1/32" ply supports, strange idea in the instructions is to blow bicarbonate of soda using a straw and then to drizzle in cynao, makes it fills bigger gaps, seems to work though. Just don't let your girlfriend catch you with a straw and a pile of white powder, she might get the wrong idea

 

The result of all my...

 

hard work...

 

priceless

 

Tom

[Ultymate]

Tom if this model's as good as it's parent Wasabi it will pay you back in spades for all your efforts. I love my Wasabi and would replace it straight away should it meet an untimely demise

[Tom Foreman]

Hi Ultymate, yes I'm sure all the hard work will be worth it, I just like moaning

 

Rudder post glued in, made a sandwich of the foam one for the composite Wasabi and the ply one for the Eco, strong and plenty of meat for the pin hinges to bite into.

 

Well thats the tailplane finished, just need to cover the wings, tailplane and rudder, glue in the rudder horn and attach the cables, hopefully it will all work, find out tomorrow.

 

Well if I can get all the covering finished tomorrow, I can pull this project back on schedule. Still I'm supposed to be cutting lawns and hedges tomorrow So much for a week off work to build model aeroplanes, still at least I'm nearly over my aeroplane flu. Is it only me or does anyone else get ill when building, I think I must be allergic to balsa dust or cyano or somthing!

 

 

Tom

 

 

[Tom Foreman]

Well, I got as far as one aileron wiring harness, when I realised that I only had one female and three male 3 pin deans micro connectors.  A quick word with Andy at Robot birds had another winging its way to me. Oh well time to look at the wing magnets, hmm don't fancy that job today, looks far too complicated. I know, a bit of theraputic Pro Filming is what is needed

 

First I had to clear the work bench, a major ordeal itself, still with everything squared away and ship shape it was time to get filming. I had decided on a very simple scheme of yellow on top and blue underneath so I can tell which way up she is when flying.

 

And there you are, tailplane all done. Glued the rudder on as well with thick CA and hooked up the rudder cables, they seem to work OK. Even better the Pro Film is a close match to the yellow fuse, glad I picked the right colour, Cadmium Yellow.

 

Next the wings, and the tricky film hinges for the ailerons

 

Tom

Edited By Tom Foreman on 24/07/2009 18:46:25

Edited By Phil Wood - Moderator on 24/07/2009 18:51:37

[Tom Foreman]

Well got the wings filmed, have learnt the hard way how not to do film hinges, DON'T film the bottom hinge Anyway I have one aileron that has 20 deg of movement and the other (top hinged only) with 25 deg movement, live and learn. My biggest mistake was hinging first before covering, I should have covered the bottom of the wing and the aileron separately, then top hinged using diamond tape, then cover the top of the wing. The good news is it looks ok and I still have enough movement for flying, it just would have been nice to get full flaperon to slow it down on landing, but I'm sure it will be Ok The film hinge sure looks and works better than a Diamond tape only hinge.

 

Just got to wire up the aileron servo plugs and sort out the wing magnets, and do the aileron pushrods and then its all finished, had a day off yesterday to go flying and enjoy the rare sun, raining again today.

 

Here are some beauty shots

 

Cya, Tom

Edited By Tom Foreman on 26/07/2009 17:34:16

[Tom Foreman]

Well, hooked up the ailerons to the servos last night, and started programming the TX. Shouldn't have worried about the Flaperon / Aileron travel as I can easily get 30 deg Setup a mix on Futaba 7C 2.4Ghz so that the throttle stick works the flaperons, full forward stick gives me 0 deg, middle gives -4 deg and full back gives -8 deg. This apparently means I can push the stick forward to speed up, and then pull back when she gets too low and needs to gain height, will be interesting how this works out. Any other Wasabi flyers out there using variable camber on the throttle stick care to comment?

 

Setup landing flaps on the three position switch along with snap flap, this means that I can toggle between the two without having both on at the same time, landing flaps at -30 deg. Elevator dual rates set at max (about +/- 25 deg) and 50 % (+/- 13 deg) , rudder on single max rate, (about +/- 30 deg) Expo on rudder -80%, Flaperons -60 / -30 % (high / low rates), Elevatator -30 / -15 %.

 

The small 900 Nicad RX pack that was half charged, (still showed 4.8v on meter when I started) lasted about 5 min (dropped to 3.8v), so I hooked up a small 2s1p 2200 LiPo with 6v regulator (intended flight pack) and this gave the servos a bit of a boost at the higher voltage, should have plenty of juice, but will keep an eye on the pack when I'm on the slope, don't know how thirsty these servos are.

 

The only other concern I had was that  I'm using 2.4 Ghz RX with tiny aerials, the Wasabi has a giant Carbon hatch, so I need to think carefully about where I place the RX so I don't blank out the radio waves, possibly put it in the middle, behind the wing joiner. Any other Wasabi pilots flying 2.4 Ghz care to add their experience?

 

So just need to get my finger out and finish wing magnets and aileron servo plugs in wing root and I'm good to go

 

Cheers

 

Tom

Edited By Tom Foreman on 27/07/2009 15:29:59

[Ultymate]

Tom I got this from a download (PDF) from the Flybiwo website here's the relevant bit on setup

 

Wasabi Setup & Flight Tips by Francois Lorrain
Setting up Camber:
* Best acceleration camber is 0°
* Best lift to drag camber is 4°
* Best sink rate camber is 8°
In general, a pilot will transit at a higher speed then best lift to drag speed which means for an efficient transition
he will need less camber. The same is true for low sink speed. So if you have to chose fixed camber settings,
I'd chose something like 3mm for cruise and 6mm for slow speed or slermalling. If you chose to use the camber
on your throttle stick, you could have 0° with forward stick and +8° with aft throttle stick.
When launching the plane into the breeze for the first time, make sure you have at least 2 to 4° of camber.
For landing, the flaps may be lowered down by 30°. The aileron horns have actually be sized so that they will
allow +-30° deflection just for this purpose.
The flaps down at 30°, the Wasabi will land easily at your feet even with gale winds. In order to retain good roll
control, you'll need to program a virtual dual rate switch with your landing flap setting so that aileron throws goes
to max when the flaps go beyond 20°
Snapflaps
Then you have to consider snapflap setting and that makes things a bit more complicated because the idea is to
never exceed 8° of camber in order to avoid creating drag while not improving lift.
The Wasabi likes snapflaps but if you've followed me from the start the ideal snapflap curve would be to have +-
8° when general camber is at Zero and +-0° when general camber is 8°. So if you can create a snapflap curve in
your transmitter then it could be interesting to play with it along these guidelines. I personally haven't played
with a snapflap curve but I've chosen to have snapflap mix on a switch so I can remove it when I cruise with a lot
of camber or for some snap rolled and stalled stunts. Therefore I have the snap setting at +-5°. A lot of care
must be taken that your flaps go down by the exact same amount otherwise your loops will twist.
Center of Gravity
The CG for the first flight should be set at 88mm and then tuned to your taste.
With 88mm the Wasabi will need just a _very_ light forward pressure to fly level inverted.
Rudder
Rudder deflection needs to be set as high as possible and the use of a fast servo is preferred. You will notice
that for some reason the rudder has a bit less authority then the Voltij rudder.
Slowing for Landing
Don't forget to explore the low speed limit with some camber (6mm-->8mm) and you'll be surprised. This will
also help you to free your mind about the landing and avoid landing too fast.
I've noticed that most pilots are reluctant to slow the Wasabi and they tend to land much too fast. You have to
force yourself to slow it down much beyond what you feel you should.
Also in strong winds, don't hesitate to drop the flaps all the way down to 30° (you have to mix an auto revert to
high throws beyond 15° of Flaps) and this will allow you to parachute with zero ground speed. I think it is likely
that you wouldn't damage the plane even when landing in rocky slopes if you use this high drag low speed
configuration.

[Tom Foreman]

Cheers Ultymate, sounds similiar to the manual I've been using by Steve Phalange. Are you using these settings on your Wasabi, if so how do you find them?

 

Tom

[Ultymate]

Yes more or less Tom, the ailerons/flaps dropped right down is deffinately the way to go for landings, aileron response gets a bit sluggish but no tip stall at all. Sometimes in a good blow it can be coming down and flying backwards away from you, deffinately an aquired art.

 

Brian

[Tom Foreman]

Done!

 

AUW 1115g

 

Needed 100g of ballast to balance, maiden hopefully tomorrow night. Hopefully try and get some video.

 

Off to bed now, exhausted

[Ultymate]

Good luck with the maiden Tom

[Tom Foreman]

Well it fly's!

 

Wind was 20 - 25 mph flew my Blizzard first to warm the thumbs, watched my mate Paul fly his Middle Phase, then he landed so no more excuses, time to commit to aviation.

 

Double checked the model again, adjusted the decalage, range checked on power down (2.4 Ghz), set the flaperons to 4 deg and then told paul to throw it firmly slighly downward, Paul said there was no way that was going to happen as it was tugging his arm off upwards, so he released it. Wow, this is probably the first model I have ever owned that flew perfectly on the first outing, no trim adjustments required, she just rose swiftly and smoothly away from the slope, hands off. I tried the ailerons and she banked hard left, hmm obviously a bit powerful (this is on low rates), elevator input WOW she rockets off, its a very powerful elevator. Pushed the left stick fully forward (zero flaperons) and she picked up speed - Nice

 

Started to explore the flight envelope, stall is a non event, she just mushes the nose down and becomes sluggish, no tip stall. Tried the 30 deg landing flaps (on the airbrake switch) , Whoa! She hits the brakes sharpish, floats up and starts going backwards controls become mushy. I think that needs to be reduced. Tried some simple aerobatics, rolls are fast and axial, loops were a bit untidy she rolled out a bit at the top, might try moving the CoG forward or put more reflex in the flaperons - might just be my poor flying skills , inverted flight is easy enough, just slight forward stick pressure.

 

The time eventually came to land, now this is where things start to get tricky, a few low flybys trying different flap settings were unsuccessful, decided to try the big flap setting on the airbrake switch, big mistake as she got a bit to far out of the lift and suddenly I was landing about 400 feet away from my intended spot - WHOOPS!. Realising I was now commited to landing, I just pulled the flaperons down to 8 deg, and gently pulled back on the elevator. To my relief, she gently hovered down on a nice grassy slope between some rocks. Lucky escape No.1

 

Got some more stick time on her (launched her myself this time) and just love cruising around playing with the flap settings, you can push forward and pick up loads of speed, she has a very soft quiet whistle as she rockets past  or you can pull back on the flap stick and she slows down very sedately and just hovers in the air gaining height rapidly, much more relaxing to fly than the Blizzard, in fact its better in all regards to the Blizzard and this is no slight on the Blizzards performance, its just the Wasabi is so much better and easier to fly!

 

Second landing was also difficult, just couldn't seem to get her down, with zero flap she screams past too fast, with 8 deg flap she wouldn't lose any height (given up with the 30 deg flap setting) eventually she just popped down very quickly (remember that super powerful elevator) my sluggish reactions pulled back just in time so that she landed softly and actually took off again, but now she was 1 foot off the ground so I was able to put her down on the deck.

 

Thankfully she went home in the same condition she had arrived in, an achievement in itself for me! Overall I am very, very happy with this glider and my only regret is my poor flying skills don't do her justice - yet! I am sure I'll get a lot better at flying her, she is surprisingly easy to fly for a fast slippery bird, she can reach out and bite you though if your not careful but a lot more fun and relaxing to fly than my last favourite the Blizzard, although to be fair they are both different tools for different jobs. Highly recommended, can't wait to get her on a bigger slope with less turbulent lift!

 

Tom

 

PS Video and pictures to follow, once I learn how to video edit!

[Tom Foreman]

Photos from yesterday

 

[Ultymate]

Glad you enjoyed it Tom, knew you would, that landing is an aquired art I know I give my Wasabi the 30deg flaps/flapperons and a fistful of down then just ease off the down for the touchdown still makes me sweat

[Tom Foreman]

Glad its not just me then

 

The way I land the Blizzard is completely different, I kill the flaperons to neutral (if she's running any) this reduces lift, then I swoop round onto the slope below me to climb up onto the landing zone trying to bleed off speed, as I get within 10 - 20 ft of the LZ I hit the spoilerons / airbrakes switch (raising the flaperons) and she just auto lands, while feeding in full up elevator. She lands fast, but being foam its no sweat.

 

Next outing with the Wasabi I will reset the flaperons to give +/- 8 deg so I can play around with reflex as well, this will give me the option for spoilerons as I am used to landing this way. Wind isn't looking very good in the North West at the moment, only light winds this Sunday but might get out again, want to try her on Parlick my favourite local slope.

 

Cheers

 

Tom

[Tom Foreman]

Video as promised